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Tag Archives: Chicken
A simple Thai inspired chicken and asparagus dish that is seasoned with a light coconut broth with hints of ginger, chilies, basil and lime. To serve ladle it over a bed of noodles.
As we mentioned in our podcast last night this week is all about using what we have on hand for dinner. I always love when it comes down to this as it forces me to be creative with what we have on hand. As well it is always nice to start out the next shopping spree with a clean fridge, freezer and cupboard!
Tonight I decided to use one chicken breast, some asparagus and udon noodles. As well I wanted something spicy. I created a broth by using shallots, garlic, chilies, fresh ginger, lime and lite coconut milk. The broth was so fragrant while it simmered but I knew it was missing something so I scoured the fridge and found some basil, in it went. Within a few minutes the aromas were definitely headed in the right direction, it reminded me of walking through a dusty village in Bangkok.
I sauteed the chicken until it was golden and then the asparagus just until they were warm and still crisp. While the asparagus was cooking I made the noodles and added the chicken to the broth so it could come together and form a perfect harmony. It was really fantastic smelling by now and I could not keep my tasting spoon from constant sampling. To serve I put a bed of noodles in a shallow bowl and topped with the broth of chicken and asparagus.
A very light dinner that was spicy on your tongue at the very first bite but cooled down once the lime followed onto our tastebuds – the perfect marriage.
Recipe: Thai inspired Chicken with Asparagus
1 chicken breast, organic preferred, washed, dried well & thinly sliced
1 bunch of fresh asparagus – sliced into bite size pieces
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 small shallot – thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves – minced
2 small red chilies – thinly sliced
1 small knob of fresh ginger – microplaned
1/2 lime – juiced
3 tablespoons basil – minced
1 15 oz. can of lite coconut milk
noodles of choice – we used udon
Heat oil in a medium saucepan. Add shallots, cook until soft. Add the garlic, chilies, and ginger, cook until lightly golden but not crisp. Add the lime juice. Remove from the mixture from the saucepan and put into a small bowl, set aside. Add the chicken to the saucepan and cook until golden in color. Remove to the small bowl with the garlic mixture. Add the asparagus to the saucepan and sprinkle lightly with a couple tablespoons of water, cover and let cook for about 3 – 5 minutes, just until warmed through and still crunchy. Remove from the heat and set aside on a plate. Return the chicken and garlic mixture to the saucepan and add the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer and then lower the heat. Boil the water and then add the udon noodles, cook for about 5 – 6 minutes, drain. To serve put a layer of noodles in a shallow bowl, top with the asparagus and then pour over the chicken broth. Garnish with thinly sliced basil and chilies. Eat.
It took our government quit sometime to officially announce that the country was in fact not in a recession any longer but rather a depression. It took this realization for the people (some) to think about how they were going to fair in this economy. For us we had to tighten up even more, especially with working for ourselves. It was time to put holidays on hold, buying frivolous things that we really do not need (that new purse I would really like), staying in more often, bringing lunch to work, trying not to spend $5.00 a day on coffee (we got a french press for the office and bring in coffee/cream) and overall, just tightening up and buying only what we really need to survive and/or for work.
I have been reading in all the food magazines for the past couple of months about these budget dinners and decided last week that I would put our grocery shopping and cooking skills to the test this week by creating the Chez Us Recession/Depression Dinners. The criteria in the about mentioned articles was that it would be for 7 nights and would include a dessert that would last a week, as well, the menus would make at least 4 servings.
We knew that we did not want to skimp on quality as well we wanted to continue eating as we have been for the past few years. This meant we would continue shopping at Whole Foods, yes, you can eat well and stay on a budget by shopping there; it is not as expensive as everyone thinks (that will be another post sometime). I originally wanted to include the farmer’s market in this challenge but did not make it there on Saturday so all of the shopping would be done at Whole Foods. I planned out our menu for the entire week, 7 dinners, 5 lunches (leftovers from the night before) and 1 dessert to last the week. I would bring down the weekly shopping from $120 – $200 (usually on the low end unless we have company over for dinner, or it is time to stock up on staples we are out of) to $100 for the recession/depression dinner series. For this first week I would purchase everything I needed for each recipe and not use what is on hand. Included in this list would also be the usual weekly items, a gallon of milk (yes, organic), breakfast (yogurt), fruit (seasonal fruits and bananas (Lenny loves them in yogurt) and fresh ground espresso.
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For dinner tonight I used half of the chicken (I had the butcher butterfly it) and I froze the other half. We picked a couple recipes from the Barefoot in Paris cookbook , the Lemon Roasted Chicken with croutons and a celery root salad. We LOVE French food and we really love this chicken recipe. It is so easy! You stuff this chicken with lemons, give it a rub down with olive oil, salt and pepper and then lay it on a bed of onions and roast it! While it is roasting to a golden brown, you make some croutons out of a baguette. When the chicken is done cooking you are left with a golden brown chick and a roast pan full of lemony juices. I like to lift the chicken out of the baking pan and put the croutons ontop of the juices and then lay the bird back on top.
The celery root is very simply tossed with a dressing of mayo, mustard, lemon juice and white wine vinegar. It is so refreshing and light, really complimented the chicken and the lemony croutons.
