January is a time when I return to the simple in my kitchen. After 6 weeks of feasts, cookies, pies, more feasts, and all the glitter of the holidays, it’s time to simplify. This month I want to eat down the freezer, use up the pantry supplies, and, in general, take things easy.
I haven’t written much about sous vide cooking here, but since my first post on the Anova sous vide cooker several years ago, it’s been a steady tool in my kitchen. What I love about it is the ability to prepare something and then let it cook unattended. Prep is simple enough: put the food plus a bit of seasoning in a bag (a plain freezer-weight zip bag works fine for this), dunk it into water kept at a specific temperature, and just let it cook. I’ll be posting more about sous vide cooking this year, because – hey! It’s easy, and it works.
In my quest for easy, I am certainly not going to give up satisfying food. Take this teriyaki chicken as a case in point: it’s moist and perfectly cooked, and not at all stringy (I hate it when chicken goes stringy!) It’s actually easier than my standard method of the dish, and I love the results. Even better, the leftovers will be perfectly cooked, as well: just chill (or freeze) a portion right in its bag, and bring it back up to serving temperature later on.
That’s my kind of simple, right there.