Bring Out the Rice Zesty Chicken

Mark Bittman's gigantic cookbook How to Cook Everything is a kitchen essential. While I think some recipes are a bit off (ex. his pizza crust is way too salty - perhaps a printing error?), there are some absolutely sumptuous dishes.  This chicken dish is one of those I'm-glad-I-gave-you-a-try recipes. Plus it's an enjoyable book to flip to a random page to read and learn techniques and technical details about a food stuff or two. Mark Bittman knows food and he writes about it well. I liked this chicken recipe so much I scribbled "WINNER! Love the sauce." right beside it. 

1 T oil

2 lbs bone in chicken thighs, rinsed and patted dry

1 t minced garlic

1 T grated lemon zest

¼ t cayenne (I have actually never tried it with cayenne but if you like a little kick, you should!)

2 T soy sauce

1 t sugar

⅓ cup water

Juice of one lemon

Heat a skillet. Add oil, swirl, then add the chicken. Brown quickly on both sides. Remove the chicken but keep the oils. Add the garlic and cook until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients except the lemon juice. Stir. Return the chicken and settle it in the liquid in the skillet. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, turning once or twice until chicken is done, about 20-30 minutes. 

Put chicken in serving platter and stir in the lemon juice. Pour some broth over the chicken and pass the rest at the table. Everyone will be looking for rice to enjoy this delicious sauce with.

Not Your Dad's Red Lentil Curry

I have never cooked lentils before and never had them growing up. We recently received a big sack of red lentils and I had absolutely no idea what to do with them. Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything came to the rescue (Every home should have this book!). I went with what looked like the easiest lentil recipe: lentils with curry or dal. Bittman had a basic recipe and a variation and because I couldn't decide which one to do, I combined them and used whatever spices I had and omitted some that I didn't. The result was so good my husband who didn't like lentils before* said he's now converted and can eat this everyday, twice a day even.  I don't think that big sack of red lentils will last us very long.  (*His dad used to cook lentil soup which they dreaded, thus, Not Your Dad's).

1½ cups red lentils, washed 
4 cups stock (if making this vegetarian, use vegetable stock; I like chicken stock though)
salt and pepper to taste (some stocks already contain enough salt)
1 T curry powder (Mark Bittman has a curry powder recipe but I just used ready-to-use curry powder)
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground cinnamon
¼ t ground cardamom
½ t ground cumin
2 T butter
1 T minced garlic
1 T grated ginger
cilantro, chopped for garnish

Put everything except the last four ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat cooking gently and stirring occassionally until lentils are soft and mixture thickens. Heat butter in a separate skillet and add the garlic and the ginger and cook until they almost begin to brown but not quite. Remove from heat and pour everything including the butter into the lentils and mix. Top with chopped cilantro.

My husband also likes to top this with shredded cheese.

Excited to try this recipe? Get red lentils from iherb now here.