A delightful find at the 99¢ store

Periodically I pass by Jack's 99¢/ Jack's World in Midtown. This place is HUGE and carries a pretty large variety of food stuffs as well as the atypical items you'd find in a dollar store.

I was strolling through the aisles when I spied 2 pound bags of brown rice for only 99¢!

WOW! What a bargain and for BROWN RICE!

I bought 2 bags. Call me crazy but it was a delightful find.

Check out your local dollar store from time to time and you too may have a delightful find of your own!

Recipe: Bang Bang Chicken

This dish is so named because of the sound of banging as you hit the cooked chicken breast into loose meaty threads.

Consider this a Szechuan Chinese version of the American chicken salad. It's a great way to utilize the poached chicken breast from making White Cut Chicken ("Bak Chit Gai") which you can also find on this blog.

The Szechuan pepper lends a lemony flavor and numbing sensation to the dish.

This dish stimulates all the tastes of sweet, salty, tangy, and spicy.

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 1 large chicken breast (cooked)
• 1 large cucumber (or you can substitute 1 head of romaine lettuce sliced thinly)
• 1 large carrot julienned (cut into match stick sized pieces)
• 3 scallions cut into 2" pieces and then thinly sliced lengthwise (so it looks like grass)

For the dressing:

• 2 tablespoons tahini sesame paste (you can also use smooth peanut butter)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce (I use Kikoman)
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil (I like Kadoya brand)
• 1 tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar (you can substitute Balsamic)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground Szechuan Pepper (optional)
• 1 teaspoon Chili flakes (optional)
• 4 tablespoons water

Directions

1. With the back of a chef's knife, bang the chicken (skin side up) until the chicken starts to flatten and loosen into fibers. You can then pull the chicken meat into bite sized pieces.
2. If using cucumber, cut in hald lengthwise, scoop out seeds with a spoon, and slice thinly.
3. Put all the salad ingredients into a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl combine all the dressing ingredients and mix well. The sauce will look like it's breaking but keep stirring until it is all smooth.
5. Toss with the salad ingredients and serve.

Recipe: Spaghetti with Anchovies and Bread Crumbs

Dried pasta always seems to go on sale at the supermarkets. I stock up on it when it sells for less than $1.

I learned this recipe from my roomie who learned it from their Italian boss. Originally it called for much more bread crumbs but I found it too dry and adding more pasta water made the whole thing gummy. I modified the recipe a bit.

The pine nuts add extra crunchy texture and a nice flavor. I bought a bag at Costco and keep in the freezer.

This dish does not have a fishy smell or taste as anchovies lend a salty and fullness of flavor (they're used in Caesar dressing).

Paired with sauteed zucchini and yellow squash, you'd think you were in an Italian restaurant!

This will make 8 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 tin of anchovies in oil
• 1 pound of spaghetti
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 large cloves garlic chopped finely (or you can use a garlic press)
• 3/4 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs (has more flavor than plain)
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the spaghetti al dente (about 10 minutes)
2. While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce. Open tin of anchovies, drain off oil and chop finely.
3. Add the olive oil, chopped anchovies and minced garlic into a deep large frying pan (you are going to put the pasta into the sauce to finish so you'll need something with high sides) and simmer over low heat stirring until the anchovies dissolve into the oil.
4. When pasta is done, reserve a 1/2 cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta.
5. Add the cooked spaghetti to the garlic-anchovy sauce and toss well until fully coated in the sauce. If it looks too dry, add a little bit of the pasta water to loosen it up to your liking (you could use more olive oil instead but it will add more calories to the dish).
6. Add the bread crumbs and toss well again.
7. Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle the pine nuts on top.