Adam Richman's Roasted Chicken Soup 10.3.11

I was very much looking forward to today's episode.  Adam Richman of Man vs Food fame was the guest.  Man vs Food is one of those guilty pleasures.  The show features Adam visiting a town and attempting to eat up to 7 pounds of a restaurant's specialty food (or painfully spicy hot food).  If he eats the challenge, Man wins!  If he can not, food wins.  Guilty pleasure indeed, considering the chefs are insulted by watching their work go unappreciated for it's quality, and society in general is insulted by the vulgar amounts of food wasted.  Since food styling and food shows are now commonly referred as "Food Porn", Man vs Food must be considered the Hustler Magazine of options.

But, I can't help myself.  It's the train wreck I love to watch.

Adam's segment was fun to watch.  He actually cooked.  The recipe published on the website (click HERE) is more Asian chicken stock soup.  It was fun to have Adam's mother in the audience to help add banter.  I do wish there was a segment added to allow more of Adam to be shown (his show, his stories must be entertaining about the last three years).  Would have been interesting to have Daphne Oz (the health expert) discuss the show with Adam,  BUT, 2 segments, a great recipe and enough to get to know the guest just a bit more than I had before.

As to the recipe, I made a few changes.

First, I have a homemade chicken stock.  The recipe calls for simmering the chicken stock for an hour... why???  There was mention of adding carrots, celery, trinity, etc. on the show, but I had done all that when I made the stock.  Just not sure what the purpose of a slow simmer is to my stock... So I didn't do that.

Click the Photo to see
ChiliDawg's website

Next, I have a limit as to how many extra ingredients I will buy for a recipe.  I bought the Sriracha the recipe (and Adam strongly) recommended.  I did not have any Duck sauce.  But I researched a bit and decided I could substitute a bit of ChiliDawg's PEACHbanero pepper sauce in place of the Duck sauce.

Go ahead, check up on what exactly Duck sauce is and this is a suitable substitute (which adds lots of interesting ways to use the sauce... but I digress).

I also had no Miso paste.  Again, a bit of research I decided I could use a thick Worcestershire sauce.  That's why if you look at my soup and compare to the shot from the show, mine is darker.

And finally, I used remains from a store bought rotisserie chicken.  I love my rotisserie chickens.  So cheap, so easy to find and so perfectly cooked!

I did make a paste of the PEACHbanero and Sriracha sauce. I then mixed the chicken bits with the new sauce and baked in a covered casserole dish for about 30 minutes to heat thoroughly.

With these changes in mind, I made the recipe as instructed on the site (and in the show).  It was very very easy to make and quite delicious.  Loved the glass noodles, the oriental taste and of course, Sriracha sauce is legendary for it;s unique spiced taste.  Mother's milk to many!

It was a terrific episode for the view.  I am wondering if the View episodes will be rerun during vacation times (or if the guests rotate time off so that the show is fresh each day).  If it is, I will want to give Michael Symon's Lola Burger a try.

Carla Hall's Pinwheel Snacks 9.30.11

Delicious and easy.  Sounds like a great combination to me.

This was an audience participation recipe.  Watching the first lady in the row work was almost painful.  No matter what you may have seen from her angle, this is just about as easy as you can get.  And in Carla's instructions, it got even easier.

Her only rule, use cream cheese as a "glue" to keep the wheel together.

As to stuffing, what you like.  I happened to have had a rotisserie chicken (So cheap).  So I knew I was going to use that.  Now, Carla showed thin slices of lunch meat.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to slice my chicken breast thin enough, so I just made a chicken salad.  Instead of tuna, I just used minced bits of chicken.

If you are lucky enough to have a handy dandy stand mixer (OK, a KitchenAid brand mixer), just toss an 8 ounce brick of cream cheese in, the cooked meat from one rotisserie chicken breast and whatever you might like to add some zing to your salad.

I added...

