Chicken and Veggie Pasta Salad

15 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by Keebug in Main Dishes, Salads, Side Dishes and Vegetables, Uncategorized

Tags

black olives, broccoli, cauliflower, chicken, pasta, pasta salad, rotini, salad, vegetables

This is the most delicious, crunchy, delicious, fresh, delicious, satisfying pasta salad you’ll ever dream of tasting. Did I mention it’s delicious?

My mom makes this one all the time and a hilariously favorite memory from my childhood is the time my mom was going to be super busy working all week one summer when my brother and I were around 11 and 14, respectively. She made a gigantic Tupperware bowl full of this salad and we were supposed to eat it for lunch all week long. You remember those green 1980’s Tupperware bowls that you could sit in? One of those. My brother was this knock-knee’d, pre-pubescent, bottomless pit and I’m sure we’d been swimming and he’d been working up an appetite all day. Well, when my mom arrived home that evening, she found him sitting Indian-style with the giant green bowl in his lap eating the last morsels of this salad with a kitchen spoon the size of his head. It didn’t even make it past Day 1. Where that kid put the food, I’ll never know.

My recipe varies just a bit from my mom’s, so I’m sure once this is posted I’ll get an email subtlety alerting me to where I’ve gone wrong. But, that’s my burden to bear. So here’s how you make it.

The ingredients:

1 lb. tri-color rotini
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 med-large FINELY diced red onion
2 cups FINELY diced cauliflower
2 cups FINELY diced broccoli
1 can large black olives, sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 bottle La Martinique True French Viniagrette
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
Seasonings: cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic powder

So, here’s the secret to this particular recipe. Tiny, tiny diced vegetables. I mean like half-the-size-of-a-dime tiny. And don’t buy those gross pre-sliced olives. Get the large or jumbo olives and slice them yourself, lazy. From there it’s just a tiny bit of cooking and a stir to combine.

Dice up your veggies. Remember…TINY. Cauliflower, broccoli, red onion. Toss them into a giant green 1980’s Tupperware bowl. Or a regular big bowl, as I’ve done below. You’ll lose the vintage-y aspect, but it will taste exactly the same.

Now slice up the olives and throw those in, too.

In the meantime, cook your pasta to the specifications on the back of the box and let it drain.

Now, in the same pot you’ve just poured your pasta out of, add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Add in the chicken breast pieces that you’ve just diced…also TINY. Season them liberally with cayenne pepper, garlic powder, a bit of salt, and black pepper. I use a lot of cayenne because it’s the only spicy thing that’s in this salad and I like-a the spicy.

Stir to incorporate the seasonings and cook until just done. Here’s what the process looks like (steamy pics to follow).

Now add the pasta and chicken to the veggies in the bowl. Season again with a bit more salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Now, just add a big dollop of dijon mustard and about 3/4 of a well-shaken bottle of La Martinique. This dressing really is imperative. No impostors will be accepted.

Simply stir to incorporate and refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving. Because you added the dressing while it was still hot, it may soak it up and appear a bit dry when you’re ready to eat it. Simply add the remaining 1/4 bottle of dressing to moisten it back up. Enjoy from 2 feet in front of the TV while eating directly from the bowl with a giant mixing spoon. Or like a regular person. Your call.

Chicken & Vegetable Stir Fry with Fried Rice

23 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by Keebug in Main Dishes, Side Dishes and Vegetables, Uncategorized

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chicken, chinese, fried rice, stir fry, vegetables

Most Sundays I like to sit around the house in my pj’s watching Netflix nursing an Azalea hangover until it’s Game of Thrones time. The typical hangover Sunday dinner tradition is to peruse the Shenghai II delivery menu for about an hour before ordering the same thing I always do and having one of my two favorite delivery boys, Mike or Earl, deliver it to my door while I apologize for looking the way I do. MOST Sundays.

Last Sunday I decided I didn’t want to spend $20 on takeout that I was sure to only eat about $4 of before putting in the fridge and throwing it out 3 days later. It was like I turned into a grown up for an evening. A hungover grown up in her pj’s on her couch at 5pm. It’s the best I can do. A semi-grown up in pj’s that still wanted Chinese food. Solution: Stir Fry. And, of course, fried rice. That’s right, because I’ve been absent with recipes for a couple of weeks due to a hectic schedule on my end, you guys get a two-fer this week. You’re welcome.

I’m not gonna lie, you need a shit ton of ingredients to make this particular stir fry, but you could certainly scale back on the veggies and use what you have in your fridge. This recipe also works with beef, shrimp or even tofu for you vegetarian weirdos.

The ingredients (that I used):

2.5-3 cups cold cooked white rice
2 eggs
1/2 large yellow or white onion
1 lb chicken breast
1/2 zucchini
1 large carrot
4 fresh broccoli florets
1 stalk of celery
1/4 cup frozen green peas
3 cloves garlic
2-3 green onions
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 cup chicken stock
2 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
chili oil
sesame oil
soy sauce
red pepper flakes
vegetable or stir fry oil

Not to sound all Rachel Ray-ey here, because I would drop kick that annoying, pancake-faced, flat-chested little wench given even the smallest opportunity…but the rule does apply: Need it twice? Chop it once.

