Nurturing my inner... bite-sized pieces

Convenience isn't a bad thing.  I'm very grateful to the inventor of spoons, knives and various types of utensils.  But sometimes I want to keep it simple.  Basic.  On that note, today, I celebrate the lone fork!

It's kind of fun to plan one thing and then realize you did something totally wrong and have to scrap the original idea to go in a completely different direction last minute.  No wait, it isn't fun at all.  But you manage.

What happened was... I thought I had taken a whole chicken breast out of the freezer to thaw last night and when I got home today, I realized it was in actuality a bundle of cut up pieces of chicken.  Seeing as it may seem strange that I create these bundles instead of just freezing a whole piece, let me explain.

I like to buy chicken in larger format, but thawing and cooking it can take quite some time, especially when you're getting in late from work as I did tonight.  I prefer to do some prep work ahead of time so that when it comes to the cooking part, I'm as ready to go as quickly as possible.  Raw chicken cut up into small cubes and frozen flat will later thaw so that I can toss it right into some boiling water and make chicken salad.  Or into a wok for an easy stir fry.  Often, I mark my foil packets with various codes so I know what I'm getting myself into, alas this time, I had not.  And there awaited me a nearly purposeless thawed out batch of small chicken cubes.  So now what?

With no desire to make chicken salad or stir fry this evening, and a hearty hankering for something more along the lines of comfort food with a healthier twist, it was necessary to come up with something more, oh, dinnery.  Then I heard a voice from beyond (it may have been the tv from the other room) call out to me, "If you want it, you must bake it!"

Okay sure, bake.  I do that.  But not with this kind of miniature food.  What would I prepare?  Teeny chicken picatta?  No.  Tiny kabobs?  Ridiculous.  It had to be something more traditional.  More Americana.  Like... chicken nuggets!  Which I don't eat, because I can't identify that part of a chicken.  Plus, I don't have a six year old in the house.  Though, it really was quite an idea.  How do I make a grown up chicken nugget?

Well, I'll tell you how!  Last month, I went to Whole Foods, where the nicest grocery store people on earth live, and spoke to the Fish Monger about some marinades and rubs for seafood and poultry.  She came out from behind her fishy fortress and took me over to the specialty section of premixed rubs that were made just for Whole Foods stores.  Tequila Lime was her suggestion.  She said you couldn't even taste the tequila.  Then she did something unexpected.  She whipped out a marker, crossed through the bar code, wrote some initials and handed it to me saying, "Here, try it free of charge and let me know how you like it."

I looked over my shoulder for cameras recording me being punked.  Nada.  Phew!  They really do this with their own products because they want you to love what you buy.  Great philosophy.  I will now buy more, if only based on principle.

Since woman cannot live on chicken alone, I started with some quinoa.  If you don't know what it is, it's a little grain.  Nutty flavor.  Easy to make.  Like couscous.

Basic quinoa

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water

Uncooked. I like to put everything labeled
in small glass containers.

I made just enough for me for tonight and lunch tomorrow.  I used 1/2 cup quinoa which ends up yielding double.  Soak it in water for 15 minutes.  This apparently takes off some bitter coating it has.  (I haven't done it any other way, so hey, I'll believe what they say.)  Drain it without accidentally pouring half of it into the sink.  (Not that I've done that or anything.)  Then use the rule of thumb 2:1.  For my 1/2 cup of quinoa, I added 1 cup of water.  Sometimes I add chicken broth instead to add extra flavor.  Bring to boil, turn down and let simmer for 12 minutes or so.  Fluff with fork.  Comes out like this:

Couldn't be easier.  Cook and fluff.

It's a nice alternative to feeling like I always have to make some not as nutritional starch.  Quinoa has protein.  Makes me feel like a nature lover just making it.


Next up, the big protein.

Tequila Lime Chicken Nuggets

1 pound of raw chicken diced
1 tbsp Tequila Lime rub (From Whole Foods, trust me, it's amazing.)
1/4 cup plain Panko breadcrumbs (Kikkoman for me.)
A few small pats of butter (I take a sharp knife and use very thin shavings.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  I tossed the chicken pieces and the rub in a bowl and lightly coated every piece.  It's a strong flavor, so I recommend starting with less - you can always add more.  Then I added the breadcrumbs and made sure the nuggets were all coated. 

Flecks of herbs and breadcrumbs.
You can smell the citrusy lime!

Panko is super crunchy when it cooks and I love that!  You don't need a lot of them either to get great results.  Layer into a shallow metal baking pan covered with foil and spread them out evenly.  Add a few thin pats of butter.  Into the oven they go for about 12 minutes.  You'll have to judge that by the size pieces you have.  (Oh dear cooking, you really have no scientific formula for me to rely on!)

The union of Tequila Lime rub and Panko
is a perfect pairing of flavor and crunch.

Quinoa needs flavors to be added to it, if you ask me, just like couscous.  Yes, you can eat it plain, but really, why should you.  Let's add some veggies for good measure.

Zucchini & Baby Bok Choy With Pignoli

2 medium zucchini, sliced in half and then in pieces
1 baby bok choy, sliced in pieces
A handful of pignoli nuts, toasted
2 small shallots, sliced thin
5 small cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1 tsp olive oil
Dash of salt

The usual suspects.

I've always enjoyed zucchini, but never did much more than steam it.  I've noticed it is in season for a long time at the Farmers' Market and turns out, it is easy to pair with quinoa.  They have become for me the peanut butter and jelly of the nature food realm.  Along with another popular couple, shallots and garlic, it's the perfect double date.

From lessons learned, I don't like to cook up my garlic and shallots at the same time as the veggies.  I find I over do them and they get bitter.  (As do I when that happens.)  I'm nearly positive I'm doing something wrong, but for now, I simmer them on low heat  in a small saute pan with some olive oil until they become translucent.  Then set them aside.

Shy couple who I'll introduce to the rest
of the group later so they don't get bitter.

I also dry toasted the pignoili in a small pan and got those ready.  Refer to yesterday for refresher course.

I must be honest that I had never heard of baby bok choy before.  Who knew I had been trudging along my many years having only adult bok choy.  Such a sheltered life!  I am told the baby version is a little sweeter.  It is surely smaller.  I will buy anything mini.  Perfect for one size servings.

I love this little bamboo cutting board I
got at Home Goods for $3.99.

A little olive oil and zucchini went into a large saute pan on medium heat. 

Zucchini half moons and quinoa bubbling
in the background.

After it began to brown up, maybe five to seven minutes in, I added the bok choy which cooks faster, so I've learned not to add it right at the beginning and let the zucchini, which is much denser, have its alone time to catch up.  (Vegetables are so snobby and that was a really long sentence.)  Then I add in the garlic, shallots and toasted pingnoli at the end.

Ingredients from separate pans come
together in one, lovely symphony of flavor.

Then the best part, the layering.

Quinoa foundation, pile veggies on top.

Add the modernized, super flavorful chicken nuggets and welcome to your grown up healthy and happy meal!

The final presentation, all schmancy and stuff.

Served on a "Josh plate" as my friend calls it, because she used to use them with her ex-boyfriend and then kindly passed them on to me when she was having a garage sale and I mentioned I loved them!  (Look, I wanted to pay her, but she wouldn't let me.)  Add one fork.  No cutting necessary.  Enjoy dinner one perfect mini bite at a time.  (When finished, smile, because you know you have left overs for lunch tomorrow!)