Sweet and spicy… bacon?

My former roommate and I used to cook a lot together (and a lot of pretty yummy food at that). Ever since we moved out though, we haven’t been able to cook together. However, we were able to change that with some pretty awesome food. Enter: Millionaire’s bacon.

This luxury is quite simple to make and is an amazing appetizer. You start with some thick-cut bacon, rub it with a mixture of brown sugar and spices, and throw it in the oven. Adjust the spices depending on how much sweet and spice you like ;).

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Ingredients:
1 pound thick-cut bacon
3 stalks asparagus
5 tbl brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper

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Before you start, pre-heat the oven to 350ºF. While the oven is warming up, mix together the brown sugar, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.

Then rub the bacon and asparagus with the sweet and spicy mix. Lay out the bacon and bake for about 20 minutes (the asparagus only needs to be baked for 5-10 minutes). Voila!

D-Pain OUT

Chop, chop!

A while ago, I saw a commercial for chicken parmesan meatballs and ever since, I’ve been yearning to try them! Plus, I started a garden (with basil, green onions, and bell peppers hopefully) in my backyard and have been wanting to use it ever since! 😀 One of my favorite dishes is chicken parmesan, so I adapted my normal recipe to a meatball form of the dish!

Backyard garden!

To start off, prepare some ground chicken. You can buy it but it’s hard to find here or it’s really expensive, so take out some frozen chicken breast and your handy dandy cleaver. Chop vigorously and voila!

 

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Ingredients
For the meatballs
1 lb ground chicken
1 clove of garlic (diced)
Flour
1 egg
Breadcrumbs
Salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese

For the filling
Mozzarella cheese (cubed)
1 onion (diced)
Cherry tomatoes
Fresh basil leaves

For the pasta
Spaghetti
Extra virgin olive oil
Tomatoes (chopped)
Onions (diced)

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First, pre-heat the oven to 400°F. While waiting, prepare the filling by cooking the onions for a few minutes until they are softened. Quarter the cherry tomatoes, throw in with the onions, and then add strips of the basil. Season with salt and pepper, and then put aside. mMMmMMm, savor the fragrance!

To prepare the meatballs, add some diced garlic, salt, and pepper to the ground chicken. Form the chicken mixture into balls. Once you have the meatball, push a Mozzarella cheese cube into the middle. Add the onion/tomato/basil into the meatball, and reform into a ball shape. Coat with flour, put the meatballs through an eggwash, and coat with breadcrumbs. Heat a pan on medium high, and brown the meatballs on all sides (this step should only take a few minutes). Transfer the meatballs onto a baking pan, and bake for roughly 10-15 minutes. Be careful not to overcook!

While waiting for the meatballs, prepare the pasta and sauce. Cook some spaghetti until al dente. For the tomato sauce, cook the onions in a pot. Once softened, add chopped tomatoes and season. Assemble the plate and shave some parmesan cheese as a last step!

Enjoy!

D-Pain

Too fast, too frozen: potato slicing.

Ever since I injured my knee (temporarily named Dragon 2 – thanks to Chef Bleucheese) and have been hobbling on crutches (go ahead and say “hobble” aloud), cooking has been difficult. I’ve been pretty fed up with eating fast food and frozen food. Instead of going to Wendy’s to get more chicken and fries again, I made something simple with a potato. As you may have seen recently on Facebook/internet, sliced baked potatoes are super simple but delicious.

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Ingredients

1 potato
Slices of cheddar cheese
Diced onion
(Turkey) bacon
Basil + whatever seasonings you’d like to add

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Just slice a potato however you’d like and toss it in the oven at 425°F for about 30 minutes.

While the potato is baking, dice and sautee the onions. Cook the bacon and then chop it into small pieces to top the potato. Take the potato out and separate each slice of potato slightly. Carefully add basil and the onion/bacon mixture in between the slices. Top the potato with the cheese and add more onion/bacon (nom).

Return the potato to the oven and wait for the cheese to melt. After a few minutes, you can enjoy this lil ditty.

Not the prettiest but it’s a nice reprieve from frozen pizzas and microwaveable dinners…

Sidenote: I do NOT encourage cooking with crutches. I’ll be taking a brief break from this blog while learning how to train my Dragon 2 hah 😉 (credit to bleucheese!)

Chef D-Pain

The only fried chicken recipe you’ll need.

鹽酥雞 – Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken

A staple to any visit to Taiwan is immersing oneself in a night market 夜市. The streets are packed with people, shopping, and games, but most importantly, the air is filled with the most delicious smells. I had been craving an item called “Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken” (or 鹽酥雞) and finally decided to try making it myself. In order to prepare, you’ll need to get out your frying equipment out! You’ll also need to visit an Asian/Chinese grocery store to find some of these ingredients.

Tools!

 

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Ingredients:
For the marinade (measurements are pretty general – add or subtract as much as you want):
2 Chicken breasts (or thighs)
3-4 Garlic cloves
Small piece of Ginger
1 tbsp 5 spice powder
1 tbsp White pepper powder
1 tbsp Black pepper
1 tbsp Brown sugar
2 tbsp Rice wine
2 tbsp Dark soy sauce

For frying:
Thai basil leaves
Oil
2 eggs
Sweet potato flour

Seasoning:
1 tbsp 5 spice powder
1 tbsp white pepper
1 tsp cinnamon

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First, cut the chicken into bite size pieces. To marinate the chicken, toss in the garlic, ginger, 5 spice powder, white pepper powder, black pepper, brown sugar, rice wine, and dark soy sauce. Marinate it for a few hours if you can afford it. To prepare the batter, mix some eggs in one plate and pour out some sweet potato flour in another. Before frying the chicken, we want to infuse the oil with the Thai basil leaves to give the chicken more flavor. Fry the leaves until the popping/crackling stops and then put aside. Next, prepare the chicken for frying. Coat the chicken in egg first and then in the sweet potato flour. For the best results/crispiness, make sure the chicken is thoroughly coated in the flour (double-coat if necessary!). Finally, fry the chicken (a Chinese frying spoon is helpful but not necessary :D), sprinkle a mixture of the seasoning on top, and spread the Thai basil leaves.

And the results…

This dish definitely took me back to Taiwan and was super enjoyable. If you don’t want to fry, you can use the same marinade and just pan-fry with onions and peppers. If you are vegetarian, try it with some tofu!

The next time you want to get a taste of Taiwan, consider making some Taiwanese popcorn chicken. 🙂

-Chef D-Pain