A Favourite Baked Chicken "Recipe"

The title of this post is partially misleading because there is not a particular "recipe" for this dish of baked chicken. It came about years ago when I simply opened the kitchen cupboard, stood back, surveyed the sauces and then started adding a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I eyeball everything and then get in there with clean hands and mix everything together ensuring that the marinade gets into all parts of the chicken.

An overnight marinate guarantees juicy, flavorful meat and accompanying sauce. I know this word - umami - gets overused at times but it is absolutely true of this dish. Adding a heaping handful of sliced scallions/green onions just as the baking dish is pulled from the oven elevates the overall flavour, making the chicken even more appetizing. If I am entertaining, I serve this version of baked chicken with Vegetable Fried Rice or Egg Fried Rice but my preferred way to eat it, is with plain white rice and a wedge of macaroni pie with the sauce spooned over the rice. Slices of cool, crisp cucumbers served on the side along with a drizzle or two of hot pepper sauce completes the meal for me.

I make this dish over...

...and over again.

Here's how it is done.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large chicken cut up into 12 - 14 pieces (the breast is cut into 6 pieces if the chicken is very large)
• Paste made of ginger, garlic and hot pepper (about 3 tablespoons)
• Regular Soy Sauce
• Dark Soy Sauce
• Sweet Soy Sauce (Kecap Manis)
• Oyster Sauce
• Chinese Black Vinegar
• Fish Sauce
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 cup thinly sliced scallions (white, purple and green parts)

(I do not add salt because there is enough sodium in the sauces)

DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse and pat dry the cut-up chicken and add to a large bowl.
2. Add the ginger-garlic-pepper paste as well as the other sauces to suit your taste, along with the sesame oil.
3. Working with clean hands, mix together the paste and sauces with the chicken ensuring that the chicken is properly coated.
4. Transfer to an airtight container or bowl with a tight cover, or to a large zip bag, seal and refrigerate overnight or up to 18 hours.
5. Bring the meat up to room temperature before cooking.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Arrange chicken in an ovenproof baking dish - preferably glass or ceramic. Pour the marinade over the chicken, push pieces of the meat aside so that the marinade gets in between the meat.
8. Bake for 45 minutes or until chicken has a rich deep colour.
9. Remove the baked chicken from the oven, scatter half of the scallions over the chicken then spoon the sauce over the chicken (the scallions will run off and down into the dish, that's okay). Sprinkle the other half of the scallions and let the dish rest for 15 minutes before serving.

NOTES

• You can choose to combine the sauces in a bowl, taste and adjust until it suits your taste then pour over the chicken. You may even determine that you need some added salt depending on your preference.
• A few things to note about the sauces - the regular soy sauce is saltier than the dark soy sauce which is thicker with a hint of sweetness. The sweet soy sauce is sweet with subtle hints of salt. The oyster sauce is salty with caramel notes. The black vinegar is tart and helps to balance the sweet and salt of the other sauces when combined, go lightly. The fish sauce is salty.
• I recommend a glass or ceramic dish because of the sugar content in the marinade; in a tin pan, it can stick and burn easily.

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Noodles & Minced Meat - My Kind of Fast Food

Several years ago I was introduced to Ginger-Scallion Sauce, and since then, it has become my go-to sauce whenever I want something tasty to eat, fast! There is essentially no 'cooking' involved in making the sauce, you simply grate, and or finely mince the ingredients and pour hot oil over everything. Easy, right? The best part is that this sauce goes well with many things - noodles (all types, including pasta), rice, boiled ground provisions, spread over thick crusty toast or even tossed with a garden salad. You can also serve it with seafood and poultry or over grilled skirt or flank steak. Grilled pork chops? Yeah, that too!

My friend Nadini introduced me these no-cook chowmein noodles and they come in 2 varieties - fine and broad; in this dish I used the broad noodles. Like the sauce, there is no real cooking involved. Just as you would pour boiling water over rice noodles to rehydrate them, the same process is involved here. You see what I am saying about fast food here?

Most of the time I never include meat in my ginger-scallion noodles, I eat it just so, and too much of it. LOL. However, the other day I had some cooked minced beef left over from another dish I made... I think you see and know where I am going with this. I simply heated a wok (or use any deep pan you have), drizzled in some oil, reheated the cooked mince, tossed in the ginger-scallion sauce and noodles, toss, toss, toss until everything was heated through and mixed together. Done!

SAUCE

• 4 - 6 scallions sliced thinly (white/purple and green parts)
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh root ginger
• 2 teaspoons grated garlic
• Finely minced hot pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon rice wine, apple cider or white vinegar
• Salt to taste
• 6 - 8 tablespoons vegetable/canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (optional)

To make the sauce

1. Mix together the scallions, ginger, garlic, pepper, vinegar and salt in a deep, heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the oil until almost smoking hot and pour over the ingredients in the bowl and mix well with a fork.
3. Add sesame oil if using and mix in to the sauce. Set aside for 10 minutes so that the flavours can meld.

NOODLES

Use any noodles of your choosing and cook/prepare according to package instructions.

ASSEMBLY

Toss the noodles with the sauce (depending on how much noodles you cooked, you may not need to use all of the sauce. Store the remainder in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Will last for a week).

ADDITIONS

Ground meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey) and shrimp can be added to the noodle mixture as well as vegetables. Here's what's to do: stir-fry the meat or shrimp and vegetables, then add noodles and sauce and toss to mix.

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