Nenuca’s Chicken and Smoked Bacon Adobo with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinaigrette

From Philippine Daily Inquirer.

½ k chicken (breast, thighs, legs)
300 g smoked bacon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 c balsamic vinaigrette
2 pc laurel
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 tbsp whole black pepper
Salt to taste
pork liempo (optional)

Marinate chicken with garlic, pepper and ½ c of balsamic vinaigrette for an hour or more. Set aside.

Trim some fat off the smoked bacon. Fry bacon in olive oil till golden brown. Set aside.

On the same pan, fry chicken until golden brown. Add the chicken marinade and fried bacon. Pour the other ½ c of balsamic vinaigrette on the pan. Add laurel. Add water and let it simmer until done. Deglaze pan with a little water and drizzle the drippings into adobo.

Serve warm.

Chicken Breasts with Guava and Ginger

My brother-in-law gave us a bottle of homemade guava jelly so I wanted to try this recipe from Ingrid Hoffman's Simply Delicioso cook book. I served it with my version of chef's salad. I prepared the dish way ahead of time, to by the time we had dinner, the sauce had caramelized. Next time, my husband suggested putting some water under the broiler pan.

Guava adds a wonderful sweetness and gorgeous color to this chicken dish. The flavor is exciting and exotic, and it really livens up the chicken breast halves. If you can't find guava jam or marmalade, use any sweet jam in its place, such as a mango or fig jam or a citrus marmalade.

2/3 cup guava jam or marmalade (not guava paste)

2 tbsp. lime juice (from about 1 lime)

1 tbsp. soy sauce

2 scallions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced

1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed of excess fat,

rinsed and patted dry

1 tbsp. canola or vegetable oil for greasing the broiler pan

1. Whisk the jam or marmalade, lime juice, soy sauce, scallions and ginger together in a small saucepan over high heat. When it reaches a boil, transfer the mixture to a bowl and let it cool slightly.
2. Place the chicken in a large bowl and add 3 tbsp. of the guava marinade. Turn the chicken to coat, cover with plastic wrap, and marinate in your refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.
3. Preheat your oven to 350F. Line the bottom of a broiler pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease the perforated top with the oil. Place the chicken on the oiled top and cover loosely with foil. Bake for about 15 minutes, then remove the foil and baste the chicken with the remaining guava marinade. Return to the oven, uncovered, and bake until the chicken is completely cooked through, 13 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

Serves 4.

Cook's note: The next time your market has a special on chicken breasts, buy a bunch to freeze. Wrap each chicken breast in freezer-safe plastic wrap (regular plastic wrap lets air get through) and freeze them flat on a baking sheet. Transfer the flat, frozen chicken to a freezer bag. Now you can defrost however many you need - from one to a few.

Fat Rice

Tweaked this recipe from Epicurious by making the sofritto and chicken portion only with the rice. I skipped the seafood as our family is not fond of it.

If paella escaped from Spain, sailed to China, and did some soul-searching along the way, you'd have arroz gordo, the namesake dish at Chicago's Fat Rice. The generous pot of aromatic rice, curry-scented chicken, and (much) more can be traced back to Macau, the former Portuguese colony in China, where it's almost always served at home. Chefs Conlon and Lo took inspiration from foreign-language cookbooks; their version is a blend of Portuguese and Chinese cooking that Conlon calls "the original fusion."

Marinated chicken:

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (about 3 pounds)

1. Soffritto:
   • 2 tablespoons olive oil
   • 2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
   • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
   • Kosher salt
   • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
   • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
   • 1 teaspoon (or more) Sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
   • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
   • Freshly ground black pepper
2. Rice:
• Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 ounces cured Spanish chorizo, thinly sliced
• 3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed
• 4 ounces Chinese sausage or andouille sausage, thinly sliced
3. For marinated chicken:
   1. Whisk garlic, lemon juice, paprika, curry powder, and turmeric in a medium bowl; add chicken and toss to coat. Cover and chill at least 6 hours.
   2. DO AHEAD: Chicken can be marinated 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.
   For soffritto:

   1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add bell peppers and onion; season with salt. Cook, stirring often, until softened, 8-10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are caramelized, 45-60 minutes.
   2. Add garlic and tomato paste to skillet and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until tomato paste begins to darken, 10-15 minutes longer. Mix in vinegar and paprika; season with salt and pepper.
   3. DO AHEAD: Soffritto can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool, then cover and chill.

