Orange Chicken & Salad-less Salad

May 6, 2010 by Kelly    9 Comments    Posted under: Now She's Cookin'

My dad’s somewhat of an accidental celebrity chef in Dallas—in our circle anyway. Growing up friends and family would storm our house unannounced, closely followed by, “And what’s your dad making for dinner?” But I unfortunately did not get the cooking gene.  So when my mom presented me with the famous family recipe box, the one my grandmother typed an extra copy of for us girls (on an actual typewriter) with such high hopes, in addition to the one she gave my dad—the one he still uses and adds things to like a messy-ever-evolving bible—I feared I might never use it and instead continue eating out of a can with a fork. So to make sure my grandmother’s thoughtful and carefully typed gesture does not go to waste, I’ve decided to cook my way through the family recipe box Julie & Julia-style and share my dad’s recipes with the world. I plan to post once a week until his birthday (November 2), when I hope to get this collection expanded into a book as a present. And if not that’s okay too. Either way, I’m just happy I’m cooking…finally.  

So let’s start with something simple:

Avocado, asparagus and artichoke salad (a.k.a. Salad-less Salad):
        1 avocado
        1 bunch of asparagus
        1 can of artichoke hearts
        1 tomato sliced or cubed (optional)
        lettuce (optional)
        Italian dressing or your choice of dressing

Cut 1 inch off the square end of the asparagus and discard. Cut 3 inches off the new square end of the asparagus, put in the bottom of a pan and cover with water (about an inch). Place the heads of the asparagus on top of the 3-inch pieces and bring to boil covered. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes. It’s only 5 minutes with a gas burner. Don’t overcook. You should be able to push a fork through the asparagus heads rather easily. Immediately douse the asparagus in ice water to stop the cooking. Drain well. Drain the artichoke hearts and cut into quarters. Cut avocado in half. Remove seed and scoop out the insides with a spoon. Mix all this together with your choice of dressing.

Orange Chicken (a.k.a. Chickster Chicken)

        2 Chicken Breasts (or small tenderloins-1.25 pounds)
        1 can of frozen orange juice
        1 bottle of Worcestershire sauce
        1 lb. flour
        1 lb. butter
        1 bag dumpling noodles (12 oz.)
 
Dredge salted chicken breasts in flour coating them lightly. (Basically this means rolling de-thawed chicken on a mound of flour on top of a plate. Will stick.) Melt some butter in a frying pan and place chicken in it. Brown the chicken breasts on both sides using medium-low heat. Turn the heat down to low and add 1/2 can of frozen orange juice (I actually prefer to use a full can but I really like orange) and 4 or 5 healthy squirts of Worcestershire sauce. Cook covered for 15 minutes.
 
Noodles: Boil lots of water, add dumpling noodles, bring back to boil, and cook for 7 minutes, then drain.

*Make sure to keep the orangey juice that remains in the pan after you remove the cooked chicken, so you can pour it over the noodles as a sauce. Don’t pour it down the sink as I did, only to offer my fellow Chicksters dry noodles.

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