Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Rosie Makes Chicken Teriyaki.

  Rosie is making Teriyaki Chicken tonight.
Middle Hawthorne is making the rice.
I grew the scallions.

I was checking out one of the food blogs I follow, Viet World Kitchen, the other day, and stumbled upon one particular recipe which caught my eye.  It was Andrea Nguyen's Teriyaki Chicken.  Chicken thighs were skinned and boned, then cooked in a skillet, and a teriyaki sauce was used as a finishing sauce, or glaze.  Did you know that teri means gloss and yaki means to broil or grill? Well, now you do. 

Intent on preparing this recipe, I dispatched Mr. Hawthorne to Food Lion to pick up thighs, among the usual items.  As luck would have it, thighs are on sale.  This bodes well.


The two most important tools in your kitchen are your hands. Use them.  I skinned the thighs by inserting thumb underneath skin and ripping off the skin.  Trim off any fat that might remain.  Then remove the bone.  You can use a paring knife to scrape against the bone, releasing the meat.  The pile in the back of skins will be used to chum up the water off the pier and bulkhead, so Middle Hawthorne will have an interesting place to fish.  The pile on the right contains the bones.  These go into a freezer bag and will wait for a rainy day to be turned into chicken stock and then magically transformed into consommé.

I rinsed off the chicken thighs
and patted them dry.
While the thighs were relaxing,
I made the finishing glaze.
 
Glaze
1/2 cup mirin
1/4 sake
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 TB sugar

Combine mirin and sake in a small saucepan.
Heat over low for 5 minutes.
Then add the soy and sugar.
Stir until dissolved.
Simmer  about 20-25 minutes,
or until the sauce is reduced by about half.
You should end up with about 1/2 cup of liquid.
Set aside to cool.




While the thighs were resting,
I arranged the ingredients for a rice dish
which Middle Hawthorne will prepare.
I already had Jasmine rice leftover from something or other.
I have 2 diced carrots,
minced jalapeno,
 the zest of 1 lime,
some chopped red onion,
and frozen green peas.

Oh wait!
I found some pineapple slices in the fridge.
Let's use them.




Picked some scallions from the pot on the deck.


Don't you like my little salt thingie?
Daughter Hawthorne gave it to me.
I love it.


Heat about 2 TB each butter and oil.


Place 4 thighs in the hot oil,
smooth side down.
Cook about 3 minutes , or until golden underneath.


 
Turn each thigh over, lower heat, cover,
and cook about 4 minutes.

Add about 1/4 cup of the sauce
and turn heat to medium.
Let the chicken cook in the bubbling sauce for about 2 minutes.


I went ahead and poured the rest of the glaze over the chicken.

Let it bubble.

 If you use a thermometer,
chicken is done at 165°.
Plate the chicken thighs and let sit about 7 minutes 
before cutting to let the juices redistribute.

 My work is done.
It's Middle Hawthorne's turn to do the rice.
He heated a TB each of peanut oil and butter 
in the wok over high heat.
Then he dropped in the already cooked rice.
Added in the carrots, jalapeno, red onion,
pineapple, lime zest, and peas.
Stir fry to heat all the way through.
Lastly, Middle Hawthorne
added in a beaten egg and cooked it.
It's ready to serve.

I love the flavor of the glaze.
Piquant, I would say.
 
Crisscross some home-grown scallions
for the taste and the pretty.


Middle Hawthorne makes the best rice.

Tender, juicy chicken.
Accent on glaze.
Supporting rice.
Good stuff, my friends!


1 comment:

Marilyn said...

You're killing me here, Rosie! It's bad enough that I miss fried chicken without you tempting me with these kinds of dishes as well!