What’s on the Menu – Last Minute Chicken

January 27, 2016January 27, 2016 / ljeanig / Leave a comment

This post is part of a series for 2016 on real meals served to my family of 7 that conserve energy and time while preserving nutrients. This also serves the secondary purpose of eating out fewer times, providing both nutritional and fiscal benefits.

So this is one of those dinners that happened last minute because I had a high pain day. Instead of eating out, I utilized a couple convenience appliances and saved both energy and money. Normally I would have spatchcocked the birds, but my hands were hurting too much to try to split them alone, and the husband was out in the shop tending to other matters.

Last-Minute Chicken
Olive-oil Sautéed Veggies
Pressure-cooker broth risotto

A whole, thawed chicken fit tightly into a crock or lidded Pyrex dish takes approximately 20 minutes to cook on high in the microwave, produces juicy meat and copious broth. Yes, I am aware that there is some controversy about microwaves, but I feel comfortable using my newly designed one. It uses safer technology than the old radar ranges, and you can even use metal in it! Regardless, I seasoned liberally with salt and curry powder.

The veggies were sautéed in olive oil in a hot cast iron pan for about 10 minutes, at which point I added about a half cup of water, covered, and reduced heat to braise until the rest of dinner was ready.

I poured about twice as much stock into my multi-cooker as I did rice and pushed the button for rice/risotto. The results are so creamy and wonderful that I never want to go back to standard steamed rice. Truly magical.

I served all this on mother’s china with iced green tea and apple slices.

Faux Pho Ga Ramen

August 18, 2015August 19, 2015 / ljeanig / 1 Comment

Sometimes living in rural Northeast Texas has its downsides. For example, we don’t have a really good Asian grocery around here, and I need to buy a good deal of specialty items online.

At some point, I accidentally fell in love with real noodles. Pho is a favorite of mine, with its rich and gelatinous broth and depth of flavor. It took years for my local grocer to start carrying something remotely resembling decent rice noodles – labeled stir fry noodles there. Now that we live on 13 acres even further from town, if you run out, it will be a while before you get it again.

I really wanted noodles today.

So, this is not authentic pho. I’m going to tell you that right now because there are many sources out there to teach you how to make the real thing. This is going to tell you how to make a really good substitute. It is warm, fragrant, inviting and tasty, but it is not authentic Vietnamese cuisine.

First of all, you obviously need some form of noodles. You can use pre-packaged ramen; just throw away that ridiculous, MSG-laden spice packet. Right now, go. You don’t need that excess sodium anyway.

The base for this bowl of noodles is gelatin-rich chicken stock, just like the traditional version. If you skip this step, your quality goes down dramatically. I’ll share a post later on various stock methods. Regardless, the stock will be fortified with various flavors based on traditional pho ga seasoning; the difference is form.

Although not authentic, this recipe calls for powdered ginger, which is more economical for nominal use. I am able to obtain coriander seed and star anise in both small Mexican markets and in the Mexican section of my grocery; they come in little, inexpensive packets. If you can find fish sauce, it will be with the Asian food; anchovy paste is typically with the pasta sauce.

Put the pan on the stove and turn your burner on, about medium heat. Toasting the spices in a dry pan will add tremendously to the taste of your dish. Start by toasting slivers of fresh onion first; these take longer to cook and you don’t want to scorch your spices. After you have lightly “blackened” (really more of a dark brown) your onion, season the bottom of your pan with about a half-tablespoon of coriander seeds, a few star anise, a healthy pinch of powdered ginger, and some powdered garlic if you like it. Stir contantly. Do not leave the stove. Once everything is dark brown and fragrant, immediately add your chicken stock. You will use at least a pint of stock. I use about a quart to feed myself and children at lunch.

If you have leftover bits of cooked chicken, go ahead and crumble them in now. Simmer for at least ten minutes to let the flavors meld. Really, twenty would be better. I have to let my stock melt because it has such a high gelatin content, so the spices really steep during the reheating. Salt to taste during this phase. This is also when you would add a dash of fish sauce.

Now, traditional pho would be poured over a bowl of hot, fresh rice noodles, but for ramen, we want to cook the ramen in the soup itself. I was short on stock this time, so I made up the difference with some filtered water. After your soup has simmered a bit, go ahead and add your noodles and fresh green herbs.

At this point I have to admit that we were (sadly) out of cilantro, so I used fresh basil. Fresh basil is usually a garnish in this dish, so it doesn’t ruin it. I also included a little basil-and-oil cube from the freezer to boost the flavor. Simmer until your noodles are mostly tender. Ramen tends to become mush when overcooked, so remove them from heat before that happens.

