Anne Can Cook

The last few weeks have been kind of insane. I haven't spent much time in my apartment and even less time cooking.
I've been ogling the turkey in the latest Penzeys Catalogue (http://www.penzeys.com). I love turkey and chicken a lot, and I happen to have the Bangkok Blend that they recommend as a turkey rub.

It is equally good as a chicken rub. This is what I did:

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 Tbsp olive oil (approximate)
Penzeys Bangkok Blend (or similar Thai-style seasoning)
I washed the chicken breast and cut off anything that looked questionable (fat, etc). Preheat the oven to about 400F. In a small baking pan, place the chicken (Note: I did not grease the pan because the excessive olive oil was sufficient. It probably wouldn't hurt to grease your pan, however). Pour 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil on the chicken, rub in, sprinkle with seasoning until coated, rub in, flip chicken, and repeat.
I baked the chicken for nearly an hour, flipping about midway through. Use your best judgment. I am a little paranoid about chicken, so I almost always cook it longer than necessary. Regardless, this chicken is flavorful and juicy. The Bangkok Blend is just a little spicy and very tasty.

I also made up some jasmine basmati rice with basil, garlic chives, and a little bit of Thai red curry sauce.

Fabulous dinner and TONS of leftovers. I have missed cooking, but I'm back with a vengeance!

If I were Jane Austen, I would probably say something like, "I have failed you, gentle reader" in regards to my posting absence of late.

Luckily for all of us, I am not Jane Austen.

I have cooked and not cooked on and off for the past few weeks. I heated up a small pan of my mother's enchiladas, which I cannot claim as my own because I did none of the preparation and all of the oven work.

I helped make several stir-fries and curries at my coworker's house. Those all turned out splendidly. It is strange and wonderful to cook in a team.

I made myself a Thai curry experiment that yielded a 50 percent success rate.
I have always been mildly curious about Panko bread crumbs, since they are so frequently flouted on FoodNetwork. I used Panko to bread the chicken in my thai curry. After throwing out the first quarter of the breast due to severe burns (a skilled FoodNetwork chef I am not), the end result was satisfyingly crunching, albeit a bit bland. I had seasoned the Panko with Penzeys Bangkok Blend, though apparently not enough.



The curry overall was just okay. It started out as a stir-fry (the Panko chicken, squash, onions, zucchini, garlic, pan-fried rice noodles) that I ended by simmering in a Thai red curry sauce from Trader Joe's. The sauce dominated the dish. Fresh out of the pan, the flavor of ginger and coconut milk was very strong and not unpleasant. There was a nice after-burn that built steadily as I ate the dish.

I saved half for lunch the next day, which was a mistake. Reheating the curry brought out all the bitterness the sauce had hidden the night before. I burned much more of that stir-fry than I would readily admit.

Otherwise, not much is new in my culinary life. I poached another chicken breast last night for a quick chicken and rice dish that I also ate for lunch today. It reheated much better than the curry.