1/4 cup minced pickles
1/4 cup minced sweet Onion
1/4 cup minced Granny Smith Apple
1/4 cup minced Grapes

I didn't, but I should have added a tsp of a Cajun Spice mix

Turn on the mixer and in about 2 minutes, you have a creamy paste!

This was enough "paste" to make 4 tortillas worth of pinwheels.

And from there, nothing to it... Take a whole wheat tortilla, spread a thin layer around and roll up.  Slice about 1 inch thick "wheels".

Makes a great snack (wonderful recipe for kids to make).
Dress it up with a sprinkling of paprika and would make a casual appetizer
Wanting a light low carb lunch, here you go.

This was so easy, and so flexible (long as you use cream cheese as the glue, fill with what you like (All veggies would be terrific), the recipe is not available on The Chew website.  But that's OK.  This is truly one of those, "Anyone can Cook" recipes!

Carla Hall's Smothered Lemon Chicken with Peas and Carrots 9.28.11

See the Turkey in the middle???

How about the Turkey and Hearts...

There was a quick aside comment on Day 3 of the chew while Carla was making her recipe that this was a deconstructed pot pie.

So, very simply, I grabbed a couple of cookie cutters, a sheet of Puff Pastry and (at 350 degrees) in 16 minutes, I had the makings of an actual deconstructed Pot Pie!

I did select the Turkey as this is a terrific idea for a Thanksgiving Turkey leftover dish.  As well as a rotisserie chicken recipe.  Sure the recipe calls for chicken, but no reason you can't just sub some turkey leftovers.

As to the show (The Chew)... This comes from day three of the show.  And, by far, the best show of the series.  Instead of the ridiculous pace of 5 recipes a show, we were treated to a multi part interview and recipe from Joy Behar (Lasagna).  For what it's worth, in my opinion, The multi segment gives enough time to enjoy the recipe and see the personality of the cook.  Sure, this was a guest star, but it is time to get to know the cast better.

But I digress...

But before I get to the recipe, I will try to justify my point... With this recipe.  This would have been a perfect opportunity to start a Cooking 201 series.  Not just a list of recipes that come together fast and easy, but get deeper into the more advanced basics.

Like gravy.

During the cooking demo, Carla kept talking about white gravy and milk gravy.  She also was adding flour at different stages with no explanation of why flour, what it did, and why she added some early and at the end.  Gravy is not terribly complicated, but it can be a make or break ingredient for a dish.

Again, just my opinion, but I sure do recall the first time I made gravy.  With the fast pace of the show, I think I would have been intimidated by this recipe without some experience (or more details on the show).

But, I do make gravy, and I was excited to make this recipe...

Since just the day before I had bought about 4 1/2 pounds of chicken!  At an INCREDIBLE price.  I am cheap.  Actually, I am very cheap.  I live on a budget, spending a limit of $100 a week on food.  I always shop sales, and take advantage with a freezer full of what was on sale last week, month (and sometimes longer).

Took a little extra work, as Carla's recipe called for boneless skinless.  These were bone in, skin on, which is actually much better, holds the flavor in, keeps the moisture in and the bone adds to the taste.  It was a simple matter of pulling the meat from the bone and discarding the skin.  $0.89 cents VRS a sale price of $2.25 a pouind, I can remove the bone and skin myself.

I made enough of the Puff Pastry cookies to line the bottom of a plate/bowl, and a few extras for the top to complete the deconstructed "pretty" presentation.

Click this photo to see THE CHEW's website link to
Carla Hall's Smothered Lemon Chicken with Peas and Carrots

I followed the recipe as I saw on the show... printed HERE.  In the photo above, you do not see much white gravy.  At that stage, I added more flour which made the gravy thicker and the color whiter.

I also started tasting.  It needed pepper.

So, with those two changes, and the extra little fun presentation, I LOVED THIS!  Garlicky, Lemony, rich thick white gravy and a hint of tarragon and thyme makes this a wonderful dish.  Perfect for a family and even better when you remember this for Christmas, Thanksgiving leftovers!