Baked or Fried...That is the Question

I've always been more of a meat and potatoes kind of girl...don't get me wrong, I've always enjoyed salads but was never a huge fan of cooked veggies.  Then I met Aaron, he loves veggies, his favourite, asparagus, which of course is one veggie I wouldn't touch, I mean people call it ditch weed for crying out loud and my dad always called it dog pee sticks.  The good wife that I am though I started looking for ways to make it that would entice my palate to eat more of it, and go figure, I've found a few ways that I'll actually have seconds of:) 

One of my favourite ways is to marinade the asparagus in Thousand Islands and then throw it on the grill, my friend/wife, it's a long story, don't ask, Jenn showed me this and it's another reason I love her.  It's so crunchy and, well, grilled...grilling makes everything better.  As much as I love to BBQ, I'm not a fan of doing it in 4 feet of snow with a wind chill of 20 below, I'm exaggerating a bit but you get the point, it's just not going to happen so I've had to come up with some alternate methods.  I tried roasting it under the broiler with the dressing but that came out a soggy mess, however, doused in EVOO and sprinkled with a lot of garlic powder is pretty awesome. 

For tonight, I wanted to try something different, something crunchy, tasty and outside the box.  This is where my iPad, some paper, a pencil and creative thinking comes into play.  You know what asparagus kind of looks like, green french fries, that's right I'm making asparagus fries, and while I'm all creative and stuff, I'm going to do some baked in the oven and some pan fried to see which method works better for me...if I'm lucky, they'll both be awesome and I won't have to fight with Connor to eat his veggies!!

Crispy Asparagus Fries
(adapted from How Sweet it Is & Baker Lady)

1/2 lb Asparagus
1 Egg, slightly beaten
1/4 c. Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1/4 c. Plain Bread Crumbs
1/3 c. Panko Breadcrumbs
1/8 c. Parmesan Cheese
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 Tsp Dried Tarragon
Pinch of Onion Powder
2-3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste

I started by preheating the oven to 425F.

Next, I set up the asparagus assembly line using shallow bowls.  In bowl number one was the flour and I seasoned it with some salt and pepper, bowl number two was the beaten egg and finally in bowl number three was the plain breadcrumbs, panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, tarragon, onion powder and some salt and pepper.

I trimmed the bottom inch or so off the asparagus and gave it a quick wash and then I  just shook it off a bit, you want some of the water to stay so the flour will stick. 

Into the flour

 

First, I rolled each piece of asparagus in the flour, coating it as much as I could and then gave it a good roll in the egg.  Then it went into the breadcrumb mixture, and I rolled it around really well and pressed the breadcrumb mixture in as best I could.

 Bread Crumb Mixture

 For the asparagus that's going in the oven I took a shallow baking sheet and placed a wire rack on top that I had given a quick spray with olive oil.  I placed the asparagus on the rack and popped it into the oven for about 15 minutes.

Ready for the oven

 

Next up was the asparagus to be fried.  I heated a large skillet over medium high heat and added the EVOO.  When it was nice and hot, it shimmers a bit when it's ready if that makes sense, I added the asparagus but only as much as it would hold in a single layer.  I fried them, turning them when they were golden, about 4-6 minutes.

 Into the Frying Pan

Baked

 

Fried

Once they were done I served them up with Epicure's awesome Roasted Garlic Aioli and they were awesome:)  We all liked both equally, even Connor and I would definitely make them again. 

On top of the awesome Crispy Asparagus Fries we had Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken with Herbed Ricotta and a concoction of Sprouted Rice and Quinoa with Toasted Almonds and Veggies that I came up with today. 

This has toasted almonds and sauteed celery,
carrots, green onions and garlic in it...
so good and good for you too!!

My only problem...does your kitchen look like this after dinner too...lol

 



Around the World in Time for Dinner

I seem to be all over the place lately...some Mexican inspirations, then off for some Italian and tonight I'm all about Asian inspired foods.  I should probably talk to my Mom soon, I must've caught that travel bug she always seems to have:)  I'm planning on doing an "old" standby...Asian Chicken Stir-Fry, it's a recipe that I adapted from Epicure's Asian Chicken Stir-Fry recipe and then two newbies, Blistered Garlic Sesame Green Beans and Inspired Forbidden Black Rice...both of these are recipes that I've been working on but were inspired by the following blogs and websites:

The Healthy Apple

Emily Levenson's Blog

Food.com
Sweet Anna's

Wishful Chef

The Unemployed Cook

 

Have you ever heard of black rice...me neither until a couple weeks ago...I guess it was only for the Chinese Royalty back in the day and most recipes you find online call it the Forbidden Rice...how cool is that.  Black rice is considered a superfood as well, having a high nutritional value, it contains amino acids and several vitamins and minerals...check out the link above for more info.  Seeing as how it's "forbidden", I've been all over wanting to cook it:)  Since I've been forbidden I'm just going to go ahead and do it anyway, so here's today's recipe...I only like to do one recipe post a night so the Asian Chicken Stir-Fry and Blistered Sesame Garlic Green Beans will be another day:)



Black Rice...it's actually more purple then black

Inspired Forbidden Black Rice


2 cups Chicken Broth (or water if you prefer)
1 cup Black Rice
2 Shallots, finely chopped
2 Celery Stalks, finely chopped
1 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1/2 cup Toasted Sliced Almonds
Salt and Pepper to taste

Start off by soaking the rice for at least an hour to cut down the actual cooking time.  Cover it with enough water for there to be 1" over the rice.

 

To toast the almonds I go with one of two options, in the oven or on the stovetop.  If you're doing them in the oven, lay them in a single layer on an ungreased shallow baking sheet in a preheated 350F oven and toast them for
10-15 minutes, stirring them up a couple times.  If you prefer the stovetop, use an ungreased heavy bottomed skillet and heat it over medium heat stirring them up frequently until nice and brown. 

Once the rice is done soaking, add the 2 cups of chicken broth and rice to a large pot and turn the heat to medium, leave the pot uncovered.  I use my own chicken broth so it's not as salty as store bought kinds so I add some salt to it.  Bring it to a boil and reduce the heat to low and cover and cook for about 30 minutes (if you don't soak the rice, this could be upwards of 1 hour...there's a reason for this which is too long to explain so if you want to know, google it:).  Check the rice after about 20 minutes to see if it's done, it should be slightly chewy.  Once the rice is done, remove it from the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes to continue to steam a bit.

While the rice is cooking, heat the coconut oil over medium heat in a frying pan and add the shallots and celery.  Saute them, stirring frequently for about 5-8 minutes.  Give them a turn or two of fresh ground sea salt while they're cooking to help bring out the flavour.

When the rice is finished cooking, you may have to drain away some liquid or you might not, add the shallots, celery and toasted almonds.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve:)

I'm not going to lie, tonight's dinner was a toss up...Aaron and Connor liked the stir-fry, I liked the stir-fry and the black rice (it does need a little something more, a clove or two of garlic I think) and January had 3 platefuls (what a little piggie:).  January seemed to like the beans, she ate them right up, but there was something missing there for me too...I'm going to have to experiment.  I also used Avocado Oil for the first time tonight, I'm trying to get away from vegetable oils, especially canola, and Avocado Oil has a high smoke point which makes it perfect for stir-fry's...I loved it and am going to make a point of finding new ways to use it.  I'm going to have to do a post soon about the fats/oils I use and why because there is a good long reason that deserves a post of it's own.