Boneless skinless chicken breasts are one of the healthiest, easiest-to-cook protein sources out there. Though they’re especially great for low-cost bulking b/c of their high protein content to cost ratio, they also have only a couple of grams of fat per breast which makes them superb for cutting as well.

Here’s some of the ways I’ve recently discovered you can cook them with just a skillet, spatula and the necessary spices:

ALL RECIPES ASSUME YOU HAVE THEM DEFROSTED, RINSED AND PATTED DRY WITH A PAPER TOWEL. To defrost them easily, just put their container in the fridge and leave them there for around 24 hours.

1. Pan-Fried With Garlic

Ingredients: chicken breasts, chopped up garlic, salt, extra virgin olive oi

Directions:
1. Heat up a skillet to HIGH, add oil
2. Add chicken breasts. I love the loud frying noise when you add each one in.
3. Sprinkle salt onto each one.
4. Wait about a minute until the water that appears in the bottom of the pan is nearly gone. Then quickly turn the oven to MEDIUM, add a half cup of water to the skillet and COVER IT.
5. After 5 minutes, check the water level in the skillet; if there’s not much water left then add some more. At this point add all your chopped garlic to the chicken, I like covering each breast with as much as I can, then adding some more to the water underneath. RE-COVER THE SKILLET.
6. After another 5 minutes, use your spatula and flip each chicken breast over. Add more water if necessary, re-cover.
7. After another 5 minutes, cut open the thickest part of the thickest chicken breast and see if there’s any pink inside. If there is, then add more water and cover the skillet again for another few minutes. Repeat until the pink has disappeared. (Don’t wait too long though, or else the chicken won’t be juicy anymore.)
8. UN-COVER THE SKILLET, and turn the stove to HIGH. Let it fry for another 1-2 minutes until most of the water is gone, and you’re done.

2. Curry-Flavored
***This recipe is DELICIOUS***

Ingredients: chicken breasts, curry powder, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil

For the curry powder I use the one below, but you can use whichever brand you like. I would just go to the international section of your grocery store, and try to find something that looks Asian or Indian, and is in powder form. Whole Foods has some especially good curries if you have one nearby.

Directions:

THIS IS OPTIONAL BUT WILL MAKE IT TASTE BETTER: A day or so before you want to eat the chicken, take a Rubbermaid container and add your washed, defrosted chicken breasts. Sprinkle salt liberally over the chicken (don’t worry about making it even), add even more curry (more = spicier) and add a tiny amount of pepper. Now stick your hands in and rub the salt/curry/pepper all over the chicken breasts, coating them on all sides. Now cover the container, stick in the fridge for 24 hours to let the chicken marinat

IF YOU DON’T WANT TO GO THRU THE ABOVE: Just do the same thing except don’t let the chicken marinate in the fridge.

Now it’s time to cook the chicken:
1. Heat a skillet to HIGH, add oil
2. Add now-coated chicken breasts
3. Let sit for a minute or two for the chicken to sear on one side, then…
4. Add 1/2 cup water, turn stove to MEDIUM, cover skillet
5. Every 5 minutes or so (as with recipe 1 steps 4-7) check to see if you need to add any water, and if the chicken has turned completely white on the inside. Remember to flip the chicken over after 5 or 10 minutes of being in the covered skillet.
6. Once chicken is all white, turn heat back to HIGH, uncover, and let the water evaporate and the other side of the chicken sear.
7. You’re done!

Picture:

For many who are trying to get in shape or gain muscle, the most challenging aspect is getting the right nutrition. It is so easy to become really sick of the daily protein shakes, oats and egg whites, and as a result one’s diet may become difficult to maintain for a prolonged period of time.

Recently I discovered a recipe for protein pancakes, which seemed like a breath of fresh air - it combines all the right ingredients, yet has the potential to taste like normal food. I have modified the recipe slightly to taste, and have decided to share it here.

What’s great about this recipe is that it’s so easy to modify - by adding more oatmeal, you’ve upped your ratio of carbs; by adding nuts such as almonds you’ve added additional (good) fats. One day I’ll try making these with flaxseed oil, but I fear it may taste terrible.

Ingredients
1 cup Quaker’s Old Fashioned oats
2 scoops vanilla whey protein
1 cup egg whites
1 cup skim milk
Cooking spray
Salt to taste

Directions
1) Add everything to a blender, and blend until smooth.
2) Heat up a medium skillet, coat with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
3) Pour enough batter to coat bottom of skillet (you should be able to make 3 pancakes with a 10″ skillet).
4) Cook on one side for 5 minutes, then flip (either with a spatula or by tossing in the air) and cook on the other side for another 5 minutes.
5) Take pancake out and serve. Repeat with the rest of the batter.

Nutrition Facts
These facts are for all the pancakes combined. Your mileage may vary depending on what brands of ingredients you use.

