Italian Chicken Bake over Potato and Squash Casserole

As my love for cooking progresses through the months, I find that I have preference for vegetarian dishes. On top of being so healthy and so filling (not to mention I love the logistics behind the different digestive properties of vegetables). Also, I'm lazy and I don't like having to wait for meat to thaw. Needless to say cooking chicken to a tender, juicy consistency isn't a strong point of mine.

The recipe featured in this post was one of those few attempts at cooking poultry. Chicken is more challenging than other meats like beef or pork in that dries out quickly and can quickly lose its tenderness. On top of that, you have to cook it all the way through. No "medium-rare" chicken fillets. That means you have to find that sweet spot.

Fortunately for my impatient self, the reasons that chicken is so tricky to deal with are the same reasons it cooks so quickly. A trick I learned from a coworker at Marble Slab is that you throw the chicken in a pan full of water on medium heat straight from the freezer. It thaws it out and cooks it through in just a few minutes, then you're ready to prepare it for cooking. It comes out tender, juicy, and cooked white all the way through.

Now that I've shared that nifty little trick, on to the featured recipe:

Chicka-chick-OW! Chicken Bake

[You're not allowed to have it unless you say the full name]

"Chicka-chick-OW!" Chicken Bake (Serves 2)
Ingredients:
Four medium, thawed chicken fillets
Salt and pepper
Italian dressing (or improvise one like I did)
Parmesan cheese
onion powder
Bread crumbs
Potatoes (pick your choose)
Couple of decent sized squash
Red onions chopped
Red pepper sliced
Olive oil
Rosemary
Cumin
Baguette or artisan loaf if you're feeling fancy

Directions:
1. Cook that chicken just like I told you. Nifty, eh?


2. While that's thawing out dice up your potatoes into chunks, slice up your squash, then throw in the red onions, red peppers, rosemary, cumin, salt to taste, and a good bit of pepper all into a glass bake dish.

3. Drizzle olive oil generously until it gets all slimy then hand toss it. Don't be a pussy. Get yo' hands messy, punk!


4. By the time you're done with that bit the chicken should be cooked. Take it off the stove and place it on a dish for now. Preheat the oven. Does 350 degrees sound good? 350 degrees sounds good to me. Lets go with 350 degrees...

5. Fill a sandwich bag with the parmesan, bit o' salt, few pinches of black pepper, onion powder, and bread crumbs. Get your shake and bake on. When you get a nice even coat on the chicken with the breading, place it in a separate bake dish and drizzle it with your chosen salad dressing. I recommend a vinegar-based dressing.

6. Throw both bake dishes in the oven. Let them bake. Do a jig.

7. After about 15 minutes take out the dishes, turn over the chicken, stir up the potatoes and squash, stick it back in, do another jig.

8. Let another 15 minutes pass, take out the chicken. That's done. Turn up the temp to 400 and throw in a baguette of some French bread. This will go pretty well with the food. The reason why we did this is because the higher the temp, the quicker the surface cooks to a crisp while the core is not penetrated by the heat, leaving it soft on the inside. You like bread that's warm and soft on the inside with a crispy crust, right? Also, it roasts the vegetables.

9. After five minutes (maybe a bit shorter than that) take out the veggies and the bread.

10. Drizzle some olive oil on the sliced baguette, place a chicken fillet or two on a serving of the casserole, and serve with a side some peas or whatever strikes your fancy. Goes good with an Irish red beer. Sammy Adams makes a nice Irish Red. Enjoy, mofugga!