Chicken Debut

Stir fry is fantastic for lots of reasons, all of which I'm too hot to write about right now. Tonight's was an epic success, taste-wise and protein-wise. It went like this.

1. Saute trimmed chicken in 1.5 tbsp olive oil until it's done on the outside. Remove to plate that can't absorb chicken germs.
2. Saute minced garlic until fragrant. (You can can turn up the heat after adding the veggies because you no longer have to worry about smoking the olive oil.) Then add chopped broccoil, onion sprouts, scallions, and carrots until half done. (The broccoil should be half cooked. The easiest way to do this is to cut and wash it, and put it in a ceramic bowl with a cup or two of water and microwave on high for ~2-3 mins. It doesn't need a cover. Take it out with a hot pad, pour off most of the water, and add to sizzling veggies in more olive oil.) Add a tablespoon or three of water.

3. To veggies, add 0.5 tbsp peanut butter and 0.5 tsp salt.
4. When veggies are half done, add back chicken and stir lots more.
5. When cutting through the thickest piece of chicken reveals it to be done, add cooked bulgar and mix well. Serve piping hot.

Lessons:
1. Scallions and sprouts cook down a TON. Add extra.
2. Next time exchange carrots for onions. The Pteph, you knew you don't like cooked carrots, so why did you put them in?
3. The bulgar should be added before serving, to warm it up, break up the chunks, and integrate everything better.

Bulgar Half-Stir-Fry

When the clock struck 10 on a Friday night, what more natural thing is there to do than dig some veggies out of the fridge, and make bulgar half-stir-fry? It's super simple, delicious, and nutritious. And provided you already have the bulgar cooked, and the broccoli at least half cooked, it only takes about ten minutes.

First saute minced garlic in a tablespoon of not-too-hot olive oil. When it's about to start browning, dump in a cup or so of chopped scallions and roughly the same amount of broccoli, cut pretty small. Add your leftover bulgar, a sprinkle of salt, a tsp of peanut butter, and about a third cup of water. Stir it up until it's the desired dryness and temperature.

Victory! (Magic Summer Stew)

Did I not call it at the base of the stairs? I did, I did indeed. I declared that tonight would be a night of victory! Victory over the unknown of the Future, victory on extra veggies floating around the fridge...

And so it was. We'll call it Magic Summer Stew. It's very much like Stone Soup: it's a conglomerate of whatever you feel like using up. The only rule is that it must be colorful. Mine included onion, potato, carrot, red and yellow pepper, scallions, and garbanzos, but you're free to include whatever you'd like. I usually care so little for recipes I have no right to inflict them on others (except, of course, the Hershey's Holiday Chocolate Cake recipe, but that's a very different story).

To start, I sauteed minced garlic in a very generous amount of olive oil and then added a bit of cooking sherry and black pepper. My prayers were answered and the veggies cooked down a lot (I added 1.5-2 c of water to help them) - the silly people I live with don't have any big pots :(. I added bit of many spices; if I remember correctly these included about 1/4 tsp salt, about 10 tiny red pepper flakes, and 1/4-1/3 tsp oregano, and 1/3-1/2 tsp dried basil (I meant to put in fresh basil at the end but forgot). After there was enough room in the pot, around the time I added the spices, I added as many garbanzos as I felt like (maybe 2 cups? You can probably tell by now I don't keep track of stuff like this) so they had plenty of time to take in the flavors of the veggies and the spices. Let's hear it for impromptu cooking!!!

Served best over barley (not bulgar like I tried at first; bulgar is too nutty and in my opinion best suited for accompanying stir fry, which I like to do with cashews...). Also, since it's kind of stew-y, but the barley kind of soaks it up, I recommend serving in those dishes you never use, the ones that are a combination bowl and plate.

Yes, you should be jealous. Even the broth by itself is absolutely delicious. Lucky for you there's plenty left (if you hurry!).