Chicken Katsu & Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce

Anytime we go out for sushi, my son always orders Chicken Katsu. I figured, why not make it at home? It's so easy, delish and something our entire family loves to eat for dinner. The sauce is so delicious too. Perfect for one of those days were you don't want to really cook a big meal and take out isn't an option. You can by Panko crumbs by the breadcrumbs at your local grocery store but I recommend using one from a local Asian store. Either way, it's still very good.

• Ingredients:
• 
  
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 cup oil for frying, or as needed

Directions:

Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the flour, beaten egg and panko crumbs into seperate shallow dishes. Coat the chicken in the flour then dip in egg, coat well and then dip into the pank crumbs and press so crumbs cover every part of the chicken breast. Place chicken into a pan that has hot oil in it and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Chicken will turn golden brown.

Tonkatsu Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup of ketchup

4 teaspoons of dry mustard powder

1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons of black pepper

3 T of worcestershire sauce

Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix well, refrigerate for at least an hour for all flavor to blend well.

Omelet Torte

This dish was a hit in our home and though it looks time consuming, it really wasn't. You can even make it the night before, refrigerate and bake as normal the next day. We had this for dinner and we ALL loved it. Lots of flavor and a perfect comfort food.

Ingredients:

• 1 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
• 1/4 cup butter
• 6 red potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 1 onion, thinly sliced into rings
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch black pepper
• 2 tablespoons water
• 8 ounces cooked ham, thinly sliced
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). On lightly floured surface, roll each sheet of puff pastry into a 12 inch square. Lay 1 sheet puff pastry into a 10 inch pie plate; set aside.
2. In a 10 inch skillet, melt 1/4 cup butter until sizzling. Add potatoes, onion, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until potatoes are lightly browned and crisply tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Set aside.
3. In a new skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter until sizzling. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together all omelet ingredients except remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Pour half of omelet mixture (3/4 cup) into heated skillet. Cook over medium heat. As omelet mixture sets, lift slightly with spatula to allow uncooked portion to flow underneath. Continue cooking until set, about 2 to 3 minutes. Slide omelet onto cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining butter and omelet mixture.
4. Layer ingredients into pie plate on top of puff pastry in the following order: one of the omelets, 4 ounces ham, half of fried the potatoes, 1 cup shredded cheese, remaining potatoes, ham, cheese and 2nd omelet. Top with remaining sheet of puff pastry. Press together edges of both sheets of puff pastry to form a rim; trim off excess. Crimp or flute edges. In small bowl, stir together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water; brush over puff pastry.
5. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes; cut into wedges.

Lahmahjoon Armenian Pizza

My husband and I have lunch together every Tuesday at a little hole in the wall called Aladdins Kitchen. A lot of my past recipes here is because I wanted to make dishes we eat from the restaurant right at home, here is one of them. We decided to order the Armenian pizza and boy were we glad we did, the flavors are so rich and it was so different, a good kind of different. We were hooked. I had to try it at home, I did and we loved it!!!

Obviously, this isn't any ordinary pizza, if you love ethnic food, you must try!

For the pizza dough, I used the naan recipe (posted below). Here is the topping recipe, you can't get any fresher than this!

1 pound of lean ground beef

1 1/2 cups of finely chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 14.5 ounce can of peeled or diced tomatoes

1 6 ounce can of tomato paste

feta cheese, crumbled

Cook the beef, drain out all fat. In food processor, add the cooked meat and blend until you almost get a paste. Remove and place into large mixing bowl. Add all ingredients and do the same thing, blend well until you get it almost to a paste. Add with the meat and blend well. You can add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Place in refrigerator and let the flavors blend all day long, if you can, let it sit overnight.

If you don't have time to make homemade naan, purchase pita breads and top it with the Lahmahjoon sauce. Place in oven until hot and top it off with some crumbled feta cheese.

Fold over to eat it.

Chicken Shawarma (Middle Eastern)

Chicken Shawarma is a Middle Eastern dish that is so easy to make and has tons of flavors. My husband and I love to go to a little hole in the wall called Aladdins Kitchen for their Chicken Shawarma wraps. Because we love the meal so much, I decided to give it a try at home and boy was it worth it. The flavors are so fresh. You can't go wrong with this dish, it really is so easy.

