Project Cooking with only Hotplates

One of the many mini-challenges I will face this year is cooking with only hotplates. I consider myself an excellent baker and have a few entrée dishes in my repertoire. Unfortunately, they all involve some component of baking (ignoring, you know, basics like pasta). So in my last few weeks stateside, I'm trying out different recipes that only require a stovetop (or, as will be the case in France, hotplates). Tonight, I tried out my favorite cajun dish, chicken sauce piquant.

I adapted this recipe from Chef John Folse & Company.

Chicken Sauce Piquant (serves 4 with leftovers)

- 2/3 chicken breasts

- 1/2 cup oil (I used canola oil... if you're a newb cooker, remember that you have to be very careful heating olive oil. If you feel you must use olive oil, try using a mixture of half olive half canola oil)

- 1/2 cup flour

- 3 oz tomato paste

- 5 oz Rotel tomatoes

- 8 oz whole tomatoes (if you don't have access to tomato paste/Rotel tomatoes/etc, you could probably use a combination of marinara sauce and some whole tomatoes. If you don't have Rotel tomatoes, add extra spices and finely diced chili peppers)

- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped celery

- 1/2 cup chopped onions (I used a yellow onion)

- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (I used a green bell pepper)

- 1 to 2 tbsps diced garlic

- 15 oz chicken stock

- 1 tbsp sugar

- 1/2 tsp salt

- black and cayenne pepper to taste

- cajun spice (if you have it)

- 1/4 tsp oregano

- 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

- 1/4 sliced green onions (about 4 green onions)

- bay leaves (I used fresh, but dry would probably work as well)

Season the chicken breast with sea salt, black pepper and cajun spices. In a dutch oven or large sauce pan, heat up the oil on medium-heat. Once the oil is warmed, place in the chicken breasts. Allowing around 10 minutes for each side of the chicken breast, sauté the chicken until it seems cooked. Then remove the chicken breasts from the oil and keep them warm. Then, place in the flour and stir with a whisk or fork until you have achieved a brown roux (this takes... a while, don't forget to scrape the bottom). Add the tomato paste to the roux and stir for ~5 minutes. Add the celery, onions (NOT the green onions), bell peppers and garlic and sauté until they're wilted (~5 minutes). Add the tomatoes and chicken stock, blend it together. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add the sugar, salt, black/cayenne pepper and cajun spices and the chicken. Then add the oregano and Worcestershire sauce. Let simmer for at least 45 minutes. [Optional: I used two forks to shred the chicken. The chicken sauce piquant can be served with whole chicken breast pieces or with the shreds. As the dish of chicken sauce piquant that inspired trying this had shredded chicken, that's my preference.] Just before serving mix in the green onions and bay leaves.

Serve on top of fresh white rice. (You'll want to start the rice about 25 minutes before serving.)

Also, I went to see Elle s'appelait Sarah (Sarah's Key) tonight. It was incredibly moving and I cannot recommend it enough. The movie concerns principally the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in Paris, a subject of which I frankly knew nothing. Currently out in some US theatres, (it's been out for two years in France) it has enough English that non-Francophone friends shouldn't be too upset about subtitles. The book off which it is based was written by Tatiana de Rosnay. (A girl in the back of the theatre was urging her friend to the read the book as the credits rolled and liked both the book and the movie adaptation, though it apparently left out a lot.)