“Easy Chicken Recipes, 103 inventive soups, salads, casseroles, and dinners everyone will love,” by Addie Gundry. St. Martin’s Griffin, New York. $19.99

I’m part of a generation that had a grandmother who made up her own recipes and carefully wrote out the best ones on 3×5 index cards and a mother who carefully saved those family recipes, adding to them a few clipped-out recipes from Good Housekeeping and other “women’s” magazines.

And then there’s me – a culinary embarrassment to Grandmom, rest her soul – who has been known to throw out a few ingredients into Google search (“chicken, asparagus, olives”) and crossed my digital fingers that something tasty would kick out.

In short, I’m always half-looking for a compilation of go-to recipes that meets me where I cook – usually doing my best to get a great meal in front of the kids in the short time between work and bedtime. My cookbooks overfloweth, but most have only a handful of true any-day recipes, easily made with ingredients on hand.

Enter “Easy Chicken Recipes,” by Addie Gundry, the latest in a series of Recipelion cookbooks she curates, that speak to my dilemma. The unfussy, straightforward and – let’s be honest – proletarian cookbook was an unexpected delight. Every few recipes got bookmarked, not because they were exotic or unusual, but because they were approachable and didn’t assume my kitchen was outfitted with spices from multiple continents or that I had time to make three sub-recipes to complete the dish.

Other titles in the series make it clear that’s intentional. There’s “Everyday Dinner Ideas,” “Easy Cookie Recipes,” and “Essential Slow Cooker Recipes.” The recipes in the series are developed in the RecipeLion test kitchen, based on reader favorites from the RecipeLion website.

Advertisement

This cookbook is my guilty pleasure. It’s not aimed for the sophisticate, but I appreciated the guidance on meals as simple as lemon pepper chicken breasts and chicken pastry turnovers.

No one, except you dear reader, need know that these are the recipes my grandmother and mother probably knew so well they didn’t even bother to write them down.

I also like that the cookbook is organized around the method being used to cook chicken, not by season or food course. Sections include slow cooker, skillet, oven-baked and casseroles. That’s how I think about dinner sometimes – do I feel like firing up the grill? The stove? Or am I prepping dinner in the morning?

My one criticism was that several recipes relied a bit too much on ease – calling for cream of mushroom soup one too many times and oddly, Doritos in one recipe and potato chips in another. I haven’t sunk that low, have I?

The true test, of course, is your audience, and my family loved the Spicy Chicken Potstickers. The prep was fun and easily a family affair, cooking the potstickers was easy and they turned out perfectly. They are intended as an appetizer, but they worked for us as a main dish with plenty left over for lunch the next day.

And I would have been proud to serve them to Mom and Grandmom, too.

Advertisement

Noel Gallagher can be reached at 791-6387 or at:

ngallagher@pressherald.com

Spicy Chicken Potstickers

Prep time 25-30 minutes

Cook time 10-15 minutes

Yield 36 potstickers

Advertisement

POTSTICKERS:

1 lb. ground chicken

½ cup shredded cabbage

1 carrot, shredded

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Advertisement

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

2 teaspoons sesame oil

¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Advertisement

36 wonton wrappers

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

DIPPING SAUCE:

½ cup soy sauce

½ cup rice vinegar

Advertisement

2 tablespoons honey

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

2 teaspoons sesame oil

FOR THE POTSTICKERS: In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, cabbage, carrot, garlic, green onions, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, sesame oil, white pepper and red pepper flakes. Mix well.

Advertisement

To assemble the potstickers, place a wonton wrapper on a flat surface. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the filling into the center of the wrapper. Rub the edges of the wrapper with water. Fold the dough over the filling to create a half-moon, then pinch the edges to seal.

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the potstickers in a single layer – do not crowd the pan. Cook until golden and crispy, 2-3 minutes per side.

Place the cooked potstickers on a wire rack set over a baking sheet while you finish cooking the remaining potstickers. Transfer to a serving platter and top with parsley.

For the dipping sauce: In a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, and sesame oil and whisk to mix.

Serve with the hot potstickers.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under: