Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2

by Wilbur, Todd

  • Serves 2.

  P. F. CHANG’S OOLONG MARINATED SEA BASS

  MENU DESCRIPTION: “Broiled and served with sweet ginger soy, baby corn and spinach.”

  Grab a couple half-pound sea bass fillets (not too thick), whip up a simple marinade and you’re on your way to cloning one of the most beloved dishes at America’s fastest growing Chinese bistro chain. The marinade is made with only six ingredients, so you’ll have that done in no time. If you can’t find oolong tea, you can use green tea. Loose tea is best, but if you can only find bags, that’s okay. One teabag contains I teaspoon of tea, so you’ll just need half of a teabag for this recipe (in fact, the recipe still works even without the tea). You will need to plan ahead for this dish, however, since the fish must marinate for 5 to 7 hours. Once the fish is marinated, fire up the oven to bake it, then finish it off under the broiler. Saute some spinach, garlic, and tiny corn for an optional bed that makes the dish indistinguishable from the real thing.

  MARINADE/SAUCE

  2 cups water

  cup soy sauce

  ¾ cup light brown sugar

  2 teaspoons minced fresh

  ginger

  1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic

  ½ teaspoon oolong tea

  Two ½-pound sea bass fillets

  OPTIONAL GARNISH

  I tablespoon oil

  6 handfuls fresh spinach

  ½ teaspoon minced fresh garlic

  1 5.5-ounce can whole baby sweet

  corn (6 to 8 baby corns),

  drained

  1. Make your sauce and marinade by combining the six ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool uncovered, then strain out the ginger, garlic, and tea.

  2. Put your sea bass fillets in a storage bag or a covered container with 2 cups of the marinade. Let the fish have a nice soak in the marinade for 5 to 7 hours in the fridge. If the sauce doesn’t completely cover the fish, be sure to turn the fillets a couple hours in so that all sides get marinated.

  3. When you are ready to prepare the fish, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

  4. Arrange the fillets on a baking sheet. Bake the fish for 22 minutes or until the edges of the fillets are starting to turn brown. Crank the oven up to a high broil and broil fish for 2 to 3 minutes or until you get some dark patches around the edge of the fillets. Just don’t let them burn.

  5. As your fish is baking, heat up a wok or large skillet with one tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the spinach, garlic, and baby sweet corn, and a dash of salt and pepper to the pan. Saute the veggies just until the spinach is wilted, then arrange half of the spinach and corn on each of two plates.

  6. When the sea bass is done broiling, use a spatula to carefully lay each fillet on the bed of spinach and baby corn. Split the remaining sauce and pour it over each of the fillets before serving.

  • Serves 2.

  P. F. CHANG’S ORANGE PEEL CHICKEN

  MENU DESCRIPTION: “Tossed with orange peel and chili peppers for a spicylcitrus combination.”

  Several of P. F. Chang’s top-selling items are similar in preparation technique: Bite-size pieces of meat are lightly breaded and wok-seared in oil, then doused with a secret sauce mixture. That’s the basis for this recipe as well, but I have a special fondness for the citrusy sweet and spicy flavors found in this entrée. The heat comes from chili garlic sauce, which you’ll find in the aisle with the Asian foods in your supermarket—the rest of the sauce ingredients are common stuff. The orange peel is julienned into thin strips before adding it to the dish. Since the flavor from the peel is so strong, we won’t need to add it until the end. Cook up some white or brown rice to serve alongside this dish and get the chop-sticks ready.

  SAUCE

  1 tablespoon vegetable oil

  2 tablespoons minced garlic

  4 green onions, sliced

  1 cup tomato sauce

  ½ cup water

  ¼ cup granulated sugar

  2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce

  1 tablespoon soy sauce

  ½ cup vegetable oil

  4 skinless chicken breast fillets

  ½ cup cornstarch

  peel from ¼ orange, julienned

  (into ⅛-inch-wide strips)

  1. Prepare sauce by heating I tablespoon of oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and sliced green onions. Add tomato sauce and water quickly before the garlic burns. Add sugar, chili garlic sauce, and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 to 6 minutes or until sauce thickens, then turn off the heat.

  2. Prepare the chicken by heating ½ cup oil in a wok over medium heat. Slice chicken breast fillets into bite-size pieces. Coat each piece of chicken with cornstarch. Arrange coated chicken on a plate until all chicken is coated. When oil in the wok is hot, add about half of the chicken to the oil and cook for a couple minutes or until brown on one side, then flip the chicken over. When chicken is golden brown, remove the pieces to a rack or paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining chicken. When all of the chicken is cooked rinse the oil out of the wok with water and place it back on the stove to heat up.

  3. When wok is hot again add julienned orange peel and chicken. Heat for 20 to 30 seconds or so, stirring gently. Add sauce to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes. Stir the dish a couple times but do it gently so you don’t knock the coating off the chicken. Cook until the sauce thickens then serve with white or brown rice on the side.

