Baked chicken with pesto + yellow peppers + olives + tomatoes

What was that, reader?  Not enough animal flesh chez Onepot?  Well, does a bird’s breast count?  If so, this one is for you: a dish inspired by two chicken breasts in desperate search of a recipe following their eviction from out of our soon-to-be defrosted freezer.  (Hello, obscenely expensive refrigerator repairs!)

Baked chicken with pesto + yellow peppers + olives + tomatoes

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 small onion
• 1 small yellow pepper
• 3 tablespoons pesto
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• a handful of black olives

1. Cut the first three ingredients into strips and toss with pesto.
2. Bake at 400F (if your oven is puny like mine… but perhaps yours would tackle this even at 375F?) for approximately 20 minutes.
3. Cover with olives and tomatoes and bake for another 10 minutes.
4. Admire the prettiness!  (Accompanying couscous and green salad highly recommended, but certainly not required.)

Thai stir-fry with peppers + cabbage

After proofreading dozens of pages and writing a dozen more at the Awesome Job That Pays The Bills And Tickles My Brain, I am all out of words.  But let me squeeze out just a handful more to tell you about this:

Thai stir-fry with peppers + cabbage

• 2 red and 2 yellow bell peppers
• 1 hot pepper (optional)
• 1 medium onion
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon Thai curry seasoning
• 1/2 medium cabbage …or at least I think I used cabbage?

1. In a wok, stir-fry all vegetables on high heat for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add curry powder and coconut milk.
3. Let it all simmer on low for 5-7 minutes.

Best enjoyed over rice, on the night of the first snow.

Long bean + bell pepper stir-fry

Surely I’m violating my slippery commitment to locavorism by continuing my love affair with these wrinkled yard-long pods, since I’m pretty certain they are not Chicagoans.  But, between their mysterious good looks and their lovely name–vigna unguiculata! –how am I to resist?

• ~1lb long beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 3 bell peppers (in my case: 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 orange)
• soy sauce
• fish sauce (what, this gives you the willies?  skip it, then)
• 5-6 scallions

1. Steam the beans for ~5 minutes.  (I know what you’re thinking and yes, I did try this once without steaming them first.  A touch on the stringy side!)
2. Saute the onion, peppers, and garlic for 2-3 minutes.  Add a splash of soy sauce and a splash of fish sauce.  Keep sautéing for another couple of minutes.
3. Add the beans and toss it all together.  Stir and toss and stir and toss for another minute or so.
4. Don’t forget the scallions on top.

And won’t your coworkers be jealous when you pull out such handsome leftovers at lunch the next day?

Risotto: Swiss chard + yellow pepper + mushrooms

I made my very first risotto several months ago.  Up to that point I had simply assumed that, given the chronic shortage of patience in our household, we wouldn’t be able to pull off all that standing and pouring and stirring.

Then, on an otherwise unremarkable June day, some vegetables and Arborio rice happened to meet in our kitchen almost by accident.   Thirty minutes later, we had a risotto–and the whole process had only taken up tiny, polite  segments of my evening!  Oh, if I had only known.

Fast forward past many a risotto between then and now, to this gray Sunday afternoon and a mostly wilted Swiss chard bouquet that cast woeful glances in my direction every time I opened the fridge.  Sure, I was up to the challenge…

• 1 bunch of Swiss chard
• 1 yellow pepper
• 4-5 whitecap mushrooms
• 1 medium onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 2 cups of Arborio rice
• approximately 5 cups of liquid (3 water, 2 chicken or vegetable broth)
• ~1/3 cup of parmesan
• 1 fistful of pine nuts
• hearty pinches of a couple of dried herbs (say, tarragon and chives)
• dashes of white pepper, black pepper, saffron, salt

If you’re playing along at home, here’s what to do:

1. Give half a mushroom to your large cat to distract him.  (What?  No large cat threatening to eat you unless appeased with fresh produce in your house?  Where have we gone wrong.)
2. Saute the onion, garlic, mushrooms, and yellow pepper with a touch of salt and black pepper.
3. After ~2-3 minutes, add the chopped Swiss chard and a just a tiny splash of water.  Cover and leave it alone, on low, for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the rice, seasonings, and ~1 cup of liquid.  Stir.  Go away.
5. After 2-3 minutes, come back to see if your risotto is thirsty.  It will be.  Give it ~1/2 cup of liquid; stir; go away.
6. Repeat.
7. Repeat.
8. When the liquid is gone and all sorts of soft and happy colors are grinning at you from the bottom of the pot, stir in some parmesan.
9. You will want some toasted pine nuts on top, for a little crunch.