Hawaii at Home!

Bill and I have a minor obsession with Hawaii, where we spent our honeymoon. We fantasize about returning just about every day. But alas, a lot more saving has to happen before we're able to go back!

You might recall in my Vacation Food post a few months ago that I declared the teriyaki chicken from the Dole Pineapple Plantation in Honolulu one of my favorite vacation meals of all time (#3 on the list of 10!). I'll never forget how tender, juicy, sweet and spicy that chicken was. And it might have been one of our favorites because it took us the most by surprise. (Seriosuly, who thinks they're going to get an amazing meal at the equivalent of Disney World for pineapple lovers??)

I hadn't attempted to recreate that chicken because I was sure it wouldn't be as good, but I came across a recipe in my Cooking Light cookbook the other day that I decided I had to try. And despite the fact that I wasn't expecting it (or maybe because of that), this chicken totally hit the mark!



You've got some competition now, Dole Plantation!



Mine may not be as pretty, but it was just as good!


Asian Barbecue Chicken
Ingredients:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 chicken thighs, skinned (I used just 5 because that's what was in the package I bought. And they were boneless and skinless.)
Cooking spray

Directions:
Combine first 6 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; add chicken. (I suppose I should tell you that I made a few substitutions ... and mistakes ... here. I used bottled lime juice because I was too lazy to juice a fresh lime, I went overboard with the crushed red pepper because all of my measuring spoons were in the dishwasher, I didn't have curry powder so I subbed a combination of chili powder and cumin, and I forgot about the garlic completely.) Seal and marinate in refrigerator 4 hours or overnight (whoops, my marinating time was more like 45 minutes!), turning occasionally.

Prepare grill. (And by this I assume they mean an outdoor grill. But yesterday wasn't as nice as today, so I broke out my indoor, electric grill.)

Remove chicken from bag, reserving marinade. Place marinade in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute.

Place chicken on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 20 minutes or until done (the boneless thighs took a bit less than 15 minutes), turning and basting frequently with cooked marinade.


I'm not kidding when I say this was the best chicken I've had SINCE we were at the Dole Plantation! With the exception of the fact that I overdid it with the red pepper, it was almost an exact replica. And yes, I'm pretty darn proud of myself :)

I served the chicken with the same Broccoli Sesame Rice that I made with Tyler's sesame chicken the other night and buttermilk biscuits, but not the same buttermilk biscuits I usually make. I looove Irene's buttermilk biscuit recipe, but I decided to switch it up last night and use the recipe in the Cooking Light book. It calls for the exact same ingredients except butter instead of shortening and a bit less salt. And I have to say ... I think I liked these buttery biscuits better (sorry, Irene!).

Open Sesame Chicken!

I've definitely been bitten by the spring cleaning bug. In the past two weeks, I've delivered two huge shopping bags full of stuff to Goodwill. Today's donation included a big stack of cookbooks I've either never opened, or use so rarely that they're not worth space on the shelf. But in the process of eliminating those cookbooks, I came across a few gems I had forgotten about!

One was Tyler's Ultimate, which has a hundred awesome recipes ... none of which I've ever made! So I picked a few out for this week, including Sesame Chicken Salad with Spinach and Cucumber. And to serve alongside it, Broccoli and Sesame Rice, a recipe I found in Real Simple magazine.

Sesame Chicken Salad with Spinach and Cucumber
Ingredients:
1/4 cup soy sauce
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups panko
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cups spinach leaves
1 cucumber, sliced thinly
1 scallion, white and green part, sliced

Directions:
In a bowl, whisk together soy sauce, lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, ginger, sugar and red pepper flakes for the vinaigrette.

Toast 2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds in a small dry skillet until fragrant, a minute or two. Set aside.

Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Put a chicken breast on the cutting board and, holding a large knife parallel to the board, cut through the breast horizontally so that you have 2 thin fillets. Repeat with remaining breasts. Put the chicken on a platter, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette, and toss to coat. Set the rest of the vinaigrette aside. Let the chicken marinate for about 10 minutes.

Combine the panko and the remaining 1/4 cup sesame seeds in a shallow bowl and season with salt and pepper. Mix with your fingers so the seasoning is incorporated. Dredge the chicken in the crumbs, patting gently so the crumbs adhere.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Line a platter with paper towels. Add about half of the chicken to the pan and cook about 2 minutes on each side, until golden brown and crispy. Remove the chicken to the towel-lined platter to drain while you cook the remaining chicken.

Put the spinach in a bowl with the cucumber, scallion and a tablespoon of the toasted sesame seeds. Drizzle with vinaigrette and toss to coat. Plate with the chicken and sprinkle with remaining sesame seeds.

Broccoli Sesame Rice
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup long-grain white rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups broccoli, finely chopped
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Directions:
Bring water, rice and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, turn heat to low, and allow to simmer for 12 minutes. Spinkle broccoli on top of rice, cover, and continue to cook 5 minutes more. Remove from heat and toss with scallions and sesame seeds. Serve.


All I can say is that Tyler can't miss. Everything he cooks on TV looks so amazing, and if this recipe is any indication, everything in this book is going to be amazing, too. My knife skills aren't stellar, so my chicken "fillets" were a bit uneven. This made getting the cooking time right a little tricky, and a couple of the breasts ended up a bit dry. But the good ones were crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside!

It's been hard to get back in the swing of things since returning from Vegas and we've been eating out way too often. So I promise that this week I'll be posting much more regularly because the restaurant visits have got to stop! I like my own cooking so much better :)