Cooking while Sheltering in Place
Hello! It has been a long while since I’ve added new content here and I apologize. I returned from a trip abroad just before the new year and have two posts I wanted to put up, but since the outbreak of SARS-COV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), I haven’t really had the heart to write them. Maybe I will once the pandemic settles down here in Northern California and I can happily take a trip down memory lane while giving myself wanderlust haha.
Just like many of you, I’ve found myself cooking more while home. I’ve gone out to grab take-out from a couple of local restaurants, but to keep myself and my older parents safe, I’ve limited my outings to less than once a week. I have a challenge when it comes to content creation and cooking at home: if I cook meat, onions, or garlic, I have to eat it myself, so this means I’m cooking on a tiny scale, just for me. If I cook leftovers, I’m taking up refrigerator space that my parents use too, eek. I hadn’t planned to buy any meat during this time since I was eating mostly vegetarian at home prior to the outbreak when my mom cooked, but my friends over at Antonik’s BBQ, a family-run business, sent me home with bottles of their delicious marinade and sauce when I ordered take-out! Thank you for being the catalyst for my cooking adventures.
This recipe generated one dinner for myself and enough sauté for me to use with an egg for breakfast the next morning.
Ingredients:
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-Antonik’s BBQ marinade (you can substitute your own marinade)
-Skinless and boneless chicken thighs from Trader Joe’s (thawed, not frozen)
-Olive oil (or vegetable/canola oil)
–Banza chickpea rotini
-4 mushrooms
-1/4 jumbo yellow sweet onion
-Handful of baby spinach (I bought a bag from Trader Joe’s)
-Salt, black pepper, thyme, garlic powder, any other herbs you like want
The night before:
Place your chicken in a container and pour enough marinade in to soak. A bit of extra is ok since you can use the leftover in the cooking process. If you’re only using 1-2 pieces, you can also place the chicken pieces in a ziplock bag for some space-saving in the fridge.
Time to cook!
I decided to cook my pasta first. One box of Banza chickpea rotini makes four servings, so I poured roughly 1/2 into boiling water that I lightly salted. I only ate half of this; the other half I gave to my mom for her dinner. Cook the pasta for 7-9 minutes. I tasted a piece around 7 minutes to check on the texture. I took the pot off the heat by around 9 minutes and poured it into a strainer in the sink and rinsed with cold water to stop the cooking process.
Why chickpea pasta? I wanted to balance my diet that includes other carbs (bread, ramen, tortilla). I came across Banza about a month ago and decided to try it; my mom and I both liked it as an alternative to regular pasta. It doesn’t have the same chew that you get from flour pasta since it’s 90% chickpea (protein) instead of flour, but it’s still delicious. Because this chickpea pasta is higher in fiber and protein and is also lower on the glycemic index (it doesn’t cause as high a spike in your blood glucose (sugar) levels), it keeps your hunger satisfied longer. You can read more about the glycemic index. I am not a health professional nor am I trying to diet to lose weight; I only strive to eat a balanced diet.
Next up: sauté. I used the same pan for the sauté and chicken, so I wanted to make the veggies first because the marinade will caramelize on the pan. I diced up 1/4 of a jumbo yellow sweet onion. When cutting the mushrooms, cut off the stem so that your tops can sit flat on your cutting board. I sliced them vertically, then cut the pieces (and stems) in half so that they were smaller pieces, but you can leave them as they are if you wish.
Add a small amount of olive oil to your pan and turn your stove to medium. I added my onions first and tossed them in the heat until slightly translucent. Then I added the mushrooms and lastly the spinach since it doesn’t take long for the spinach to cook. Add salt, pepper, and any other herbs you want to your taste. Once tossed, plate your sauté. I added half to my plate and the other half to a container that I put in the fridge once cooled so that I could eat have it for breakfast the next morning.
Time to cook the chicken. Keep your stove at medium heat and add a bit of olive oil. Place your chicken pieces on the pan and cook each side for 2 minutes. Spoon some of the leftover marinade on to your chicken while cooking. While your chicken is on the stove, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. I used my multi-use toaster oven, no preheating required.
Once your chicken has cooked on the stove top for 4 minutes total, you should see some char on both sides. Take it off the stove and transfer to a foil-covered pan or your toaster oven; spoon any remaining marinade onto the chicken. Cook on each side at 450 degrees for 4 minutes each (8 minutes in the oven total). Make sure to keep an eye on your chicken so it doesn’t burn. If you have a food thermometer, check the middle and make sure it’s at 165 degrees before removing.
Once you pull out the chicken, slice the pieces carefully and plate it with your pasta. Ta-da! I made my meal for one, but you can easily add additional pieces of chicken to marinate the night before, cook the entire box of pasta, and add additional veggies for your sauté to make a family meal in under 30 minutes. I hope this was helpful or inspiring for your cooking adventures at home. Let me know in the comments what you’re cooking!
