Filipino Style Chicken Adobo

Okay, so my wonderful Filipino neighbor had me over last summer for a little neighborhood get together. I took over some pico da gallo and chips and she had made some chicken adobo, along with some other dishes. Well, let me tell you that the chicken adobo made a huge impression on me. It was just mouthwatering delicious. The meat just fell right off the bone and the taste of it was just simply wonderful.

So, I tell her that it is just wonderful and she replies, "Oh, Rachel, it's nothing, just chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, onions, garlic and water." Still, I can't believe how easy it is to make and yet it tastes so good. After the dinner I went home and haven't really thought about it until today. Today with the rain and cool weather all I could think about was my neighbors chicken adobo. So, I start researching how it is made and she was right, it's just chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, water, onions, garlic and in some recipes ginger.

I headed to the store and bought some chicken thighs and came home and just started to throw the ingredients together and this is the recipe that I came up with.


Filipino Style Chicken Adobo
cooking time about an hour
Serves 4

1 onion diced (any color, I used red because that is what I had on hand)
1 head of garlic diced
2-3 teaspoons of fresh chopped ginger (optional)
4 tablespoons of oil
1 pound chicken thighs (I bought the deboned, skinless ones, but my neighbor used the ones with bones and skin in hers.)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar (I used 1 cup of vinegar and it was a little too tangy for my tastes, so next time I will just use a 1/2 cup)
2-3 cups chicken stock
2 teaspoons paprika or smoked paprika
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste

• Saute the onions, garlic and ginger in wok or a large pan. Once it is all sauteed, probably about 2 minutes add the chicken thighs and brown both sides.
• Once the chicken is browned add the rest of the ingredients except for the corn starch and bring to a boil and turn the stove down medium-low, to let the mixture simmer. Simmer for at least 30 minutes until chicken is nice and tender. My neighbor says that this is a dish that you could just let simmer for hours if you wanted to. I just let mine go for 30 minutes because the family was starving.
  
• After the 30 minutes is up take the chicken out of the pot and place in a pan of hot oil and braise for a few minutes on each side. Then place the meat back into the pan with the sauce and add the cornstarch to the mixture so that the sauce will thicken just a little bit. Once the sauce is thickened the chicken is ready to be served over a bed of rice.

So, there ya have it. The only thing that I will change the next time that I make this, is that I will use 2 pounds of chicken thighs. One pound was just the right amount for our family, but I would like to have enough for leftovers next time. That way we can have the leftovers for lunch the next day or something.

Racholee's Spaghetti Carbonara

Wench #2 here. So, as I was making dinner tonight, I thought this would be a good recipe to post on the blog. It is a recipe that I have adapted from good ole Martha Stewart's Great Food Fast cook book. I've made it more than a few times over the past two years and the whole famdamily loves it. Which really means something when you have the pickiest four year old - soon to be five year old son.

If that hasn't sold ya, it only takes about thirty minutes to make.
Racholee's Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 4-6

1 package of bacon
Salt and pepper to taste (I like to use shallot pepper also)
1 pound of pasta (I used mini farfalle this time)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1 cup or more of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil, add some oil and salt (for the pasta). Begin cooking the bacon on a skillet until the bacon is nice and crisp. I like to get it really crisp because it tends to soften a little when added to the pasta.

My kitchen helpers frying up some bacon.

2. Once the water is boiling add the pasta and cook until al dente.
3. Meanwhile in a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and shallot pepper. Set aside until pasta is al dente.
4. Drain the pasta. Return the pasta to the pan. Working quickly, add the egg mixture to the pasta. Add the bacon to the mixture and toss all to combine. Usually the heat from the pasta will cook the eggs. Although I have noticed that sometimes it is still a little runny after tossing it. When this happens I just throw the pot back on the stove on medium and let it cook for a few minutes.

I also like to throw in a few mushrooms with this meal sometimes.

Well, there ya have it, a really easy meal that everyone will love. As long as you're not a vegetarian.

Picky 4 year old boy approved!

Spicy Peanut Chicken

This is going to be a shocker to Wench #2 & #3. They made me promise to post something; I don’t think they believed I actually would. Up until now I’ve managed to avoid most social networking stuff. So they are going to be amazed that not only am I posting, but I am the first of the Wenches to post a recipe. Ha!

