Sudden Rains and Treasure

As a Californian grown kid, the concept of seasons is a little jarring for me. I love my skis so I see snow every winter, but I have to carpool 4 hours for the privelge. Today, it's a rainy (and misty where I live) in San Francisco. This meant riding in rain, which I normally try and avoid to the greatest extent possible. But somehow, viewed from 2 stories up it seemed light and reality failed to check even after I was dressed and outside, so I got on my bike.

It was surprisingly pleasant. I had layered up and my route home was mostly uphill so I stayed warm. Just had to squint my naturally squinty eyes a little more to keep out the rain (if you squint hard enough, you can see beads of rain still on my jacket and that my pants are two different colors). I hopped in the shower to warm up and all was well.

For lunch I cooked parmesan chicken. This was the remaining breast and thigh from the scrawny chicken I had bought from the farmer's market on Sunday. In my haste to buy $4 organic and sustainble chicken, I neglected to realize why an egg farmer would be selling chicken. I'm guessing the chicken was tough from being old and free roaming. After a miserable failure at bbq dark chicken quarters (even after brining) I quickly learned the lesson and soaked the rest in lemon juice and turned to cooking tricks. See, there is no such thing as a cheap piece of meat, there are always ways to make meat juicy and tender. For chicken, I like to pan sear it on high on the stove before sliding it into the oven. See Pan Roasting. This seals in the juices and then allows you to cook the insides slowly.

Today, however, I chose to insulate the chicken by breading it, hence parmesan chicken. I'm a strange (resourceful?) cook, always making do with what I have on hand. So while I was out of flour, I had parmesan (in fact, one of the reasons why I decided to make chicken parmesan in the first place). To replace flour, I binged the coincidental answer: parmesan cheese! So I covered the chicken with parmesan cheese mixed with rosemary (which I picked fresh from across the street), dipped it in a beaten egg, and breaded it in homemade bread crumbs (I never eat carbs fast enough so they also become something else) sprinkled with paprika. What an amazing final product! Juicy and flavorful, the delights of organic chicken became clear.

When I flipped the chicken, I used the other half of the pan to heat up the tomato sauce. Then when both were done I cooked a side of vegetables. Here, my Asian side shines through again. I've managed to pair parmesan chicken with bok choy. And even though most people discard the bases of vegetables, they are quite tasty cooked. Notice them on the bottom right of the picture.

Now I'm off to pick up a free garlic press a la freecycle which is a community network that keeps stuff out of the landfills by giving it to others. One man's trash is another's treasure.