I eat a lot of chicken—skin on, on the bone. Don’t get me wrong, you can’t go wrong with chicken, and I’m eternally grateful to Nanny for the big packages of it she brings us. The thing is, I get bored of eating it the same way. A is pretty picky and generally likes it with adobo, sazon, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder and onions. I always add paprika to his line up, and I’ve tried a few other things (lemon juice, orange zest was a hit, bay leaves were good, the butter and brown sugar glaze with whole garlic cloves tasted good to me but was dismissed as showing off by my beloved). In the interest of not eating the same chicken three or four nights a week, I’m documenting a list here of new things to try to spice up my chicken:
- Beer, Italian dressing and black olives. This was some Betty Crocker (or somesuch) recipe I found and modified in college. I love cooking with beer, and I love black olives, so it worked out pretty well.
- Tapenade and pesto. They’ve been sitting in my fridge and would form a delicious, thick paste that would certainly add some variety. If I could score some truffle oil, it might make a nice addition…
- Cornflake breaded. I haven’t perfected this yet, but it’s my favorite form of nonpanko breading.
- Chilis! My grocery store that isn’t good for much does have a good variety of dried chilis. I’m thinking with blue cheese, as a low-fat buffalo wings alternative.
- Sage butter. I have sage, and I have butter, so why not?
- Pumpkin. I make pumpkin lasagna a few times a year, varying the recipe slightly every time. It’s always delicious and impresses whoever I’m cooking for. So what if I were to dump all the ingredients except the ravioli into the slowcooker with some chicken, and have the ravioli as a side? I think I’m onto something, folks.
Of course, now that I’ve written this, I have to do all these things and write about them. If anyone has any tried-and-true chicken recipes, let me know.
Layla Schlack 