This chicken meal can be made in one sauté pan.
My goal here is a good basic meal and efficient cleanup. I said “efficient” not “easy”, although it’s easy in the end. The trick is to:
- Prepare efficiently.
- Clean-up as you cook.
My small rant here is that I hate to sit down and eat, then clean up. I hate that. I really do. So… while I’m cooking… I’m cleaning… Hey, the sink is right there! The “one-pan” will be all that is left.
As far as cooking this, I like to sauté the items in order of their “hardness”, and group them accordingly. Hardness: how long it will take to cook. Before hardness is any meat, especially chicken. Here I have setup:
- Chicken
- Diced potatoes and sliced garlic
- Coarsely sliced onions and thick-sliced mushrooms
- Diced tomatoes and cut celery
Start with some oil. Add the sauce and spices as you go.
Part of a well-equipped kitchen is to have some tempered glass preparation bowls (“prep bowls”). I have about seven small ones. I’ll review them with some details in another post. Clean, cut, and dump the ingredients in.
Fancy oil? Fancy sauté sauce? I don’t think so. How about store-brand vegetable oil and store-brand Teriyaki sauce. Is this going to be ‘branded’ some fancy Asian meal? Heck no. It’s dinner. And fancy spices? Sometimes, but not this time. How about pepper. The Teriyaki sauce is already loaded with salt.
I always cook with fresh vegetables. There is no point to ‘cook’ canned items, which of course are already cooked.
Time to eat! Take your plate to the stove and fill it. Cleaning that pan is my only chore.
