Yesterday and today, I cut off a finger and threw it in my water. It definitely put a pep in my step, which is an accomplishment. I am normally a peppy stepper, but with a play in development and 120 kids a day flying through my classroom, it's been tough. I am so glad to know that I have a whole fist-full of buddha's fingers for the rest of the week!
I decided to cut a little deeper into that bad boy last night and try a spin on an old classic: lemon chicken. I riffed off of Her Royal Highness, Ina Garten's recipe and did this:
2 large chicken breasts, scored
1/3 cup dry white wine (Whole Foods Chardonnay. I've been cheap lately.)
1 tbsp sea salt, ground
1/2 tbsp black pepper, ground
1/3 cup good olive oil
1 tbsp poultry seasoning (ground oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary, parsley)
minced garlic
2 fingers of buddha's hand, chopped (doesn't that sound witchy?!?!?)
For your pasta:
1 cup of casarecce pasta
2 1/2 cups water
salt and olive oil for water
1/3 cup broccoli florets, diced
1/3 cup mushrooms, sliced thinly
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup fresh buffalo mozzarella
However much parmesean as you would like
I am a huge fan of the ziploc marinade. this way, you can mix and squish it all together and really rub it evenly into what you're marinating. So...
Pour the last sip of a bottle of drinkable dry white into your zip loc along with your olive oil. Throw the salt and pepper in there, along with the poultry seasoning. Mix this up before you put in your garlic and buddha's hand chunks.
Mince up your garlic as fine as you can. I like to throw a little salt on the cutting board and crush it with the flat blade side of my knife. It gets it to a very fine mince where all the juices are released. Scrape this off the cutting board and into your bag. Take the buddha's hand and cut off the ends. Now, just chop it like a carrot, very finely, and throw half into the bag. Let this marinate for as long as you can, but no less than 1 hour.
During this time, you can:
- grade papers
- do a few sun salutations
- walk your spoiled little dog
- gossip with your elderly neighbors
- text your ex, who is also grading papers
- get caught up watching Netflix
- freak out over the school play that isn't coming together fast enough
- grade papers
- realize "ohh crap, it's 8:30 and I totally forgot about my marinating chicken"
- grade papers, hungrily and guiltily
Choose your starch: I went with pasta, because it's quick and easy and I wanted something chewy. While the water is boiling, heat up your pan and toss the unmarinated chopped buddha's finger in, along with some olive oil. When it starts turning translucent, throw the chicken in with the marinade. When cooked through, throw your veggies in. Pour in the heavy cream in and lower the heat, stirring continuously. When your whole dish looks done, add in your cheese and stir. Toss your pasta in with a little bit of the water and toss it all together. Turn your burner off and let your pasta sit for a bit before eating
THE VERDICT:
.....................meh.
The lemon cream sauce recipe is something I whip up on a fairly regular basis. The only difference was the buddha's fingers, and honestly I found myself eating around them rather than enjoying them. There is so much rind to them that they really have a bitter taste without the brightness of lemon juice. This struck me as a little strange, because they added such a sweet brightness to my water. More experiments will be conducted.
Take comfort, dear readers, that I will find a proper use for the lemony anemone in my kitchen.
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