Time to set menu. Chicken

[CatPoet]

I need help with chicken dishes.   I will be needing 8 different ones this month  plus  4 chicken curries.   I have chicken breast for the  8 dinners and  thigh for the curries. 

 

I am interested in the pecan chicken dish that some one made here, but I need a recipe with out any ready made soups.

 

As always, I  cant  have  citrus fruits,  coffee,  mould cheese,  rose oil and ready made soup bases.

I cook from scratch and I can get hold of a good white wine, that only cost  3 dollars for a small half bottle, but I also know I can sub white wine in most chicken dishes for Swedish apple cider. Beer I can get hold of,  Parmesan cost too much and so does Parma ham.

 

Help?

[Lisa Shock]

Just off the top of my head, some popular dishes from my catering days:

 

Chicken Country Captain

 

Arroz Con Pollo (although the place I worked at used a recipe without onions & garlic in it, and subbed adobo seasoning for the saffron)

 

Green Chile Chicken Stew you can sub fresh, roasted and seeded and chopped chiles for frozen -they're in season right now.

 

Baked Apricot Chicken I always added a little toasted sesame oil to the sauce.

 

Steamed Lemon Chicken We used whole boneless breasts and steamed in a container that held the sauce and the chicken together. Sometimes, we just served the meat, sometimes we'd thicken the sauce with cornstarch after cooking the chicken and serve with the thickened sauce.

[Smithy]

This is one of my favorite summer treatments, adapted from a recipe in the June/July 2003 issue of Cooking Pleasures magazine: Pesto-stuffed chicken breasts. (Sorry, I can't find a link to such an old issue.) Butterfly the breast, lay and pound it flat, spread with pesto. Roll or fold the breast back up (which you do depends on how thick it is), and tie it. Brown gently - so the breast doesn't get overcooked - in vegetable oil, then add a braising liquid of your choice (water, chicken broth, white wine, a mixture). Cover and give it time to cook, keeping in mind that chicken breast doesn't take long. Remove the breasts to a covered serving dish, and keep warm. Increase the heat under the skillet, and start cooking the sauce down. Toss in cherry tomatoes toward the end, and cook just long enough to warm them, not enough to pop them. Untie the chicken breast, serve the sauce and tomatoes over it. If you wish, you can slice the chicken crosswise to show rolls with bits of pesto in each slice; you can also make extra sauce and serve with rice.

[huiray]

I don't consciously remember you posting meals with a Chinese or E/SE Asian character here (yes, you cook South Asian dishes) so before I offer suggestions - do you cook or are interested in Chinese (South Chinese especially)/South-East Asian/Nyonya dishes?

[FauxPas]

Chicken Marsala is a nice make-ahead and freeze. 

[Blether]

This curry-style baked chicken from Delia Smith is easy and good:  Chicken with Whole Spices - one of my housemates when we were students made it a lot.

[CatPoet]

Lisa Shock : Lemon chicken is out due to  lemon being a citrus fruit.  I have done  Arroz con pollo before, I used a  family friends recipe and I do love it but  I think  wait with , I check the rest of recipes.

Smithy:  That sounds interesting, I have a  recipe  for in  one of my cookbook. I found it last night when I was reading a cookbook before bed.

Huiray:  I do Chinese food from time to time.  My kid love  "ants on  a stick" and  my husband like  fried  rice  and I love  pot stickers but I lost the recipe.

 

FauxPas:  Sound interesting , I will check it up and check how much the wine cost.

 

Blether:  Sounds  interesting, might be  Saturday dinner, since that is curry day.

[Lisa Shock]

Sorry, got carried away thinking about old catering menus!

[CatPoet]

I am pondering the apricot chicken but I need to test the kiddo on apricot, she used to get a very bad tummy from it  when she was little. 

[huiray]

How about some simple stir-fries?  (You don't need a wok)  Slice up the chicken breast(s), against the grain of course.  Something simple then might be: hot oil in frying pan, chopped smashed garlic, fresh ginger sliced or julienned or chopped, chicken pieces, salt, vegetable of your choice suitable for a stir-fry (try celery, green or red bell-type peppers or poblano type etc,** mushrooms - even the standard button mushrooms work, semi-leafy vegetables with slightly harder stems (think kai lan), or even onions chopped into large pieces) cooking the veggies till they are still crunchy (that includes the mushrooms and onions) (If your family does not like crunchy vegetables in a cooked dish then leave out the vegetables altogether) Add some cut-up hot chillies in if you like.  A splash of soy sauce if desired.  Or try fistfuls of trimmed, washed basil (yes, basil) in large-ish pieces (tender stems included if they are tender) tossed in right before the end...Thai basil would be best for this but the standard Italian/Western type works fine too.  Some cooking wine or cooking sake could also be added (except with the basil - I'd leave it out in that case; ditto soy sauce, that would clash w/ the Italian basil IMO) and the chicken slices could be pre-marinated before it hits the frying pan.

