What’s Cooking in Kelli’s Kitchen

Some meals just disappear

This week began with an anomaly. Our Sunday night dinner disappeared.

Neil regularly teases me about the quantity of food that I prepare on any given night. I insist that it is hard to make small amounts of food. Packages of meat are always at least one pound. Operating under the constraints of conventional grocery stores and standardized packaging means that a chili recipe yields a pot that will feed an army. Even single-protein dinners result in leftovers.

Except this time.

I ate enough that I almost didn’t have room for one of Kelsey’s cookies. The ones that taste like cinnamon Pop-Tarts, but better. That alone should tell you something.

What follows comes out of a real conversation about Sunday dinner from Kelli’s kitchen. Not a formal interview, just the back-and-forth that happens when something turns out better than expected. We started with a recipe from the New York Times Cooking section. At its core, it’s simple. Chicken thighs tossed with turmeric and flour, cooked with asparagus, then finished with a honey-and-black-pepper glaze. A little vinegar or soy sauce for balance. Lime if you want it.

Kelli: There are leftovers.

Neil: No.

Kelli: There’s always leftovers.

Neil: No, there aren’t.

(pause)

Kelli: Okay. There are no leftovers.

This recipe leans into spring. You see it in the asparagus. A full bunch went into the pan, bright and green against everything else, turning golden from the turmeric.  But it could have been gai lan (recently spotted at Safeway in Fallon). Or broccoli rabe. Or green beans. The dish holds either way.  Chicken. A green vegetable. Rice. Something warm and golden to pull it together.

Kelli: The turmeric matters.

Neil: Yeah.

Kelli: And it stains everything.

Neil: Everything.

I had turmeric on my fingernails the next morning, even after I washed my hands, even after a shower. The kind of color that lingers.

And asparagus does what asparagus does.

Neil: I know, I can smell my own pee.

It’s not refined, but it’s real. And it belongs in the story as much as anything else.

The chicken came from the grocery store. Nothing fancy, just boneless & skinless thighs. There was a moment when we said it would be even better with local chicken or local asparagus. We are always pulled toward ingredients raised closer to home.  But sometimes you are limited by what’s actually available, on a normal night, in a small town grocery store.

And what you can do with it.

Kelli: It was really easy.

Neil: It was.

Kelli: Like, easier than it should have been.

That’s the part that’s hardest to write down.

There was a recipe. And you could follow it. But what made it work wasn’t just the instructions.  It was the sequence. The small decisions. Mixing the sauce first. Cutting the vegetables before the chicken. Letting the pan do its work. Seasoning as you go. Letting the sauce reduce until it clings instead of pooling.  

Cooking with all your senses.

By the end, everything in the pan had taken on that same golden color. The rice, the chicken, and the edges of the vegetables. It looked like it belonged together, even though it hadn’t started that way.

And then it was gone.

No leftovers.

10/10. No Notes.

Golden Chicken Bowl with Asparagus

Adapted from the New York Times

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 T honey
• ¾ t black pepper, plus more to taste
• Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
• 2 T all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ t ground turmeric (New Harvest Turmeric from Burlap & Barrel if you can)
• 1 # boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 T coconut oil
• I bunch asparagus, trimmed and thinly sliced on an angle
• 1 t unseasoned rice vinegar or soy sauce
• 1 lime, cut into wedges (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together ¼ cup water with the honey, pepper and ½ teaspoon salt; set honey mixture aside.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, turmeric and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the chicken and toss until coated.
3. In a medium nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high. Add the chicken and cook until the turmeric is fragrant and the chicken is golden brown on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
4. Add the asparagus, season with salt, stir to combine and cook until crisp-tender, 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Add the honey mixture and cook, stirring, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over rice with lime squeezed over top if you like.