The Arrogant Chef's Chicken Stir Fry

Most of my stir fry recipes have noodles in the recipe. Now because I am low carb, noodles are out of the question. I looked at several recipes for chicken stir fries and combined about 4 of them into this recipe. This is really a first attempt and I may have lost track of all the steps as I made it. Basically this would be fairly low carb according to my calculation. I try to stay under about 75grams of carb per day. Anyhow I will take pictures next time and will adjust the recipe if needed. I thought the taste was great. My wife felt there may have been a little to much salt. Not sure about that. I loved it and had a couple of glasses of wine to go with this. Quite yummy!!!!

The Arrogant Chef’s Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 tbsp of olive oil
2 carrots thinly sliced
2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
3 green onions thinly sliced
1 onion cut into wedges
3 cups of snow peas halved
2 cups of broccoli florets
4 tablespoons of cornstarch
4 tablespoons of soy sauce
½ teaspoon of ground ginger
½ teaspoon of garlic powder
½ teaspoon of hot sauce
3 tsp of sesame oil
Bean sprouts

Preparation 1

Cut chicken across the grain into thin strips and place in a resealable plastic bag. Add the 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and toss to coat. Combine 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, ½ teaspoon of ground ginger, ½ teaspoon of garlic powder, add to bag and shake well. Refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.

Preparation 2

Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a deep skillet or wok and stir fry marinated chicken until no longer pink and set aside on a plate.

Add remaining oil to the skillet and add carrots, green onions, sliced mushrooms, broccoli, snow peas, and add ¼ water cover and steam until vegetables are tender-crisp.

Meanwhile in a bowl combine:

2 tbsp soy sauce
½ cup chicken stock
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp sesame oil
½ teaspoon hot sauce

Pour this into the middle of the wok or skillet and stir until thickened. Return chicken to the pan and stir fry until sauce is thickened. Serve by itself or on a bed of bean sprouts and sprinkle with green onions.

The Arrogant Chef's Super Marinade

This is so simple but gives steak a great flavour and certainly makes cheaper cuts quite tender.

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of garlic powder

Mix ingredients. Poke steaks with fork, pour in marinade, cover and refrigerate for 8 hours.

Kabobs and Endive Lobster Salad

Well as summer quickly comes to an end, we need to take advantage of perfect BBQ days. Today was such a day. Sunny and about 21 celsius, I just had to BBQ. Decided to make kabobs. Thick sirloin steak marinated in The Arrogant Chef's Super Marinade. (recipe to follow). Also served with endive and lobster salad. The meal was great.

The Arrogant Chef's Super Marinade


This is so simple but gives steak a great flavour and certainly makes cheaper cuts quite tender.

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of garlic powder

Mix ingredients. Poke steaks with fork, pour in marinade, cover and refrigerate for 8 hours.

End of Summer

Well today marked the end of my summer holidays. Back to work and back to my primal diet. But Fridays are cheat days. During the week I try to maintain my carb intake to under 100 grams a day. Not too hard to do and I have vegetables and fruits and protein: steak, chicken, pork, fish. On Friday however I eat what I want. This is my chance for pasta, sandwiches, pizza, wraps, and my favourite toast with my sunny side up eggs. Fridays are kind of a glimpse of what I expect heaven to be. Basically I usually go off my diet for the month of August, Christmas Holidays, my birthday of course and also my anniversary. Since I have been on my diet I have lost 30 pounds bringing me down to a respectable 170. I did gain 4 pounds in August but that should be gone in no time now that I am back to  work. For those of you on a restricted carb diet, I will try to post some of my daily menus. They are far from perfect yet, but I am working on it.

The Arrogant Chef's Amazing Ribs

I know that everyone has their favourite rib recipe. This is mine. It consists of a two step process, a special rub, and a special BBQ sauce. The ribs are fall off the bone tender and the rub and sauce give the ribs a very distinctive flavour. You can experiment using different types of beer. I have tried larger, light beer, Guiness, and other dark beers. They all give a somewhat different taste to the ribs. If you try these out give me a shout and let me know what you think. And just a note, be sure to remove the silverskin from the underside of the ribs. This really allows the beer and spices to permeate the meat and makes the ribs much more tender.

THE ARROGANT CHEF’S AMAZING RIBS

4 pounds pork back ribs
2 bottles of STEAM WHISTLE beer or the beer of your choice. (Try a dark beer for a different taste.)

Sauce

2 cups barbecue sauce (Diane’s Regular Sauce)
½ cup of water
2 tablespoons packed golden brown sugar
4 teaspoons of instant coffee granules

Rub

2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon of pepper

Directions:

Rub: Combine chilli powder, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Spread rub over both sides of ribs. Place ribs in roasting pan. Let stand for 15 minutes. Pour beer around ribs. Pre-heat oven to 250F. Cover pan and cook ribs in the oven for about 3 hours. Check the ribs for tenderness. It should be almost falling off the bone.

Sauce: Combine barbecue sauce, water, brown sugar and coffee in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Reserve half of sauce to serve with ribs; use remainder to baste ribs

Remove ribs from pan; discard beer. Place ribs directly on grill. Grill ribs over low heat turning occasionally and basting with sauce for about 20 minutes or until ribs are richly glazed. Serve with dipping sauce left over.