Down East Asia - Spring Break Special Appetizer

Lobster Rangoon

It is always a special occasion in my house when we have the pleasure of enjoying a meal that includes lobster.  Though it may seem to our out of state friends that it is common place for Mainers to enjoy lobster at any time, that is not the case at all for many of us.  We are so fortunate here in Maine to have access to this salt water delicacy at all times but it is still considered to be an extravagance that we do not treat ourselves to as often as we should.  

It is hard to believe that lobster was once considered to be "the poor man's food" here in Maine. During the Great Depression, there were many poor people in Maine that would set and empty lobster traps every day to feed their families.  Lobster was so abundant and obviously free to those who had their own traps to catch them, that it was considered to be a trashy and undesirable food. During that time it was actually an embarrassment for parents to send their children to school with sandwiches made with lobster meat. It has also been said that it was fed to prisoners so often that they claimed it was cruel an unusual punishment.  

The lobster's reputation and popularity has come a long way since then.  It is now considered a true delicacy. It is one of the reasons that so many tourists come to visit Maine during the summer months and it has also become one of Maine's top exports.  Not only is it no longer considered a poor man's food, it has become a very important part of Maine's economy.  Beyond that, it is delicious and an amazing source of protein that we should incorporate into our diets far more often than we do.  

 This weekend I decided to treat my family to a special meal to celebrate our daughter's return from school for spring break.  Whenever she comes home she looks forward to a special home cooked meal and it usually involves seafood. After throwing around a number of ideas, it was decided that everyone wanted homemade Asian food that included lobster.  From there I planned my menu and decided to incorporate lobster in the first course of this meal, the Spring Break Special Appetizer. 

Here are the ingredients

Two 1.25 lb Maine lobsters, 30 to 40 wonton wrappers (available at Hannaford or Shaws), 8 ounces of cream cheese spread, a half of a lemon, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, cilantro, and one clove of garlic.

Preparing the ingredients

I have already steamed both of my lobsters in water for 12 minutes and then I remove the the legs, claws and tail from each lobster and prepare to pick all the meat from each part.  ***Please note that I understand a good many people reading this already know how to pick a lobster but there are also many who do not.  If you are someone who is well versed in this process, please feel free to skip this part.

Here are my tools

I use a nut cracker and one chop stick to pick the meat from the lobster shells.

Picking the lobster meat

Once I have removed all of the parts of the lobster that I will be using in this recipe, I begin to pick the meat from the shells.  These are hard shell lobsters so I need to use a lobster shell/nut cracker in order to break the shell.  I remove the lobster meat from the claw first by cracking the shell open an then pulling the lower/smaller part of the claw off to remove the cartilage from the meat.  Once the cartilage is removed, pull the meat of the claw from the shell and then use the chop stick to remove the small piece of meat from the lower part of the claw.    

Next, I start working on getting the meat from the leg; which I split into two pieces at the joint in the leg.  I use both the tip and thicker end of the chop stick for this.  There is a very thin and narrow part of the front leg that can be difficult to remove the meat from so I just swipe the tip of a chop stick into this part of the shell to remove any meat in there.  To remove the meat from the knuckle, I push the thicker part of the chop stick into the narrow end of the knuckle shell and push the meat out of the wider opening of the shell.

To remove the meat from the tail, I first start by breaking off the tail fin; which makes an opening at the bottom of the tail and exposes the meat.  Then I simply push the tail meat from the bottom so it all comes out in one piece from the top of the tail that was detached from the abdomen of the lobster. 

When you are done removing the meat from the lobster shells, this is that you are left with.

Before chopping the lobster meat, remove the long thin lining at the top of the lobster tail and clean out whatever remains of the digestive tract of the lobster.  This is an easy task but you may also encounter some lobster roe (eggs) and even small amounts of tomalley; both of which are edible but are easy enough to just clean out and discard if you wish to.  

 Next, you will chop the lobster meat into small pieces.  After chopping, you may even want shred some of the larger meatier chunks (especially pieces of the tail) with your fingers. 

Once you have chopped and shredded your lobster meat, add about 6 ounces of the  the meat to a small mixing bowl and begin to incorporate all of the other ingredients.   You will add 8 ounces of softened cream cheese, the juice and the zest of half of a lemon, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of low sodium soy sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, and a good handful of chopped cilantro.  Give a good stir to thoroughly incorporate all of the ingredients into the mixture.

