Lunch Time Quickie

We had a project I last school term about making a video about any topic we want as long as we speak in Japanese. I suggested to make a parody of a cooking tutorial (a gangsta, ghetto version of Cooking with Dog, which we called Cooking with Dawg). Due to time constraints (all of us in the group were doing thesis), we never went with this concept but retained the cooking part.

My group mates were excited about the cooking tutorial idea (just think of the free food!), but we haven't decided on what recipe to shoot. Scouring Youtube for something that could fit our 10-12-minute limit for the project, I found this recipe along with the Pasta Napolitan interpretations of Cooking with Dog and Nagasawake Cook (ngswcook). Chicken in White Wine Sauce is the latter's original recipe.In all humility, his rendition of this dish looks infinitely more appetizing than my photography (^_^)

To estimate the length of time for this recipe in our final video, I followed ngswcook's recipe faithfully. I will cite and provide the source of this recipe at the end of this blog (I usually use Chicago style of citation).

Chicken in 

White Wine Sauce

Unfortunately, this didn't make the video because of transport matters and other issues. The butter-wine-milk-based sauce just screams 'SPOILAGE~' on a hot humid day. If you're living in a tropical country like me, everyday is a hot and humid day XDDD I made it according to the original recipe. But I learned that if you plan to have this in your packed lunch or  picnic that instead of making a white wine gravy, this dish will last longer in transport if the base had been bechamel (cook flour in butter, then whisk in herbed hot milk). 

This dish is delightfully quick and filling for those with a hectic lifestyle. It is also enough to feed two people in one sitting. If you live alone and enjoy a solitary lifestyle, then hooray~ you got food for two days (or food for lunch and dinner) :D

Ingredients

300 grams of chicken (boneless chicken breasts with the skin on), chopped into chunky pieces

1/2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil

1/4 cup (100 ml) milk

2 tsp butter

4 1/2 tsp white wine 

1-2 sprigs of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

salt and pepper 

Directions

1. Season the chicken cutlets with salt and pepper.

2. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Brown the chicken cutlets with the skin-side down. Flip on the other side to brown the cuts evenly.

3. Flip the cuts on the skin-side again, then add the white wine. Shake the pan in a push-and-pull motion to quicken the evaporation of the alcohol.

4. After step 3, transfer the chicken on a baking pan or baking sheet and bake in the oven until crisp and cooked through. Mr. Nagasawa didn't elaborate on the baking temperature and cooking time, I estimated mine to be 170 degrees C in 10-12 minutes. Occasionally flip the chicken on its other side to cook them evenly.

5. While the chicken cooks through in the oven toaster (the original recipe also used a toaster), make the white wine sauce. In the same pan where you cooked the chicken, melt 2tsp of butter. Mr. Nagasawa adds that if you're watching your calorie intake, you could wash the pan before melting the butter.

6. Once the butter melts, pour in the milk. When it thickens a little, season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

7. Add the chopped parsley and it's done!

8. Arrange the golden brown chicken slices on a plate, then pour the sauce over the cutlets.

Filipinos love eating a savoury dish with rice. My teenage bro ate this with rice, but I think it goes better with bread (slices of baguette brushed with herbed garlic butter) or pasta (beef stroganoff style). You could find Mr. Nagasawa's recipes and straight-to-the-point cooking tutorials* on Youtube or his ameblo page*.

*Just hover your cursor over 'cooking tutorials' to get to his Youtube channel or 'ameblo page' for his Japanese blog that I also wrote in my bibliography portion below).

The original recipe came from:

Nagasawake-san. Waito Soosu Chikin no Reshipi (White Sauce Chicken Recipe). In Nagasawa House in Hachioji Recipe Blog (May 25, 2011), 

http://ameblo.jp/ngswcook/entry-10827645875.html, accessed December 30, 2011.