Gustatory Circuit » Chicken

Bento #7: Chicken Tenders

Yvonne — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:59:38 +0000

I don’t usually pack Western-style bento lunches—heck, I haven’t been packing lunches, bento or not, at all these days—but the leftovers from tonight’s chicken actually fit perfectly into Ms. Bento!

This is also a good example of where packing a good bento can become very, very fussy. See all those celery sticks on the right? The lid wouldn’t close, so I had to take a bunch of them out and cut them precisely to the height of the container. I also had to choose the grape tomatoes and blackberries carefully to make sure they would pack tightly without crushing!

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Semi-Deconstructed Buffalo Chicken

Yvonne — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:32:12 +0000

This is what passes for fine dining in the Gustatory Circuit these days. Also, it takes some practice to get that sauce-smear thing right.

One of the things I enjoy most about cooking is the creative problem-solving/engineering aspect of it. I have ingredients X, Y, and Z and want to eat something resembling dish D. Given what I know about flavors and cooking techniques, how can I get from X, Y, and Z to D?

I was driving home and decided I really wanted to have buffalo chicken wings for dinner.

D = an approximation of buffalo chicken wings

Solution 1: Heat frozen chicken wings and toss in store-bought buffalo sauce, both things we have on hand.

This solution was dismissed outright for being boring and borderline cheating. Save it for some other night when we’re working late and too lazy to cook. I got home a bit early today and I wanted to cook.

Solution 2: Do something with the package of chicken breasts that’s been defrosting in the fridge and needs to be used up within the next few days.

Making the chicken breasts into something wing-like would be easy enough: cut into wing-sized pieces, marinate, dredge, and pan-fry.

I’ve been on a marinade kick ever since the flavor episode of Worst Cooks in America and I’ve managed to crank out some pretty good ones in the last few weeks. Out came the Pyrex bowl and in went some olive oil, some hot sesame oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, five crushed garlic cloves, red chili pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. It smelled and tasted terrific. In went the chicken pieces.

But what about the sauce? I did what any wandering home cook would do: look in the Joy of Cooking index.

Let’s see…chicken…chicken…more chicken…children? Oh, fun recipes for kids…back up…a-ha! Chicken, wings, buffalo. Page 80.

I’d always thought buffalo sauce was some complex concoction, but it turns out it has exactly three ingredients: butter, vinegar, and hot pepper sauce.

I did not have hot pepper sauce, and we’re down to a few drops of Tabasco. Time to improvise.

D₁ = something approximating hot pepper sauce

I opened the fridge and eyed a container of leftover ancho chiles in adobo sauce.

Out came the food processor. In went three chiles, some generous squirts of ketchup, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and brown sugar. Puree. Taste. Good front of mouth kick, nice spicy finish, but nothing in between. I hoped the butter would take care of that.

I melted 3-4 tablespoons of butter on low heat, then stirred in the mixture from the food processor along with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder (because I forgot to add garlic to the food processor). It was kind of chunky, but I didn’t feel like being fussy and straining it. The butter did round out the flavor nicely and also took down some of the heat.

I quickly dredged the chicken in some seasoned corn starch, then pan-fried them in my cast iron pan and laid them out on paper towels to drain. I served the sauce on the side with some celery sticks, baby carrots, and blue cheese dressing.

Buffalo chicken equation? Solved.

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Happy New Year!

Yvonne — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:28:58 +0000

Notice anything?

No? Then let’s compare the above photo with this one:

And I’ll give you a hint. The difference doesn’t have anything to do with the subject of the photo.

That’s right…NEW CAMERA!

My trusty old Canon Powershot A20 went into its well-earned retirement on its 10th birthday. The new baby, as you can see, is much better at handling closeups and low light conditions. It also has a built-in image stabilizer.

The food is nothing in particular—a dinner designed for the express purpose of using up pantry ingredients. The rice pilaf is a variation on the sage rice pilaf you see in the second photo. I didn’t have shallots so I threw in half an onion and a bunch of diced baby carrots instead. I actually prefer this version to the original—the carrots add a bit of color and onions are less expensive than shallots.

The chicken is a mindless pan-fried chicken. I took boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed off the excess fat, and butterflied them a bit so they’d lay pretty flat in the pan. Then I put some cornstarch, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a giant baggie, threw the thighs in, and shook to coat. Pan-fried them in two batches, 3-4 minutes per side, setting them aside on paper towels to drain.

I had all this wonderful fond left at the bottom of the pan, so I deglazed with a bit of chicken stock, let it reduce down a bit, then hit it with a dash of white wine vinegar, salt, and pepper when it was off the heat. Poured the sauce on the chicken, added some oil back to the pan, then quickly sautéed the broccoli while the meat rested.

Snapped a photo (just one!—I would have had to take at least 4 with the old one because camera shake was so bad in low light), then chowed down.

Happy 2010, everybody!

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This Was Pretty Darn Good Chicken Tikka Masala

Yvonne — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:04:44 +0000

So I’m posting this like, two weeks late, but I did make the masala mash-up I mentioned at the end of this post and this is what I got:

Prep time: 45 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Serves: 4-6

This was nom nom nom. Look at this chicken, don’t you want to gobble it?

Chicken Tikka Masala
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Sept/Oct 2007 and Fine Cooking Oct 2006

Chicken Tikka
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. ground coriander
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1 t. Kosher salt
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
1 c. plain whole-milk yogurt (do NOT substitute low or nonfat yogurt)
2 T. vegetable oil
2 medium garlic cloves, run through a garlic press
1 T. grated fresh ginger

Masala Sauce
1 2-inch-long green serrano chile, stemmed and coarsely chopped (remove the seeds if you want less heat)
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 28-oz can whole tomatoes
2 T. unsalted butter
2 t. sweet paprika
2 T. whole cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 c. heavy cream
Kosher salt
2 t. garam masala
3/4 c. coarsely chopped fresh cilantro.

For the chicken: Combine the cumin, coriander, cayenne, and salt in a small bowl. Unroll the thighs and rub the chicken all over with the spice mixture. Place the chicken on a plate, cover, and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, oil, garlic, and ginger; set aside.

For the sauce: In a food processor, pulse the chile and ginger until finely chopped. Add the canned tomatoes with their juice and purée; set aside.

Position an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the broiler. Dip the chicken into the yogurt mixture, making sure to get a thick coat, and set on a broiler pan (or a wire rack set in a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet). Broil chicken until the thickest parts register 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer and the exterior is lightly charred in spots, 10-15 minutes. If the chicken is cooking quickly and the outside remains stubbornly white, move the oven rack closer to the broiler element. Allow the chicken to rest for 5-10 minutes, then cut into 1-inch chunks. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the paprika and 4 t. ground cumin and stir until the spices darken slightly, 10-15 seconds. Add the tomato mixture. Simmer vigorously, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened slightly, 6-8 minutes.

Add the heavy cream and 1 t. Kosher salt to the sauce and stir to combine. Add the chicken pieces. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garam masala and cumin. Remove from the heat, cover, and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. Salt to taste and garnish with cilantro. Serve with rice.

You could use chicken breasts here, but with the following changes: cook only until the internal temperature is 160 degrees (which might take up to 20 minutes, depending on their thickness), and do not simmer with the sauce. Instead, stir the chicken pieces in at the very end, with the garam masala. Chicken thighs can stand up to more cooking because of the higher fat content.

Other than that, there’s been virtually no cooking around here as I was writing my dissertation. And now I’m recovering from writing my dissertation. I did make a lasagna one night (mediocre), and my husband made Japanese-style hamburger last weekend (yum). Yesterday’s dinner was grilled kielbasa with sautéed broccolini over white rice. Total prep time: 10 minutes. Tonight? Probably frozen gyoza.

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This is Not Chicken Tikka Masala

Yvonne — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:15:51 +0000

An exercise in contrast: watch Top Chef Masters and then come and post about my own food. In a category titled “Food Gone Wrong”. And I’m not even cooking with one hand!

As I mentioned in the first post, this blog is supposed to be from the perspective of a fairly novice home cook. If you were looking for polished recipes and beautiful photography (Me? I’m using a digicam from 1999. Yeah, that’s right, this camera is OLDER THAN A THIRD GRADER), you might want to check out Smitten Kitchen instead. I mean, I can usually execute a fairly complex recipe just fine, but sometimes things just turn out weird.

Like this:

This was supposed to be the Chicken Tikka Masala from the Sept/Oct 2007 issue of Cook’s Illustrated. Now I have made a good chicken tikka masala before; you saw it in the first post. But that recipe, from Fine Cooking October 2006, takes four hours.

This recipe is definitely much quicker (just over an hour total), but it’s also…not chicken tikka masala. Now, I admit part of that is my fault. I was missing two notoriously hard-to-substitute ingredients, tomato paste and heavy cream, and tried to make do with ketchup and yogurt. Oh, and my serrano chile was way past its prime so I used half a spoonful of Chinese hot sauce instead. Still edible, and perhaps even tasty, but the flavors were slightly off from where they should be.

A much bigger problem was the texture of the dish. Whenever I’ve had chicken tikka masala in a restaurant, the sauce has been silky smooth. This sauce was chunky, like marinara, and that’s not really my fault, though the heavy cream probably would have helped. The diced onion has to go, though.

I will say the chicken from this recipe is very, very good and much quicker than the Fine Cooking recipe. You salt and spice the chicken, refrigerate for half an hour while you do the rest of the prep, dip in a yogurt sauce and broil. After the chicken rests, cut it into chunks.

Since I have a bunch of leftover yogurt, I think I’ll try again this week, making the chicken the Cook’s Illustrated way (but with boneless, skinless thighs instead of chicken breasts) and the sauce the Fine Cooking way. I’ll keep you posted.

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Orange-Braised Chicken and Sage Rice Pilaf w/Prosciutto

Yvonne — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:46:13 +0000

Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 1 hour
Serves: 4-6

We harvested some herbs this week in the Gustatory Circuit. First, our sage plant had become completely overgrown and wanted a haircut. It grows so fast, even indoors! I took enough for three tablespoons, chopped, and it barely made a dent. I hate to see what it would do if the pot would fit on our tiny excuse for a balcony.

This is a very luxurious meal (what do you expect when the chicken recipe comes from the Comfort Food special issue of Fine Cooking?. I recommend serving it with a nice green salad to balance out the richness.

Orange-Braised Chicken
Adapted from The Best of Fine Cooking: Comfort Food

1 navel orange, one half squeezed to get approx. 1/4 c. juice and one half cut into 1/4-inch slices
2-2.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
About 1/4 c. all-purpose flour for dredging
2 T. olive oil
1 oz. prosciutto (about two slices), cut into strips
3 large shallots, thinly sliced
1 t. ground coriander
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
3 T. white-wine vinegar
3/4 c. low-salt chicken broth
1 bay leaf

Roll the chicken thighs up and season with salt and pepper. Dredge the thighs in flour, shaking off any excess.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is shimmering, add the prosciutto and cook, turning occasionally, until browned and crisp, 1-2 minutes. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to transfer the prosciutto to a plate lined with paper towels.

Working in two batches, brown the thighs, starting seam side down. After the bottom is nicely browned (about 3 minutes), turn and brown the other side. Add a little more oil if the pan starts to get dry. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

If necessary, add more oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and add the shallots. Stir in the coriander, chile flakes, and orange slices. Cook until the shallots soften and begin to brown, 3-4 minutes.

Pour in the vinegar, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Boil until the pan is practically dry. Add the chicken broth, orange juice, and bay leaf and return to a boil. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan. Cover, and simmer until cooked through, about 25 minutes, turning the chicken once halfway through. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Sage Rice Pilaf
Adapted from Fine Cooking Mar 2007

2 T. olive oil
4 oz. prosciutto (about 5 slices), cut into strips
4 T. unsalted butter
3 T. chopped fresh sage
4 large cloves garlic, minced
3 large shallots, thinly sliced
1.5 c. long-grain white rice
Kosher salt
1 c. white wine
1.5 c. low-salt chicken broth
2/3 c. grated Pecorino Romano

In a large Dutch oven or saucepan with a lid, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook the prosciutto, turning occasionally, until brown and crisp, 1-2 minutes. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to transfer the prosciutto to a plate lined with paper towels.

Reduce the heat to low and add 2 T. butter to the pan. When the butter has melted, add 2 T. of the sage and cook for a few seconds, then add the garlic and shallots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are soft and begin to brown, 5-6 minutes. Add the rice and 1 t. Kosher salt. Toast the rice, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes.

Increase the heat to medium. Add the wine, stir, and cook until the wine is mostly reduced, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth, stir once, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 18-20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and let sit, still covered, for 5 minutes.

Once the rice has rested, remove the lid and fluff with a fork. Cut the remaining 2 T. butter into several pieces. Fold in the butter, remaining sage, Pecorino Romano, and cooked prosciutto. Taste, and add salt if needed.

Having two hands in the kitchen would definitely help with getting the timing to come out right on these two recipes. You’ll want to start the rice pilaf after you finish browning the chicken so that they finish at about the same time.

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Moroccan-Style Spiced Chicken Stew

Yvonne — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:43:19 +0000

Prep time: 45 mins
Cook time: 45 mins
Serves: 4

I love braising, especially chicken thighs, and I love an excuse to put olives in my food, so when I saw this recipe in my free trial issue of Cuisine at Home, I had to try it.

But.

The original recipe only make 4 thighs. In my household that serves two people. Which is one meal. If I’m going to slave in the kitchen for two hours from prep to cleanup (Cuisine at Home says total time 45 minutes, to which I say, yeah right, the stovetop time is already 45 minutes), it better feed us for more than one meal and I suspect most of you feel the same. So I doubled the recipe and did a little tweaking of the seasonings and this is what I came up with.

Moroccan-Style Spiced Chicken Stew
Adapted from Cuisine at Home

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (3-3.5 lbs), trimmed of excess skin and fat
2 T. olive oil
2 t. paprika
2 t. ground coriander
1 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. Chinese 5-spice powder
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 t. Kosher salt

1 large onion, diced
2 T. fresh ginger, minced
4-6 medium-to-large cloves garlic, minced or run through a garlic press (about 2 T.)
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
3 star anise

1/2 c. dry white wine
2 t. tomato paste
4 large Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 c. low-salt chicken broth
1 15-oz. cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 heaping c. pitted kalamata olives
2 T. honey
1 lemon, seeded and cut into 8 wedges
1 bay leaf

In a small bowl, combine ginger, garlic, pepper flakes, and star anise. Set aside. In another small bowl, combine paprika, coriander, cumin, Chinese 5-spice powder, cayenne, and Kosher salt. Rub this spice mixture all over chicken thights.

Heat olive oil in a 12-inch straight-sided sauté pan over medium heat. When oil is shimmering, but not yet smoking, add chicken, skin-side down, in a single layer. You may need to work in two batches (in my case, the chicken was a very tight fit). Let chicken cook undisturbed for 6 minutes or until skin is nicely browned. Turn chicken over and cook 4 minutes more, until the other side is browned. With a slotted spoon, transfer chicken to a plate and set aside. Pour off all but 1 T. fat and return the pan to medium heat.

Add onion and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Make a hollow in the center of the pan and add the garlic and ginger mixture, pressing it into the pan, then stirring to incorporate. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add wine and tomato paste, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits. Simmer until the liquid evaporates, about 10 minutes. Remove the star anise.