Dessert will be announced on Tuesday – it is good!
$ 12.74 for 4 servings. Dinner and lunch for the next day.
What are you doing in your home &/or lives to help ease this economic downfall?
Recipe
If you remember from past posts I have been really into making chicken stock. I knew these stocks would come in handy for last minute dinners or those evenings we feel a bit lazy, little did I know that the stocks would barely last us a month.
After a long weekend of traveling we decided we wanted to get back on track with eating right, there were too many nights of eating out or pizza take-outs the week before Thanksgiving. Lucky for us there were still a couple containers of chicken stock hidden in the back of the freezer when we got home.
Sunday night I slowly simmered the stock only adding some carrots, celery and a turnip. I finished it off with some wild rice (that had been precooked & froze) right before eating…. comfort food at its best.
Monday night, we were craving something a bit more spicy, so I took the leftover soup from Monday, added a sauteed onion and some chipotle peppers that had also been hiding out in the freezer. Then I baked some tortilla strips which were lightly seasoned with salt, added a little Australian white cheddar and we had a nice spicy soup for dinner.
Definitely time to make more stock …….. so easy & so good!
Ilva of Lucullian Delights organizes the Paper Chef challenge, which is similar to the Iron Chef challenges. The rules are very similar, you are given 4 ingredients and you have to come up with a meal using all 4 items – it can be one dish or it can be a few, you just have to use the 4 ingredients. This month Magnus, of Amsterdam, who was the Paper Chef winner for the challenge 33, is hosting the challenge and has selected the following ingredients:
- Turkey
- Anaheim peppers
- Winter squash
- Lentils
When I saw the ingredients I knew I had to take on the challenge as I love all of these items and I knew they would make a simple dinner for one – my man is out of town all week!
First I roasted the acorn squash until fork tender, no seasonings, just plan oven roasted. Then I peeled them and cut into chunks.
I love roasted chicken breasts, so I used the same recipe that I normally use, but with a turkey breast – coated with grapeseed oil and seasoned with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Cooking with the grapeseed oil permits you to cook the chicken at a high heat without drying out the chicken. It comes out very flavorful and moist. While the chicken was roasting, I cooked some French green lentils with some chicken broth, until tender, but still slightly crunchy. While the lentils and chicken were cooking, I sauteed some shallots with diced Anaheim peppers until caramelized and then added the squash and cooked just until heated through.
Once the lentils were done, I drained them and tossed with the squash mixture and reheated. Thinly sliced the turkey breast and plated the meal. End result, quick and easy dinner in less than an hour, which was very flavorful with the nuttiness of the lentils, spicy peppers and very sweet acorn squash and a lightly roasted turkey breast.
…. after a long spin night, the last thing I wanted to do was cook something new for dinner. So, I took out the leftovers I had intended for us to have for lunch tomorrow, heated them up and this is what we got.
my version … nicely spaced food
Lenny’s version …. so very French & 5 star’ish
VOTE for our Mashed Potatoes! Please!
* Local meal, everything was except the Panko Breadcrumbs and the chili peppers.
We are both coming down with something and decided to blow-off our spin class last night. Instead we stayed in watched Planet Earth and ate chicken soup with fresh cranberry beans.
I picked up these beans at the Farmer’s Market last weekend they were an impluse buy, their brilliant color caught my eye and provoked intrigue! I was really not sure how I would use them, until now. My goddaughter, Maggie, came over at the end of the day and we sat on the floor shelling them. I had a feeling we would only have a couple left, as she preferred to shell and then put into her mouth! I was quit surprised when we had a large bowl of them left. I warmed up some of that really fantastic Chicken Stock that I had put into the freezer last weekend, added some carrots, celery, onion and the beans. The end result was a very nice and hearty (thanks to the beans) chicken soup.
Any other suggestions for Cranberry beans?
Breakdown for this meal & the Eat Local Challenge:
Chicken from other meal – Organic & local
Carrots, celery, onions & cranberry beans – Local & Organic from SF Farmer’s Market
Salt & Pepper – what we have on hand
Summer has finally arrived in San Francisco. We were pretty excited to come home from holiday to find warm and sunny weather. We never know how short that window will be, so we tend to break out the tank tops, light tees, sundresses, shorts and take full advantage of the warm evenings! We spent the evening on the deck sipping rose and enjoying the stillness that was filling the air; not to mention the smell of the lavender and lemon verbena that we have growing and that was incredibly full of life this evening. It definitely was an evening that was not meant to be over a stove, one that was meant to be enjoyed outdoors! I found this recipe for Almond Chutney Chicken Lettuce Roll-ups a couple months ago and have been itching to make them, tonight would be the night!
As well we would be able to participate in Andrea’s GYO event since we were using basil and lemon verbena from the garden. Noob Cook is co-hosting this month with Andrea, so be sure to check out all the wonderful entries on her site!
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Did you know a chicken could be, weird? The first words out of Lenny’s mouth, before he even tasted this dish, was, “What is this weird chicken?” Now, it did not smell, “weird”, nor did it really look “weird”. In fact, it was golden brown, smelled of garlic and lemons; exactly, how could this be classified as “weird”? Maybe he is “weird” or maybe I am “weird” for making it!
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