Roasted Chicken Drumsticks

On the search for a easy dinner idea, I leafed through Food Network Magazine and I found this recipe. I did modify little bit by substituting mushrooms for leek and using coconut milk instead of half and half cream. It was soooo good. My hubby commented that the sauce tasted like Thai curry sauce. I think I can even use this sauce in other dishes. Oh the possibilities.  I added chill flakes to the sauce and it added a nice amount of heat to the sauce. 

• 10 Drum sticks
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of coconut milk
• 1/4 cup of chicken broth
• 3 tablespoon of flour 
• Chili flakes (optional)
• Salt & Pepper
• Mushrooms/Leeks (Really any veggie you want to add)
• Lemon

Heat the oven to 425F. 

Salt and pepper the drumsticks. Oil the skillet and brown the chicken on both sides until they are nicely browned, about 5 minutes. 

Place the chicken on a plate. Sautee the mushroom or any other vegetable on the skillet. Crush up the garlic and sautee as well. Make sure they don't burn. Place the chicken back into the skillet and pop them in the oven for about 20-30 minutes or until the thermometer reaches internal temp of 165F.

Once the chicken is cooked, transfer the chicken onto another plate. In the skillet, add coconut milk, chicken stock, chill flakes and flour and stir well until the sauce thickens to your liking. Taste the sauce and tinker with it to your liking. 

I would rate this 10 out of 10 on a simple dinner rating. It is pretty much a one skillet dish so clean up is a breeze. 

Mandu Kal Gooksu (Korean Dumpling noodle soup)

I don't cook Korean food a lot. Here's a little secret; my husband is a picky eater. I always tease him that he's got a palate of a five year old. He doesn't like onions, cabbage, peppers, mushrooms and etc... sort of the food that I didn't like when I was a kid either. But now I am an adult and I love all of those things mentioned above. Lot of Korean food contains the vegetables he doesn't like so I usually just end up catering to his preference.

In order for me to satisfy my husband and my craving for Korean food, I make my own dumpling at home. Most of the store bought ones have too much MSG and they also have onions or green onions which my husband dislikes. I have been trying to avoid MSG by making lot of the food at home. This can be a pain but I feel good that I know what I am feeding my child.
Anyway, back to the dumplings. I usually make a big batch of dumplings and with 3 lbs. of ground pork, by the time I am done, I have about 200 pork dumplings for future use.
Fortunately for my husband, he does appreciate me for making them at home. If he wasn't grateful he wouldn't get fed so I guess he's a smart guy.

One of our favourite dish to eat is Mandu Kal Gooksu, which is dumpling soup with noodles. Since I bought my Kitchenaid Pasta attachment, we have been making it lot more often. The noodles used in the soup are little thicker so I have been using the linguini attachment to make the noodles. You can make the noodles by hand, which I have done before purchasing the pasta maker but rolling it to the thickness you want can get tiresome.

I make a base stock with anchovies and dried seaweed. Now, these anchovies aren't the usual anchovies you buy in the store. They are dried up fish that are simmered to make stock.
I use that for the soup base and add my dumplings and the noodle. The soup itself is very simple to make as long as you have the necessary ingredients which in this case are, the dumplings and the noodles.

3. Mandu skin

2. Making the mandu skin

1. Rolling the dough

6. Final product

5. Filling for mandu

4.Putting the filling inside the skin

Noodle for the soup.

Kitchen Aid Attachment

Lately, I have been obsessed with the idea of making homemade pasta.

One of my neighbours with a Marcato Atlas pasta maker generously offered to lend it to me so I could try out making pasta with it.  I looked up recipes for a handmade pasta and came across David Lobovitz's site.

I liked making the pasta so much that I decided to purchase one. I wasn't sure whether I wanted a hand crank style or Kitchenaid attachment since I have a Kitchenaid mixer at home. I did my homework and here's my two cents on the two different types of pasta maker.

            Hand crank.                                          

• It's more affordable with the prices starting around $20.00(Amazon.com) all the way to $200.00 for pasta maker with a motor. 
• It is portable since you don't need a mixer to make it work. 
• It is hand cranked so you need to turn the crank while feeding the machine with the dough and trying to catch the noodle as it comes out on the other side. 
• There are other attachment available for purchase depending on the machine (i.e. ravioli maker). 

            Kitchenaid Attachment

• It is more pricey than hand cranked pasta maker. Attatchment with roller, spaghetti and fettucini ranges in price from $150.00-$200.00 depending on where you purchase. 
• The motor in the mixer does all the work for you, thus leaving your hands free to feed the dough and catch the noodle as it goes through the attachment.
• Easier to store the attachments since they take less room than a bulky pasta maker. 
• Additional attachment are available for purchase.

After reading the reviews and having had an opportunity to try out the Atlas pasta maker, we decided to purchase Kitchenaid pasta attachment. We got a 20 %off coupon at Bed,bath and beyond and used that towards the purchase. It actually ended up being cheaper than buying off Amazon. 

I will post more pictures of the 3 attachments I have in the next few days. 

I really look forward to making fresh pasta with the attachment and can't believe how easy it is. I still have my boxes of store bought pasta at home for those times when I need to quickly make a meal but I try to make fresh pasta as much as I can. Fresh pasta is chewier and just tastes better. Period. 

Roller Attachment

Spaghetti Attachment

Drying process