Chicken/poultry

Sliced green bean and ground turkey stir fry

23 September 2016

One recipe, two ideas here: First, that you can use ground turkey in a stir fry. Second, that when you have older, thicker green beans, you can transform them by cutting steep diagonal slices that will absorb a fantastic amount of flavor. My mom has made green beans like this for years, so it always […]

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Chinese takeout chicken (less the grease/guilt)

15 March 2016

You know you’re more American than Chinese when you’ve succumbed to the cheerfully sweet, garlicky appeal of those fried nuggets of chicken lacquered in shiny amber sauce sold in Chinese-American eateries around the country under names like “General Tso’s” or “sesame.” Hard then to resist this smart, simple recipe for “mall chicken” from Lucky Peach […]

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Mom’s (even better) barbecue chicken

3 June 2015

My mom always drew the raves for her barbecue chicken – tangy and sweet, salty and sticky, equal parts American and Asian – and indeed she spent years gradually perfecting the recipe. But it was my dad who worked the old brick fire pit in our backyard, tending to the coals like incubating eggs, now […]

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Chicken and veggie lettuce cups

16 April 2015

I picked up a wavy green head of butter lettuce at the farmers market last weekend, fully intending to make salad. But as I washed its ruffly leaves, the neatly cupped shapes begged for something warm and savory to hold. I felt like the mouse in the kids’ book, If You Give a Mouse a […]

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Fried won tons with sweet-sour sauce

5 March 2015

My mom is the best party guest of all time. She is very kind and wise, ever smiling and helpful. And chances are, she will come to the door bearing a big platter of crispy won tons, golden fried wrappers encasing a succulent nugget of meat and vegetable, with a side of temptingly tangy dipping […]

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Macho salad

24 October 2014

I love this hefty-not-heavy salad, featured in a number of Hillstone restaurants, in spite of its goofball name. I’m not sure what makes it macho – lots of dates; very corny? And shouldn’t a macho salad be beefy, not chicken? But name aside, it’s the mix of flavors and textures – greens, chicken, chopped dates, […]

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Kung pao (gong bao) chicken

7 March 2014

For once I have a recipe that will not cause a casual visitor here to wonder why this place is called chinese grandma. I may have four kids, but I’m no grandma; and I’m the kind of American-born Chinese that took Spanish in school and is rendered apologetically mute when a real Chinese grandma comes […]

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Chicken Marbella revival

30 December 2013

When you have 87-year-olds over for dinner, even hip and cool 87-year-olds like our family friend Bob, it doesn’t seem right to serve quinoa for dinner. So this weekend I broke out some old-school favorites that wouldn’t require explanation in a buffet line: roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes, wild rice salad, warm lemon-dijon potato […]

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Tsukune (teriyaki meatballs)

9 July 2013

Can you be in love with a recipe? I am in love with this one. My friend Edie came to visit Ohio and brought her cute laugh, her charming freckles (Edie and I prove that Asians can have freckles), her marvelously relaxing presence, and this insanely great recipe for teriyaki meatballs. We made two pounds […]

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Ritzy chicken fingers

20 February 2013

There’s no avoiding snack food with four kids in the house (I don’t want to be the strict health-nut mom whose kids go to college and eat Froot Loops three times a day), but snack foods never crossed into my cooking until my friend Jenny got my kids hooked on her chicken strips rolled in […]

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