Chicken Nuggets

Let me say I first made this with the intent of making these chicken nugget replacements healthy (that's lettuce under the chicken!), but the in the process of frying the chicken it turned into sort of deep frying the chicken because I put a bit too much oil in the pan. I also didn't have a meat pounder so I used a glass cup, which seemed to work fine. It was a fast process- easy weekday dinner.

Peruvian Chicken

Peruvian Chicken, it should have its own facebook page. There are a few Peruvian chicken places in LA, the most popular being Pollo A La Brasa Western. The chicken isn't very smokey despite being cooked in a wood oven, but the chicken is tender and you have to get their delicious green sauce made of aji peppers.

This is similar only in name. The marinade is really good- made mostly of mint, cilantro and jalapenos. I got the recipe from Cooks Illustrated and I'll type it up soon. You also cook it with a half-empty can of beer .... uh shoved up the chicken. My first time doing that... my chicken was so small it barely fit. Also be sure you put some extra pans under your chicken, mine spilled everywhere and I spent a fun time scrubbing all the bits off.

Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe for chicken pot pie is a creamier, less chicken-y version of this chicken pot pie. I don't know which one I like better. I'm really stuck. Do I like a super chicken-y more soupy pot pie? Or do I like a creamy simple (as in there is only 1 or 2 herbs) flavor? AAHHH


It can't hurt to like more than one chicken pot pie. They are a very delicious comfort food.

Roast Chicken with Dijon sauce

Another attempt to master roasting chicken, this time it's with a dijon suace. It was delicious, but a bit bland when compared to the Chicken Adobo. It was very dijon-y and sort of soupy, not sure what happened there. Also I poured the sauce over the chicken so it wasn't very crispy any more. (go look at the blogger's photos, her chicken looks amazing) I paired it with roasted green beans and potatoes as suggested by the original blogger.

Butter Chicken

My first encounter with butter chicken was at the India Jones food truck. This butter chicken recipe is similar, but has a lot more tomatoes than the one I first had. It is really good and I got to use a lot of my new spices. I would double the amount of spices in the marinade because they were overpowered by the tomatoes and cream. Not sure if it's authentic (hopefully it's not the Panda Express dish of India), but it's easy and really good. My cooking adventure continues!

Chicken Adobo

Again, I have very little knowledge of Philipino food so I when I saw this recipe in the NY Times I knew I had to try it. Apparently there are many different variations of chicken adobo- this is just how one family makes it. The sauce/marinade is really really good, but I'm going to have to use less vinegar next time. My apartment smelled TERRIBLE while I was cooking it. It's sweet, salty, spicy and sour, a very complex taste.

Chicken Tikka

My first foray into Indian food. My knowledge of Indian food starts and stop with whatever is served on the India Jones food truck and the Dosa truck and... curry. I know curry is Indian... and there's frequently a yogurt sauce?? I really have no idea so this is my way of venturing out to untested waters and trying different food.

new spices!

I had chicken tikka marsala on campus when I had lunch with my boss. It was amazing and although I found a lot of recipes online I thought I'd start with this simple recipe for chicken tikka so I wouldn't have to make a sauce. It's awesome, but 1) I am scared of raw chicken so I overcooked these (aka they were dry) and 2) I had to buy a lot of new spices. I guess this means I'll be making more Indian food because I don't want to waste all those spices.

Thomas Kellers' Simple Roast Chicken

Look at that crispy skin! I did it!

This post encompasses everything that this blog is for me: pushing my culinary boundaries. I had to stick my hand in a chicken! I don't know if it's evident in my posts, but I typically do not enjoy sticking my hand in dead animals. When I cook meat it's normally cut up already and all I have to do is open the package and dump it directly into the pan. I rarely marinate as that would require me to handle meat. I am terrified of germs/making someone sick and also very sad about the animal that died so I don't eat meat that much. BUT I love burgers and medium rare steaks so I'm not so animal friendly that I won't eat them, I'm just scared of them. But I forced myself to make this- every good cook should know how to make a roast chicken!

