Dinner tonight, ideas?

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I'm thinking of doing slow cooked chicken breasts in a 3 pepper sauce (still deciding if I'm buying woolies or making my own for fun) and couscous with mixed berries, peaches and almonds as a side. Peppered/vinegar/orange juice mixed in.

Does that sound ok? Or is there any other ideas you might have for a nice dinner?
 
werfie said:
Where do you live. I'm coming for dinner.
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lol, I take it you like my idea? awesome. I'm in an experimentation phase so don't really know how all this will tie up into a dish or if it'll go well together or not
 
AcidRaZor said:
I'm thinking of doing slow cooked chicken breasts in a 3 pepper sauce (still deciding if I'm buying woolies or making my own for fun) and couscous with mixed berries, peaches and almonds as a side. Peppered/vinegar/orange juice mixed in.

Does that sound ok? Or is there any other ideas you might have for a nice dinner?
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Make your own, you'll be able to make it to your own tastes. I'd chuck some mushrooms in there too, maybe some cream and/or chilli.
 
Chicken breasts have hardly any fat running through them so they certainly do not slow-cook well. They only toughen up and dry out. Cooking something in a liquid does not keep it moist - that is a common fallacy in cooking. The only way to properly slow-cook a chicken breast is to sous-vide it and I highly doubt you have the equipment for that.

I wouldn't add the berries to the couscous. That would start to turn it into more of a dessert and will turn it a very weird colour.

The peaches and almonds are okay, but instead of the orange juice, I'd make an orange vinaigrette, with finely sliced orange zest, coriander and a subtle vinegar. Make this an hour before mixing in and add a bit of curry powder to the mix - it works incredibly well.

For the chicken, I'd suggest frying it skin-side-down with no oil on a medium temperature until the fat renders out of the skin, then turning it over and popping it into a pre-heated 180 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the breasts. Remember to salt it liberally before pan-frying, and if you want an awesome flavour profile, add some fine white pepper just before popping it into the oven.

Then sauce to your heart's content. I wouldn't go with a pepper sauce for this though, as it will overpower the dish. In fact I wouldn't even go with a sauce at all, as the couscous will be moist and will work well on its own with the chicken. Instead of a sauce, you can add a little butter and lemon juice (real lemon juice) just before popping it in the oven, then drizzle this over the chicken when you serve it. The butter will brown and the lemon will balance the richness, while the overall sauce will mix with the skin-fat that renders out - it is delicious.

And remember that black pepper burns and goes very bitter quite easily, so don't add black pepper before you fry something. Fine, white pepper is a little better and in fact is a bit of a KFC flavour "secret." Works really well in deep-fried chicken but also in pan-fried chicken...
 
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DJ... said:
... snip ...
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What subject area are you not well versed in and totally unfamiliar with?

I've got a feeling you know jack-squat about badminton ...
 
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Organic chicken and tomato curry ... on cous-cous.

DJ... doesn't know what is in it (it's not just chicken and tomatoes), so he can't scoff or criticise.

And Blu ... no I don't make everything I eat in that pot. The last time I used that pot was about 2-3 weeks ago.

IMAG0189.jpg



EDIT: Now anyone can scoff or criticise all they want. It's still damn tasty.

1 Onion - fried in butter
Chicken - 4 thighs
Chicken Braai spices
Fresh, peeled tomatoes - quite a number
Olive oil - just because I have it
Grated garlic
Stock cube (shut up)
Cocunut cream - small can
Curry paste - 1 spoon
Breyani Masala spice
Curry powder
Plain yoghurt - small tub
 
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Picard said:
Organic chicken and tomato curry ... on cous-cous.

DJ... doesn't know what is in it (it's not just chicken and tomatoes), so he can't scoff or criticise.

And Blu ... no I don't make everything I eat in that pot. The last time I used that pot was about 2-3 weeks ago.

IMAG0189.jpg



EDIT: Now anyone can scoff or criticise all they want. It's still damn tasty.

1 Onion - fried in butter
Chicken - 4 thighs
Chicken Braai spices
Fresh, peeled tomatoes - quite a number
Olive oil - just because I have it
Grated garlic
Stock cube (shut up)
Cocunut cream - small can
Curry paste - 1 spoon
Breyani Masala spice
Curry powder
Plain yoghurt - small tub
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LOL. Why so apologetic? If you like it, you like it, and damn the rest.

