Crab Rangoon- 2 Ways

At the Chinese restaurants I almost always order crab Rangoon, there's just something about that sweet crab meat, the crunchy fried won ton and any number of dipping sauces that really speak to me!  As part of our Chinese New Year celebration, I just knew these had to be on the menu.  But what I didn't realize is how easy they are to make!!  Plus, you can either fry or bake them and as I found out by accident, the fried won tons are also good dipped in the crab mixture.


Yes, the next party I need to go to, I will be making baked or fried won ton strips to dip into the mixture as an appetizer and I only figured this out because I made some fried won ton strips and accidentally dropped a few into the bowl with the crab mix, so I scooped some up and wa-la another way to eat this delectable dish...


Crab Rangoon-2 Ways


INGREDIENTS:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese-at room temperature
1 can (8 ounces) crab meat
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic-chopped
1 can (8 ounces) water chestnuts-drained and chopped fine
1/4 cup green onions-chopped
2 packages won ton skins
1 egg-lightly beaten

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium mixing bowl beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Add crab meat, soy sauce, garlic, water chestnuts and green onions;  mix until well blended.  With one corner of won ton skin toward you, put 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of bottom half of wrapper.  Moisten lower two edges of skin with beaten egg.  Bring top point of skin down to bottom point and seal edges to form a triangle.  Brush a little egg on the front of the triangle's right corner and on the underside of the left corner.  With a twisting action, bring the two moistened surfaces together and pinch to seal.  Repeat process with remaining skins and filling.

2 ways to cook these:

1)  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place Rangoon on a baking sheet coated with non-stick spray.  Lightly spray the won tons with cooking spray and bake 8-10 minutes or until golden.

2)  Preheat about 1 inch canola oil to 375 degrees in a heavy bottom pot.  Put in about 6 at a time and heat fry about 1 minute on each side--watch carefully, because they go fast!!

Serve with sweet and sour sauce, plum sauce, hot mustard or any kind of dip that you like

Egg Drop Soup

First up in our celebration of the Chinese New Year is this egg drop soup.  I have always loved it at the restaurants, but never realized how totally, super, easy it is!!  I added some chopped spinach to bump up the nutrients, but I'm not sure that that addition is very authentic, in fact I'm pretty sure it isn't, but whatever, I liked it that way-but don't feel you have to add it.  So give this a try and see how easy it is for yourself!


Big changes are coming your way on Monday and I can't wait to share!!  And again, Happy Chinese New Year...


Egg Drop Soup


INGREDIENTS:

4 cups chicken broth or stock
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup fresh spinach-sliced
2 green onions-sliced

DIRECTIONS:

In a large saucepan, bring the broth and sugar to a boil over medium high heat.  Once it's close to boiling, reduce heat to low and drizzle in the beaten egg.  Remove from the heat and stir in the spinach and green onions.  Stir and let sit for about 3 minutes before serving.

Happy Chinese New Year!

This is a head's up that I am going to be changing things up a bit here this week!  I wanted to celebrate the Chinese New Year with you all, but I am running a little behind, so I will be starting to post recipes tomorrow.  And as always, thanks for stopping by anniebakes...

The Chinese New Year for 2012 is centered around the Lunar calendar and starts January 23, lasting 2 weeks.  It is considered one of the most important of Chinese holidays and is celebrated by having huge parties focused on bringing good luck for the new year and the coming spring (planting season).  In China, the celebration can last up to a month.  2012 is the Year of the Dragon.

Your fortune cookie might read:  

"2012-the Year of the Dragon has the potential to breathe life-shaping fire, to be magical, even mythical!"

or

"Keep one eye on the calendar and one on the stars"

Upcoming recipes will be:

Crab Rangoon

Egg Drop Soup

Shrimp Egg Rolls + Sweet and Sour Sauce Recipe

Dumplings

BBQ Pork Appetizer

Asian Meatballs +  Chinese 5 Spice Powder Recipe

Egg Foo Young

And of course, anything else I can come up with!  Stay tuned!!

Grape Jelly

When I was little, my mom always made grape jelly like this and I always called it "my kind of jelly".  So when she'd ask me what I'd like for breakfast, I would reply "toast with my kind of jelly".  So it is fitting that I share with you this super simple recipe for grape jelly...