Next you will prepare to fill the wonton wrappers with the lobster and cream cheese mixture. Beat one egg yolk with 1/4th teaspoon of water.  You will use the egg yolk as the glue to seal the wrapper once it is filled.  

Take a single wonton wrapper and add a half a teaspoon of the lobster and cream cheese mixture in the center of the wrapper.  Do not over fill the wrapper or it will cause the mixture to seep out while you are pan frying the rangoon.  I have made this mistake and trust me when I say, it can make the cooking process quite frustrating and somewhat painful.

Once you have added the mixture to the wonton, brush the top part of the wrapper with the egg mixture using a pastry brush or the tip of your finger.  You can also use water but the egg will give you a much tighter seal on the edges of the wonton than water will.

After you have brushed the upper part of the wonton with the egg mixture, fold the bottom part of the wonton up over the lobster and cream cheese mixture and lightly pinch all along the edge of the wonton to seal the two sides together.  When you are done, you should have a triangular shaped rangoon as shown in the picture above.  

Finally, you will add about 2 tablespoons of peanut or olive oil to a large saute pan and turn the burner on to medium high heat.  When the oil is hot enough, place 3 to 4 wontons at a time into the pan and fry each side until golden brown.  Repeat this process until all of the wontons have been cooked.

To serve, place your fried wontons on a nice serving platter.  Place a small ramekin in the middle of the platter and add to it, one tablespoon of soy sauce, one tablespoon of Chinese rice wine vinegar and a teaspoon of toasted sesame seed oil.

Robert P. Tristram Coffin refers to the lobster in his book The Mainstays of Maine, as "the king of crustaceans, the most moral creature in the universe and also probably the best tasting." I wholeheartedly agree with Robert on all points.  The lobster is about the finest food that I have ever had the pleasure of eating and working with.  It is a delightful addition to this recipe that is typically made with imitation crab in many restaurants that serve it.  While the process of making these lobster rangoons may be labor intensive, it is a relatively easy recipe.  The final product is absolutely delicious and well worth the time when you see the smile on the faces of all that you serve them to.  I hope that you will give it a try.

 Enjoy!

Delightful Dish for Veggie Lovers

Sauteed Tempeh with Butternut Squash and Red Swiss Chard in a Maine Maple Syrup Curry Sauce

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a class where I learned about a number of weird Maine fermentables.  I learned about things I have never heard of in my life and I tasted things that I have never considered tasting.  My favorite dish of the day was prepared with tempeh.  I have eaten tempeh before but I have never had this particular kind of tempeh that is made right here in Maine.

Lalibela Farm in Bowdoinham, Maine makes organic soy bean and black bean tempeh.  Tempeh is a product made of fermented soy beans that is typically packed into a fairly thin patty.  It originated in Indonesia so it is not a native Maine product but Lalibela Farm has been successfully making their delicious tempeh since 2009.  There is something different about their tempeh.  It is more flavorful and the texture and consistency is better than that of any I have tried before.

Tempeh is a raw, living food so you must cook it before eating just like any meat product.  It is as versatile as any meat and can be cooked in a number of different ways.  It has a great texture that I much prefer to other soy bean products such as tofu and it is so easy to work with.  The woman instructing the class last weekend served us tempeh in a similar dish that I am posting here tonight.  It was absolutely delicious so I decided to share it with you after making several alterations to give it my own special touch.

Here are the ingredients for the dish

I have a big bunch of red Swiss chard, a quarter of a medium butternut squash cut into small chunks, salt and pepper, light soy sauce, curry powder, Maine maple syrup (from Harris Farm in Dayton, ME), a cup of crushed tomatoes from a can, crushed red pepper flakes, a large clove of garlic, and organic tempeh from Lalibela Farm; which you can find at Whole Foods or the Portland Food Co-op.

Preparing the ingredients

I have already cut the butternut squash into large chunks so the next order of business is to remove the large ribs from the Swiss chard by holding a leaf straight in front of you and running a sharp knife down either side of the rib shaving off the leafy green part.  Once you have removed the ribs, give your bunch of chard a rough chop. 

