Simple Sesame Chicken

You know how some recipes look absolutely amazing, but sadly involve about a billion and one steps, chopping up 23 ingredients and using a separate cooking technique you probably have to go to culinary school to understand for each one? Not to mention the 15 gadgets you can't afford, let alone know what they are or what they do.

Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating slightly, but you know what I mean.

Well, this? This is not that.

This is really and truly quite simple, involves only about 5 steps, requires chopping only 1 ingredient and involves methods I'm pretty sure you've heard of ("whisk," "toss," "cook," and "bake," anyone?). Oh yes, and the only gadget you need is an oven safe skillet (but really, if you don't have one of those, just transfer the chicken to a baking pan for the oven and you're good).

So, no excuses for you! Make this chicken!!

Really, we were so impressed with the flavor of such a simple dish- it really could outdo anything at Panda Express and even give P.F. Chang's a run for its money! The chicken is tender and flavorful, having that perfect sticky "crust" on the outside which of course is the perfect vehicle for toasted sesame seeds. The first time I made it, I served the chicken with some steamed asparagus mixed in, over hot cooked white rice. The second time I served it over some stir fried noodles and veggies.

If you want to do the noodles, here's what I did: I chopped some cabbage (about 1/3 of a head), a carrot, a stalk of celery and 1/2 an onion. I had some leftover spaghetti, so that's what I used for the noodles (you can use some kind of fancy oriental noodle if you like). I stir-fried the veggies in some olive oil and sesame oil till they were crisp tender, then added some noodles and a mixture of 1 TB soy sauce, 1 TB brown sugar and 1 TB vinegar and stir-fried until the noodles were hot. They were delicious!!

Oh, and a "pro tip"? If you don't have the sesame oil, go buy some! I didn't have any the first time, but the second time I did and it made a huge flavor difference! Definitely worth purchasing!!

Simple Sesame Chicken

(printable version)

slightly adapted from How Sweet It Is

serves about 4

2 lbs. chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3 TB flour

2 TB toasted sesame oil

1 TB olive oil

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 TB low sodium soy sauce

1 TB brown sugar

1 TB white vinegar

1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock

2-3 TB toasted sesame seeds

To toast sesame seeds: preheat oven to 350. Spread seeds on an ungreased baking sheet. Toast in oven 10-15 min., watching carefully so that they don't burn. Remove when seeds are fragrant and lightly browned. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400.

In a bowl, whisk together chicken stock, brown sugar, 1 TB sesame oil, garlic powder, soy sauce and  vinegar. Set aside.

Heat a large oven proof skillet over med-high heat. Put flour, salt and pepper in large resealable plastic bag. Add chicken pieces and shake until evenly coated. Add olive oil and 1 TB sesame oil to skillet and once hot, add chicken pieces in a single layer. Cook until seared and golden on one side (about 2-3 min.); flip and cook until golden again. Pour sauce mixture over chicken and toss to coat. Turn off heat and place skillet in oven. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Serve over hot cooked rice or noodles with your choice of veggies.

Pita-Licious! (Homemade Pita Bread)

I always enjoy trying new things, but although my taste buds are often adventurous, I usually stay within certain perimeters in my cooking. I love making Mexican and Italian cuisine and of course am very fond of many dishes of American origin. But this month I decided to branch out just a bit, and added a Spicy Peanut Chicken and Chicken Chow Mein to my list of meals. Both required buying a few ingredients I don't normally stock my cupboard with! The Chow Mein is still on the menu for next week, but last night I tried the Spicy Peanut Chicken, which my cookbook recommended serving over couscous with a side of pita bread.

I had come across the Peanut Chicken recipe in my Betty Crocker cookbook in the Slow Cooker section, so while it was adventurous in flavor, it was also safe and easy!
In the morning I lightly browned a few chicken thighs in olive oil while I combined the rest of the ingredients in the slow cooker. The combination of flavors was so foreign! Honey with canned tomatoes and onions? Cumin and cinnamon? And peanut butter to top it off! I tailored the recipe just a bit by substituting one of the cans of "diced tomatoes with green chilies" with a can of regular diced tomatoes, since neither Travis or I are very fond of green chilies. So, it probably didn't turn out as spicy as intended, but that's fine by me. When everything was safely tucked away into the cooker, I went about the rest of my day until late afternoon.

Part of my decision to make my own pita bread was my friend Kate. My best girl friend from Oregon, she came up to visit me last weekend and on our last afternoon together, Travis and I took her to a little sandwich bistro in Spokane. I decided then and there to try gyros for the first time, which, to those of you who haven't tried one yet, it is like a Greek taco on a pita with hummus. I was very pleased! And it got me thinking...I knew that Spicy Peanut Chicken and Couscous were on the menu for the following night...I wondered how difficult it would be to make one's own pita bread. And, since the dinner was of the easy slow cooker variety, and the couscous was the 5 min boxed stuff, I had plenty of time to experiment!

My first step of course, was to go to my cookbooks. Nothing! Recipes including pita bread, yes, but no recipe for pita bread. So, trusty allrecipes.com came in handy. After checking out several, I decided to go with the Traditional Pita Bread (which you can find here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Traditional-Pita-Bread/Detail.aspx). It certainly looked easy enough, though slightly labor intensive. The dough was extremely simple, requiring only 4 common ingredients and almost no preparation. However, if your hands and fingers ever "knead" a workout, pita bread is your ticket! The dough is to be kneaded for about 8 minutes, then each individual pita dough ball is kneaded for a separate minute, which gives you a total of about 14 minutes of folding, pushing, and stretching the slightly sticky but elastic dough!
Then you can let the yeast take over, while you rest your weary little fingers. The dough rises for 45 min-1 hr, then into the very hot oven they go! I don't think I have ever baked anything at 500 degrees before, and my oversensitive smoke alarm was not too pleased with this development! I think I've come to the conclusion that it is more of heat sensor than a smoke alarm. Every time that oven door was opened, the cranky thing went off, till I was about to pull my hair out! You see, when my husband is home, he is tall enough I can just summon him to come and hit the "hush" button (which I like to call the "shut up" button). But when he is away, as he was yesterday afternoon, I keep having to drag out my step stool to shut the thing off. Sometimes, when it truly in an evil mood, it goes off by itself, just as I get my stool set up. Or just as my finger reaches for the button. I tell you, this adds a lot of drama to my cooking experience. Still, I always feel guilty for hating the contraption for its oversensitivity. I know if there was ever a real fire, he'd let us know in a jiffy! But it's almost like the little boy who cried "Wolf!"

Anyway, smoke alarm tension aside, the little pitas baked to perfection, puffing up just like they were supposed to.
And all the comments of the people online were right- there's nothing quite like a pita, hot and fresh out of the oven! And they paired perfectly with the chicken and couscous, whose flavors, though definitely new and somewhat foreign, were delicious!!

Who would have though peanut butter and tomatoes paired so well?