Random Impromptu Recipie #1

Ingredients:

1 Chicken Breast
1 Jar Hot Mustard
1 Jar Aji
1 Onion, (2-3 vertical slices, diced)
1 Portobello Mushroom
2 Cherry Tomatoes
15-20 French Fries (thin)
1 Stick Butter
1 Jar Olive Oil
2 Handfuls of Rice

Instructions:

All ingredients are cooked on medium heat in a stove-top skillet. Add butter to the "veggie" frying pan whenever needed.

1. Start steaming/boiling the rice. When done, let it drain and cool.

2. Add olive oil & some butter to a pan and start cooking the chicken breast, whole. Flip occasionally.

3. Add butter to a second pan and sautee the diced mushrooms and onion together. It is important to use butter for the extra flavor. Keep up consistent stirring until color has noticeably changed darker/browner, and pieces sizzle around the edges, even after movement. This will take quite some time. Set aside on a small plate.

4. Throw a few of the thin french fries into a deep fat frier. Let cook, then set aside to cool a little bit. This ingredient is important to add texture.

5. Add the rice to the pan you sauteed the mushroom/onion mix in. Stir around constantly until rice has obtained a pleasant, solid texture (as opposed to the disgusting mush obtained by boiling or steaming). Add in the Aji sauce (any sort of hot sauce will likely do, but I had Aji), and stir around for another two minutes until all the rice kernels have changed color. Set aside on another plate.

6. Add the fries to this pan now. This will take around 8-10 minutes. Cook until color has changed to a darker brown. Take them out and dice them into small pieces. Ideally they will be crunchy clear through, although this may be difficult to achieve without burning.

7. At this point, the chicken should be nearing completion. Each side should have a good amount of red/brown "burn" marks on it. Using a butter knife, spread the hot mustard on either side in a relatively thin layer. Flip over and let the mustard cook into the chicken. Do this for each side. The mustard loses almost all of its potency, but adds a nice smooth flavor that will contrast with the Aji sauce you added to the rice (which retains some, but not all of its spiciness).

8. Remove chicken from skillet, and dice into bite-sized cubes. Add all ingredients back into the "veggie" pan, and cook for 5 or so more minutes. This will reheat any cooled ingredients. During these last few minutes, you add in the diced tomatoes. The dish is done when the tomatoes have disintegrated (absorbed by the other ingredients) and left only tiny strips of the "skin."

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As this is a total "I made stuff up" recipe, the amount of ingredients can be changed to suit your tastes, and the size of the chicken breast you cook. The sauteed ingredients should all have mild flavors and textures when cooked. They are not intended to be overpowering, they are intended to amplify the flavor of the other ingredients, without being very noticeable. Olives, hot peppers, and things of that nature are not good choices. The rice and diced french fries are intended to add flavor and texture, as things items both absorb flavors from the frying process and retain a pleasantly crispy texture. You will probably use about half a stick of butter throughout this entire process. Be sure to keep a small amount in the "veggie" pan at all times. You need to boil the rice first because simply sticking it in a pan will do nothing. Frying it simply removes much of the moisture, allowing it to soak up the hot sauce and butter, and changing the texture so that it isn't all mushy/nasty/sticky.

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As you can probably tell, I'm a big texture freak with my food. Taste is somewhat important, but texture is everything. I hate the way rice is normally prepared. It is mushy, nasty, and vile to 4 out of the 5 senses - it still tastes OK. Frying it gives it a beautiful, perfect texture.

I wish I had a picture to give you of my culinary masterpiece, but I neglected to take a shot. Use your imaginations!

Aesthetically this dish falls short of perfect. Sautee some green pepper along with the onion/mushroom mix, and this should make a lovely-looking dish for any meal.

I am quickly discovering that there appears to be a positive correlation between the preparation time & complexity of a dish, and that dish's appeasement of my taste buds.