EDIT: and if I didn't think that, I would mock you for using the curry paste, curry powder and pre-mixed masala :p
 
AvatarS said:
LOL. Why so apologetic? If you like it, you like it, and damn the rest.

EDIT: and if I didn't think that, I would mock you for using the curry paste, curry powder and pre-mixed masala :p
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I used all three in small quantities because I had all three.
 
I read your reply too late DJ. The berries did turn the color but it wasn't a dessert more than it (I feel) turned the taste a bit sour. Think that the little orange juice/olive oil/balsamic vinegar sauce I made saved it slightly.

As for the chicken breasts, I lightly seasoned them (yes with black pepper) and scored them a bit, pan fried it slightly on both sides in extra virgin olive oil then popped it into the oven for 40 min on 200 degrees.

Wasn't dried out at all, could have been a bit more moist, will keep your advice handy for next time. Think I might go for my own sauce next time, depending on how much I can make/cheaply I can make it for. Don't like spending R80+ on 1 meal that carries over into 1 lunch, a bit of a waste.
 
AcidRaZor said:
Wasn't dried out at all, could have been a bit more moist
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Brine them next time, and cook them a little less.

Do you prefer breast to thigh? I find that thighs have so much more flavour than breast, and it's harder to overcook them.
 
AcidRaZor said:
I read your reply too late DJ. The berries did turn the color but it wasn't a dessert more than it (I feel) turned the taste a bit sour. Think that the little orange juice/olive oil/balsamic vinegar sauce I made saved it slightly.

As for the chicken breasts, I lightly seasoned them (yes with black pepper) and scored them a bit, pan fried it slightly on both sides in extra virgin olive oil then popped it into the oven for 40 min on 200 degrees.

Wasn't dried out at all, could have been a bit more moist, will keep your advice handy for next time. Think I might go for my own sauce next time, depending on how much I can make/cheaply I can make it for. Don't like spending R80+ on 1 meal that carries over into 1 lunch, a bit of a waste.
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40 minutes?! For a chicken breast? That's killing it. People seem to have this notion that chicken should be cooked for an age, when in actual fact chicken is hardly a risky bird to cook these days. Breasts need about 15 minutes after a good pan-fry to cook through and that is all. Cooking it any longer serves no other purpose than to dry it out. And remember the white pepper trick next time you cook chicken - you'll be amazed at how closely the flavour profile begins to resemble that of KFC...
 
Randhir said:
Brine them next time, and cook them a little less.

Do you prefer breast to thigh? I find that thighs have so much more flavour than breast, and it's harder to overcook them.
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But never longer than 2 hours in a brine for chicken breasts, or their texture turns mealy. But yes, brining will allow you to cook them for 40 minutes and still have moist chicken. Personally I don't brine chicken pieces as they are (99% of the time) pre-brined by the producer...
 
DJ... said:
But never longer than 2 hours in a brine for chicken breasts, or their texture turns mealy. But yes, brining will allow you to cook them for 40 minutes and still have moist chicken. Personally I don't brine chicken pieces as they are (99% of the time) pre-brined by the producer...
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I brine the chicken pieces I buy and I've noticed a difference, and I don't use chicken breasts. I brine the thighs and legs for about four hours and the texture is fine.

Also, it allows me to introduce flavour into the chicken at an early stage. For example, I'm making chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, which calls for the chicken pieces to be browned before braising. My girlfriend can taste that the chicken hasn't been browned with garlic, and for some reason (it's Indian genes) it puts her off, even though a buttload of garlic is added later. However, if I boil some garlic, thyme, rosemary and black peppercorns, then cool and use that water to brine, you can taste the difference.
 
Randhir said:
I brine the chicken pieces I buy and I've noticed a difference, and I don't use chicken breasts. I brine the thighs and legs for about four hours and the texture is fine.

Also, it allows me to introduce flavour into the chicken at an early stage. For example, I'm making chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, which calls for the chicken pieces to be browned before braising. My girlfriend can taste that the chicken hasn't been browned with garlic, and for some reason (it's Indian genes) it puts her off, even though a buttload of garlic is added later. However, if I boil some garlic, thyme, rosemary and black peppercorns, then cool and use that water to brine, you can taste the difference.
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With so much garlic you will be putting her off soon :D :p
 
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