Recipe: Mary Hemingway's Chop Suey (using chicken and shrimp)

MARY HEMINGWAY'S CHOP SUEY
"Hemingway's fourth wife, Mary, first began experimenting with Chinese cuisine in 1948, shortly before she and Ernest left Cuba for a long trip to Italy. Upon their return, she prepared a festive Chinese lunch for Ernest's fiftieth birthday, including slippery chicken with almonds in champagne sauce, melon soup and a "miniature feast of stir-fry dishes." Mary's adventurous culinary style certainly resonated with the Chinese-American tradition of chop suey, the name of which translates from Cantonese as "miscellaneous odds and ends." Her recipe includes chicken, shrimp, various vegetables, canned fried noodles and even something that the chinese in Cuba called orejas or "ears," which Mary thought were either membranes of pig or monkey ears, or some sort of vegetable. Most likely, she was using a type of chinese mushroom called "tree ears," which are available in most Asian markets. She may even have added slices of mango to this dish on occasion."

FOR THE MARINADE:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons white wine
FOR THE CHOP SUEY:
1/2 pound chicken, cut into strips
4 tablespoons olive or sesame oil
1/2 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup, Bamboo shoots
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 scallion, chopped
1/2 cup tree ears, or chinese mushrooms, sliced
1 (2oz.) can fried chinese noodles
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1" piece ginger, minced
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1 mango, cubed (optional)
FOR THE GRAVY:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon corn starch
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/4 cup water

Whisk together the marinade. Cover the chicken and let stand at least 10 minutes.

Heat half of the oil in a large skillet over high heat. When hot, add chicken and stir fry a minute or two. Add the shrimp and stir fry another few minutes until bright pink. Remove the chicken and shrimp from the skillet and set aside.

Return the skillet to high heat and add the remaining oil. Add the vegetables, mushrooms, fried noodles, garlic and ginger and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.

Whisk together the gravy in a small bowl.

Return the chicken and shrimp to the skillet. Toss together along with the sprouts and the mango. Pour in the gravy and cook another 2-3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Mary recommends that this dish be eaten with chop sticks, which she found helped the flavor.

Makes 4 servings
Used by permission to Recipelink.com from Chicago Review Press
Source: The Hemingway Cookbook by Craig Boreth