A Tale of Two (More) Chicken Breasts

You know something that I've discovered? A real big surprise to me? The difference between taste and texture of never-been-frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts and purchased-frozen chicken tenders. It's a delightful difference, let me tell you. Of course, those of you who already know this may be chuckling in a mannerly fashion at my naivete. That's OK.

Earlier in March I bought my first ever fresh chicken breasts, two of them, from the meat counter at Freddie's. I figured I could do something nice with them. That day I also bought some carrots, potatoes, onion, zucchini, yellow crook neck squash and chard. You can see what I did with all of that, here in this photo. Much like what I had on the blog on Monday, I baked the chicken breasts first, sprinkled with sea salt and pepper, drizzled with an olive oil, canola oil mixture. I forgot to say that on Monday, about the oil mixture. In a big pot, I cooked the potatoes in chunks, the carrots in disks, after I had sauteed the onion in bits and pieces, in that same olive oil/canola oil mixture. I added a little bit of water, too.

After the chicken was done, I called Lamont and asked him, "Can't I put my chicken breasts in pieces into my pot with the carrots and potatoes and onion, then add the squash and later on the chard?" "You sure can," he replied.

So I got the chicken out of the oven, let it rest a couple of minutes, then cut it into chunks. Once the potatoes and carrots began to get tender, I poured the chicken chunks and liquid into the pot, added a little bit of water, and turned up the heat for a few minutes. Then I poured in the disks of both squash and stirred in the chard which I had cut in the manner of chiffonade, as in finely cut. Well, finely cut as well as I could do it, not teensy but narrow. Anyway, it all cooked for a while on lower heat and smelled great. Right before I turned off the heat, I stirred in some leftover Green Giant Steamer Shoe Peg Corn. Oh, and as I added each new ingredient, I sprinkled some sea salt here and there in the pot.

Needless to say, I had me some more great leftovers. In fact, Lamont came over one night that week and ate a bowl of it, proclaiming it "chicken stew." He liked it! I hope that I can cook this again and have it turn out just as tasty.

Entree Envy, Anyone?

Succulent, sweet, wonderfully textured new entree at 3 Doors Down Cafe, orecchiette, oven-roasted cherry tomatoes, corn, smoked bacon, scallion sauce--I ate half of it for my Friday night supper and brought the rest home for lunch on Saturday.

What makes a cherry tomato sweet? It's bound to be a miracle inside that tiny globe, the combination of sugar in the tomato's meat, held inside by that tight, firm skin. Put them in the oven, sliced in half by a properly sharp knife, and a proscribed number of minutes later you've got a bite of heaven with each one.

Martini, Appetizer, Entree, 3 Doors Down Cafe, 37th and Hawthorne, Southeast Portland

Please scroll down to find today's dahlia, Fascination, from Swan Island Dahlias.

Yummy, satisfying, from sip to bite, first to last.

Martini

Ketel One Vodka, muddled basil, shaken, topped with a cherry tomato, blue cheese, basil bite. I've never had anything quite like this. Cool yet peppery. The topper's textures and tastes, a delight.

Appetizer

Potato Gnocchi, Creamed Corn, Mama Lil's Hungarian Peppers. I could eat this once a week, easily. To tell the truth, I have been doing so, happily. Those little pillows, those gnocchi, my goodness, but they're addictively good. And that sweet corn along with the spicy peppers. Oh, my.

Entree and a Glass of Wine

Coffee & Cocoa Rubbed Carlton Pork Loin, Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Chard with a side of Roasted Beets. Such juicy and tender pork satisfies anyone who takes a bite. The veggies make it seem like a meat-and-two-sort-of-dish, but there's a sophistication to it that rates it higher than that. And then the beets. If one could eat a ruby, surely it would taste this sweet with this exact texture and density. The wine, Gruner Veltliner, a white, went very well with my entree.

Today's dahlia, Fascination. Facts from Swan Island Dahlias--Bloom: 3" Deep Lavender, Bush: 2'

Friday, June 27, 2008 ... Sunflower for a sunny day

This sunflower was among the many for sale at Pioneer Courthouse Square last week. I thought it fitting to show you such a pretty flower with a bit of sun shining on it since we're in the midst of some really beautiful, sunny days. In fact, we're forecast to have record-breaking heat in the Pacific Northwest this weekend.



I especially liked the care that was taken to showcase the sunflowers with the corn behind the rows of pots, along with whatever that is in front of them, shorter so that they don't detract. Do I see a cone-shaped bloom or some such among the green leaves?

I'm so very late posting because I decided to take a nap yesterday evening and never made it back to the computer then or this morning. I did manage to wake up last night and this morning to walk Duncan, our darlin' miniature dachshund and to go to work. I'm a good girl after all, raised right by a good mother. By the way, Mama and I and our nine windows and six fans are as ready for the heat as we can be.