The Chicken in my Pot

 

I know, I know...where the hell have I been the last month and a half??  It'd be a lie to say I was out being Superwoman or even so swamped with every day life that I didn't have a chance to post.  What really caused my absence was my inability to take photographs either a) because I was cooking dinner at midnight, or b) because I have some seriously bad juju when it comes to actually photographing my foodstuffs during daylight hours.  I know I've lamented this last point more times than I can count, but dammit man, I could have robotic arms perched on a stable surface and STILL manage to have all the pictures turn out blurry.  It's like I have Parkinson's, but only in my arms.  I swear, I'm buying a tripod as soon as I have an extra $20 burning a hole in my pocket.

About the dinner at midnight thing, my sleep cycle is soooo distorted at the moment that I truly am sleeping during the daytime like I worked 3rd shift somewhere.  And while I have had one or two night time pictures turn out acceptable, 99% don't.  Coupled with the shaking-like-a-leaf-in-a-hurricane arms I have, none of the pictures that I did attempt turned out.  I can't even imagine if I were doing this before the digital camera age.

So.Much.Wasted.Film.  

Needless to say, I have been cooking, and I have been cooking well.  From the best ribs I've ever made to bundt cakes that melt in your mouth, it has been gastronomic bliss.  There were a couple of missteps (like the Millionaire's Shortbread that would have been divine had I followed my instincts and not baked the shortbread for as long a time as the recipe called for) and fumbles, but overall, good times with food here.

One of the things in the "absolutely completely shot it out of the park" category was the humble chicken soup you see pictured above.  I think the kids said "omg mom, this the best chicken soup ever" every time they took a bite.  It was inspired by a recipe Karina and I found at Beyond Kimchee.  It looked so good and sounded even better that we adapted it for what we had on hand.  Thankfully I wrote down what I did so that I'll be able to make it again.

Best Chicken Soup

12-16 cups stock

1 whole 3 1/2 pound chicken

1 cup thinly sliced carrots (about two medium)

2 cups shredded cabbage

3-4 cups frozen corn 

1 16 ounce package frozen chopped collard greens

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons olive oil

kosher salt, to taste

Place chicken in an 8 quart stock pot and cover with stock until just submerged.  Cover loosely with a lid and simmer chicken over medium heat for approximately 1 hour.  You want your bird tender, but not disintegrated.  Remove whole, cooked chicken to a bowl and place in the refrigerator until cool enough to handle.  Strain the stock into a clean pot and bring to a low boil.  Add in carrots, cabbage, corn and collard greens.  While vegetables are heating and getting al dente, heat the olive oil in a small sauce pan.  Saute the onion and garlic until translucent and softened.  Stir into the soup.  Remove the meat from the cooled chicken and shred with your fingers into bite sized pieces.  Add chicken to the soup and heat through.  Taste for seasoning and add if needed.  I was very fortunate and only needed 1 tablespoon of kosher salt for the entire pot.  I used homemade stock that had been lightly seasoned when it was made, so that may have made a difference, not to mention the fact that the chicken itself was cooked in the stock, adding even more flavor to an already flavorful base.

Serve with crusty bread while hot off the stove.

You Don't Call, You Don't Write...

It's been a while, but sometimes life will intrude on the things you want to do in your spare time. Well, I'm back now and with a super delicious recipe to warm you up. Ok, that's probably not what you want at this time of year in the Northern hemisphere, but that's what you get...deal with it.

When we lived in Washington state just outside of Tacoma, my sister introduced me to this little bitty place called Bangkok Thai....and therein we did have some of the best Thai food we've ever had. It was so good, it became our guilty pleasure. And while they had quite an extensive menu of delectable treats, she always ordered the Pad Thai and I always ordered the Red Curry Chicken, which we would share because the portion sizes were family style. We'd also share an order of Thai Spring Rolls, but I can't talk about them now because this isn't that kind of blog.

I haven't had either dish at any other Thai place that I liked better. However, I have tried a few times to make Red Curry Chicken that tasted close to it....and last week I finally succeeded. There were shouts of joy and a few tears were shed. Just to note before you even get started on this one, you can adjust the amount of the red curry paste that you add. Adding the full amount I listed is akin to number 3 or 4 on a Thai restaurant's "How Badly Do You Want To Burn Your Mouth" o'meter.

Red Curry Chicken
3 chicken breast halves, very thinly sliced
1 medium bell pepper, julienned
2 carrots, very thinly sliced
1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed
1 - 8 ounce can bamboo shoots, drained
4 - 13.5 ounce cans coconut milk
1 - 4 0unce can red curry paste (I use Maesri brand)
2 tablespoons canola oil
chilli paste with sweet basil leaves (optional)

In a small stock pot heat the oil and fry the curry paste for about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for about 2 minutes more. Add the green beans and cook for about 2 minutes more. Add the bell pepper and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and stir to combine. Add the chicken breasts and bamboo shoots, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Stir in chilli paste to taste or, if you can find it, about 2 tablespoons of Thai basil. Serve over jasmine rice.

Odds and Ends

We all have times when our fridge looks like the plastic containers thought they were rabbits and multiplied accordingly. Most of the time that means it's time to throw out half the contents of your fridge. But on those rare occasions when it's all still good, you can build unique and tasty one-off meals. Or even more rare, build a meal you can reproduce with a little bit of work.

That's what happened a couple of months back when I was poking around, trying to find something to eat and not really wanting to work for it. Half a head of cabbage, some leftover chicken, a piece of cheese......mmmm....salad. It turned out to be so good that my youngest and I ate the whole thing and decided we would have to make it again.

House Chop Salad
1 head green cabbage
1 large onion
1/2 lb olives
1 lb extra sharp white cheddar
1/2 lb feta
2 cloves garlic
3/4 - 1 cup vinaigrette
1 - 2 lbs cooked chicken

Chop all ingredients, except vinaigrette and garlic, into pieces about an inch or so in size. Mix chopped ingredients together in a large bowl. Crush garlic and whisk into vinaigrette. Pour mixture over salad and toss to coat evenly.

Yeah, it's really that simple, but the taste will amaze you. And the type of onion, olives, vinaigrette and chicken you use is completely up to you. For this one I used a Spanish onion, green olives (the regular old ones you find in any grocery store), garlic-herb vinaigrette and citrus marinated chicken breasts that I made especially for the salad. The chicken I had used the first time I made this was of a similar ilk and I was looking for that flavour again. If you want to serve this as a side dish, cut the recipe in half and omit the chicken.


Citrus Chicken
2 - 3 lbs chicken breasts
1 grapefruit
1 orange
1 - 2 tbs kosher salt
3 tbs dried rosemary
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Cube the chicken breasts and put the pieces in a large zip-top bag. Wash the grapefruit and orange well. Cut each in half, squeeze the juice on top of the chicken, then cut the skins into large pieces and place in bag with chicken. Add salt (to taste), rosemary, olive oil and garlic to the bag and close while expelling most of the air inside. Squish the bag for a few minutes to mix all the ingredients together. Let the chicken marinate for at least one hour in the fridge, two or three is even better. Melt a few tablespoons of butter and a few tablespoons of olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add pieces of chicken breast to the pan in small batches and brown on both sides. Chicken is cooked when the juices run clear. Cool completely before adding to salad.