Next you will cut the tempeh into long thing strips as shown above.

Finally, you will thinly dice your large clove of garlic.

In a medium pot, bring liberally salted water to a boil and add the chunks of butternut squash.  Cook the squash until it is soft enough to stick a fork into but is still firm.  Remove from the pot and set aside.

Next, add a tablespoon of olive oil to a large saute pan.  Once the oil is hot, add 1 1/2 tablespoons of soy sauce and then add the tempeh to the pan and give a good stir to coat with the olive oil and soy sauce.

Saute the tempeh over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until each side is golden brown and beginning to crisp.  Remove the tempeh from the pan and set aside.

Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan then add the garlic and saute for about a minute.  Add the Swiss chard to the pan and give a good stir to coat with the olive oil and garlic, then add about a quarter teaspoon of sea salt and a half teaspoon of cracked black pepper. Add 1/4th of a cup of water and cover to let steam for no more than a minute until the Swiss chard has softened.  Do not be alarmed when the Swiss chard makes loud popping noises as you add it to the pan.  It is the water content in the leafy green that causes this to happen when it hits the hot oil.  

 Once the Swiss chard has softened, add about 2 tablespoons of a good quality (preferably Maine made) maple syrup.  Then add two teaspoons of curry powder and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Finally, add to the crushed tomato and cooked squash to the pan, give a good stir and saute for just a couple more minutes to blend all of the flavors together.

It may seem that several of these ingredients are strange to pare together in one dish, but trust me when I tell you, they all work amazingly well together.  You have the saltiness from the soy sauce, the slightly fermented flavor of the tempeh, the bitterness of the greens, the spice of the curry and red pepper flakes, the acidity of the tomato and the smokey sweetness of the Maine maple syrup.  

When you combine all of these incredible ingredients together in one dish, you get a burst of flavor in that first bite that you will not soon forget!  This is an easy and healthy vegetarian meal with flavors that are so complex, anyone you serve it to think that you spent an entire day preparing it.  These flavors are so amazing that even the most dedicated carnivore in your life forget that there is not even an ounce of meat in this dish!

Enjoy!

The Maine Harvest Table Quick Tip

Storing Fresh Herbs

From the moment that I started working on this blog, I've found myself wanting to give tips or advice on a number of things in my recipe posts that would be helpful to all of you while working with food.  Each time I would try to fit one in, I realized that it made the post too lengthy and would perhaps be a bit distracting while you are trying to learn to execute a recipe.  That said, I have decided to add a quick tip once in a while in between recipe posts that I hope you will all find helpful.  This particular tip has been on my mind for a while.

Whether you grow fresh herbs or purchase them, at some point in time you will either harvest or purchase more than you can use for one meal or, in my case, in an entire years time.  You can, of course, always hang them to dry as you can see I have done in the picture above.  Another great way of storing fresh herbs is to freeze them.  There are a number of herbs, however, that do not do well in the freezer when stored in a regular freezer bag.  Basil is a good example of one of those herbs and it also does not dry especially well in my opinion.  The solution to both of these issues; freeze them in olive oil, chicken or vegetable stock, or water for later use.

The easiest way to freeze your herbs in oil, stock or water is to use an ice cube tray.  You can actually find ice cube trays in kitchen stores that are sold specifically for this reason.  To prepare the herbs for freezing, you will want to start by giving your bunch of herbs a rough chop, add a good portion into each of the cube molds and pour the liquid down over them. Place the tray in the freezer and after your cubes have frozen, you will then place the tray in a plastic freezer bag to help protect from freezer burn.  Another quick tip; do not chop your basil.  Basil leaves are quite delicate the blade of your knife will bruise the leaves and they will start to discolor almost instantly after you chop them. When working with basil for any preparation, you want to gently tear the leaf rather than cutting or chopping it.

Not only is this a great way to store your herbs but an incredibly easy way to use them.  When it comes time to prepare a dish that calls for fresh herbs, just pop a couple of cubes out of the tray and stick them into a hot saute pan or into a soup or stock that you are preparing.  If you have frozen them in water, you can make a fantastic herb infused beverage that is both tasty and beautiful and is sure to impress all of your dinner guests!

