Instructional Recipes & Videos

The Perfect “Spring Chicken”

Here’s a great favorite of ours from our good friend Lynne Kasper. Lynne was numbered among America’s 12 best cooking teachers by the James Beard Foundation, and her work as a food writer for a long time graced the pages of Bon Appétit; currently she writes and hosts “The Splendid Table” each week on public radio.

This outstanding Brown Sugar Brined Chili Chicken recipe is perfect for Spring! And if you’ve never tried brined chicken or turkey — well, prepare to be delighted. We’re big advocates of keeping cooking simple, but this recipe’s well worth the extra prep time!

Gyotaku Fish Recipe

This wonderful, colorful dish brings the flavors of garden and ocean together. Healthy, delicious, and easy-to-prepare on our Gyotaku fish platters!

Welcome to a new and easy culinary fish adventure!

Whether it’s small fillets, half of a fish fillet, or even the whole fish, our Gyotaku platters will take the heat — up to 250� C / 500� F of oven heat. (On the BBQ, make sure you put platters on a pizza stone or over ceramic tiles, not directly on the coals. I even use ceramic tiles in my oven and place my Gyotaku platters on top to create that baking atmosphere. Placing any casserole or baking dish on tiles is always a good idea.)

The beauty of these platters is you go directly from oven to table. So — onward! to the recipe!

Seasoning the Fish

Whether you’re cooking filets of Salmon, Red Snapper, Sea Bass, Cod, Perch, or Orange Roughy, all you do is coat the filets with a little olive oil or a light application of mayonnaise, then sprinkle with seasoning. I actually rub the olive oil through my hands and massage my fish a little. This is basically to get my Garlic and American Seasoning Blends to stick to the fish. Just sprinkle and rub gently to coat the filet with the seasoning.

Making a Bed of Vegetables

Cut up some green, yellow, and red peppers, Julienne style (long strips about ¼” wide and 3″ long) to act as a bed for the filet. Cover the platter with them — a single layer will do just fine. Round slices of red or sweet yellow onion also do a good job. Even long green onions will work. The idea is to hold the fish filet up above the surface of the platter just a touch, so you steam the fish all around!

Place your fish on the sliced vegetables. Add 2 tablespoons of your favorite wine plus 3 tablespoons of Chicken broth.

The Cover

Now cover with aluminum foil. Poke air holes on the right and left sides of the foil so you can watch the fish steam.

Pre-heat and Cook

Preheat your oven to 350°F – 375°F. Cooking times are going to vary with the thickness of the fish filets, so for ½” to 1″ thick filets, allow 12 to 15 minutes; for 1″ to 2″ thick filets, make it 15 to 25 minutes. Watch for the steam to come throught the holes in the foil. When you see that, the filets are about 10 minutes from done.

The great part of all this is the natural juices of the fish (even the driest fish) will release into the wine and chicken broth or fish stock.

Serving

To serve, carefully pull away the foil. Check doneness. If you feel it’s still undercooked put it back into the oven, even with the foil open on top. (It’s OK! The fish is so juicy by now, it’s just simmering in its own natural juices.)

Serve right on the Gyotaku platter. Just put the platter on a trivet in center of your table. Great fish — just like Spanek chicken!

Stuffing Your Bird — Under the Skin

By stuffing between the skin and the flesh of your poultry, you can actually prepare as much of your favorite stuffing (if not more) than by stuffing the body cavity — and flavor it beautifully!

With the bird on the roaster, use your fingertips to break the skin membrane at the neck opening on each side of the breast. Work your fingers under the skin on both sides of the breast and continue down to the thighs and legs. Be careful not to break the skin that is attached to the center of the breastbone.

Basic Sausage Stuffing

Sauté 8 ounces sausage with ½ cup each diced celery and onion for about 8 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon ground sage. Remove from heat. Add 4 cups bread cubes and ¾ cup chicken broth. Toss lightly and stuff under the breast skin. (Double the recipe for larger birds.)

Recipes From Mama Spanek

In a fast paced lifestyle of working and raising families, here are some helpful hints in making meal preparation a snap!

When cooking a Spanek chicken for one meal, why not cook an extra one to be used as a major ingredient for another recipe idea? Chicken enchiladas, tacos, fajitas, stir-fries vegetables, chicken Caesar salad, chicken tetrazzini [cream sauce with spaghetti], grilled cheese and chicken sandwiches, avocados or tomatoes stuffed with chicken salad, Waldorf salad, and so on. The list is endless. Or prepare an extra chicken the night before for the babysitter coming the following night — great reheats, and the children are eating healthy while you are having your special evening out.

Fun Recipe: Pizza Treats

Using English Muffins as mini-pizzas, add your favorite sauce, cooked chicken, cheddar and mozzarella cheese. Bake 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C until cheese melts and slightly bubbles on top. Your children can assemble the pizzas and be involved in the meal.

Easy for travel: Mama Spanek’s Baby Food — prepares baby food for a month.

Having raised three children myself, I came up with this technique in lieu of canned/bottled baby food. You can do the same recipe with lamb, beef, fish or whatever. You’ll want to choose a quiet Saturday morning!

• Cook a Spanek chicken, following the normal instructions.
• Let it sit for 30 minutes.
• Debone the entire chicken, discarding the skin and the bones.
• Parboil some carrots and new potatoes.
• Puree the chicken in a food processor to a fine mix.
• Empty into a stainless bowl.
• Puree the parboiled carrots and potatoes. 50/50 blend. You want a fine mix – not too runny!
• Mix in the veggie blend into the pureed chicken with a spoon.
• Fill up some ice cube trays with the mix. Your mix should fill 2 to 3 good dozen ice cube trays.
• Put the filled up ice cube trays in the freezer.
• Pop out the frozen mix! Put into ziplock-type freezer bags — 4 cubes per small freezer bag.
• Put all the small bags in a large ziplock-type freezer bag. Put back in the freezer.
• To heat up the bags you can either microwave or put in soft boiling water.
• Your delicious healthy Baby Food can be ready at any given moment.

Store bought baby food never has the same taste or nutritional value that homemade baby food has that you have made with love. If you need any additional information please contact me.

Easy Creamed Chicken

Cook 1/4 C. minced green pepper in 1 Tbs. butter/margarine till tender. Stir in one can condensed cream of chicken soup and one can cream of celery soup (10 1/2 oz. size each) plus 1/2 C. milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Add 2 C. diced cooked chicken and 2 Tbs. pimento. (You can even add cooked peas.) Heat thoroughly. Serve over pastry puffs. Everyone loves this one!

ENJOY!

Shirley Spanek