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Sunday, May 18, 2014

The Type of Ingredient You Get Handed to You on Chopped

 

I love to watch the T.V. show that's on the Food Network called "Chopped."  It's fascinating to see chefs handed something that's outside of the box.  This recipe has just that type of ingredient and it worked better than I could have imagined.


Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast or chicken tenders, cut into chunks
1/4 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons wok or vegetable oil, 2 turns of the pan (preferred brand: House of Tsang)
1 tablespoon (a splash) white or rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
8 ounces (1 cup) prepared lemon curd
1/4 cup hot water
1 lemon, zested
2 scallions, thinly sliced or 20 blades fresh chives, finely chopped

Directions:

Coat the chunked chicken lightly in flour, seasoned with a little salt.  Heat a large skilled or a wok-shaped nonstick pan over high heat.  Stir fry chicken until golden, 3 or 4 minutes.  Remove chicken from the pan and return pan to heat.  Reduce heat to medium.

Add a splash of vinegar to the pan and let it evaporate. Add stock or broth to the pan and scrape up any drippings with a whisk. Thin curd by stirring in a little hot water. Add curd to broth and whisk to combine. Add chicken back to the pan and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes to thicken sauce and finish cooking chicken pieces through. Remove the pan from heat, add the scallion or chives and zest, and toss chicken pieces well to combine zest and scallions or chives evenly throughout the sauce. Serve other rice.

Rachel Ray's cooks notes: Wok oil infused with ginger and garlic is usually available on the International Foods aisle in many markets. Lemon curd is sweet lemon spread available in most markets. It is on the jam/jelly isle.

Source: Rachel Ray, found on Food Network. You can find the recipe here.   


Notes: I made it too! This was posted by my mom, but I tried it too (both of us made it independently of the other, without the others' knowledge). I just HAD to try this. I mean, it sounded so intriguing! Could this really taste like Chinese lemon chicken with so few ingredients, and while using such an interesting ingredient like lemon curd? Well, do you know what? It totally works. I loved this. It was so tasty!

Oh, and I didn't find lemon curd on my jam and jelly aisle. For my grocery store, it was on the baking aisle by the pie filling.

3 comments:

  1. I made this one too, but as you can see, mom beat me to the posting punch. :) I will be making this one a lot in the future (especially since we can't go to Chinese restaurants because of my son's allergies).

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  2. Your pictures are always better. :) Actually, so is your food! This was a fun recipe.

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  3. You are too hard on yourself, Mom! You are an awesome cook and your food is delicious. The only difference with my pictures is that my camera has more megapixels and I try to photograph in only natural light. :) Your kitchen is too dim. I challenge you to take the next pictures using the camera on your phone, but take the food outside, or open the door so that the light can shine in and see if it doesn't make your pictures brighter. Your chicken looks yummy too. It just looks dimly lit. :) Oh, and I noticed you used chives where I used green onions. Did you like the chives? I thought the green onions were very nice.

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