So Mr Panda and I sat down to leftovers of the bland carbonara this evening because, did I mention that the recipe made a ton of food? Well, it did. And I'm a big proponent of not wasting food if it's at least edible. Just because it wasn't as tasty as I had hoped doesn't mean it should go down the disposal. If it was bland the first time though, it was even more bland the second time around because it didn't even have the creaminess it had when it was fresh.
To make it more interesting, I decided that I would add a little something. What goes well with sort-of-carbonara pasta? How about some sauteed lemon caper chicken... with no recipe? This is about adventure right? So I went for it. And I'd like to note that Mr Panda pushed me to find a recipe, but I told him I was going to do this on. my. own.
Having never sauteed chicken before, I was a little worried that I would undercook it. To solve the problem I sliced two chicken breasts into strips about an inch and a half wide. I felt that by using strips I would have a better sense of when the meat was done. I melted two tablespoons of butter in a saute pan, and added a tablespoon of minced garlic. Once the butter was melted down I added the chicken and started stirring. When there were no more visible pink spots I sprinkled two tablespoons of lemon juice over the meat and threw 1/4 cup of capers in as well. The only thing left was to stir constantly until the chicken became nicely browned and the capers burst apart.
How did it turn out? Amazing. I think I've made it very clear in this post and the last that the carbonara-packet was a failure. After that, I was really thinking that this was a week that would not be adding anything to my repertoire. What do you know? Lemon caper chicken saved the day! It was so easy that it's hard to believe I had never tried it before. I can not wait to make this again, maybe with some roasted red potatoes and steamed veggies? So many possibilities!
Week two score:
Packet-carbonara: 0
Lemon Caper Chicken: 1
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