Garlic Chicken

Sometimes it is nice to have something in the freezer that you can quickly prepare to eat.  We were working on a project and the time was getting late, so my wife said, “Why don’t we have garlic chicken”.

I took a quick trip to the freezer and got out the remaining 1 /2 a bag of Birdseye Garlic Chicken we purchase at Costco.  I placed our large frying pan on a large burner on medium to heat while I opened the package.  Once the pan was hot, I added 1 /3-cup of water and then the remaining contents of the bag.

I covered the frying pan with a glass lid, and (occasionally stirring), left it for twelve minutes to cook.  It took me fifteen minutes from freezer to dishing onto our plates.

We enjoyed the mixture of noodles, chicken breast pieces, corn, carrots, and broccoli that come in the package.  It comes with a peppery garlic sauce that is not overpowering but adds the flavor for the dish.

Sometimes when you don’t have the time or energy to cook a full meal, it’s very nice to have something in the freezer you can quickly heat and serve so you can go on to other projects.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Love Your Wife Chicken

While doing my 30-minutes of cardio exercise on the elliptical trainer at our health club, I was watching the Food Network on the integral TV.  The Neely’s were demonstrating several dishes, of which the main course looked very interesting.  I must say that I do not care for the name given to the dish: Get Yo’ Man Chicken.  As I made this recipe for my wife, I decided to change my title accordingly.

Yesterday morning was a nice sunny spring day, and I checked with my wife and we decided to have our larger meal of the day around noon.  After watching the TV program, I found and printed the recipe, then made sure I had some chicken thighs in the refrigerator.  I was fortunate the day I shopped at the grocery store as the chicken thighs were on sale, so I was able to purchase 6 to 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs discounted 30 percent.

If you compare my cooking steps to the original recipe, you will see that I made a number of changes based on the ingredients that I had on hand as well as how I thought the dish could be cooked.

The first thing I did was to get out the chicken thighs and patted them dry with paper towels.  I didn’t want another eruption of hot oil and water on our range top.  Then I heated our 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat on the range.  Once the pan was heated, I added about a tablespoon of olive oil and swirled it in the pan to heat.  I quickly added the unseasoned chicken thighs to the pan and then covered the pan with a splatter shield and let the thighs cook.

After about four minutes, the first side of the chicken thighs were browned, so I turned the thighs over and let the other side cook for about four minutes.  During the browning of the thighs, I quickly sliced a large white onion into larger pieces.  When the thighs were browned, I removed them from the pan and placed them on a plate for later.  If you only start with a little oil, there is no need to drain any excess after cooking the thighs.

I added a little (2 tablespoons) of the white wine into the pan and then added the chopped onion.  Using my silicon spatula I scraped the bits of chicken off the bottom and sides of the pan while sautéing the onions.  I remembered that I had finished the last bottle of white wine while making Shrimp Scampi with Artichokes and Basil, so I went to my storage area and grabbed the first bottle I found of white 3-buck chuck (Charles Shaw from Trader Joes).  Later I realized that I was fortunate to get the right wine as I had written “Dry” on the bottle of Pinot Grigio while at the store, so I would know to use it for cooking.

Sautéing the onions took about three minutes, then I added one-cup of chicken broth and an additional half cup of the wine.  As indicated in the recipe, I turned up the heat to reduce the volume of liquid by about one half.  When I went to get the can of crushed tomatoes, I found that we only had a can of stewed tomatoes.  OK, a little substitution should work fine.  The stewed tomatoes also have some celery and spices added that should enhance the flavor of the recipe.

Into the pan went the can of stewed tomatoes as well as 3/4-teaspoon of kosher salt, a couple of grinds of black pepper from the pepper mill, 1-teaspoon of dried thyme, and 1/2-teaspoon of Italian seasoning.  After turning the heat to low, I stirred all the ingredients in the pan together and tasted the seasoning - perfect!  I returned the chicken thighs to the pan, making sure to immerse them in the sauce, then covered the pan with a glass lid and stirring occasionally, simmered for 40 minutes.

While the chicken dish was cooking, I reheated some brown rice and cut some slices of thick bread that I had purchase for the Shrimp Scampi with Artichokes and Basil meal.

As most of the food in this meal is white or light brown, I remembered to use our new red plates for serving. 

We enjoyed a late lunch of chicken thighs over rice while sitting in the sunshine.  The stewed tomatoes along with the dried seasonings enhanced the flavor of the sauce.  The chicken was very moist and tender, cut like butter, and cooked to perfection.  My wife really enjoyed this meal and asked me to make it again in the future.

I strongly recommend this recipe to just about any skill level of cook.  I may make this recipe the next time we are camping, as it would be easy to make in my Dutch oven.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Oven Fried Chicken Breasts with Honey-Yogurt Drizzle

I am surprised that I chose this recipe as there is no picture to show me what it would look like, I guess it just sounded good.  This is another Paula Deen recipe from The Deen Family Cookbook on page 158.  This is beginning to sound like Julie-Julia or Kerry-Paula blog.  Not to worry, there will be other recipes discussed (though not today or tomorrow).

I used to make oven fried chicken using a recipe on the back of the Bisquick box, but after several years, the taste and texture got a little old, and we decided not to make it any more.

This recipe was very easy for me to make.  At the store I purchase the four chicken breasts, a six-ounce container of plain yogurt, and a box of Corn Flakes.

I prepared to cook by setting our bottom oven (the little one) to 350 degrees and getting out one of our Bakers Secret cookie sheets that I sprayed with PAM then I setup our rice cooker and started one cup of brown rice to cook.  I put about three cups of the Corn Flakes in a gallon sized zip lock bag and then rolled over them with a rolling pin to crush them into smaller chunks.  I added the salt, pepper and garlic powder into the zip lock bag and I was ready for the chicken. 

I trimmed the fat off the each chicken breast and patted them dry.  I poured about a half cup of buttermilk into a small bowl, and then individually dipped each chicken breast into the buttermilk coating each side.  From the buttermilk the chicken went into the bag of Corn Flake mixture and shaken to get a nice coating on all sides.  As I took each chicken breast from the bag I placed them on the cookie sheet.

Once all of the chicken breasts were coated and then laid out on the cookie sheet, I placed the cookie sheet with the chicken into the oven for 25 minutes.  The only drawback to our lower oven is it doesn’t have a connection for the built-in temperature probe, so I had to use our small Pampered Chef temperature probe to check to see the chicken breasts were done cooking.

While the chicken was cooking, I prepared the honey-yogurt sauce.  The recipe calls for four ounces of the plain yoghurt; I just used the entire six-ounce container and added extra honey then stirred them together.  I also prepared and steamed some nice tender asparagus to accompany the chicken.

When the chicken was cooked, I prepared our two plates with the chicken, rice, asparagus and then added some of the honey-yogurt sauce on the side.  It’s a good thing we had the cool in taste sauce as the recipe calls for way too much pepper on the chicken!  It was good, but very spicy.  I have to remember to reduce the pepper content in all Paula Deen recipes.

We really enjoyed this meal and it was a nice variation on the oven-fried chicken, the Corn Flakes provided a nice crunchy texture to the chicken.  I will cook again, and it is even suitable to serve to company.

(The colored plates are still on our shopping list)