Tag: meal planning

  • Three Meals from One Pot of Braised Chicken Thighs

    The best way to avoid tiring of something you take the time to cook ahead is to have your initial cooking session create a product you can use to make other meals. In this case Penny braised a pan of chicken thighs in white wine, ginger, garlic, soy, and scallions. (Here are a bunch of recipes to help you find one to your taste.)

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    For our first meal, we enjoyed the thighs with brown rice, pea pods, and tomatoes. Penny cooked up a big batch of brown rice in our Instant Pot for us to use during a week with a lot of things on our to do lists.

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    On day two, the chicken was shredded and became part of a wok full of fried rice. This was a big batch so that second act for the chicken became two extra meals ready to go. (Just like when we order more takeout than we need for one meal.)

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    The third meal from our pot of braised chicken was a frittata with chicken, pre-cooked sautéed onions, a bit of the rice, a few scallions for color, and some grated pecorino. (Check out this post to learn about having sautéed onions on hand.)

    Judith Jones in her delightful book "The Pleasures of Cooking for One" called this approach to using leftovers, "second rounds." We like that concept!  

    What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

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    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

  • Cool Asian Salad for Spring and Summer

    This cool Asian style salad is perfect for the warmer days of spring and summer. It started out with Penny searching the refrigerator to figure out what to serve with some chicken breasts that had been sous vided with garlic, ginger, scallion, and a touch of toasted sesame oil. 

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    She found napa cabbage, carrot, cucumber, scallions, radishes and pickled ginger. The herb vase on the kitchen counter had Thai basil, mint, parsley, and flowering chives. Since we both love Bun Thit Nuong, that was her inspiration.

    She decided to julienne the vegetables to take the place of the noodles and make a dressing with the same flavor profile as the chicken. That had seasoned rice vinegar, avocado oil, finely sliced pickled ginger, and a touch of toasted sesame oil. The chive flowers were sprinkled on top for color and fun.

            

    Since this was just a salad for two, Penny used her Kuhn Rikon Julienne Peeler to shred a carrot and cucumber. If she were making it for a crowd, she might have taken out a mandoline or used our food processor. The cabbage, radishes, and scallions were sliced thin with a new Wusthof Nakiri knife that we bought on vacation this year.

     

    We both love it and are slowly learning the chopping technique that works best with this style of knife.

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    This made a great lunch! 

    Related Post:

    Bun Thit Nuong: A Fresh, Cool Summer Dish from Vietnam

    What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2017 Penny Cherubino 

  • Cool Asian Salad for Spring and Summer

    This cool Asian style salad is perfect for the warmer days of spring and summer. It started out with Penny searching the refrigerator to figure out what to serve with some chicken breasts that had been sous vided with garlic, ginger, scallion, and a touch of toasted sesame oil. 

    IMG_9328 copy

    She found napa cabbage, carrot, cucumber, scallions, radishes and pickled ginger. The herb vase on the kitchen counter had Thai basil, mint, parsley, and flowering chives. Since we both love Bun Thit Nuong, that was her inspiration.

    She decided to julienne the vegetables to take the place of the noodles and make a dressing with the same flavor profile as the chicken. That had seasoned rice vinegar, avocado oil, finely sliced pickled ginger, and a touch of toasted sesame oil. The chive flowers were sprinkled on top for color and fun.

            

    Since this was just a salad for two, Penny used her Kuhn Rikon Julienne Peeler to shred a carrot and cucumber. If she were making it for a crowd, she might have taken out a mandoline or used our food processor. The cabbage, radishes, and scallions were sliced thin with a new Wusthof Nakiri knife that we bought on vacation this year.

     

    We both love it and are slowly learning the chopping technique that works best with this style of knife.

    IMG_9365

    This made a great lunch! 

    Related Post:

    Bun Thit Nuong: A Fresh, Cool Summer Dish from Vietnam

    What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

    Details:

    Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
    Photos: ©2017 Penny Cherubino