How a "recipe" develops, or Annalena cooks with chicken breasts

One of the things that I hope everyone develops over time, is an ability to work "without a net" in the kitchen. In other words, without recipes. Everyone does, but the ability to do that, and to produce something that you like, each and every time, is a difficult proposition. Let's face it: we are ALL taught, at some point, that we need "teaching" in a particular area in order to be good at it. And then the degree of teaching varies. Some of us take more of it than others. Others revolt and go on with little training.
I am reminded of a dinner that my friend Keith cooked for me last September. He had wanted to cook for Guy and I, and of course, had no idea what was in our refrigerator. Actually, neither did I . I had been on a vacation, and couldn't recall what was there.
When he came over, he found lamb sausage, greens, and pasta. He remembered how a sausage/beans/greens dish could be made in soup form, and "just" substituted pasta for the beans and the liquid. It was a wonderful, late summer dish. And making that substitution is not an immediate one. It comes with confidence (and, if I can take some pride of place, a bit of teaching from yours truly. ).

So, here's an example of how you "roll with the punches" so to speak. Guy and I have been eating a lot of red meat this week, including a lamb feast last night. Neither one of our systems can handle any really serious, heavy protein for tonight, so it was going to be boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The easy solution, which I had in mind, was to coat them in an egg wash, bread them, pan fry them, and serve them with some beautiful haricots verts, and some pasta.

Wait.... Is that REALLY a good idea? Well, yes it is. But Annalena being the sort she is, cannot leave things alone. So as I sit here I am l ooking at different things to do.

Yes, I have those chicken breasts in the fridge, pounded thin, and salted. And I also have cream, tomato sauce, mustard, sun dried tomatoes, dried mushrooms, and a whole bunch of other condiments. I also have lemons , white wine, garlic, and the usual things that a kitchen should have (You don't need to have all of these, but you should have some of them).

So, here's what I will do. ONE of these options. I will sear those chicken breasts at a very high temperature and very quickly, in a mix of vegetable oil and butter. I will NOT cook them all the way through, and here's why. I'm gonna make a sauce.

One of the things that separates cream from other dairy products, apart from its wonderful flavor, is the fact that it does not "break," i.e, separate, when it's heated. So it's an idea vehicle for sauces. I'll remove the chicken from the pan, and then pour in some cream. How much? Who knows. And sometime between now and dinner, I'll decide whether it's going to be sundried tomatoes, or mustard. I lean toward sundried tomatoes, because we had a mustard based crust on the lamb last night. But a mustard cream sauce on plain chicken is a thing of glory. All you have to do in either case is have your cream in that skillet, heating up. If you use the mustard, a few squirts into the cream, until you get the flavor you like , is all you need. For the tomatoes, taste them. They may be very salty, even if they are "sottolio," or "in oil." If they are, soak them in water a bit to clear the salt. Then chop them up and add them to the cream.
Instant sauce. In less than five minutes.

In the alternative, get some white wine and a lemon. Pour half a cup or so of white wine into the pan OFF THE HEAT (remember the alcohol), and dissolve the browned bits. Then squeeze in the lemon and you're done.

Finally, the tomato sauce option. Well, what needs to be said about that? Heat up the tomato sauce. Period.

Whatever option, you then add the chicken, preferably cut into smaller pieces, but not necessarily and heat it through until it's cooked. It won't take long.

So, look at that. With just some staples in the house, you've taken a standard ingredient, a boneless , skinless, chicken breast, and you have, oh, I guess four different dishes. Change the vegetable, change the starch, change whether the chicken is sliced, or left in one piece, and you probably have more variations.

And the creative amongst you will realize you can certainly use turkey. You can use fish. You could probably do something with tofu as well. So, how many dishes do you have here? A whole lot.

Now, promise Annalena you'll cook some of them. I'll be very happy if you do.