Thick Soy Sauce Chicken

This absolutely delicious chicken dish goes down easy - packed with flavor, creating extremely tender and flavorful chicken due to the longer cook time.

Thick Soy Sauce Chicken

from Home Cooking with Somjit

Ingredients:

3 whole chicken legs (9 pieces broken up) - or equivalent pieces of chicken

3 shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water then halved

3 medium potatoes, peeled & halved

4 dates

2 large onions, roughly chopped

3" ginger, peeled & sliced into thin circles

1 full head of garlic, peeled

3 Tbs. oil (for frying)

3/4 cup water, as needed

marinade/sauce:

6 Tbs thick soy sauce

1 Tbs oyster sauce

1 Tbs Chinese cooking wine

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine all marinade ingredients and toss well with the chicken pieces. Set aside while you prepare the other ingredients, stirring the chicken every 5 minutes to ensure good coverage. 

2. In a large pan with a lid, heat the 3 Tbs. cooking oil over medium-high heat. Once at temperature, cook onions until softened.

3. Add remaining ingredients to the pot and stir well to combine. Lower heat to medium-low, cover pan, and cook for another 45 minutes - stirring every 15 minutes or so. 

Note: If the chicken does not release enough juices, add water as needed so the ingredients don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

4. Serve over rice, and enjoy!

Gumbo with Bay Rice

 

This traditional southern dish is how babies are born. That plus whiskey.

You really want to take your time on the roux to make sure you don't burn it while you're bringing it into it's full-flavored goodness. 

Gumbo

from Q

1/3 cup bacon fat (or butter)

1/3 cup flour

1/2 lb. shrimp, shell-on

1 lb. chicken thighs, chopped small

14 oz. Andoulli sausage

1 yellow onion, diced

3 stalks celery

1 green bell pepper

6 cloves garlic

2 cups okra, sliced to desired thickness 

6 cups chicken broth 

2 Tbs. tomato paste

2 bay leaves

1-3 Tbs. Cajun seasoning, to taste

2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. sweet paprika

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

Bay Rice

3 bay leaves

2 cups rice

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. olive oil

broth for liquid (or water)

1. Make the roux: melt the bacon fat (or butter) in a medium sized sauce pan on medium heat. Add the flour. Cook until mahogany brown, stirring constantly (about 30-45 minutes).

2. Peel the sausage and cook in a dutch oven on medium-high heat. Break sausage into large chunks. Add the chicken thighs and cook until chicken is just cooked through. Set meat aside.

3. Peel the shrimp and save the skins and water (if using bagged) in a measuring cup. Fill to 2 cup mark and microwave until boiling.

4. In a dutch oven on medium-high heat, combine roux and the trinity (onion, celery, and pepper) plus the tomato and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent. 

5. Add shrimp broth, chicken broth, tomato paste, okra, and spices. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a  simmer for 1 hour.

6. Cook the bay rice (however you cook your rice).

7. Add shrimp and cook. Serve over bay rice.

EveryPlate Tuscan Herbed Chicken

So for the first time, I tried a meal box. This had a good deal on FB so I got 6 meals, 3 recipes for $20 including shipping. Even with the severe discount, this is more than I generally pay for food. I hit the Hy-vee deals pretty hard! I quite enjoyed the experience. But due to cost, poor quality of ingredients, and the wastefulness the thing I doubt it's an experience I will duplicate. But: here is my experience and review of it.

I have put the instructions as they came with my personal notes in parentheses.

Review:
     So this was my first meal box ever. It came in a box, which was lined with a shiny foil bubble wrap bag. At the bottom were 2 big reusable ice packs, then the meat, and on top of that another big reusable ice pack, and on top of that was everything else. If I was doing this as a regular thing, the waste alone would probably kill me but since I think this will be a one time experience, I am keeping the ice pack to reused for coolers in the future.
     Most of the produce and meat looked okay, though the red onion has a very bad rotten spot on it (you will see in next post) and the tomatoes are very weak in color. All in all, everything seemed fine.
     With this first recipe, I do think it made a decently sized meal. More like a lunch than a dinner, though. I was hungry enough the first night to eat both servings (which I regretted!). I actually put the whole thing into MyFitnessPal item-for-item (based off the original recipe measurements) to get an exact calorie count. The meal itself was quite tasty! Something richer than I would make for myself, definitely but I think with my modifications and an added vegetable side or salad added this is a meal I see myself making again.
    I found the instructions confusing at times. They seem to jump around from task to task and it's just hard to follow. I have not copied the instructions below but put down my, slightly more logical, interpretation of them. I would consider myself a decent home cook in terms of technique and speed of prep and I think their time estimate is simply inaccurate having followed all the instructions on the card in order.

Estimated cook time: 40 minutes
Actual cook time: 55 minutes

Tuscan Herbed Chicken
by EveryPlate

Ingredients:
- 6 oz. linguini
- 10 oz. chicken breast, boneless skinless (half breasts, and pound flat)
- 1 roma tomato
- 3 cloves garlic
- 4.5 g. Tuscan heat spice
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 oz. cream cheese
- 4 tsp. olive oil (you can get away with half of this just for on the chicken directly)
- 2 Tbs. butter (I recommend leaving out)
- salt

Instructions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Heat a large skillet on medium head with a light drizzle of olive oil.
2. Small chop tomato. Slice 2 cloves of garlic, finely mince the remaining clove.
3. Pat chicken breast dry with a paper towel. Put breasts into a bowl and add drizzle of olive oil, minced garlic clove, salt, pepper, and half of the Tuscan heat spice. Combine well.
4. Once pasta water is boiling, add pasta. Cook for 9-11 mins. Reserve 1/2 cup of liquid, then drain.
5. Add chicken to heated frying pan. Cook until browned, about 7-10 minutes a side (if not flattened. Otherwise, less)
6. Once cooked, transfer to a cutting board to rest.
7. In chicken skilled, melt the 2 Tbs. butter (or skip!). Add the sliced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
8. Add tomato, remaining seasoning, a pinch of salt and pepper and cook together for another 2-3 mins.
9. Stir in cream cheese, half of the Parmesan, and 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water. Bring mixtre to a simmer and add pasta. If pasta seems dry, add more reserved water and stir together until creamy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
10. Divide pasta between 2 bowls, and thinly slice chicken breast and divide between two bowls. Top with remaining Parmesan.

Shredded chicken

This recipe I've used several times now for my enchiladas and I keep coming back to it. I'm sure this recipe would be great in other Mexican-style cooking.

Shredded chicken for enchiladas
from genius kitchen

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, halved
1/2 medium onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 Tbs. salt
water
2 Tbs. butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. majoram
2 Tbs. cilantro, chopped
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 cup salsa
1 tsp. salt, or to taste
1/2 cup chicken broth (reserved)

Instructions:
1. In a pot, place the chicken breasts, sliced onion, smashed garlic cloves, and 1 Tbs. salt. Cover with just enough water to cover chicken
2. Bring pot to a slow boil, then cover and simmer on low heat for 20-25 minutes until done.
3. Remove chicken from the pot (reserving 1/2 cup broth), leaving behind onion and garlic. Shred the chicken.
4. In a large pan, melt butter over low heat. Saute garlic until fragrant. Then saute onion, pepper, and tomato with black pepper, majoram, and cumin until veggies are soft, ~5-10 mins.
5. Stir in shredded chicken and briefly saute.
7. Add salsa and 1/2 cup reserved broth and salt to taste.