Hi everyone! I'm alive!
Sorry that I haven't posted for a few weeks. We were away on vacation and then this happened.
We had wood termites that decided to kick out their turd by our bay window. So they got a good dose of toxic sufuryl flouride under that tent. That'll teach 'em not to set up camp at our place ever again. Ha ha
If you've never had your house tented, well........ you don't want to unless you really have to.
It's a TON of work.
I had to pack all my spices, and anything edible in the pantry and fridge/freezer and store it elsewhere outside the house. Same with house plants. We even had to trim the plants outside so there was a foot of clearance around the perimeter of the house so the tent could make a good seal with the ground.
And all brass items can get oxidized, so that had to be bagged and taken out of the house too.
It took us FOREVER to get ready, pack and move out, cuz we have a lot of junk...
And even after the fumigation, when the inspector cleared the house for re-entry, we decided to wait two more nights to let the house further air out in case there were pockets of trapped gas in some bag of clothes or what-not that we forgot to open up prior to fumigation. So needless to say, I didn't have any ingredients and spices to do recipe development or cook for the blog for quite some time.
But I'm back now!
Well, sort of.
Our roof is being redone, so tiles and equipment in the driveway are trapping our car inside the garage. But, I'm putting my good o'le legs to good use walking to the supermarkets to get my produce.
So today, I bring to you a skillet recipe that is so easy and yummy, you'll want to put it in your rotation of week night dinners! This skillet chicken recipe uses butter and soy sauce, a combo that I just love. I'm always surprised at how those two ingredients work so well together. I used to laugh when my little nephew would put a knob of butter and soy sauce over a bowl of hot rice, mix and eat plain. Well, turns out the kid knew the secret way before I did!
Here's the step by step instructions for the skillet saffron chicken in pictures:
Yields 4 servings
Ingredients:
- 3 lbs Boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 8 thighs)
- 1 t salt
- ½ t pepper
- ½ t sugar
- 1 t granulated garlic powder
- 1 T dried chopped onions
- ½ t turmeric
- 3T soy sauce
- 3 T butter
- 3 T olive oil
- 1 t saffron threads, divided
- ½ c chicken broth
- 5 to 6 c baby spinach (several large handfuls)
- 8 oz dry pasta
Procedures:
1. Marinate chicken thighs with salt, pepper, sugar, garlic, dried onions, turmeric, and soy sauce in the fridge overnight (or at least 1 hour if you are in a hurry).
2. The next day, start a pot of boiling salted water for the pasta, and boil pasta in salted water according to packaged instructions.
3. While the pasta is boiling, in a skillet, add butter and olive oil. When the butter is just starting to melt, add the chicken thighs in one layer. Sprinkle HALF the saffron threads over the chicken thighs (reserve rest for garnish). Allow the chicken to brown over medium heat (about 4 minutes). Flip chicken over and brown the other side (another 4 minutes or so).
4. Pour in chicken broth to the skillet to loosen up any brown bits at the bottom of the skillet.
5. Drain pasta and add to skillet of chicken.
6. Add in the baby spinach.
7. Toss the pasta, spinach and chicken over medium heat until the spinach starts to wilt and the pasta is well coated with the sauce. This should only take about 2 minutes.
8. Taste, and add a touch more soy sauce if needed, and serve hot garnished with remaining saffron.