Recipe Request
My brother (Ry, if you've found the blog, stop reading.) has been asking for basic recipes - things that he can make as he starts his career of home chef. I've decided to compile a bunch for him as one of his Christmas gifts. I have a number of ideas already, but I thought I'd put out a call for basic, relatively easy recipe suggestions appropriate to a 23-year old in his first year of teaching, who does not have a completely outfitted kitchen, and who is a bit squeamish about eating "fancy" things. Anyone got anything for me?
posted by ek at 9:52 AM
5 Comments:
Great Idea! I remember the first year of teaching with a semi-outfitted kitchen. I think I lost 10 lbs. It was a rough year.
Anyway, my suggestion is rather than posting in the comments, we post our fun and easy recipes in the main part of the page (for me and ATP, anyway) and our kind readers can make use of the comments...
Other future forum ideas: Best family recipes. Ma made my sis and me recipe books for Christmas one year that had all of her classic recipes. And my grandma's old handwritten recipes are in the process of being transcribed as I type... yet another clerking project.
Any sisterly publication of this sort should include instructions on making the basics of breakfast, and, in particular, how to slow-cook bacon. A boy in a hurry for breakfast is way too likely to burn his bacon, which is unacceptable. There should at least be a cautionary note...
Oh! And tell him to add blueberries to pancakes... It easy, but it makes you look fancy.
I have a lovely recipe for lemon mustard chicken that never ever ever goes wrong, no matter what you do to it or what spices you add. It's always the first recipe I give to first-time-ish cooks.
Happy eating!
lizzi
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced/crushed
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast
flour (if we're being fancy)
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
(If we're being un-fancy, substitute the herbs for McCormick's All-Purpose Seasoning Blend, which is fantastically salt-free)
1/3 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. dijon mustard
2 Tbsp capers (again with the fancy)
Salt and Pepper
1) Cut the boneless chicken breast with kitchen scissors into smaller pieces -- about 4-5 pieces per breast.
2) Heat the olive oil over medium high heat. When oil is hot, add garlic. Cook until garlic is fragrant.
3) Reduce heat to medium low. Add chicken pieces. As chicken is cooking, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle flour over chicken. You're looking to thicken up what will eventually become the sauce. Throw in those herbs.
4) Pour the lemon juice into the pan. The pan should still be hot enough that the lemon juice sizzles, thereby searing into the flavor of chicken. Keep letting that chicken cook.
5) Add the dijon mustard and the capers.
6) Reduce that heat again, keep it low. Cooking chicken longer and over lower heat keeps it moist and tender. Partially cover the skillet (when I had an un-stocked kitchen, I covered my skillet with a dinner plate.)
7) Serve the chicken over pasta or rice, with white wine and a salad. Mmm.
Oh, and if that sauce is looking too thick, feel free to add more lemon juice (I like it super-lemony), white wine (the bottle is open already, isn't it?), or chicken stock. And if it's too runny, go with more flour.
Mar: It'd be great to pass along how to slow-cook bacon...if only I knew how. I'm not a big bacon-maker, so would you post your technique?
Lizzi: That sounds delish and I'll be trying it myself soon :)
So, slow cooking bacon:
Put frying pan on stove and set heat to low. Put as much bacon in the pan as you like, so long as they don't overlap. (It's okay if they touch, you just want solid meat to pan contact all around.)
Go watch tv for twenty minutes or so. Flip bacon; watch more tv.
After about 40 minutes on low heat the bacon should have made the magical transition from raw looking to cooked looking.
The temptation to avoid in slow cooking is to insist that you get the familiar bacon sizzling sound. If the bacon is a-popping, then you ain't a-slow cooking. It doesn't mean your bacon won't cook, it does mean that you shouldn't watch tv in the middle.
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