Pour up your soup into bowls and pass accompaniments. Traditional pho additions include: fresh basil leaves, bean sprouts, hot sauce or chili oil, fish sauce, limes or lime juice, slice jalapeño or other green hot pepper, and paper-thin onion slices soaked in ice-cold water.

I was out of fish sauce, so my bowl included a few drops of red chili oil, a tiny pinch of hondashi granules, and three pea-sized dots of anchovy paste.

It was glorious. It was not authentic, but it was comforting and perfect all the same.

Better Living Through Leftovers

August 13, 2015August 13, 2015 / ljeanig / Leave a comment

Earlier this week, I posted on how easy it is to stretch and enrich your meals using scraps and leftovers. For example, got a salad that’s less than fresh? Wilt it in melted fat and cook as for greens along with a fresher vegetable.

Clockwise from the left: mushrooms radicchio, buttered zucchini, and moist-method baked chicken.

Now, one of the ways that you can reduce your energy output in the kitchen is to work ahead. This is great for large families or managing chronic illness. Don’t be fooled by the jargon, though. “Once-a-month cooking” and “freezer meals” still means serving leftovers, so be sure to compensate with extra flavor or freshen-up methods for reheating.

Baking potatoes for dinner? Bake a few extra. It takes no extra energy to add more potatoes to the oven, but will save time and energy later when you use cooked potatoes to speed up a recipe. In fact, par-cooking your potatoes makes the best home fries.

Baked potato cubes, reheated in hot bacon drippings with a little salt and garlic powder. Look at that gorgeous crust.

Baking a chicken? Why not bake two? I do this every time. There are multiple baking methods, each with its weaknesses and strengths. Serve fresh chicken the first night for the prettiest presentation, and then use the cooked flesh and broth the rest of the week in other recipes.

Moist-baking produces the most gelatin rich broth without any second steps, but produces a flabby skin without any golden, crispy bits. It’s also the easiest, aside from boiling, to remove meat from the carcass.

Dry-roasting is great for a lovely presentation of whole-roasted chicken. The broth made from the carcass has a gorgeous dark color and richer, meatier taste owing to the natural glutamic acids created during the roasting process. The breast meat can be dry with this method, which can be corrected in several ways.

Spatch-cocking is fun to say, but harder to do if you have joint pain or weak hands. You get the golden color and crisp skin of roasting as well as the moister meat from a shorter cooking time. This method produces the least quantity of gelatinous broth, so you’ll definitely want to boil the carcass.

Speaking of broth, you haven’t been throwing those bones away, have you? Soup stock from the carcass of roast meats is a time-honored tradition in many cultures, including the hallowed French kitchens of cooking history. In addition to being the base of all fine seasonings, warm stock with high gelatin content is used medicinally throughout the world. It’s both soothing and strengthening, assists in digestion, and protects protein for absorption.

In addition to being a wonderful beverage and soup starter, broth makes a great substitute for water when cooking rice and other vegetables. You can also freeze it in cubes and use it as a seasoning or in sauces.

This week’s baked chicken became a dinner entrée, stuffing for a baked potato, and sandwich meat for my husband’s lunches. Half the broth was used in a lunch of quinoa/bulgur grain mix, and I am seeing some amazing rice in our near future. The last of the meat will either go into a quick soup or a chopped salad, but the possibilities are limitless.

Clockwise from the left: leftover parmesane pasta reheated with crumbled chicken and fresh basil; strawberries, and prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella slices.

Stretch Your Budget and Enrich Your Plate – With Leftovers!

August 9, 2015 / ljeanig / 3 Comments

I know, I know. No one really enjoys leftovers. Gracious, I don’t even enjoy them as they are. But, have you ever thought of what they could be?

Leftovers, looking suspiciously like ingredients.

Cucumbers wilting? Slice them into coins and freeze them in a single layer on a plate. Once frozen, transfer to sandwich-size zipper baggies for storage. Use them instead of ice for cucumber water in pitchers or glasses. Bonus: freezing causes the water in vegetables and fruits to swell, bursting the cellulose capsules of juice. As they thaw, they impart more of their essence to your beverages than fresh produce would without crushing.

Use ice cube trays to store seasoning-sized amounts of sauces for a pop of flavor in later dishes. I use silicone molds, but use whatever works for you.

