Food & Recipes

Potato Chip Lemon Chicken

• Serves: 4
• Preparation Time: 20 minutes
• Total Cooking time: 45 minutes

I don’t know about you, but I have always been frustrated with buying a bag of potato chips, for some reason I always wind up with a good third of the bag being potato chip shrapnel, basically useless for dipping or munching out of hand. With this recipe I think I have found a good use for those remnants that would normally go tossed out or left to go stale. A quick and easy take on the classic lemon chicken usually found in Chinese restaurants with the delicious sweet-sour flavor enhancing the mild crunch of the potato chip breading on the chicken. Try this served over rice or with rosemary roasted potatoes. Also, as a side note, for the lemon sauce, if you can get your hands on Meyer lemons do so, they are usually abundant this time of year from farmers markets or local growers.

To prepare:

Crush the potato chips finely in a Ziploc bag using a rolling pin, pour into a large bowl or shallow dish large enough to hold chicken breasts. Next, dip the chicken breasts in the egg then dredge completely in the crushed chips, turning over to coat completely. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with black pepper and parmesan cheese and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet in a preheated 375 degree oven 45 minutes or until cooked thru. While the chicken breasts are baking, prepare the lemon sauce by bringing the lemon juice and zest to a simmer over medium heat. Next, add in the garlic, and sugar adjusting for tartness as desired, simmer 3-5 minutes then add in the cornstarch and water mixture return to a full boil until thickened and serve over chicken.

Salt Broiled Wild Trout (Shioyaki) with Ponzu sauce

• Serves: 4
• Preparation Time: 10 minutes
• Total Cooking time: varies with size of fish

This is one of the simplest, most practical, and to me – most delicious ways to prepare freshly caught trout. Called Shioyaki, or salt broiling, it originated in Japan where it is used primarily with Ayu, which is a species of fish only found in the streams, lakes and coast of Hokkaido, Japan. Since the chances of fresh Ayu finding its way into western markets is unfortunately slim to none, the nearest in comparison as regards to flavor is trout. While commercially farm raised trout is capable of producing very good results with this recipe, there is just something – well, esoteric for lack of a better word, with using freshly caught wild trout that has only recently been pulled from a cold mountain stream or lake and cleaned then grilled over hot coals or under a very hot broiler then dipped in Ponzu – it is simply and divinely delicious. Try this recipe and introduce your friends or family to a traditional taste of the Far East.

Fish

Ingredients for Ponzu sauce

To prepare:

Place the butterflied trout or salmon fillet on wax paper or tinfoil, skin side up. Sprinkle liberally with coarse salt and set aside 30 minutes. Heat a small sauce pan over medium high heat and add the soy sauce, lemon and orange juice and seasoned rice wine vinegar bring just to a boil then reduce heat and allow to simmer 5-10 minutes or until reduced slightly , set aside and allow to cool. Preheat a broiler or barbecue grill and place the trout skin side up (Skin side down for barbecue) 4″ inches below the broiler on a grilling rack/baking sheet and broil 5-7 minutes (longer for salmon fillet) or until skin puffs up from meat and begins to look crispy and meat flakes when gently poked with a fork. Remove from heat and serve with a small dish of Ponzu sauce remembering to remove the skin just before eating.