Many of the same ingredients will go into both the stir fry and fried rice, so even though they get chopped differently, do all your prep work up front and then you’ll be ready to cook. The cooking goes quickly, the prep…not so much, depending on how fast you are with a knife.

Start with the chicken. I used super thin ribbony slices of white meat.

I set the chicken aside in a bowl and mixed in 1 1/2 tablespoons of corn starch, red pepper flakes (to your liking), and about 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce. That can chill in the fridge out while you’re doing the rest. With the remaining 1 tablespoon of corn starch, you’ll make a slurry. Basically, you need to mix it with a whisk or fork into about a cup of cold chicken stock and set it aside (sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step).

Zucchini. I like to chop mine into ribbons, so that they’re about the same size as the chicken. Put it on a large plate for all your stir fry veggies.

Carrot. Peel it. Cut about 2/3 the same way you cut the zucchini and the last 3 into a smaller dice for the fried rice. Separate them onto their respective plates.

Onion. I used 1/2 a large onion and diced half of it for the fried rice and slivered the other half for the stir fry.

Broccoli. Slice about 4 large florets thinly for the stir fry.

Celery. Slice about 1/2 stalk into ribbons for the stir fry.

Green onions. I used 2-3 and chopped them on the bias. 1/2 for stir fry, 1/2 for fried rice.

Garlic. About 4 cloves, finely chopped for stir fry.

Ginger. Peel and finely chop about 1 tablespoon. More if you like more ginger. Less if you like less ginger. None if you don’t like ginger. Duh. It goes on the stir fry plate.

Now you should be all ready and prepared to begin cooking. Get your ingredients all set by the stove. This goes pretty fast.

Fried rice first. Get your shit together.

Heat a pan or wok to med-high heat and coat with about 1 1/2-2 tablespoons of oil. Add your veggies (minus the peas) and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Then add the eggs and scramble while you stir fry.

Next, once the eggs are just cooked, add in the cold rice and keep stirring.

Now add in about 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and 1/2 tablespoon of chili oil and stir, stir, stir. I season with red pepper flake, too, but that’s your call. I like it spicy.

Finally, add the frozen green peas and stir fry for about another minute before transferring to a plate. Give it a taste. It’s delicious.

The perfect use for leftover rice any day of the week. Not just Hangover Sunday.

But wait! There’s more!

I switched pans because my wok is super small, but if you have a big wok (wink, wink), use it for both and clean one pan…like a boss!

It’s stir fry time. Get your stuff within arm’s reach. This goes fast, too.

Add about 2 tablespoons of oil to a pan or wok over medium high heat. To that, add your garlic and ginger and stir fry about 30 seconds.

To that, add the chicken that has been marinating in the soy, pepper, and corn starch. Stir fry that just until it starts to get some color.

Now start adding your vegetables. They can all pretty much go in at once. Stir, stir, stir.

After about 1 minute, it’s time to add the chicken stock/corn starch slurry that you mixed up earlier. Pour that in and let it come to fast boil while you continue stirring. It should begin to thicken after boiling. Keep stirring for about 1 minute. Add in about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and a splash of chili and sesame oil.

After a couple minutes of stirring and sauce thickening, it’s all done!

Enjoy your Sunday Hangover dinner without having to open the door to a delivery boy half naked this week! Best when served hot while watching Game of Thrones.

Garlic Basil Green Beans with Mushrooms

28 Saturday May 2016

Posted by Keebug in Side Dishes and Vegetables

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Tags

basil, garlic, green beans, mushrooms, side dish, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian

I don’t have babies. I just never wanted one of my own. I always thought I’d make an exception when Anthony Bourdain, Clint Eastwood, or Ryan Gosling asked me to, but strangly enough, they never came a-knocking. Whenever I’m around kids for extended periods of time my ovaries tie themselves up in knots.

I will confess, however, that I enjoy when my friends get pregnant. It helps to keep me out of the bars…a little. One of my nearest and dearest friends, Casandra, is currently expecting a little girl. So, instead of hanging like we used to, in a smoky bar demolishing a bottle of midshelf vodka, now we cook dinner and watch Game of Thrones. It’s a nice break for me…sometimes. Because I still like my vodka and am always drinking for two. Plus, she makes a pretty adorable pregnant person where I’m sure I’d just gain 100 lbs and have thighs that went all the way down to my feet. Here she is, smiling and happy with totally normal-sized ankles:

The other night Casandra and I got together to cook a dinner that anyone, pregnant chick or not, would be proud to eat and decided to create a blog post on one of my favorite go-to side dishes: fresh sauteed green beans with garlic and mushrooms. Yummmm.

