Sweet-and-sour chicken can be reborn with bacon

By Alison Ladman

For quite a while we couldn’t put our finger on what was missing from sweet-and-sour chicken.

With all the tangy sweet goodness from the pineapple, peppers, onions, sugar and vinegar, it was hard to identify what it needed. Then we started thinking about Hawaiian-style pizza and suddenly it hit us — bacon! Like so many things, sweet-and-sour chicken could be made better with bacon.

And while we were making improvements to this classic dish, we decided we might as well use fresh rather than canned pineapple, as well as the more flavorful chicken thigh rather than the more common breast. You can still serve the dish over white rice, but consider changing that up too by serving it as a grinder or tossed with soba noodles.

Start to finish: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

 1/4 cup brown sugar

 1/4 cup cider vinegar

 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 slices bacon, cut in  1/2-inch pieces

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cubed

1 red onion, sliced

1 medium carrot, julienned

2 baby bok choy, sliced

1 red bell pepper, cored and cut into strips

6-ounce package fresh snow pea pods

16-ounce container fresh pineapple chunks

1 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, whisk together the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, vinegar and red pepper flakes. Set aside.

In a large, deep saute pan over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crispy, 6 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain, leaving the drippings in the pan.

Add the chicken to the pan and saute for 3 to 4 minutes, or until well browned on all sides. It does not need to be cooked through yet. Add the onion and the carrot and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent and beginning to brown.

Add the bok choy, red bell pepper, snow peas and pineapple chunks. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in the reserved sauce.

In a small bowl, stir together the chicken broth and cornstarch, then stir into the pan. Bring to a boil and cook until the sauce is thickened and coats everything, about 2 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the reserved bacon.

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 338 calories; 101 calories from fat (30 percent of total calories); 11 g fat (3 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 89 mg cholesterol; 35 g carbohydrate; 25 g protein; 4 g fiber; 631 mg sodium.

Alison Ladman writes about food for the Associated Press.

Breakfast for dinner with a sophisticated touch

By J.M. Hirsch

There are those nights when breakfast is the only way dinner is going to get on the table.

But that doesn’t doom you to a bowl of cold cereal in front of the TV. There are plenty of easy ways to add a dinner-like sophistication — or at least satisfaction — to your breakfast staples. And that was the inspiration for this rich and cheesy take on eggs and toast.

I started with a thick slab of sourdough bread pan-toasted in butter. If you insist, you could cut the fat by using olive oil cooking spray in the pan instead. Then I added an egg to the pan and a slab of brie to the bread. When the egg was cooked,but the yolk was still a bit runny, I placed it on top of the brie.

And I called it dinner. It was scrumptious in an almost disturbingly good way.

It got me thinking that this same dish could be recast as a finger food for parties, too. For that, I would roll out a bag of pizza dough as thinly as possible, brush it with some olive oil or melted butter, then pop it in the oven. When it was nearly cooked, pull it out, top it with brie and crack a few eggs on it, then return it to the oven until the eggs are ready.

To serve, use a pizza cutter to slice strips or wedges from the pizza.

Start to finish: 10 minutes

Servings: 1

1 tablespoon butter

1 thick slice sourdough bread

1 egg

Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1 thick slab brie (about 2 ounces)

1 sprig fresh thyme

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter.

Place the bread in the skillet and toast until the bottom is crispy and just turning golden, about 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the bread to toast the other side, pushing it to one side of the pan. Crack the egg into the other side of the pan. Season it with salt and pepper.

About 1 minute before the egg is cooked to desired doneness, place the brie on the bread. Use a spatula to transfer the egg, sunny side up, onto the brie. Cover the skillet and cook for another minute. Serve immediately.

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 639 calories; 299 calories from fat (47 percent of total calories); 33 g fat (19 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 302 mg cholesterol; 55 g carbohydrate; 29 g protein; 2 g fiber; 1,287 mg sodium.

J.M. Hirsch, food editor for the Associated Press, is author of the new cookbook “High Flavor, Low Labor: Reinventing Weeknight Cooking.”