I hope that you will find this quick tip to be helpful and I encourage you to give it a try the next time you have an abundance of herbs that you can not use before they go by.

Enjoy!

Sunday Afternoon Snack

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Every once in a while I get the urge to make a nice little snack for my family between lunch and dinner on Sunday afternoons.  Today happened to be one of those days and I chose to make one of my all time favorites.  Spinach artichoke dip is one of those treats that makes you grateful that it is possible for somewhat unlikely ingredients to be combined to create the most delightful and satisfying taste. Add to that a a nice crusty baguette or even a good multi grain cracker baked with sea salt and you have yourself a delicious and hearty snack to hold you over until dinner time.

It would be easy to convince yourself that spinach artichoke dip is a nice healthy snack but I can't say with complete confidence that this is true. I have never done the research on this and to be honest, I am not really all that concerned about it. What I do know is that it is ok to allow yourself to indulge every once in a while and if you can do that with a dish that includes not one but two vegetables, then you are indulging in the best possible way.

Here are the ingredients

I have canned artichoke hearts, fresh spinach (you can use frozen spinach as well), a blend of Italian cheeses, sour cream, mayonnaise, a lemon, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Preparing the ingredients

To start, chop two 15 ounce cans of artichoke hearts into small bite size pieces.  I prefer a little more artichoke to spinach ratio in this dish but you can reduce the amount of artichokes if you wish to.    

Fill a large pot three quarters of the way full of water, salt the water liberally and bring to a boil.  Once the water is boiling add 10 to 12 ounces of fresh spinach and blanch for about 30 seconds or until the spinach turns a nice bright green.  Remove the spinach from the water and immediately run under cold water or dip into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.  

This is how your spinach should look after being blanched

Once the spinach is cooled, you will need to squeeze as much of the water out of it as you can.  This can be a bit of a task.  It does not need to be bone dry but you do not want a lot of liquid left in these leaves when you are done.

Once you have squeezed as much of the water from the spinach as you can, this is what you are left with

It does not look like enough but trust me, it is a sufficient amount for this recipe.  

Leaving the spinach in a ball, you will give it a rough chop and start to separate the chopped leaves with your fingers as you add it to the bowl of artichokes. Once all of the spinach is added to the bowl, stir to combine the two ingredients.

When you are done mixing the spinach and artichokes, add one large clove of minced garlic, a good pinch of red pepper flakes (optional), 8 ounces of the Italian cheese blend, 1 cup of sour cream, one cup of mayonnaise, and the juice of half of a lemon as well as the lemon zest, and finally add sea salt and crushed black pepper to taste.

Once all of these ingredients are combined, transfer the mixture to an appropriate size baking dish and top it with another 2 ounces of the Italian cheese blend.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and place your baking dish on a rack that is positioned on the middle of the oven.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the dish is bubbling and the cheese starts to brown on top. Remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle the top with some dried thyme and oregano (optional).

This is a creamy, cheesy, tart, and slightly earthy dish of goodness.  It is an easy snack to serve to your family on a Sunday afternoon as well as a a great dish to serve at any party or dinner gathering.  I have a friend who considers this one of her comfort foods and will eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner when I make a big  batch and share it with her.  I hope you, your family and friends will love this recipe as much as I do.

Enjoy!

Super Food Side Dish

Lentils with Kale & Andouille Sausage

It is difficult for me to believe these days that I went most of my life, 36 years to be exact, without ever having tried lentils.  It's not because I thought I wouldn't like them,  I simply did not really know what they were.  Now, lentils are a regular part of my diet and so common place for me to serve that I hesitated to blog about them for fear that it would be a boring recipe.  Then it occurred to me that if I had gone most of my life not eating them, there's a good chance there are a number of people reading this blog that also have never had them or do not consider eating them on a regular basis.  If you are one of those people, you are about to find out what you have been missing.

Lentils are part of the legume family and an excellent source of protein, fiber, iron, vitamins and minerals.  They are known to help lower cholesterol, stabilize blood sugar, increase energy levels and aid in digestion. They have been referred to as a heart healthy food and in my opinion, they are the unsung hero of the legume world!

