Entry tags:
The Booze Might Be Helping
Haven't done a recipe post in a few months, have I?
I've been doing a lot of Korean and Chinese lately - I got a few new Chinese cookbooks from my mom, and when I'm stressed out and tired I tend to default to my comfort tastes, which mostly means loads of garlic and enough heat to take the roof off my mouth. Plus, my wok is the easiest pan in my kitchen to cook with. Today I realized that I should probably eat the potato in my pantry before it started growing new potatoes, though, so I decided to take a short trip back in the general direction of Western Europe. Too hot and tired to bother with following a real recipe, so I came up with this, which I am calling Lazy Twenty-Something Coq Au Vin. Because it is like coq au vin, in that it is chicken cooked in booze, but without all the pain in the ass of having to use a casserole dish, or deal with an entire chicken's worth of leftovers, or buy one of those bags of tiny onions you don't use for anything else.
1 chicken thigh (I use the big boneless skinless thighs you get in 8-packs at the grocery, ymmv on whether this is enough for you)
4 mushrooms (baby bella are good, or plain white, whatever you have on hand
1/2 onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons chicken stock (you can tweak the percentages of broth and water - I mostly did it this way because I forgot I was adding broth until I was already halfway through)
1 scant tablespoon brown sugar
Thinly slice the mushrooms and onions and mince the garlic. Mix together the wine, water, stock, and sugar. Cut the chicken into strips, you want them to be fairly uniform and thin. Just before cooking, dredge the chicken in flour. Heat a pan (I used my cast iron pan, because I love it) over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned on both sides. Remove the chicken. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the onions and mushrooms. Cook until the onions are limp and the mushrooms are well browned and soft, about 2-3 minutes. remove the onions and mushrooms. Add the wine mixture to the pan. Reduce over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and onions and mushrooms back the pan, tossing to coat in the wine sauce. Cover and cook over medium-low to medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the wine sauce is pretty much cooked down. Serve with some hearty sides - I had it with a head of pan-steamed broccoli and some fried potatoes, which was pretty much perfect.
Hard to sustain any negative feelings toward the universe when I am full of delicious food. Delicious food that was cooked in booze, even.
I've been doing a lot of Korean and Chinese lately - I got a few new Chinese cookbooks from my mom, and when I'm stressed out and tired I tend to default to my comfort tastes, which mostly means loads of garlic and enough heat to take the roof off my mouth. Plus, my wok is the easiest pan in my kitchen to cook with. Today I realized that I should probably eat the potato in my pantry before it started growing new potatoes, though, so I decided to take a short trip back in the general direction of Western Europe. Too hot and tired to bother with following a real recipe, so I came up with this, which I am calling Lazy Twenty-Something Coq Au Vin. Because it is like coq au vin, in that it is chicken cooked in booze, but without all the pain in the ass of having to use a casserole dish, or deal with an entire chicken's worth of leftovers, or buy one of those bags of tiny onions you don't use for anything else.
1 chicken thigh (I use the big boneless skinless thighs you get in 8-packs at the grocery, ymmv on whether this is enough for you)
4 mushrooms (baby bella are good, or plain white, whatever you have on hand
1/2 onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons chicken stock (you can tweak the percentages of broth and water - I mostly did it this way because I forgot I was adding broth until I was already halfway through)
1 scant tablespoon brown sugar
Thinly slice the mushrooms and onions and mince the garlic. Mix together the wine, water, stock, and sugar. Cut the chicken into strips, you want them to be fairly uniform and thin. Just before cooking, dredge the chicken in flour. Heat a pan (I used my cast iron pan, because I love it) over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned on both sides. Remove the chicken. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the onions and mushrooms. Cook until the onions are limp and the mushrooms are well browned and soft, about 2-3 minutes. remove the onions and mushrooms. Add the wine mixture to the pan. Reduce over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and onions and mushrooms back the pan, tossing to coat in the wine sauce. Cover and cook over medium-low to medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the wine sauce is pretty much cooked down. Serve with some hearty sides - I had it with a head of pan-steamed broccoli and some fried potatoes, which was pretty much perfect.
Hard to sustain any negative feelings toward the universe when I am full of delicious food. Delicious food that was cooked in booze, even.