  • SERVES 3 TO 4.

  P. F. CHANG’S CHOCOLATE TORTE

  MENU DESCRIPTION: “Served with vanilla bean and raspberry sauce.”

  P. F. Chang’s contracts with local bakeries to produce these delicious flourless chocolate cakes in each city where the Chinese bistros are based. The restaurants aren’t built for baking, and this way the chain can ensure a fresh product every day. Now, if you’re a chocolate lover or there’s one nearby, this is the recipe for you. The torte is only five ingredients, and the versatile sauces create the perfect gourmet touch. Any leftover torte and sauce can be frozen, then thawed at a later date to effortlessly impress.

  ½ cup butter (1 stick)

  3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

  (18-ounces)

  4 eggs

  ½ cup granulated sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  VANILLA SAUCE

  2 cups cream

  ½ cup granulated sugar

  ½ of a vanilla bean (split down

  the middle)

  4 egg yolks

  RASPBERRY SAUCE

  one 12-ounce bag frozen

  raspberries, thawed

  3 tablespoons granulated sugar

  2 to 4 tablespoons water

  2 tablespoons Chambord

  raspberry liqueur

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

  2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate chips and stir occasionally until chocolate is completely melted. Be very careful not to overcook the chocolate or it may burn and taste funny. Not funny ha-ha—funny bad. Remove chocolate from the heat when it’s melted.

  3. Beat 4 eggs until fluffy in a large bowl, then add sugar and vanilla and mix well until sugar is dissolved.

  4. Temper the egg mixture by stirring in just a few tablespoons of the warm chocolate at first. This will keep the eggs from cooking. Slowly add the rest of the chocolate and mix until well combined.

  5. Pour the batter into a 9-inch springform pan that has been lined on the bottom and sides with parchment paper (butter the pan before you add the parchment paper—the butter will make the paper stick). Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until middle of the cake begins to firm up. Remove, cool, cover and chill the cake until you are ready to serve it.

  6. As the torte bakes, prepare vanilla sauce by combining cream with ¼ cup sugar in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Use a knife to scrape the seeds from inside the vanilla bean half, then add the seeds and the bean pod
to the pan. Heat mixture, stirring often, just until boiling then turn off heat. Watch the cream closely so that it does not boil over

  7. In a medium bowl whisk together remaining ¼ cup of sugar and egg yolks until smooth. Temper the egg yolks by stirring in a few tablespoons of the hot cream mixture. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and heat it up again, stirring often until it begins to boil. Immediately pour the sauce into a medium bowl that has been set in a larger bowl filled with ice. This ice bath will help to quickly cool the sauce so that it doesn’t curdle. Cover and chill the sauce until you are ready for it.

  8. Make the raspberry sauce by pureeing the thawed raspberries in a blender Add 2 to 4 tablespoons of water to thin the pureed berries a bit—if your berries have a lot of juice add 2 tablespoons of water; if they have just a little juice, add 4 tablespoons of water Strain the seeds from the raspberry puree then pour the puree into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons of raspberry liqueur to the pan. Heat until boiling then remove raspberry sauce from heat. Cover and chill it.

  9. When you are ready to serve your torte, first spoon some raspberry sauce and vanilla sauce onto a plate. Carefully place the slice of torte on the sauces, but turn it over so that the top of the torte is on the bottom. This is how a flourless chocolate cake is served—topside down. The restaurant zaps the cake for 30 seconds or so in the microwave before serving, so that it is slightly warm. However, you might prefer yours cold.

  • SERVES 8.

  RED LOBSTER TARTAR SAUCE

  Here’s a clone for the dollop of sweet, creamy goodness that comes alongside your fish entree at the world’s largest seafood chain. This original kitchen replica gives you a quick and tasty sauce that has the look and flavor of the real thing—and it’s only five ingredients! Use the sauce to dress up your next home-cooked fish platter or as a spread on fish sandwiches and fish tacos.

  ½ cup mayonnaise

  1½tablespoons finely minced

  onion

  1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish

  1½ teaspoons shredded and

  chopped carrot (bits the size

  of rice)

  1½ teaspoons sugar

  Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill.

  • MAKES 4 SERVINGS.

  RED LOBSTER CHEDDAR BAY BISCUITS

  Order an entree from America’s largest seafood restaurant chain and you’ll get a basket of some of the planet’s tastiest garlic-cheese biscuits served up on the side. For many years this recipe has been the most-searched-for clone recipe on the Internet, according to Red Lobster. As a result, several versions are floating around, including one that was at one time printed right on the box of Bisquick baking mix.

