I am forever looking for ways to serve chicken. And of course, of utmost importance, the chicken must taste good. Duh! And more often than not, I want recipes that take only a short time to prepare. Add to this wish list, accompanying dishes that are also easy to fling together. I know, every tired cooks dream meal.

Well, the other evening I took a recipe I found on the cafedelites.com site (great site BTW) and adapted it to fit my needs. And I’m here to tell you, the chicken was a winner. And it had been a dream to prepare.

First of all, you get to do the prep work way before it’s actually time to do any real cooking. I like that. You now have time to take off your apron*, and maybe sit down and read or get some other household chore accomplished. And then when it’s actually time to cook, by first donning your apron* of course, it’s only a few minutes before the whole meal is on the table. (There’s an asterisk by the word apron for a reason. You can go to the bottom of this post to read all about it.)

So the other evening by preparing this dish, throwing some rice in my rice cooker, and steaming some fresh broccoli, a really tasty dinner was on the table in no time flat.

Now I know what you’re thinking. And yes I have been talking a lot lately about simple recipes. It’s because not only am I getting older and standing up for long hours in the kitchen is becoming harder and harder, it’s because for some of you, your lives have become busier because of the coronavirus pandemic. Where before you got your kids off to school and you found your home looking exactly as it did when all of you got home that evening, now it’s probably twice as difficult to keep it tidy, much less clean. Children are not tidy by nature. They are messy little creatures with no compunction not to leave a trail wherever they go. So my hat is off to all of you for whom your whole carefully choreographed life has been turned upside down. The only thing I can do to help, is provide you with easy recipes that I am sure your family will enjoy. (Sounds terribly altruistic, but in helping you I am definitely helping myself even more. So no loud applause please!)

As always, be safe, be sensitive to the needs of your family, and give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. As cooks, we are very important to keeping our families healthy and comforted. Good, home cooked food is a blessing each of us can give to our family members. Peace and love to all.

3 T. honey

3 T. low sodium Tamari or soy sauce

2 finely chopped green onions

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 tsp. white vinegar

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 tsp. freshly minced ginger

pinch kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 T. vegetable oil

2-4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, as much fat removed as possible

sesame seeds

Whisk the honey, soy sauce, green onion, sesame oil, white vinegar, garlic, ginger, salt, and pepper together in a shallow glass container. (I use a glass bread loaf pan.)

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and add to the container with the marinade. Toss the chicken in the marinade until all of the meat has been introduced to the marinade. Cover the container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to several hours. (I marinate mine for about 3 hours.) Remove from refrigerator about 30 minutes before you plan to cook the chicken.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large enough frying pan to fit all of the chicken in a single layer. Remove the chicken from the marinade, reserving as much of the marinade as possible, and fry the first side until it’s a lovely dark brown. Turn the chicken and continue cooking until it’s done. Chicken should reach an internal temp of at least 165 degrees to be considered “done”.

Pour the reserved marinade over the chicken and cook it until it boils. As it boils it will thicken considerably. It can also burn because of the honey. So watch it carefully. To make sure the marinade, now a glaze, is safe to eat, take its temperature. Foodborne bacteria die at 165 degrees F, so this is your target temperature. When the chicken is done and the glaze (formerly the marinade) has reached at least 165 degree, take it off the heat, garnish it with sesame seeds, and serve immediately. Serve with steamed rice and a simple green veggie or salad, and dinners ready.

*For anyone who knows me personally and has been to our home for a meal, you have undoubtedly seen me wear an apron while I am cooking. Or even after the food is cooked and I am serving the food, or even when I am eating the food. This is not a once in a while thing. My wearing an apron is a habit I formed decades ago. And at the time, it wasn’t for health reasons. It was simply because I wanted to keep my clothes from getting stained. That is still a valid reason for wearing an apron, but there is more to it than soiled clothing. There are the health benefits for not only myself, but for the person or persons for whom I am preparing the food.

When we enjoy food prepared outside the home, there is always a risk of getting infected and suffering from serious illnesses. That risk is not confined to eating restaurant food however. It is equally applicable to home cooked food as well. (Maybe even more so because home kitchens are not subject to safety and health inspections the way restaurant kitchen are.) As home cooks, our clothes that we have been wearing throughout the day have lots of germs on them. And these germs can easily be transferred to the food we prepare. A simple step like wearing an apron can go a long way in reducing this risk. 

Wearing an apron prevents our clothes from coming in contact with the food, hence any germs, dust, cat hair, cleaning products etc., stay within the apron and off whatever food we are handling. Wearing an apron also keeps any loose clothing firmly secured to our bodies and therefore away from open flames, etc. From a practical standpoint, an apron (or 15 like I have) is one more way to stop the spread of disease. And of course, sloppy people like me from walking around in stained clothing.