Make Your Own Take Out vol. 1

Hope no one is going hungry for lack of meal plans! I'll be posting a new one soon.

For Christmas, Rob's parents gave me Rachel Ray's new cookbook Express Lane Meals. I've already made 4 recipes from it. We ate this one last night:

Sweet Soy-Glazed Chicken with Carrot-Sesame Noodles

Whew, well all of her recipes have "Titles"! It is really good! Actually I've tried several Asian themed recipes in the last year that I plan to post, this is the first of the series.

Don't be too overwhelmed by the ingredient list - there are a lot!

Salt
1 lb long cut pasta - spaghetti, vermicelli, whatever
1/4 cup tamari, plus 1 tbsp
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup chicken stock, plus 1/4 cup
The Juice of one Lime
4 large garlic cloves - 1 crushed, 3 chopped
3 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated or chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus some for drizzling
1 large onion, chopped
5 or 6 carrots, peeled and shredded
black pepper
3 big chicken breast or 6 cutlets
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup each fresh chopped cilantro, basil, and parsley

While cooking the pasta, preheat a grill (I used George Forman), and make the soy glaze by combining 1/4 c. of the tamari, the brown sugar, 1/4 cup of chicken stock, the lime juice, crushed garlic, 1/4 of the ginger, and the red pepper flakes. Simmer in a small pan over medium-high heat and cook for about 4 minutes. Set aside.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, add 2 tbsp of oil, then carrots, onion, chopped garlic, remaining ginger, and a little salt and pepper; cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Meanwhile, season the chicken with pepper, drizzle it with oil and slap it on the grill. Cook it for a couple of minutes to get "grill marks" then brush it with the soy glaze several times throughout the cooking. When it's done move it to a plate, tent it with foil and let it rest.

Back with the carrots - add the rest of the chicken stock and tamari and bring it to a boil for 1 minute. Add the drained pasta, stir and let cook about 30 more seconds. Kill the heat, sprinkle with sesame seed and herbs. Stir it up well, slice the chicken on the bias, top the noodles with the chicken and voila!



Caleb says, "It's finger lickin' good!"

By the way, Tamari is a special kind of soy sauce. Regular soy sauce is cheaper, but tamari tastes better to me! It's not that expensive, so I'd rather use it.