SALAMI AND CHEESE BUNS

I have made this buns several times, I used Cinnamon Bun's recipes... I tried several of them and I decided I like this one the best... we bought some salami and cheese for our trip 3 weeks ago, yesterday I cleaned out my fridge, tried to use up my cheese and salami, so I made this.. it was one of my DH's favorite snacks

I want to thank my best friend and my neighbor and my daily walking companion.. Vicky L for sharing this recipe with me :)

This recipe uses WATER ROUX method

- for Water Roux:
 - 1 cup of boiled water
 - 1 tsp of sugar
 - 1/4 cup of butter (room temp)
 - 1 cup of flour
Add sugar and butter in the boiling water, add in flour, stir until it forms a thick paste.. set aside to cool

- for yeast mix:
 - 1 packet of yeast
 - 1/2 cup of warm water (120'F)
 - 1 tsp of sugar
Stir yeast into warm water in a cup, stir in sugar, stir well until foamy, let it activate for 5 to 10 minutes

- for the dough:
 - 3 to 3 1/2 cups of flour
 - 3 tsp of sugar
 - 1/4 cup of milk
 - 1 egg
 - 1 tsp of salt

I use bread machine for kneading.. so I dump everything in it and let it knead and fully risen, for hand knead:
- in a large bowl mix flour + sugar + salt + egg + milk, stir well with wooded spatula, add in the yeast mix, stir again, then gradually add water roux mix, stir well, then place the dough on a floured surface, knead it until smooth and elastic, add flour if needed, place in a greased big bowl, cover with plastic, let it rise in a warm place ( such as in oven with the light on), when it rise to double size, punch down the dough and press it to let out the air bubbles, then place the dough on a floured surface, roll out the dough to 18"x 12" rectangle form, top with salami and cheese, roll up the dough to a log form dough, try to roll it as tight as possible, cut both ends, then cut the log in to 12 equally rolls, place the rolls in a generously greased muffin tin, cover with plastic and let them rise, about 45 minutes, brush the rolls with egg yolk and milk mixture

- preheat the oven to 350'F, place the muffin tin in the middle rack of the oven, bake them for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown

or we can make 2 medium loaves of bread with this recipe, the only change is to cut down the sugar in the dough to 1 tsp, the bread is so soft or my DH calls it doughy.. mmh.. I like doughy bread :P

after the dough is fully risen, divide it in 2, place them in 2 medium loaf pans ( greased), cover and let them rise again for 45 minutes.. bake in a preheated oven 350'F for 50 to 60 minuted, if the surface gets too  brown, cover loosely with aluminium foil

SPICY LEMON HONEY CHICKEN

It's almost the last week of March.. I realized I did not post anything this month.. we were away for 10 days vacation, had a road trip to Northern California, drove along the coastline of CA, Highway 1 is very beautiful and we were lucky because we got abundant sunshine, though it was windy and freezing cold... we camped in a tent in a campground at Big Sur, it was fun, though so cold, we had to snuggle tight in a small tent, we could not sleep well, because we slept on a hard surface (note to myself, next time gotta bring airbed underneath our sleeping beds), my back hurt the next day, so we decided to stay in hotel rooms or at least in a cabin room for the rest of our trip, the fun part was cooking on a picnic table, very simple meal, well...  typical camping foods, ramen, sandwich or canned soup, the grocery prices in the stores there were pain in my wallet, so we tried to eat what we brought with us.. overall the trip was nice, fun and a good way to spend our quality time together..  I'll post some pictures of the amazing views we visited..

Now let's talk about my chicken.. I bought some fresh chicken drumsticks for .79 cents/lbs on a Monday sale, bought 2 packs, about 20 pieces, today I cooked 1 pack, I cooked it with chicken wing's recipe on my mind, as chicken wings costs more, so these drumsticks will do.. they taste so good..  I know I have to write down the recipe for my future use

the sauce

Ingredients:
- 10 pc of Chicken drumsticks, wings or any part of chicken
- 1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice, divide
- salt and black peppers
- 1/2 cup of honey
- 1 tbsp of chili sauce
- 1 tsp of fried garlic
- 1 tsp of grated ginger
- 1 tbsp of butter
- sugar if needed

Method:
- wash chicken, pat dry with paper towel, place them in a big roasting pan
- sprinkle with 1/3 of lemon juice, salt and blackpepper
- cover with aluminum foil, bake for 1 hours
- meanwhile, heat butter in a small pan, add grated ginger, stir until  fragrant
- add the rest of lemon juice, honey, chili sauce, black pepper, add salt and sugar if needed
- add fried garlic, cook and bring it to boil
- reduce the heat, simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce thickened
- after 1 hour, pour the excess juice from the chicken ( I save it for later, to cook brown rice or couscous)
- add the sauce, coat evenly, actually I let the chicken sit for a few hours
- bake again in a preheated oven (350'F) for another 30 minutes, flip over every 10 minutes
- set the oven to broil, then broil for another 5 minutes
- serve 4, on steamed rice or dinner rolls
- for dipping... this sweet chili sauce is really a good match to it