Chicken Asparagus a la Ollie's at Times Square

My sister used to enjoy this dish at a small Chinese restaurant on 47th Street, just steps away from Times Square. It has since closed and the new incarnation on 42nd Street is not the same. I've wanted to duplicate the recipe at home and when I found myself with chicken breast looking for a recipe today that's what I did. To my surprise the dish, but cooked with shrimp rather than chicken breast, was in Irene Kuo's 1977 book, The Key to Chinese Cooking, one of my first "bibles" in Chinese cooking. I heavily modified the recipe to use with chicken but basically used the ingredients she recommended, except that I substituted chicken breast for the shrimp.

Slice half a chicken breast into 3/4 inch chunks and set aside. Snap off tough ends of 12 asparagus stalks and cut into 2-inch lengths. Chop two quarter-sized, peeled ginger, mince one peeled garlic segment, chop 1 Tb. scallion, green part. Now, heat wok over high heat. Pour in 1 Tb. of canola oil and when hot quickly stirfry garlic and ginger, careful not to burn them. Throw in chicken and cook until inside is no longer pink, about 1 1/2 minutes. Take out chicken and set aside. In remaining oil, add asparagus, 1/4 C. hot water, 1/2 Tb. crumbled Chinese dried hot peppers, a pinch of sugar, soy sauce (light would give nicer appearance, closer to what we had in NYC) and black pepper to taste. Cover and cook for a minute. Throw chicken back in, remove from heat. Mix in 3/4 Tb. sesame oil, top with chopped scallions and serve with rice. I like to sop up the juices in the wok with rice, throw in chopped scallions, for quick fried rice.

Chicken Salad on Toasted French Bread

This is a twist on your ordinary chicken salad. Parboil half a skinless chicken breast till just cooked through. (You may parboil with slivers of scallion, carrots, celery and thyme sprig for added flavor, but plain water is fine.) Cool and cut into 3/4 inch chunks. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Brown a fourth of a cup of whole almonds with skin on, careful not to burn the nuts, take out and set aside. Sauté 1 Tb. chopped yellow onion, 2 Tb. (I like celery and you may not) chunky celery, until just cooked but still crispy. Add chicken and cook over high heat quickly until tinged with gold. Throw in raisins (golden raisins would be prettier), almonds and season with salt and pepper. Cool, mix in mayonnaise and sour cream to taste. Mound on toasted French bread sliced open but still attached and serve immediately with rice dolmades, grape tomatoes and a sprig of Italian parsley from the garden for a lunch or light supper treat!