   For rice:

   1. Remove chicken from marinade; season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a heavy 5-6-quart pot with a lid over medium-high heat. Cook chicken, skin side down, until skin is brown and crisp, 10-12 minutes; transfer to a plate. (You can remove bones at this point, if desired.)
   2. Reduce heat to medium. Add chorizo to pot and cook, stirring often, until crisp, about 2 minutes; transfer to a small bowl.
   3. Add soffritto to pot and cook, stirring constantly, until sizzling, about 1 minute. Add broth, scraping up any browned bits; season with salt (salting liquid adequately here is important for flavorful rice). Add rice, sausage, chorizo, and raisins. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, arrange chicken on top, cover pot, and simmer gently, until rice is tender, 20-25 minutes. Uncover; increase heat to medium-high. Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons oil around edges of pot and cook, undisturbed, until underside of rice is crunchy, about 5 minutes longer.

   A Doable Feast

   Pulling off this centerpiece-worthy dish is a matter of knowing when to get serious (hint: prep!) and when to chill. Here's our approach. 
4. Strategize
   Most of this dish can be made in advance: Caramelize the soffritto up to three days ahead. Marinate the chicken thighs the day before. After that, everything comes together in a single pot. 
5. Improvise
   There's no one way to make arroz gordo. Fat Rice's recipe uses chef Abraham Conlon's favorite ingredients, but if they're not yours, change them up.  It's more important to use the best ingredients. 
6. Attack
   Set the pot of Fat Rice on the table and let guests dig in: This is not a dish for shy eaters.The best part—scraping away the dark, crisped patches of rice from the bottom of the pot—is saved for last.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowls

From Kitchn.

Serves 6 to 8

1 to 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, chicken thighs, or a mix
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock, divided, plus more if needed
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 cup brown rice
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn

Optional toppings: shredded cheese, chopped cilantro, sour cream, diced avocado, salsa, hot sauce, diced green onions, shredded lettuce

Combine the chicken breasts, diced tomatoes, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, chili powder, salt, and cumin in the bowl of a 2 1/2- to 3 1/2-quart slow cooker. Make sure the chicken is covered, and add additional stock if needed. Cover with the lid and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours.

Remove the lid and add the rice, black beans, frozen corn, and the remaining chicken broth. Replace the lid and continue cooking on low for another 3 to 4 hours. Check the rice periodically in the last hour of cooking, stirring once or twice to make sure the rice cooks evenly and adding more chicken broth if the mixture seems dry. Cooking is done when the rice is tender — if the rice is done while there is still liquid left in the slow cooker, remove the lid and cook on high to let the liquid evaporate.

→ Total cooking time from start to finish is 6 to 8 hours.

Use two forks to shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. You can do this either in the slow cooker itself and then mix it into the rice, or you can transfer the chicken to a cutting board if you prefer to keep it separate. Taste the burrito mix and stir in more salt or other seasonings to taste.

Serve burrito bowls with a selection of toppings. The burrito mixture will keep for 1 week refrigerated or for 3 months in the freezer. This recipe makes about 7 total cups of burrito mix.

Recipe Notes

• Cooking the rice separately: If you won't be home to add the rice to the slow cooker, you can skip this step and cook it separately on the stovetop just before serving (use these directions). To modify the recipe, combine the chicken, diced tomatoes, 1/2 cup of stock, and spices in the slow cooker and cook for 6 to 8 hours on low. Add the black beans and corn, and cook for another 1/2 hour, or until warmed through, while you're cooking the rice (omit the remaining chicken stock).
• Vegetarian burrito bowls: Combine the diced tomatoes, 1 cup of vegetable stock, spices, rice, black beans, and corn in a slow cooker. Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours, until the rice is tender and has absorbed all the liquid. Stir once or twice toward the end of cooking to make sure the rice is cooking evenly.
• Beyond burrito bowls: Besides burrito bowls, you can use this filling to make regular tortilla-wrapped burritos or freezer burritos.

10 THINGS WITH SIMPLE SLOW-COOKER SHREDDED MEAT

No time for a slow cooker? Combine all the ingredients plus an extra ½ cup of liquid in a large saucepan. Simmer, covered, for one hour, then proceed with the recipe.

