Sesame Chicken

One of my all time favorite American-Chinese dishes is Sesame Chicken. So delicious, and so very, very bad for you. Breaded and fried chicken that is then coated in a sticky sweet-spicy sauce? Probably not health food. So when Andy and I discovered a recipe in our Joy of Cooking for Sesame Chicken that looked much healthier, we decided to give it a shot. Here's the recipe as we make it:

The cast of characters. If you can't find Tahini Paste where you live, creamy peanut butter is a good substitute. However, you can then leave out the sugar. 

Step One: Boil a large pot of water and add the 3 bone-in chicken breasts. Cook 8-10 minutes until complete.

Step Two: While that is going on, do the following:

Step Three: Chop up one green onion/scallion and grate about that amount of ginger - it should be about 2 teaspoons worth when grated.

Step Four: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup tahini paste (or peanut butter) and 2.5 TB sesame oil until well combined.

Step Five: To the tahini/sesame mixture, add the scallions, ginger, 2.5 TB soy sauce, 1 TB white vinegar, chili paste/Sriacha to taste (optional - I used a bit less than a TB), and 1 tsp sugar. 

Step Six: Whisk until well combined.

Step Seven: Remove chicken from boiling water and allow to cool a bit until it can be handled; Shred the chicken and add to the bowl with the sauce. Mix thoroughly.

Step Eight: Serve over rice of your choice, we went with brown, and some veggies on the side. Ours was sauteed kale and carrots with garlic.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

As promised, here is the recipe for that lovely stuffed squash I made last weekend (and again this weekend):

The cast of characters (minus the rosemary, which I forgot, oops):

Grate about 3/4 cups of the cheese of your choosing. I used cheddar and parmesan because that's what I had on hand. Pick your favorite cheese and go with that:

Cut the bread up into small, dice-size pieces. You'll need about a cup and a half of cubes:

Dice up a very small amount of onion. This is just one slice from the middle of the onion, cut up very finely:

Remove the sausage from its' casing and brown:

Take the sausage off the heat when done and, in that same pan, cook the onions until softened, then add the garlic (1-2 cloves, minced) and continue cooking until fragrant but not burnt.

Put the sausage, bread crumbs, cheese, rosemary, onions, garlic and 3 TB half and half in a large bowl and combine until moistened. Meanwhile, halve the acorn squash and scoop out all of the seeds, then rub some olive oil on them and season with salt & pepper:

Fill the hollowed out squash with the filling, make sure to really pack it in there. You want the squash to lay flat when flipped upside down:

Flip the squash into a baking dish and put in a 375-400 degree oven:

After a half hour, check on it to make sure the bottoms aren't burning too badly. If they are, add a little bit of water to the dish.

After approximately an hour (mine took 50 minutes today), remove the squash from the oven:

Flip them back over and serve:

One half is usually a perfect meal for one person. See how it's all browned and crusty on the surface? SO YUMMY!

Here's the ingredient list with exact measurements:
1 link italian sausage (or 2 slices bacon)
1 slice onion (or 1 shallot)
1-2 cloves garlic
2 tsp rosemary (or sage, or whatever your favorite spice is)
1.5 cups bread cubes
3/4 cup grated cheeses
3 TB half & half
1 medium acorn squash
olive oil
salt & pepper