Mandarin orange chicken stir-fry

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It's not tangerine chicken, but it's pretty close. We'll save all of the remaining peels from that box to dry and use in future dishes.

You may notice that it's been quite a while since I've posted any new recipes here. Life has been pretty busy, and I've mostly used this recipe blog as a quick resource for myself instead of adding new dishes. If I have a ton of time one of these days, I'll get a few new winners up, though truth be told many of them are very minor tweaks to existing recipes, so they're just a standard repost like most of the internet has these days.

However, I just made a dish that was NOT a repost of any particular recipe, instead being a mix of a few different versions of a popular dish, and wanted to get it posted here, both for myself in the future and for others. Plus, it's a "Costco hack" that uses their frozen chicken bites, which is a great time-saver and somewhat of a compromise between a heavy, deep fried coating (fast-food style) and not being breaded at all (authentic Hunan-style preparation).

The reason I'm making this at all is that we went to Trader Joe's today to try to find a pack of their Mandarin Chicken, which is surprisingly good, but they were out. This ended up being an opportunity instead of a burden, because they had decent fresh mandarin oranges, so we gave ourselves a challenge and tried to make something better. I had recently been researching to try to figure out what this dish originally would have been inspired by, since most Chinese-American food is not authentic - orange chicken in particular, as it was invented by the founder of Panda Express some 30-ish years ago. I love the backstory on this, as I do for other fun facts on "Chinese food" after watching The Search for General Tso (which is really good and very short, highly recommend). With a bit of digging, I found that the actual dish that Mandarin chicken comes from is tangerine peel chicken (which I believe is chen pi ji if an internet search is accurate), and it isn't terribly hard to reproduce with the right ingredients. The dish doesn't use breaded chicken, and it includes prickly ash (sichuan peppercorn), which we like enough to grow in our yard and harvest for use in Sichuan dishes. So we made a kind of mash-up of different cultures and produced a dish that was somewhere in between the American and the Chinese dish from Hunan province. And, naturally, we used lightly breaded chicken, because we had it and it's delicious, and spared us the trouble of firing up the wok this time. I can't rightfully call this tangerine chicken because we couldn't find tangerines, but we did use real California mandarin oranges, both peel and juice, and those seem to be a close second on many websites. Also, mandarins are genetically one of the parent citrus fruits, so I'm going to just claim that this substitution isn't as blasphemous as, say, using pasteurized orange juice.

One point of note, as referenced above - we used Costco's Just Bare lightly breaded chicken, which is routinely cited as a knock-off of Chick-fil-A nuggets, but it also makes a fantastic base for coating in a glaze, be it teriyaki, pineapple, or this mandarin orange sauce. I highly recommend this substitution, which we cooked in our air fryer before tossing in the sauce.

I ended up using a whole bunch of kitchen electrics, as shown in this photo of my kitchen chaos, but you could probably get by with the basics if you have an oven and a clean coffee grinder.

Lots of gadgets involved that helped - air fryer (left), spice grinder (left of oranges), and rice cooker (right)

We'll probably adjust this dish quite a bit, since I plan to make it regularly in both breaded and unbreaded forms. I'll update to the best version we come up with, which may end up including black vinegar and Shaoxing wine in some form, which would be a bit more faithful to the real recipe. And we will try dehydrating mandarin peels instead of using them fresh, to see if this concentrates the flavor further (which I suspect it will).

Mandarin Orange Chicken (with Broccoli)

Created after modifying highly from Woks of Life version and reviewing historical recipes on chen pi ji

• 1 lb lightly breaded chicken bites (we used Just Bare brand, but you could do a cornstarch-battered and fried breast chunk, or just use unbreaded chicken thighs stir fried with a bit of ginger and garlic, which would also be excellent)
• 1 tsp sichuan peppercorns
• 6 dried red chili peppers, whole
• 4 mandarin oranges
• 1 tbsp canola or peanut oil
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in a small bowl with 1 tbsp water
• 1 scallion
• 1/2 lb broccoli florets

First, get all of the pieces ready. Steam the broccoli until par-cooked. Wash and peel the mandarins, reserving the peel of at least 2 (you only need 2 for the peels, possibly 4 to get enough juice). Try to get the peel off in large pieces. Scrape the white pith off of the inside of the peel with a serrated knife to reduce bitterness, and cut the two peels into long strips. Juice enough of the peeled mandarins to gather 1/4 cup of juice. In a large measuring cup, assemble the sauce liquids - the mandarin orange juice, chicken broth, vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce.

