So, there I was sitting at lunch yesterday, chatting with coworkers and enjoying my meal. We're talking food. Of course. The conversation, while I don't remember how it started, happened to fall upon salting one's food and how it is perceived by others around you; showing your personality. It is said that if you salt your food prior to tasting it, then you are one to make certain assumptions prior to testing, and tend to jump to conclusions. And if you're one to taste your food first, and then salt after if necessary, you are a more cautious person, not one to jump to assumptions. This method has been used by employers taking potential job candidates out to lunch. Now, I find this interesting, because for me, I taste and salt later, which would "tell" you that I don't make assumptions. But if you know me, I'm the first one to jump into a situation with "well I think this and that" and am far too over opinionated for my own good. But enough about me, back to salt.
Pre-salting your food can also seen as a great insult to the chef. You're, again, making an assumption that the food is not good enough and requires salt before you even taste it. But, you can look at the other way too and one who tastes and salts afterwards can be viewed the same way. I did experience this once with a family member; only it wasn't salt, it was hot sauce. Before I knew that he hot sauced everything, I was quite insulted to watch him "ruin" several of my meals with hot sauce over, and over, and over again. Until I learned, he just liked things hot. So, it is the same with salt. One who salts, simply, just likes salt. Regardless, I do tend to under-salt most of my food, for that very reason. I let my diner salt it up to their desire, and I will add other spices to compliment. So, word to the novice chef, salt is good but too much salt is bad. Use your discretion and cater to the crowd you're serving.
Anyhow, back to lunch. I was asked what it is that I'm eating, because apparently, it looks good. When I told them it was just a simple throw together meal, they insisted I provide the ingredients and was asked if it was on my blog. Of course it was not, it's not "gourmet." I just tossed some stuff together! Pretty sure I saw a similar recipe on
Worst Cooks in America. So I'm embarrassed to admit how stupidly simple this recipe is, but if executed correctly can feed a family of 4, with leftovers and can pass as dinner no problem and is disguised as gourmet. I was so taken by the compliment however, that sure, I'll toss it up on the blog for others to enjoy. After all, I was only playing with new variations of an old recipe. Anyone remember
Chicken Tonight? Yeah, it's like that, only now mine is "semi-homemade" and yes, that theme song resonates through my brain the whole time I make this dish.
Ingredients:
Rice, just plain white
Chicken, I use both breast and thigh (boneless)
Green beans, frozen
Mushrooms, canned or fresh (I used canned as I was in a rush and no fresh in the fridge)
Cream of Mushroom Soup (any brand, but really, Cambell's is best)
Salt & Pepper to taste
- But Jenn, how much of everything? Well, now that depends on how many people you want to serve. You know how much chicken you, personally, can eat. How much can your toddler/child eat? How much can your husband eat? Decide if you need 2 breasts and 1 Thigh, etc. (yes, that's what I used) And since I can't stand leftover rice, I just did 1/2c uncooked rice to 1c water. 1 small can of mushrooms, and I pour the green beans in until it "just looks right." And the soup is a regular 8oz can.
Prepare your Rice: I've been getting creative lately with my rice, trying to give plain white rice some pizazz and flavoring up my food. My absolute favorite rice is Jasmine rice. But it's not cheap, so I really only make it with meals that I know it's going to compliment nicely. And having had and love jasmine rice, plain old white rice is now just extremely boring. So, here's how I prep my white rice. In the water that you're boiling for the rice (according to the package directions), I add SALT. Yep, that's right, I pre-salt my rice water. It's a must in this case. How much? You decide. 1T for 1c uncooked rice usually does well. But you know me, I don't measure, so it's just an estimate. Along with the salt, I am now adding dry parsley. Again, how much? Just toss some in until it looks "right." Why parsley? Well, it adds some pretty color to the rice and flavors it
just enough. Parsley has a flavor, but not over powering. So, boil your water, add your rice, cook according to directions.
Prepare the Chicken: If your chicken is defrosted, cut it up into bite size cubes. If it's not defrosted, get it to that state in your preferred method and then cut it into bite size cubes. Get them into a frying pan with 2T olive oil, salt and pepper, and cook them on Med-High until golden brown on the outside. Once brown, add your mushrooms and cook until also heated through. Once the mushrooms are done, toss in your frozen green beans and the can of mushroom soup + 1/2 that same can of milk. (Meaning, empty the soup from the can into the pan, then fill 1/2 that same can with milk and add that to the pan as well.) Get everything stirred in nicely together and bring it to a soft boil and let simmer until the green beans are cooked through and the soup is hot.
Make Your Dish: I have a saucer bowl that I like to use for dishes like this, but you can also use a plate or an actual bowl. On the plate/bowl lay down 1/2-3/4c of the rice. Next to that, pour in 1-2c of the chicken mixture. I like to let the chicken and rice overlap a bit, since by the end I've completely stirred everything together. But it starts out visually appealing anyhow.
Enjoy: Now, you can sit down and enjoy a meal that literally just took you 20 minutes to make. And it only took that long because the rice had to cook. If you have leftover rice, you can cut your cook time in half! A 10 minute meal, yes please!!! Oh yeah, and don't forget to place the salt on your table. It's bound to happen, no matter what you cook, no matter how much you season, so just chalk it up to personal preference, don't look into it and know that you placed a fine meal on the table, salt or no salt.
(No picture of this meal since I hadn't planned on sharing it - perhaps next time I make it, I'll snap a few and edit for historical purposes)
1. In an 8 cup pot, drizzle olive oil in the bottom and place in chives and garlic. Saute on med heat until the garlic is brown and chives are softened. Add to that your kielbasa and cook until browned, continuously stirring so as not to burn the bottom too much. It's OK if some of it turns brown. That's called "fond" and it's flavor. Besides it goes away in this next step.
2.) Take meat out, retaining juices and oil in the pan. Set aside in bowl for later. Pour the rice into the pot. Stir briefly then, then splash with the sweet vermouth. If you HAVE to measure, it was probably 1/4 cup. Keep stirring until the vermouth is absorbed into the rice.
3.) Pour 1 cup of chicken broth in and bring to simmer on low. You don't ever want this to boil, just a soft simmer. Continue to stir. We don't want the water the boil away, we want the rice to absorb it. Continue to add water at 1/2 to 3/4 cup at a time. Wait until you have nothing but rice left before adding the next addition of water. This WILL TAKE FOREVER. Or approximately 30 minutes, of you standing there stirring rice and adding stock. But it's SO worth it. When you have just 1-1/2 c of stock left, dump the kielbasa back into the pot with 1/2 cup of water and continue to stir and let it absorb.
