Orange Chicken Ii

      2    Whole chicken breasts
      1    Green onion

--MARINADE--
      2    Slices ginger
    1/4 ts Salt
      4    Dried red peppers
      1 tb Soy sauce

--SAUCE--
      1 tb Cornstarch
  1 1/2 tb Rice wine
      3 tb Oil
      1 tb Soy sauce
      2 tb Fresh orange peel
      1 ts Red wine vinegar
  2 1/2 ts Sugar

PREPARATION: Cut chicken into 3/4" pieces. Mix marinade. Add chicken. Marinate 30 minutes. Shred orange peel. Fine chop green onion. Mince ginger. Mix sauce. COOKING: Heat 2 Tbs oil in wok over high heat. Stir-fry chicken 2-3 minutes until white and firm. Remove. Wipe wok clean. Heat 1 Tbs oil over high heat. Stir-fry dried peppers until dark red. Reduce temperature to medium. Stir-fry orange peel; green onion and ginger until aroma comes. About 1 minute. Raise temperature to high. Add sauce. Bring to boil. Return chicken to wok. Stir-fry until well mixed and heated through.


Yield: 4 Servings

Open Face Apple Tart

      1    Pastry for 9"-10" flan pan
      6    Apples; Golden Delicious; large
      1 tb Lemon juice
    1/4 c  Sugar; granulated
    1/2 c  Raisins; optional
      1 ts Butter; melted
    1/2 c  Jam; apricot
           Whipped cream - optional

Roll pastry out and fit into flan pan. Peel and core apples, cut into slices about 1/4" thick, you should have about 6 cups. Toss with lemon juice and sugar. Arrange apple slices; slightly overlapping in circles on pastry; make 2 or 3 layers. Scatter raisins over top if desired. Drizzle with melted butter. Place on bottom rack of 400F oven and bake for 35 minutes or till golden brown. If apples start too brown too much, cover loosely with foil. In small, saucepan, heat apricot jam till melted, spoon evenly over apples. Bake for about 5 minutes. lonfer or till apples are glazed. Let cool to room temperature. Serve with whipped cream if desired.


Yield: 1 Servings

Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

      1 qt Strawberries
    1/3 c  Sugar
      1 tb Lemon juice
  1 1/2 c  Heavy cream
           Buttermilk Biscuit Dough
           -(RECIPE Follows)
      2 tb Buttermilk
      2 tb Sugar
      2 tb Soft butter

--BUTTERMILK BISCUIT DOUGH--
  1 1/2 c  All-purpose flour
    1/2 c  Cake flour
    1/2 ts Salt
      2 ts Baking powder
    1/2 c  Cold unsalted butter
    3/4 c  Buttermilk or heavy cream
           - (or more)

PLACE BERRIES in a colander and quickly rinse under running cold water. Pour on a tray lined with several thicknesses of paper towel to drain for 5 minutes. Hull the strawberries with the point of a stainless-steel paring knife, then slice into a bowl. Sprinkle with sugar and lemon juice, then set aside, covered, at room temperature for an hour or two. Whip the cream (add a couple tablespoons of sugar, if you like) until it holds a soft peak. Cover and refrigerate. Preheat the oven to 450F; set rack in middle level. Prepare biscuit dough. For a large shortcake, pat the dough into a 9-inch disk on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. For individual shortcakes, pat dough into a 6-by-12- inch rectangle and cut into eight 3-inch biscuits with a sharp, floured knife. Transfer to a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Paint tops with buttermilk. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until well risen and golden. Check the center of the large shortcake with a toothpick to make sure it is baked through: If the pick emerges with dough still clinging to it, lower temperature to 350F and bake another 5 minutes. Slide the large shortcake onto a platter immediately after it is baked. Use a sharp, serrated knife to slice through the middle, making two layers. Slide the edge of a cookie sheet between the two layers and lift the top layer off. Butter the bottom layer and pour all but 1/2 cup of the sweetened berries on. Slide the top back on and pour the remaining berries over the top. Split the small shortcakes in the same way and place the bottoms on individual dessert plates. Butter them and top with about 1/3 cup of the berry mixture. Replace tops and pour a tablespoon or so of the remaining berries over the top. Serve immediately. Pass the cream in a bowl for the guests to help themselves. BUTTERMILK BISCUIT DOUGH: COMBINE THE FLOURS, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl and stir well to mix. Rub in the butter by hand or with a pastry blender until the mixture is mealy. Stir in 3/4 cup of the buttermilk with a fork and continue stirring gently until the dough begins to hold together. (If the dough is dry, add more buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time.) Sprinkle the work surface generously with flour and scrape the dough onto it. Fold the dough over on itself two or three times. Use the dough immediately for shortcakes, following the instructions above. Use this recipe to make a large shortcake or eight small ones. This same dough is used as the topping in cobbler recipes.


Yield: 8 Servings

Old-Fashioned Currant Tart

--PASTRY DOUGH--
    1/2 c  Unsalted butter
    1/4 c  Sugar
      1 ts Vanilla extract
      1    Egg yolk
  1 1/4 c  Cake flour

--PASTRY CREAM--
      1 c  Milk
    1/4 c  Sugar
      3    Egg yolks
      3 tb Flour
      1 ts Vanilla

--FINISHING--
      3 pt Fresh red currants
           - rinsed and stemmed
    1/2 c  Toasted, sliced almonds
           Confectioners' sugar

--GLAZE--
      1 c  Red currant jelly
      2 tb Kirsch

FOR THE DOUGH: Beat the butter and sugar with the paddle on medium speed until very soft and light. Beat in the vanilla and the yolk and continue beating until smooth and shiny, about 3 more minutes. Stop the mixer, sift the cake flour and add to the butter mixture. Pulse the mixer on and off to incorporate the flour. Scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic, wrap and chill it until firm. FOR THE PASTRY CREAM: Combine the milk and half the sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Whisk the yolks with the remaining sugar and sift the flour over and whisk it in. Beat 1/3 of the boiling milk into the yolk mixture and return the remaining milk to a boil. Beat the yolk mixture into the boiling milk and continue beating until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Scrape the cream onto a clean plate, cover with plastic wrap and chill. Roll the dough and fit it into a 10-to-11-inch tart pan. Cut a disk of parchment paper to fit the inside of the dough and fill with dried beans. Preheat oven to 325F. Bake the tart shell about 20 minutes, until set. Remove the paper and beans and continue baking 5 minutes more to color the pastry. Do not over-bake. Cool the shell in the pan. Spread the cooled pastry cream on the cooled tart shell. Arrange the currants on the pastry cream. Bring the jelly and kirsch to a boil and strain. Reduce to thicken if necessary. Brush the glaze on the berries. Edge the tart with the almonds and sprinkle the almonds with the confectioners' sugar.


Yield: 8 Servings