A Caramelized Chicken Stir-Fry

On the one hand, I feel like I should be apologizing for all these Gwyneth Paltrow based dishes. On the other, they've all turned out really well.

Stir-fries aren't a popular dish in our house on account of my husband not really being into them. But, I really like them, and I'm the cook, so sometimes he just has to put up with what I put on the table.

He went back for seconds, so that should tell you a little something about this recipe!

Now, Gwyneth brands this as "the best chicken stir-fry" and I don't know that I agree that it's the best, but it is very good. I'll give her that. I'll also give her that this recipe comes together about as quickly as your local Chinese take-out joint would take to deliver to your house.

You might as well just make it, if you ask me!

Chicken Stir Fry

(mildly adapted from My Father's Daughter)

Ingredients

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3/4" cubes
2 tbsp potato starch (you can use cornstarch instead)
coarse salt
freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
6 large cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup minced ginger
4 green onions, minced
¼ tsp hot pepper flakes
½ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
½ cup dark brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Toss chicken cubes with potato starch and a healthy pinch of salt and a generous seasoning of pepper. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a large non-stick wok. Add the garlic, ginger, green onions and chile flakes and cook for about 1 minute. Add the chicken cubes and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add in the vinegar and sugar and additional black pepper. Allow to boil for about 3 minutes, or until the sugar has really caramelized and the whole sauce is thick and sticky. Stir in the soy sauce, cook for an additional minute and then remove from heat. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve immediately.

Makes enough for 3-4, depending on their appetites.

We ate it with sticky rice with tossed with cooked kale and soy sauce.

Caramelized Onion Galette with Sour Cream Pastry

There are a lot of things that I'm terrible at in the kitchen and pastry is resoundingly one of them. Pies are the bane of my existence.

In my defence, there are lots of things I'm good at too. Like dirtying too many pots.

Galette style pastry is far more up my alley. Its free form shape is forgiving to those with clumsy, rough hands such as myself. I've made many of these throughout the years, and always chalk the cracks and leaks up to the fact that it's supposed to be rustic.

That's what I tell people anyway. They seem to believe me.

Although, perhaps they won't now that I've confessed my secret.

... I probably should have thought this through.

I will admit, I love this galette. The sour cream makes the pastry fairly strong. The trade-off, of course, is less flakiness, but I'm just happy to have a dough I can work with. Plus, it's a tangy so it plays off the onions really well.

The directions look long, but this doesn't take a lot of effort to pull together, I promise.

Caramelized Onion Galette with Sour Cream Pastry

Ingredients

Dough

1 2/3 cup pastry flour (or all purpose if you don't mind a sturdier [read tougher] crust - it still tastes great)
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp chilled, cubed, unsalted butter
½ cup sour cream
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-3 tbsp ice water

Filling

1 tbsp olive oil
1½ lbs peeled and sliced sweet onion
2 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese (I use Ewenity sheep's feta)
¼-½ cup shredded P'tit Basque sheep's cheese (or use a good melting cheese like gouda or fontina)
1 egg, lightly beaten.

Directions

For Dough

1. Combine flour and salt in food processor and pulse to combine. Pulse in butter until mixture is coarse. In a separate bowl, stir together sour cream and lemon juice. Add to food processor and pulse again, until mixture is just incorporated. Add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Pulse until mixture is moist and crumbly, but don't go so far as to let it form a ball.

2. Dump mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and pat gently into a 5" circle. Wrap tightly and refrigerate until ready for use, at least 20 minutes. (Now is the ideal time to start the filling.)

3. Slightly overlap two sheets of plastic wrap. Place dough circle on top and cover with two more sheets of overlapped plastic wrap. Roll the dough, still covered with plastic wrap, into a 12" circle. Place on baking sheet and put in the freezer for 5 minutes, or until plastic can easily be removed. Remove top sheet of wrap and place dough, wrap side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Remove remaining plastic wrap.

For Filling

1. Preheat oven to 425º.

2. In a large frying pan, heat oil over low heat. Add onions, thyme, salt and pepper and cook gently, stirring occasionally, over low heat for 20-30 minutes, or until caramelized. Remove from heat.

3. Sprinkle feta cheese over centre of pastry, leaving a 2 inch border around the outside. Top with onion mixture. Sprinkle P'tit Basque over top. Fold edges of pastry up to partially enclose the filling, pleating as you go. Brush pastry with egg. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

I highly recommend serving this with a tart salad, something with arugula and either a lemon vinaigrette or something with sherry vinegar.

I mixed 1 tbsp hazelnut oil, 1 tbsp canola oil, 1 tbsp sherry vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard with a pinch each of sugar and kosher salt for an easy vinaigrette. With mixed bitter greens, toasted hazelnuts and more sheep's feta, the salad was the perfect accompaniment to the sweet galette.