Makes 4 servings

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 cup white wine, low-sodium chicken broth or apple cider

1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or country-style pork ribs or rib chops

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon Italian herb mix

1 teaspoon kosher salt

In a 4-quart slow cooker, combine the onion, liquid of choice, meat of choice, peppercorns, bay leaves, Italian herbs and salt. Cover and set to cook on low for eight to 10 hours, or on high for four to five hours. The meat is ready when it is fork tender and falls apart easily. Remove and discard the peppercorns and bay leaves. Shred the meat using two forks, discarding any fat or bones.

Use the meat in one of the following dinner ideas:

• Quesadillas: Drain any extra liquid from the meat. Spread over large tortillas, sprinkle with shredded cheese, black olives, scallions and diced jalapeños. Top each with another tortilla. Toast on both sides in a dry skillet. Cut into wedges and serve with sour cream and salsa.

• Sloppy Joes: Mix in 1 cup barbecue sauce, ¼ cup apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Serve on bulky rolls.

• Coconut curry: Stir in 1 can of coconut milk, 2 cups chopped cooked vegetables (such as broccoli and roasted red peppers) and 2 tablespoons red curry paste. Serve over rice.

• Upside-down cottage pie: Whisk together ½ cup half-and-half with 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Drain the liquid from the meat into a saucepan. Stir the half-and-half mixture into the meat liquid and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until it simmers and thickens. Stir in 1½ cups thawed corn kernels and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme. Stir together with the shredded meat and serve over mashed potatoes.

• Pesto pizza: Stir 1 cup purchased pesto into the shredded meat. Spread over 2 prepared pizza crusts. Sprinkle each with grated Parmesan cheese, then top with slices of fresh mozzarella and sliced roasted red peppers. Bake at 450 F until golden and melted, about 20 minutes.

• Marmalade nachos: Drain the meat and stir in ½ cup orange marmalade, ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes and 1 tablespoon cider vinegar. Spread over tortilla chips. Top with sliced scallions, sliced Peppadew peppers or pickled jalapeño peppers, and shredded cheese. Heat in a 350 F oven just until the cheese is melted.

• Picatta pasta: Add the meat to a pound of pasta, cooked according to package instructions. Stir in ¼ cup capers and the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Serve topped with grated Parmesan cheese.

• Greek pitas: Drain the meat and mix with the zest of 1 lemon, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano and 2 minced cloves of garlic. Combine 1 peeled, diced and seeded cucumber with ½ cup plain Greek yogurt and ½ cup crumbled feta cheese. Serve in pita pockets with chopped fresh tomato.

• Sesame noodles: Cook an 8-ounce package of udon or soba noodles according to package directions. Whisk together 2 tablespoons honey, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil and a splash of hot sauce. Toss with the meat, 1 thinly sliced red bell pepper, 1 thinly sliced bunch scallions and the noodles. Top with 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds.

• Lemon-ginger barley soup: Add 1 quart low-sodium chicken broth, 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger, the zest and juice of 1 lemon, and ¾ cup quick-cooking barley to a large saucepan. Cook for 10 minutes, then add the meat and its cooking liquid. Season with salt and pepper.

Arroz Caldo con Pollo (Chicken Rice Soup with Ginger)

A favorite one-pot meal, this “comfort food” is especially good during the rainy season. 

4 tablespoons oil 
4 tablespoons minced garlic
 1 large onion, diced 
2 in (5 cm) fresh ginger, cut into thin slices 
3/4 cup (150 g) uncooked rice, washed and drained 
7 cups (13/4 liters) water 
1 lb (500 g) boneless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces 
11/2 teaspoons fish sauce (patis) or 1 teaspoon salt with a dash of soy sauce 
Freshly ground black or white pepper, to taste 
Spring onion, thinly sliced, to garnish 
Pinch of saffron, to garnish 
Kalamansi limes or regular limes, halved, to serve


1 Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a pot and stir-fry half of the garlic until golden brown. Add the onion and ginger and stir-fry until the onion is translucent. 
2 Add the rice and stir-fry for 5 minutes until lightly browned. Add the water and cover the pot. Increase the heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Then reduce the heat, add the chicken and simmer for another 30 minutes or until the rice and chicken are cooked. 
3 While the rice is cooking, heat the remaining oil in a skillet and stir-fry the rest of the garlic until crisp and golden brown. Drain on paper towels and set aside. 
4 When the rice and chicken are cooked, add the fish sauce or salt, stir and continue to simmer over low heat for another 2 minutes. Serve in individual soup bowls seasoned with black or white pepper. Garnish with the spring onion, fried garlic and saffron, and serve with lime halves on the side. 