TK recommends slathering butter on the chicken as you eat it, but I felt that was unnecessary- I'm already cooking potatoes in chicken fat, do I really need to add butter?

I chose this recipe because
a) It's from Thomas Keller
b) It is really easy

And it was really easy! I kept checking the oven because it seemed too good to be true, but the chicken turned out juicy (without butter somehow) and the skin was so crisp (don't know how that happens).

I tried to be eco-friendly and bought a reusable silicone string to make up for all the paper towels I used to dry the chicken.

Oh and by the way, when you buy a whole chicken, it comes with it's NECK. aaahhhhhhhhh I was frozen for a few minutes and then started yelling NECK NECK MY CHICKEN HAS A NECK until my roommate yelled back to just cut it off and make some chicken stock. Ah thank goodness for Jer and his good sense. And this recipe does require you to use a lot of paper towels because you have to thoroughly dry the chicken.

Chicken Parmesan

I stumbled onto the Pioneer Women Cook's blog and found this great recipe for Chicken Parmesan. Her website is MASSIVE. It's not just recipes, there are also homeschooling tips and a self-written romance novel about how she met her husband, Marlboro Man. She was a former city girl and now she's a pioneer woman. She even has her own cookbook!


She posts TONS of pictures- probably one for every step, so it's really helpful for ingredients or techniques that you're not familiar with. I identify with the group of people who are terrified of raw chicken and all it's potentially hazardous bacteria so pounding it in a plastic bag was a great idea. I served mine over a bed of fettuccine. And even though you're making everything from scratch- it comes together very quickly.

Chicken Pot Pie

I was craving Marie Calendar's chicken pot pie so I thought I'd try to make it myself. I found a recipe from Ina Gartan, a food genius. I saved time by chopping up the vegetables the day before. I didn't have peas (darn) so I made it with potatoes, celery, carrots and green onions. I also saved time by using boneless/skinless chicken breast and pan-fried it and used Trade Joe's chicken broth. Annnndddd I used store bought puff pastry (I love puff pastry). I cheated my way through this recipe and it was SO GOOD.

Here's the roux. There's a lotta butter in this (I skipped the cream and used 2% milk instead, I figured there's enough fat in this recipe).

Ingredients chopped and ready to go! I par-cooked the potatoes and blanched the carrots (I wanted them to be slightly crunchy).

I made 2/3ish of the recipe and I made enough for four small ramekins and...

I still had enough for an 8" cake pan.... I don't have any pie pans (yet).

Look at that!!!! It was so good! The double whammy of chicken broth and chicken bouillon really make a difference in this recipe. I also ended up using the same pan for frying the chicken and the roux and I think the fond gave it some extra depth. It was very chicken-y.... and delicious.... and disappeared in 1.5 days!

Julia Child's Ragout of Chicken and Onions

I read Julia Child's memoir, My Life in France and then a few weeks later I watched Julie & Julia. I'm so sad that I never watched her on TV! I also realized I've never made a Julia Child's recipe! I sort of wanted to make the roasted chicken, but that would require rubbing butter in a chicken's crevices and under the skin, TOTALLY NOT READY FOR THAT YET. But Julia Child's always talked about how the chicken she had in France tasted more chicken-y so I will make her roasted chicken one day.... for now I will settle for a chicken ragout. The recipe is from Good Morning America.


All I had to do with the chicken was brown it, much more manageable. Mmm it was delicious. This is probably my 5th time cooking with wine and my first time using it in a stew. Thank goodness the recipe suggests a few types because I had no idea what a "young red wine" was.


The only weird part is that you end up with purple stew. I served it with some garlic roasted potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts. I'm going to look for some more of her recipes because she vigorously tested them time and time again. Although some of them are a bit dated... I remember aspic and I do not ever want to have to eat it again.