For Your Viewing Pleasure...Food Porn!

Last night I had a good friend come over for some girl-on-girl time. Wait - that didn't sound right. I mean, last night I had a good friend come over for a girl's dinner...that sounds better.

I made an Anytime Vegetable Salad and Ga Ro Ti (Vietnamese Roasted Chicken) - these two really easy & simple recipes are great when hosting a friend or two for dinner. Although I will warn you that the chicken does require to be marinated for at least 24-hours, so prepare the night before.

Anytime Vegetable Salad

(adapted from Giada DeLaurentis)

INGREDIENTS - SALAD

- 2 cups shelled edamame (can buy them frozen)
- 8 oz thin green beans, trimmed
- 8 oz thin yellow wax beans (aka: yellow green beans), trimmed
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
*steph note: i couldn't find yellow wax beans for the life of me, so i just doubled-up on green beans
*steph note: also, i found it easier to eat if you halve the green beans, so you're not stuffing entire green beans in your mouth

INGREDIENTS - DRESSING
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tsp fresh basil, chopped
- 2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp ground black pepper

PREPARATION
Cook the edamame in a large pot of boiling water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water, then drain well and pat dry. Repeat with green beans (and yellow wax beans, if you can find them) - it's the same cooking time of 3-minutes, drain, and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

Add the vinegar, oil, herbs, salt, and pepper to a screw-top glass jar (or a dressing dispenser, if you have one), shake well.

When you're ready to serve, shake the jar again to re-mix the vinegarette and pour over the vegtetable salad. Season with more salt & pepper, if desired.
*steph note: OMGEE, how easy is this?!??!

Ga Ro Ti (Vietnamese Roasted Chicken)
(adapted from SundayNiteDinner)

INGREDIENTS
- 2 1/2 lbs chicken thighs
- 1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil (plus some more for frying)
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
*steph note: chicken thighs with bone-in, skin-in is the best; the skin adds the crispiness when frying
*steph note: i LOVE garlic, so i add a little more. GARLIC GARLIC GARLIC!!!

PREPARATION
Trim excess skin and visible fat from chicken thighs with kitchen shears, set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, pepper, soy sauce, fish sauce, and oil until well-combined. Stir in garlic. Add the chicken thighs and evenly distribute the marinade between thighs. For extra flavor, stuff a little garlic and marinade under the skin. Cover and let marinade for up to 24-hours in the fridge.
*steph note: it is MANDATORY for you to add more marinade and garlic under the skin, no ifs, ands, or buts.

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat to 350-degrees F. Heat 1/2 tbs of canola/vegetable oil in a large, nonstick, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the skillet, skin-side down, reduce heat to medium and fry until skin is golden brown, about 6-8 minutes.
*steph note: pay attention to your chicken or else this happens:

i accidentally left it on medium-high and on for too long, make sure to check it every 3 minutes to see the coloration

Flip chicken and brown other side 2-3 minutes; set chicken aside. Don't overcrowd the chicken, work in batches if necessary
*steph note: i do about 3 thighs per batch; this is how it should look:

Drain rendered fat and remove any burnt garlic, leaving a thin film of oil in the skillet. Return all the chicken to the skillet and roast for 30-40 minutes. To check doneness, poke chicken with a knife to see if the juices run clear. You could also check by temperate if you had a thermometer: bone-in = 170-degrees internal temp; bone-out = 165-F internal temp.
I may or may not have forgotten to take a picture of the finished product, but just see the picture with the gold star next to it - that's what it should look like, but cooked. Ha. Hey, I'm new to this "food porn" industry, I'll have better pictures as I go on.

I served it with plain white rice & some chopped green scallions. That's all!

Good luck & Enjoy!!

P.S. If you have any "MUST-DO" recipes, feel free to leave them in the comments section or email me directly at: steph.t.huynh@gmail.com...of course you would get full credit!

P.P.S. That goes for make-up too - any ideas, suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated!