July | 2010 | Jenna's Everything Blog

Greetings everyone! This morning my husband and I are hopping in my sister Heidi and her husband Mike’s truck and skedaddling off to Stevens Point, where our blond bombshell of a sister Erica is getting married on Saturday! I have high, high hopes of a McDonald’s breakfast sometime during our travels. I think they put some kind of addictive grease-drug in those sausage McMuffins, and I love every bite. And the hash browns . . . don’t get me started on the hash browns. It’s like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day all wrapped up into one golden little cakety-akety. I would eat ten of them if that didn’t cause a tornado of pain to ravage my stomach. One will have to do. Or would two be risking it? I’m thinking two.

As we roll on over to Wisconsin, I’d like to say that I’ll be providing realtime reporting via this blog, with live video-feed of all the wedding to-do’s and up-to-the minute journalism detailing every nanosecond of the excitement, family eccentricities, and bridalwear.

Alas, it is not meant to be.

However, I do commit to wielding my camera and shooting like a madwoman so that I can bring forth pictures in the weeks to come. Pax?

In the meantime, I have prepped a few recipes to feed the blogmonster in my absence and get me through Monday morning. See, I’m afraid of what the blogmonster will do to me if he becomes hungry, and it’s best not to find out until I’ve really built up his trust. And though I’m using this recipe for Pan-Fried Cumin Sweet Potatoes to appease him, you’ll have to trust me: it’s not just a fill-in post. It’s actually incredibly delicious. Let’s get started.

I’ve had 2 sweet potatoes languishing in my fridge for the past month. Every time I opened the crisper, they looked at me accusingly–was I going to let them go to waste? Motivated by guilt, I searched out other languishing vegetables in my refrigerator and tossed them all in my cast iron skillet. The results were good enough not only to dispel my guilt, but also to send me into seventh heaven.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

2 TBS olive oil

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into small cubes

1/4 c water

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 jalapeño, de-seeded and minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cumin

Chives or cilantro to garnish

First, gather your ingredients into a friendly assembly. Encourage them to talk amongst themselves and ask some basic “getting to know you” questions.

Now, chop them up. Take any tension in your life and apply it to these vegetables using a sharp knife. Aaaaaah.

Heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add your sweet potato cubes and fry 3-4 minutes.

Add the water, turn down heat to low and cover. Cook for 3 minutes. When you uncover the skillet, the water should be gone–if not, cook uncovered until the water evaporates. Now add your salt, pepper, cumin, onion, and jalapeño. Add more oil if needed. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.

By now, your potatoes should be tender but not falling apart, and the jalapeño and onion should be crisp and tender. Put the lovely pile of delights into a serving dish and top with a sprinkling of cilantro or chives.

This dish is good as it is, but if you serve it with Spicy Garlic Sauce (recipe coming tomorrow) you will die and go to garlic heaven. And I say–live dangerously!

Flirting with Death via the Spicy Garlic Sauce

Click here for printer-friendly version: Pan-Fried Cumin Sweet Potatoes

This is so simple to throw together—please don’t be dismayed by the ingredient list. A little chopping, a little mixing, a little wok-action, and you’ve got a delicious, colorful, fresh meal for the clamoring masses.

A couple words of wisdom that apply to all stirfries:

-Do all your chopping and sauce-mixing beforehand, because once you start up the wok it comes together quickly.

-Always cook over high heat. It’s the way God designed Chinese food. Don’t go against his plan!

-Fry the meat in 2 or more batches, and wait until the oil is hot before putting it in. If you put in too much meat at once, it will crowd the pan and turn into a liquidy bubbly thing that will steam-cook instead of frying. Believe me—that happened my whole first year of stirfrying. I was too lazy, and I should probably issue an official apology to anyone who consumed those tough, colorless pieces of animal flesh.

-Be creative! Any stirfry maker will tell you that it’s extremely easy to switch up the ingredients. You can use this basic marinade with any meat, you can add any sauce (plum sauce, chili sauce, black bean sauce, etc.), and any veggies.

Ingredients

MARINADE

2 TBS soy sauce

2 TBS water

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

2 TBS Shaoxing wine or dry sherry

1 tsp sesame oil

Dash white pepper

SAUCE

3 TBS hoisin sauce (heaping)

1 TBS oyster sauce

1 TBS honey

2 TBS Shaoxing wine or dry sherry

1/3 c chicken stock

2 tsp corn starch

1/4 tsp five spice

2 tsp soy sauce

STIRFRY

2 TBS peanut oil, divided

3 chicken breasts (1.25 lbs)

1/2 tsp five spice, divided

1/4 tsp black pepper, divided

4 tsp honey, divided

1 large white onion

1 TBS diced ginger

4 cloves garlic

1 red pepper

1 yellow squash (summer squash)

1 zucchini

1 bunch green onions

1/2 tsp salt

White rice or noodles, to serve

Start by cutting the chicken into thin strips or small cubes. I went the thin strips route.

Place it in the marinade for 15-20 minutes.

Now, grab your fresh stuff:

Mince your ginger and garlic and set them aside in a little bowl. Dice your veggies and set them aside in another bowl. Mix the sauce and chop your green onions. Everything should be ready before the frying begins.

Here we have (clockwise from top left): a bowl of chopped veggies; a bowl of marinating chicken; the sauce; a ramekin of ginger and garlic; a ramekin of green onions. Aaaah. I love order.

Heat 1 TBS of peanut oil in a wok or very large skillet. When it starts smoking, add half of the chicken (drain with a slotted spoon so the marinade stays behind for the most part). It will spatter–so be ready!

Add 2 tsp of honey, 1/8 tsp black pepper and 1/4 tsp of five spice to the chicken and fry over high heat for about 5 minutes.

The honey will start to caramelize, giving your chicken a lovely dark brown crust.

After 5 minutes, remove. Heat the remaining oil for the rest of the chicken and repeat the process, removing the chicken and setting it aside.

Add your ginger and garlic to the hot wok and fry for no more than 60 seconds, stirring constantly so the garlic doesn’t burn.

Add your veggies and your salt. It’s very important to salt the veggies, because that way the seasoning will adhere before the sauce comes into play. Cook for 4 minutes over high heat, stirring.