Pita's Comfort Dinner

You know that saying, a picture is worth a thousand words? Yeah, that’s it. Yum x 1,000. This meal is my favorite carb-laden vicetastic (yes, viceTASTIC) dish of pure indulgence.

Mashed potatoes now, jogging later.

What you’re currently drooling over—what? Oh excuse me, that was me. Let me get a napkin.

…

Okay, I’m good now. What you’re seeing is panko fried chicken, basic mashed potatoes, and sautéed zucchini and mushrooms. And I’m going to show you how to make it all!

First things first:


Basic Mashed Potatoes

These are just your run-of-the-mill delectable mashed potatoes. Nothing overly fancy and that’s because I’m kind of a purist when it comes to mashed potatoes. And stuffing. Putting things like nuts and cranberries and apples into wholesome savory stuffing is the worst idea in the world. If you do that well…go away right now. Just kidding. But seriously.

ANYWAY. Potato purity, people. Potato purity.

And while I’m here I may as well discuss gravy. Pictured, you see tasty chicken gravy FROM A PACKET. I’ve long gotten over my shame. I cannot cook gravy from scratch. My mother is a gravy-cooking queen who can take an empty pan and make amazing mushroom gravy appear much like Mrs. Weasley and her cheating wand (Oh yes, Harry Potter reference for you nerds. I love you all.) I, unfortunately, was not given gravy-making genes. I accept this.

If you can make delicious smooth scratch gravy, then go for it. Just know that I loathe you.

3 Yukon Gold potatoes (peeled if desired and sliced into even chunks)
4 tbsp butter
¼ cup milk
½ tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Add potato chunks to a pot of boiling water and boil until fork-tender, about 7-8 minutes or so. Drain and place into a sturdy bowl. Add butter and mash until butter has melted. Add milk, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, mixing thoroughly.

Serves 2



Panko Fried Chicken

Panko, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. Something like that. Panko, for those of you unfamiliar, are Japanese bread crumbs. They can be found in the Asian section of your grocery store and some regular bread crumb brands have started offering “Panko-style” crumbs as well. I prefer to get the authentic kind but we’re all on a budget these days so do as you will.

Unlike traditional bread crumbs, panko crumbs are light and fluffy and stick well during frying or baking.

I like pan-fried chicken, but I LOVE panko fried chicken. And like everything else I make, it’s easy-peasy.

2 thinly-sliced chicken breasts
1 egg, beaten
½ cup panko bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp salt

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Mix garlic powder, pepper, and salt into panko crumbs in a flat dish. Dip chicken breasts into egg wash, then into panko crumbs. Fry until golden-brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.

Serves 2



Sautéed Mushrooms and Zucchini

And in order to cordon off the guilt of mashed potatoes, I make this vegetable dish which tastes even more decadent than the potatoes. This dish is one of my mother’s signature vegetable recipes. This used to be the only way I would eat zucchini because it’s really just that good.

2 zucchini, sliced into coins
6-8 oz mushrooms
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
Salt and pepper

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium-heat. Add all ingredients, stirring only to blend spices. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring 2-3 times so that zucchini gets browned but doesn’t burn. If you prefer softer vegetables, cook for another 3 minutes or so as they will be otherwise still firm.

Serves 2

And there you have it: a great meal for a winter evening. Or comfort sustenance when you have 20 pages of Japanese grammar to study in one night.

--Jirafa

Fettuccine Experiments #1--Mushroom Chicken Fettuccine

I’ve started falling in love with fettuccine pasta. That and Target sells whipping cream in tall plastic bottles.

This recipe is basically me pulling a good old-fashioned “by-the-seat-of-my-pants” meal and creating something sinfully delicious.

And oddly enough, there’s no sugar. Could it be that there is sin sans sugar?

Fine, No Sin Sans Sugar (Or Whipping Cream). All better.



Mushroom Chicken Fettuccine:

½ lb fettuccine pasta
2 thinly-sliced chicken breasts (or 1 large), cut into chunks
½ onion, diced
1 ½ cups mushrooms, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup tomato/pasta sauce
¼ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
½ tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil pasta according to package directions.

