Tuesday, June 28, 2011

What's For Dinner - Day 1

Mystery Ingredients
Boneless Chicken Thighs
Honey Roasted Peanuts
Canned Pears













Peanut Crusted Chicken and Apple Pear Sauce
4 or 5 boneless chicken thighs
1 cup honey roasted peanuts

1/2 cup flour
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
Salt & pepper
Oil for frying

1 can sliced pears (save the juice!)
3 apples
1 cinnamon stick
Fresh ginger (1 small chunk, peeled)
Juice of 1 lemon

For the chicken: Place the peanuts in a food processor and process until the peanuts are finely ground. In a large wide bowl, mix together the peanuts, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. In another bowl, beat the egg with the milk, salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour, then the egg mixture, then into the peanut mixture. Be sure to gently press the peanuts into the chicken to assure that it creates a coating and sticks to the meat. Pour enough oil in a pan to just coat the bottom. Fry the chicken on both sides until the crust is just golden brown (be careful - peanuts can burn in oil! Do not walk away from the pan!). Remove the chicken from the oil, drain on a paper towel and place in a glass dish covered with foil in a 325 degree oven to finish cooking. Cook 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

For the apple pear sauce: Peel the apples and cut into 1-inch chunks. Cut the pears into 1-inch chunks as well. Place the apples, pears, fresh ginger, cinnamon stick and lemon juice in a pot. Pour in the pear juice that was in the can. Cover the pot, bring to a boil and cook until apples are very soft. Use a stick blender or food processor and puree the apple pear sauce. You can make it chunky or smooth, depending on how you like it. (Be sure to taste it, it may need just a hint of sugar after it is done cooking).

RATING: ***
(Three out of five stars)

What's This All About??

My husband Evan and I are big fans of the show "Chopped" on the Food Network. In short, the competing chefs are equipped with a basket which contains at least three mystery ingredients with which they must cook up a tasty dish to be served to the judges.
So we thought this would be fun to do at home. I was getting rather bored of cooking the same 5 or 10 recipes every week, so I told Evan I wanted to be challenged and stretch my culinary muscles. So Evan agreed that once a week, he would go shopping, pick out three ingredients, and I would have to come up with something to make for dinner using those ingredients and then post them here for you to enjoy!
I hope you enjoy the dishes I come up with...check back every week to see the "mystery ingredients" and the final product!
Hope to see you back here soon!!

Lots of love always,
Aubrey <><