Crispy Korean Chicken and Gingerbread Biscotti for CBC's Weekend Morning Show

This morning I'll be featuring the following recipes on CBC's Weekend Morning Show with host Terry MacLeod.

This may look like a long and detailed recipe but once you have all of the elements together (mise en place), it is quite simple to prepare.

Enjoy for your Grey Cup snacking or make it a regular feature!

1. Crispy Korean Chicken
from:  http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/easy-dakgangjeong

Steps:
Mix chicken with seasonings and cover in starch.
Fry in hot oil for 7 to 8 minutes.
Shake off, let sit, then fry for another 12 to 15 minutes.
Coat in seasoning sauce.
Sprinkle sesame seeds over top and serve immediately.
Ingredients

3½ pounds chicken wings (about 1.6 kg), washed and drained
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon minced ginger
2/3 cup potato starch or corn starch
⅓ cup peanuts (optional)
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 to 4 large dried red chili peppers, seeded, cut crosswise into ⅓ inch pieces (optional)
¼ cup soy sauce
½ cup rice or corn syrup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon mustard (optional)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Grapeseed oil (or vegetable oil, peanut oil)
Directions

Cut off the tip of each wing and chop the wing in half. After this is done you should have about 3 pounds of chicken, with 24 to 26 pieces.
Put the chicken in a bowl and mix with salt, ginger, and ground black pepper by hand.
Put 2/3 cup potato starch in a bowl and dip each wing in the powder to coat it, one by one. Squeeze each wing to press the coating to it tightly.
Make the sweet, spicy, and sticky sauce:

Heat a large non-stick skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons cooking oil, minced garlic, and the dried red chili pepper.
Stir with a wooden spoon until fragrant for about 30 seconds.
Add soy sauce, rice syrup, vinegar, and mustard sauce (optional). Stir with a wooden spoon and let it bubble for a few minutes.
Add the brown sugar and continue stirring. Remove from the heat. Set aside.
Fry the chicken:

Put 4 cups of cooking oil in a frying pan or pot and heat it up for 7 to 8 minutes over high heat.
See if the oil’s ready by dipping a test wing into it. If the oil bubbles, it’s hot enough to start frying. Slide the coated wings one by one into the hot oil and cook for about 12 to 13 minutes, turning over a few times with tongs.
Take the wings out of the oil and shake them off in a strainer. Turn off the heat, and let the wings sit for a few minutes.
Reheat the oil and fry the wings again for another 12 to 15 minutes until they all look golden brown and feel super crunchy through the tongs. If your frying pan or pot is not large enough to fry all the chicken at once, divide it into batches like I do in the video. If you use a larger frying pot to cook them all at once, you’ll have to use more cooking oil.
Coat the fried chicken with the sauce:

When the chicken is done, reheat the sauce until it bubbles.
Add the hot chicken and mix well with a wooden spoon to coat.
Remove from the heat and transfer the coated chicken to a large platter. Sprinkle some sesame seeds over top and serve immediately. This chicken won’t lose its crunchiness, even by the next day. You don’t need any dipping sauce.


2. Gingerbread Biscotti

2/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 tsp Frangelico (or try kirsch, or coffee liquors)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch sea salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Mix butter sugar and molasses until smooth. Add one egg at a time and mix. Add vanilla and liquor and mix until smooth. Combine dry ingredients and mix slowly into the wet ingredients until fully incorporated. Turn out dough onto floured surface and form into a large log. Divide dough into three pieces and flatten out each piece into rectangles onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Take out of oven and cut into biscotti pieces. Turn cookies and bake for 5-7 minutes at 300ºF. When cooled, drizzle melted chocolate or make a simple icing of icing sugar and liquor.

Enjoy!

Superbowl snacks on CBC's Weekend Morning Show!

 This morning I had the pleasure of presenting the following dishes for CBC's Weekend Morning Show, on the theme of tomorrow's Superbowl.  Host Terry MacLeod also makes chowder with mussels but PEI is not in the Superbowl.  :)

Seattle Seahawks Coffee wings
2 lbs chicken wings & drumettes, frenched*
1 cup strongly brewed coffee, cooled
1 cup of water
1 bay leaf
2 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon espresso grounds
1 Tablespoon ground black pepper
2¼ tsp spanish paprika
1½ tsp garlic powder
1½ tsp dried thyme
1½ tsp dried Oregano
1 tsp ground sage
½ tsp. cayenne
2 Tablespoon maple syrup*  Optional:  Trim chicken wings & drumettes of excess fat. I prefer them "Frenched" which just means removing the excess cartilage & skin from the 'handle' of the drumette. It is easy to do with a small sharp nice, but not necessary.
Optional:  Trim chicken wings & drumettes of excess fat. Frenched which just means removing the excess cartilage & skin from the 'handle' of the drumette. It is easy to do with a small sharp nice, but not necessary.
Place wings in a bowl and add brewed coffee, water, 2 tablespoons of salt and bay leaf. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 6 hours to overnight.
Mix remaining ingredients, except maple syrup, in a small bowl. Adjust seasonings as preferred (i.e. more or less heat)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Drain and rinse wings. Pat dry with paper towel. Toss lightly in spice mixture ensuring wings are evenly coated.
Arrange wings on baking rack (with lined drip pan underneath) and cook for 15 minutes.
Baste lightly with maple syrup and then cook an additional 10 minutes.
Baste a second time lightly with maple syrup and then broil for an additional 3 -5 minutes to caramelize sugars.

New England Clam Chowder (Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse, 2001)

Ingredients

8 pounds small quahogs or large cherrystone clams, scrubbed and rinsed, opened clams discarded
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups finely chopped yellow onions
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
6 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
3 cups 1/2-inch cubed, peeled potatoes, about 1 1/4 pounds
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1 1/2-teaspoon pieces
1/4 cup minced parsley leaves
1/4 cup finely chopped chives or green onions

Directions

In a large stockpot bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add clams, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Uncover, quickly stir clams with a wooden spoon. Cover and cook 5 to 10 minutes longer (this will depend on the type and size of clams you are using), or until most of the clams are opened.
OR
Use clam juice from bottles, your own stock (fish or chicken) and drain tins of whole clams for broth.

Transfer the clams to a large bowl or baking dish and strain the broth twice through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, being careful to strain out the sand. (You should have about 6 cups of clam broth. If not, add enough water to bring the volume up to 6 cups.) When the clams are cool enough to handle, remove them from their shells and chop into 1/2-inch pieces. Set clams and broth aside.

In a large heavy pot cook the bacon until crisp and the fat is rendered. Pour off all bacon fat except 2 tablespoons. Add the butter, onions and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and bay leaves, and cook until the vegetables are thoroughly wilted, about 3 minutes, being careful not to brown. Add the potatoes and reserved clam broth, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the broth thickens slightly and the potatoes are very tender. (If you like a thicker broth, mash some of the potatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon.) Remove from the heat, stir in clams and heavy cream and season with pepper and salt, if necessary.

Set aside for 1 hour, covered, to allow the flavors to marry. Place the pot over low heat, and slowly reheat, being careful not to bring to the boil. Serve hot, garnished with 1 or 2 pats of butter, parsley and chives.