Dinner Saga Continued
Some of you have said that it was unfair to leave you hanging with hungry dinner guests, an unprepared meal and two glasses of wine under your belt. So, let me pick it up from where we were in the last article.
You have enlisted your guests to prepare salad and cut up a bit of broccoli and cauliflower. At this stage it would be a good idea to put on rice in an oversized covered pot (I will explain why “oversized” later). This leaves you staring at the simmering pan of onion and garlic.
It may be wise not to pour yourself another glass of wine until you have dinner on the table.
Lets work on the sauce first.
Things like white wine, cream and mushrooms could make a nice light sauce that would work well with the delicate flavor of the fish. However you couldn’t find any mushrooms this week, your guests are drinking the wine and you forgot to the buy the sour cream. So we are going to have to invent a heavier sauce and that will work better with the chicken. The ingredients we can find in the kitchen are mangos, honey, sour mandarins and a can of refried beans. Cut up a mango or two and throw that in with the onions and garlic together with a splash of hot sauce, a good hearty shaking of cumin (just because I happen to like cumin in sauces) and a few spoonfuls of the refried beans. If you can find a couple of tomatoes they would go very well chopped up into this sauce. Be cautious about adding too many ingredients as this may confuse the palate. Stir and let this continue to simmer slowly with the cover on while you figure out what to do with chicken. You wanted to get the sauce going first because it tastes better if all of those seasonings have a chance to cook together slowly. Don’t over-season at this stage. It’s easy to add a bit more later if you want.
The chicken.
Start another pan with oil and put on medium-high. Once that’s nice and hot you can put in the chicken. If you really like black pepper you can put a good dusting on the chicken. Sear the chicken on both sides and then turn it down to medium-low to finish the cooking. Searing on high heat helps to seal in the juices so the chicken does not dry out. By this time the rice should be about halfway done. Open the oversized pot and throw the broccoli and cauliflower on top of the rice. Replace the cover to let it steam.
From here on in it’s just timing and checking the seasonings of the sauce. At some point you can cut into the chicken to see if it’s done. You don’t want to overdo chicken breast. It just gets hard and rubbery. It should be cooked through but be soft and tender. Also, check that the vegetables steaming with the rice don’t get overcooked.
Now back to the sauce to check flavor and texture.
- If you want more seasoning you can add a bit more hot sauce or cumin (or both).
- If it’s not fruity enough put in more mango
- If it’s not thick enough put in more refried beans or let it simmer a bit longer with the lid off
- If it’s too thick you can add a bit of water or mango juice.
- If it’s too sweet put in a little sour citrus.
- If it’s too sour put in a bit of honey.
You should be able adjust it until you get it right. You might want to get your guests to taste it and see how they like it. If you want you can turn up the heat a tad to finish it off.
Now it is just presentation.
Rather than prepare individual plates for everyone I prefer to put the food out and let people help themselves. One bowl for the rice. One bowl for the salad. A large platter for the chicken, thinly sliced (to make it easy for people to choose the portions they want) and arranged decoratively on the platter surrounded by the broccoli and cauliflower. Pour your rich sauce over the chicken. You can always steal a few lettuce leaves from the salad to further enhance the presentation.
Just over an hour after stepping out of the shower in a panic you have, in collaboration with your dinner guests, created a tasty and beautiful dinner.
It doesn’t matter if you are an experienced cook. It doesn’t matter if everything is perfect. Everyone is having a good time and, at the very least, you have made a perfectly adequate meal. There’s even a pretty good chance that you’ve made something really special.
Chicken Breast with Mango / Refried Bean Sauce
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