Chicken Chow Mein

I love Chinese takeout. The morning after a night out drinking I get a craving for grease, cornstarchy sauces, steamed dumplings and anything deep fried. Lately though, I have been interested in trying more authentic food, which is nothing like what you get at takeout restaurants. I think there are some common misconceptions about Chinese cuisines that discourage people from attempting too cook them. Mainly that they are super complicated and include hard-to-find ingredients. This may be true for some dishes, as it is for any cuisine, but there are also a lot of great, simple dishes.

This recipe uses chinese five-spice powder. Five-spice is a common ingredient in a lot of Chinese cooking. As you can probably guess, it includes five different spices. Apparently, there are a couple different kinds of five-spice powder, which I was unaware of when I went to buy it. The most popular type includes star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and ground fennel. Unfortunately, I got another kind which has star anise, anise, cinnamon, cloves and fennel. I really wanted the Sichuan peppers in it, which isn't really pepper and causes a numbness in your mouth, but more on that another time. I was just ecstatic to find five-spice powder in the supermarket. Too often I strike out on ingredients like that. It just tasted like anise, which I really don't like that much. But if you like that flavor, you should try this recipe.

Chicken Chow Mein

adapted from Ching-He Huang

5 oz. dried, wheat flour noodles (the ones I used were called Chow Mein noodles)

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil, plus more if needed

11 oz. skinless chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips

Dash of dark soy sauce

1 tsp. five-spice powder

1 tsp. chile sauce

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

2 Tbsp peanut oil (or other groundnut oil)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely sliced

1 large green onion, sliced lengthwise

2 Tbsp. light soy sauce

Freshly ground black pepper

Cook the noodles in salted, boiling water until al dente. Then drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Drizzle a little of the toasted sesame oil onto the noodles and toss them around. This helps flavor the noodles and keeps them from sticking.

Season the chicken with the dark soy, chile sauce and five-spice powder. Then, coat the strips with cornstarch.

Heat up your wok (or pan) and add the peanut oil, it should be super hot. Add the chicken strips and cook for 2-3 minutes until cooked through. Then, add the bell pepper and cook for 1 minute. Add the onion and cook for 1 more minute. Add the cooked noodles and season with light soy, 1 tsp. of sesame oil and black pepper. Enjoy if you like anise!

Notes:

1. Chow mein is a traditional Chinese takeout dish which literally translates to "stir-fried noodles."

Fusilli with Spinach and Asiago Cheese

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes. It is so delicious and incredibly simple to make. It's perfect for a busy night when you don't have much time to be in the kitchen. I think it takes 20 minutes start to finish, it would be a lot less if you didn't have to boil water.

I think what I love most about this dish is the taste of the Asiago cheese. It tastes a little like parmesan cheese, it has the same nuttiness, but I think it's tangier. It's also not as crumbly and salty as parmesan. Luckily there are lots of both in this recipe, so you get the best of both worlds.

Fusilli with Spinach and Asiago Cheese
recipe adapted from Giada de Laurentiis

1 pound fusilli pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (9-ounce) bag fresh spinach, roughly chopped
8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup grated Asiago
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Add the pasta and cook for until al dente (about 8-10 minutes). When finished, drain the pasta, saving about a half cup of the cooking liquid.

While the pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until you can begin smelling it, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach and tomatoes and cook, stirring frequently, until the spinach begins to wilt. Next, add the cooked pasta and toss. Finally add the cheeses, salt and pepper, and cooking liquid and stir tpgether.


Notes:
1. Be very careful with the salt in this recipe. The cheeses, especially the parmesan, are salty. This dish doesn't need much extra.
2. I love asiago, but if you dislike it for some reason there are alternatives you can use. You could make the whole thing with parmesan, but then I think it would be a really one-note dish. Pecorino-Romano would work, it is tangy (like asiago) because it is made from sheeps milk. Also, a dry jack cheese could be good in this dish. I really recommend the asiago. If I can find it around me, you shouldn't have any trouble finding it in the supermarket.