Simple Fish and Rice

Tools needed: 





a simple, hearty comfort meal

• micom (computerized) rice cooker

Ingredients:

• white rice (or activated brown rice that cooks the same as white)
• chicken broth
• frozen trout (or any fish)
• frozen langoustino tails (aka crayfish, aka crawdads)
• frozen sweet bell peppers
• cajun seasoning



this is an example of a micon rice cooker

• sundried tomatoes packed in oil

Directions:

• put one rice cooker cup rice into rice cooker
• sprinkle cajun seasoning
• add 3-4 sundried tomato pieces
• use about 1/2 water and 1/2 cricken stop to fill to the one cup mark
• add one serving frozen fish and one handful crawdad

  

  These ingredients are cheerful!

• add one handful (about 1/3 cup) frozen peppers
• cook on white rice setting

4 minute, 40 second Jambalaya with packaged rice and Andouille sausage

The finished product

When you're too tired to cook, cook this. It takes 5 minutes. Really 5 minutes, from entering the kitchen to leaving it. So if you're beat, prep this, go rest for an hour, and then enjoy a delicious, healthy meal.

Tools needed:

1. Micom rice cooker

Photo lineup of ingredients

Ingredients:

Ready to go into the rice cooker

1. Packaged Jambalaya rice with spices 
2. Frozen uncooked shrimp
3. Andouille sausage 
4. Chicken broth
5. Cherry tomatoes or frozen sliced sweet peppers

Directions:

You'll need an electronic ("micon") rice cooker

1. Measure one rice cooker cup rice into the rice cooker bowl
2. Add chicken broth to the one-cup line of the rice cooker bowl
3. Use cooking shears to snip 1/2 to 1 Andouille sausage into bowl
4. Put 1-2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes or sweet peppers into bowl
5. Top with 5 or 6 frozen shrimp
6. Cook on white rice setting. It'll take about 1 hour.

Lemon Chicken with Cream Sauce

If you've got a dishwasher full of clean dishes and a sink full of dirty ones, this is the perfect dish to make. Just get it started and by the time you're done cleaning the kitchen, it'll be about ready.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: around 25 minutes


The finished dish has good color and a fresh spring taste from the lemon


 Tools needed:

1. Electric skillet

               or

1. A regular pan and a laser temperature gun

Ingredients:

1. 2 tbsp butter
2. around 12 ounces Chicken breasts
3. 3 oz pasta by weight or about 3/4 to 1 cup depending on the type of pasta. It doesn't have to be exact.
4. 1 cup half and half
5. 2 handfuls (160g) frozen peppers
6. 1 cup chicken broth




Halfway through the cooking process, it didn't look good. Have faith

7. 3 anchovy filets (optional)

8. the juice of one lemon

Directions:







1. Heat the butter over a medium flame. You want it to be as close as possible to 350 F but no hotter
2. Put in the chicken; this will immediately cool the pan, so turn up the heat
3. Monitor the heat as you brown the chicken. Try to keep it between 285F (where browning can occur) and 350F (where butter starts to burn). The hotter the better.
4. After the chicken has browned, add the rest of the ingredients. The lemon juice will curdle the half and half. Don't worry.
5. Cook until the pasta is done. About the time the sauce has been reduced, the pasta should be ready, but if not, you can add more chicken broth.

Q & A:

Q: Oh, I left my laser temperature gun on my spaceship. Seriously, why do I need a gun to cook a meal?

A: It's to protect your right to "keep and bear" nicely browned chicken. If the temperature is too low, it'll "infringe" on the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between amino acids and sugars that results in succulently brown turkey skin, Peking duck, smoky  ribs, or, in this case, decently brown chicken. The reaction only occurs above around 300F. OTOH, the smoke alarm starts going off when butter gets to around 350F. So you either need a fancy thermometer gun or an electric skillet to keep the temperature "well regulated."

Q: Uh...anchovies?

A: You might have heard of "umami," the fifth taste. There is salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami is number five. Anchovies are high in umami. Happily, the anchovies will disintergrate, imparting their umami goodness to the sauce while leaving nary a trace of their true identity, which is good because the best anchovy is the anchovy you can't tell is there. At least that's what I think, but here's a link to someone who is far more anchovy-oriented. Anchovy & Fig Recipe. I think I'm going to try that recipe.

Q: So how many dishes will I need to wash?

A: The skillet (no lid needed), a one-cup measure, a knife for cutting the lemon and the chicken (if you opted to cut it into pieces), a spoon to stir your creation and maybe a fork to "fish" the anchovies out of their little tin. You can probably use the same fork to get your 2-tablespoon hunk of butter...You might want to get the butter first.