While lentils are the star of this dish, I would be remiss not to acknowledge it's co-star kale.  Kale, like brussel sprouts, have very recently gained an overwhelming popularity as a super food. Previous to this sudden interest in it's amazing nutritional value, it had only ever graced a dinner plate as a stale and seemingly inedible garnish.  To the contrary, not only is kale edible but it is a delicious addition to almost any meal.  Like the rest of it's family members; brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and collard greens, kale is extraordinarily high in vitamins and minerals.  The combination of lentils and kale in this recipe, make this a double super food side dish!

Here are the ingredients

I have a 15.5 onces of lentils, a cup of crushed tomatoes from a can, two cloves of garlic, two to three stalks of celery, two medium carrots, about two cups of kale, two andouille sausage links, a lemon, salt, pepper and olive oil.

Preparing the ingredients

First I start by dicing the celery and carrots into small square pieces, I do a fine mince on the two cloves of garlic and a rough chop on the kale.  Be careful to remove any of the larger ribs from the middle of the kale leaves. These tend to be tough, do not cook down well and are not pleasant to bite into. I do this by holding the kale lengthwise on the cutting board in front of me and run a sharp knife down either side of the rib shaving off the leafy part of the green.

Next I dice the andouille sausage into small bite size pieces. Andouille sausage adds a really nice smokey and mild spicy flavor to this dish.  If you are not fond of those flavors, you can replace the andouille with ham, ham hocks, or any kind of sausage that you prefer.  If you are just using ham, you may also want to add some onion powder, garlic powder, paprika or any other spice that you like to heighten the flavor.  

In a large pot over medium heat, add about two tablespoons of olive oil.  When the oil is hot, add the celery and carrots, season with salt and pepper then saute until the carrots have softened and the celery is somewhat translucent.  At this point add the garlic and continue to saute being careful not to let your garlic sit too long and burn in the pan.  After about a minute, add 8 cups of water, or 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock and 4 cups of water.  I like to use the stock for added flavor.

Add the lentils to the pan immediately after adding the 8 cups of liquid, turn the temperature to high and bring to a boil.  Once you have brought the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes,  remove the cover and stir in the crushed tomatoes and kale.  Place the cover back on the pot and continue to simmer for another 10 to 15  minutes.  

With about 5 minutes of cooking time left, add the andouille sausage and the juice of a lemon.  The andouille sausage that you are likely to find around here will be a cooked product so you do not want to add this to the pot too soon or it will become rubbery and tough. 

Place the cover back onto the pot and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes or

 until the lentils are al dente and remove from the heat.  The lentils will continue to cook in the broth after being removed from the heat so be careful not to simmer for too long or you could end up with a large pot of lentil mush.

To serve, ladle a good helpling of the lentils into a bowl or small crock, add salt and pepper to taste and the juice of a small lemon wedge.  I also love to add a few dashes of hot sauce for a little extra heat.

Not only do I consider lentils to be a super food side dish, it has become one of my favorite comfort foods of all times.  I can sit down with a nice big bowl of lentils and eat them as a meal but they are also a great side to any number of chicken, beef or pork dishes.  I have even made a baked dish with lentils but that is another recipe altogether; which I will be sure to post in the future.  

If you have never tried lentils, this is a great and easy recipe to start with.  It might just become one of your favorite comfort foods and a regular at your dinner table before you know it.  

Enjoy!

Down East Asia

Asian Pork Cabbage Rolls

 It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention and that is exactly the case with this dish.  I realize it is likely that someone somewhere has made these before, but not that I was aware of at the time.  We have all heard of stuffed cabbage, of course, but this is stuffed cabbage with an Asian twist and it is absolutely delicious.

This invention came about one evening when I was making Asian pork dumplings and I had not done a very good job of calculating my dumpling wrapper to pork mixture ratio. I ran out of wrappers and had quite a lot f pork mixture left. I was having a pretty good crowd of people for dinner that night and it was far too late to run to the grocery store at that point.  I thought about making my own wrappers but there was just not enough time to do that either. I opened the refrigerator, desperately scanned for something I could use and came out with a head of cabbage.  Of course, stuffed Asian cabbage rolls...brilliant! 

