Citrus Sesame Chicken

I saw this recipe on YumSugar that looked absolutely delicious, but needed some tweaking on my part.  You let the chicken marinade for at least 30 minutes (preferably 3 hours) and then bake in the oven.  It's a pretty healthy way to make some really tasty chicken.  I used drumsticks but you can use breasts or thighs as well.

Citrus Sesame Chicken:

6 chicken drumsticks

1/3 cup sherry

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper

1 tbsp. chili garlic sauce (I like Lee Kum Kee)

1 tsp. hoisin sauce (Lee Kum Kee)

zest and juice of each lime, lemon, and orange

1 1-inch knob of ginger, graded

3 garlic cloves, graded or finely minced

1/2 jalapeno, finely minced (with or without the seeds, depending on how spicy you like it)

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp. peanut oil

Toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallion for garnish.

Combine everything but the chicken and stir to combine.  Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary, you want it to be sweet, salty and spicy.  Pour everything into a zip lock bag and add the chicken.  Let marinate for at least 30 minutes, better if you can let it marinate for a few hours.

Take out chicken from the fridge and preheat oven to 425 F.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (please don't forget to do this, you'll have one hell of a mess if you don't) and spray with non stick spray.  Place chicken on the sheet tray and bake in the oven.

While the chicken is baking, pour the marinade in a sauce pan and reduce the sauce till syrupy (about 7 minutes).  After the chicken has been baking for 10 minutes, take out and baste with the thickend marinade.  Put the chicken back in the oven for another 10 minutes and repeat the basting.  Take out the chicken when done, probably after 30-35 minutes of cooking. 

Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and green onion.  Serve with some brown rice and a cucumber salad.

Citrus Ginger Beef

I appologize for the quality of the photo, I only had my point and shoot with me...

The boy and I had a fun couple over for dinner the other night.  Some wine, The Blind Side and very full tummies later we decided that this dinner was post worthy.  Before, we had deliberated on what I would make and decided on an Asian menu: Citrus Ginger Beef, Brown Rice, and a Cucumber Salad.  The stir fry turned out extremely delicious and we ate ALL of it.

Citrus Ginger Beef:

1 - 1 1/2 lb of flank steak, sliced very thin, against the grain
zest of 1 orange + juice of 1 orange

zest of 1 lime + juice of 1 lime

2 inch knob of ginger, pealed and sliced into discs

3 tbsp corn starch

3 tbsp soy sauce + 2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp Amontillado sherry

1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes

2 tsp hoisin sauce

1 bunch of hericot vert or green beens, cut into bite sized pieces

1 tbsp peanut or canola oil
1 tsp toated sesame seeds
2 scallions, thinly sliced at an angle


In a large bowl take the sliced beef and coat it with the corn starch.  Add the soy sauce, sherry, and half the zest of the citrus.  Toss to coat evenly.  Let marinate for 30 minutes, toss around each 10 minutes.


In another bowl combine the other half of the citrus zest, the rest of the sherry, soy, red pepper flakes, and hoisin.  Put aside.


Heat 1 tbsp of the canola oil to very high heat in either a wok or a large deep saute pan.  Saute the hericot vert for a few minutes in the oil till they blister a bit.  Take out with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl lined with paper towels to absorb the oil.  Heat the same pan on high and add another 1 tbsp of oil till it smokes.  Add the sliced ginger and let it infuse the oil.  Add the beef 30 seconds later with all of the juice.  Saute for at least 2 minutes, until the beef has nice sear on one side.  Stir it all up and let it cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Add the reserved sauce and let it cook till it gets thick.  Add the scallions and sesame seeds and serve while hot.  Squeeze a bit more orange juice on top at the end.