I was at school pondering what I would do for dinner that night. My mom was going to dinner with friends and my dad was out of town so it needed to be something simple but better than a sandwich or fast food. I did a little idea searching and found Bon Appétit's article for 10 marinade recipes to use with chicken, steak, and seafood. A lot of the recipes included herbs so I went to the one that used a lot of the stuff in my garden. I halved the recipe, especially since my herb plants have barely even started growing, and went to work on a chimichurri marinade.
It's a simple marinade that begins with garlic and shallots (when is that ever a bad combination?) that sit in red wine vinegar for ten minutes so they can infuse their flavorful goodness. While the garlic and shallots do a little marinade of their own, it's time to chop some herbs; cilantro, oregano (I grow Greek), and parsley. I chopped my herbs by hand but when I make this again, I am definitely going for the food processor. You want this done fast because it has to actually marinade for a while. I was hungry so I only marinated my chicken, which I halved and then cut on a bias into little fajita stye bites, for about an hour and a half. The recipe says three hours to overnight but it still turned out packed with flavor.
Sorry for the lack of prepping pictures but I did start taking some when I started cooking. Except, there are no pictures of the raw chicken being cooked because that sight is never very pretty.
However, here is the finished product:
Like most delicious things, it was cooked in a cast iron skillet. It may not look so appealing but it was SO yummy. I thinned out some sour cream with lime juice and that was a beautiful combination with the chicken. Sadly my house was lacking both tortillas and lettuce so I could not make a taco or a salad. Both of those options would be delicious though!
Since I was lacking anything to go with chicken, I rummaged through my fridge and found a head of broccoli and a lemon. What I made next was pure taste bud heaven.
Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Roasted Broccoli Salad. Something I came up with when trying to use up some broccoli.
I tossed some broccoli that has been cut into florets with a little bit olive oil, lemon zest, and salt and pepper before roasting it. While it cooks, I make a lemon-garlic vinaigrette. When the broccoli cools from roaring hot to warm, I toss it in the vinaigrette and then devour.
A fresh glass of iced tea with lots of lemon and fresh mint from my garden was the perfect accompaniment for a simple night.
Quick tip: I personally am not a huge fan of sweetened tea but for those who are, simple syrups are a quick and easy way to sweeten tea up. Add equal parts sugar and water to a pot on the stove and stir it over some heat till the sugar dissolves. A simple syrup is a beautiful canvas to get creative with simply by steeping some flavor additives (herbs, citrus zest, spices, almost anything) while it cools.
It was another hodge podge of a dinner but when it's delicious, who cares?
-Madison
No comments:
Post a Comment