“K.I.S.S.” Keep it simple stupid. I did that and then some tonight with Mayo Chicken. Mayo Chicken has been a dinner staple in the Whitehouse since I can remember. Its origins are somewhat of a mystery to me but after thinking a lot about it today I think that it originates as a Sue dish (Sue being my aunt). If my memory hasn’t failed me and this really is a Sue dish I don’t know how it has stayed in the cookbook for so long. Actually according to my late uncle Pete no one in the Sladek family (my mom side) can cook. On my parents wedding night uncle Pete even took my pops aside and told him with a straight poker face, “I hope you can cook kid, because these Sladek’s women can’t cook for shit!” However right (or maybe wrong) Uncle Pete was, Sue got this dish right.
Although the dish might sound pretty nasty, it really isn’t. I never thought of the name, “mayo chicken” as gross until a friend once commented, “Ew, mayo chicken, that sounds gross!” Mayo is one of only seven total ingredients; you don’t really have the taste of mayo in the final product. The mayo acts like a rain jacket for the chicken keeping it moist. The other ingredients are a couple simple spices making this a low cal dinna which make Greggy (pops) very happy(might not be as happy if he knew I only use real mayo, where he is a “light mayo kind of guy”). Mayo Chicken is classically accompanied with a pasta ronni dish of your choice (my fav is angel hair parmesan pasta, but had to settle for fettuccini alfredo tonight because Shoprite had a crap selection) and a stemmed veggie of choice (my fav is either string beans with some Mrs. Dash spice and butter, or broccoli with melted American cheese).
Tonights dinner had a special guest sitting in for Chris who has been working like a slave’s dog. Cole, (Caites little bro) joined us for this culinary classic. A couple months ago Cole ate over with just my mom and me. I had just started a few weeks earlier this culinary adventure I’m on and decided to give Osso Bucco a shot. I headed to a, “real” butcher shop to get good veal shanks. What I got as $45 worth of frozen shanks from a butcher that worked out of what looked like a shed. The dinner turned out, ok (they needed more braising time because of being previously frozen) and Cole might have eaten five bites. This time around he was a clean plate member honoree.
I headed to the store after getting my hairs cut, no list in hand because I could make this dinner in my sleep. It was the first real dish/dinner (other than grilled cheese and pork roll and such) that I could execute start to finish on my own. So at the store I realized that a five pack of Purdue chicken weighing about 3.2 LBS costs $5.90, but three small pieces of the same brand at 1.2 LBS costs $6.15. How could this be, I took both packages and examined them to find that the smaller package said “fit and easy.” Later on when cooking (didn’t start till 7:15 because of how quick and simple the dish is) I had a conversation with Caite and my ma about the strange pricing. As fate would have it two minutes later a commercial came on advertizing Purdue, “fit and easy” chickens, which are raised cage free and fed a vegetable diet. I guess all the other cheep chicken (like the pack I bought) is all steroidid up; so I decided that this chicken needed a flashy name to go along with it’s counterpart, I decided on “Cancer Chicken.” It must costs a lot of money to eat chickens that aren’t kept in cages. Don’t you think it would be cheaper to not have the expensive of having all the cages and space; rather than having chickens free range? I don’t know, it must cost a lot of money to not get cancer.
Mayo Chicken
4-5 Pieces of boneless chicken breasts (I prefer the cheap cancer causing ones)
2 TBS Mayo
¼ TSP Salt, for each piece
¼ TSP Pepper, for each piece
¼ TSP Paprika, for each piece
¼ TSP Garlic powder, for each piece
¼ TSP Bottle Parmesan Cheese. for each piece
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pound out each piece of chicken to allow it to cook more evenly.
2. Coat each piece with a light coating of mayo by using a pastry brush, place in a shallow baking dish/Pyrex. Season each piece with spices in the following order; salt, fresh cracked pepper, garlic powder, light layer of paprika, parmesan, then the remaining and maybe a little more paprika. Cook chicken in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.
3. Start the noodles with about ten minutes left for the chicken cooking time, about eight minutes left in cooking time, start the broccoli. Serve the chicken with barbeque sauce on the side for dipping. I started doing this when this dish was first established, I think its way its been around for so long, it completes the flavor profile. Also can be served with sliced cucumbers tossed in balsamic dressing then seasoned with kosher salt (the only salt you should use in cooking) and fresh cracked pepper.
There you have it, nice and easy Japanesey. There were no comments like “wow this is good”, or “definitely make this again”, being that its probably like the 500th time eating this meal. Caite, who is regularly a big fan of Mayo Chicken finished early because she allegedly did not like the texture of the chicken she had, apparently there was a “vain”; she got the cancer piece.
While writing this, pops went on a rant about keeping meals cheap, the budget down, blah blah blah. So hopefully this wont turn into a budget cooking blog or anything, I like rich flavors, which require a decent amount of ingredients. Most however are produce items that aren’t that expensive and I find ways to curb the prices in other ways. The few pictures tonight must be some of the first published from a version I-phone, which Caite picked up today after work, she just put it down to go to bed, it was in her hands for the last four straight hours. The phone takes good pics and its a good alternative to when Chris is using his behemoth or I’m feeling lazy. Its nice to be messing around with a camera again though after taking the last few years off.
Tomorrow is most likely an off day being that we usually do pizza or somethin like that for Friday dinna, but that doesn’t mean tomorrow comes without excitement. Chris got me some UGG slippers for Christmas that were too big and for the last month and a half I’ve been meaning to take them back. Seeing that I was not too urgent to return them (they have been in his trunk for the last month) I decided I didn’t really have much use for them. So I returned them today and tomorrow I’m planning on buyin a new chefs knife. I’m thinking either a Shun classic or a Global, both good Jap brands with good user reviews. As of right now I’m leaning toward the Shun due to its heavier handle, a little higher review rating and great customer service (you ship them your knife and they will restore/polish/professionally re-sharpen your knives for LIFE!) So stay tuned, the few that are reading this, hopefully ill get a post going this weekend. Smell ya later.
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