Finally. It is complete.
Our long-awaited kitchen renovations are finally to the point where we can use it. The days of feeling sick from eating processed food is over.
Sweet hallelujah.
As is my luck, it was finished yesterday, the same day I voluntarily underwent PRK corrective eye surgery. That’s a different story for a different day. Like maybe Halloween. Anyway, the recovery process hasn’t been that bad, and eager to return to my normal self, I cooked my dinner tonight. With my new eyes. In my new kitchen.
My kitchen wares are not yet fully unpacked. And my eyes are a distraction. But I managed to concoct a “curried” chicken and couscous. “Curried” because I think that’s a similar familiar flavor, but really it was just an experiment.
First I took a boneless chicken breast L left for me in the fridge and I liberally sprinkled both sides with an herb mixture I obtained in Turkey–primarily dried oregano and basil. I added fresh ground pepper and cayenne pepper. I then hand-crushed Turkish lemon sea salt until it was a fine powder and rubbed all the ingredients in my hands so that there’d be just enough salt and so the chicken would absorb the other ingredients faster. I then marinated it in a white wine vinegar and olive oil. I put it on a small plate and popped it back in the fridge.
After 1.5 hours, I pulled that bad.boy out and heated up the wok. I put a little bit of olive oil in it and then laid the chicken breast. After the side was brown, I flipped it. Separately I chopped up three stalks of celery and a handful of dried apricots. I added those to the wok with some water, a little belgian white wheat ale, some pomegranate molasses, and half of a lemon. Impatient, I pulled out the chicken, chopped it into bite sized pieces, and put it back in the wok. I added a few grape tomatoes, reduced the heat and simmered.
I had some leftover couscous, so I just poured some of the hot liquid over the couscous to bring it back to life and heat it without hurting it. I then added the chicken mixture with the sauce, and some slivered almonds to finish it.
foodandthefury 