chicken breast, potato with sweet corn

A frozen chicken breast is thawed, coated with seasoned flour in a single layer and fried in vegetable oil flavored with bacon fat.

A small potato is precooked and mixed with whole-kernal corn and onion and then fried.

A pan gravy is prepared.

The chicken breast is one of a dozen or so that is marketed frozen in a family-size zip-lock bag.  It looks very unpromising, forlorn and coated with freezer frost

When I was a rambunctious little sprog held in fealty to the heavy-handed guidance of parents that valued discipline as much as they valued kids being kids, I wasn't allowed to play with my food. God, I hated that word, discipline. Whoever invented discipline must have been German or something, possibly Nordic. I was not cut out for it. Naturally, I played with my food anyway, surreptitiously. Mounds of mashed potatoes were mountains, gravy was lava, the mashed potato volcano inevitably poured out onto the corn town, the asparagus trees and Brussels sprouts bushes were all destroyed. It all ended up ineluctably in one combined mess on my plate from which I partook in recombined bits. I appreciated potatoes with corn and other various things mixed in it. It seems natural. 

My sister, the disturbed neurotic little minx, the troublesome one, not the lovely balanced one, could not have the elements on her plate touch each other. She would completely flip out if the gravy was on the meat or on the potatoes. Salads were kept separated and not touching on another plate. Something happened in her unique development somewhere along the line because she is no longer weird that way. She is still a bit toxic, and it is wise to maintain a healthy distance, but she is no longer dramatic in that particular way. Somehow she outgrew it. 

I never did outgrow my own childish ways, in fact, I am a lot worse. 

The scale wouldn't stop vacillating between 12-something and 13-something ounces, but whatever it is exactly, it is big. Half this size would have been fine.

The potato is half the weight of the chicken breast and that seems a strange reversal. 

This is a sweet onion, and Man, it is really sweet too. The potato-corn mixture tasted like sugar was added. 

The frying pan will have triple duty tonight. First the chicken, then the potato mixture which is basically already cooked, then a fast gravy.

Two plastic grocery bags were used to prepare the chicken. The breast was pounded flat in one bag and dusted with seasoned flour in another. Air was blown into the second bag like a balloon to check for holes before the flour was added. Three guesses as to how I learned to employ this precaution. Go on, guess. 

Here, a baked potato is microwaved then smashed in its skin and combined right in the frying pan with sweet corn that is processed, like a pre-masticated aid to digestion of those difficult kernels. Masa harina is included in small amount, hydrated by the moisture in the potato, to bind the combination so that the whole mixture becomes similar to a gigantic rustic rough fried monster gnocchi. With onion. It is an experiment that harkens back to childhood fooling around with my plate, but now there is no one here to monitor my behavior and tell me to knock it off. 

ARTS ! 

Conclusion: potato with processed corn, masa harina, and onion is a fantastic combination. I do not know why this is not famous. I can see how it can be easily refined to something suitable for service. 

Processing the whole-kernal corn is a good idea. Whole kernels are nice visually, but come on, they do take an excess of serious chewing to be thorough about it. The other day I tested to see how thoroughly I could actually chew whole-kernel corn and each mouthful I kept chewing and chewing and chewing and chewing and chewing, grinding away between my molars until finally the remainder was reduced to something akin to cud that wouldn't reduce any further. The whole time I was thinking, this is ridiculous. There has to be a better way. 

* ding * 

EQUIPMENTS !

potato cakes

Russet potato shredded in Cuisinart along with a clove of garlic. Rinsed. Boiled, nearly boiled that is, for one minute. Spun. That rids the potato of surface starch which I don't like and ends the enzymatic action going on in there. Some people want the surface starch to remain. I don't.

Diced onion held in a strainer in the hot water for about 30 seconds to shrink and remove the raw sting.

Two eggs, breadcrumbs, salt/pepper, cayenne pepper, Italian seasoning mixed in a bowl. Shredded potato with onion and garlic added to the mixture in the bowl, divided into patties and fried in olive oil / butter until browned. Delicious, I tell you, delicious.

Chicken breast pounded flat and fried.

Homemade mayonnaise with ginger and garlic with a tiny bit of sugar added. Cooked in a bowl over steaming water while stirring to 140° F / 60°C. I do stand there whisking with one of these

And watch the temperature rise. The mixture is already thick enough for a decent mayonnaise sauce but right at 135° F / 57° C ))) schwing ((( it suddenly goes much thicker all at once. That's what the commercial mayonnaise companies do. They use egg whites, which accounts for its lack of color, and cook it. That way the mayonnaise confidently be stored for much longer.

shrimp and scallop polenta

protein and sauce	popcorn polenta
Thai curry, chipotle, garlic, mustard ↑
pineapple and mango ↑

Oh, my God, I almost forgot to put in a tomato! That would have left me tomatoless.

