Table Talk

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July 29, 2010

Quick Tip: Oven-Poaching Boneless Chicken Breasts

Oven-poaching is a fool-proof way to poach chicken breasts for chicken salads and other recipes. What I like about this method is that it is essentially hands-free. Once the chicken is in the oven, there's no adjusting the temperature to make sure the temperature is not too high or too low.

This video uses bay leaves, peppercorns, and lemon slices, but you can change the seasoning to match your dish. For example, when I am poaching chicken for a southwestern dish, I'll add peppercorns, chili powder, and lime slices. For a Thai dish, I add ginger, garlic, and kaffir lime leaves.

The next time you need poached chicken, try this method.

Posted July 29, 2010 2:08 PM in Quick Tip, Recipes, Tips, Techniques & Tools

February 7, 2010

Pulled Pork Nachos - CWWYHC Super Bowl Edition

Tom asked me to make Buffalo Chicken Wontons to take with us to a Superbowl party, but I knew I didn't have enough time this weekend to make them. Yesterday we celebrated my parents' 54th anniversary and I made pot roast and veggies for that. Plus we were gone all day on Saturday to attend that party.

While I was rummaging through the freezer to see what we had to use up in the Cook With What You Have Challenge, I found two quart bags of pulled pork. And at the end of January, I tagged this Serious Eats post about Pulled Pork Nachos. Perfect, a Superbowl party dish that would also help me use up pulled pork from the freezer and a bottle of barbecue sauce from the pantry. I decided to make the nachos using Tostitos Scoops to make them easy to eat. Add in some Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese and I had an almost instant party munchie that helped me pare down my pantry.

The recipe is simple, line two baking sheets with heavy duty foil. Arrange Tostitos Scoops on the baking sheets. Put a spoonful of pulled pork in each Scoop. Top with a squirt of barbecue sauce, then sprinkle with shredded cheese. To make two large baking sheets of nachos, I used 1 bag of Tostistos Scoops, 4-6 cups of pulled pork, about 1 cup barbecue sauce, and two 8-ounce bags of shredded cheese. I assembled them at home, then tightly covered them with foil. Once we got to the party, I removed the foil and baked them at 350F for about 12 minutes.

The folks at the party gobbled them up. Since the pulled pork was already made, it took only about 15 minutes to assemble these. So if you have some pulled pork in your freezer, try some Pulled Pork Nachos.

Continue reading "Pulled Pork Nachos - CWWYHC Super Bowl Edition" »

Posted February 7, 2010 9:26 PM in Menus, Recipes

February 1, 2010

Rummaging through the fridge CWWYHC Days 14-16

My blog titles are getting too long, so I'm abbreviating Cook With What You Have Challenge to CWWYHC. I'm still nursing an injured thumb and I'm on my own again this week, so I've been keeping things simple, mostly because washing dishes with four stitches in my thumb is a pain.

Saturday (Day 14) dinner was a delicious taco salad with taco meat left over from Taco Night.

Sunday (Day 15) dinner was breakfast for dinner: fried eggs, toast, and fruit. I'm a big fan of breakfast for dinner, but Tom isn't, so I make it when he is away.

Monday (Day 16) was my first day back to work since I massacred my thumb last Monday. I opted for the simplest of dinners, a sandwich, on a paper plate. No dishes.

Tomorrow I'll start working on my stash of freezer meals.

Posted February 1, 2010 10:20 PM in Menus

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