Living in rural middle America has it's perks. Great take-out is not one of them. We have tried the only take-out in town and was very disappointed. We almost never get take-out, since it doesn't seem worth it to drive 20 minutes to another town to get it and then drive 20 minutes to get home.

Tonight we had a great meal that was very easy to prepare. It has all of the great flavors of takeout and it can be prepared quicker then it would take us to go get it elsewhere. It was inspired by this recipe I saw prepared on TV. I made a few adjustments to accommodate what I had in the house and made it my own. Cait said it was as good as Global Noodle, which in our little family is pretty high praise. It also means that this sauce would also be great tossed with pasta and shrimp. Tonight we served it alongside fried rice.


(not a great picture, but not bad considering it was taken with my phone)

Spicy Peanut Chicken
Serves 4-6

Sauce:
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup soy sauce
½ cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon Sriracha Hot Chili sauce (or to taste)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Stir-fry:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ pounds boneless chicken, diced into 1-inch cubes
1 red bell pepper, diced into ½-inch pieces
3 carrots, julienned
1 teaspoon Sate seasoning, or your favorite curry powder (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 inch ginger, grated
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 bunch scallions, sliced into 1-inch pieces
½ cup peanuts

Stir together sauce ingredients and set to the side. Don’t worry about mixing thoroughly it will all come together when the heat is applied.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet. Season chicken with Sate seasoning, salt and pepper. Add chicken to hot oil and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add bell peppers and carrots and stir-fry for 2 more minutes. Remove chicken and vegetables from pan.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan. Stir-fry garlic and ginger in pan for 15 seconds, and then add sauce ingredients to pan. Stir sauce to combine ingredients. Peanut butter will melt and thicken sauce. Add chestnuts and scallions to sauce and heat through for 1 minute. Add back chicken, peppers and carrots to pan. Add scallions and toss to coat in sauce. Serve over hot rice.

Hy's Manly Breakfast Burritos'

We would like to introduce our very first cooking guest. He is the the old man of Serving Wench # 2, he is also known as Hy. This is a concoction of his own that he has slowly been mastering over the past ten years. So here he is:

Somehow I have been given the task of being the honorary first post of this blog of culinary delight(not for the weak stomach). I'm not sure why I was asked, perhaps The Jones women have finally realized that I do have some valuable information retained in my mental Rolodex of white trash recipes.

But before I get started and since I have the microphone right now I would like to share my political opinion with you. I really, really, really hate OBAMA and the people that voted for him. Thanks for destroying the country I love. I hope you and the illegal aliens that hit you in your car all die in a fiery crash as you race to the hospital to get your free health care that I'm paying for....

Okay! Now lets get started.

"Hy's Manly Breakfast Burritos"
6 eggs
1 Tbs. milk
1 Cup Colby jack cheese
1 cup Roasted Green Chilies(Very important, Must be from NM)
tortillas(the ones made with lard)
1 tube of ground breakfast sausage(not the cheap stuff w/lots of fat)


Mix eggs and milk. Cook sausage till brown and then add chilies. Cook until most all liquid has burned off. Add eggs. Stir and flip till no uncooked running egg goo can be seen. (If your old and eat most of your food from a blender than I suppose you could keep them runny, but that makes me want to heave). After fully cooking add grated cheese. Now heat you tortillas and start wrapping them up! Makes 1 to 6 burritos depending on how modest you are. Enjoy...you'll thank me tomorrow.

These are some delicious tortillas Wench #3 brought from AZ. They are packed full of lard and almost see through, the best!

Green chilis that Wench #3 brought to Wench #2 in KS also, as they are unavailable in KS.

Green chilis and sausage

Burrito filling

The finished product! Yummmy!

What should we name our cooking blog?

How about: 3 sisters in the kitchen, Church food sucks, Hank sucks cause he didn't show, bitchin kitchen, this is why we're fat (Angie excluded), 3dingytingey's (not really Tingey's), cooking for the famdamily.....

In the end we came up with Serving Wenches for our cooking blog (which is only mildly offensive, yet makes us laugh).

This blog has no affiliation with anything Renaissance related. We will not be visiting any Ren fairs or even speaking of Old English from here on. We just like the word wench, it reminds us of our parents.