Oktoberfest: Hänchen Schnitzel

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chicken, dinner, food, foodie, German, main dish, Oktoberfest, recipe

Chicken Schnitzel vs. Chicken Cutlet

Of all the varieties of food I prepare, this is Hubster’s favorite chicken dish. He hasn’t quite understood how sometimes I call this cutlet, and sometimes I call it schnitzel. Maybe because the translation tells us they’re the exact same thing.

There are a few subtle differences in how I prepare and serve these dishes.  My schnitzel gets dipped in flour, egg wash, and breadcrumbs, while the cutlet gets milk, flour, egg, then breadcrumbs. Panko bread crumbs for the schnitzel, regular bread crumbs for the cutlet. The seasoning I add to the crumbs and flour are both differnt. I usually serve schnitzel with beer-braised vegetables & spätzle, and chicken cutlet with spaghetti & a green veggie. Portion-wise, schnitzel is usually larger and the cutlet smaller. Either may be finished with a pan sauce.

Hänchen Schnitzel, AKA: Chicken Cutlet

Schnitzel Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 2 eggs, 2 Tbsp. milk, 2 c. panko bread crumbs, 1 Tbsp. paprika, 1 tsp. lemon peel, 1 Tbsp. dill weed, 2 c. flour, olive oil, fresh-ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper

Schnitzel Directions:
Split chicken and pound until thin and rub with salt & pepper. In a bowl beat together eggs and milk. Mix paprika in with flour. Mix lemon peel and dill with the bread crumbs. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Coat chicken with flour, shake off excess. Dip chicken in egg wash and then into bread crumbs. Add chicken to hot oil, until browned and throughly cooked, flipping only once.

To getting in touch with my German side, I serve this with a hefeweiss pan-gravy, spargel, and spaetzel or kartoffelpuffer. I am lucky enough to live in a town that has an Oktoberfest, so I have a one track mind this weekend!
What is on your dinner plate?

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Apple Smoked Turkey Tenderloin

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apple, dinner, entree, food, foodie, grill, grilling, lunch, main dish, marinade, meat, postaday2011, recipe, supper, tenderloin, turkey, turkey tenderloin

It’s been a while since I posted a recipe, so let me share last night’s dinner. I had planned to serve a few slices of these turkey tenderloins over a bed of sautéed spinach, lightly drizzled with a glaze and a side of tarragon pear rice. Unfortunately the fresh spinach at the supermarket didn’t look so… fresh, and my turkey tenderloins were ready to be cooked. So today I skipped the spinach and the glaze… Hopefully next time, the spinach will look better and it’ll have a nice picture to update this post.

Apple Smoked Turkey Tenderloin

Ingredients:
2 turkey tenderloins, 4 c. sparkling apple cider, 1/3 c. honey, 1/8 c. smoke flavoring, 1 Tbsp. chopped sage, 1 small shallot minced, 1 tsp. powdered garlic, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper

Directions:
Put tenderloins in zipper bag and set aside. Mix together remaining ingredients. Pour marinade in zipper bag over turkey tenderloins, cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place tenderloins and marinade in casserole dish. Insert meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat. Place in oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until meat thermometer reaches 165°F. Cover and let rest before serving.

*This is also fantastic grilled.

What is for dinner at your place tonight?

Coconut Curry Shrimp

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appetizers, basmati rice, coconut, coconut curry, curry, dinner, food, foodie, lunch, main course, main dish, postaday2011, recipe, shrimp, side dishes, supper

I love coconut and I love shrimp… Hubster doesn’t like either. After a long weekend, I decided to indulge  in two of my favorite ingredients (and cooked him something different tonight).

Coconut Curry Shrimp

 

Coconut Curry Shrimp Ingredients:
1 lb. shrimp, 1 minced shallot, 2 c. coconut milk, 1 tsp. minced garlic, 1/2 c. tomato sauce, 1/2 c. dry white wine, 2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro, 1 Tbsp. curry powder, 1 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger, fresh cracked black pepper, fresh ground sea salt

Coconut Curry Shrimp Directions:
Peel & devein shrimp and set aside. Add olive oil and shallot to pan and sauté until soft. Add garlic, ginger and curry and warm. Add tomato sauce, coconut milk, salt and pepper and simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir in shrimp and cook until they turn pink. Stir in cilantro. Serve over basmati rice.

*Serve in small ramekins or dishes as an appetizer.

One of my favorite things about shrimp is that is how quickly it cooks.

What was for dinner tonight?

Chinese New Year

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appetizers, cheese wonton, chicken stir fry, Chinese food, Chinese New Year, ethnic cooking, ethnic cuisine, Ethnic Food, fortune cookie, hot tea, main dish, recipe, shrimp rolls, spring rolls, steamed rice, stir fry

This year, Chinese New Year falls on Valentine’s Day. Enter the year of the tiger. Dressed in red, a bowl of tangerines in hand, and chopsticks next to the place setting our festivities were just beginning.

On the Eve of Chinese New Year, while Hubster took a nap, Pumpkin and I set up the festivities and prepared the food. My bamboo was intended for our centerpiece, but then I decided to proudly display the flower my Pumpkin bought me. On the menu? Cheese wontons, spring rolls, stir fry, steamed rice, hot white tea and pomegranate juice. We nibbled on chinese noodles with duck sauce and wasabi rice crackers while prepping the meal.

We planned to use my fortune cookie recipe and add sweet messages to show Hubster/Dad how much he means to me, but time was a little short. The store was of mung beans, Bok choy and snow peas, but our feast turned out just as nice. I cannot believe how much my 8y.o. actually did, I love having a sous-chef!

Cheese Wontons
Pumpkin lined my mini muffin pans with mini wonton wrappers. Then mixed together cream cheese with chopped green onions. He spooned the mixture into the muffin cups and folded the wrapper over. All I did was talk him through it and bake the wontons at 350°F for 20 minutes.

Cheese Wontons

Spring Rolls
I prepped the veggies, pumpkin rolled them and I fried them! We stuffed the spring roll wrappers with shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, shredded celery and alfalfa sprouts (they were out of mung beans). He whisked a few eggs and drizzled over the veggies, and rolled the wrappers and sealed shut with the egg. I fried them vegetable oil until they were golden brown.

Spring Rolls

Chicken Stir Fry/ Fried Rice
I poured the remaining egg mixture into my sauté pan to cook. I then removed the egg from the hot pan. I cooked thin chunks (I didn’t have the time to cut thin slices) chicken breast in the pan with stir fry sauce until done. I added baby corn, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, the remaining cabbage, carrots, celery and alfalfa sprouts to the sauté pan. I tossed the cooked egg back into the pan and sprinkled with sesame seeds and fresh grated ginger. Pumpkin decided he wanted the steamed brown rice thrown in with the stir fry, so it turned out somewhere between stir fry and fried rice.

Stir Fry/ Fried Rice

Although we didn’t have a festival of lanterns, the dragon or fireworks, our festivities brought good luck and fortune into our home.

Chinese New Year