The Indonesian Sate Ayam or Chicken Satay is fully seasoned and marinated with spices, that it can be served without a peanut sauce.  If you do want to serve a peanut sauce, please look up the Malaysian version of the Chicken Satay.

Chef’s tips: To create a natural basting brush, save the green parts of the lemongrass.  Bunch them together at the leave end and tie with a piece of string.  Using a sharp knife, split each end of the lemongrass halfway up the stalk into four, making a brush.

Ingredients:

Marinade:
8 shallots, peeled, sliced
3 stalks lemon grass, white part, cut finely
2 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed
1 inch galangal, peeled, sliced
4 tablespoons palm sugar
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground fennel
1 tablespoon ground tumeric
½ teaspoon chili/ cayenne
1 tablespoon belachan
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon kicap manis / dark soy sauce
¼ cup coconut milk

2 lbs chicken thighs – boneless, skinless
20 bamboo skewers, soaked
3 tablespoons canola oil

To make the marinate and sate
1.    In a food processor, grind marinate ingredients together till a fine paste.
2.    Cut chicken into thin strips, 1 X ¼ X 4 inch.
3.    Marinate chicken in marinade at least 30 minutes.
4.    Skewer chicken with the bamboo skewers.  Brush with oil.  In a separate bowl, add 1 cup of oil with a couple tablespoons of oil for basting the chicken.
5.    On a hot oiled grill/broiler on high, grill chicken skewers  about 2 minutes on each side, or more depending on thickness, until nicely browned.  Baste frequently with oil and water solution.
Serving:
6.    Cut cucumber at an angle, avoiding the seeds.  Rotate cucumber per cut.
7.    Cut onions into small wedges.  Serve satay with peanut sauce and cut cucumbers & onions.
Serves: 6

Tags: Appetizer, finger foods, Indonesian, satay, skewers.

Fava beans are so delicious and so good for you. It has a higher percentage of protein than a lot of other beans. It’s meaty woodsy flavor works very well with slow roasted garlic.

Chef’s tip: Do invest in the time in using fresh beans.  While it may take you a a 20 more minutes to shell, blanch and peel them, it’s like a whole different bean from those muddy brown dried or canned ones.

Ingredients

1 baguette, sliced 3/8-inch at a diagonal
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
2 lbs fava in the pod (yields about 2 cups)
5 cloves garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper
3 basil leaves, chiffonade
A wedge of pecorino
1 lemon
Lemon oil – “O” Meyer Lemon Olive Oil

To make the crostini:
1.    Slice baguette into 3/8 inch thick pieces. Place bread slices on a sheet pan, brush one side with olive oil.
2.    Bake in a 375F oven for 7-10 minutes until golden brown. Immediately rub with a piece of garlic.
To pod and peel the fava beans:
3.    Break off the top of the pod, and then slide your thumb along the pod’s vein to split the pod into two. DO this over a colander to catch the falling bean.
4.    Now you will see a very white bean. You still need to peel this thick membrane. To do so, bring a pot of salted water to boil, blanch the beans (30 secs) and plunge them into a bowl of ice water. Drain. Pick up a bean, and make a small tear at the top of the bean – where it used to connect to the shell. Then gently squeeze /pop out the bright green fava bean. Set aside – refrain from munching on them.
To make the garlic confit and spread:
5.    Put the olive oil and whole garlic in a small pot and bring to a simmer. lower heat and gently roast the garlic for 20 minutes until the garlic is soft and tender.
6.    Place the fava bean, the garlic confit (oil and all) into a large bowl and gently mash with a fork. For a rustic texture, leave some chunks behind. Add basil and salt and pepper.
Assembling the crostini:
7.    Spread a tablespoon of the fava bean mash on the crostini. Using a microplane rasp, zest some lemon zest on top of the mash. Using a vegetable peeler, gently shave a thin slice of pecorino and place on top of the crostini. Finish with the lemon oil and a twist of black pepper.

Serves: 6

Tags: Californian, crostini, finger foods, Vegetarian.

Probably one of the best ways to eat maitakes.  Using rice flour for the batter, deep frying the mushrooms to perfection at 375F gives the tempura a nice big crunch.  The woodsy, robust flavor of chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms works very well with the lime salt…..deep fried margarita, anyone?…I mean, maitake.

Chef’s tip: Sprinkling the maitake with some cornstarch absorbs any excess moisture, and allows the batter to adhere to the mushrooms better.

Ingredients:
Zest of 1 lime
2 tablespoon Maldon sea salt

1 lb maitake or hens of the woods mushroom

Batter:
2 cups rice flour
1 egg yolk
2 cups club soda, chilled cold

1 cup of cornstarch
kosher salt
4 cups of canola oil
Lime, cut into wedges

Preparing the lime sea salt:
1.    Using a mortar and pestle, muddle salt with zest.  Salt can be stored in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.
Preparing the mushroom:
2.    Wipe maitake with a damp towel to clean.  Trim roots.  Break into small chunks about 2 inch square.
Preparing the batter:
3.    Whisk egg yolk, rice flour and club soda in large bowl until just blend.
Cooking the tempura:
4.    Heat canola oil in a deep fry pan till 375F
5.    Working in batches, sprinkle cornstarch on maitake to cover entirely, then dredge in batter and fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes.  Using slotted spoon, transfer mushroom to a baking rack over a sheet pan to drain.
6.    Sprinkle with kosher salt immediately
7.    Repeat for remaining maitakes, making sure temperature is maintained at 375F
8.    Serve with lime sea salt, and wedges of lime.

Serves: 4

Tags: finger foods, Japanese, Maldon, Mushrooms, Sea salt, tempura, Vegetarian.