Chicken and Broccoli

With Christmas break coming up, I have no intention of going to the store and buying more food for the next 3 days.  Luckily, I’ve really been in the mood for stir-fry lately, and making this dish involved simply buying a package of broccoli florets.  I could deal with that.

Ingredients (makes 3 servings):

1 large chicken breast, cubed

2 cloves garlic, minced and divided

1 tbsp ground ginger; divided

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp corn starch and 1 tsp cornstarch; divided

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sesame oil

about 1/3 cup water

3 tbsp vegetable oil; divided

2-3 cups broccoli florets

1/2 an onion, chopped

3/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

1 tbsp fish sauce

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, toss the chicken with 1 clove garlic, 1/2 tbsp ginger, soy sauce, 1 tsp cornstarch, 1 tsp salt, and sesame oil.  Marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.

2. Combine the remaining cornstarch with 1/3 cup water.

3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat.  Add broccoli, garlic, ginger, onions, and 2 tbsp of water.  Stir-fry for about 2 minutes, until the broccoli is bright green, but still crisp.  Transfer to a plate.

4. Heat the skillet and again and add remaining 2 tbsp oil.  Add the chicken and optional chili flakes.  Stir-fry until chicken starts to brown, about 3 minutes.  Add the fish sauce and return the broccoli to the pan; toss to heat through.  Stir in the reserved cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil to thicken.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.

5. Serve over rice.

Broccoli and Mushroom Quiche

I’ve had some good ideas in my time.  Recently, for instance, I stumbled upon the fact that eating pomegranate seeds while eating a Reeses peanut butter cup is the most amazing thing in the world (thank me after you try it).  Possibly the best idea I’ve ever had in my life, however, came to fruition yesterday: brunch.  Now, obviously I did not come up with the idea of brunch.  I’d both be incredibly old and (since it’s such a fabulous meal) decently rich if I had.  No, I simply came up with the idea that as teachers we need something to look forward to all week…and brunch (which may or may not have included mimosas) would be the perfect thing!  So this Saturday I had some of the other TFAers who work at my school over for brunch.  Best idea I’ve ever had.  Everyone brought something (mostly from Walmart, but hey, not everyone’s a cook) to share and we ate and drank mimosas and tea (in my new tea set!) and just had an all-around good time.

Being me and needing to make something special and delicious, I decided to make a quiche!  Definitely an impressive brunch item, especially when lots of delicious veggies are involved.  The secret about quiches though, is that they’re actually really easy.  They look fancy and they take a bit of time, but most of that’s time spent in the oven.  The actual work you have to do is pretty minimal and it’s easy too.  This recipe’s for a veggie quiche mainly because I had vegetarians over and wanted to make sure they could eat the quiche too, but this is really just a great basic quiche recipe.  Substitute the veggies in for different vegetables if you want or get rid of the green stuff all together and go with bacon or ham!  Quiches are very adaptable.

Ingredients:

1 (9 inch) pie crust

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tbsp flour

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup broccoli, chopped

1/4 cup shredded swiss cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Line pie pan with pie crust, and place a double layer of tin foil over the crust (it always seems like I never have tin foil, so I usually end up skipping this step and just baking the crust for about 10 minutes on its own.  This works fine, but the crust ends up puffing up quite a bit, so if you have the tin foil, definitely put in the extra effort here). Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, and then remove foil. Continue baking until crust begins to set, about 5 to 7 minutes; remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F

2. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with milk and flour. Stir in onion, mushrooms, broccoli, and swiss cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Pour mixture into hot crust.

3. Bake quiche at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes to one hour. The quiche is done when knife inserted in center comes out clean. You can cover the edges of the crust with foil if it starts to brown too quickly, but I usually don’t find that a problem.