Teriyaki Chicken

So it’s been awhile since I posted anything, but I’ve officially entered crunch time for my wedding planning and have barely had a chance to cook nonetheless post anything. I’ve also decided to take a new turn on my little food blog and post the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’m not yet an actual professional chef and as such I’m still learning how to maneuver my way through the kitchen. As such, I feel like I’m misrepresenting myself a bit if I don’t post my failures alongside my successes. Please feel free to toss in your opinions, suggestions and overall comments.

Last night’s experiment was Chicken Teriyaki! I personally love chicken teriyaki, and I am always down for a late night drive to our local Yoshinoya. However, to save some costs and some calories I figured it was about time I learned how to make this dish at home.

After my first attempt at this dish last night, I deem it a B+. All the flavors of teriyaki were there, however I made the mistake of adding all the sauce onto the chicken while it baked so I was left with a more chickeny-watery teriyaki sauce rather than the sticky sweet version I was looking for. In the future I’m going to reserve a portion of the sauce to dress the plate once its ready for serving, this will keep it thick rather than watered down with the juices of the baking chicken.

See below for my recipe, let me know what you think:

Chicken Teriyaki

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken thighs
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1/4 c cold water
• 1/2 c white sugar
• 1/2 c soy sauce
• 1/4 c red wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1 tsp black pepper

Cooking:

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. In a saucepan, over medium high heat add all ingredients except salt and chicken thighs. Stir together, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, lower heat and continue stirring until the sauce is thick. (starts sticking to the whisk)
3. Place chicken thighs in a baking dish and salt to your preference. Coat the chicken thighs with the teriyaki sauce (I coated it enough so some sank underneath as well). Reserve some sauce to drizzle over the plated food before serving.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, applying a coat of sauce to the chicken every 10-15 minutes.

Serve over rice with a side of steamed veggies and drizzle with the reserved sauce and maybe some sriracha for a nice kick! Let me know what you think!

Sorry for the poor quality picture, see below for my plated dish.

 

Apricot Salsa

A delicious tangy salsa that is perfect for any occasion!

 

I woke up this morning with the intention of making some apricot oatmeal but after I chopping up all the apricots I came to realize that I was completely out of oats. Since I absolutely hate to waste food, I brainstormed some ways I could use up the fruit. I typically tend to stay away from fruit based salsas (not usually a fan of cilantro and fruit) but I decided that maybe if I threw one together I could get myself to finally like it. This ended up being a very great decision as the result was fantastic!

 

For this salsa I stayed in line with my typical recipe for salsa, except I subbed in apricot for jalapeno and shallots for garlic/onion. My hubby-to-be is not too keen on spicy food or else I would have left the jalapeno in, but I kept some of the heat by pairing the salsa with some kettle cooked jalapeno chips.

 

Recipe: (Makes a decent serving size, enough for several people)

• 5 small ripe apricots, chopped
• 5 small vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
• 2 shallot cloves, minced
• 1/4 c cilantro, minced
• 2 large limes

Cooking:

1. Removed the seeds and chop the apricots.
2. Chop the tomatoes.
3. Peel and minced the shallots.
4. Mince the cilantro.
5. Mix all the ingredients above in a medium size mixing bowl. Add the juice from the two limes, stir and make sure ingredients are mixed well.
6. Chill and serve with any chips of your flavor.

Like I said above, feel free to add some jalapenos to kick up the heat. If you have any leftover salsa, use it as a marinade for some chicken.