Tag: Chicken

Chicken and rice

This is an experiment. I’ve seen too many ads on Facebook for quick-make at-home meal delivery services. One keeps bothering me. The lady (‘cause the hands are manicured) dips or drags one side of a chicken breast through a white creamy substance (sour cream, yogurt, emulsified tears of her lovers, who knows). Then she does the same in panko. So only one side of the chicken breast is breaded… that’s weird enough. She then puts it in a hot pan of oil and gets a perfect crust. Flips it and has a perfect chicken… She does all this while not getting any of the dipping pieces on her. I’m assuming she washes her raw-chicken-covered hands off screen. 

What I used to recreate this magic of clean cooking: 

Chicken breasts

Greek yogurt

Panko breadcrumbs

Rice…because my kids won’t eat just chicken for dinner

Bone broth

Salt

Parmesan cheese.

What I did

Put the rice in a casserole dish. 

I made a fucking mess. The lady in the ad must have suction cups on her palms because there is no way to smear a chicken breast in yogurt and pick it up. 

I also pounded the breasts. I mean tenderized. It’s stress relieving to hit them. Although I may have gone overboard on one that kind fell apart. (shrug) Also salt them after you’ve done the pounding. 

Ok so coat one side in the yogurt, drag it through the panko, put in a pan with hot oil in it. Sear both sides.

Put on top of the rice. Panko side up. 

Do this over and over ‘til you have all chicken crammed in the casserole dish. 

Pour bone broth around the chicken (move the chicken around so the rice gets wet). I would go up to the edge of the panko. Put parmesan cheese on the chicken.

Put it in the oven at 3500F until it’s done. You know it’s done when the rice is cooked, and the chicken isn’t raw. 

If this is a disaster, I’ll remake it into enchiladas by shredding or chopping the chicken up. They’ll never know…

Update: Wasn’t a total disaster. So that’s a win for 2020. Kids ate it once and hubby had leftovers.

chefmckean

BBQ chicken

I remembered to take a picture!

My dad likes to stock up on meat over the winter when he knows we are coming to visit in the summer…sorry(don’t want to be a Karen) story after the recipe.

Chicken – it doesn’t matter what kind. Get what you like. No skin, bones are fine.

BBQ sauce. See Best Fucking Ribs for a tirade on BBQ sauce.

Put chicken in a large pot (best is cast iron, like Le Creuset or Staub) with a lid. Add ½ a jar of BBQ sauce. Cook at 2500 F for 3 hours.

Let it cool off before you shred it. Then eat it on buns or with a fork or store it for the next day. Slaw also goes well with it. I tend to avoid slaw because it involves chopping…and my husband has a strong aversion to mayo so we don’t do store bought. Sometimes I have the “right” leftovers and I can make it work.*

As for my dad and his hording of meat: we are a family of 5 so yes we eat a lot of food. The kids keep growing (I can’t wait till they hit the teenage years and those food costs). My dad looks for meat on sale over the course of the year and freezes it. Which means that when I get here, I go through the freezer to figure out what we are eating for the next month. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I can finally fit frozen waffles or a pizza in the damn freezer. This year I have two exceptionally large packages of chicken thighs with the skin and bones. However, my kids are currently on a chicken strike. I have to “trick” them into eating it and I’m often not successful. I think it’s a texture/in-their-head thing. So, for the massive packages of like 9 thighs I pulled all the skin off and threw it in the Staub with BBQ sauce. My dad then shredded and de-boned it and put it in the fridge. Tonight, I’m reheating and boiling off the excess liquid and we will try BBQ sandwiches.  

*I also took the leftover spring roll veggies (carrots, cabbage, cilantro, green onion and celery), chopped them up (have I mentioned how much I love chopping?) and mixed lime and olive oil and salt into them. That is the extent I will do slaw. (My husband adores this, non-creamy slaw. Like, it’s kind of creepy how much he likes it.)

Update:

I’m so pleased. The oldest loved it and has now eaten the BBQ chicken for several meals. The other two hate life as we know it when they are forced to eat this. As I’ve said before, I’m a great mom.

chefmckean