I Keep My Camera in the Kitchen

This week I made a scrumptious Greek-style roast chicken with potatoes from this recipe on Big Girls Small Kitchen.  I was happy with the chicken, but the potatoes are really the best part of this dish.  Since everything is baked together, the potatoes absorb the delicious chicken juices and taste much better than they ever could tossed in olive oil.  I highly recommend trying this because it's simple and can be reincarnated into several chicken sandwiches and delicious stock, along with very appealing leftovers.

I must be trying to fit in some comfort food before the weather gets warmer for good, because I also had to try this baked spinach as soon as I saw it.  If you enjoy shopping at Costco, this is a great use for one of the giant bags they sell.  I used my freshly made chicken stock, a smaller amount of butter than called for, and a scant amount of Gruyere, and the spinach was still completely satisfying.  The breadcrumbs and cheese form a beautiful, crunchy top, and the spinach itself tastes velvety and rich.  We ate ours with a fried egg and garlic toast, and it's as good as it looks. 

 

Counter Top Dining

On Oscar Sunday, I found myself with a defrosted pork shoulder and the time to appropriately prepare it.  I decided to apply the Southwestern Pulled Brisket method, and let everything bake in the oven for a few hours.  

I would definitely use this recipe again for either pork or brisket.  The flavors are versatile enough for sandwiches, tacos, or any other creative variations you may conjure.  Our first two rounds with the pork involved sandwiches made with Cheddar-Sriracha Swirl Bread.

I've made sweet quick breads before, such as zucchini, banana, pumpkin, etc., but this was my first savory loaf, and I felt a sense of accomplishment when it turned out well.  The bread is relatively easy to make as long as you allow yourself some time, and could also be changed to accommodate a number of different ingredients for the "swirl," or filling.   

Our sandwiches had a significant kick from the Sriracha, but we happily ate them with steamed broccoli.  It may not have been an Oscar-worthy meal, but it did feel special to eat standing up in the kitchen while listening to Road Kill Roy's radio debut.

San Bei Gi

As I mentioned last week, I really enjoyed reading The Art of Eating In by Cathy Erway.  Her mission to only eat homemade meals really inspired me to try some new recipes, one of which was a Taiwanese dish called San Bei Gi from her book.  Her version is slight untraditional in that she uses boneless chicken and adds green beans to make it a one dish meal.  

I followed her suggestions and used three boneless chicken breasts I had in the freezer (Trader Joe's sells all-natural, individually frozen breasts in a big bag).  The recipe in the book called for three pound of meat, but I only used between 1.5-2 pounds, and we still got six and a half servings out of it.  

The green beans were frozen from the summer, and I didn't weigh them, but I'm sure I had less than a half a pound.  We probably should have been eating more vegetables, but I didn't want to buy some from the store and have them interfere with the fresh tasting green beans from our share.

Since I already had most of the ingredients I needed, I went to Tan-A, an Asian market, and bought a nice piece of ginger, five cloves of garlic, sesame oil, and a huge bunch of Thai basil all for $5.54.  I think the sesame oil alone at a grocery store would have been at least that much.  The Thai basil has a very distinctive flavor - if you can't find it, don't try to substitute with regular basil.  You're better off omitting the basil all together.  

I should also have gotten rice wine, which I thought I already had, so I ended up substituting rice wine vinegar.  The next time I make this, I'm going to make sure I have the rice wine, because I could definitely detect a slight vinegar taste.  I think I'll also try to reduce the amount of sesame oil (unless I use the full amount of chicken and beans), because there was plenty of liquid and it's a lot more oil than I normally cook with.   

This is a great base recipe to use with a variety of meats, seafood, and vegetables.  The flavors are rich and layered, although they're light enough to still feel healthy, and there's the added satisfaction that it was made in your very own kitchen.

Boneless San Bei Gi with Green Beans

adapted from Cathy Erway's The Art of Eating In

1.5-2 pounds boneless chicken breasts

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons sesame oil

20 cloves of garlic (about 2 small heads), smashed or coarsely chopped 

20 slices of fresh ginger

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 pound green beans, ends trimmed and snapped in half

2 scallions, chopped

2-3 dried whole red chilies (optional)

1 large bunch Thai basil leaves

Rice for serving

Mix chicken pieces in cornstarch and 2 teaspoons of soy sauce in a bowl.  Cover and chill to marinate at least 30 minutes, or up to overnight.

In a large nonstick pan (or wok), heat sesame oil with the chilies, garlic and ginger until oil just begins to bubble.  Add chicken and stir to brown pieces on all sides.  Add vinegar, remaining soy sauce, and sugar.  Stir until boiling, then cover.  let simmer on medium-low 8 minutes or so.  Add the green beans and basil and stir to evenly distribute them.  Cover partially and continue cooking for 5 minutes.  Add scallions and toss once more.  Serve with white rice.

Treat Yourself

Every week I brose the Health section in The New York Times (one of my favorites along with Food, Travel and Style), and was struck by this article about "self-compassion."  The basic idea is that cutting yourself a break and judging your habits less harshly can actually help you exercise more, eat less, or succeed at whatever it is you're trying to improve.  Chances are you're not going to deny your friend the cookies she's craving (as long as it's not fifty cookies), so why not allow yourself the same occasional indulgence?