Try chicken stir-fried w/ cucumbers and a fresh chilli – Hakka style.  Here's a recipe by the author of "The Hakka Cookbook" using specifically skinless boneless chicken breasts.  (One needs to "join" the site to see the video but the recipe and instructions are visible (click on the button for the details - look on the webpage) without "joining")

How about "poaching" or steeping the chicken breast(s) in gingered hot water? This is similar to how Hainanese chicken or "white cut chicken" is done, except that just the breasts instead of the whole chicken is "steeped/poached".  Smash some ginger, add to a pot of water (enough to cover the breasts plus maybe an inch more), bring to a boil, add the breasts in, return to a simmer/boil and shut off the heat; let the chicken sit in the hot water (salted if desired) till "just" cooked (say, around 15-20 minutes) (cut to test or use a meat thermometer), retrieve from the pot, plunge into cold water, retrieve, slice up (against the grain) and eat with something like ginger-scallion sauce with or without added chopped garlic as well, or with a chilli sauce in the SE Asian style.

These are just a few simple suggestions; the variations and other dishes are many, including ones that are more involved.

 

Do you have access to tamarind, galangal, lemongrass, E/SE Asian-style bean paste(s) or SE Asian-style shrimp paste(s)?  If so the possibilities expand, especially with curries.

 

** ETA:  Especially with peppers, I would tend to toss in fermented black beans into the stir-fry - but you may not have this.

Edited August 24, 2014 by huiray (log)

[CatPoet]

Shrimppaste is a no go,I get ill for it. Good galangal and lemongrass  will be here around November -December.  Tamarind I can get and the bean paste if I am lucky. We was thinking Kung Pao chicken, something we like  but we are out of black  vinegar and that I can only get  4 hours from here.

[huiray]

Shrimppaste is a no go,I get ill for it. Good galangal and lemongrass  will be here around November -December.  Tamarind I can get and the bean paste if I am lucky. We was thinking Kung Pao chicken, something we like  but we are out of black  vinegar and that I can only get  4 hours from here.

 

Ah, OK.  

 

How about soups?  Not the blended-to-smoothness Western types, but the E/SE Asian types with chunks of stuff including chicken pieces in a broth...

 

BTW, the black vinegar is not *needed* or can be substituted with another vinegar in Kung Pao chicken without changing its basic nature, IMO...  Or use balsamic vinegar plus red wine vinegar plus some sugar... The original dish would have peanuts or cashew nuts in it, anyway, and I assume your version does not have these because of your nut allergy. :-) 

 

ETA2: Regarding the "Lemon Chicken" suggested by Lisa Shock - simply leave out the lemon.  That recipe sounds fine to me without the lemon.  If really desired rice or white vinegar could be added instead.  In fact, I myself would also cut down on the amount of sugar used in that recipe.  In other words, use that recipe as a "jumping off point".  The principle there is to steam chicken slices with a savory sauce that includes ginger and scallions, and the rest is up to you.  I myself might incorporate mushrooms (especially shiitake-type), leaving out the lemons; or soy beans of some sort; or bean curd, chopped up or crumbled or, if you have it, "fu yee" or fermented bean curd steeped in rice wine etc.  And so on.

Edited August 24, 2014 by huiray (log)

[FauxPas]

Chicken Marsala in a make and freeze recipe:

 

http://www.foreverandarecipe.com/2012/06/freezer-meal-chicken-marsala.html

[CatPoet]

I am not nut allergic, that is the only thing I am not.

 

I was thinking  dumpling soup with bean sprouts.

 

Oh and  chicken apricot is out, we tested a tiny bit of dried apricot on our daughter and well she ended up on the bog, poor soul.

[patrickamory]

How about a Mughal dish - fragrant chicken braised in yogurt? I love Julie Sahni's version - the recipe is around on the web, here is one link:

 

http://rhosgobel.blogspot.com/2006/02/yogurt-braised-chicken-dahi-murghi.html

 

Takes some time (I definitely recommend the final hour sitting for the flavors to cohere, probably even better the next day), but wonderful. We eat it all the time.