Broccoli Stir-Fry With Chicken and Mushrooms

by Mark Bittman

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons good-quality vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 pound broccoli, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces, the stems no more than 1/4-inch thick
• 8 ounces button mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
•  Salt
• 1 cup water
• 8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch chunks or thin slices and blotted dry
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
•  Freshly ground black pepper

PREPARATION

1. Put a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add half the oil, swirl it around, and immediately add half the garlic and ginger. Cook for 15 seconds, stirring, then add the broccoli, mushrooms and all but a sprinkling of the scallions. Raise heat to high, and cook, stirring, until mushrooms release their water and broccoli is bright green and beginning to brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Sprinkle with salt; add 1 cup water. Stir and cook until almost all liquid evaporates and broccoli is almost tender, another minute or two more, then transfer everything to a plate.
3. Turn heat to medium, add remaining oil, then remaining garlic and ginger. Stir, then add chicken and turn heat to high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken has lost its pink color, three to five minutes.
4. Turn heat to medium. Return broccoli, mushrooms and juices to the pan, and stir. Add soy sauce, sprinkle with more salt and some pepper; add a little more water if mixture is dry. Raise heat to high and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced slightly and you’ve scraped up all the bits of chicken. Taste and adjust seasoning, garnish with remaining scallion and serve.

• Stir-fries work with virtually any combination of vegetables; protein-dense food (meat, poultry, fish, tofu, etc.) is optional. Use pork (like shoulder), shrimp, beef (like sirloin), or tofu instead of chicken; slice the meat thinly or the tofu into cubes. Use cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, snow peas, carrots or spinach in place of either the broccoli or the mushrooms or both. Or use other mushrooms. Use fish sauce instead of soy sauce and finish with a squeeze of lime to give it a Southeast Asian flavor. Use olive oil, skip the ginger, use onion instead of scallion, and substitute 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary or thyme to give it a Mediterranean flavor profile. Use coconut milk instead of water and 1 tablespoon curry powder instead of soy sauce to give it an Indian flavor profile.

Chicken in Milk

From Jamie Oliver and Kitchn.

1.5 kg higher-welfare chicken

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

olive oil

½ stick cinnamon

1 good handful fresh sage, leaves picked

zest of 2 lemons

10 cloves garlic, skin left on

565 ml milk

A slightly odd, but really fantastic combination that must be tried.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5, and find a snug-fitting pot for the chicken. Season it generously all over, and fry it in a little olive oil, turning the chicken to get an even colour all over, until golden. Remove from the heat, put the chicken on a plate, and throw away the oil left in the pot. This will leave you with tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pan which will give you a lovely caramel flavour later on.

Put your chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients, and cook in the preheated oven for 1½ hours. Baste with the cooking juice when you remember. The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, making a sauce which is absolutely fantastic.

To serve, pull the meat off the bones and divide it onto your plates. Spoon over plenty of juice and the little curds. Serve with wilted spinach or greens and some mashed potato.

From Kitchn.

The Recipe

A few years ago I noticed this rather odd recipe on Jamie Oliver's site. It called for roasting a chicken in a big pot with a pint of milk, a lot of lemon zest, a cinnamon stick, and unpeeled garlic cloves. Milk, cinnamon, and chicken were three things I wouldn't ever think to combine; it sounded like a bad recipe Mad-Lib. And yet its very strangeness enticed me. I was familiar with the Italian method of cooking pork in milk for tenderness and flavor; would this be similar?

Here's the basic process:

1. Brown a whole chicken in copious amounts of olive oil or butter.
2. Pour in some milk, two lemons' worth of zest, a cinnamon stick, and fresh sage leaves. Scatter in a handful of garlic cloves in their jackets.
3. Bake for 90 minutes.
4. Pull apart and eat.