Add tomatoes, chicken broth, chickpeas, olives, honey, lemon, and bay leaf. Stir to combine. Return to the chicken to the pan, arranging the thighs skin-side up in a single layer on top and pour in any accumulated juices. Reduce heat to medium low. Cover, and simmer until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees, 25-30 minutes.

A couple thoughts for mods: if you have a Dutch oven, use it instead of the saute pan. Everything barely fit into my 3-quart pan; a 5-quart Dutch oven should give you plenty of room as long as you brown the chicken in two batches at the beginning.

The original recipe calls for ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks, but I didn’t have any on hand. Hence, the use of Chinese 5-spice powder (which contains cinnamon) and star anise. If you want, use 1/2 t. ground cinnamon instead of the 5-spice powder and 2 cinnamon sticks instead of the star anise. Leave the cinnamon sticks in for the duration of cooking; I remove the star anise early because it has such a strong flavor and because they can come apart during stewing and I really dislike picking out little star bits from my food.

My stew was already plenty salty, thanks to the chickpeas and olives, but you may want to add salt to taste at the end.

Try serving it with pita bread!

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Caramel-Braised Chicken w/Stir-Fried Baby Bok Choy

Yvonne — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:06:48 +0000

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 25 mins
Serves: 4

Fine Cooking calls this Vietnamese-style; my husband thought it tasted very Japanese; if you forced me to pick a cuisine, I’d have to go with Thai. So let’s just call it Generic Asian-Style Caramel-Braised Chicken.

This was my first try at making a caramel. The good news: I didn’t burn it. The bad news: I think, in my eagerness not to burn it, that I didn’t leave it on the heat long enough. There wasn’t much in the way of caramel flavor in the finished chicken.

Caramel-Braised Chicken w/Stir-Fried Baby Bok Choy
Adapted from Fine Cooking Apr/May 2008

1/4 c. fish sauce
2 large shallots, finely chopped
5 medium cloves garlic, 2 cloves minced and 3 cloves smashed
1/8 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper, plus some to taste
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 1/2 – 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 3/4-inch-wide strips
2 T. olive oil
4 medium heads baby bok choy, each cut into 6-8 wedges
Salt

In a small bowl, mix the fish sauce and 1/4 c. water and set aside. In another small bowl combine the shallots, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and black pepper, and set aside.

Put the sugar and 2 T. water in a 12-inch straight-sided sauté pan over medium heat. Swirl the pan occasionally until the sugar dissolves and melts. Let the melted sugar come to a boil and cook, swirling frequently, until it caramelizes and turns a deep amber color. This may take up to ten minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

Add the fish sauce mixture to the pan, stirring to combine. If necessary, use a wooden spoon to scrape up caramel bits from the pan and stir to dissolve them. Return the pan to medium heat and bring to a boil. Add the shallot mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots soften, 1-2 minutes.

Add the chicken pieces to the pan in a single layer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring every 3-4 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet on high until it is shimmering, but not quite smoking. Add the bok choy and the smashed garlic to the pan and cook, stirring continuously, until the stems of the bok choy are slightly softened. This should only take a few minutes. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange chicken and bok choy on a plate, spoon a bit of the braising liquid over both, and serve with steamed white rice.

The original recipe calls for sprinkling the chicken with chopped fresh cilantro before serving. I hate fresh cilantro, so I skipped it. On the other hand, it would probably have made the chicken taste more Vietnamese.

An alternate way of preparing the bok choy is to pull apart all the leaves and cut each one in half, separating the thick white stem from the leafy green top. Stir-fry the stem ends first, as they take longer to cook, and add the leafy tops in the last minute or so of cooking, stir-frying until they are just wilted.

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Lime Chicken

Yvonne — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:19:31 +0000

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Serves: 4

Yep, that’s the spicy crab and avocado salad from yesterday. I made another batch to go with this easy peasy chicken. I was a bit sloppy about it today, just throwing everything together and mixing, rather than prepping the sauce first and gently tossing in the crab and avocado chunk. End result was gloppy-looking, but still tasty.

