Chicken – Page 5 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Sichuan Chicken

Sometimes, the best part of leaving filthy New York City is coming home to it. A day after I returned, I picked up my latest farmer’s share and got back in the groove of cooking again. In the Philippines, all the food we ate was done for us whether it was from a restaurant, from a street vendor or from one of my many relatives who cooked us a meal. When I picked up my share of scallions and green peppers, I thought of a stir-fry dish that would be easy to make for my first dinner back.

I was eating a lot of pork while I was in the Philippines so it wasn’t weird when I wanted to eat something with chicken. I had already gotten the sushi out of the way my first night back–my way of cleansing my system after returning from a vacation–and a quick toss of greens with breast fillets was a no-brainer as a next step towards getting back to my routine.

I marinated the chicken here overnight, but you can certainly spend less time and just marinate while you chop the rest of the ingredients. I also skipped the peanuts and used sherry vinegar instead of Chinese vinegar for the sauce and that’s why my version is paler than the traditional one. You can use balsamic vinegar as well to get that dark color.

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, without skin, sliced in smaller pieces
1 green bell pepper, seeded, chopped
4 scallions, white parts only, chopped
4 garlic cloves
a small knob of ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
3 Thai chiles, seeded
1 tsp whole Sichuan pepper
a handful of roasted unsalted peanuts (optional)
peanut oil

For the marinade:
2 tbsps light soy sauce
2 tbsps rice wine
2 tbsps cornstarch
1 tbsp water
salt

For the sauce:
3 tbsps sugar
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsps sherry vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp water

1. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a large container with the chicken pieces. Mix well and set aside in the fridge until ready to cook.
2. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Using a large skillet, add some peanut oil and heat over a high flame. When the oil is hot but not yet smoking, add the chiles and Sichuan pepper and stir-fry briefly until they are crisp and the oil is spicy and fragrant. Try not to burn them.
4. Add the chicken and the bell pepper and fry over a high flame, stirring constantly. As soon as the chicken pieces have separated, add the ginger, garlic, and scallions and continue to stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through and white. Feel free to drizzle some more peanut oil to add some moisture.
5. Give the sauce a stir and add it to the skillet, continuing to stir and toss. As soon as the sauce has become thick and shiny, add the peanuts, if using and stir them in.

Chicken Canzanese

I was attracted to this 1969 recipe Amanda Hesser featured in The New York Times a couple of weeks ago. There is no browning involved and I immediately thought that chicken can’t be pretty without a golden brown crust. But then I remembered Hainanese chicken, a dish from the Hainan Island of China but perfected by those who immigrated to Singapore.

This style is Canzanese–Canzano is in the Abruzzo region in Italy–but it’s poached with wine instead of its juice alone. The pancetta gives the chicken some soul (Anthony Bourdain once said, All roads lead to pork), while the fresh herbs give it a fragrant smell as soon as you take the lid off and let out some steam.

Ingredients:
3 chicken pieces
1 thick round of pancetta, cut into strips
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 sprigs rosemary
2 sage leaves
2 bay leaves
3 cloves
1 clove garlic, sliced lengthwise
2 peppercorns, crushed
1 dried red chili, crushed
salt

1. Place the chicken pieces in a mixing bowl; cover with cold water and add 1 tsp of salt. Let stand 1 hour. Drain and pat dry.
2. Arrange the chicken pieces in one layer in a frying pan fitted with a lid and add the rest of the ingredients over the chicken. Add 1/4 cup water. Cover and simmer until the chicken is nearly done, about 40 minutes. Uncover and cook briefly over high heat until the sauce is reduced slightly.

Spiced Cream Chicken

I really think I must have been either an Indian or a Middle Eastern girl in one of my past lives because it’s quite insane how I crave curry several times a month. I just made a wonderful tagine last week, so I wasn’t really in the mood to be in the kitchen for too long. I wanted to make a small and easy dish that didn’t take too much time but still involved my favorite spices. Nigel Slater sautéed some chicken thighs with some fennel. I copied his recipe, but I made use of the baby bok choy in the fridge.

