I mean, I don’t believe the world is flat or anything but I do resist new things. So it should not surprise you when I say that up until a few days ago I had not used Panko crumbs.

I know. I know. Everyone has used Panko…for everything. I am pretty sure I even heard of someone using it for spackle. What can I say? I told you, I am technology resistant. But curiousity got the best of me and I furtively picked up a box of Panko crumbs when I was shopping last week, carefully hiding it under the organic flour and vital wheat gluten.

When I got home I watched the kids unload the van and put things away. This is truly why everyone should have children. They are like little oompa loompas carrying out the menial tasks that are so prevalent in the home. When they got to the Panko crumbs there were the inevitable questions.

“Mom, what’s this?”

“Panko”

“I read that. What’s it for?”

“Cooking. Don’t you have some math to do?”

In our house the trump card is always asking about school. Being homeschoolers we don’t often take a full summer off. Generally the kids hope that I get busy writing and forget that they are supposed to be writing reports on primitive cultures, in Latin. The especially hope that I forget about math.

So there the Panko box was, leering at me from the pantry shelf, next to the box of Organic Free Range Chicken Broth on one side and Seventh Generation Dishwasher Soap on the other. Everytime I walked into the pantry I could feel its desire for me, its plotting to have me completely, to indulge my desire for the unknown.

And I caved. I did. I wanted to do chicken breast with maple chipotle glaze but I wanted it to be a little beyond that. I mean smooth chicken, herbed salad, boiled potatoes? Smooth…and boring. A crispy crumb coating would add texture, excitement, depth. The deed was done; I had been seduced.

It. Was. Amazing.

The chicken breast is tender and juicy, the crumb layer crisp and crunchy, the glaze is sweet smoky, and spicy. And it is easy. You can easily have this on the table in under an hour.

My menu was:

Panko Breaded Chicken with Maple Chipotle Glaze

Potatoes with Cilantro Butter

Baby Herb Salad with Balsamic and Maple Vinaigrette

An apple or pear dessert, even sliced with cheese, would be a beautiful finish.

When we had a tea room we would slice the chicken breast in half horizontally. You get two chicken breasts for every one, it is still plenty of food, and it cooks faster. Just make sure you have a sharp knife and cut parallel to your hand.

Here is a series of images to help you visualize it.

Breaded Chicken Breast

• 4 boneless chicken breasts sliced horizontally.
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 cup Panko plain crumbs
• Peanut oil or olive oil for shallow frying

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Place eggs in a large bowl
3. Place mixed  flour, salt, and pepper on a plate
4. Place crumbs onto another plate
5. Dip chicken into flour, covering well
6. Dip into egg
7. Coat with crumbs
8. Heat about 2 tbs of the oil in a frying pan until it ripples
9. Place  2 chicken breasts at a time into the pan and fry until golden
10. Turn and fry on the other side until golden
11. Repeat with all of the chicken
12. Place in oven until meat thermometer reads 165F. The finished temperature should be 170F but it will continue to cook as it stands. This will probably take about 15 minutes.

Serves 8

Maple Chipotle Sauce

• 1  cup maple syrup
• 1 – 2 tablesppons chopped chipotle in adobo
• 1 onion chopped
• 1/4 cup butter

1. Cook onion in butter over medium low heat until transparent
2. Add chipotle and syrup and simmer, stirring often, until reduced by half.
3. For a thicker sauce that is more like a glaze process the sauce until smooth.

To Plate

Coat the plate with a few tablespoons of the sauce. Lay the chicken breast on top and dribble a little of the sauce over the top.

Post from: Baking Delights

The sauce is spicy. If you don’t like it spicy then adjust the amount of habenero or change the peppers totally. You could go with a chipotle, a jalapeno, or a serrano. It is hard to say how much to use because each person seems to have a different opinion as to what is spicy and the peppers can vary in heat from pepper to pepper. Let me tell you what happened to me.

I was getting the ingredients together for this sauce. Normally I taste a pepper to see how much I will want to use because I have had enough variation in heat to totally mess up a recipe. So I took a tentative nibble…they were, after all, habeneros.

Nothing. just a tiny little zap on the tongue. Sigh. I proceeded to chop about three habeneros and add them to the sauce. As I chopped the last one I popped a bit of it in my mouth.

ZOWIE. I saw stars. I became one with the universe. The top of my head came off. Again, verily, verily, I say unto you…always, always taste the peppers. EACH pepper. They vary in heat!  Quickly I pulled as many peppers as I could see from the bubbling sauce and put them in the chicken scraps. Our chickens like spicy things.

So, be sure to to check your peppers for heat and adjust your recipes accordingly.

This sauce was so good that people were spreading it on bread until it was gone.

Blueberry Habenero Sauce

• 1 large, sweet onion (like Vidalia) peeled and chopped
• 1 quart of blueberries
• 2 habenero peppers, chopped (adjust as needed)
• 1 tsp of adobo sauce from a can of chipotle in adobo, you can leave this out if you don’t have it but it adds a nice dimension
• 1/4 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
• Juice and zest of one lime
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• Olive oil for pan

1. Saute the onion in the oil until it is soft.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the lime juice, and simmer until the sauce reduces by about half. This will take ten minutes or so.
3. Add the lime juice and remove from heat.
4. Blend the sauce in the blender until smooth.
5. Brush on meat before cooking and then serve remaining sauce as a garnish.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Images:MaryeAudet

Post from: Baking Delights

There has been so much going on lately… I feel like…well you remember how, when you were a kid, you would get on a swing and twist until the chain was twisted all the way up? Then you would let go and spin? Yeah. Spinning here.

