Rosie Stir Fries For Her Hawthornes. Chicken And Garden Vegetables.

 
  Rosie is stir frying this afternoon.

 Onion, green peppers, yellow squash from the garden.

 Chicken bosom from my freezer.

 To thinly slice meats,

it helps to have them partially frozen.

 

  Cut against the grain.

 Gather some basil and tear.

A couple of tablespoons of Tamari on the chicken.

Everything is ready and in place to stir fry.

This is where the concept of mise-en-place is key.

The whole point of stir frying

is to fry over high heat very quickly.

You can't stop and start looking for an ingredient.
Everything must be within reach.

You must commit to the stir fry.

Having everything at hand is essential.

In case you're wondering about that second bowl in the back left,
that's shrimp with garlic, mirin, and Tamari.
I'm doing a shrimp stir fry tonight too.

Heat a few swirls of peanut oil

in your wok or skillet over high heat.
When the oil is hothothot,

add in the onion, pepper, and squash.

Add about a tablespoon of sugar.

Stir fry about one minute.

Freshly ground salt and pepper.

Remove vegetables to a bowl and cover.

Heat more peanut oil over high heat.

Add in chicken with garlic.

I generally stir fry my meat in batches.

You never want to crowd the pan

 thereby lowering the temperature.

I'm adding the first batch of chicken

to the second batch.

Next the vegetables went back in.

And right here is a good reason to have a mise en place.

You want to make the sauce immediately

so you should have your cornstarch slurry in place.

2 -3 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup chicken stock.

Pour it down the hot sides of the wok,

not directly over the food.

Stir to thicken.

Add in sweet chili sauce to taste.
Toss to coat.

Sprinkle basil over top and serve over a bed of rice.

I love a good stir fry.

Day 9 Of Rosie's Christmas Baking.

After I took a break from baking yesterday, I jumped right back into it today. 3 little goodies I made today: Buckeyes Gingersnaps Lacy Oatmeal Cookies

Number 1 - my buckeyes. And this is quite a favorite.

1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar

16 ounces peanut butter 2 sticks butter, softened 12 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels 1 TB shortening

Process powdered sugar, peanut butter, and butter in food processor. Chill dough for at least 2 hours, then form into small balls.

Melt chocolate morsels and Crisco.

And dip and roll peanut butter balls in chocolate. Work quickly. And you may need to put the balls back in the fridge every now and then to chill up.

Chocolate covered peanut butter balls.

I actually had someone ask me one time, "How do you get the peanut butter inside the chocolate?"

These are delicious little morsels.

Number 2 item - Gingersnaps.

Ingredients: 3/4 cup butter 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1/4 cup molasses 2 cups sifted flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon ginger 1/2 teaspoon salt

First, cream the butter, and beat in the sugar.

Add in the egg.

And the molasses.

Next, mix the sifted flour, baking soda, cloves, ginger, and salt together.

And sift into the butter mixture.

Cover and chill for at least two hours.

Make small balls.

And bake on an ungreased pan for 5-7 minutes at 350 degrees. After 5 minutes, I take the pans and turn them around on the oven racks, and do a bit of a slap/bang, and they deflate. Then I cook for 2-3 minutes more. I like a crisp gingersnap. My children like a chewy snap. Cook more for crisp. Less for chewy. It's your decision. And thank you, Notmuchofacook, for reminding me of what I know I do, and did, but just didn't post about.

My gingersnaps. Yummy!

Number 3 - Lacy Oatmeal Crisps.

Ingredients: 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup shortening 1/4 cup butter 2 cups oatmeal 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg, well beaten

Combine the brown sugar, butter, and Crisco in a saucepan, cooking over low heat, until melted.

When melted, remove from heat.

Stir in the oatmeal.

Add in the baking soda.

Add in the salt.

And finally, add in the beaten egg.

Drop teaspoons 3 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 6-7 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on pan, then remove to cooling rack.

Lacy Oatmeal Crisps. It took me all day to prepare and bake these goodies. Now, it's time for supper. Mr. Hawthorne got home from work and pulled out some frozen chicken breasts from the loaded freezer downstairs.

He semi-thawed the chicken, then thinly sliced it.

Next, Mr. Hawthorne prepared the veggies for my stir-fry: broccoli, onion, carrots, snow peas, celery, sweet orange peppers.

In the meantime, I made a marinade: Orange marmalade, garlic, fresh ginger, soy sauce.

Poured the marinade onto the sliced chicken.

Here's the chick in the back, a cornstarch slurry, chicken stock, and the veggies (celery, onion, snow peas, broccoli, carrots, orange sweet pepper).

I chopped up some more garlic and fresh ginger.

A bit of ginger and garlic went into the hot oil. Then I added the broccoli in.

Next the carrots went in.

And finally, the carrots, snow peas, celery, and onion.

Toss and stir. And remove veggies to a bowl and cover.

Heat up some more oil (I use peanut oil.) and add in some of the chicken.

Cook the first batch of chicken, and add to the veggie bowl.

Heat up more oil, add in ginger and garlic, and the rest of the chicken.

Stir fry. Toss for show.

I added in some cashews.

Then the cornstarch slurry went in.

I poured in the marinade and cooked it.

Added in the rest of the stir fry ingredients.

And the chicken stock.

And serve with my sticky sushi rice.

Oh my. This was really good.

I had two helpings. I love my stir fries. Just plain good eats.