Reducing the chicken.

After a fantastic birthday weekend (Thanks, everyone!) I opened my fridge, in the mood to cook a little something for a late night snack. Upon viewing my possibilities, I realized my only protein in the fridge at the time was boneless skinless chicken breast. Hmmmmmm...

What to do with chicken breast...

I'm pretty sure I've heard more questions about this one item than any other. However, all of these boil down to two basic questions-  How do I keep them moist? How do I make them tasty?

Well, that's a multi-faceted answer. The easy answer is... well, don't buy boneless skinless chicken breasts. As a rule of thumb with most any meat, keeping the bone(s) on and in makes for a more moist and flavorful morsel, and skin (especially for poultry) makes for tasty times. Tonight, however, I had no such luck- no bones, no skin.

Luckily, one thing chicken breast does quite well is absorb other flavors. By cooking the breast in a tasty sauce, we get a tasty bird. Scrounging through pantry and fridge, I decide to riff on orange chicken. Orange juice, soy sauce, honey, and chili peppers can make one hell of a flavor combo. Any of you readers whose mouths are watering right now are probably thinking of your local chinese restaurant, or the Panda Express staple. While this version doesn't have the crispy crunchiness of those versions (I didn't exactly have the oil on hand to deep fry) it does have that sweet sticky sauce created by way of a reduction.

What's a reduction?

A reduction, quite simply, is a liquid or sauce that is made thicker and/or more intensely flavored by way of cooking the sauce down, evaporating a portion of the water and thus concentrating what remains. In this recipe, we cook the chicken in a bit of liquid, remove the cooked chicken, and then heat the liquid until it reduces into a tasty unctuous sauce. Once you get the basic technique down, this is a skill you can apply all over the place. (note- this is not the ONLY way to make a sauce. More on that in weeks to come.)

Anyways, here it is in all it's glory.

Oh, for those of you who avoid orange chicken normally for fat loss reasons, fear not. This is a much healthier alternative.

Orange chicken breast.

1 c orange juice

3 tbsp honey

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp chili flakes

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp sesame oil

2-3 chicken breasts

 

in a pan, combine your juice,  soy sauce, honey, garlic, chili, and coriander. whisk to combine everything (make sure you get all the honey mixed in, it likes to stick to the bottom and burn otherwise). taste the sauce, adding more honey if the sauce is not sweet enough for your tastes, and soy if it isn't salty enough. Bring onto a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce begins to bubble and steam. 

While this is heating up, prep and cut your chicken. 
You want as little white as possible (this will be tough chewing after it's cooked) so trim your breasts with a knife or kitchen scissors (shears), then cut them into cubes about 1" in size.  (notice how I'm placing all my tough bits to the side? I'll be using those for stock later.)

So our sauce is a-bubbling, and our chicken is cut. place your chicken into the pan, spreading it out so pieces aren't sitting on top of one another (if you have a lot of chicken, feel free to do this in two batches). Turn the pieces occasionally. The easiest way to test the chicken's doneness is to take a piece and break or cut it in half. If the center is red, cook for longer. If not, take the chicken out, and place into a bowl for the time being. 

Back to our pan, turn the heat up to a medium-high heat. your sauce will start boiling quite a bit. Stir or whisk it frequently to make sure nothing is burning or sticking, and let the sauce reduce by 1/2 (meaning you should have 1/2 as much liquid left in the pan as when you started). let sauce cool slightly (if you're eager to test it, dip a spoon in, and see if the sauce coats the back of the spoon.) and then pour over your chicken. Deploy and enjoy. 

This can go on rice, noodles, veggies, or the like. I put mine on broccoli. Sorry I have no pictures of that, I was already halfway into eating by the time I thought to take a picture of that.

Until next time- Reduce away.