Tasty Sandwiches on Free Bread

Much like this one, except ours was free.

Last night's dinner, created by yours truly, consisted of Chicken Avocado Sandwiches on Peasant Levain with Red Cider Slaw. They were quite tasty! The bread was from Grand Central, and was actually received free via their twitter feed.

First I put two deboned chicken breasts with their skins on in a container with some olive oil, salt, pepper, diced cilantro, and a diced garlic clove.  I squeezed a quarter of a lime over the mixture for good measure, then put it aside.

Next I took out a bowl for the slaw and put some good olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, a pinch of cayenne, and another diced garlic glove into it and swished. Then I squeezed another quarter lime into the dressing. Then I thinly sliced about a quarter of a red cabbage. put it in the bowl, and mixed it up. It went into the fridge to let the flavors mingle.

At that point I started a cast iron skillet on the stove on medium-low, and poured some of the marinade from the chicken container into it. Once the oil started popping (from the lime juice), I put the chicken breasts in and let them sit for a while. Once the bottom started getting brown (imagine me waiting patiently, this takes a while), I flipped them over with a fork and then put a lid over them and waited for them to stop being raw chicken.

Avocado. Summer's almost over...

Meanwhile, I prepped some more cilantro, pulling leaves from stems but leaving the leaves intact. I suppose you could dice it, but that wouldn't make it stay on the sandwich any better. My partner sliced the avocado, hitting it with some additional lime juice for flavor and to prevent oxidation. I sliced the peasant levain and toasted the slices in our toaster oven. As it came out, I rubbed a clove of garlic over the four slices for extra flavor.

When the chicken was nicely browned, I took it out of the pan and sliced it. My partner added some wine to the drippings to deglaze the pan and create a sauce for the sandwiches. Then we stacked: Slice of toast, chicken, pan sauce, slaw, and half an avocado each. Oh yeah, and then the other slice of toast. The leftover slaw was added on the side, and we had some chips as well.

What did you get from this post? Free bread? I hope so, though I realize you may not live in Portland. I don't think you personally don't know how to make a chicken sandwich, but maybe someone looking really confusedly at some bread and some raw chicken will find this post and at least have a starting point.

Not That I Died

Heya, so here is the situation. I haven't updated in forever. I still cook, in fact I've been cooking a lot more lately. I actually made something really exciting lately that I would have loved to share with you, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures (it was Tortilla-less Cabbage Leaf Enchiladas).

The previous name of this blog was "Cooked and Eaten in a Portland Basement". I still live in Portland but not in a basement. I've moved into a nice SE Portland house with a lovely gas stove (which works) and other wonders such as a dishwasher (nice). I have procured two cats which I share the care and feeding of with my lovely domestic partner. She is an amazing cook, and a sometime food blogger as well.

Last night I went to this:

Beast Vegetarian Wine Dinner

LOCAL WILD MUSHROOM SOUP
CRÈME FRAICHE & PIMENT D’ESPELETTE

STUFFED PETITE COURGETTES
KENS BREAD, SWEET CORN & FRESH SHELL BEANS
ROASTED SWEET PEPPER & HEIRLOOM TOMATO SAUCE

HAND CUT SPINACH PASTA FILLED
WITH DELICATA SQUASH & FRESH RICOTTA
SHAVED PARMESAN & FRIED HERBS

BELGIAN ENDIVE WITH MARS-VENUS GRAPES
BROWN BUTTER & AGED BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE

~ SELECTION OF STEVE’S CHEESE~
CRACKED BLACK PEPPER AND FLEUR DE SEL SHORTBREAD
OREGON WILDFLOWER HONEY
POACHED APRICOTS & FRIED MARCONA ALMONDS

BRULÈED FIG AND HONEY MASCARPONE TARTLETTE
AGED FIG BALSAMIC

It was really amazing and really expensive. I didn't get any pictures of that either. Basically at this point, you are looking at a failed blog. I think there is a chance I will get back to it, but for the moment, the most I can tell you is: I'm still alive. I still cook. I still eat. And you should too.

Chicken Leek Stroganoff

Yum! Tonight was a tasty dish adapted from a recipe by Jamie Oliver: Chicken Leek Stroganoff. This is my second time making it, but I didn't change much.

The recipe in a nutshell: Cook some rice, simmer some leeks, mushrooms, and chicken in a light cream sauce, dish the sauce over the rice, garnish and enjoy! It's a "19 minute" recipe which invariably takes me longer for some reason, but it's still pretty quick and easy.

I'll put the ingredients I used, you can cheap out if you like.

Chicken and Leek Stroganoff

Kosher Salt
Ground Black Pepper
3 large garlic cloves
1 cup jasmine rice
1 large organic leek
2 big handfuls crimini mushrooms
2 free-range organic boneless skinless chicken breasts
organic extra virgin olive oil
1/2 stick organic unsalted butter
2 glasses of (organic? local?) white wine
1 small glass of water (might as well get it ready) This will affect the final thickness of the sauce; err on the side of less water
1 bunch fresh organic parsley
1 heaping cup organic plain yogurt
1 organic lemon

Cook the rice*. I used a rice cooker. I cheat. Jamie uses packets. He cheats too.

Peel and dice the garlic cloves. Slice the ends off the leek off and save for future stock-making. Slice the rest of the leek twice lengthwise and then slice widthwise about 25 times. You want small leek pieces here. Slice the mushrooms into flat mushroom-looking discs and keep separate. Slice the chicken into fingers and keep separate as well.

If you keep them on the same cutting board it makes it harder to add them one by one... though technically it's okay to keep the mushrooms and chicken together. But is it sanitary?

Hm? Oh, the recipe! Right! Sorry, got lost there for a minute.

Put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil along with the butter and garlic in a large frying pan on high heat. Once the butter is mostly melted or starts to sizzle, add the leek and one glass of wine. Do something else with the other glass of wine, maybe drink it? Add the small glass of water and some salt and pepper, stir once lightly, then partially cover it. Give that five minutes while you "finely chop the parsley, stalks and all". Reserve part of the parsley (chopped or otherwise) for garnish.

Add the chicken, most of the parsley, the yogurt, and the mushrooms to the leeks. Bring to a boil, stirring, then reduce heat to a simmer for 10 minutes or until sauce has thickened to your liking. Squeeze half a lemon's juice into the stroganoff just before serving. Add further salt, pepper, or other seasoning if so desired.

Plate by dishing stroganoff over a serving of rice and garnishing with parsley and lemon wedges. Serve with any remaining white wine.

I also added a dab of yogurt for the sake of photography.