Cashew Chicken

Weekend-ahhhh

by Jessica on December 3, 2012

in Cashew Chicken, Dogs, Food, Friends, Kitchen, Local Food, organic, Paleo, restaurants, Weekend

I feel like it’s been forever since I recapped what I would consider an “average” weekend for us. I was so excited to be home this weekend. I lost all but one of my weekends to travel in November, so being home and having virtually no plans was something I looked forward to all week.

We started our Saturday morning off with a little shopping. We absolutely hate shopping, especially during the holiday season when other shoppers seemingly turn into slow-moving zombies, so we grouped all of our miscellaneous trips into one big one.

One of our stops was to the pet store for a jacket for Matilda. She of course loves it. Too bad the weather is in the 70s…

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I tried to put Clive’s on, but he stubbornly muscled out of it…

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We then hit up Bed Bath & Beyond for some new kitchen utensils. We’ve been holding on to more than a few that are well past their prime. I’ll spare you a photo, just take my word for it. It’s embarrassing.

By the third store, Neil was starving, so we stopped by House of Chow  on our way home for veggie stir-fry and Springfield-style Cashew Chicken. They are the only people in town who really do it right, so when we desperately need an emergency homesickness fix, we always turn to them.

When we got home, I started washing and putting our new utensils away, and decided that it was pointless to just clean out one drawer, so I rearranged my entire kitchen. Go big or go home right? Oh wait, this is home.

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I got rid of a TON of stuff and freed up 4 drawers and plenty of shelf space for future use. We’ve been downsizing in bits and pieces over the past few weeks. Getting rid of unused tools and appliances, and just trying to declutter a bit. We love to cook and eat just as much as ever, but I think we do just as well with less.

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What does anyone need with this many pie pans?

My cleaning frenzy continued late into the afternoon and all over the house. Somewhere in there I pulled our little Christmas tree from storage and set it up. It doesn’t have ornaments just yet, but looks pretty just the same. If only I could get one Felix the Cat to stop dragging the skirt around…

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While we cleaned, we tuned into the Outlaw Open, a CrossFit competition that our trainer Nate was in CA to participate in. They were awesome enough to put together a livestream, so we could track Nate’s progress and enjoy some of the WODs. At one point, we had it streaming in our living room, kitchen and the loft. Definitely inspiring, I’m ready for the CrossFit Open WODs in a few months — even if I’m only doing it for fun.

Watching my awesome trainer compete today from the comfort of my messy kitchen. GO NATE! We are SO proud!

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Neil put a late dinner in the oven to slow cook around 8 — a pretty sizable pork butt. It made the house smell amazing, even more so than the combination of our breakfast bacon and the evergreen candle I lit for the first time. Just a simple rub of Dijon mustard (to stick), paprika, salt, pepper, coconut sugar and garlic powder a few hours beforehand. I have a feeling it will be dinner for a few days.

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I spent the rest of the night reading Cloud Atlas on the couch while Neil played computer games. It’s so good, but man it’s taking me forever to finish it. I actually had to buy a copy because the library insisted I give them back their copy. The nerve of them to go and lend me good books for free and then want them back.

Sunday morning brought us to Cafe Berlin, our favorite breakfast spot. I always order the Spinach and Swiss Omelette with fruit and a huge piece of Uprise Bakery sourdough. So worth the cheat. Neil opted for a huge egg and bacon breakfast sammie on a homemade biscuit with home fries on the side.

Sunday afternoon was spent crafting — or attempting to craft — with Chris. We’ve been wanting to have a craft day since we created the most epic wedding rehearsal bouquet in existence, but my pesky workload constantly got in the way. She worked on a DIY ring design she saw on Pinterest and I attempted to teach myself to knit for what has to be the millionth time. I made progress, but I still suck. Regardless, we definitely need to make this a recurring calendar event because it was so nice to take some time for hobbies and personal goals I’ve sorely neglected!

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Afterward Neil and I settled back into the couch with a big helping of pulled pork and mashed cauliflower — so good! I’m kicking myself for not making this Paleo staple sooner.

