Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes From the New York Times - Mark Bittman [65]
2. If you’re using it, cook the bacon in the same skillet over medium-high heat until brown and crisp all over, about 10 minutes. Add the onions, bay leaves, and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally and seasoning with salt and pepper, until the onions are softened, about 10 minutes. Add the dried fruit and cook for another minute or two, stirring occasionally. Add the wine and raise the heat to high; cook until the wine is reduced by about half, 5 minutes or so.
3. Return the goose pieces to the skillet and turn the heat to very low. Cover and cook (the mixture should be bubbling, but barely) for at least 2 hours, turning only once or twice, until the goose is very tender. Add the vinegar, sliced fruit, and a good grinding of black pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
SEARED AND STEAMED CHICKEN BREASTS
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
TIME: 20 MINUTES
HERE’S HOW TO keep a skinless, boneless chicken breast moist while giving it a crust, without using a lot of fat. This technique relies on two properties of the chicken breast that make it more like fish than like other meat: it cooks quickly, and it contains a fair amount of moisture. This enables you to start cooking the breasts with just a bit of fat over fairly high heat to begin browning, then lower the heat and cover the pan, which not only allows the meat to steam in its own juices but maintains the nicely browned exterior (on one side anyway). If you use mass-produced commercial chicken, the results will be somewhat cottony. Free-range or kosher chickens are usually considerably better.
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, butter, or a combination
4 plump skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, (1½ to 2 pounds)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
⅓ cup dry white wine, chicken stock, or water
1 cup peeled, seeded, and diced tomato (canned is fine; drain first)
2 tablespoons drained capers
2 tablespoons chopped pitted black olives, preferably imported
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F. Heat the oil or butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot or the butter foam has subsided, season the chicken breasts well with salt and pepper and put them in the skillet, smooth (skin) side down. Turn the heat to high, then cook for about a minute until the chicken begins to brown. Turn the heat to medium and cover the pan.
2. Cook, undisturbed, until the chicken is firm and nearly cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes. Uncover the skillet and transfer the chicken to an ovenproof plate; put the plate in the oven.
3. Over high heat, add the wine and stir and scrape the pan to release any bits of chicken that have stuck to the bottom; when the liquid has reduced by about half, add the tomato and cook, stirring occasionally, for about a minute. Add the capers, olives, and all but 1 tablespoon of the parsley and cook for a minute more, stirring occasionally. Return the chicken to the sauce and turn once or twice. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve.
VARIATIONS
• Before adding the liquid in step 3, sauté a bit of onion, shallot, mushroom, or other chopped vegetable in the pan; proceed as directed, with or without the tomatoes, capers, and olives.
• For the stock or wine, substitute cream.
• Use chopped fresh basil or a few thyme leaves in place of the parsley.
SOY-POACHED CHICKEN
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
TIME: 40 MINUTES
THIS TRADITIONAL CHINESE dish is simple to make: You boil the soy and wine along with some water, ginger, and crushed sugar and add star anise and scallion for flavor. The chicken is boiled too—not simmered, really boiled—but only for ten minutes; it finishes cooking in the liquid with the heat turned off.
There are unusual but inexpensive ingredients that make this dish slightly better: mushroom-flavored soy sauce, which is dark and heavy; yellow rock sugar, a not-especially-sweet, lumpy sugar