its been a long day! and its only ... 4:45 back in cali hah. but its 7:45 here and we just finished dinner. tonight i made thai green curry with tofu. i have never had this meal before in a restaurant, so i didnt know what i was making, which makes it harder to make, but apparently i pulled it off. although i should say, extra-firm tofu my ass, it fell all apart while i was cooking it. :/ anyway, next time i know what to do to make it better.
however, yesterday i remade the chicken artichoke crescents (really theyre little packages bc apparently i cant make a crescent shape out of this pre-cut pastry but whatever), and they were goo-ood! it was one of my first repeats that we were both craving! so i think its time for this one..
So the crescent pastries that you will later stuff with deliciousness, come in these air tight tubes. aaaaand ihatethem. hate. theyre like a jack-in-the-box for grown ups! every single time i have to open one, i end up almost dropping it and screaming a little bit. you have to unravel the paper on the outside and then at some point, without warning, it just POPs open in your hand!! and then its open and you can make your food... but really, i hate the crescent tubes. in fact, i made dipak open the second one this time. and from now on until forever.
so the ingredients you will need are:
3 cans of the scary pillsbury crescent rolls (i ended up getting the low fat ones bc they were out of the regular, and they actually taste exactly the same! and i am definitely one to always pick the fattier thing first, but really, these ones tasted the same. so why not :) )
1 packet of ground chicken (something that im sure seasoned chefs already know, but if you buy the chicken with more fat, it tastes so much better :/ this time, i got the one that was 98% fat free and it still turned out just fine... but i really wish id gotten the fattier one)
1/2 an onion (diced)
1 tsp garlic (minced)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 of a red bell pepper (or more if you like it to be a little bit sweeter)
18oz of marinated artichoke hearts (i have found the Vigo brand to be very tasty! i get 2 tiny 6oz jars- also youll want to dice these up too. its an oily mess, but its worth it!)
2/3 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup mozzarella (shredded)
salt and pepper to taste
start off by preheating your oven to 375 degrees :)
so you begin, the way i seem to begin everything i cook these days, heat your olive oil over medium heat, and then throw in your onions and garlic. let them simmer for a few minutes, moving them around so theres no burning. when theyre slightly browning and "aromatic" (still cracks me up.. it really doesnt have to be that technical) .. so when they smell good lol, throw in your ground chicken. now, i like working with ground chicken bc i dont actually HAVE TO touch it. i know that the grown up, super cheffy way to do this is to put the ground chicken in a bowl, pour all the spices on it and smoosh it all together with my hands.. but imagining raw chicken under my fingernails makes me want to become a vegan. (and if you know me, you know thats just ridiculous) so anyway, i just dump the chicken into my pan, and turn the heat down to med/low. i like to salt my chicken as soon as possible, so id sprinkle it all with salt and pepper right off the bat. then take your flat topped wooden spatula (assuming you have one lol) and start smooshing it all up. as it cooks, you will stop smooshing and youll just be breaking it apart.
one cool way that my second mom (dipaks mom) taught me to make my chicken break apart is to drown it in water, turn the heat up high, and just wait! its amazing. the water evaporates and the chicken is all broken up into beautiful tiny restaurant-perfect pieces! so you could do THAT, or you can just keep smooshin'!
then start throwing in your spices! your garlic salt, chili powder, and turmeric (which stains your life!! be careful not to get it on your clothes :/ ) smoosh, smoosh, smoosh! try and get the spices all over your chicken... (also, at this point im pretty sure some moms out there are reading this shaking their heads at me.. i know theres a more mature way to do this than to smoosh the hell out of your cooking chicken, but it turned out okay and i didnt have to bleach my hands after! so ...? lol HOWEVER, i am always open to new and better ideas! so comment away please!)
so now, if you have the low low fat chicken, you might need to drizzle a little olive oil over it again or even pour a splash of chicken stock into the pan. this will moisten your chicken... i think it keeps the flavors all together.. lol if that even means anything..
when the chicken is almost fully cooked, toss in your bell peppers and diced artichoke hearts :) mmmm!! i think these little jars of marinated artichoke hearts are my new favorite thing ever!
let this all cook together on med/low (more LOW tho) for about 5 minutes. then taste your chicken mix and see how much salt it needs at this point. then leave it on low, and "fold" in your cheese.
when all this is cooked together, take it off the fire and let it sit aside. itll warm up again in the oven, so dont worry if it cools off.
now for the "fun" part. :/
take the crescent rolls and pop them open. OH! make sure to keep them refrigerated until you want to use them! if theyre room temperature when you open them, the dough sticks all together and you can forget it. seriously. so when you open it, its a sheet of dough that has been pre-cut into little triangles. honestly the first time i made this, i had to google "how to roll a crescent roll" ... pathetic haha. but i had NO idea!! and they just assume you grew up eating this? or that youre not an idiot??-- wrong on both counts. :|
anyway, the triangle has one short side and two long sides.. jeez, apparently im not good at geometry either. anyway, take the short side and roll it towards the tip of the other long sides. hopefully that made sense, or youve done this before. if it didnt help, youtube it.
so i took each triangle of dough, and spooned a scoop of my chicken-asparagus mix and put it near the end of the short side of the triangle. then roll it, and fold the ends over until its a little package of dough and meat. this is just one of those things that you just need to do to see how to do it. its really easy. i cant roll a crescent and i could do it lol so youll be fine :)
place your packages of deliciosity onto a slightly greased baking sheet and pop them into your oven for 12 minutes. (or until the crescent dough is golden and a little browned on the top)
and this ones great bc for once, i can take my food out of the oven and NOT worry about it being undercooked :) bc we did all the cooking already! woo!
enjoy! and let me know if you try it out!!
No comments:
Post a Comment