Winner winner chicken dinner
Ok, wow, we all need a time out. Or better yet, an all-hands-on-deck behavioral Team Human review. Angela Merkel and Jacinda Ardern, you're clearly exempt from this. You're both doing great. The U.S. is on first. California? On fire. Colorado? Record heat immediately followed by record snow. Pretty significant election day looming. Brazil? On fire and increasing coronavirus. England? Coronavirus and, still, Brexit. Russia? Still poisoning peeps. Right! Let's just go ahead and put all of us on immediate probation. Before you argue, please don't open your mouth outdoors because there's a highly contagious airborne virus and very poor air quality.
We're back inside, facing new threats and developments in the world. The early days of the pandemic seem adorably naive. We are tired...and yet. We're also learning how to take care of ourselves and others in all of this, so let's focus on that. Let's focus on what we can do for ourselves and, then, how we can show up for the world around us.
Let's cook and let's eat. A chicken dinner may have sounded boring this time last year. But as we've noted, we're all in on the small wins these days.
Here are five ways to make chicken that are equally not-boring and not-difficult.
In Parchment
One of the newest recipes (pictured above) on site comes from Tara "Teaspoon" Bench and her book Live Life Deliciously: chicken in parchment with carrots and golden raisins. It looks and feels special but the flavors are utter comfort and totally delicious. It's healthy and adaptable and given that it's all cooked in parchment, the cleanup is low. I have a feeling it'll be your new go-to.
Chicken Milanese
Use the basic process for the Milanese breading and pan-frying from this NYT recipe, but with a major upgrade: once the chicken is cooked through, turn the heat to its lowest setting and douse the cutlets with a scant 1/2 cup of white vinegar. Continue to cook the cutlets until the vinegar has evaporated. Then, serve the chicken Milanese with this salsa verde. And a side salad of diced tomatoes with mozzarella or an arugula salad dressed with lemon. The difference that vinegar makes in the flavor!? To quote the great Emeril Lagasse, BAM.
Whole, Roasted
There is a unique comfort in roasting a whole chicken, but it is particularly fantastic when that chicken roasts with all of the other components (veggies, even cubed bread) of the dish. If you are intimidated by the idea of roasting a whole chicken, buy skin-on chicken pieces instead and simply adjust the cooking time.
Chicken Coconut Curry
One of my favorite last-minute weeknight dinners is a coconut chicken curry. Creamy and flavorful and slightly spicy, it's on the table in 30 minutes. (FYI, My four year old loves this dish, it's written to be very mild.) Add vegetables with the chicken, butternut squash, cubed potatoes, broccoli or cauliflower. Or add quicker-cooking vegetables at the end: peas, spinach, diced carrots. Add no vegetables whatsoever. Serve with basmati rice and a cold Riesling.
Shawarma-Style
Put in slightly more effort and make Sam Sifton's oven-roasted chicken shawarma, perhaps for a Sunday dinner. It's not that it's hard or tedious. More that this recipe always makes me want to serve a full shawarma-inspired spread. I'll put out store bought labne that I've mixed with sumac and a drizzle of olive oil, I'll toast some naan or pita bread, definitely a bowl of hummus and one of baba ganoush, a little dish of quick-pickled red onions. And toum. That's an afternoon of positive distraction from the worries of the world. Plus you get to eat so deliciously well. Win-win.
What you'll need:
- I cannot stress enough how good the Always pan is,
you cook without one at your own risk
- A playlist with an edge, like our Cooking Vol. 2
- Porter Road's ultra high quality chicken
- Upgrade to a proper chef's knife, seriously
- Lastly, restock your tequila. You know why.
xoxo
Via @newyorkermag