Spicy Chicken and Cheesy Potatoes for Dinner

Dinner was homemade today but since I want a slow day, I just did something that's no brainer. Ironically, although dinner outside is usually comprised of complicated dishes, I keep dinner light and simple at home usually. After all, I'll just be sleeping right?

A few weeks ago, I was at Mercato Centrale and I ordered cheesy potatoes from a stall because they were dirt cheap. Figured if I could make my own at home, with marble potatoes (i.e. small potatoes like marbles, you buy them per pack) bought from m favorite grocery. Since them potatoes were hard as a rock, the solution was to pre-boil them first till they're soft prior to cooking them in oil. Prior to cooking though, I washed the potatoes twice in running water and even had to scrub a tad of liquid soap foam then rinse them well to make them clean. I know I'll boil them and drain it out, but I can't bear the thought of soil-y potatoes.

After they were boiled and drained, I put the potatoes in a pan with heated canola oil and started pan-frying them but not to the point of charring their skins. The original potato dish had bacon, but I wanted herbs so I sprinkled some rosemary and Italian seasoning on them with a tad of salt and pepper and mixed. As soon as I lowered the heat, I spooned cheese spread (like Cheez Whiz) and turned off the fire, letting the spread melt and mixed away. Some cheese was burning through though so I removed the pan from any heat source and used the heat source from the potatoes and pan to warm and melt the cheese and mixed in some more. My tip here is to use a nonstick pan for easy cleanup.

For meat, I pan-grilled pepper chicken breast fillets, which were pre-marinated and bought per 100 g at Rustans. They're really hot and I suggest buy them only when you have high tolerance to spicy foods or love spicy foods. I slathered honey barbecue sauce on them too and chased everything down by glugging a glass of lemon water.

Had I had time, grilled tomatoes on the side would also have been great for this.

A dish of spices call for something sweet, so right now, I'm eating two slices of mango for healthy sugar rush. Yum!!!!! I really should get more pots now, as I've been dependent on two frying pans, a pan griller, and this pot that I use to make broth, boil spaghetti, and now boil potatoes in. I need a saucepan to make gravy and jelly now. Plus a pitcher when I make lemongrass drinks.

Honey Ginger Chicken For Lunch

Because dining out is expensive, I have resulted to the uncanny thing which I have avoided for five years... pots, pans, and knives. Well what do you know? It's not that bad. I just needed to have my own kitchen and little corner. Plus, it gives me topics and pictures to write here in my food blog. Food recipes are usually researched online or inspired from what I see in Asian Food Channel or whatever cooking show I see on tv. Today's lunch and dinner and probably also tomorrow's is taken from an easy recipe I saw online - Honey Ginger Chicken Stir Fry. You could find the recipe here if you would like to replicate it yourself. I didn't follow the recipe entirely substituting frozen stir-fry blend for fresh carrots, broccoli, and red bell peppers.

I grated the ginger right on the measuring spoon reserving any juices. While cooking and I feel like adding a bit more kick, I grate some more ginger on the dish as it simmers. The water chestnuts are really, really interesting. They're like sweet radishes that are white on the can but of course, the honey makes everything all golden brown. Why my choice of veggies? I wanted something nutritious and I have always liked carrots and bell pepper. I wanted a bit of contrast to the color scheme by adding something green so broccoli was my choice with the texture and nutritional benefits as well. Plus, broccoli is so easy to prepare... Just remove it from the humongous stem and separate the little segments. For honey, it doesn't have to be imported or expensive. I used local honey. They sell it in Rustan's supermarket for less than 100 pesos. They're in glass containers shaped like Tanduay bottles.

Just a heads up though, when you taste it while cooking, it tastes a bit bland though, but the flavor develops when the meal cools down. So try to hold on to the taste. I lower the heat too after stirring and adding the sauce so I don't burn anything.

While cooking though, let me share the space-saver thank you to the Japanese home stores that sell dirt cheap but useful stuff:

Now I never have to scramble for the cheese grater, or in my case - my any-grater since it grates cheese, lemon or orange rind, ginger, and all.