Marc is much better. He is no longer in a wheel chair and is not using crutches. He has cut way back on pain medications and is more himself rather than “Mr. Hyde”. Everyone is relaxing a little bit here and things are feeling a little more normal. Because Marc is back to himself we are also able to talk and work on some marital stuff that cropped up. All in all things are good, very good and we are moving ahead. There, you are caught up!

This sauce is incredible. Sweet, spicy, tangy, it will absolutely create a vacation moment in your mouth! It is perfect for chicken, fish, or pork, and I think it would make an awesome ice cream topping. This will be your go to sauce of summer, I promise.

I made it to use with pulled pork sandwiches and the entire family was quiet. Maybe you missed that. The entire family was quiet. Our house is never quiet..so when we are eating dinner and I hear absolute silence? Yeah. I know it is good.

By grilling the pineapple you bring out some complex flavors; slightly smoky, caramelized sugar…I grilled mine in my grill pan but it would be better on the grill outside.

You just want to peel and core the pineapple and leave it in strips. Heat your grill pan or grill up until it is very hot. Pat the pineapple dry and lay on the grill, a few minutes on each side. Not difficult to do.

Now, you are ready to make the sauce.

Roast Pineapple and Anaheim Pepper Sauce

• Grilled pineapple- fruit from one very ripe pineapple
• 1 onion, preferably a Vidalia or 1015
• 2 Anaheim Peppers, seared over a hot flame
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 3 tablespoon white balsamic
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 cup honey
• Water as needed

1. Chop the pineapple and set aside.
2. Peel and chop the onion and the garlic.
3. Remove the skin form the Anaheim peppers and chop.
4. Add a little oil to a pan and saute the onion,  and pepper for five minutes. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Be careful not to allow it to burn or it will get bitter.  Add the pineapple and about 1/2 cup of water. Simmer for 10 minutes to allow the water to begin to evaporate. Stir often. You may need a little more water to keep it from getting too thick.
5. Add the honey, vinegar, and lime and simmer until sauce thickens, about 5  minutes.
6. Transfer to a blender and pulse a couple of times. You want this to be rough without being chunky.
7. Salt to taste.
8. About 1 1/2 cups depending on the size of the pineapple.

You can vary the peppers to create your own variations on this, or use a combination.

image:maryeaudet

Post from: Baking Delights

Erin, my daughter, is addicted to mango. It has been one of her favorite fruits since she first sampled it, I think. Whenever I see mango in the store I think of her. And…this time of year they are at their best here so I buy them. The mango black bean salsa I made was so awesome I decided that I wanted to try a spicy mango chutney.

Spicy Mango Chutney

I used the traditional raisins even though I don’t like raisins cooked. I wanted to get a feel for the taste and texture before I played too much with it. Next time I think I will use dried cranberries instead. I also added the pecans, and made other adjustments but the recipe is based on one from the Culinary Institute of America Cookbook.

This is sweet, rich, spicy, and exotic all at once. I have used it several ways. I made a Moroccan Chicken, also based out of the CIA book, and I used the chutney along with cubed chicken breast as a tea sandwich filling for Erin’s shower.

…Then of course there was the bowl licking that I did…so, serve it with chicken, serve it with pork, serve it on a spoon…it is good no matter what you do!

If you don’t know how to cube mangoes, it is quite simple. Cut down through the mango on either side of the pit. Run your knife vertically without cutting through the skin, and then horizontally. Now Push the skin up from the bottom which will separated the mango squares. Cut them off with the knife, and voila! You have cubed mango.

Spicy Mango Chutney

• 2 cups very ripe mango, cubed
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 jalapeno seeded and minced
• 1/2 red fresno pepper seeded and minced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup toasted pecans

1. Combine all of the ingredients except the pecans in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and simmer slowly, stirring often, for about 15 minutes.
2. Taste and adjust the sweet to tangy ratio to personal taste by adding a touch more sugar or balsamic.
3. Add the pecans just before serving.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

image:maryeaudet

Post from: Baking Delights

Was it worth it?

Yeah. Big time.

First of all I added 1 cup of white chocolate chips to the batter…see, not a big deal at all..but the batter tasted so good..so sweet and I wanted to balance that out..with something…

but what? Hmmm…..What did I have in the fridge? Blueberries!

But they are so sweet…I needed some elusive flavor..but what? Aha!

yes. Chipotle!

So I came up with the most incrredible sauce…to serve with this incredible cake.

Blueberry Chipotle Sauce

(to go with the blueberry bundt cake (with white chocolate)

2 c blueberries

1 c water

1 c sugar

2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

1-3 teaspoons of dried chipotle

cook the blueberies in the water with sugar until they start to swell and pop. Stir often. Blend them quickly in a blender, just until sauce is formed, leave some texture. Taste for sweetness. If it is very sweet you may want to add a bit more balsamic that the 2 TBS I called for.

Add the vinegar and chipotle. Simmer until reduced by half. Taste and check for flavor balance.

Serve with the cake.

Post from: Baking Delights