Here are the ingredients for the pork mixture

  I have close to a pound and a half of ground pork, rice wine vinegar, Chinese Shao Shing cooking wine, tamari (a type of soy sauce), sesame seed oil, white pepper, Chinese five spice, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes (optional). Finally, you will need a large head of Napa cabbage to roll the pork mixture in.

Here are the tools you will need

 I have wok, a wok ring; which you would need for an electric stove top, A bamboo steamer basket, ( you can easily find one of these steamer baskets at a local Asian market or any number of stores that sell kitchenware), a micro plane for grating the ginger, and a Chinese chef's knife but any decent knife to mince the garlic will do.  

You do not have to use this method or these particular tools for steaming.  There are a number of different tools that you can use to steam these rolls.  If you have different tools for steaming, they will work just fine.

You will also need cooking twine to tie around your cabbage rolls to keep them together while steaming.

To prepare the pork mixture

Start by adding one clove of garlic (finely minced or grated), a one inch piece of grated ginger, a couple of pinches of red pepper flakes (if you like the spice), 1/8th of a teaspoon of white pepper, 1/4th of a teaspoon of Chinese five spice, a tablespoon of tamari, a table spoon of rice vinegar, a tablespoon of Shao Shing cooking wine and a teaspoon of sesame seed oil.  Add a couple of finely chopped scallions or spring onions at this point as well if you like them.  You will not see them in any of my recipes so feel free to add them to any recipe you feel is appropriate. 

At this point, add a tablespoon of corn starch and mix to incorporate the pork and all of the ingredients thoroughly.  The cornstarch will bind all of the ingredients together so the mixture is nice and firm.  If your mixture is a little soupy, try adding a little more corn starch and stick it in the refrigerator for a while to let it set up.

Preparing the cabbage rolls

First, cut the stem of the cabbage leaf as well as the two long pieces on either side of it so you are left with just the very top of the cabbage leaf.  Save the stem and parts of the leaf that you cut off for a stir fry, egg rolls, or any other recipe that calls for Napa cabbage.

Once you have trimmed the cabbage, you should be left with a piece that looks like this. Take a teaspoon full of the pork mixture and place it in the middle of the leaf.  Fold each side of the cabbage leaf over the pork and then starting from the bottom of the leaf, roll the pork up inside the cabbage.  Take a piece of the cooking twine and gently wrap it around the cabbage roll and tie a small knot in the front.  Repeat until you have used all of the pork mixture or have run out of cabbage leaves that you can work with.

Not all cabbage leaves are going to look like this one so you will need to change the technique with each piece that you work with.  Just roll them however you can.  Also, the leaves of Napa cabbage are delicate so you will find that it tends to split in places as you are rolling it and some of the pork will start poking out.  Don't let this bother you!  This is a rustic little finger food and it's ok for it to look as though it is.

This is what you should end up with

Now to prep for steaming

With your wok in place on the wok ring, fill the bottom of the wok with water.  Be careful not to add too much water as you do not want it to touch the bottom of the steamer basket.  

Place the steamer basket down into the wok and then place the plate of cabbage rolls in the steamer basket.  Cover the steamer basket and turn your burner on to medium high heat.  The water will heat quickly and start to steam your rolls.  Continue steaming for about 10 to 15 minutes.  To be certain the pork is cooked all the way through, take the largest cabbage roll out of the steamer and cut in half.  Steamed pork has a tendency to still be a bit pink in the middle but as long as the meat looks and feels cooked, it is fine to eat.

To serve as an appetizer or a party snack, place the cabbage rolls on a large plate with a small ramekin in the middle of the plate for the dipping sauce.

For the dipping sauce, I combine two tablespoons of tamari, one tablespoon of rice wine vinegar and just a few drops of sesame seed oil.  To finish the dipping sauce, sprinkle in some sesame seeds and a pinch of red pepper flakes.  You can also add minced scallions or spring onions if you wish.

This dish may have come about completely by accident; but it is one of those lucky

mistakes that has stuck with me and it has proven to be my trusty go to snack to serve at number of gatherings.  It is also an excellent conversation piece whenever someone asks how and where I learned to make these.  

There are times when something brilliant is born in a moment of desperation.  This was most definitely one of those times for me.  Don't ever be afraid to improvise in the kitchen if you need to or even if you just feel the urge to create something new.  You never know...you might just be creating the next big culinary masterpiece!

