We spent Sunday at my mom's enjoying a family dinner, so by the end of the weekend we were both done. By the time she left for school Monday morning Emily still had not chosen her recipe since I truly did not want to have her make a casserole featuring perogies. It is delicious, but makes a heavier meal than I wanted to deal with. We had had several indulgent meals over the past few days, it was time to get back to something a little lighter. She asked me to choose and headed off on her bicycle.
I picked up the notebook of recipes on my desk and began to page through it. This recipe caught my eye. It is easy enough for a beginner and I thought might appeal to her affection for Chinese food. While not particularly oriental it does have ginger and soy sauce as primary flavours.
I spent the day doing my best to avoid housework (and succeeding!) reading Jodi Picoult's newest novel "Leaving Time". It was hard to put down, so I blame her for my unwashed floor and the towels in the dryer waiting to be folded. When Emily arrived home I sent her off to the library to return her books. She wanted to go fundraising for the Jump Rope for Heart program with her friend, but I reminded her it was her night to cook, so her time was limited. As it happened her friend couldn't go either, so it was okay.
I had Emily read the recipe I had chosen, thankfully it appealed to her, so we had no last minute menu changes. She measured chicken bouillon, oil,soy sauce, garlic, red pepper flakes, ginger and corn starch into a glass bowl and added chicken breasts to marinate. Thankfully I was standing in the kitchen while she looked for the cooking oil, since the required 1/3 cup is divided, only 2 tablespoons go into the marinade. I walked back into the kitchen and wondered why she was struggling to measure out the ginger, since the 1/2 teaspoon measure should have fit into the jar. Turns out she hadn't read the directions carefully, or had mis-understood. She thought (having seen the specified 2 tablespoons of oil that it was 2 tablespoons of everything. Yikes.
While the chicken marinated I told her to put a pot of water on to cook the pasta and set her to chopping an onion and a head of broccoli. I was amused by her method of onion chopping, which looked a trifle ungainly to me. She fled the kitchen for a wash cloth as the onion fumes quickly made her cry, and, unfortunately, as they started to water she instinctively rubbed her eyes with her hands. Ooops. I should have had her rinse the peeled onion under cold water for a minute or two. She thinks when I do this I am washing the onion. The truth is this is one of those weird things you read about on the internet that actually works. Running an onion under cold water before cutting it does significantly decrease the cry factor, without spoiling the flavour, which keeping them in the fridge does. I don't know why, I just know it works.
When she returned to the kitchen I had heated a couple tablespoons of oil in a large pan for her, and she placed the chicken pieces in it and browned them on both sides. We then reduced the heat and covered the pan to cook the chicken all the way through. While the chicken was cooking Emily started some egg noodles in the now boiling water. She finished chopping her vegetables while I kept an eye on the chicken, turning it every couple of minutes so it wouldn't brown too much on one side.
When the chicken was done she removed it to a plate and added a little more oil and her onions and broccoli. Once the vegetables were cooked she stirred in the noodles and the marinade, stirring to coat everything well and reduce the sauce. Emily was struggling with efficient tossing so I took the spoon to ensure the pasta was well coated with the marinade. The recipe said to stir fry this for 30 seconds so she dutifully counted aloud to thirty. I helped her spoon the pasta and vegetables onto a platter and top it with the chicken pieces.
Dinner was delicious, and made a reappearance at breakfast. I think it would have been lunch too, but they are selling hamburgers at the school track meet today. For a ten year old that's a no-brainer.
In retrospect I might have let the chicken marinate for at least half an hour to give it a little more depth of flavour.
We used a combination of chicken breasts and thighs, and I have made this with bone in chicken pieces I de-boned myself, and cubed so the chicken was already bite-sized and cooked a little faster. As it was I diced the cooked leftovers and stirred the meat into the noodles for an easier to serve second meal.
Chicken Primavera
1/2 cup chicken bouillon 4-6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 small head of broccoli, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 red pepper, chopped (optional)
2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon corn starch 375 grams egg noodles
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Combine the bouillon, 2 tablespoons of oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and cornstarch into a shallow bowl, whisking to blend. Add the chicken, stirring to coat.
Chop the vegetables, set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan, add chicken, reserving the marinade. Brown the chicken, reduce heat, cover and cook until done, about 10 minutes (ours took closer to 15). Turn often. Meanwhile cook the pasta.
Remove the chicken to a platter, keep warm.
Add 2 tablespoons oil to the pan juices, turn heat to high. Stir fry the vegetables until tender-crisp. Pour reserved marinade over vegetables, stir fry 30 seconds, until evenly coated. Add salt & pepper to taste. Toss the vegetables with the noodles and arrange on a platter, top with chicken.
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