chicken, leek and fried potatoes
Homey, glutenfree
recipe
Prepping the Leeks:
discard the top dark green portion of the leeks and keep the bulbs. If the leeks are thicker than two fingers, slice lengthwise. Slice across into rings (thick or thin is fine).
Put the leeks in a colander to rinse while scooping with a spoon. Let drain for a good while..
Prepping and nuking the Potatoes.
Ingredient quality focuses on one aspect: you don't want glassy potatoes. Glass depends on the growth and harvesting of the potatoes, so if one batch is glassy write off that type for a few weeks.
Clean your potatoes, and peel them if you're so inclined. There's a debate brewing about how many nutrients are in the peel, which disregards the fibers if you ask me. But certainly green bits shouldn't be eaten.
This dish is however best with golden 'new potatoes' which need their peel. Cut the clean potatoes into slices the thickness of your thumb.
I'm a weirdo: I microwave my potatoes. Put in a heat-resistant glass bowl with cover, or a microwave bowl if you have one. Don't add spices. Nuke for around 12 minutes. Your Mileage Might Vary, but potatoes are forgiving.
Unocover to let the steam off, and put aside.
Prepping and frying the Chicken
I'm a huge fan of marinating chicken in yoghurt and oven-roasting it (in the yoghurt)!. As the yoghurt thickens, he juicy but well-done chicken will end up roasting with some nice crispy bits.
But this recipe calls for a more traditional approach.
Start by cutting the chicken breast into the servings. Try for nice thick chunks, three per halve breast?
Seasoning should be pretty low-key; salt & pepper. What we really want here is to steal flavor from the butter.
Heat up a pan on a high fire. Don't get distracted!
Add as much butter as your cardiologist allows you. After melting it should cover the whole pan with a layer, not a sheen. Immediately add the chicken, and reduce the fire to 4/5ths.
The chicken should start crisping. Add heat if it stops crisping! Lower heat if the butter starts browning (and lift the pan a moment!). Three minutes of this is enough.
Turn the chicken over, cover the pan, and put the heat down to 2/5ths. Leave for six minutes while you start on the leeks.
After 6 minutes put the chicken aside and keep covered. If you need the pan, put the chicken in a covered pot.
Frying the Leeks:
Add the oil and butter to a skillet over medium-high heat and let the butter melt.
If using garlic add it now.
Add the leeks to the skillet and toss them until they're completely coated in the butter. Season leeks with salt. Turn the heat down to medium, and stir gently for 7-10 minutes Larger leeks take longer than small (younger) ones.
Cover and put aside.
Frying the Potatoes:
Moar butter! You're in this for the long run. No going back now!
Season the potatoes and add them with 4/5ths heat and constant attention. The Leeks and the Chicken are getting cold, get a move on!
The more you flip the potatoes, the more you get loose bits that can caramelize and make a crunchy crust.
If the potatoes aren't getting there, you can splash water over them to get a soggy soup that should immediately create more crunchy crust. Say about enough to have 5mm of water in the pan? Scoop vigorously until the whole mess is dry.
Serve!