Total calories: 556.8 kcal
Protein: 74.4 g
Carbohydrates: 44.7 g (Sugar: 14 g, Fiber: 4 g)
Fat: 9 g (Monounsaturated: 1 g, Polyunsaturated: 1 g, Saturated: 3.5 g)
Cholesterol: 5 mg
Potassium: 268 mg
Sodium: 434.5 mg + however much salt you add

A few days ago, Morgan tried her hand at Italian cooking again by whipping up an extremely tasty shrimp scampi with linguini, coupled with bruschetta and saganaki for appetizers. Everything was absolutely delicious, especially the shrimp which was very tender. Saganaki is something I’ve only recently begun to enjoy; it is made by grilling or frying Halloumi, a Mediterranean cheese made from cow’s, sheep’s and goat’s milk, and tastes salty and very flavorful.

Shrimp scampi with linguini, bruschetta, and saganaki

We paired the meal with the Marqués de Cáceres Rioja Reserva 2001, a full-bodied, fruity but smoky wine from Spain that was extremely smooth on the palate and coupled very well with the strong flavors of the dish.

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, an annual event celebrated by many East Asians which is based on a beautiful story:

(From Wikipedia) Houyi was an immortal, while Chang’e was a beautiful young girl, working in the Jade Emperor’s Palace as the attendant to the Queen Mother of the West (wife of the Jade Emperor), just before her marriage. One day, Houyi aroused the jealousy of the other immortals, who then slandered him before the Jade Emperor. Houyi and his wife, Chang’e, were subsequently banished from heaven, and forced to live by hunting on earth. He became a famous archer.

Now at this time, there were 10 suns, in the form of Three-legged birds, residing in a mulberry tree in the eastern sea; each day one of the sun birds would have to travel around the world on a carriage, driven by Xihe the ‘mother’ of the suns. One day, all 10 of the suns circled together, causing the earth to burn. Emperor Yao, the Emperor of China, commanded Houyi to shoot down all but one of the suns. Upon the completion of his task, the Emperor rewarded Houyi with a pill that granted eternal life, and advised him: “Make no haste to swallow this pill; first prepare yourself with prayer and fasting for a year”. Houyi took the pill home and hid it under a rafter, while he began healing his spirit. While Houyi was healing his spirit, Houyi was summoned again by the emperor. Chang’e, noticing a white beam of light beckoning from the rafters, discovered the pill, which she swallowed. Immediately, she found that she could fly. At that moment, Houyi returned home, and, realizing what had happened, began to reprimand her. Chang’e flew out the window into the sky.

With a bow in hand, Houyi sped after her, and the pursuit continued halfway across the heavens. Finally, Houyi had to return to the Earth because of the force of the wind. Chang’e reached the moon, and breathless, she coughed. Part of the pill fell out from her mouth. Now, the hare was already on the moon, and Chang’e commanded the animal to make another pill from it, so that she could return to earth to her husband.

As of today, the hare is still pounding herbs, trying to make the pill. As for Houyi, he built himself a palace in the sun as “Yang” (the male principle), with Chang’e as “Yin” (the female principle). Once a year, on the 15th day of the full moon, Houyi visits his wife. That is why, that night, the moon is full and beautiful.

The consequences of the festival is that many people eat mooncakes around this time, which Morgan and I gladly took part in - the intricately decorated cakes are DELICIOUS.

Mooncake

Morgan also made sushi and soba noodles today, which can be seen in the following set of pictures:

Crunchy dragon roll

A plate of sushi

Soba noodles

There comes a time in one’s culinary growth when normal cooking tools just don’t cut it - when one has become so proficient at slicing, chopping and filleting that one needs something beyond regular stainless steel, Bed, Bath and Beyond or Walmart quality knives.

Although I definitely do not fit the above description at this point, Morgan might - and with our newfound lack of culinary instruments this year, I’ve purchased over the last couple months two amazing knives that have made cooking fun even for an ingredient-illiterate, wannabe chef like myself.

Shun knives

The knives are made by Shun Cutlery, a division of KAI Group, the same Japanese company that owns Kershaw Knives, Inc., who makes the majority of knives used by the US Military. The Japanese are known for the delicate slicing required for making such detail-heavy foods like sushi, and it is to no surprise then that they would create cutting instruments able to perform that task. Each Shun blade is forged in Seki City, Japan (a region once renowned for its samurai swords) from high carbon VG-10 Japanese steel, which can be polished to a razor sharp edge while being hard enough to keep the edge for a long time. Each side of the blade is then coated with 16 additional layers of VG-10, giving it a beautiful Damascus look and making it impervious to rust and the environment.

