Chicken & Rice

This meal has it all, and rolls in under 400 calories! It's a healthy and nutritious version of an old Dugas classic. Another bonus -- this meal exhibits ultimate parallelism in preparation, that is, each part can be made nearly simultaneously.



Ingredients
4 oz chicken breast tender
2/3 cup prepared brown rice
2/3 to 1 cup Normandy vegetable mix (any decent veggie or mix is great)

Ingredients (sauce)
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. Wondra (or flour)
Chef Paul's poultry magic seasoning
2-3 scallions, diced
butter buds sprinkles
s&p


Method

• Start preparing the chicken breast (I use the GTXpress, 12 minutes total)
• Start preparing the brown rice
• Start preparing the vegetables
• Prepare the roux
• Combine milk, butter sprinkles, Wondra in a non-stick skillet, mix well, crank heat up to medium
• Stirring often, the roux should thicken after a few minutes, at that point, add the scallions and 1-2 tsp Chef Paul's seasoning
• Once the roux has thickened to your desired consistency, start plating
• Plating
• Make a bed of brown rice
• Slice chicken (optional) and lay on rice
• Pour roux over chicken,
  
• Optional
• Sprinkle a bit more Chef Paul's seasoning on the roux
• Garnish with a couple spring onions (optional)
• Accompany with vegetables, sprinkling on butter and other desired seasonings (I used Spike seasoning, another decent one would be Old Bay)

That's it. For a home-cooked meal, it doesn't take too long, and I've made a double batch so I can enjoy some leftovers later.

Nutrition Info
Brown Rice 150 calories, 1.5g fat, 3g protein
Chicken 100 calories, 1g fat, 24g protein
Sauce 100 calories, 1g fat, 6g protein
Vegetables 35 calories, 0.5g fat, 2g protein

Nutrition Totals
385 calories, 4g fat, 35g protein

Quesadilla

Quesadillas are quick and easy to make, but I've seen many people mess up the process. Too much cheese, folding too early, using a tortilla for both top and bottom... these are just some of the more common mistakes. Quesadillas were the most popular appetizer at the restaurant I worked at, so making the perfect one had to be a seamless series of steps, executed at just the right times. The following steps are quite verbose, but for no extra charge you get my memory's step-by-step process of making a great quesadilla.

With that said, the process of making a quesadilla fantástica is as follows:

Ingredients
1 flour tortilla
Soft or melted butter, enough to lightly coat one side of the tortilla
Colby-Jack cheese, shredded
Seasoned chicken (optional)

Method

• Preheat a skillet on the range at medium setting.
  
• Lightly butter one side of a tortilla.
• Place tortilla, butter-side down on skillet.
  
• Sprinkle shredded Colby-Jack cheese on half the tortilla, but make sure you can still see some white tortilla through the cheese. If you cannot see any tortilla, you've over-cheesed.
• Optional -- add seasoned chicken on top of the cheese. Make sure you use much less chicken than cheese.
• Cook for about 1 minute, then lift the tortilla slightly to check if it is at a nice toasty, light, golden-brown color.
• When tortilla reaches a light-golden color, fold empty half over cheesy half, press down lightly so it stays put.
  
• Allow quesadilla to cook for another 30-45 seconds, the cheese should be melted by now.
• If the cheese is not completely melted, flip tortilla and allow it to cook for another 30-45 seconds. Flipping will assure even toastyness of the outer shell.
• Remove cooked quesadilla and place on a cutting board.

Cutting technique
Quesadillas could be cut any way using any knife, but here's my preferred way with my preferred knife.

Place the tip of your favorite sharp Chef's Knife on the cutting board at the center of the flat side of the quesadilla, so the blade and handle are above the rest of the quesadilla at a 45 degree angle. One hand is holding the handle, and the other is resting on the top, dull side of the blade. In a rocking motion (keeping the front of the blade touching the cutting board), smoothly cut through the center, creating two equal triangles. Reverse the motion you just made until the blade is back at the 45 degree angle position. Push your handle hand forward to cut the far triangle in half, cut, then pull back to cut the final triangle, resulting in 4 total triangles. Four is the ideal count for a 10-inch tortilla, 6- to 8-inch tortillas may only require 3 triangles.

Serving Suggestions
Serve with a side of one or more of the following:

• Sour cream
• Guacamole
• Salsa (keep in mind that it is difficult to scoop chunky salsa with a quesadilla triangle)
• Pico de Gallo (may be difficult to scoop)
  
• A zesty ranch-based sauce

If you're looking to make a full circle tortilla, it is highly recommended that you make two half-circles, independently. Flipping a quesadilla that uses two tortillas at once (so no folding would be required) can result in cheese falling out the sides and is generally difficult to manage.

Chipotle Chicken Breast

I'm a huge fan of the smoked jalapeño flavor, chipotle, and put together this recipe to make some slightly-spicy, seriously flavorful chicken. Locating chipotle seasoning at the grocery can be difficult... We found it at World Market.




Ingredients
2 Chicken breasts, trimmed
1 tsp. chipotle seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced/pressed
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp lime juice
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl
   
2. Add olive oil and lime juice to dry ingredients to create a marinade
3. Marinate chicken in a sealed container/bag and refrigerate for at least 30 min. (or overnight)
4. Prepare chicken using your preferred method (grilled, oven baked, broiled, griddled)