Flat Fanta Marinade

I'm mostly putting the following "recipe" up for my reference only, but feel free to use it as you please. We had some orange Fanta left over from a party and it had gone flat. I decided to use it in a chicken marinade. As always, I didn't measure a thing, so your guess is as good as mine.

Here we go:

• Orange Fanta
• Salt
• Garlic powder
• Black pepper
• Paprika
• Ginger
• Kimchee flavored sesame seeds (probably not necessary at all, but I like them)

I sliced one onion into rings and had chicken which was pre-cut into 1-inch chunks (roughly). I let both sit in the marinade while I dealt with a salad for dinner (as well as a failed attempt at taro root....which I like, just not my recent attempt).

I heated some canola oil in a wok and put the chicken and onions in it, keeping the marinade in my bowl. Between stirrings of the chicken and onions, I added some chicken consomme powder and a little corn starch and stirred them in well. After the chicken and onions were finished, I added the rest of the marinade to the wok and stirred the chicken and onions into it. As soon as it thickened (which was not long), I dished out the chicken and onions.

-Thoughts after finishing the meal:

The elements of today's dinner didn't match each other at all. A salad felt a bit alien next to the chicken. Perhaps if it were a chicken breast, instead of chunks, it would have felt more natural. I feel broccoli would have been more appropriate for the meal. Perhaps stir-fried with the chicken and onions. Neither Nat or I are fond of cooked green peppers, but some people might enjoy those with this marinade also.

The taro root was a failure on my part. I overcooked it, I think, and it got too dry. I also think it would have been much better in a miso soup than a side dish of its own. Either way, we didn't end up eating it. We had bread, which we used to soak up the leftover sauce! Mmmmmm! But really, bread is somewhat lackluster for the meal unless you turn the chicken into a sandwich. Oooh! That's an idea! .... Anyway, I think I'll use rice (my suggestion) or tortillas (Nat's suggestion) in the future. Maybe both.

Using flat soda-pop in cooking is definitely an idea for cost-cutting, though. I don't know many families who didn't let a bottle of soda-pop go flat at some point and since it failed it's first use, why not offer it a second? Just be careful what flavors you use with what dishes.

Adventures in Pudding

Lately, I've become excited about making fruit-flavored puddings. It's mostly the fault of a medieval cherry pudding recipe I got from The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy. I've made the cherry pudding a few times now and got to thinking, "What would other fruit puddings taste like?"

So, when we had some friends over last week, I tried orange pudding. It tastes quite a bit like orange juice as a pudding. There is probably some way to get it to taste more like an orange creamsicle (which was what I was hoping for) but I liked the end result.

Orange Juice Pudding
Adapted from The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy

Ingredients:

• Oranges (I used 7 "Stealth" oranges, which are roughly tennis ball sized and taste like navel oranges - if you end up with too much juice, just add more bread...and probably more sugar; alternately, you can use orange juice, but I don't know how much you'd be using)
  
• 5 fl. oz. white wine
• 4 slices of dry white bread, crusts removed (though I usually use frozen, non-dried bread and that works fine; you may also need less bread depending on how thickly yours is sliced - we get ours sliced thin (10-slice, for those living in a country that sells bread like Japan does))
• (MORE THAN) 1/2 cup sugar (or honey; I used the original scant 1/2 cup of sugar for the cherry pudding recipe and added orange blossom honey until the mixture wasn't sour; using honey instead of sugar may require more bread)
• A dash of nutmeg
• zest from one orange
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. butter (less might be okay; I don't strictly adhere to this measurement)

Instructions:

1. Juice oranges and strain well using fine sieve or cheesecloth.
2. Cut bread into a small dice
3. Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan.
4. Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. As the bread swells and breaks apart, the mixture will begin to thicken into a creamy pudding.
6. If you are like me, you may need to add more bread or sugar around this point (depending on how thick/sour your pudding is). A few more minutes won't hurt, but do keep an eye on your pudding and take a potato masher to it if any new bread you might have added isn't breaking down as fast as the pudding is thickening. (optional step for spazzes like me)
7. Place into a serving bowl, cover and chill well.
8. Serve (should serve 5 - maybe more, maybe less depending on what you consider a serving)

Today, I am attempting watermelon pudding. I expect this one to be strange. I'm using a blush wine and less sugar. Also, roughly five or six slices of bread (filling the blender with small chunks of watermelon may have been more than enough). It is looking very orange. Hmm. Interesting. Nat's not going to like this one because WATERMELON! So I'll have to make a mango or pineapple pudding sometime in the future. I have a feeling the mango will be more appreciated.