By golly, it’s March and time for a refresh with the weather, no more snow please. The week is off to a good start with temperatures climbing above freezing during the day. Donna’s Daily Dish got a refresh with a new website host, Articulation Sites; it was created by the former founding engineers of Weebly. I was impressed how seamlessly they were able to handle the transfer, allowed me to make edits prior to publishing and how beautiful my header images look, no more gray cast.
As the weather warms up, and activities move outdoors, you’re going to be looking for easy one pot meals. Last week I prepared two recipes that I found on The New York Times/NYT Cooking website, Skillet Chicken with Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions and Peppery Beef & Shishito Stir-Fry. Chicken still remains a relatively affordable protein compared to the price of beef.
For the chicken recipe you’ll need olive oil, sherry vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, red pepper flakes, boneless and skinless chicken thighs, yellow onions, cremini mushrooms, flat-leaf parsley or dill leaves, grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese and either bread or pasta for serving.
The chicken is cut into 3-inch pieces and marinated in a mixture of oil, vinegar, honey, mustard, red pepper flakes, and salt. In a very hot cast-iron skillet with olive oil, the thinly sliced onions and cremini mushrooms were cooked until brown. The mushroom/onion mixture is pushed to the rim of the pan and the chicken pieces added to the center along with the marinade. The ingredients will cook for approximately 10 minutes at which time the balance of the sherry vinegar is added to the pan and the fond removed from the bottom of the skillet. Off heat, the cheese and parsley garnish the dish.
Wow, what an easy dish to prepare and loaded with lots of flavor. The onions had beautifully caramelized adding a subtle sweetness, the sherry vinegar added acidity to brighten the taste and a complexity to the sauce. The mushrooms added another texture against the chicken. Watch your chicken carefully as mine overcooked a bit. Despite this oops moment, my husband and I enjoyed this meal that took approximately 30 minutes to prepare.
Stir-fry’s are another great quick weeknight meal. I purchased a half-portion of boneless sirloin steak just under $15 at my local Wegmans and bag of shishito peppers for the stir-fry. Besides these two ingredients, you’ll also need cornstarch, low-sodium soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, vegetable or neutral oil, freshly grated garlic, freshly grated ginger, coarsely ground black pepper, salt, rice vinegar and white rice for serving.
The steak is sliced into 1-inch-wide strips and placed in a marinade mixture of cornstarch, soy sauce and sesame oil. The marinade will tenderize the meat and helps with flavor absorption.
The shishito peppers are fried in vegetable oil for 30 seconds, or until they blister; they are removed and set aside. In the same pan, the meat strips are placed in a single layer and cooked for approximately 1 minute; they’re transferred to the plate with the peppers. The garlic and ginger are added and cooked until fragrant; then seasoned with black pepper and salt. The peppers and meat are returned to the pan along with the vinegar, additional soy sauce and cornstarch/water mixture, which will thicken the pan sauce.
This dish was scrumptious. The two teaspoons of ground black pepper in this recipe added a lot of umph and spice to the dish, but not heat. The flavors were balanced against each other and the dish was easy to prepare. I started rice that accompanied the stir-fry first, then made the stir-fry so they were both done at about the same time.
As a side note, the sirloin was approximately one pound and the recipe yield is four servings. Adding the peppers and rice help to stretch the protein a little further. These are two wonderful meals that you should to your weekly meal rotation.
Skillet Chicken with Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions
By Yasmin Fahr
The New York Times/NYT Cooking
Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Kosher salt and black pepper
1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3-inch pieces
2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
¾ pound cremini mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley or dill leaves and fine stems, roughly chopped
¼ cup grated Parmesan or pecorino (optional)
Bread or cooked pasta, for serving
Preparation
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 tablespoons oil, 2 tablespoons vinegar, the honey, mustard, red-pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon salt; whisk until smooth. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper, then add to the mixture, coating it well. Set aside at room temperature, stirring it once while you make the onions.
- Heat a 12-inch cast-iron or heavy skillet over medium-high until very hot, 1½ to 2 minutes, then add the onions in an even layer. Season with salt, then cook, mostly undisturbed, for 4 minutes more, stirring every minute or so. Add the mushrooms, season with salt, and stir to combine. (It will look crowded, and that’s OK.) Allow to cook mostly undisturbed until the mushrooms shrink and start to brown, about 4 minutes, stirring every minute or so.
- Stir in the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil and allow the onions to cook until they start to color, stirring and lowering the heat as necessary to avoid burning, about 2 minutes. Push the onions and mushrooms to the edges of the skillet, then add the chicken pieces to the center. Pour any remaining marinade (there will be very little) over the onions and mushrooms. Cook undisturbed for 4 to 5 minutes, then combine the chicken and vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes more. (Reduce the heat to medium if the onions look like they are burning at any point.)
- Add the remaining 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, stirring and scraping up anything on the bottom of the skillet. Season to taste with salt.
- Remove from the heat and top with the parsley and cheese, if using. Serve with bread or pasta.
Peppery Beef and Shishito Stir-Fry
By Zainab Shah
The New York Times/NYT Cooking
Total Time: 25 minutes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
¼ cup plus 4 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 pound sirloin or other steak, sliced into 1-inch-wide strips
2 tablespoons vegetable or other neutral oil, plus more as needed
12 to 14shishito peppers (about 4 ounces), stems removed
1 tablespoon garlic paste or freshly grated garlic
1 tablespoon ginger paste or freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper, plus more for serving if desired
Salt
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
White rice, for serving
Preparation
- In a medium bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch, 4 teaspoons of the soy sauce and all the sesame oil until smooth. Add the steak strips and mix until thoroughly coated.
- In a separate small bowl or measuring cup, stir the remaining 2 teaspoons cornstarch into ⅓ cup cool water; set aside.
- In a 10-inch wok or wide pot, heat the vegetable oil on high until hot, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the shishito peppers and cook, stirring, until they start to blister. Transfer peppers to a plate and set aside.
- Working in batches and adding more oil if necessary between batches, add the steak strips to the wok in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, until the strips start to develop a char, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to the plate with the peppers.
- Add the garlic and ginger to the wok and adjust heat to medium. Cook for 30 seconds, until the smell of raw garlic and ginger dissipates. Add the black pepper and season with about ½ teaspoon salt. Return the steak and peppers to the wok.
- Stir in the vinegar and remaining ¼ cup soy sauce, then the cornstarch mixture, and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce looks shiny and sticks to the back of a spoon. Taste the dish and season with more salt and pepper, if you like. Serve with rice.