Soy Chicken, Fried Rice and Asian Green Beans

Last weekend my cousin Kim and her daughter Tea came for a visit. I was flattered when she asked to brainstorm a menu for an upcoming girls gathering she is hosting. We chatted about what was most important ...ease of preparation and tastiness! Works for me. After tossing a bunch of ideas around we settled on an old family favorite ...thanks Pam!

As always, good food is important, great company critical and the ambiance sets the stage. Here are some fun ideas to help with the latter...

• Add an orchid to your table arrangement
• Place an orchid on top of each folded napkin
• Offer Asian beer with fun, small glasses
• Use those tea pots you've been storing - serve green tea with dinner or dessert
• Consider using square plates
• Place soy sauce serving containers on table
• Use a ramicon (small custard dish) to help you shape rice - gives plates unique dimension. Place a long piece of lemon grass atop the rice to add drama
• Dessert Ideas: Buy fortune cookies and create your own fun fortunes (stuff using tweezers). Or buy specialty chocolate covered fortune cookies. Serve mango or ginger sorbet - top with crystallized ginger and using your lemon zester to create long curly strips. Love dimension, drama and subtle surprises!

Soy Chicken

Ingredients - serves 4

• 1/4 C soy sauce
• 1 T sugar
• 1 T sherry
• 1/2 t grated ginger
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 egg
• Sesame seeds
• 1/4 C flour
• 2 T butter
• 1 T vegetable oil

Directions:

• Mix soy sauce, sugar, sherry and ginger.
• Place chicken and mixture in a ziplock bag, marinate for 1-2 hours in refrigerator
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees
• Place empty Pyrex dish in oven while in preheats
• In shallow bow beat egg with 2 T of marinade
• Mix flour and sesame seeds
• Dip chicken in egg mixture then flour mixture
• Remove Pyrex dish from oven and add butter and oil to pan
• place chicken in the dish and bake uncovered 7-10 min/side

Easy Chinese Rice
Ingredients - serves 4

• 1 C sticky rice
• 2 C water
• 4 slices bacon
• 2 eggs
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1/4 C dry roasted peanuts (optional)
• salt and pepper

Directions:

• Boil water, add rice - cook as directed (25 min)
• While rice is cooking, cook bacon until crisp, then dice
• In another pan scramble the eggs and cook
• In large pan combine cooked rice, scrambled egg, diced bacon, chopped green onion, soy sauce and peanuts. Mix and heat through.

Asian Sesame Roasted Green Beans - Sunset Magazine

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds green beans
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon Asian (toasted) sesame oil
• Soy sauce

Directions:

• Rinse and drain beans; trim and discard stem ends.
• In each of two 12- by 17-inch baking pans, mix half the beans with half the olive oil; spread level.
• Bake at 450º until beans are slightly browned and tender - 15 to 25 minutes
• switch pan positions halfway through baking.
• Stir half the sesame seeds and half the sesame oil into beans in each pan; continue baking until seeds are golden, about 5 minutes longer.
• Pour into a bowl, add soy sauce to taste, and mix well.