Cook the chicken using an appropriate method (for us, this was air-frying the breaded chunks) until done. Once the chicken has about 5 minutes remaining, heat a large frying pan (NOT nonstick, you need it ripping hot) and toast the sichuan peppercorns over high heat for 30 seconds or less, until it begins to release fragrance, and place in a spice grinder to cool for a minute before grinding to a powder. Slice the scallions on an angle, separating the pale white part from the green part.

Back in the empty and hot pan, add the chili peppers and mandarin peel strips for about 15 seconds. Then add the canola oil and the white part of the scallions, and toss all to coat for another 15 seconds. Now carefully add the juice mixture from the measuring cup - this will splatter, so be careful. Cook until this darkens and thickens, at least a minute, possibly more. You want to caramelize the flavor a bit, but not reduce this until it's a syrup.

Now, all within about 10 seconds of each other, add just enough of the cornstarch/water mix to thicken the sauce to a glaze (less is better here, and don't use all of this unless you really need to or else you'll make a paste), then add the cooked chicken and the par-cooked broccoli and toss all to coat. Throw in the green onion tops, toss again, and serve over rice.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Saffron and Candied Orange Peel

Thailand is done.  Time to start thinking about our next travels.  We were toying with Morocco, so we decided to check out a book on Moroccan food and make a few things, to see if we liked the flavors.  In the end, despite the library book being free, the resulting trip will probably cost us thousands.  If the food is similar to this, it's totally going to be worth it.  This stew falls under the "meats and sweets" category (sorry, Kevin), which is what I think of for Moroccan food in the first place.  Salty, slightly gamey meat browned thoroughly, served with some kind of preserved fruit and perfumed with the heady aromas of desert spices, like ras el hanout and saffron.  By the way, we found our ras el hanout at Williams-Sonoma, and I would recommend it, rather than making your own blend of 15-30 spices that you might not have, or that probably are none too fresh.

I think I have this dish figured out, except for the part where they say to cut a bone-in leg of lamb into 8 pieces.  What do they want me to do here?  We gave up and went with blade chops, which were already portion-sized, although they didn't look as attractive once finished.  But this was totally worth the effort, and if you already have an actual tagine, you should probably try this (although you probably have already).

A traditional Moroccan spice assortment: ras el hanout (Arabic for "head of the shop"), saffron, turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger

Lamb Tagine with Oranges, Saffron, and Candied Orange Peel

Modified slightly from Morocco, by Jeff Koehler

Serves 4

Total prep and cook time: 2.5-3 hours

• 1 tsp butter, softened
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ras el hanout
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp freshly ground white pepper
• Generous pinch saffron threads
• Salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2.25 lb / 1 kg bone-in leg of lamb, cut into ~8 pieces (we used lamb blade chops)
• 1 small cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 Valencia orange, scrubbed
• ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
• 8 cloves
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds for garnishing

In a tagine, dutch oven, or pressure cooker, add the butter, ginger, ras el hanout, cinnamon, turmeric, white pepper, and saffron.  Season with salt.  Moisten with the olive oil and blend well.  One by one, place the pieces of lamb in the spice mixture, and turn to coat.  Add half of the cinnamon stick and scatter the onion across the top.

Place the pot over medium heat, cover, and cook, turning the lamb from time to time, until the meat is browned and the onion is softened but not scorched, about 15 minutes.  Add 1 cup water, loosely cover, and cook over medium-low heat for 45 minutes, stirring from time to time.  If using a pressure cooker (PC), go with 30 minutes at pressure, and if using a dutch oven (DO), go to 60 minutes - the tagine is somewhere in between these in terms of cook time, and I'm basing that entirely on my guess based on how things came out, and how I know meat cooks in my pressure cooker.  During this step, deal with the oranges.

We went with 4 lamb shoulder blade chops, already cut into single serving pieces

Meanwhile, peel the orange, reserving the fruit.  Take two of the orange slices and set them aside to get your 2 tbsp juice.  With a knife, scrape away some – but not all – of the white pith from the peel.  Cut the peel into long, very thin strips about 1/8” wide.  In a small pan, bring 1 cup water to a boil.  Add strips of peel and a pinch of salt, simmer for 2 minutes, and drain.  Repeat one more time, then drain, rinse out pan, and return strips to pan with ¾ cup water.  Bring to a boil, then stir in sugar and add remaining cinnamon stick half and cloves.  Simmer until the liquid is syrupy and the strips of peel are tender but still a touch al dente, about 20 minutes.  Stir in 1 tbsp orange juice, remove from the heat, and let cool.

