
Here's what we had for dinner the other night:
stuffed chicken breasts
sweet and sour veggies
Basmati brown and wild rice blend with cashews
So, on to my recipes.
First, the sweet and sour veggies.

My ingredients:
celery
carrots
onion
pepper
garlic
pineapple chunks and juice
tamari sauce (You can use regular soy sauce.)
cider vinegar
cornstarch
ginger and its juice

I chopped the onions, celery, carrots, and peppers, and
sliced the garlic.
And here's Rosie's Tip # 259
(What? You missed 1 - 258?
Shame on you.):
Keep your ginger in the freezer.
That way you'll always have it on hand without it going bad.
When you want ginger joos,
just nuke the piece of ginger for about 20 seconds
and the joos flows freely.

I poured the pineapple juice
into my measuring cup and added
enough water to equal 1 cup.
Then I made a cornstarch slurry:
1 TB cornstarch mixed with 1 TB cold water.

I heated up my pan,
threw in a tablespoon or so of butter,
browned it a bit because I like the flavor of browned butter,
then added in my carrots
and sauteed for about 1 minute.

I sprinkled in about a tablespoon of brown sugar.

Celery went in.

Peppers joined the pan.

Onions.

The garlic.

The minced ginger and it's juice.

Cornstarch slurry.

The pineapple juice and water.

And the pineapple.
Heat until thickened.

Lastly, I added about 3 TB of Tamari Sauce.

And 3 TB of cider vinegar.
Cover and set aside.
And there you have a basic sweet and sour sauce
you can use for stir fries,
for sweet and sour pork,
or sweet and sour chicken,
or, in this case,
sweet and sour vegetables.
Now for the stuffing for my chicken.

My ingredients:
onion
apple
dried thyme
brie cheese

I chopped the onions and apples ...

... and sauteed them in butter
for a few minutes.

I added salt, pepper, and a pinch of my thyme.
And decided it needed some lemon juice
to tart it up a bit.

Then I added in lemon zest
because lemon is just a very nice foil
to the earthiness of the thyme.

Next my cubed brie went into the apple mixture.

I carefully teased the skin away from the breasts.

And stuffed the bosoms with the mixture.

I drizzled some walnut oil over top of the chicken
because I had some.
You could use
whatever you have.
Motor oil, in fact,
would give this meal a "
nice racetrack flavor."
See, I listen to my muse, Aunt Sandy.

I salted and peppered,
then sprinkled panko bread crumbs over top.

Then I had an inspired idea.
I remembered I had veal stock
leftover in my fridge.
Don't you like that picture?

Look how wonderfully gelatinous it is.

I used 1/2 cup veal stock
and 1/2 cup water.

And poured that into the pan,
being careful not to pour it over the chicken.

The chicken went into a preheated 400 degree oven
for about 40 minutes.
When the temperature reached 162,
I took it out, tented it with foil, and let sit.

In the meantime, Mr. Hawthorne made the rice.
He slowly simmered the Basmati brown and wild rice blend
in chicken stock
(All right. I lied. He used bouillion cubes.
You know how he likes to Sandra-Lee it.)
for about 45 minutes.
Then he added a handful of cashews to it
which gave it a nice crunch and flavor.

And here's dinner.
My chicken was juicy and tender and rich
with the addition of the diluted veal stock.
I liked the flavors in the stuffing.
The apple and onion with the thyme and lemon
was a fresh mixture nicely complemented by the
creaminess and delicacy of the brie.

Sweet and sour veggies
were ...
hmmmm ...
let me see ...
sweet ...
and yet sour ...
at the same time.
Gee. I think I've come up with new flavor combination.
Like Aunt Sandy's avocado on cheeseburger.
Who'd a thunk?

The rice was nutty and nuttier
with the addition of the cashews.

Crisp, flavorful chicken skin.
All in all,
a hearty meal.
Now if you wanted to cut back calorie-wise,
you could skin the the chicken,
pound it thin,
stuff it, and roll it up.
But every now and then
I wants me some crispy chicken skin.

The chicken breasts were huge
so I had 2 left over.
I just mixed everything together
for an easy leftover casserole for later.
Rosie,
ReplyDeleteYum!
I really liked how at the end you showed that you were thinking ahead by showing us the casserole.
Would you consider doing some posts about some of your favorite things to cook with the intention of having leftovers that you then make into another meal?
Thanks!