Homemade Pickle Chicken

I recently challenged myself with an Empty Pantry Challenge, resolving not to buy groceries until I've used up every item in my pantry. I've allowed myself to purchase essential and/or perishable protein (i.e. milk, eggs, cans of tuna) as I near the end of this challenge, because it turns out I am a bit of a starch hoarder (7 kinds of rice, anyone?). The tricky part of this is that I usually plan all my home cooked meals for the week as I grocery shop, getting inspired by the items that are in season, on sale, etc. So this challenge has forced me to flex my creative muscles in order to use whatever is in my spice cabinet and condiment shelf to make something exciting and delicious to serve my husband- bland, baked chicken and rice have no place in my home!

So this is what I made the other night:

My husband often wonders how I'm able to time things so that I finish preparing multiple elements of a meal at the same time, so that everything that should be hot is served hot and everything that should be cold is served cold. It's actually a skill I learned from my mom long before culinary school, and I'm still nowhere near as good at it as her, but to kind of show how it's done, I'll explain the process rather than just posting the recipe.

I had an old package of instant fettuccine alfredo in the pantry, so I started the water for that, and then I had about 12 minutes until the pasta was completely done to figure out a protein. I thawed some frozen chicken in the microwave, and while it was thawing, I started a tablespoon and a half of oil heating in my skillet. 

I also re-hydrated some dried, minced onion flakes. To do this I simply put about 2 tablespoons of the dried onions into about 1/4 cup of hot water and let it soak for a minute or so. I then added the minced onion and some minced garlic (from a jar in my fridge) to the oil to toast the onion and garlic and infuse the oil with their flavor. 

While they toasted, I took the thawed chicken, trimmed it, and chopped it into bite-sized pieces. While many people prefer to cook chicken breasts whole or in large portions, because it locks in the juices, I LOVE to pack a punch with the flavor, and I find if I shave it thin or chop it small, every bite is saturated it powerful flavor.

At this point the water for the fettuccine had come to a boil so I followed the directions on the package and added the contents to the water, stirring and reducing it to a simmer. 

By now the garlic and onions were nicely caramelizing and toasting, so I threw the chicken into the pan. By adding the chicken directly to the oil and flavors, without creating a sauce or marinade first, I was able to sear the outside of the chicken really quickly, sealing in the juiciness of the chicken. I have, in the past, done this using diced frozen chicken because I was in a hurry. While it will still cook, and quickly, the rapid change in temperature can cause the chicken to toughen up considerably, and become a bit rubbery in texture.

After the chicken was pretty well seared on all sides, I dug in my fridge for some kind of acid. I often throw some vinegar-based salad dressing on my chicken with other seasoning for a quick source of a lot of flavor, but all I had was raspberry vinaigrette, which didn't appeal to me for this meal. So I grabbed a jar of pickled Jalapenos and a jar of bread and butter pickles, and I poured a splash of juice from both jars into the skillet. I added a few shakes of my favorite spice blends (Garlic Pepper, Lemon Pepper, Jalapeno Seasoning) and sauteed the chicken at a low/medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until the liquid in the pan mostly evaporated.

Between stirring the chicken, I pulled out a stalk of romaine lettuce, washed, dried, and chopped it up, distributing it onto our plates.

The chicken finished about a minute before the pasta, so I turned the burner off and left the skillet on to keep it warm while I gave the pasta a final stir. 

I put a bottle of ranch on the table for the salad, and served.

The pickle juice made the chicken outstanding. the strong garlic flavor, juiciness, and burst of acid balanced well with the bland creaminess of the packaged pasta kit. My husband actually thought I had changed another recipe I've served before (after planning and intentionally shopping for it) to improve it, and succeeded!

So remember, when you're out of conventional ingredients, look for something of the same genre that might be less conventional for your purposes. If you don't have salt, add some soy sauce. If you don't have lemons or vinaigrette, use something else acidic!

Will you take up the Empty Pantry Challenge? What discoveries will you make? Try it out and let me know how it goes in the comments!