Stewed Chicken in Wine Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, cut up into pieces
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 1 cup wine
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 medium onion, cut into 1 inch thin strips
• 1 green pepper, cut into 1 inch thin strips
• 1/2 cup frozen sweet peas
• 1/4 cup golden raisins

Directions

1. Mix flour, salt and pepper, then coat all sides of the chicken pieces with the flour mixture.
2. In a large pan, brown coated chicken pieces on all sides.
3. Move the browned pieces to a pot, then add wine, can of diced tomatoes including the liquid, broth and bay leaves to the pot. Bring to a boil.
4. Meanwhile, add the onion and green pepper to the same pan used to brown chicken pieces, saute for 3 minutes.
5. Add the sweet peas and raisins to the pot of chicken. If the liquid has not reached boiling point yet, wait until it is boiling.
6. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 35 minutes or until chicken pieces are fully cooked.
7. At this point, check on the sauce. If you would prefer a thicker sauce, bring the pot to a boil and keep boiling until the sauce reaches your desired consistency. As with any recipe, taste and adjust the salt / pepper level if necessary.
8. Serve chicken over plain white rice.

Low Fat Mascarpone and Cherry Rice Pudding

I first had this at Rice to Riches in New York City. Amazingly, I found this simple recipe and it tastes just like the one in store!

Ingredients

• 6 cups skim milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp confectioners sugar
• 10 oz unsweetened dried cherries
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, salt, rice and sugar.
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 60 minutes. Pay attention that the heat is high enough to maintain a simmer. After 60 minutes, the rice should have reached a creamy texture, with some liquid remaining in the saucepan.
3. Stir in vanilla, confectioners sugar, dried cherries and mascarpone, mix well.
4. Turn off heat, cover and let stand for 10 minutes.
5. Serve either slightly warm or cold. I prefer to let it chill in the fridge overnight before serving.

Shandong Lamian (Zha Jiang Mian)

This is a delicious recipe from the Shandong region of China. Generally these noodles are made and stretched by hand. However, you can purchase dried versions of these noodles from Asian grocery stores. The spicy brown bean sauce can also be substituted by peking duck sauce or hoisin sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 lb of shandong lamian noodles
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced into slivers
• 1 lb of ground pork
• 2 tbsp of sherry or brandy
• 1 cup of diced spiced dried tofu
• 4 tbsp of spicy brown bean sauce
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
  
• 1/2 cup of chicken stock
• 1 cup of diced cucumber, skin and seeds removed

Directions

1. Cook the noodles in water according to directions on package.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pan.
3. Add the garlic slivers to pan and saute for 1 minute.
4. Add the ground pork and the sherry or brandy, saute until the meat is browned.
5. Add the tofu and stir for 2 minutes.
6. Mix in the bean sauce, soy sauce, tamarind, and chicken stock. Cook for 2 more minutes.
7. Add the noodles to the mixture and mix well.
8. Serve with diced cucumbers.