The original chicken recipe calls for some sour cream with poblano peppers, but that part proved to be a lot of work and made a lot of mess for a weeknight, what with the broiling, peeling, and dicing of the peppers. I didn’t think the sour cream added that much to the dish, but the chicken by itself was yummy.

Lime Chicken
Adapted from Fine Cooking Feb/Mar 2007

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (3-3.5 lbs.), trimmed of excess skin and fat
1 T. ground coriander
1 t. ground cumin
2 t. Kosher salt
1/2 t. black pepper
3 T. olive oil
1 lime, sliced into wedges

Place an oven rack 5-6 inches from the broiler and heat it to high.

Combine the salt, coriander, cumin, and pepper in a bowl. Rub the oil all over the chicken pieces to coat, then season both sides with the spice mixture. Arrange the chicken skin-side down on the broiler pan. Broil until nice and brown, about 10 minutes.

Turn the chicken over and broil until the skin is brown and crisp and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reads at least 165 degrees, 4-5 minutes more. If the skin looks like it’s about to burn before the meat cooks through, move the pan to a lower rack.

Remove from broiler and allow meat to rest a few minutes before serving. Serve with lime wedges

You can easily make the entire spicy crab and avocado salad while the chicken broils.

Total cost of chicken: $3.32 for $0.83 per serving. Add it to the cost of the spicy crab and avocado salad and tonight’s dinner was $6.83 per serving. Not as much as dinner out, but not the best choice if the budget is really tight.

On the other hand, this is a really good choice if you have no time. Less than 30 minutes of work and very few dirty dishes.

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Red Chicken Curry w/Bamboo Shoots

Yvonne — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:35:12 +0000

Active prep: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Serves: 4-6

This is the kind of recipe that makes me wonder why Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee is such a hit. I mean, don’t want to make your own curry paste, use pre-made stuff from a jar. Duh, right? This recipe is dead easy because mostly you’re just dumping stuff out of cans and jars into a pot and stirring. You don’t need a TV show to tell you how to do that!

I started with a recipe from Thai: The Essence of Asian Cooking by Judy Bastyra (this book seems to no longer be available, but the author has two other Thai books out: Thai Cooking and Thai Food and Cooking) and improvised a bit. I’ll post what I actually did below and then follow up with my suggested tweaks.

Red Chicken Curry w/Bamboo Shoots
Adapted from Thai: The Essence of Asian Cooking by Judy Bastrya

2 13.5-oz. cans coconut milk
1 c. low-salt chicken broth
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper
3 T. red curry paste
1 T. Thai fish sauce
1 T. packed brown sugar
1 8-oz. can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
1 15-oz. can straw mushrooms
1.5 c. frozen sugar snap peas
1 T. lime juice
Handful of fresh basil leaves

Season the diced chicken liberally with salt and pepper.

Pour 1 can of coconut milk and half the chicken broth into a large pot. Stir and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the curry paste and stir until it is well-integrated. Add the chicken, fish sauce, and brown sugar. Stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until the chicken is barely cooked through. Stir often to make sure the chicken doesn’t stick to the bottom.

Pour in the remaining can of coconut milk and remaining chicken broth. Add bamboo shoots, straw mushrooms, and sugar snap peas. Increase heat to medium-high and bring everything back to a boil, stirring often.

Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and basil. Salt to taste. Serve over steamed white rice.

This was plenty good as is (I ate two bowls of it), but I think it could be even better.

Suggested changes: more chicken (at least another 1/2 lb.), more fish sauce (one more tablespoon, maybe stirred in at the very end with the lime juice), more bamboo shoots. I’d also consider throwing in some grape tomatoes or canned pineapple chunks. In that case, I’d probably cut back on the brown sugar or eliminate it entirely.

To give the curry more depth of flavor, next time I’ll probably brown the chicken in oil first (perhaps throw some ground cumin and coriander into the seasonings?), set it aside, and saute some onions/shallots before pouring in the coconut milk. There’s lots of room for experimentation while keeping it a fast and easy meal.