  The problem with making biscuits using Bisquick is that if you follow the directions from the box you don’t end up with a very fluffy or flakey finished product, since most of the fat in the recipe comes from the shortening that’s included in the mix. On its own, room temperature shortening does a poor job creating the light, airy texture you want from good biscuits, and it contributes little in the way of flavor. So, we’ll invite some cold butter along on the trip—with grated Cheddar cheese and a little garlic powder. Now you’ll be well on your way to delicious Cheddar Bay. Wherever that is.

  2½ cups Bisquick baking mix

  4 tablespoons cold butter (½ stick)

  1 heaping cup grated Cheddar

  cheese

  ¾ cup cold whole milk

  ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

  BRUSH ON TOP

  2 tablespoons butter, melted

  ½ teaspoon garlic powder

  ¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes

  pinch salt

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

  2. Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a large fork. You don’t want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter in there that are about the size of peas. Add Cheddar cheese, milk, and ¼ teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don’t over mix.

  3. Drop approximately ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

  4. When you take the biscuits out of the oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small bowl in your microwave. Stir in ½ teaspoon garlic powder and the dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter

  • MAKES A DOZEN BISCUITS.

  RED LOBSTER BACON-WRAPPED STUFFED SHRIMP

  It’s shrimp, it’s bacon, it’s cheese; what’s not to like? It’s one of the groovy appetizers on the Red Lobster menu, and now you can create it at your crib. Find some large shrimp, a wooden skewer, and cook the bacon about halfway to done before you begin. Mix up a clone of Red Lobster’s top secret seasoning and the cilantro-ranch dipping sauce, and you’re minutes away from scarfing down a delectable dish that’s meant to be a teaser for what’s to come. Looks like you’ll need to make the main course a real doozy.

  SEASONING

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  ¼ teaspoon paprika

  pinch ground black pepper

  pinch garlic powder

  pinch onion powder

  pinch cayenne pepper

  pinch ground allspice

  CILANTRO-RANCH DIPPING SAUCE

  cup ranch dressing

  1 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro

  10 pieces bacon

  10 large shrimp

  5 fresh jalapeno slices

  2 ounces pepper

  Jack cheese

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

  2. Make the seasoning blend by combining the ingredients in a small bowl. Set this aside.

  3. Make the dipping sauce by combining the ranch dressing with cilantro in another small bowl.

  4. Cook the bacon in a frying pan over medium/high heat, but don’t cook it all the way to crispy. You want undercooked bacon that, when cool, will easily wrap around the shrimp. Cook the bacon about 3 minutes per side, and don’t let it brown. When the bacon is done lay it on paper towels to drain and cool.

  5. Shell the shrimp, leaving the last segment of the shell and the tail. Remove the dark vein from the back of the shrimp, and then cut down into the back of the shrimp, without cutting all the way through, so that the shrimp is nearly butterflied open. This will make a pocket for the pepper and cheese.

  6. Pour I cup of water into a small bowl. Add the shrimp and jalapeno peppers and microwave for 90 seconds or until the shrimp has just cooked through and changed color to white. Immediately pour the water out of the bowl, remove the jalapeno slices and pour cold water over the shrimp. Place the shrimp and jalapeno pepper slices onto paper towels to drain off excess water.

  7. Build the appetizer by cutting the jalapeno slices in half and removing the seeds. You should now have 10 jalapeno slices. Place one slice into the slit on the back of a shrimp. Cut an inch-long chunk of cheese (about ¼-inch thick), and place it on the jalapeno slice. Wrap a piece of bacon around the shrimp, starting where the cheese is. Start wrapping with the thinnest end of the bacon. Go 1½ times around the shrimp and then cut off the excess bacon and slide a skewer through the shrimp to hold everything in place. Repeat with the remaining shrimp and slide them onto the skewer with the tails facing the same direction. Make two skewers of 5 shrimp each.

  8. Put the skewers onto a baking sheet and sprinkle a light coating of the seasoning blend over the shrimp, then bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until the bacon browns and the cheese begins to ooze. Serve over a bed of rice if desired. Feed the leftover bacon pieces to the dog while you scarf out on the shrimp.

  • SERVES 4 AS AN APPETIZER.

  RED LOBSTER CHEDDAR BAY CRAB BAKE

  Ahoy. Banking on the popularity of the chain’s Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Red Lobster chefs developed this pizza-shaped appetizer with crust made from the cheesy
biscuit dough, and crab and Cheddar cheese baked on top. If you like those tender, cheesy garlic biscuits that come with every meal at Red Lobster, then you’ll probably like this. If you don’t like it, then you’re probably not alone. This item is nowhere to be found on Red Lobster’s menu these days, and that should tell you something about how well it sold. But hey, even good dishes get discontinued. If you’re up for giving this clone a shot, get yourself some fresh crabmeat. If you want to take a shot a little less expensively, find some quality canned stuff. If you don’t want to take a shot at all, try the next recipe.