The arguably most important knife in any collection is the unspecialized blade used for general slicing, dicing and chopping - the chef’s knife. Featuring a long blade with a curved cutting edge, it can slice in a smooth pulling motion and chop by rocking back and forth on the cutting board. This was our only Shun knife for a period of about five months, and it has definitely served its purpose fantastically. Out of the box, the factory edge was razor sharp - I remember accidentally slicing off a fingernail while trying to use it the first time, feeling no resistance whatsoever and only realizing the fact when I began bleeding all over the cutting board. We have used the knife to cut both meat and vegetables, and it has exceeded our expectations in both.

However, one area in which the chef’s knife fell short was its smaller blade area - oftentimes while cooking, especially in Chinese cooking, it is useful to be able to chop or slice up some ingredient, and then carry it on top of the knife blade to the pan or wok. The Chinese cleaver, similar in look but having more functionality than the standard butcher’s cleaver, is especially suited for that purpose, and as a result has become as much a staple in Chinese cooking as rice. It is not uncommon to see Chinese families owning more than one of them, segregating them into the tasks of cutting raw meat or cutting vegetables. I purchased the 7 3/4″ Chinese cleaver from Shun in late August of this year, and thus far I have been amazed at how well it was constructed and how well it has performed. It is significantly heavier than the Shun chef’s knife, but maneuvering it in the air is almost effortless due to its perfect balance. Furthermore, its weight allows it to naturally slice straight through even the smallest foods, creating near-perfect cuts that would be hard to achieve even with the chef’s knife.

Shun knives

It is absolutely true that all knives are not created equal, and Shun has thus far proven its reputation as the best of the best. From their painstaking construction to their beautiful presentation, these knives are a tremendous addition to any chef’s arsenal, and it is my distinct pleasure that I have two of my own.

I had never eaten Phở until recently, but upon having it at a Vietnamese restaurant about two weeks ago I was hooked. In simple terms, it is a rice noodle soup, flavored with a unique combination of spices, green onion, cilantro, basil, and lime - an odd mixture at first glance, but unbelievably delicious once you actually try it.

Per recommendation by a Vietnamese woman we met at Far East, an Asian grocery store on campus, Morgan made her own version of Phở tonight - definitely as good as I remembered!

Phở

On our way back home today we stopped at World Harvest, an international foods store on 6th and University. Upon walking into the store, it felt like any other smaller grocery - aisles arranged in neat rows, stuffed full of oil, vinegar, tea, and much more. Only pausing briefly to glance at the olive oil, we headed towards the the center of the store, to our target: glass display cases full of cheese, made from everything from regular milk to sheep milk, and originating from France, Italy, Holland and all over the world. We tried several different types of cow, goat, and sheep milk cheese, and ended up buying three: Benning mild goat gouda from Holland, cave aged Gruyere from Switzerland, and an 18-month aged gouda (Old Amsterdam) from Holland.

Upon arriving home we set up a makeshift wine and cheese tasting, taking out three bottles of wine and our three pieces of cheese:

Three types of wine

Three types of cheese

Here’s my tasting notes for each wine:

• Williamette Valley Pinot Gris 2006 (W&S 93, WE 90): Fruity, medium body white wine with just a tiny bit of sweetness. We had this several days ago with salmon which was absolutely delicious. Although I prefer sweeter white wines (Riesling, Muscat) I am definitely buying more of this in the future.
• Frescobaldi Nipozzano Chianti Riserva 2004 (WS 91): Fruity, slightly sweet, full bodied wine, smooth and crisp in taste with a long, delicious finish.
• Monte Antico Rosso 2004: Drier and more acidic than the Chianti, slightly fruity. Medium body. Started out tasting just okay, but it grows on you.

And for each type of cheese:

• Benning mild goat gouda: Has a very strong goat milk taste, which I don’t like very much but Morgan loves. Goes very well with the Chianti.
• Cave aged Gruyere: Its subtle yet complex taste is not overpowering, but you can tell it’s there. A review I found online says it best: “This cheese is like that boy your mother wants you to marry—safe, reliable, a little bit predictable. You know it’s always going to treat you right. You hold the idea of it in reserve like an extra ace tucked away. when you’ve been burned by flashier, sexier, more exciting cheeses—what a good idea brescianella seemed like at the time!—cave-aged Gruyere is there to pick you up the morning after. It doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t press its agenda, it’s just there, solid and dependable. It knows the tortoise always wins the race in the end.”
• Old Amsterdam aged gouda: Slightly salty and dry, with a distinct and strong gouda taste. My favorite out of the three.

Dinner on September 1st was a spicy linguine (made by Morgan) featuring several different types of seafood (mussels, clams, squid, and shrimp) in a fra diavolo sauce. We paired it with the 2004 Frescobaldi Nipozzano Chianti Reserva, a full-bodied, fruity red wine with a long, smooth finish.

Seafood Linguine Fra Diavolo

2004 Frescobaldi Nipozzano Chianti Reserva