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And that was pretty much it. A good, long weekend. Now to survive another insane week!

How was your weekend?

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Homesick Curing Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

by Jessica on March 24, 2011

in Cashew Chicken, Chinese, Kitchen, organic, Recipes, Springfield

Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

The end of my second-to-last semester in grad school is finally in sight. Relief and time off are just a few weeks away! We have been so busy this semester. Notice I said “we” and not “I.” Even though Neil isn’t in school, he is often the innocent bystander who falls victim to my coursework. Our meals and evenings are dictated by my obsessive need to collect every class participation point and finish every project to the point of clinical excess. Toss in several freelance projects and it was only a matter of time before we hit burnout, and it feels like a brick wall.

I’ve spent my entire week working on a project for my Flash class. We are just entering the nuances of advanced Actionscript and I’m just not taking to it well. It doesn’t help that our project requirement is a crazy assemblage of animations, video and audio over several frames that have to be coded to play on page load, and turn on/off when someone interacts with a feature and link between screens with required input fields and colors and GAH! It’s a mess, and I have spent nearly every non-working hour for the last five days doing triage in order to make it work. And it does work, kind of. I finally had to cut myself off. You know that point where you’ve put so much into it that you have nothing left to give? I mean nothing left to give. I’m there.

Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

All this work and time away from what felt like a balanced existence have made us homesick for my second hometown of Springfield, Missouri. We love going down there to visit family and friends, but with my schedule this semester I haven’t been able to visit since Christmas. If you’re not familiar with Springfield, there are two words that are almost synonymous with it: Cashew Chicken. There are tons of Chinese restaurants in Springfield. It’s a running joke that on every block you’re sure to find a church (bible belt), a liquor store and a Chinese restaurant. Every one of them serves Cashew Chicken. I think it might be a requirement by the Better Business Bureau.

Each restaurant has put their own spin on it, so the decision when we visit isn’t “where to go for dinner?” so much as what kind of Cashew Chicken we’re in the mood for. Canton Inn? Cashew In Cashew Out? Mr. Yen’s? So many choices, none of which were available to us last night. So we did what any desperate, homesick couple would do. We made it ourselves.

Ingredients:

Recipe via Teresa Merau/AllRecipes

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 cups all-purpose flour (we used wheat)
3 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons water
2 cups peanut oil for frying
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 tablespoons chopped green onion for topping (we used chives from our garden)
2 cups cashew halves.

Serve with 2 cups rice, prepared

A few shots of the method…

Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

Directions:

1. Wash and cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces. In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the flour, seasoning salt and 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch. In another dish or bowl beat egg and mix with water. Dip chicken pieces into flour mixture, then eggs, then flour mixture again. Heat peanut oil in a large skillet and deep fry coated chicken in hot oil for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
2. Meanwhile (while frying chicken), heat broth to boiling in a medium saucepan. Add oyster sauce, sugar, soy sauce and white pepper and return to boiling Mix remaining cornstarch with a small amount of cold water in a cup. Add cornstarch mixture to broth slowly (almost drop by drop at times) and continue stirring, then cook for another 5 minutes over medium-low heat.
3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C). Place cashews on a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes. Pour sauce over fried chicken and prepared rice and top with cashews and green onion. Serve with soy sauce to taste, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

This recipe was spot on, even better than some of the restaurant varieties we’ve had in Springfield. Lightly crunchy chicken, smooth and lightly sweet sauce, with the taste of toasted cashews and fresh cut (right from our garden) chives mixed in. If you’ve never had Cashew Chicken, this easy recipe is the perfect way to become acquainted with a Springfield staple.

It’s important to note though that it is definitely not an authentic recipe as far as Chinese food goes. Springfield-style Cashew chicken is very much your typical American-butchered Chinese take-out. It is typically gooey, starchy, and very greasy. While this recipe is of the same approach, it’s composition is definitely healthier than its take-out counterpart. If you’re looking for a more authentic variation, I recommend Rasa Malaysia’s Cashew Chicken.

Update: Check out our meatless version of this dish!

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