Stew for a crew

This is the chicken thighs and reduced marinade

The whole concoction, simmering

The finished product

I made a stew tonight that is beyond awesome. I dare say, bring two pairs of fat pants when you eat it, because you will surely soil the first pair.

I think my pot is right at 5 gallons and this about filled it. If you have a crock pot, that will work, too. Feel free to reduce portions and adjust as needed in case you live in a hotel room in the middle of Nowheresville, California, and only have a hot plate to cook on.

My carton of chicken thighs was 8-fold. I started by making a marinade of BBQ sauce, ketchup, brown mustard, bacon hot sauce (yeah, that's a thing), black pepper, cayenne pepper, salt, cumin, Mesa (It's a 16-spice poultry rub by Bobby Flay. I'm probably doubling up some spices, but oh well), tumeric, a big spoonful of better, vinegar, a little canola oil and a beer. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Knife some holes in the chicken and let that bad boy sit for at least 30 minutes.
I'm a big believer of spicing in the moment. This is just what I had on hand and felt like adding, but spice however you feel!
Heat a thin layer of canola oil in a frying pan and remove the chicken and brown in the pan. You'll probably want to add a little more salt and pepper and maybe butter on each side of the chicken. While the chicken is browning, Put the pot on high heat and reduce the marinade until it is thick and syrupy. The chicken took two batches in my pan. Don't cook it all the way through, though. Let the inside be a little raw so it finishes cooking when you add it back to the stew.
Cut up the chicken into bite-size pieces, throw the bones back into the marinade, and set the chicken bits aside until the marinade is reduced. Add the chicken and reduced marinade back to the frying pan and put on low heat.
Now to start the stew. I got a pound or so of soup mix from the store. It's basically a bunch of beans and a little rice. Add 4 diced potatoes, 5 chicken bouillon cubes and some spices if it's a bit bland. I ended up adding more black/cayenne pepper, cilantro, cumin and bacon salt. Once the taters are soft, add everything you've got in the pan (both the chicken and marinade) and put on medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.
If I had it, I would have thrown in some parsley, chopped onion and maybe some celery. 

Hotel Cooking

Hey guys. I know it's been dead around here, but a LONG time ago I promised you posts after I was to get out of a hotel, but that never really happened. Mostly because I currently live like a nomad bouncing from hotel to hotel for 9 months of the year and live like a hippie for the other 3 months. So here is some hotel cooking for ya'll!

I have 2 pans (1 frying pan, 1 soup pot) and 1 hot plate. Tonight for dinner (and this will be dinner for quite a few nights as well) I sauteed some sweet potato and a golden beet with ginger, soy sauce, coriander, olive oil, onion, and garlic. When that was done, I cooked up some chicken, mushrooms, basil, salt/pepper, ginger, asperagus and cherry tomaters and called it a day!

Cooking takes an incredibly long time when you only have one burner, it's a bummer. I was going to throw some couscous in here too but realized that I wasn't going to be able to fit all the leftovers in my teeny tiny little hotel fridge, so I left that for another day.

It's taken a long time, but I feel like after a lot of practice, I'm just as good at cooking hotel meals as i was cooking home meals! It's mostly a matter of timing and washing my frying pan multiple times per meal.

Hope you all are doing well. let's start posting again!
-vmoneyyyyyyyyy

ps. golden beets are the BOMB

Butchering a Chicken, part f'real

Where is the action in this blog?

I used a youtube tutorial and my own novice skills to butcher a chicken a few weeks ago and used a variation of this recipe for Portuguese Chicken.  Since it was so long ago (it honestly may as well be years), I can only tell you what I remember: it was not that difficult.  The recipe or the butchering.

I have a very short attention span and could barely make it through the tutorial and then just decided to start the process and 'feel' for where to slice.  It worked out just fine thank you and was a lot easier than expected.

Butchering a chicken, part two (as in not really)

I never got around to butchering the chicken, and it's currently resting in its entirety in the freezer.  I will definitely try to record the process - although it may be too embarrassing to want to share.

I was recently gifted an iPhone as a belated birthday/Christmas gift, and let me tell you - I am pretty amazed at the photo quality/video.  That being said, I did record a video of a sitting potato au gratin.  Listen to the beautiful soundtrack of steaks sizzling!

p.s. did you know Le Creuset calls this casserole dish an Oval Au Gratin?  So fancy.  Thanks, Marshall's!

Butchering a chicken

I'm going to butcher my first chicken in the next few days.  In the past year or two, I feel like I have conquered roasting a chicken and using the carcass to make chicken stock, so it's only appropriate.

Who's done it?  I'm going to rely on a Bon Appetit pictorial, as well as youtube.

I should quit my job and become a butcher or a fishmonger.

Baked Chicken

Last night I threw some chicken in the fridge to marinate with some onions. This morning i pulled that bitch out and baked it. I cooked up some quinoa and spinach with the leftover marinate and then made an absolutely failed holindaise sauce. I wasnt paying attention to it and it settled. Whatever, it was still friggin excellent. A perfect morning dinner.

Ben chicken

(reblogged from Ben)
Braised chicken and vegetables with yukon gold garlic mashed potatos. Generous helping of cream sauce.