Grape Jelly


INGREDIENTS:

4 cups 100% grape juice-I use Welch's
1 tablespoon powdered pectin
2 cups sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Bring juice to simmer over medium-high heat in a large saucepan.  Whisk in the pectin and cook, whacking occasionally, for about 3 minutes.  Lower heat to medium-low; add sugar, whisking until dissolved, about 5 minutes.  Let cool slightly before pouring into jars and refrigerating.

Feta Bruschetta

Recently, my mother-in-law graced us with this appetizer.  I. loved. it. So I photographed it, I ate it, I asked for the recipe, and now I'm sharing it with you...


Feta Bruschetta


INGREDIENTS:

1 large tomato-seeded and chopped
1 medium zucchini-finely chopped
4 green onions-finely chopped
4-6 garlic cloves- minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice-freshly squeezed
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup feta cheese-crumbled
Italian bread

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all the ingredients (minus the bread) in a bowl and chill.  Slice and butter each side of the bread and broil in the oven.  Spread with the feta mixture and let the juices soak in for a minute to get the full flavor.

*This actually tastes better when it has chilled over night

Fresh Spinach-Artichoke Dip

This is one of my favorite dips and the use of fresh spinach is the bomb!  There is such a difference between this and the frozen stuff--the color is so vibrant and the taste is so, well, fresh!   I will say though that it does get a little runnier because of the water content of the spinach, so I added extra flour the second time around to hold it together better, but either way it tasted great!!

Fresh Spinach-Artichoke Dip:

INGREDIENTS:
2-10 ounce bags spinach-stems removed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 clove garlic-minced
2 teaspoons flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup white cheddar cheese-shredded
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered

DIRECTIONS:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Stir in the spinach an cook until bright green, about 30 seconds. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process;  squeeze out the excess moisture and roughly chop.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until the onion is soft, about 2 minutes.  Add the flour and cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, about 1 minutes.  Whisk in the milk and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened, about 1 minutes.  Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Parmesan and sour cream.

Return the pot to medium heat.  Add the spinach, cheddar and artichokes and stir until the cheese melts and the dip is heated through.  Serve with tortilla chips or baguettes.

Snickerdoodles

Why have I never made these before??  Hubby loves them and they are as simple as can be!  You too, could make these up lickety split, do it now--before the kiddos come home from school...

Snickerdoodles


INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter-room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg-room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar and then beat in the egg and the vanilla.  In a separate bowl, mix the first four dry ingredients, then slowly add them into the wet ingredients.  Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.  Form the dough into a small ball and roll half into the sugar/cinnamon mixture.  Place on a sheet with a Silpat liner and bake for 7-8 minutes.

Shrimp Bisque

A little before Christmas, we went to the big City to meet some friends for a Christmas Dinner-we went to a wonderful restaurant that none of us had been to before and had the best time and food!  One of the things that I had was a Shrimp Bisque.  I had never had a shrimp bisque before and I. loved. it.  So of course, I made a note to make this on my own some day.

It only took me about 2 weeks before I had to find and replicate a recipe for this bisque.  It is a slight bit different then the restaurant's, but we loved it none the same.  Great restaurants=Great inspirations...

Shrimp Bisque

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound shrimp-peeled and deveined (shells reserved)-I used 16-20 Tiger shrimp

4 cups (32 ounces) seafood stock

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoons chopped garlic

Pinch cayenne pepper

1/4 cup brandy or whiskey (I used Knob Creek)

1/4 cup dry sherry

4 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup flour

2 cups (1 pint) half and half

1/3 cup tomato paste

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Place the shrimp shells and seafood stock in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes.  Strain and reserve the stock.  Add enough water to make 3 3/4 cups.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pot on medium-low.  Add the leeks and cook for 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook 1 more minute.  Add the cayenne pepper and shrimp and cook for about 3 minutes, turning the shrimp as they cook, until pink.  Add the brandy (or whiskey) and cook for 1 minute, then add the sherry and cook for 3 minutes longer.  Transfer the shrimp and leeks to a food processor and process until coarsely pureed.

In the same pot, melt the butter.  Add the flour and cook over medium-low heat for 1 minute, stirring.  Add the half and half and cook, stirring with a whisk, until thickened, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the pureed shrimp, the stock, tomato paste, salt and pepper and heat gently until hot but not boiling.  Season to taste.

*This recipe is a combination of a slew of recipes over the web.