I've now made this many times, and the first thing in its favor is the speed and ease of preparation. It's great for a last minute roast chicken dish; you don't need to salt it two days ahead or brine it. Just brown it well in a big pot with a lot of butter and oil.

Oliver says to throw away all that extra fat; you won't need it. (I recommend saving it for cooking potatoes or vegetables.) Put the chicken back in the pot, add the milk, garlic (no need to peel the cloves or smash them), lemon, and cinnamon stick, along with a handful of sage leaves. Put in the oven and roast for an hour and a half.

To Cover or Not to Cover?

The first time I ever made this, I had a spacey moment and glibly assumed that since I was cooking a chicken in a pot that that meant the lid should go on. I banged on a lid and put it in the oven.

An hour later it hit me: was that called for in the recipe? I doublechecked. No. So I ran in and took off the lid for the last half hour of cooking.

I tried it a second time with the pot lid off the whole time as specified in the recipe. And all things being equal, I think that the first way was better. While it was still an incredibly good dish, leaving the lid off made it taste more like a traditional roast chicken. It was less tender, and I felt like the flavor really didn't permeate the chicken the way that it did the first time.

I still recommend the first method; I leave the lid on for at least half of the cooking time. The chicken was moister, the flavor permeates it better, and there was a little more sauce.

Why It's So Good

While cooking, this chicken smells absolutely divine. The first time I made, my husband groaned when he walked into the house. "What is that?" he asked.

When I uncovered the pot the chicken was sitting in a pool of creamy pan sauce, the milk having dissolved into small bits of curd and juice. Unlike the curdled milk I was expecting, this looked and tasted more like liquid lemon gold, bathed in chicken juices.

We pulled the chicken off the bone, ladled on the sauce — and my face almost fell into my plate; the meat was incredibly, mouthwateringly succulent and tender; far more so than my best Zuni chicken ever. It was completely infused with lemon and balanced with a deeply aromatic muskiness from the cinnamon and sage. The cloves of garlic were perfectly cooked too; we fished them out and squeezed their sweet innards onto the chicken and slices of thick country bread. We couldn't stop eating the chicken, the meat drenched in savory lemon sauce.

I know I'm going out on a limb with this one, but it is still the truth: this is the best chicken I have ever had. Its appeal lies in its sheer deliciousness and simplicity, but also in its unexpected combination of ingredients and method. It's a recipe that you think could never work — and yet it does, and that small moment of surprised delight seasons the whole dish.

Have you ever tried Jamie's chicken in milk? What did you think? Do you change it up at all, or make it exactly as written?

Slow-Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken

From the Kitchn's 15 Splendid Meals from the Slow Cooker.

Serves 2 to 4 with leftovers

4 to 5 pound chicken

For the seasoning rub:
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 sprigs thyme, leaves stripped and minced

For the cooking liquid:
2 lemons, quartered
1 head garlic, cloves separated, but left in their skins
2 chicken bouillon cubes or 1 teaspoon bouillon paste, divided (optional for richer flavor)
2 sprigs thyme
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 sprigs rosemary

For the gravy:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Remove the bag of gizzards and discard (or reserve for stock). Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.

Mix all the seasoning ingredients together in a bowl. Gently work your fingers under the skin covering the breast meat and slide them back and forth to separate the skin from the meat without tearing it. Scoop up a dollop of the seasoning and work it under the skin covering both breasts. Rub any remaining seasoning over the drumsticks and thighs. Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker, breast-side up.

Squeeze and reserve the juice from one of the lemons. Stuff the rinds into the cavity of the chicken along with one whole bouillon cube and a few garlic cloves. Crumble the other bouillon cube over the chicken and rub it into the skin. Arrange the remaining lemon quarters, the rest of garlic cloves, and the thyme around the chicken. Combine the reserved lemon juice, the soy sauce, and the broth, and pour it over the chicken.

Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high heat for 4 or for 6 hours (according to your slow-cooker's instructions and particular settings). Thirty minutes or so before the time is done, add the rosemary sprigs.

Remove chicken from the slow-cooker and allow it to rest on a baking sheet, tented with foil, for about 20 minutes. The wings and drumsticks may fall away as you lift the chicken; this is normal.