[Katie Meadow]

My easy back-up chicken dish is Nigella Lawson's One Pan Sage and Onion Chicken and Sausage, very easy to find on line. I don't use sausages in mine just chicken. And I often fit in potatoes or carrots in the available space in the pan. Two nice things about this dish: one is that you don't have to sauté the chicken pieces before they go in the oven. The other is that it works equally well with dark and light meat, since it a slow-cooking dish with plenty of juices. You don't even have to turn the chicken pieces over, but I do check to make sure it doesn't need a little extra water or chicken broth about half way through. Prep for marinating is best done the night before, but if you are cooking it later in the day you can probably get away with doing the marinade in the morning. Simple and tasty.

[CatPoet]

Mughal dish: that one is similar to the curry that  my husband asked for. I think it is one spice out.

[Katie Meadow]

It was brought to my attention that I selected a dish that uses lemons, which are on your no-no list. That's what happens when you respond several hours after reading the original post and don't reread, but just start thinking about chicken. What about Ottolenghi's version of Chicken Marbella? It calls for leg-thighs only (which I prefer), olives, dates, capers and white wine. Also gets marinated ahead of time and doesn't require a sauté before baking. Maybe just cranky, but I find that process tiresome and messy. The dish does call for some red wine vinegar; I don't know if your avoidance of lemons is because of the acid, but if so I'm sure this dish would be good without it. In that case I might not add the 1 T of date syrup. Anyway I don't have date syrup around, but I usually do have pomegranate syrup instead.

[CatPoet]

I mostly react to the oil in the peel of citrus fruits  but sometimes the juice and I never know if it  is just blisters around my mouth or swelling, it is random. Husband said no to chicken Marbella, he didnt like  the look of it and I know not to push it then.

 

Can you make chicken Marsala  with porcini?

 

Funny thing is, I gotten idea by looking at the recipe given by you all and then  looking at links on the same page to other chicken dishes.

[Pamela79]

Here is a good recipe: Ingredients

• 2 pounds (6 to 8 pieces) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves and thighs
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cups shelled walnuts (about 1 pound)
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 cups pomegranate molasses, or as needed
• ½ cup grated butternut squash
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon saffron, dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water
• 1 to 2 cups chicken broth or water
• 2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
• Persian steamed white rice, for serving.

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly season chicken with salt and pepper, and sauté in olive oil until lightly golden. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Spread walnuts on a baking sheet, and bake until toasted, about 5 minutes. Once cool to the touch, rub walnut pieces between your palms to shed excess skin. Pulse in a food processor until finely chopped but not pasty. Transfer to a Dutch oven, and add onion and 2 cups water. Place over medium-low heat and simmer, partly covered, stirring it occasionally, for 20 minutes. Add 2 cups pomegranate molasses, sautéed chicken, squash, cinnamon, saffron mixture and 1 cup chicken broth or water.
3. Adjust flavor with sugar, salt and pomegranate molasses, so it is tangy but also a bit sweet. Simmer gently, covered, until the sauce is a dark walnut color with a layer of oil on the surface, 35 to 40 minutes. If the pan looks dry, add additional broth or water as needed. Adjust flavors again, and stir so the walnut oil is well mixed.
4. Bring the mixture to another gentle boil with the lid ajar, then continue to simmer on low heat until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is cooked through, 10 to 20 minutes. Make a final taste test, and adjust flavors to your liking.
5. To serve, stir so that the walnut oil is evenly absorbed. Serve hot with Persian steamed white rice.

 

Courtesy of http://www.cancereffects.com/index.html

 

[kayb]

It's an odd little dish, but my family loves it, so perhaps yours would as well. Not so much a recipe as a technique.

 

Filet your breasts and cut them into 2-4 strips, depending on size -- you don't want bigger than 1 1/2 inches.  Put 1/4 cup chili powder in a bag and shake them to coat lightly. Wrap each strip in a spiral with a piece of bacon -- the thin sliced is better for this, but if you have thick sliced, you can use it if you par-cook it first. Secure with a toothpick and set aside on a plate.

 

Line a roasting pan with foil. In the bottom, put a layer of tiny new potatoes, or fingerlings, and carrot chunks cut about the same size as the potatoes. You can add other cut-up root veggies if you wish, and I think Brussels sprouts would be good, too. Put a rack on top of the potatoes. It can rest directly on them. Roll your bacon-wrapped chicken strips in brown sugar and line up on the rack. Bake the whole thing at 375 until your bacon is crispy and your chicken done. Check your veggies -- you may need to remove the rack, cover the chicken with foil to keep warm, and put the veggies back to finish.

 

The juices from the chicken and bacon do wonderful things to the veggies. Small people tend to like it, as do picky eaters. You could vary the spice as to what's available, but I like the chile/cumin kick of the chili powder.

[CatPoet]

Oh we have done that too!  I have that recipe in a  1980 booklet called  Chicken Americana....  which  add the total up to 7 different dishes with the name Chicken Americana.