Chicken Satay, Potatoes, and Cold Soup

I always wanted to try chicken Satay. I worked at a restaraunt once that had it on the menu, and it looked really really good. But it was like $9 and I didn't get a staff discount on it so it didn't seem worth it for like three measly little bits of chicken on a stick. So I never tried it. Maybe I should have because then I would know what it is supposed to taste like.

I got the recipe from here. The only ingredient I changed was I added some frozen cilantro. I didn't follow the amounts closely. I barbecued the chicken and it was pretty good but I didn't like it with too much sauce. I may have used too much peanut butter. It would have been better thinner. Ian gobbled the sauce like it was going out of style. Weird.

I also got some really good baby Yukon Gold potatoes which I steamed for a bit before sticking them on the bbq in a foil pan with some butter, salt, pepper, and fresh thyme. Best. Potatoes. Ever.

Finally, I made Gazpacho which is absolutely the best on a really hot day. My own recipe which is as follows:

One can diced tomatoes
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
fresh thyme, basil, parsley and oregano. (Dried is fine. Don't make a fuss, it is too hot out. Also, you don't need all of them, just whatever you have. I didn't have any parsley today. Also, my basil was frozen.)
About 1/3 -1/2 of an English cucumber, in cubes
About 1/2 of a pepper (orange is yummy) in bite size pieces
Salt
Pepper
A glub of olive oil
A glub of Balsamic vinegar
A glub is about 1-2 tbsps. Don't worry about being precise here.
Maybe about half a cup or so of V8 or tomato juice, just to make it soupier. Not really necessary, I wouldn't go buy it just for this but if you have it, it's nice.

Just mix it all in a bowl and then put it in the fridge for an hour or two. If you want to get all fancy you could put sour cream on it and some chopped parsley or whatever. Or don't. Anyway, it is like liquid salad and very healthy. Also, as I said before, it tastes phenominal when it is very hot out.

Enjoy!

How to make a chicken quiche in 8 friggen easy steps. By Leoal.

1. Chop up some leftover chicken, add some salt, pepper, and sage. Place in a Tenderflake pie crust. What? They're easy!2. Don't use breadcrumbs. They are silly. Crunch up some cracker crumbs, mix with salt, pepper, and sage, and sprinkle over the chicken.3. Open the fridge to discover you have this many eggs left:4. Pop down here:5. And pick up some reasonably priced eggs. Frig.6. Mix 1 1/4 cups of milk, 3 tbsp of flour, 2 eggs (yeah, I paid that price and I only needed one egg) and (you guessed it) salt, pepper, and sage. (I like to season every level of this meal). Whisk until you get some bubbles. 7. Pour egg mixture into the pie crust:
8. Realize you meant to put some veggies in, but that it was too late once you added the cracker crumbs. Frig. Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes, until set the whole way through. Serve with veggies and dip, because you started knitting, lost track of time, and forgot to put any veggies on to cook.

(the hole is from when I poked it to see if it was done. Presentation is not my strong suit)

This quiche is great for leftover chicken or turkey, and it is a great make ahead meal, because you can just slip it out of the foil pan, put it in a pyrex pie plate (if you have one... I do, and that is about all I do with it) and pop it in the microwave. It reheats well. If you have a lot of chicken, the quiches can be wrapped in foil and frozen. I once cooked myself a whole turkey while Travis was away, and then made all these quiches with the leftovers that I just pulled out of the freezer whenever I needed them.

Chicken and Mushroom Stew

The basil plant died. It is in a better place now (the green bin) I have a new one and it is doing ok. It isn't growing much but it looks healthy. I have a little thyme plant as well that thinks it's weeds and is growing madly. I guess I will have plenty of thyme on my hands later on! Hardee har har har.

I wanted to comment on a loverly dinner we made complements of my favorite chef, chef Michael Smith. Please view the recipe here. We followed it almost exactly except we used boneless skinless thighs. Oh. My. God. It was, like, the best chicken ever. We used Kumala Shiraz (South African) for the wine. I didn't care for the wine to drink (we had bought it the night before because we wanted a glass of wine) . I found it rustic tasting. I can't explain it exactly but it sort of reminded me of a log cabin or something. I am not good at explaining wine. However the qualities I disliked in the wine went absolutely phenominally with the chicken and mushrooms. It really brought out the earthyness of the mushrooms. I didn't have any left because I dumped it all in the dinner so I don't know if it drank any better with the meal than it did with sitting on the couch. However, I do know I would buy it again if only to cook this dish.

This meal would have been better with mashed potatoes, as it was served on Chef at Home. We used Lundberg Jubilee Gourmet Rice Blend (which is available at Superstore in the Organic section) I liked the rice, Lundberg rice is always good, but Travis prefers white rice, so it wasn't such a hit with him.

So that was the mushroom and chicken stew. Please try!