So you are looking for chicken recipes, I presume because you’d like some variety… but you don’t want these recipes to have many ingredients? Do you see the paradox here?
Well, here’s a recipe that sounds like something you’d enjoy preparing:
Ingredients:
1 LB Chicken Breasts (Boneless, skinless. Preferably free-range organic)
Steam
Directions:
Step 1. Apply steam to chicken until chicken reaches desired level of doneness (Chicken will resemble plastic or rubber doggie chew toy).
Step 2. Enjoy!
OK, seriously, I don’t know any simple chicken recipes. Chris Shugart has a saying: “The more you cook, the better you look.” Spend some time in the kitchen, experiment, try some complicated recipes. Your taste buds will thank you. Your stomach will thank you. Your physique will thank you… and possibly most importantly, women will thank you.
Ever look at the ingredients in a typical bottle of BBQ sauce? shudders
Here’s one of my favorite chicken recipes. It’s complicated, has lots of ingredients, and takes some serious time to prepare, but it’s well worth it in my opinion:
Persian Chicken Stew (Khoresh Fesenjan) Served over Saffron Basmati Rice- Serves 4
I first had this from an Iranian restaurant right near my office. It tasted so good I thought it couldn’t possibly be good for me. Boy was I ever wrong!
Stew Ingredients:
-2 tablespoons olive oil or ghee
-2 pounds chicken breast, preferably free-range organic, cut into chunks (see notes)
-1 large onion, cut into thin slices (I like a sweeter onion, like vidalia)
-1 tablespoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon cardamom (optional)
-3 cups pomegranate juice
-1 cup tomato sauce
-1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
-2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
-1 teaspoon salt
-3/4 pound walnuts, processed into a fine meal (be careful not to over-process the walnuts into a nut butter)
-chicken broth as needed
Rice Ingredients:
-1 cup long grain brown basmati rice
-2 cups water
-1/4 teaspoon turmeric
-1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
-1/2 teaspoon olive oil
Directions:
-Heat the olive oil or ghee over high heat in a large pot.
-Add the chicken and saute until just browned on all sides. Remove the chicken to separate platter to rest, retaining as much cooking oil in the pot as possible as well as any of the juices from the chicken.
-Add the onion to the pot and saute until soft, golden and translucent.
-Add the cinnamon and cardamom and continue sauteing for an additional minute until very fragrant.
-Add the pomegranate juice, tomato sauce, lemon juice, molasses and salt, stirring to combine, and bring mixture to a boil.
-Reduce to simmer and stir in walnut meal.
-Return chicken to the pot, Adding just enough chicken broth if the mixture doesn’t cover the chicken sufficiently or if mixture is too thick. Simmer until chicken is cooked through.
-Meanwhile, as the chicken cooks, rinse rice under cold water thoroughly until water runs clear.
-In a small pot, add water and stir in turmeric until dissolved.
-Add rice, saffron threads and olive and and bring to a boil.
-Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed.
Serve the stew over the rice along with your favorite green veggies.
Notes:
-Depending on your physique or dietary goals, you can choose to use skinless and boneless chicken to reduce fat content, or not. Just be sure to adjust the cooking time accordingly, skinless and boneless chicken taking less time to cook.
-I rarely if ever measure out any of my ingredients when I cook so these are approximations. You may want to adjust the recipe to suit your tastes. Too sweet? Reduce the molasses. Too bitter? Add more molasses or less lemon juice. Etc. Play around with the recipe and make it yours. Most importantly, have fun!