Nutritional info:

amt	ingredient	fat grams	carbohydrate grams	protein grams	total calories
12 oz	chicken breast	14		44	341
1 cup	half and half	28	11	7	315
3 oz	Dreamfields Pasta	2	7	9	285
160 gr (two handfuls)	frozen sweet bell peppers		24	3	90
28 g = 2 tbsp	butter	22			200
	3 anchovies				negligable
	juice of one lemon				negligable
	chicken broth				negligable
total		66	42	63
per serving (3 servings)		22	14	21	410

Three Minute Jambalaya and Rice in the Rice Cooker

Time: 3 minutes prep, 1 hour cooking

Tools needed: rice cooker (any type), latex gloves, knife (any size)

Ingredients:

1. white rice
2. sundried tomatoes in oil
3. chicken broth
4. frozen shrimp
5. Italian sausage
6. frozen bell peppers

Directions:

1. wash and drain the rice
2. use chicken broth to fill to the one-cup line in the rice cooker bowl
3. put on, rinse and dry your latex gloves
4. fish a few sundried tomatoes out of the jar and put them in the bowl
5. use the knife to open up one Italian sausage, crumble it into the bowl
6. mix the ingredients with your gloved hand, you can throw away the gloves now
7. drop a few frozen prawns in to the bowl
8. drop a handful of frozen peppers on top of the shrimp
9. cook on white rice setting (if you have a simple rice cooker, just press the button)

10 minute Chicken Cacciatore using a pan and rice cooker

Prep time: 10 minutes, cook time 1 hour

Yield: 1-2 servings

Use the bag to pick up the chicken

tools needed:

1. frying pan
2. rice cooker
3. ziplock bag
4. heavy knife

Ingredients:

This is how you "batter" chicken

1. Oil
2. One chicken breast
3. One 14.5 can stewed tomatoes
4. chicken broth
5. Around 3 tablespoons Bisquick or other baking or pancake mix
6. salt and pepper
7. mushrooms (save time and buy the pre-sliced)
8. cherry tomatoes or frozen (or fresh) bell peppers
9. pasta

Directions:

No need to get out the strainer

The steam will cook the pasta

1. Put two tbsp oil in the pan and set over a medium flame ( around 450 degrees F)
2. Put around 3 tablespoons of baking mix, a couple shakes of salt and a couple shakes of pepper into a ziplock bag
3. put your hand around the bag and use it to pick up one chicken breast (no need to get raw chicken on your hands)
4. seal the bag and whack it with the back of a heavy knife to tenderize it
5. massage the bag to coat the chicken with the baking mix
6. start the chicken browning (ideally, the inside of the pan will be around 320 degrees F)
7. while the chicken is browning, pour one can stewed tomatoes into rice cooker bowl
8. add enough chicken broth to bring it to the one-cup line
9. add a handful of mushrooms and a handful of cherry tomatoes or frozen bell peppers
10. add one tablespoon of Oregano 
11. mix in 175 grams of pasta 
12. once the chicken is browned, put it on top in the rice cooker and cook on white rice setting

The World's Easiest Meaty Lower-Carb Spaghetti (cooked in a rice cooker)

Can you tell I shop at Trader Joe's?

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups Pasta
2. 1 lb Hamburger
3. 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
4. chicken broth
5. 2 tbsp oil
6. 1 tbsp oregano (not pictured)
7. cherry tomatoes (not pictured)

Tools needed:

1. Frying pan
2. Non-metallic spoon (to protect the coating on the rice cooker bowl)
3. Micom rice cooker with non-stick bowl (i.e. not a cheapie on/off rice cooker with an aluminum bowl. (You don't want to cook tomatoes in an uncoated aluminum bowl because they can leach out aluminum.)

 Directions

Brown the meat way more than this



1. heat 2 tbsp oil on medium heat in pan
2. completely brown the meat. while the meat is browning, do the following steps
3. add stewed tomatoes to the rice cooker bowl
4. add tbsp oregano to the bowl.
5. add enough chicken broth to the bowl to bring it to the one-cup line
6. mix in 175 grams or about 1 3/4 cut penne pasta (as much as will fit in the can the stewed tomatoes came in)
7. add meat and mix in
8. put two handfuls of cherry tomotoes on top
9. cook on white rice setting



Blurry but delicious

10. add salt and Parmesan cheese if desired.

Notes: This is a lower carb meal, therefore the pasta is cooked al dente and there isn't too much tomato sauce. I think this version is tastier and heartier than the typical ooey-gooey high-carb version.