Budget:

Item	Price
2 cans coconut milk	$3.38
1 can bamboo shoots	$1.15
1 can straw mushrooms	$3.69
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts	$2.99
Total	$11.21

Pantry ingredients: Chicken broth, curry paste, fish sauce, brown sugar, sugar snap peas and 1/2 lime squeezed for juice (both left over from the bison curry), basil from the balcony herb garden, and rice.

It looks like we’ll get five servings out of what I made today (two dinners for two people, plus tomorrow’s lunch for me). I think the actual cost of the pantry ingredients here is pretty minimal, but even if you round the total up to $15, that’s still only $3 per serving and therefore pretty economical.

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Braised Chicken Legs w/Tomato

Yvonne — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:27:00 +0000

Active prep: 20 mins
Active cook time: 25 mins
Inactive cook time: 50 mins
Serves: 4

This issue of Fine Cooking calls this a “weeknight” chicken braise, but I’d only attempt this on a weeknight if you don’t mind waiting 2 hours for dinner.

It is totally worth it for a weekend meal though, especially if you consider that only needs one pot and less than an hour of actual work; the rest of the time the chicken is just sitting in the oven.

Braised Chicken Legs w/Tomato
Adapted from Fine Cooking Dec 2006

6 oil-packed anchovy fillets, rinsed and patted dry
2 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 T. chopped fresh rosemary leaves, plus 1 t. whole fresh rosemary leaves
1 c. low-salt chicken broth
1 1/2 lb. bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 1/2 lb. chicken drumsticks
Kosher salt and black pepper
2 T. grapeseed oil
1 c. red wine
2 lb. Roma tomatoes (about 5 extremely large tomatoes), cut into wedges and seeded
1 T. red-wine vinegar

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

Put anchovies, garlic, and the chopped rosemary in a food processor or blender and process to finely chop. Add the chicken broth and process for 30 seconds to blend everything together.

Season the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Use a 12-inch ovenproof saute pan with a lid. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Arrange chicken in a single layer, skin-side down, and cook for about 5 minutes or until nice and brown. Turn the chicken over and brown the other sides, 3-5 minutes. Transfer the chicken pieces to a plate. Pour out the fat and return the pan to the stove on medium-high.

Add the wine to the pan and bring to a boil, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the broth mixture and return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan. Layer the tomato wedges on top and cover. Put the pan in the oven for 45-50 minutes until the chicken is tender.

Transfer the chicken and tomatoes to a large serving dish and cover. Skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Set heat to medium-high and bring sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes so the sauce reduces. Stir in vinegar and remaining rosemary. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

We’re Asian, so we usually eat this with plain steamed white rice. The serving suggestion in the magazine is to serve with noodles or mashed potatoes, but I don’t think I would do that. This is a fairly rich and extremely full-flavored dish to begin with; I think mashed potatoes would make the whole meal too heavy. Noodles might be ok if they weren’t buttered. It’s also good (and more low-carb-friendly) just by itself, which is how we ate it this week.

This dish only uses about half a tin of anchovies, so if you’re anchovy lovers like us, try warming a few leftover fillets in the sauce and eating them.

If you’re an anchovy hater, don’t worry. The anchovies lend a nice saltiness to the dish, but it doesn’t taste fishy.

Budget:

Item	Price
2 lbs. Roma tomatoes	$2.19
1 tin anchovies	$1.53
1 bottle red-wine vinegar	$3.67
Chicken drumsticks	$2.25
Total	$9.64

Pantry/freezer ingredients: Garlic, rosemary (from balcony herb garden), chicken broth, chicken thighs, salt and pepper, grapeseed oil, red wine
Leftover ingredients: Anchovies, red-wine vinegar

Let’s bump this up to $12 total to account for the chicken from the freezer and the red wine (left over from a bottle we drank), so that’s $3-ish per serving. Not bad, not bad at all.