The pineapple and mango up there was frozen from fresh, and it sure comes in handy.

Notice butter and chicken broth is in both columns? I also added a little bit of wine and a tiny bit of sugar but I didn't show that. Also salt and pepper.

If I had coconut milk, then I'd have used that. [note to self: buy coconut milk]

This has become one of my favoritest things in the whole world. Popcorn polenta. With chicken this time. I do not know why. The chicken breast, pardon me, 'chest,' was thawed and must be used and because I wanted this to have a little bit more substance on account of I've been feeling very thin lately. Now that I have some discernible body fat, I want to keep it. It's fun. I like jiggling it. I set up little army men on my stomach and pretend they're taking the hill. I push it out and go around pretending I'm preggers. No srsly, I had a dream last night where I was showing off my six-pack abs, posing seductively and acting all sexy, then I woke up and thought, "You know what? That's disgusting. Stop it."

stuffed chicken breast

* Flattened chicken breasts. These were pounded while still partially frozen. I should have waited a little longer, it would have been much easier. I made a LOT of noise and my demure unobtrusive self objects to that.

* Seasoned with S/P, and dusted with Thai curry.

* The stuffing is boxed cornbread stuffing that was in the pantry for years. It had to go. It's not that great, in fact, anything I would make by hand would be better. Come to think of it, they said something about a flavor packet and I didn't notice one of those. I flavored with my own seasoning anyway, and I can always out-season any season packet. No brag, just fact. Celery was added along with onion and a lot of diced dried apricots and pecans. This did not improve it much. It would make an acceptable side dish with a substantial gravy. I would not be proud to serve the stuffing to guests.

* Held together with toothpicks.

* Dusted with flour, drenched in beaten egg, rolled in Panko bread crumbs

* Baked at 400℉ / 205℃ for forty-five minutes.

Conclusion: These were slightly overcooked (internal temperature 185℉ / 85℃). They are too dry. The stuffing could be a lot more moist or possibly contain cheese. Lime juice squirted liberally and handmade mayonnaise for the lettuce did not help. They need a sauce and a lot of it. They're not as good as plain pan-seared flattened chicken breasts which are easier. To be frank, these are not even interesting as novelty. They're not hopeless. If they were made smaller, maybe children might like them. I think the idea is better with fish. They were easier to bread than I was imagining.

My favorite thing was the apple.

update: That stuffing did have a flavor packet. Opened it, smelled fairly strong. Parsley mostly, and a bunch of other unidentified brown stuff, probably dehydrated chicken broth, dried onion, powdered garlic, those sorts of things. I really should have used it when evaluating the product even though I added my own flavorings. It would probably have been better.

chicken breast, mustard greens and spinach

Spinach and mustard greens

* bacon

* red onion

* garlic

* mustard greens trimmed

* spinach, rinsed and trimmed

* brown sugar

* rice vinegar

* S/P

* pecans heated in microwave

Chicken dusted, drenched in beaten egg, dredged in Panko. Potatoes were cut and prepared earlier and frozen. They were cooked with the the chicken breast in the same oil at 350℉.

sliced chicken breast

Or scaloppini or escalloped or thin little discs, this is for a friend who asked.

The flour can be flavored with whatever dry herb you want to get rid of, I mean, would like to use. Being this thin, best to stick with a light dusting of flour with salt and pepper. You can do the whole drench and dredge routine, that is, flour ---> egg wash ---> bread crumbs or more flour, but with discs this thin, you'll end up with more breading than meat. This technique à la meunière, named for the miller's wife, la meunière, was something she always had on hand, according to Julia Child *genuflects* the technique is used chiefly with fish filets (then you'd expect it to be called à la femme de pêcheur, wouldn't you?), pork chops, and pretty much anything. You can get a nice stew started by dusting cubes of beef or pork or lamb with flour, browning on all sides then adding water, stock, wine, or any other liquid, except perhaps for wee. The flour that was browned unravels, forms an interconnected molecular net that in turn thickens into a sauce with the flavors you added along with the added complexity provided by browning in accordance with the Maillard reaction.

I should add, this is probably the most simple and quickest thing imaginable, unless you decide you need to photograph it and unless you might also have smoke alarm set to hypersensitive. Bastard thing. In addition to catsup or mayonnaise with mustard, because the slices are already sautéed in butter, you are half way to a dressing, all is needed is acid and anything will do, lime or lemon, grapefruit, or vinegar or even wine gone off. Doesn't lemon chicken sound great? But also, lots of people like fried chicken with hot sauce, others like it with honey, some people like it with hot sauce and honey. I almost always put paprika or habanero flakes in with the flour, then dip the pieces in a glob of honey. My family likes soy sauce, but I like the tamarind in Worchestershire Wustersher Worcestersher Worcestershire Lee & Perrins.

This concludes my pedantry for the day.

Total elapsed time, 2 minutes.