Shrimp Rangoon

Often when the BFF and I go to Chinese restaurants we'll order Crab Rangoon.  A delightful combination of crab, cream cheese, and some other things...all put in a wonton wrapper and deep fried.  Delicious! 

Recently on Tasty Kitchen I encountered a Shrimp Rangoon recipe. I'm way more a shrimp fan than I am crab, so I knew I had to try it.  Last night I treated some guests to this appetizer and the general consensus was it was quite good.

Heads up though, this makes a TON of filling. I only made 20 for appetizers and have easily more than half left. The recipe on Tasty Kitchen has a dipping sauce to it. I choose to just use sweet chili sauce which was perfectly good.

Shrimp Rangoon
Recipe from The Tasty Kitchen

FOR THE RANGOON:

• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 T cilantro, chopped
• 2 T green onions, minced
• 2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp fresh lime juice
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 pound shrimp, par-cooked
• ½ cups water chestnut, chopped
• 1 egg white for wash - I didn't use an egg wash, I just used water to seal the wrappers with.
• 50 pieces wonton wrappers
• 1 quart Oil, for frying

Put softened cream cheese, cilantro, green onions, ginger, sugar, lime juice, salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse 3 to 4 times until just combined.  Transfer to a bowl and stir in shrimp and water chestnuts.

Using a pastry brush or a finger tip, put egg white on the edge of the wonton skin. Place one heaping teaspoon of shrimp mixture in the center of each wrapper, fold in half, pressing to seal the edges well.

Transfer to a wire rack and repeat with remaining wrappers and shrimp mixture.

Preheat oil in a heavy duty frying pan over medium-high heat until the thermometer reaches between 350 degrees F to 375 degrees F.

Fry rangoon in batches, 6 or 7 at a time, turning over a few times until both sides are crispy golden brown.

Drain rangoon on a wire rack. Serve hot with your favorite dipping sauce.

Jalapeno Roasted Chicken

In all my life, I've never cooked a whole chicken. I'm not a fan of dark meat so cooking a whole chicken seems pointless to me and a waste.

I saw this recipe on Mexican Made Easy and knew I had to try it.  The combination of cilantro and jalapeno just made my mouth water.

Unfortunately, I didn't find those flavors very obvious in the finished product. The chicken was good, don't get me wrong, I just didn't get the flavor combination I was expecting.

Jalapeno Roasted Chicken
Recipe from Mexican Made Easy
Serves 4

JALAPENO PESTO

• 1/2 c packed fresh oregano
• 1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 4 T unsalted butter
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 jalapeno, stemmed and seeded
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

CHICKEN

• 1 roasting chicken (5.5 lbs)
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 1/2 c chicken broth
• 3/4 c dry white wine
• 2 pounds baby broccoli
• 1 T olive oil
• salt and pepper

Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Jalapeno paste: In the bowl of a food processor, combine the oregano, shallot, garlic, butter, 2 tablespoons olive oil, the jalapeno, salt and pepper and process to form a coarse paste.

Chicken: Pat the chicken dry and then put it, breast side up, on a rack in a large roasting pan. Using your fingers, loosen the skin from the chicken breast, legs, and thighs without detaching it. Spread half of the jalapeno paste under the skin. Put the rosemary and the shallots in the cavity of the chicken. Tie the chicken legs together with kitchen twine. Spread the remaining jalapeno paste all over the exterior of the chicken. Pour the chicken broth and wine into the roasting pan.

Roast the chicken for 1 hour, basting with the pan juices every 20 minutes, adding more broth to the pan if it begins to dry out.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven. Arrange the baby broccoli snugly around the chicken on the rack. Drizzle the olive oil over the florets and season them with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast the chicken with the baby broccoli, basting occasionally with the pan juices, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the innermost part of the chicken thigh, without touching the bone, registers 160 degrees F, about 30 minutes. Remove the roast chicken from the oven, tent it in foil and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Quicker Boston Baked Beans

Last Sunday was Sunday Dinner. I decided to ring in the summer season by having a BBQ.  I made burgers and guests brought misc items. 

