Hello Chicken

I know there a lot of chicken fans out there...I mean, the kind of people who determine to only eat chicken (I will deal with you later...). Today, I plan to satisfy your most chickeny-desires and cravings. But this recipe contains no scaredy-chickens...it's a hot, tangy, and scrumptious.It's a fusion dish, combining ginger, spring onion, and soy sauce--more Eastern flavors--with tangy and mildly spicy neighbors from the South, cilantro and poblano. This was one of those recipes in which I just sort of "tossed" everything together and created something new (thankfully for you I remembered to take a few pictures). Enjoy.

First on the agenda: chicken breasts on the bone. These are the best type for this recipe because they will give you a much JUICIER result. They are also cheaper most of the time.

Now for the ingredients:

3 bone-in, skinless chicken breasts
1 lady's thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 poblano pepper,cut into rectangles and then thinly sliced (see below)
1 bunch of spring onions, sliced finely
A handful of cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. soy sauce

Serve with rice--to your liking...you chickenistas...


First, chop up all of that stuff up there...it will make everything go one heck of a lot faster.

(I saw you eying my awesome Shun 8 inch chef knife. You should get one!!) Get yourself a large tupperware container in which you can fit these poultry-beauties. Sprinkle in the garlic, ginger, poblano and cilantro.

Salt and pepper your chicken breasts (yes, this will require you to actually TOUCH them...), rub it all in, and then throw them into the cilantro mixture. Prove you love your meat! Roll them around and make sure they are evenly covered.

Next, drizzle over the soy sauce, and seal the lid. Set it aside for about half an hour. It doesn't need to go in the fridge. Chicken cooks better if you let it get to room temperature first.

Now for the cooking part! Preheat your pan to medium-high. WAIT...When it feels HOT to wave your hand about 6 inches above the surface, its ready for the oil and butter. Add in 1 tbsp oil and the same of butter. It should be sizzling and bubbling joyfully as soon as it hits the pan. If it starts smoking your pan is in fact TOO hot, congratulations. Clean out the pan, lower the heat a little and try again. (P.S. if you were planning on making rice with this, now would be a good time to get that started...).

Once your butter is bubblin' and sizzlin', add in your chicken breasts, top side down.

You need to let them go at it for about 10 minutes on that first side. These are hefty-sized mamas. Turn down the heat to about medium for this.

After you flip them, add in the spring onions and the honey. Also, you can add in any of the marinade that did not make it into the pan when you first put the chicken in.

 

On the second side, let them cook for about another 10 minutes. Then, stab a sharp knife into the largest part of the largest chicken breast. If the juices that come out run clear or slightly cloudy, it is done! If they run pink or very cloudy, give it a few more minutes and check again.

Take them out of the pan and set them on a plate to rest. When you serve them, pour over the pan juices and the spring onions. We ate this with rice. Yum!

Bon Appetite!