The Challenge Ends

The Challenge is over and I have not met it. I'm still eating well, working out ocasionally and let's face it, I am not a still person.

The real reason this project is drawing to a close is that I am tired of writing about it.So, I'm on to the next this and that is cooking. I have become a bit obsessed lately with cooking. Over the last 2 weekends I have purged all of my magazines and cut out any recipes I think that Michael and I might ever actually eat. They have all been pasted in a binder and numbered. So far there are 101 recipes. I'm making them in no particular order and making comments and notes to myself about improvements or ways to make them more "Perry Family friendly".

Here is recipe 100 - Perfect Pot Stickers:

This is the recipe from Good Eats and my modifications. I made a batch on Tuesday and froze them all for Friday when Alexa comes to town.

Perfect Pot Stickers from Alton Brown of Good Eats (the original recipe is available Here)

1/2 pound Ground Turkey
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
2 tablespoons finely chopped yellow sweet peppers
1 slice of fresh ginger finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons ketchup
1 teaspoon Honey Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
40 small wonton wrappers
Water, for sealing wontons
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying
1 1/3 cups chicken stock, divided

Combine the first 11 ingredients in a medium-size mixing bowl (Turkey through Pepper). Set aside.
To form the dumplings - Set 4 to 6 wrappers on a cloth or parchment covered space. Place ½ round teaspoon mixture in the center of the wrappers. With a damp finger seal the edges of the wrappers, then fold the outer corners to the center. Set aside and cover with damp cloth. Repeat until filling is gone. At about wonton 30 I’m ready for this all to be over, but it takes about 40+ to use all the filling.
Heat a 12-inch sauté pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil once hot. Add 8 to 10 filled wontons at a time to the pan They can be close tot each other but not touching and cook for 3 minutes, without touching. (they will stick to the pan) Once the 3 minutes are up, gently add 1/3 cup chicken stock to the pan, turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove wontons to a heatproof platter and place in the warm oven. Clean the pan in between batches by pouring in water and allowing the pan to deglaze. Repeat until all the wontons are cooked. Serve immediately.

Because when you add a side of rice or couscous to this dish Michael and I only eat 4-5 potstickers each I only cook one batche at a time. The rest I freeze, uncooked on a parchment covered cookie sheet and then transfer to ziplock bags usually in groups of 10. When you want to reheat them just put the frozen wontons in to the sauté pan as before but up the cooking times to closer to 4 min per step.