Care & Feeding of the Writer on Deadline

[lagilman]

Because I haven't made a food post in a while...


Wanted something tasty, but light tonight for dinner. And I didn't want to work hard at it. On-hand were some fresh string beans, some garlic, and half of a rotisserie chicken breast carcass.

Perfect.

Slice garlic cloves (I used four, but adjust to taste) and fry up in oil until golden brown. Add broken-up string beans. While they're cooking, shred the pre-cooked chicken and toss into the pan, adding soy sauce to taste (don't overdo it! You want the garlic to be the dominant taste, not the soy sauce!) Add a little cornstarch just to thicken the sauce.

Serve either plain, or over rice. What you'll get is a delicately nutty, slightly sweet meal with both tenderness (the twice-cooked chicken) and crunch (the string beans), and a very appealing color. And it's good for you, too!

(not to mention having bits of cooked garlic to crunch on...yum...)

Takes about ten minutes, total, from peeling the garlic to serving it up.


addendum: and allowing Boomer to lick up the remnants in the bowl makes him happy enough to offer an unsolicited shoulder rub. Gotta love a cat who a) loves garlic and b) believes in (occasionally) earning his keep...

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I do something along those lines, only onion and garlic microwaved in olive oil and then toss in "stuff" and a generous chunk of leftover rice. "Stuff" is defined as "what's in the refrigerator."

[lagilman]

have you had much luck microwaving garlic? I find it misses the proper flavor and texture of pan-fried.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

It isn't the same, no. Different but good, so to speak, and the whole mishmash dirties one bowl in the preparation and eating thereof....

(I still maintain some bachelor kitchen habits after 30 years of marriage.)

[liuseth.livejournal.com]

i make something similar, except i use onion and green cabbage instead of string beans. :) It's a favourite of ours.
Oh and it's also nice the next day as a cold rice salad.. if it lasts that long. LOL

[eeknight.livejournal.com]

Sounds yummy! Of course I'd have to make it with tofu, but done right tofu can pass for chicken.

[hoosier-red.livejournal.com]

Your cat gives shoulder rubs? Sweet. Mine just give me heart attacks (the black and white wonder tried to squeeze between the railings of our second-story balcony tonight, after jumping to top of balustrade of said balcony and trying to climb onto the brickwork of the building. As you may have guessed, he has lost balcony privileges for the foreseeable future).

[lagilman]

Yeah, he has a habit of getting up behind you, putting his considerable (15 pounds of muscle) weight into his upper body, and kneading your shoulders while purring loudly.

I don't know if it's a trick his first owners taught him as a kitten, or if it was a built-in survival mechanism (to counteract his tendency to chew on hair and drop said weight across the neck as a wake-up-call), but it's all that has kept him alive, some mornings.

Well, that and the fact that he is, in fact, a sweetheart of a cat. Dumb, but sweet.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Therapeutic cats! Mine is wonderful for sinus headaches. She's quite happy to lie down against your forehead and purr, like a vibrating furry hot-water bottle. Scratch her ears every 15 minutes or so, and recharge the purr. :-)