The charming Deen brothers serve up Southern home cooking with passion

Right before the BlogHer Food conference in San Francisco, I attended a lively cooking demonstration featuring the Deen brothers, Jamie and Bobby, and hosted by Beringer vineyards. The event was at Cellar 360 – a lofted, airy beautifully laid out wine store in Ghirradelli Square and looking out onto the expansive bay.

The Deen brothers did a steak cooking demonstration, along with discussion on favorite wine pairings. Paula Deen has surely done something fantastically right with these two boys of hers. They blend politeness, look-you-in-the-eyes genuine engagement, humor, and charisma, along with a passion for cooking they’ve clearly inherited from their mama.

Their new cookbook is perfect for when you want some flavorful, relatively easy servings to dish up to your crew or you want the guy in your life to fire up the grill, stove or oven and be in charge of dinner one night this week. (They have some great, easy meat marinades combining citrus variations, vinegar, oil and seasonings.)

This slightly more ingredient-laden recipe comes from their new cookbook The Deen Bros. Take It Easy: Quick and Affordable Meals the Whole Family Will Love offering up a robustly flavored chicken dish for dinner.

Garlicky Chicken and Peanut Stir-Fry

From The Deen Bros. Take It Easy

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons creamy peanut butter 
• 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
• 1½ tablespoons soy sauce
• Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime, plus lime wedges for serving
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut crosswise into 2-inch strips
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions (white and light green parts)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
• Cooked white rice, for serving

Directions:

1. Whisk together the peanut butter, brown sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, red pepper flakes, and ½ cup of water in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly, until the sauce is smooth and completely warmed through.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the peanut oil in a very large skillet over medium heat. Cook the chicken, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until golden and the juices run clear when the chicken is pricked with a fork. Add the scallions, garlic, and ginger and cook for 1 minute more.
3. Remove the skillet from the heat, pour in the peanut butter mixture, and toss with the chicken. Serve hot with the white rice.

Big upcoming news on the Beringer Vineyards front: they will be sponsoring multi-Grammy winning singer Michael Buble’s upcoming “Crazy Love Tour” beginning November 2010. The partnership will also include special offers and experiences for Buble fans at numerous retail, restaurant and concert venues and unique online components. While at the event, I loved Beringer’s rich red wine at the tasting, 2007 Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and could not help but order several of their gourmet vinegars and shipping them home to Boston.

____________________

Disclosure: At the event, I received a sample taste of Beringer’s new red wines and a review copy of Jamie and Bobby’s new cookbook: The Deen Brothers take it easy.

Stacy DeBroff is CEO of Mom Central and Mom Central Consulting.

Anne-Marie Nichols