Try to peel the orange into one whole skin, then slice into long strips

After blanching once

Back to the lamb pot, add ½ cup water and remaining 1 tbsp orange juice and cook until the meat is tender, about 45 minutes (30 for PC, 60 for DO).  Add a bit more water if necessary to keep the sauce loose, or remove the lid to evaporate and thicken it.  Stir in the honey and cook the lamb uncovered for a final 5 minutes.

With a sharp knife, cut away any white pith from the reserved orange.  Carefully cut along the membranes separating the segments and remove them.  Lay the segments in a shallow bowl, spoon the syrup from the pan over the segments, and let soak until ready to serve.

To serve, divide lamb among four plates, and top with the sauce, orange segments, and strips of peel.  Lightly sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bay Rum Aftershave

Witch Hazel - let's talk about it.  Have you ever bought any?  Do you know what it's for?  Did you think it's just some kind of weird old lady remedy for long-forgotten diseases, like scurvy, consumption, and the grippe?  If you answered 'yes' to these, read on.

No so long ago, I got my first straight razor shave.  Afterwards, the barber had all kinds of bottles of homemade tinctures, and he splashed some on my face and sent me on my way.  Well, I was bound and determined to find out what that was all about, and I think I narrowed it down to a couple of things - holy water, hyena mucous, or some kind of witch hazel mixture.  Figured maybe I'd start with the witch hazel one.

Witch-hazel is a deciduous shrub or small tree, and the leaves and bark are then made into witch hazel.  This was used by Native Americans for many years, having astringent properties used for everything from treating bug bites to curing hemorrhoids.  Frequent on the list of uses is in aftershave products.

Excited to use a product I've never tried, that also claims to prevent "sweating of the face", I ran out and bought a bottle, and tried using it straight.  Well, bad news - this stuff smells fairly odd in raw form, somewhere between rubbing alcohol and raw sweet potatoes.  So I went back and discovered that people using it as the base of aftershave, not exclusively.  I found a few recipes, merged them and added a few things, and this is the first attempt I made at an aftershave with a witch hazel base.  The result?  A spiced yet mellow concoction that I think smells suspiciously like Old Spice, but much more toned down.  It was a bay rum scent, literally made from bay and rum (and some other stuff).

Mystery vials - they look pretty cool next to my bathroom sink

This is witch-hazel, the plant from which the product of the same name is made.

Bay Rum Aftershave

• 2 cups of witch hazel extract
• 1 ounce of rum
• zest from one orange
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3-5 cloves
• 3-5 whole allspice
• 2 bay leaves, dry or fresh (or bay essential oil, if you have it)
• Mason jar

Place all ingredients in the glass jar, seal, and place in a dark spot for two weeks.

How the heck are these things going to work together?

...oh, I see.  Put them in a jar and make them play nice.

After the two weeks, filter through cheesecloth once or twice, and transfer to a small bottle.  Apply after shaving or use as an astringent.

After two weeks and some gentle shaking occasionally, the scents mellow significantly

Filter through cheesecloth

Transfer to a small bottle and use as you would aftershave

If you would like to go all out, add a half teaspoon each of aloe vera and glycerin, to really make your skin feel amazing afterwards.  I didn't have either of these, but I will invest for the next batch.  New recipes to follow!

Seared Salmon with Jalapeño Ponzu

In an unprecedented bout of productivity, I'm going to post a recipe for something I just cooked tonight, because it was so good and easy that I have to tell the world as soon as possible.  The dish was pretty straightforward - seared salmon in a jalapeno ponzu sauce - but since it was made from scratch and came together in about 15 minutes total, I was totally floored with the quality-to-effort ratio.  I've had ponzu sauce before, but not fresh from home, and I couldn't identify it while out at Japanese restaurants.  Well, now I know.  A sweeter, almost drinkable adaptation of soy sauce, made with citrus juice and one other sweetener.  If you've ever had oyster shooters from a sushi place, this is the sauce they come in.  And with only four ingredients, this is about to become a staple in my fridge, since you could basically lick it off the floor and it would still be good.  Whatever you do, don't skimp out on those four ingredients and buy the pre-made stuff, because you will be disappointed, and I don't want you coming back and blaming me.

