JUICE CUSE ORANGE-GINGER CHICKEN

Crackden is making a concerted effort to include real-life recipes, not just our typical alcohol-laced-chocolate-filled-emotional-eating sort of recipes. THAT SAID, what is a girl to do when her roommates all have plans but you don’t just want... soup.... for dinner? 

Well, naturally, I started by burning the Rice-a-roni. Because I can make Ratatouille from scratch (I should do this for you guys, it’s yummy), but fuck if I can ever get the boxed pasta to work. But, while that was smoking on the stove, I invented some really good Asian-ish chicken to accompany my solo Grey’s Anatomy marathon. Improvise, but try to get the following, and obviously adjust amounts if you actually have friends.

1 chicken breast

about 3/4 cup flour

half a spoonful ginger powder

1 or 2 cloves of garlic (personal preference)

sprinkle red pepper flakes

a few tablespoons sesame seed oil (totes worth getting if you do Asian food at all, otherwise whatever oil you’ve got)

a few tablespoons soy sauce

about 1/2 cup orange juice

...and I had pineapple juice, so I threw that in there, too

oil for frying

peppers or broccoli or whatever veggies you enjoy

Look at the size of this mofo. A lonely girl could be fed for a week!

For the sake of our cooking philosophy, I’m going to reiterate that measuring is way less important than taste testing. Loosen up, people.

Dice the chicken and throw it in a bowl with the flour, using your hands to coat each piece evenly, and let it sit for a minute before you throw it in the pan to start frying. Waiting helps the breading “set” and not fall off during cooking. I can’t remember if I read that somewhere, or if I made it up, but it can’t hurt.

While it’s frying, grab another bowl and add your ginger, garlic, and red pepper. Do NOT accidently dump the entire pepper thing in, because this, believe me, will make it waaaaay spicier than you originally intended. Mix in your oil, followed by the rest of the ingredients (except veggies). Taste test, and adjust to your liking.

When your chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and throw your sauce in there on high heat. It will bubble a lot, and should get thicker pretty fast. If, after a few minutes, it’s still too runny, beat in a cornstarch/water or flour/butter mixture.

When it thickens up, reduce heat and add your chicken and veggies, mixing well to coat. When vegetables are suitably cooked, transfer to a plate and marvel at your own genius. Enjoy Grey’s, and don’t worry, your roommates will be home soon.

I remembered to take picturessssssss

MARGARITA CHICKEN

Early in spring semester, our friend Phil was silly enough to mention he had just stocked up on supplies to make himself a nice Mexican dinner. Ever the moochers, my roommate Katie and I suggested he make us dinner instead, and when he actually did thus was born the delicious tradition of Taco Tuesdays. Katie and I would spend a full week looking up recipes and planning elaborate and progressively more outlandish tacos, and Phil provided accompanying beer or margaritas. Tuesday was arguably the best dinner of the week.

Margarita chicken was one of our favorite taco recipes, which means we all ate enough that night that it hurt to move and I had to go to bed early. I suggest NOT making the marinade right before class, because you will end up reeking of tequila. Which is delicious, but not ok for class.

1 lime

3 tablespoons gold tequila

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cloves minced garlic

a heavy sprinkle of salt and pepper

1 chicken breast for each person you plan to serve, cubed

oil for frying

1 cup cornmeal or flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

For the marinade, mix the vegetable oil, garlic, honey, salt, pepper, and tequila. Zest the lime, and add that, then add the juice of the lime as well. Dump in the chicken cubes and mix thoroughly, you’re probably going to have to use your hands to make sure everything is coated. Cover and put the chicken in the fridge for at least a few hours, if not overnight, mixing occasionally to ensure even marinating.

When you’re ready to start cooking, heat oil in a frying pan and mix the cornmeal or flour with a liberal amount of salt and pepper in a small bowl. A few pieces at a time, coat the marinated chicken in the flour mixture and drop into frying pan to cook. It’s easier if you have a friend for this part. While one of you flours chicken, the other can be watching the frying pan and stirring to make sure the chicken is cooking evenly. You obviously don’t want to drown everything in oil, but keeping the pan greased ensures the chicken turns a nice golden brown, instead of burning. Using cornmeal instead of flour gives the chicken a nice crunchy shell, but it’ll be delicious either way.

Serve with tortillas, guacamole, salsa, rice, beans, margaritas and whatever else you want to make margarita chicken into a lovely, fulfilling dinner.