Scott's Amazing Orange Chicken

I really love to cook, and since I've been home for a few months on maternity leave, I've had a tendency to dominate the kitchen. It keeps me busy and away from unsavory behaviors. So it's not that my husband CAN'T cook, it's that I rarely let him.
But every once in a while he gets really excited about making something for me, and inevitably it turns out awesome.
Last night, he decided very adamantly that he would make Orange Chicken. It was his first attempt, but it came out better than anything I've ever ordered from a Chinese restaurant. 

Behold Scott's Awesome Orange Chicken!

The chicken was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, the sauce was tangy and salty and sweet in just the right amounts. It was so delicious, it shut Intolerable Steve up for a full 10 minutes, rendering him nearly tolerable in the process. And my husband was so very pleased with himself, he's allowed me to post his recipe.

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts , chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons salt 
• 2 teaspoons of pepper 
• oil (for frying)
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 1/4 cup potato flour 
  
  Beat egg with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Dredge chicken in egg mixture.  Combine flours with remaining salt and pepper. Coat chicken pieces with flour mixture.
  Set aside.
  
  
  In a sauce pan, combine: 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of GF soy sauce 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of water
• 5 tablespoons of sugar 
• 5 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
• zest and juice from 2 large oranges
  
  Bring the sauce to a rolling boil, then reduce heat. Simmer uncovered while you fry the chicken.
  Shallow-fry the chicken in a deep skillet with about 2 inches of peanut oil in it. Oil should completely cover chicken pieces. Turn as necessary until all of chicken is golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.
  Remove sauce from heat.
  Let chicken and Sauce rest for about 5 minutes. Sauce should be the consistency of pancake syrup.
  Put chicken in a seal-able container. (Scott used a large Tupperware bowl.) Pour all of sauce over chicken. Seal container, and shake until all chicken is evenly coated.
  Serve over rice with broccoli. Garnish with sliced ginger and orange.
  
  
  
  
  
  Voila! The sexiest chicken You've ever had.  Seriously.

Butter Rum Cake

It's starting to get cold again, and what's more, around here, there's been nothing but rain, rain, rain.

So when I invited guests over for dinner last night, I wanted to give them a dessert that would be all homey and warm and comforting, with some fall flavors.

And then, I noticed the bottle of Kraken Rum that Simone had left us after a long, soggy, holiday weekend of drinking and debauchery. Perfect!

I used it to make this cake, and it came out spectacularly. Rich and buttery, not too sweet, perfect with coffee.

Rum Cake an Pineapple. Yum!

You will need for the cake:

2 cups sugar

1 cup of softened butter

5 eggs

4 teaspoons of dark spiced rum

1 cup of white rice flour

1 cup of brown rice flour

2/3 cup of potato starch

1/3 cup of tapioca flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup milk

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 12-cup Bundt® or 10-inch angel food cake (tube) pan; sprinkle with white rice flour. Set aside.
Sift together rice flours, tapioca flour, potato starch, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Set aside.

Cream butter and rum in a large bowl. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Sift in dry ingredients slowly, beating on medium speed and alternating with milk until all is well combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the butter sauce:

Heat but DO NOT BOIL:
1 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Butter
3 tablespoons of dark spiced rum

when butter is melted and sauce is hot, remove from heat.
Prick cake with a long-tined fork. Pour warm sauce over cake.  Cool cake completely before removing from pan.

(The sauce makes a lot of sauce, and when I was pouring it over the cake, I could only do about half of it in one go. So you can wait for the cake to absorb the liquid and do another round, or you can cool the cake, turn it out, and pour the remainder on the top, so it's rummy all through. As you like.)

Oh yeah, and even though the cake is warm and autumnal, serving it up with some juicy pineapple is never a bad idea.

Enjoy!