Here is a photo essay of my first recession garden harvest and the tasty dinner that we cooked from it. Recipe for Hubby’s fantastic Basil Chicken dinner to follow!
Stirring ingredients in the wok.
I’ve got extras if you want one!
Ingredients for Hubby’s Basil Chicken:
Canola oil
Half onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, diced
Whole chicken cut into pieces, on bone or cut into strips (Tip: buy whole chicken on sale and ask the butcher to cut it up for you.)
~20 basil leaves, washed and dried
1 T soy sauce
2 t lime juice (to brighten the flavor)
1 green pepper, sliced thin
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 t fresh black pepper or to taste
1 t salt or to taste
Directions:
Start rice in separate pan or in rice cooker. Prepare and chop all ingredients. Salt chicken lightly. Heat the wok on high until it is almost smoking. Add 1-2 T canola oil and heat. Saute the onion with a few leaves of basil. Add the garlic and let it cook for 1 minute.
Toss in a few pieces of the chicken. If you add it all at once the wok will lose too much heat. When the chicken is mostly cooked push it to the side and add a few more pieces of chicken and basil. Repeat until you’ve added it all.
Add the soy sauce, lime juice and mix. Add the green peppers, tomatoes and mix. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and let the bigger chicken pieces cook through, about 5 minutes. Serves 4-6.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Thanks BB! I have an overgrown basil plant on the kitchen counter and chicken breasts in the fridge. I will be making this tonight!
July 30th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
YUM, YUM – MAN DOES THAT LOOK GOOD!
July 30th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
A little basil picking tip: you need to pick the center stem in the middle of a “Y”shaped stem in order to get it to keep producing….(you may have overplucked) but good luck!
July 30th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Just made it-it was DELISH! Thanks!
July 31st, 2009 at 7:35 am
Yay – so glad you could follow the recipe and that it turned out well. Hubby generally doesn’t write down his recipes because he just kind of makes it up as he goes. But it always turns out great.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I belong to a community garden and have tons of basil and tomatoes – in fact we picked 50# of tomatoes last night – if you can believe that! We keep all of our friends in fresh veges. For extra basil, I pull off some leaves, wash and dry them so I will have basil all winter. Since we have an older gas oven with a pilot light, I simply put them on a cookie sheet and stick them in the oven for a few days. I also make pesto and it lasts for months. I concur on the trimming – you do need to trim at at “Y”, but more importantly – keep flowers trimmed off to keep it growing.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Looks great!
Another tip for preserving herbs: take an ice cube tray, chop basil and freeze in broth. When making your next sauce or soup drop in an “ice basil/broth cube”! Can do this with any herb!
August 11th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Great tip! So useful, thanks.