Because I was in the spirit of making this from scratch, I make my own naan (recipe already posted) but you can use store bought naan/pitas though I highly suggest you make your own.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of chicken breast, cubed

lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of cumin (you can always add more if you desire)

1 T of olive oil

pinch or two of paprika

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 garlic clove (diced)

1/2 teaspoon of curry (optional) - I love curry so I added it in the dish

Toppings:

1 purple onion (cut into thin slices)

crumbled feta cheese

garlic sauce (I posted the recipe to roasted garlic, just mash roasted garlic and add a tablespoon of olive oil to it and mix well for the sauce)

1 diced tomato (small cubes)

baba ganoush (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well to blend all flavors and place back in refrigerator for at least 45 mins or more to let the ingredients blend. Once you're ready to cook, add chicken and juices into a large pan and cook until the chicken is done, set aside.

When you're ready to serve, in your pita, add your garlic sauce first, chicken mix, feta, onions and tomato inside the pita. I serve it with a side of baby gadoush as well as a dollop of the garlic sauce to dip the pita sandwich in.

Naan

I love naan, it's so light and delicious. Anytime we go to an Indian restaurant, we always ask for more naan. I decided to make naan because it had to be simple, right? Guess what? Not only was it simple, it's delicious and we can now have fresh naan anytime we want! Perfect with a salad, turn it into a pita or just drizzle melted butter on it. You'll love it!

Ingredients:

1 (.25 ounce) package of active dry yeast

1 cup of warm water

1/4 cup of sugar

3 T of milk

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons of salt

4 1/2 cups of bread flour

oil (I use olive oil)

Directions:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand for about 10 minutes or until the top of the yeast turns frothy. Stir in the sugar, milk, egg, salt and flour. On a dry surface, add flour and knead dough for a few minutes. Place dough ball into a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise. I've made this dough at noon, and let it rise until 7 p.m., or you can just let it rise for an hour, makes no difference really.

Once the dough has risen, punch down the dough to release air. Pinch off small handfuls of the dough, about the size of a tennis ball and place back into oiled bowl, repeat until you have used all your dough and turned into small balls. Place wet towel over the bowl and let rise for another 15-30 minutes.

You can either use your bbq grill to cook these or your oven (I use a natural stone pizza slab to cook these at 500 degrees). Cook for 3 minutes and then flip for another 1 minute. They will puff up a bit.

Because we like burn marks on ours, I place our naan over our gas fire indoor grill and toast them up a bit. If you use your outdoor bbq, you can get great grill marks that way too.

Yorkshire Pudding

I love watching Kitchen Nightmares on the BBC channel. Chef Ramsey has featured Yorkshire pudding way too many times for me not to at least try making it, after all, on t.v., these Yorkies looked AMAZING! So, yesterday, I made them and they are SO GOOD! Best part of it all, it's so easy! Airy, tasty and with a drizzle of brown gravy, you're set to go! (Will blog beef tips and gravy in a bit).

Ingredients:

1 cup of flour
1 cup of room temperature milk
3 eggs (room temperature)
butter

Preheat your oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, add milk and eggs and whisk together. Add flour and whisk well. The batter will be a thin consistency. While your oven is warming up, take 1/2 teaspoon of butter and place into each tin cup. I can easily make 6 Yorkies with the batter, so put butter in at least 6 tin cups. Once your oven has reached 375, place tin into the oven for 2 minutes so that the butter melts. After the 2 minutes is up, remove the pan and add the batter to each 6 tin cups, all the way to the top of each cup. Drop the temp of the oven to 350 and place pan into the oven for 20-25 minutes until top is a light golden brown.

Once you remove the pan, let the Yorkies rest a bit before you add your gravy or butter.

Really, it's that easy and you have to at least try it once in your lifetime!

Roasted Garlic Bulb

I love garlic, period. I decided to roast a few garlic cloves for Chicken Shawarma (recipe to come soon). It adds so much flavor to any dish, especially on sandwiches or pita bread. Mash up the cloves, add a little olive oil for a garlic spread for garlic bread. Easy and delish. Kissing optional after eating.

2-3 bulbs of garlic
olive oil
foil

Set temp at 400 degrees. While oven is warming up, cut off the top of each bulb and drizzle with olive oil. Place on a baking sheet, cover with foil and cook for 40-45 minutes. The garlic clove will pull away from the sides and you can remove it using your finger or a small fork.

Enjoy!