Dinner Dilemma

[Itdoesthatsometimes]

I got an idea at work on a way to make a chicken dish. I invited a friend and his family to come over for a dinner. I figured I could get a date. They were a little busy and I realized I was going to run out of time. So, I pushed it back until Friday night.

With extra time I figured I would try out my idea before the Friday night dinner. I also realized that I would not be able to come up with a date. I tried my idea out and it failed. My main course and side dishes.

I have gone into rushed ideas on, how to make this work. I think I can pull it off. kind of.

Should I just cancel the dinner?

Grill (it was originally suppose to be fried) the chicken and ask my friend's wife to help (might be a nice way of putting doing all of it) with the macaroni are the alternatives to cancelling.

EDIT: Or invite more people and do a pizza party?

 

[DoPo]

Well, depending on what products you have, it's not hard to do a chicken dish. I can give you recipes that I've tried and they've worked and on top of that are pretty simple. They work with chicken breasts or legs, however might work with a whole chicken if you tweak them a bit.

First of all - wash the chicken parts, then rub salt and pepper all over them. You can also add paprika, if you wish, but salt and pepper work really well to give the meat more taste. Then move from there.

Option 1: get mustard and add in some salt and oil (ideally olive, but normal cooking one works, too) then mix them together. I'd go with about 1 spoon for each chicken leg or breast, and probably a spoon of oil per 3-4 or so (salt is up to you). Now spread the mix all over the chicken bits and leave them for a while. A day would work but since you don't have a day, I'd say at least 4-6 hours (frankly, when I cooked that, I left them for about 6-ish and they were fine), then you can add spices and either grill them or place them in the oven. Grill is probably clear, if you want them in the oven, just place them into a baking dish, add some water (just cover the bottom, pretty much) then cover with cooking foil. when they start getting ready (may take about an half an hour to an hour) remove the cooking foil, so they get nice gold-brownish colour.

Option 2: this is probably more fancy but not that hard to do. You need oil (again, ideally olive oil), some garlic (5-6 cloves or whatever), a lemon and spices (I've found oregano works well). Mix together the oil with the spices and pressed garlic, add in lemon juice from half the lemon and finally spread this mix good on the chicken parts. Now you can place the chicken in a baking tray, add some spices if you wish, place slices of the other half of the lemon on top of them and add a tiny bit of water (just be careful not to wash the spices from the chicken). If you have beer, pour some as well as water - you're aiming to cover the bottom, more or less. You can add olives, if you have some and want (I personally don't like olives but the recipe I used mentioned them). Now cover in cooking foil and place it somewhere chilly - the fridge is enough, leave the tray there for at least a couple of hours, then just place it in the oven and cook for about half an hour. Again, remove the foil to get the nice colour of the chicken.

 

[IndomitableSam]

My favorite and easy chicken dish (with sides):

Take chicken breasts, wash and trim as usual.
Butterly them, and add them to a pan with oil.
Add spice of your choosing (I use a roasted red pepper and garlic spice, but and Club House type mix would work, or simply make your own, or just use fresh garlic).
Fry it up until it's browned on both sides. Turn off the stove.
Have the oven heated to 350 and a tray with a grill on it ready.
Take the butterflied chicken, and slather some mayo on top. Real mayo, not Miricle Whip. Make the layer thick.
Add a bit more of the spice on top of the mayo if you like.
Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of the chicken (again, use real parm cheese, not the powdery stuff).
Put it in the oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven, or until the chicken is done, depending on it's thickness as well. It needs to be on a grill/grate thing above the oven tray so the liquids can drain under it and not ruin the chicken.

Sides:

I love basmati rice. It's never gooey if done right and really just beautiful. You have to soak it first, so you need a strainer and a bowl. Wash the rice in the strainer, then fill the bowl with water and have the strainer sit in the water, covering the rice. (If you can, otherwise put it right into the bowl and strain it after. The longer it soaks, the better. 45+ minutes, so do this step first. Once it's soaked long enough, cook it normally - 2 to 1 water to rice.

As for veggies, get a zucchini, an onion and some more fresh garlic. Slice the zuchinni into little sticks, the onion chopped into smallish peices (not strips), add oil and garlic to the pan, and add in the zucchni and onion. Fry it up at a medium/high temperature. Takes 10 minutes, maybe.

There you are. High quality dinner with wonferully flavored and moist chicken, classy rice, and a different, tasy, and simply veggie.

 

[Itdoesthatsometimes]

Thank you for the suggestions. I had to cancel the dinner though.