I decided I wanted to make a go at making Boston Baked Beans. I found this recipe in Cook's Country and decided I might as well try it.  I was pleasantly surprised at how flavorful this was. Beats canned beans by a mile in flavor and texture. Super easy, but does require some planning as it takes 2 hours to bake the beans.  I made the beans on Saturday and finished them off in the oven on Sunday.  They were the bomb!

Quicker Boston Baked Beans

Serves 4-6
Though I gotta say, I was feeding 9 people and we had some left overs.  If you aren't going to have a bunch of other items, then maybe the 4-6 servings is accurate.

• 1 pound dried navy beans, picked over and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 6 ounces salt pork, rind removed and cut into 1/4" pieces
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 3 cups water
• 5 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 1 T molasses
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
• salt and pepper

 
Adjust oven rack to middle, preheat oven to 350F.

Bring 3 quarts of water, beans and baking soda to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high and simmer briskly for 20 minutes. Drain beans in a colander. Rinse beans and pot.

In clean pot, cook salt pork over medium heat until browned, about 10 minutes. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in water, beans, sugar, 1/4 c molasses, Worcestershire, 3 tsp mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Cover, transfer to oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender.

Remove cover and cook for another 30 minutes and beans are completely tender. Stir in remaining 1 T molasses and 1 tsp of mustard.

Peanut Butter & Fudge Swirl Pie

A couple of weeks ago I went to a friend's house for dinner. My job was to bring dessert.  Back in April when I was visiting the ParentalUnits Mom had made a peanut butter pie that was fantastic.  I didn't have the recipe, but I figured the Internet would.

I am not sure if this is the exact recipe, but it was close enough.  Super easy and SUPER delicious.  I think it'd be relatively easy to lighten up too. Use light cream cheese and light cool whip.  I chose to not add the sugar into the recipe. I figured it was sweet enough and I'm glad I didn't.

I did add chopped peanut to the topping too.

Peanut Butter & Fudge Swirl Pie
Makes 1 pie

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/4 c creamy peanut butter
• 2 c thawed Cool Whip
• 1 OREO pie crust (6oz)
• 1/4 c Hot fudge topping, warmed

 
BEAT cream cheese, sugar and peanut butter in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Whisk in COOL WHIP.

SPOON into crust. Drizzle with fudge topping; swirl gently with knife. REFRIGERATE 4 hours or until firm.

Cilantro Chicken and Spicy Thai Noodles

I love when I turn on the Food Network and whatever is being made sounds so good I just have to make it. That's what happened this weekend.  I was watching a show and the chef was making cilantro chicken...it looked so good on the grill that I had to make it.

Blueberry was over tonight and so I tried it out on her. The consensus is this is a 5 star recipe that must be made again.

Cilantro Chicken and Spicy Thai Noodles
Courtesy of Big Daddy, Food Network
Serves 4

Cilantro Chicken:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 3 T canola oil
• Salt and pepper
• 2 T minced garlic
• 1/4 c cilantro
• 2 limes, 1 zested; 2 juiced
• 2 T Seasoned Rice vinegar

Thai Noodles:

• 2 T canola oil
• 1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 c chicken stock
• salt and pepper
• 1 T Thai green curry paste - I used red curry because I didn't have any green curry on hand AND I'm not a big fan of green curry.
• 1 T seasoned rice vinegar
• 3 scallions, white and green parts chopped for garnish
• 1 pound spaghetti, cooked al dente
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1/4 cup crushed roasted peanuts

 
For the chicken: Combine all the ingredients in a nonreactive bowl and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Prepare a grill pan to medium-high heat and place the chicken thighs on the pan, cooking for 4 minutes per side.

For the noodles: In a medium sauté pan over medium heat, add the canola oil. Add the ginger, lime zest and juice, garlic, red pepper flakes and chicken stock. Stir all to combine and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the curry paste, seasoned rice vinegar and scallions. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes.

Place the noodles in a large serving bowl along with the carrots and crushed peanuts and toss well to combine. Add the cilantro chicken and serve.

The noodles were a bit too tangy for me, so I popped in a tablespoon on peanut butter.  That was delicious!