Friday, January 24, 2014

Free Range Friday ~ Chicken Again, Ma?


I can't help it, I really like chicken. Frankly I should hate it because I sure have eaten enough of it over the years. But when you find a bag of flash frozen all natural chicken thighs here for six bucks, it's chicken time again! Toss in some fidelo and life is good. Ok, and a couple more things too.

Do not put a horse in your chicken dish.
Onward.

MJ's Chicken with Fideo

We start out with our old friends, garlic and shallot. Which would also be good pet names.

Saute in a bit of olive oil

Lay down your chicken thighs, skin side down (unless you've got skinless, in which case, do the obvious)

On a low heat, brown them, while getting a pot of water boiling for the fideo
Did I forget to mention the marsala? Well, don't you forget it! It's key. During the browning, pour in about a half cup. If it evaporates too much, pour in some more. It will make a very rich sauce. Just writing this is making my mouth water. It was that good. Just remember, really low heat. Because this is electric rather than the propane I'm used to using, it's a re-learning curve, but entirely possible.

Toss in a dollop of olive oil and some salt into your pasta water.

I've only managed once, in my entire life, to cook this and keep it 'nest-like'

This was not going to be the second time

I really like this garlic chili sauce. It could be hotter, but for lots of things, it doesn't need to kick you to have enough heat.

While the fideo was cooking, I deboned the chicken. If I was serving it to others, I'd have left it on. Maybe. Chicken bones, if you aren't at a picnic where bones are handy to hang on to while you're eating, rather than concentrating on balancing your plate, they end up being sort of like shrimp tails. It's a good presentation but they really are just more of, what do I do with this now?

How I pretend I eat

How I really eat
Yes, of course there should be vegetables here. You could easily have vegetables in this - I'd steam them and add them near the end myself. Unless it's mushrooms. Which would have been really really good in this. Use what you have. Enjoy! I'll go to the veggie guy today, I promise.

Buen provecho!

If a horse looks at you like this, you might invite him or her over for a meal. Do not feed chicken to a horse. Of course.
 Have a flyaway Friday. Do something freshly fruitful.




4 comments:

  1. The thigh is the least used, but the best part of a chicken. Marsala, yum yum!

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    Replies
    1. I love cooking with Marsala, about on a par with sherry, which I can get addicted to cooking with...probably too much! Thighs rock!

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  2. When you start something with garlic and shallot, it's hard to go wrong.

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