This is the second version of the dish, without the jalapeno slices but probably even better than the first

Seared Salmon with Jalapeño Ponzu
Cooking Light, May 2010

• 1/4 cup less-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
• 4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
• 1 large jalapeño pepper, cut crosswise into thin slices

Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl; mix well.  This is the ponzu sauce, and it's the best part of the whole dish.  Use fresh squeezed juices if you can.

The full ingredient list - no mysteries here, you might even just have these lying around.  Except the fish, I hope.

  

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add salmon, skin side down; cook 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

Sear the salmon skin side down first to cook most of the way through.  The skin can take more abuse than the flesh, and will help bring the pan back down to a moderate temperature for when you flip.

Sear for 4 minutes, then flip and cook another 4 minutes.  Don't worry if you cook the skin a bit too long, it can handle it.

Arrange 1 fillet on each of 4 plates. Top fillets evenly with jalapeño slices. Spoon about 2 tablespoons soy sauce mixture over each serving; let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Here's a weird step - after cooking, let the salmon sit with the ponzu sauce drizzled over for a good 5-10 minutes.  This lets the fish cool down a bit, and absorb the flavor of the sauce through the skin and flesh.

Pollo Asado con Mojo

If you ever worry that you've lost your mojo, do not worry - there's a way to get it back.  Mojo, after all, is more than a magical charm bag used in hoodoo, it's also a delicious Cuban sauce.  Wikipedia defines mojo (pronounced "mo-ho") as: 

"...the name, or abbreviated name, of several types of sauces, varying in spiciness, that originated in the Canary Islands. It is predominantly either a red (most common), green or orange sauce.... In Cuban cooking mojo applies to any sauce that is made with garlic, olive oil and a citrus juice, traditionally sour orange juice. It is commonly used to flavor the cassava tuber and is also used to marinate roast pork. "

I learned about mojo from my old boss, who was Cuban.  He taught me how to make it to go over yuca, which turned a bland starchy tuber into delicious garlicky exotica.  It's typically the same few core ingredients - garlic, oil, cumin, and a tart citrus juice - conventionally bitter orange, but since this is hard to find usually just orange and lime juice.  And while I've never used it for roast pork, I have used it with roasted chicken in a recipe from the Dinosaur BBQ cookbook (highly recommended, by the way).  So I'm no stranger to this stuff, and have made it a few different ways.  But I wanted to try something a little safer than the last time I made it, which involved heating up a bunch of oil and then adding orange juice, leading to many burns and much less arm hair at the end.  This recipe had some similarities to that, but seemed more appropriate for a Memorial Day cookout and safer to boot, so I gave it a shot.  It did not disappoint, and I came away without permanent scarring.

Pollo asado con mojo, with homemade cole slaw and agua fresca de pepino.  And a little flag - Memorial Day for the win.

Mojo Roast Chicken (Pollo Asado)
Adapted lightly from Allrecipes

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
•  3 tablespoons lime juice 
• 3 tablespoons orange juice 
• 1 (6 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until very hot.  While the oil heats, mash the cumin, salt, oregano, and garlic together into a paste in a heat-proof bowl; whisk the hot oil into the paste.  Allow the mixture to cool slightly.
 

Crush up your whole cumin - don't use the powdered stuff.  Toast them first for maximum flavor.

Whisk the herbs and hot oil together in a heatproof bowl

Mojo is the perfect combination of aromatic infused oil and tart citrus - use bitter orange if you can find it, or orange and lime if you can't

Add the lime juice and orange juice; stir.  And don't use that nasty lime juice from a bottle, or I will come find you and give you the look of eternal shaming.  Place the chicken in a large sealable bag; pour the marinade over the chicken and shake to assure an even coating. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, up to overnight.

Marinate the chicken for a few hours at least, to break down the fibers with the acidic mojo sauce

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), or grill over low / indirect heat.  Arrange the marinated chicken in a roasting pan if baking.  Bake / grill chicken in the preheated oven until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 1 hour.  If grilling, take the reserved marinade and boil in a small saucepan to sanitize, then bring down and baste over the chicken periodically.  An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone should read 180 degrees F (82 degrees C).

Grill over low heat, basting regularly

This recipe goes great with plantains, rice, fries, yuca, or traditional American picnic sides just the same.