The town I lived in until I was 10 was so small we could walk from our house on the edge of town all the way downtown to the single ‘movie house’ on the town square. Even as a kid with short legs it didn’t take more than 15 minutes or so to make the trek.
The bowling alley was two blocks over and one of the most popular dining establishments in town, the Dairy Queen, was just down the street.
While I’m sure they’re had to have been other eateries in town, I can’t remember ever going out for dinner anywhere else but the DQ and a tiny Tex Mex place in the same block as the movie house.
There was BBQ on the town square every July for the fair and a decent little Q shack out on the edge of town, though for our clan to ‘bbq‘ meant grilling hamburgers, hot dogs and the occasional chicken.
We moved to a neighboring ‘city’ when I was 10, a metropolis of about 80,000 back in that day and the family culinary horizons broadened a bit. There was a family favorite fried chicken place (with a model train running on an elevated track through the dining room), several more Tex Mex dives with decent to good grub and the requisite old family owned Q house with decent but not great brisket. It was big news when the new Sonic came to town.
Asian food or spices, as much as our clan can’t imagine living without the flavors today, never graced the family table back 30 or more years ago. I never even knew if town had a Chinese restaurant. Hells bells, I never even tasted Chinese food until my freshman year of college (a shameful confession for a foodie).
The flavors, textures and novelty of Asian cooking was a revelation. This was back in the era when $2.25 would buy a combo plate and a beer. My friend Ken and I would go an plow through two or three apiece some evenings (only two each if it was a double date).
Now it’s hard to imagine going more than a day or two without using some ingredient that has come to hand via the Asian kitchen.
One of our favorite Asian treasures is Hoisin sauce.
Amazing versatile, indispensable in many sauces and marinades, Hoisin’s even better than ketchup on real homemade fries using Idaho spuds twice cooked in the dutch oven out on the back deck. Some opine that appreciation of Hoisin is an acquired taste; we’d argue that point, but even Hoisin doubters can’t pass this one up.
Here’s one of our all time favorite Hoisin based sauce recipes – Hoisin Chicken with Grilled Onions. Meets all the key requirements of being quick, easy, cheap and delicious. We’ve tweaked the recipe to make a big batch to keep in the fridge for a week or 10 days, you’ll be amazed at what uses you find for this sauce / glaze.
1 tbs vegetable oil
1/3 cup minced ginger (generous)
3 tbs minced garlic
1 cup plus 2 tbs hoisin sauce
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (plan on about 6 medium limes)
1 cup fresh basil, rough chop
1 and 1/2 tbs red pepper flakes
Fresh ground pepper (to taste)4 big boneless chicken breasts
8 boneless chicken thighs
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
3 tbs olive oilBig red onion, sliced into 3/4 inch slices
Big sweet onion, sliced into 3/4 in slices
2 red bell peppers, seeded and halved
Prep the chicken. Trim the chicken, pat dry, quickly brush with olive oil and dust with the kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Set aside and fire the grill to medium high.
Sauce magic. Heat the vegetable oil in a medium sauce pan until hot; saute the ginger and the garlic for a couple of minutes until soft and fragrant. Add the hoisin sauce and lime juice and simmer for 6 or 7 minutes over medium heat; stir to make sure it doesn’t scorch.
Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the red pepper flakes, basil and salt / pepper to taste. Set aside.
Hit the grill. Grill the chicken until done, 7-8 minutes on the first side and half that likely on the second. Brush the onions and red bell halves with olive oil, dust with the salt and pepper and grill until marked and beginning to soften.
Go to it. If you really want to be showy, diced the grilled onions and peppers, pile a serving on a plate and place a chicken piece on top, drizzle with the sauce and serve. You’ll want more of this sauce on the side.
You’ll be looking for the big bottles of Hoisin from now on…….
Enjoy.
Tags: Friday Feast