In a large pan, heat 1 tbsp oil over medium-heat. Fry garlic, chicken, mushrooms, and onion until chicken is cooked through (about 3 minutes). Add in the remaining ingredients, stirring thoroughly. Heat another 2-3 minutes.

Either mix cooked fettuccine into sauce or serve fettuccine in bowls, topped with sauce.

Serves 2-3.

--Jirafa

Chicken Spinach Pizza

It seems to be a spinach week. Now, without any attempt at transitioning, here’s a story. Sometimes I tell myself, “I love you.” Well tonight, I needed to prove this love to myself.

So I made pizza.

Really good pizza.




I got all my little ingredients on there, happy and willing to transcend their boring, lonely lives into something fun and delicious! And they were all so snug and I thought, this looks great. But what could really make this fabulous? I need to show that love.

I know, chicken.



It’s all about the love. <3

Chicken Spinach Pizza

1 personal-sized Boboli whole wheat pizza crust
¼ cup tomato sauce (more if you like saucy pizza, just keep it away from your relatives)
½ cup mixed mozzarella and cheddar cheese, grated
½ cup baby spinach
1/3 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 thinly-sliced chicken breast, sliced into strips and coated with salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Arrange pizza to preference. I like to do sauce, cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and chicken lastly. But be wild. Mix it up. But do keep in mind that the spinach will burn if you leave it too close to the heat. So maybe don’t be too wild.

Pop pizza into oven heated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.

Plate, tell yourself “I love you,” and devour.

Serves one hungry college student.

(By the way, I'm sure it tastes just as fabulous without chicken, for those of you who would like to avoid eating feathered friends)

--Jirafa

Easy Teriyaki Chicken Donburi

Donburi is a type of Japanese dish referring to simmered ingredients served overtop in a large bowl. I debuted my “donburi bowl” in the previous post and I hadn’t planned on posting this recipe because it’s just so darned simple but I got a request so here it is.

I’m almost ashamed of how simple it is. I feel like I should be posting more complicated recipes. Or at least making my own teriyaki sauce like the talented
Soy and Pepper

Easy Teriyaki Chicken Donburi:

1 cup cooked short-grain rice
2 thin chicken breasts
1/3 cup Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce
2 stalks green onions, chopped (optional)

Marinate chicken breasts in teriyaki sauce for at least 2 hours.

Heat a medium frying pan. Remove chicken from marinade (reserve) and fry over medium heat until browned, about 2 minutes on either side. Mix leftover marinade with ½ cup of water and add over the chicken, cooking an additional 2 minutes.

Serve over rice. Drizzle with extra teriyaki sauce and garnish with green onions.

Serves two.

--Jirafa

Not Another College Quesadilla

Not Another College Quesadilla

Hearing a college student say “quesadilla” brings images of either Taco Bell or greasy fake cheddarized tortillas to mind. Wait, did I say “or?” I’ve shied away from quesadillas for most of my life, considering them food for picky children and people who refuse to eat “ethnic” food (thus depriving themselves of any worthy food experience and wasting their taste buds *COUGH*).



Oh. Nevermind. Hello, Beautiful. Come to change my mind, have you? Well I refuse to be affected by you.



I…refuse… Oh, who am I kidding? This quesadilla is just darn delicious. Underneath the colorful toppings hide the real stars of this show.



That’s right. Pan-fried chicken, cut into strips. Juicy strips. Juicy strips of love and joy.

*cough*


Who says being a college student means having to eat lame food?

Not Another College Quesadilla:

1 thinly-sliced boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 cup medium cheddar cheese, grated
1/3 cup sliced grape tomatoes (any other tomato would work fine, too, this is just what I had)
½ cup baby spinach
2 soft taco-sized flour tortillas
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Lightly coat both sides of the chicken breast with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry chicken until browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. When the chicken is cooked, remove and slice into strips.

In a medium-sized frying pan set 1 tortilla in the bottom of the pan. Cover with ½ of the cheese, spinach, chicken strips, tomatoes, the rest of the cheese, and top with the other tortilla. Cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes on each side or until cheese is melted and tortilla is browned and slightly crispy.

Serve with plain yogurt or sour cream and salsa.

Next recipe: Cinnamon-Sugar Apple Cake (Scheduled post: Tuesday, November 18, 2008).