Among fans of chicken breasts, some love them for their leanness, and others in spite of it. Ali Slagle’s got great news for that second group.
In her butter-basted chicken breasts, she repeatedly spoons fragrant brown butter over the delicate white meat as it cooks. This method caramelizes the surface of the chicken while still keeping the interior juicy and tender. Nutty, golden garlic and whole branches of woodsy herbs (rosemary, thyme or sage) infuse the meat with flavor. It makes for a speedy weeknight chicken dish that’s a cut above, even if you usually like ’em lean.
Featured Recipe
Butter-Basted Chicken Breasts
Garlic also makes a crucial appearance in my one-pan shrimp scampi with crispy gnocchi. But, unlike the mellow nuggets of smashed, whole garlic in Ali’s chicken, these cloves are grated or minced to keep them pungent as they melt into the hot embrace of butter and white wine. The recipe calls for shelf-stable gnocchi, which blister as they come in contact with the pan, speckling brown all over and soaking up all that irresistible scampi sauce.
Wine — in this case, Shaoxing (or dry sherry) — also anchors the sauce for this pepper steak, a boldly seasoned version of the classic Chinese American stir-fry from Eric “Doctoring Peppers” Kim. Leaning into the mix of onions and green bell peppers (or thin-skinned Cubanelle peppers), Eric’s iteration is equal parts vegetables and meat, suffused with ginger, soy sauce and black pepper. To up the vegetable quotient even further, take Colt’s suggestion in the notes and throw in some sliced mushrooms after searing the meat but before adding the onions and peppers. A little extra earthiness can’t miss.
Now that we’re on the subject of mushrooms, David Tanis finds two totally different ways to use fresh shiitakes in his vegan mapo tofu. First, he simmers up a light broth from the stems, which becomes the foundation for the sauce. Then he dices and sears the caps as a substitute for the traditional ground pork. You’ll need Sichuan peppercorns and doubanjiang (fermented broad bean paste), but they’re easy to find in Asian grocery stores and online, and well worth the click for a five-star vegan meal that’s ready in about 30 minutes.
It’s not vegan, but it is meatless and it stars pasta: Kay Chun’s caramelized brussels sprouts pasta with toasted chickpeas is loaded with rich, browned vegetables and crispy, nubby chickpeas. It will take a few minutes to slice the brussels sprouts if you do it by hand, but you could also just pull out the ol’ food processor and watch those sprouts fly.
Finally, for a treat that rocks breakfast just as hard as it does dessert, you could try Andy Baraghani’s apple-blueberry crisp. He makes it extra crunchy by sprinkling panko breadcrumbs and chopped pistachio nuts into the crumbly, spice-scented topping. Serve this baby warm from the oven with a dollop of whipped cream for dessert, or cold from the fridge and topped with yogurt for breakfast. Or vice versa. Let’s live a little.
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That’s all for now. See you on Wednesday.
