Chicken with Red Sesame Sauce, Birdeye

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Well I've just let the yard go to the dump, so to speak.  I finally had a day uninterrupted to knock it out and I tried.  I should be embarrassed by the things that I let get in my way on my day off, a day that started at 5:30 a.m!!!  After knocking out my Wednesday list, I found this recipe in, you know, one of my favorite cookbooks from Terry Conlan, Lean Star Cuisine.  It's delicious, I tell ya.  I've added some recent photos for added flair.  Spay/neuter people.

Kara and I get our sesame seeds in bulk...this is only 1/2 c.

Holy smokes...the sauce is fabulous-ness

The Teddy on his last night in Birdeye

The only fun photo is this of putting the
Ancho Chile in hot water...this little guy is
the key in the sauce I'm just saying.

We're keeping Wynnie and Layla for Jimmy and Beth who
welcomed Shaver Pogue Huff, 8 lbs. 3 oz. on Sunday...Wynnie
is such the dominant dog...she's a bossy buffer
(look at Winnie Bob's weeping cherry tree, it's beautiful!!)

And W.B.'s daffodils...I'll have fresh flowers for at least another
week...I'm so spoiled and really lucky.

Aren't they just awesome?

My cabbage, broccoli and romaine before I weeded

What a lovely surprise...the asparagus is
coming up and was an excellent side with
tonight's chicken...put a little olive oil on them
with salt and pepper and cook on a cookie
sheet in the oven on 350 for 8 minutes or so.

Here's Layla...that lady has a hair cut like "Foxy Brown"
that's her nickname when she stays with us...look at my
big ole foot!

Chicken with Red Sesame Sauce, page 197 Lean Star Cuisine

"Ancho chiles are dried poblono peppers that are often used in commercial chili powders.  They are available in the produce section or Mexican food section of grocery or health food stores."

1/2 C. sesame seeds (see below the preparation)
1 chile ancho, toasted, seeded, soaked in hot water
1 t. cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
5 peppercorns
1 T. Vegetable oil (I used grape seed oil)
1 clove garlic (I used 2 )
1/2 C. tomato puree (I skipped this and used twice the diced tomatoes)
1/2 C. tomato diced tomatoes (I used a whole 16 oz. can)
1/2 bottle chili sauce
2 C. chicken stock (I did 1-1/2 cups chicken broth)
1/2 t. salt
1 T. vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
1 t. sugar
8-4 oz chicken  breasts (I used 6 tenderloins instead to help the fat content)
Vegetable cooking spray

Toast the sesame seeds until golden in a dry skillet over medium neat. Puree in a blender, then saute briefly in oil (which I didn't do, dang it).

Blend the acho chile, spices and garlic with a little of the chicken stock in a blender and add to the sesame mixture and cook, stirring for 5 minutes.

Puree the diced tomatoes and add the pureed chile sauce.  Add remaining chicken stock until sauce is the desire consistency.**

Saute the chicken breast with vegetable spray in a non-stick skillet and brown both sides lightly.  Add sauce and simmer for 5 minutes and serve with sauce and a sprinkling of sesame seeds for garnish. (**Now since I skipped the puree and used all of the stock and didn't do all of the chicken breasts for this small crew, I had a runny sauce but lemme tell you it was SO GREAT!!! In fact, I had one tenderloin left over and the sauce I love so much I'll have to use it in some Italian way.  I also SERVED THIS WITH Baked sweet potatoes and wild rice ladies....just sayin!)

Here's the transport from Citgo in Forrest City...it took the
Teddy-a-nator to his forever home in New Hampshire.
I'm so thankful to PAWS of Marion for finding a home.
Rescue groups are wonderful....And in exchange, we are
fostering a mother cat and 4 kittens from PAWS right now...
they are super duper sweet kittens, the mother is named
Tripod cause she has a bum front leg...she's the best momma
cat ever.I.mean.ever.  I'll foster kittens as long as I have that
breast feeding momma, just sayin!

Here's Teddy today in Forrest City when I
took him to the Citgo for transport....he's 

He's the cutest darn dog we've fostered from
Birdeye yet...Teddy rocks it!

Chloe's "things I want to be..."
Notice that Chloe has a "key" of her
favorites and what to fall back on...
she's also the worst speller in all of
Cross County...we gotta work on it.
I love to spell and I think I'm good at
it, Jackie's a terrible speller.  The 3-5th
things are a "person who studies diabetes,
person who studies cancer, person who
studies humans"...I love this child.

Dr. Calico was so proud after dinner laying out like this...

Yield 8 servings, if you do that much, (246 calories, 5 gr. fat)