Did you get a bumper crop of herbs, or worse, purchase more than enough for your recipe? Whirl the remainder with some good quality fat using a blender or food processor, and freeze in cubes for easy seasoning later. Consider using homemade tomato sauce in the same way.

Blister peppers in a coating of hot fat and allow to cool. Chop and freeze in amounts about 2 tablespoons in size. Use as seasoning in soups, stir fries, or as a boost to main dishes.

Got leftover slivers of onion from taco night? Store them fresh in a sandwich baggie to wake up another night’s melted fat, or sauté and store in the freezer for an extra layer of flavor.

Serving asparagus? If it's got quality, tender stems, consider cutting them in half. Use the flower end in your showy main dish, and save the stem end to pop into your next main dish for a boost of color and nutrition.

Once you get started, you start seeing possibilities everywhere. Don’t toss out that last bite, and don’t play garbage disposal by cleaning plates. Use storage bags or glass storage bowls to save those tiny bits, and you will be surprised at how easy it is to enrich your meals.

Best of all, you can pat yourself on the back for a delicious meal that’s company-worthy and budget friendly.

What’s on the menu:
Organic spaghetti tossed with grassfed butter and freshly grated grassfed cheese
Saucy chicken chunks ( basil “cube” , tomato sauce “cubes”, asparagus stem ends and blistered cherry peppers from the freezer)
Black table grapes
Cucumber water (frozen cucumber slices)

Fluffy Chicken-Fried Chicken

August 7, 2015August 8, 2015 / ljeanig / 1 Comment

Amazing Chicken Fried Chicken, with real cream gravy, token green vegetable side starch.

Everyone has an opinion on fried chicken. This is mine. If you like super crunchy chicken with a dark golden brown crust, you should probably walk away. This is a plate-sized pounded chicken breast, moist and beautiful, in a fluffy cloud of delicate crust. It is a lovely thing, but it’s my lovely thing. It doesn’t have to be your thing.

This is a lazy kitchen dog. He is adorbs. Fried chicken must not be his thing.

I used peanut oil to fry it this time. I don’t have access to decent lard, and I have no desire to use up my entire stock of bacon fat and butter on one meal. Peanut oil at least gets a decent temp when frying. If your family has peanut allergies, use a different oil. It will not end the world. I used to fry in Wesson. I also used “normal-people” chicken. Don’t judge. You can use your free-range chicken of awesomeness. It will turn out okay, too. 🙂

Pound boneless chicken breasts into a reasonably even thickness. Don’t sweat it. I do not get out a ruler; you shouldn’t either. Who cares? Not me. I used a meat mallet, and I pounded them one at a time inside a gallon-sized zipper bag to save on the gross factor.

During the process of pounding, you may accidentally dislodge part of your old farmhouse tile backplash. Do not be alarmed. Put it back in place and gingerly move the pounding process to the kitchen table.

Appeal to your minions for labor assistance. It’s fun. They enjoy it. Life is too short to worry about flour on the counters. And floor. And hair.

Soak them in salty brine. I wanted buttermilk, but I was out. I used sweet milk. We’ll live to tell the tale. [Edit: Cover the meat in a liquid of your choice, salted. It should be quite salty, but not salty enough to turn your head. About a tablespoon per pint of liquid, adjusted to taste.] Let them soak for at least half an hour. Mine soaked until my husband got home with the frying oil that I forgot I didn’t have before I decided I wanted fried chicken.

I used about an egg per chicken breast. Scramble them up well. No gloopy spots. Okay, but seriously, don’t stress. I have OCD, so I almost got the blender out. NO! Resist the urge. It will be great.

I seasoned the egg goo with garlic powder, onion powder, creole seasoning, sage leaves, and a hint of curry powder. Oh, and cracked pepper. I didn’t use salt in the egg this time because my brine was plenty salty. Let most of the brine drip off of each piece of chicken before you dredge it. Dunk in egg, dredge in flour. Repeat.

Pop straight into a pan with about a half-inch of hot fat in it. Flip when the edges get done, like a pancake. You want a medium golden tone, not dark brown. Practice makes perfect. Get messy. It will be glorious.

I refuse to measure the temperature of my chicken pieces. We don’t get food poisoning in my house, and my chicken is always glorious. Don’t sweat it.

Look at that pile of beauty. Isn’t it wondrous? Serve it with something starchy and something green. For the love, make some cream gravy to drape on that beautiful poultry and call it a night.

What’s on the menu:

Chicken Fried Chicken
Cream Gravy
Seasoned Steak Fries (from the freezer)
Packaged herb salad mix with storebought dressing

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