It’s spring in Chicago! You know what that means? Rain. More rain, and more rain. However, the temperatures start going up–today, we’re supposed to see an awesome 70º. Don’t quote me on that, it may not happen. To celebrate the warm weather (yes, 70º in the spring here is warm) I wore sandals to work. And painted my toes–because my feet are gross when my toes are, *gasp* NAKED.

Enough about my feet. The rain was the headliner for Chicago in April, as we had A LOT of it. The rain apparently broke record amounts, and the Des Plaines River (which I grew up near) was the highest it’s been in many many years.

Unfortunately, I didn’t experiment much in April, and I generally have problems with Asian foods. I look at the sauce, and think it needs to be thicker–then end up making it much to thick; or I decide to leave it alone, and it comes back too runny. This recipe, though, adapted from Rainy Day Gal’s blog is absolute heaven. It’s delicious with both beef and chicken, I just prefer chicken with it.

Chicken and Broccoli Stirfry

adapted from Rainy Day Gal

Ingredients

For the Marinade:

1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbs cornstarch
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs water
2 Tbs vegetable oil
3-4 chicken breast halves, cut into 1″ chunks

For the Stirfry Sauce:

1/2 c soy sauce
2 Tbs brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs flour
1 Tbs Sherry
3 Tbs vegetable oil
2 heads broccoli, crowns only

Directions

For the Marinade, combine all the marinade ingredients, put in a bowl and set aside. Let the chicken marinade for a good half an hour. While it’s sitting, you can prep the stirfry sauce and get the broccoli done!

For the sauce, combine all ingredients except the broccoli, set aside.

In a large pan, add a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil, and get the pan hot. Add the broccoli and saute for a few minutes until the broccoli has a bright green color, and still crunchy.

Once the broccoli is done cooking, set it aside in a bowl or plate.

Add a little more vegetable oil (more if the non-stick in your pan isn’t as fantastic as it used to be) and add the chicken, plus half the stirfry sauce. Cook until the chicken is cooked through.

Toss the broccoli back into the pan, and pour remaining stirfry sauce over it. Stir to combine. Turn heat down to low, put the lid on, and let it cook a few minutes more. Stir once more before serving. Doesn’t that look delicious?!

I served mine over white rice, and it was heavenly. Enjoy!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Caprese Topping

You ever sit down and stare at a computer screen and say to yourself, “what do I type?” Yep, well, it’s like that. I’m rolling up my sleeves, sitting down and saying HELLO WORLD, COME ENJOY MY COOKING!

Welcome to my first post EVER! Hopefully you will enjoy the short commentary followed by a *hopefully* creative and delicious cooking experiment.

A few months ago, I moved BACK out of my parents’ house (thank you awesome parents!) and into my own place again. Starting over is *so* great. I’ve always loved cooking, and trying new things, but in the last few months have REALLY found a love for sharing what I’ve been cooking and improving upon it. After a few months of posting every new recipe I try out, plus pictures on Facebook, I thought to myself…I need a new medium. Something that is dedicated to just my recipes, my interpretations, and perhaps–and I apologize–some ranting about other randomness.

I’m going to keep this post relatively short and sweet–as most of the site is still under construction, but I felt that I really wanted to post something. That being said….let the drum roll begin….

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Caprese Topping

Ingredient List

Parmesan Crusted Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 tsp pepper
2 eggs, beaten, plus 1 Tbs cold water
1/4 cup olive oil

Caprese Topping:

2-3 Roma tomatoes, quartered and sliced
2-3b Tbs fresh basil, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
16oz fresh mozzarella cheese, quartered and sliced to 1/4″-1/2″ thickness
4 Tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (use less if using fresh ground, 3 good turns on the pepper grinder)

Directions

For the chicken, trim any fat or gristle off the chicken breasts, set aside. In a shallow dish or bowl, combine breadcrumbs, cheese, oregano, and salt and pepper. Feel free to omit the salt at this point–the cheese may add plenty of salt depending on personal taste.

Heat a large pan with a couple tablespoons of oil. Treat the 1/4 measuring of oil as more of a “just in case you need more.”

In a separate bowl, beat eggs and water together to combine for dipping. Dip chicken in breadcrumb mixture, then into egg mixture, then back into the breadcrumbs, making sure everything is completely covered. Put in the pan, cook until golden. Repeat this process with the remaining chicken breasts.

While the chicken is cooking, put the topping together! Combine all ingredients for the topping, leaving the salt and pepper. Let the topping rest for a minute, and stir again, adding the salt and pepper. Feel free to add more of each to taste! I personally love garlic and pepper, so those are the two ingredients I really want to pop at me when I taste it.

Once your salad and chicken are done, serve your chicken, and scoop a healthy amount of the topping over top. Cut yourself a bit, scoop up a bit of cheese and tomato–and wait for your mouth to sing!

Until next time…enjoy!

Aunt Kookie's Cookatorium

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