Your secret ingredient: CHICKEN!

I’m cooking now — whenever I have time. I love it. Sometimes the food even tastes pretty good.

Recently I bought some boneless chicken thighs, and I divided them between two bags. The first set I made with a modification on a recipe I had used a long time ago. I put a lot of cumin and a good amount (like 2 tbsp) of Cajun seasoning on the chicken in a Ziploc bag, and mixed it around so that it was well coated. Then I just seared (sauteed? fried?) it in oil in a hot skillet on both sides until it was cooked through. So simple.

And then I saw the bits left in the pan and I thought, “I could deglaze it like they do on the Food Network instructional video.” So I poured some leftover Merlot into the pan and scraped up the bits, and then poured it over the cooked meat. It tasted fantastic.

By the way, the whole set of Food Network instructional videos on basic techniques is right here.

For my second attempt on the chickens, I tried a “Deviled Chicken Thighs” recipe that involved a lemon-juice-and-Tabasco marinade, a breadcrumb coating, and baking. I have to say, I’m not such a fan of this recipe. The chicken got really soft and sort of mushy, and the coating burned in the oven and was really salty. I think with chicken, in the future, pan-searing is the way to go.

I’m also going to learn guitar. I’m pretty excited.