Last Monday a couple friends and I got together and made a meal happen. In these trying times funds are very hard to come across. If you, like me, are not apart of the one percent of individuals wealthy enough to simply live off of money earned from money here are a few easy guidelines you can follow.
Keep it Simple:
When looking to cook search for a protein, veg and starch. You don't have to make it more complicated then it is. For this meal I started with a protein we already had in the freezer. Chicken thighs and drumsticks. If you don't have anything frozen or readily available it would be a good idea to start watching sale trends at your local market. On occasion you can walk away with a great deal! Those deals can lead you to creating several meals off of a bulk purchase.
Create with what you already have:
With our chicken thawing I began searching through my cupboards and found a box of orzo that was purchased and forgotten about. Orzo is a great starch option and it is an extremely easy pasta to cook. This strange pasta is very close to resembling rice and could be used as a substitute in many dishes. Now that we had the main components of the dish figured out a simple trip to the market would round it out.
Only purchase what you need to finish the dish:
Needing some vegetables to smooth out the rough edges of our meal the group and i talked about which flavor profiles we would want to follow. Keeping it simple was the path and my cupboards supplied an answer...Italian. With a little dried basil, red chili peppers, onion powder, salt, pepper and red wine vinegar it was decided for us. Now that a flavor profile is found one can then decide which vegetables at the market would coincide the best with the dishes flavors.
At the store we found Asparagus, Broccoli, mushrooms and spinach. With the addition of these vegetables our dish would come together nicely. Giving us a well rounded meal at a low cost.
The following recipe is how I put it all together.
Chicken:
5ea drumsticks
5ea thighs
2 cups red wine vinegar
1 cup Olive oil
1 tbs dried basil
1 tbs red chili flakes
1 tbs onion powder
s/p to taste
Defrost the chicken. Preheat the oven to 375. While the oven is heating up take the chicken and rinse. Place it into a large container that will enable you to store it and the marinade together in the fridge. With the chicken rinsed, measure out all ingredients mixing them well with the poultry. Store in fridge for 30-45 minutes. This will allow all flavors to combine and settle with the protein.
After the chicken has marinated for a while pull it out and place it on a baking tray evenly spacing it. Remember that overcrowding will not allow for even cooking and a proper crisping of the skin. Once you have done this place in the oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked and golden brown.
Orzo
3 cups of orzo dried
8 cups of water
1 tsp salt for water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
pinch of red chili flakes
s/p to taste
Bring the eight cups of water to a boil. Once the the water boils drop the pasta in giving it a stir. The water temp will fall then come back to a boil. As this happens you will want to control the boil by bringing it down to a simmer. Controlling the heat is very important when making pasta or rice. Simmer the orzo for 8-10 minutes or until it has expanded and softened up. With the orzo cooked strain it discarding the water. Place it into a bowl or back into the pot you cooked it in. Measure out your olive oil, red wine vinegar and a pinch of chili flakes, add them in with the orzo. Mix thoroughly so you ensure all ingredients are incorporated. Cover and keep warm.
The Vegetables
1 bu Asparagus
2 small heads of Broccoli
1 pk Button Mushrooms
1 bag of Baby Spinach
Take and wash all vegetables, making sure to dry them after rinsing. Wile washing all vegetables have two small pots of water heating up. Take the asparagus and cut off the wood-like bottoms leaving you the nice tender green stems and tips. Cut the Asparagus in half after trimming the bottoms off and put aside. With the broccoli heads, trim off the florets creating small bite sized pieces, put them aside. The mushrooms purchased where already sliced so washing them was all that needed to happen. As for the spinach it says washed but it is always good to take that extra step rinsing it off, put it aside and prepare to blanch the asparagus and broccoli.
With the two pots of water boiling by now drop the Broccoli florets in one and the asparagus pieces into the other one. Let them cook for 1-2 minutes strain and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process. Place onto a plate and hold.
Heat up a large saute pan with a little olive oil in it and once hot, start off by browning the mushrooms. Cook the shrooms for 2-3 minutes then add broccoli and asparagus, brown a touch then add in the spinach. With all of those beautiful leaves hanging in the pan splash a bit of water or stock in to speed up the cooking process of the spinach. Once the spinach is cooked and well incorporated in your vegetable medley turn off heat and hold.
To Finish:
Pull the chicken out when it is fully cooked and golden brown. At this stage you can decide to either platter up the thighs and drumsticks, the orzo and your side separately like a family style buffet or you can plate it up for your guests. For the platting I made a bed of orzo, having the vegetables come off of the side allowing the thighs and drumsticks to stack giving them an appealing height while show casing that golden brown crispy skin.
Have fun and enjoy.
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