This dinner is comfort in a bowl…and yes, you can eat it outside.
Yes, some of us are back in school. New shoes, new backpacks, new pencils. Exciting, but also, there’s homework. Remember homework? We all magically forgot.
Here is a delicious new dinner, one that is exciting to eat, and can be eaten, in a bowl, outside, while soaking in the last days outdoors of the season.
This recipe comes together quickly, and is best served fresh but my children love to take it to school the next day for lunch too, so I suppose it can’t be too bad rewarmed either.
First, and very importantly, cut your chicken breast into tiny pieces. Kids love it like this.
Next, gather your veggies. Don’t get scared off by these gorgeous Beech mushrooms that I found at my local grocery store. You don’t have to include them, any mushroom will do. But, you know, they are kinda cool.
First, toss the chicken with the flour, salt, and pepper. Heat the oil to your sauté pan (if you own a wok, this is a great opportunity to use it). Add the chicken and sear until it’s white on both sides. Remove the pan from heat and remove the chicken.
If you have a picky eater he or she might prefer the chicken plain like this, so set some aside for them and don’t add it back into the pan.
Next, add the onion and garlic (you can add more oil if needed). Give them a couple minute headstart in the pan before adding the rest.
Don’t dump it all in at once. Start with the celery, then the peppers, then the mushrooms and snow peas. Now it’s a party. Keep stirring as it cooks (hence the name stir-fry). You don’t need these veggies to be fork-tender. A bit of bite is expected. It’ll still take these veggies 10-15 minutes to be cooked enough.
Here are our sauce ingredients. Everything except the fresh ginger should be items you already have on hand. Mix ‘em together.
Once the veggies are ready, add the chicken back to the pan.
Then add the sauce.
Then let the whole dish get heated together thoroughly.
Serve over brown or white rice.
This is going to be the season’s favorite weeknight dinner.
Enjoy!
Stir-Fry Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 1 to 1.5 lb of chicken breast cut into tiny pieces
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- pinch black pepper
- 3 tbsp oil and more if needed
Vegetables:
- 1 onion diced into large chunks
- 2 garlic cloves sliced
- 2 celery stalks sliced into chunks
- 1 red pepper sliced
- 1 yellow pepper sliced
- 1 cup sugar snap peas or snow peas cut into large chunks
- handful of mushrooms sliced
- 1 container white Beech mushrooms, optional (if you see them!)
- more oil if needed
Sauce:
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tsp chicken consomme
- pinch crushed red pepper
- 1-2 tsp finely diced or microplaned fresh ginger
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 garlic cloves minced
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine chicken with flour, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat. Remove chicken pieces from the flour, shaking off any excess flour.
- Heat oil in a large sauté pan over high heat (if you own a wok, use it!). Sear the chicken in the pan until white and slightly browned. Remove and set aside.
- Return the pan to the heat; add additional oil if needed. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the celery, followed by the peppers, and ending with the mushrooms and snow peas.
- Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring often ( hence the name stir-fry). Keep in mind that the vegetables don’t need to be fork tender. A bit of bite is expected.
- Prepare the sauce. In a bowl, combine the sauce ingredients. If you love ginger we recommend that you cut it small with a knife into tiny pieces as shown, otherwise, and if your kids don’t have such distinguished palates, we recommend you use a microplane to mince the ginger finely. Or, skip the ginger completely, if your family is not into that.
- Return the chicken to the pan (set some aside for the picky eater, if you want), give it a mix and toss with the sauce. Heat thoroughly and serve. Serve over brown or white rice and enjoy.
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