Enjoy!

Maine Sunday Suppa

Roasted Butterflied Orange Chicken

with crinkle cut baked sweet potato chips & a sauteed broccoli bok choy medley

Sunday is a sacred day for me.  It is the one day of the week that I can work in my kitchen from sun up to sun down. It is the only day that I am able to find the time to make all of the creations I've been dreaming up throughout the week come to life.  Not a soul in the house bothers me for a thing because they know what the reward will be for giving me uninterrupted time in the kitchen at the end of the day. 

As for Sunday Suppa, well...that is the quintessential Maine meal. We have bean suppas, pot roast suppas, baked ham suppas, spaghetti suppas, and if your lucky, seafood suppas.  For those of you who think I might be joking about the suppa thing, you are mistaken.  Depending on what part of Maine you are from it is either suppa or supper; which of course means dinner to almost everyone outside of Maine.

  Our folks from Down East or Northern Maine call it suppa.  Where I grew up in Southern Maine, just outside of Portland, it is supper.  I can not tell you what age I was when I learned that the word dinner was the appropriate word for supper, but I can tell you that I was well into my teenage years if not toward the end of them entering adulthood.  Sunday suppa, supper, dinner; whatever you choose to call it, is my favorite meal of the week!

This is a Sunday Suppa that I prepared late last spring.  I love a nice roaster chicken but I wanted to do something a little different.  I had just attended a cooking class where I learned how to butterfly a chicken and decided to give it a try.

This is probably a 4 to 5 pound chicken that I cut the back bone out of with kitchen sheers.  You can also do this with a with a heavy chef's knife or a cleaver but it is much easier with kitchen sheers.

Once you have removed the backbone, lay the chicken out, breast side up and flatten it with your hands and a firm pressure until you hear it crack.  Season the skin with olive oil, sea salt, cracked black pepper, fresh thyme, garlic powder, the juice and the zest of an orange.

Next, slice two large oranges and place the slices into the bottom of a large baking pan.  Top the orange slices with sprigs of fresh rosemary and pour about a quarter cup of chicken broth over the orange slices to keep them moist while roasting.

Initially, you will place your chicken in the pan on top of the oranges with the breast side down to ensure that the breast meat also stays moist while roasting.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place your pan on a wrack that is positioned in the center of the oven.  Roast the chicken for about and hour and ten to twenty minutes depending on the size of the bird.  I use my trusty thermometer to tell me when my chicken is perfectly cooked.  I highly recommend using a thermometer over cutting into the chicken to be certain that it is cooked thoroughly.

While the chicken is roasting I prepare my sweet potatoes.  

With the help of this handy dandy tool that belonged to my Grandmother, I cut the sweet potatoes into thin crinkled chips and place then into a lined baking pan.  I season them with olive oil, sea salt, cracked black pepper, fresh thyme, garlic powder and smoked paprika.  

Then I prepare my vegetable medley

I cut up a medium size head of broccoli, 2 to 3 stalks and the leaves of bok choy.  In the last 5 to 10 minutes that the chicken is cooking, I start to saute the broccoli in a medium sauce pan with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and a clove of garlic for about two to three minutes. Then I add a quarter cup of chicken broth and cover to steam for another three to five minutes or until you can easily stick a fork into the broccoli.  Once your broccoli is steamed add the bok choy to the pan, give the vegetables a quick toss and cook until the leaves of the bok choy begin to wilt.  To finish, add a tablespoon of unsalted sweat cream butter and a couple pinches of red pepper flakes for a little spice.

In the last 30 to 40 minutes of cooking time for the chicken, remove it from the oven and flip it so that it is breast side up in the pan on top of the orange slices.  Place the chicken back in the oven on the same rack and then place the pan of sweet potato chips right beside it. If you time this right, your potatoes should be done at just about the same time as your chicken.

This is a fun and incredibly delicious way to prepare a roaster chicken. Chicken pairs nicely with almost any citrus fruit.  Cooking both sides of the chicken on top of the orange slices as I have done here, allows the chicken to absorb the flavorful essence of the orange as well as keeping the chicken moist and juicy.  

I hope that you enjoy this recipe and consider serving it for your next Sunday Suppa!