The ingredients:

Fresh green beans
3-5 toes of garlic
sliced mushrooms
extra virgin olive oil
dried basil
salt
freshly ground pepper

First, prep your green beans. I chop or break off the viney-stem end and give them a good rinsing. Easy as that.

Next, finely chop your garlic and slice the mushrooms. We didn’t take a picture of slicing the mushrooms but we’re assuming you can use your imagination here.

Fill a deep skillet with water, bring it to a boil, salt it liberally, then add your beans.

You just want to blanch them. Cook them in the boiling water until they’re just tender enough to eat but still have lots of “snap” in them. Test them to be sure they’re perfect before you pull them off to drain and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process. Here’s adorable pregnant Cass doing the “green bean test”.

Yep. They’re perfect! Drain and shock them in cold water and let’s move on.

In the same pan, add a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and begin sauteing your garlic.

Next, add the mushrooms.

Now, add about 1/2-1 tablespoon of dried basil and some fresh cracked pepper and let that all saute until it’s cooked over medium heat.

At this point, I have to physically restrain myself from eating the garlic and mushrooms out of the pan with a pair of tongs. Do what you must.

Now add the green beans back into the pan and saute them with all that mushroomy-garlicy goodness until they’re steaming hot again. Add some sea salt and stir until everything is hot and perfect.

The entire process happens in less than about 12 minutes and these are best when hot, fresh and right off the stove so plan on making them last, when everything else is almost done so they don’t sit around.

Now all that’s left to do is to enjoy this perfect side dish and soak up all your accolades for being the best damn green bean cook this side of the Mississippi.

Homemade Chicken Stock…a necessity.

15 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by Keebug in Soups

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

broth, chicken, fresh, stock, vegetables

I have a dark confession to make. At any given moment in time I have multiple bags in my freezer with the word “carcass” written on them. It’s a Dahmer-like obsession with rich and delicious stock…that good, homemade stuff that makes Swanson cry with shame. Chicken carcasses, turkey carcasses, ham bones…just because you’ve devoured all that meat doesn’t mean there isn’t still some greatness inside those bones. I toss my sad, little skeletons (sorry vegans…but, really, why are you even here reading this?) into freezer bags and save them for when I have an hour or two free to turn them into something delicious.

Tonight I was making soup, so I pulled a bag labelled “chicken carcass” out of my freezer and promptly got to work.

This super simple recipe serves as a delicious base for so many more main dishes, gravies, and soups.

After cooking your stock, let it cool and ladle it into quart sized freezer bags, then lay them flat to freeze for easy storage. Simply pull one out every time a recipe calls for broth, stock or even water and dazzle your guests with rich flavor. That’s right…DAZZLE.

To be more metal about the whole thing, consider labeling your stock bags “carcass soup”…just an idea.

Stock will keep for about 6 months in the freezer.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients:

1 chicken carcass (this one is from a chicken I roasted around Valentine’s Day)
1 onion
1 lemon (or not)
handful of carrots (baby or quartered full size)
bay leaves (about 4-6)
4-6 stalks of celery
handful of parsley
salt/pepper

Place your carcass of choice into a large, heavy stock pot. Like I said, this little chicken’s frozen and not looking too appetizing right now. Tossing him in frozen is just fine.

Dump in a big handful of carrots.

Add 4-6 bay leaves. I use bay leaves in anything with liquid. It’s just what I learned growing up in LA. To be perfectly honest, I’m not even entirely sure what flavor they add. Having said this, I remain steadfast that are imperative and cannot be left out. 😉

Now quarter an onion and add that to the pot.

Now’s the time when I quarter a lemon and add that to the pot. There’s some dispute over the lemon addition so if it’s not to your taste, feel free to omit it. I just think it adds a fresh, bright flavor.

Now all that’s left to add is your celery and parsley. Just shove ’em in there.

Now add a palmful of salt and a palmful of black peppercorns to season.

All that’s left to do now is cover it all with water, up to the brim, and bring to a rolling boil. I lay a wooden spoon across the top of the pot to keep it from boiling over. I found that little gem of a tip on a “life hack” blog. I like to read those to keep an up to date list of people who I think deserve to die for using the phrase “life hack”.

After about ten minutes, turn the heat down but keep your stock at a low boil for about an hour or until the water line has gone down from the rim at least an inch and a half or two inches. Then, make yourself a little setup like this one (always in the sink to avoid catastrophe), and slowly pour out your pot…bones, veggies, carcass soup and all.

The colander will catch the solids and leave you with a bowl of rich, delicious goodness that’ll have you ready to get busy cookin’ or get busy dyin’ (gratuitous Shawshank reference for no reason at all).

Enjoy your new found Swanson-less, flavor-full life. You’re welcome!

thefizzlenet

~ Food and Funnies

Tag Archives: vegetables

Chicken and Veggie Pasta Salad

Chicken & Vegetable Stir Fry with Fried Rice

Garlic Basil Green Beans with Mushrooms

Homemade Chicken Stock…a necessity.