Chicken Stir Fry

I never used to like doing stir-fry until I started making my own sauces. The bottled ones just don't do it for me, I never know what they are going to taste like, and the powdered ones, well let's just not go there. I usually do beef for stir fry, so I thought I'd switch it up a bit and do chicken today. This is another sauce that we like- adapted from Recipezaar. Add your own meats, veggies, sesame seeds, sprouts, and make it a meal, served over rice or pasta. Yum!

Brown Garlic Sauce

2/3 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Chicken Broth
1/3 Cup Rice Wine (I just used white wine)
3 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
1/4 tsp. Pepper
2 Tbsp. Cooking Oil
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
1 Tbsp. Minced Ginger
2 Tbsp Cornstarch
1/4 Cup Water

1. In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, broth, wine, sugar, sesame oil, and pepper.

2. Dissolve the cornstarch in 1/4 cup water.

3. Heat a pan over high heat, add the cooking oil, add the garlic and ginger, cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

4. Add the soy sauce mixture, bring to a boil.

5. Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 1 minute.

6. Add the cornstarch solution and cook, stirring until the sauce boils and thickens.

7. Add to your stir-fry!

Tip: I used chicken breast for this (about 3/4 lb. for my family, which gave leftovers for lunch), sliced thin, and poured a little soy sauce and oyster sauce (left over from my other stir fry recipe!) and let it sit for maybe 5-10 minutes before cooking. As usual, I cheated and steamed my veggies over the rice, while cooking the chicken, then added the veggies to the wok, added the sauce, and stirred until thickened. This sauce recipe makes quite a bit, but you can refrigerate the other half for another use (or if you like saucy stir-fry- use it all!)

Meat Sauce and what to do with it!

This recipe is for an "all purpose meat sauce" that can be used in several different recipes. or as taco filling, filling on baked potatoes, sloppy joes, etc. It is from the Feb '09 issue of Rachael Ray magazine. I will be using it in 2 of her recipes included in the issue, and then freezing some because it made so much! I did change a couple of things...

Meat Sauce

1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 Cup chopped Pancetta (I used about a 1/3 lb package of pre-sliced and chopped it up)
1 Onion, chopped
2 Carrots, finely chopped
2 Ribs Celery, finely chopped
3 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 Shallot, chopped
2 Lbs. Ground Beef
1/2 Cup Dry Red Wine
28 oz. Tomato Puree (or sauce)
Salt and Pepper


1. Heat the olive oil over med-low heat and add pancetta and cooked until fat is rendered. (about 5 minutes) increase heat to medium, add onion, carrot, celery, and shallot, and cook stirring occasionally until softened about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for a couple more minutes.
(she had you add the beef to the vegetables to cook it, but i decided to take the vegetables out and set them aside, cook the beef, and then add the vegetables back in.)
2. So cook the beef either way. stir in the wine and cook until the liquid is cooked off, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce , 1 cup of water, and season with salt and pepper, bring to a simmer. partially cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for the last 30 minutes, until thickened, about 2 hours. season with more salt and pepper if needed.

We really liked the sauce, I just need to remember to half her recipes for my family!

That night i used the meat sauce to make her white bean stew- very good. I did adjust the portions a bit, so I will write my version of the recipe!


White Bean Stew
4 medium sized red potatoes, cut into bite size chunks
4 small bratwurst
1 15 oz can great northern beans
2 cups meat sauce
1 cup chicken broth
3 tsp herbes de provence
salt and pepper

bring the potatoes to a boil in a pot with enough water to cover them by an inch, lower heat and simmer for about 15 minutes (until fork tender) drain. My brats were not cooked so i boiled them for about 10 minutes, and then cut them into rounds, and then browned them. In the same pot, add all ingredients, and bring to a simmer, cooking until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.

This is the second recipe i will be using the meat sauce for, i thought i should add it to the same post, and will be making it tonight:

Beef and Feta Pasta Bake

1 lb cavatappi or elbow pasta (i'm using a vegetable rotini, and the box is only 12 oz)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbs flour
2 cups milk heated
3/4 lb feta
3 cups meat sauce
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp sugar

Preheat oven to 350
Cook pasta until al dente, drain.
in a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat, whisk in flour for 2 min. increase heat to medium, whisk in hot milk and cook whisking until thickened about 5 minutes. Stir in feta.
In a large bowl, combine meat sauce, cinnamon, cloves, sugar, and half the pasta. In another bowl stir remaining pasta with feta sauce. transfer meaty pasta to a 9 by 13 baking dish, and top with feta pasta. bake until golden about 30 minutes.

This seems like a take on lasagna....but sounded good to all of us!