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Roasted Chicken w/Lemon & Green Olives

Yvonne — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:23:39 +0000

Active prep time: 15 mins, most of which can be done while the chicken roasts
Cook time: 45 mins
Serves: 4

Though it takes about a hour total from start of prep to sitting down to eat, this meal is virtually effortless. The chicken recipe is from December 2007 Fine Cooking; the asparagus is just a basic roasted asparagus.

Roasted Chicken w/Lemon & Green Olives and Side of Asparagus
Adapted from Fine Cooking December 2007

4-5 lb. chicken leg quarters, trimmed of excess fat and skin
6 T. olive oil
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 small lemon, sliced into 1/8-in wheels or half-wheels
1 c. unpitted green olives
1 bunch asparagus (thin stalks work better)
Additional salt and pepper to taste

Place one rack in center of oven and another rack underneath. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Combine 3 T. olive oil, thyme, salt, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Rub this mixture all over the chicken legs, making sure to (gently) work it underneath the skin.

Place chicken skin side up in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast on center oven rack for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine lemon slices, olives, and 2 T. olive oil in a small bowl and set aside.

Trim the ends off the asparagus and arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss gently with remaining olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Take the chicken out of the over after 20 minutes. Scatter the lemon and olive mixture around the pan, but not on top of the chicken. Return chicken to oven and roast for 10 more minutes.

After 10 minutes have passed, put the asparagus in the oven on the bottom rack and roast chicken and asparagus together for an additional 10-15 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the leg reads 170 degrees and the asparagus is tender.

I like to serve this over rice pilaf or just regular ol’ steamed white rice. According to the magazine, eating the roasted lemon slices (including the rind) adds a nice counterpoint. I cannot confirm, as lemon rind just doesn’t sound tasty to me. But make sure you eat the olives!

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Green Curry w/Chicken & Eggplant

Yvonne — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:54:28 +0000

Active prep time: < 30 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Serves: 4 (with rice)

That was my dinner. The basil was harvested straight from our pistou basil plant on the balcony. Mmm!

This is the Green Curry with Chicken and Eggplant recipe from December 2007 Fine Cooking, p. 69. It’s a quick and easy one-pot meal.

First you cut up some eggplant. The recipe calls for Japanese or “very small” Italian eggplants, but I used Chinese eggplants (see eggplant varieties here).

I prepared the eggplant the Mom way, which is to soak the cut up pieces in some salt water to keep it from turning brown while you do other prep. Given the usual practice of salting eggplant and squeezing the moisture out prior to cooking, I have no idea if the Mom way is actually a good idea.

Green Curry with Chicken & Eggplant
Adapted from Fine Cooking December 2007

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat and cut into bite-sized chucks
8 oz. eggplant, cut into 1-in chunks
2 T. cooking oil
2 T. green curry paste
1 15-oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
1 c. low-salt chicken broth
2 T. fish sauce
1 T. light brown sugar
Fresh basil
Steamed rice

Heat the oil in a 2- to 3-quart pan over medium heat. Add curry paste and cook about 2 minutes. Make sure to break up the paste and work it into the oil. If you have a splatter screen, keep it handy.

Increase heat to medium high and add chicken in a single layer. Leave it alone to brown for about 2 minutes, then stir and cook until lightly browned all over, about 2 minutes more.

Add the coconut milk and chicken broth. Stir to combine, scraping up the browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add the eggplant and bring to a simmer. Let simmer 8-10 mins until chicken is done and eggplant is tender.

Remove from heat. Add fish sauce, sugar, and salt to taste. Stir to combine. Stir in basil.

Serve over steamed white rice.

I will definitely make this again, but next time I might add some shredded bamboo shoots with the eggplant for some extra crunch, and probably throw in a tablespoon or so of lime juice right before serving for some brightness. And more curry paste. Two tablespoons gave just the tiniest bit of heat.

It says serves four, but if you have big eaters in your family (like us), it might only serve two.

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