While the chicken is resting, strain the cooking liquid into a sauce pan and bring to a rapid simmer. Scoop out a half cup of the liquid and whisk it with the flour in a separate bowl. Slowly pour the flour slurry back into the cooking liquid while whisking. Continue simmering and whisking until the gravy thickens. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

When ready to serve, remove the skin from the chicken and discard. Use your fingers to pull the meat away off the bones; it should come away easily with gentle pressure or use a knife as needed. Serve the breasts, thighs, and drumsticks right away and tear the remaining meat into shreds for using in leftovers. Serve with the gravy alongside.

Notes:

• To make this recipe in the oven, take a look at this recipe.

• Cooking times longer than 6 hours are not recommended. With longer cooking, the chicken bones start to become too soft, making it difficult to separate the meat and get a good gravy.

• Rosemary tends to get bitter if cooked for too long. Adding it in the last half hour of cooking helps give the dish rosemary flavor without the bitterness.

• The garlic cloves cooked with the chicken make an excellent spread. Pop them out of their skins, mash with a bit of salt, and serve with slices of crusty bread.

Easy Teriyaki Chicken

From Full Thyme Student.

Total time: 15 minutes
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Level: Easy

Ingredients:
3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce (recommended: Kikkoman brand)
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (substitutes: lemon juice)
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Optional: 2 teaspoons water
Optional: 1 teaspoon corn starch
2 green onions, green and white parts, sliced
Serving suggestion: Steamed white or brown rice

Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, grated ginger, and garlic until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

Place chicken breasts on a cutting board, smooth side facing up, and place a layer of plastic wrap on top. Using a meat mallet or frying pan, evenly pound chicken breasts to a 1/2-inch thickness. Cut each breast in half to end up with 4 equal-sized pieces of chicken. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper over top of chicken pieces.

Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Place the seasoned side of chicken pieces into the oil, and season the sides now facing up with another 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Cook first side of chicken for 3-4 minutes, or just until golden brown. Using tongs, flip the chicken over and cook other side for about 30 seconds. Pour prepared teriyaki sauce mixture evenly over chicken, and without moving chicken pieces, allow chicken to absorb sauce for 3 minutes as the sauce begins to gently bubble. Check chicken for doneness (meat should be opaque and no pinkness should remain in center) and transfer chicken pieces to a plate. To finish teriyaki sauce: If you do not have corn starch or if you prefer a thin teriyaki sauce, you can heat the sauce for another 3-5 minutes to reduce and gently thicken sauce.

If you prefer a thicker teriyaki sauce, in a small bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch. While whisking sauce, pour cornstarch mixture into teriyaki sauce and allow sauce to thicken, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat.

Pour teriyaki sauce over chicken pieces and serve over steamed rice. Serve with additional teriyaki sauce and garnish with sliced green onions. Slice chicken before serving, if desired.

June’s Chinese Chicken

From StoneSoup

enough for 2 
6-8 chicken drumsticks 
1/2 cup soy sauce 
2-3 tablespoons honey 
1 teaspoon ground ginger or 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger 
1 bunch bok choy or other Asian greens or broccolini

1. Preheat your oven to 180C (350F).

2. Combine soy, honey & ginger. Place chicken in a baking dish and cover with the sauce. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

3. Remove foil and turn the chicken. Return to the oven. Wrap bok choy in foil and place on a lower shelf in the oven.

4. Bake for another 20 minutes or until chicken is well browned and the bok choy has wilted.

Variations

vegetarian / vegan – try Chinese mushrooms. Cook field mushrooms instead of the chicken. You might like to add some cashews as you serve to increase the protein. I’m also thinking tofu or tempeh would be lovely with all the flavours from the sauce. And if you don’t eat honey a little brown sugar or maple syrup would work.

more substantial – serve with steamed rice or cauliflower ‘rice’ (raw grated cauliflower).

different cuts of chicken – feel free to use chicken thighs instead or a whole chicken chopped into pieces on the bone both of these options will take about the same time to cook. Boneless chicken breasts or thigh fillets will also work, reduce the cooking time to 20-30 minutes.

different protein – You could use fish fillets (will take about 15 minutes or a little longer). Lamb shanks, pork ribs or beef osso buco will take about 3-4 hours cooked at 160C (350F).

hot! – add in some fresh or dried chilli.