Chicken

'Tis the season to find eggnog in your fridge.

Truth be told, I never have a problem finishing eggnog off... unless you count "too quickly" as a problem. Still, it is (barely) conceivable to me that someone might find themselves with too much eggnog.

It is more conceivable to me that someone might say, "I like eggnog. What can I do with it besides drink it (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Tonight's dinner was fairly simple, but quite tasty. I took a couple of chicken breasts, sliced them up, and sauteed them with butter until they were beginning to get nicely browned. While they were cooking I added 2/3 of a medium shallot and a handful of pecans. While that was going, I lightly toasted some orzo in a sautee pan, added the rest of the shallot, and doused it with some pecan liquor. Then I poured in some boiling water, salted it, and let it simmer until done. I added the drained orzo to the chicken. The result was very brown, so I decided to add a bit of frozen spinach.

Today I sent my SousVide Supreme demo unit back. I had it for almost two weeks. While this gave me a chance to get a feel for the machine, it didn't really give me enough time to really see all of what sous vide - as a technique - has to offer. Here's what I cooked:

Whole chickens are a great bargain. If you just roast a chicken and set it out on the table to be picked clean, though, you're probably only going to get a single meal out of a chicken (maybe with some leftovers). With a bit of planning, you can make a single chicken go much farther than that.

Dry Lavender Soda is part of a line of all-natural, low-sugar beverages. It has a distinct lavender flavor and, perhaps surprisingly, I discovered that it makes an awesome braising liquid for chicken.