Ingredients:
6 chicken thighs
1 pound baby bok choy, thoroughly washed
1 cup heavy cream
a handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
4 green cardamom pods, minus the husks
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp whole-grain mustard
3 cloves of garlic, minced
peanut oil
salt, pepper

1. Rub the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and brown them in some hot peanut oil using a large skillet. They should take at least 25 minutes over medium heat.
2. While chicken is cooking, make the spiced paste. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the cardamom seeds and the cumin. Add the turmeric, the chili and the garlic, and continue crushing, mixing in the mustard and some peanut oil as you go.
3. Remove the chicken thighs from the skillet when golden brown. Reduce heat to low and spoon out the oil and add the spiced paste to the skillet. Using a heat-resistant spatula, scrape off the chicken bits from the bottom of the skillet and mix them in with the paste. After a minute, remove the skillet from the heat to keep the paste from burning and add the heavy cream. Return the chicken and add the baby bok choy, plus the cilantro. Cover and let the steam cook the greens for about 5 minutes.

Fragrant Rice-Stuffed Cornish Hens

I could barely cut the carrots after my bootcamp workout, but I was determined to eat after preparing and cooking this dish for an hour.

I was looking through my archives and remembered how robust the rice mixture was in the Greek gemista, or stuffed tomatoes, recipe. I wanted that smell of herbs and raisins together, but I also wanted to eat, believe it or not, chicken. Cornish hens were on sale in my supermarket, so I ended up picking them instead. They’re smaller and takes less time to cook anyway. I called my mother to make sure there were still raisins in the cupboard. She also had walnuts handy, so I used them in lieu of almonds or pine nuts.

The great thing about stuffing is that you can use almost anything. If I found leftover bacon in the fridge–yeah, right–I would use them; same for chopped Chinese sausages or sautÃ©ed ground meat. I threw in arugula and baby carrots for more festive coloring. The result? Fragrant rice-stuffed Cornish hens a month before Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:
2 Cornish hens, washed thoroughly and dried with paper towels
2 cups cooked rice
1 small carrot, roughly chopped
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, crushed
2 handfuls of arugula
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 tbsps pomegranate molasses
2 tbsps chili powder
salt, pepper, oil

1. Preheat oven to 350Âº. In a small bowl, mix some oil and chili powder with salt and pepper until pasty. Spread paste all over hens using a spatula. Let marinate while you prepare the rice mixture.
2. To prepare the rice mixture, sautÃ© garlic and shallots in some hot oil. Add carrots and cook until tender. Add arugula and mix until wilted. Add the rice, raisins and walnuts. Mix well. Season with some salt, pepper and molasses. Toss for a few more minutes until all the flavors have penetrated the rice. Remove from heat.
3. Spoon some rice mixture a little at a time and stuff the inside of the hens. Use a spatula to make sure you get as much rice in the hens as possible, but without over-stuffing. Transfer stuffed hens to a baking dish and bake for 45 minutes, turning after 20, or until clear juice comes out of the thighs when pierced with a fork. Switch the oven to broil and brown the hens for 8 extra minutes.

Tandoori Chicken with Peach-Blackberry Chutney

I’m still in shock when I find that most of the ingredients I need for a certain recipe is already in our kitchen. That’s the good thing with store-bought spices: you only have to buy them once in a while because you can store them for up to a year. For this one, all I had to do was buy the chicken, the yogurt and a couple of peaches. I used the blackberries I picked from North Fork after our trip to Montauk. They were in a Tupperware inside the fridge, but even after a few weeks, they were still good to go.

All I really wanted was to use the blackberries before they went bad. I found this chutney recipe online and thought of matching it with pork chops because of the cherry chutney I made earlier this season. But then something Indian-spiced came to mind after I bought several lamb pieces from the Halal store around the corner.

Ingredients:
8 chicken breasts and legs, skinned
1 cup of nonfat Greek yogurt
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp cumin seeds, toasted, ground
2 tbsps paprika
2 tbsps garam masala
2 tbsps turmeric
2 tbsps cardamom, ground
2 tbsps cayenne pepper
salt, pepper, oil

For the peach-blackberry chutney:
1 cups of blackberries
2 peaches, peeled, seeded, diced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 onion, chopped
2 coves of garlic, minced
1 small knob of ginger, peeled, chopped
1 small jalapeÃ±o, seeded, chopped
salt, oil

1. Make the marinade by mixing all the spices and yogurt together in a bowl large enough to fit all the chicken. Add the chicken pieces and make sure the marinade covers them all. Marinate for at least 2 hours in the fridge.
2. Make the peach-blackberry chutney. In a saucepan, heat some oil and sautÃ© the onions and the garlic. Add the jalapeÃ±o and ginger and sautÃ© a few minutes more. Add in the cinnamon, vinegar, brown sugar and peaches. Keep sautÃ©ing until the peaches are soft. Add blackberries. Cook, stirring occasionally and crushing the fruits with the back of a wooden spoon. Turn off the heat and let cool. Strain to a container and serve with tandoori chicken.