Chicken with basil

[laundromat]

5 boneless skinnless chicken breasts* rinsed and cut into bitesize pieces.
2 tbsp fresh finely chopped basil
1/2 stick butter
3/4 C freshly sliced mushrooms
2 large red onions,sliced
2 tsp Chines five spice
1 C water
1 C red wine

Place butter in large,deep skillet and add onions,mushrooms,spices and 1 C water.
Bring to a boil and add chicken breasts onto the top.Increse heat until it comes to a simmer and lower heat.
Keep the lid off and stir occasionaly to keep from scorching.
In about 15 to 20 minutes,add 1 C red wine and let simmer another 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve.

If you like,you may add 1 C rice (not instant)with the original ingredients and add another 2 C water to the skillet.This is optional but really adds to the convenience of using 1 skillet as oposed to two and neading only either a green vegetable or salad to ballance the meal.

Serve hot with either a fresh salad or steamed green vegetable.

Tastes great!

Enjoy!

*You may substitute thighs for breasts.

 

[maytagbear]

Sounds great, Chuck....

Going to make it next week, after I shop for the ingredients.

My dodge for wine is a mix of 50% wine vinegar and 50% water. By the time it is vinegar, there's no alcohol left.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[laundromat]

Al keyhall

MB,
The alcohol in wine evaporates as it simmers.The flavor of the wine ads to the taste of the food you cook with it.

 

[petek]

What is Chines 5 spice?

 

[scott55405]

I was going to ask the same thing Pete (hopefully its a typical grocery store item) but I definitely plan to make this dish. It sounds especially good!

 

[perc-o-prince]

Chinese 5-spice

Link below to the Wiki definition. Bargain brands have too much cinnamon in them in my limited experience. The star anise and fennel really add to the flavor.

BTW, it's not true that all the alcohol from adding spirits evaporates during cooking. I just had a look for where I remembered seeing this, and it was a study by a lab at the US Dep't of Agriculture. In baked or simmered dishes, it takes about 15 minutes to burn off 60% of the alcohol added. After an hour, 25% still remains. After 2 hours, 10% remains. 2.5 hours was apparently when they stopped the test, and there was 5% remaining at that point.

Chuck

Five-spice powder - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[petek]

Tks.. I don't think I've ever seen it in a grocery store here.

 

[perc-o-prince]

You can find it in Asian and Indian food markets (and probably others). I've never looked in the regular supermarkets as we have a good sized Asian market almost across from Lowes, and a large Indian market on the way to Home Depot (like we haven't been visiting Lowes and HD much this summer, have we??). You'll definitely want to get some. After you try it in Chuck's yummy-looking chicken dish, you'll wonder where it's been all your life!

If you like chicken wings from the Chinese take-out, the anise in the 5-spice is something I've found makes the difference in the marinade (white wine, 5-spice, a touch of lemon).

Hey Chuck, I wonder if this dish, with your rice addition, could be done in a Le Creuset in the oven? Maybe 350 for 45 min. - 1 hr.? For those of us who aren't lucky enough to live in paradise, it might be an easy-peasy winter meal!

Chuck
p.s.- are the ABC stores still a big thing there? I remember there being tons of them on Oahu.

 

[petek]

Well for landsakes I found some in our Superstore which carries alot of asian and ethnic goodies. It's McCormicks Chinese 5pice blend. I'll give it a go with some of my basil from the garden and thinking I may be able to use it in some other recipes if it tastes ok... like some sort of Chinese noodle, stir fry thing?

 

[laundromat]

salt

Just a note.You may want to add 1 tbsp of salt.I never cook with it.A lot of people have to watch their intake of sodium. That's why I don't cook with it unless the recipe calls for it.

 

[ptcruiser51]

Substitute

I have a chicken recipe I cut out of a newspaper 20+ years ago. It said to substitute pumpkin pie spice for the 5-spice if unavailable. I've never seen pumpkin pie spice in the store either! Fortunately, I had an Asian grocery down the block at the time, so I brought the recipe and asked for it. Much yelling from front-to-back of store in tongues. Finally the cashier pointed to a rack >next to the cash register< where the 5-spice was located. I just know they were making fun of me: ("Can you believe what this idiot is asking for and it's right in front of him?")

 

[appnut]

pumpkin pie spice

I see it more common in the fall and around Thanksgiving.

 

[scott55405]

Dilemma solved for me: just discovered Penzey's carries this. I love Penzey's spices.

 

[appnut]

Still not ready to let it go

 

[appnut]

BURP!!