And yes, another easy chicken recipe that I firmly believe everyone in your family will enjoy. Of course, if you have young children you might want to forego the crushed red pepper flakes. But all the other ingredients should be fine. I say this as if I had perfect knowledge and insight into feeding a family. Which of course, I do not. So, as I began writing this post, it brought to mind Mr. C’s comment this morning regarding knots. That’s right. The kind of knots made with rope or twine or shoelaces, or whatever.

Anyway, it all started this morning with the Daily Quiz in the Seattle Times. Monday through Saturday we attempt to answer the quiz questions while we eat our breakfast. And this morning’s topic was hobbies. And question 11 read as follows: Practitioners of this hobby make loops, hitches, splices, and coils. And we guessed the answer correctly. Knot tying. Then we took it a step further and tried to name all of the different knots we knew about. And it was actually quite a few. But the one thing that stopped us right in our tracks was that, yes, we knew the name of several kinds of knots, even knew how to actually tie a few knots, but couldn’t feel with any certainty that we knew the correct name for any of the knots we could produce, some of which we use every day! (And we think we’re so smart! Wrong!)   

Anyway, as Mr. C. was walking away from the breakfast table, he turned to me and uttered this humble truism, “the depths of my ignorance have yet to be fully plumbed”. And I thought to myself, don’t we all fall into that category. Especially me when I try to impart cooking tips when I’ve never received any professional culinary training.  

Most of my knowledge comes from spending a great deal of time in my kitchen. And listening to or reading what great culinary experts have to say on many different subjects. So, after this morning’s lesson in humility, I thought maybe it was time for a general apology. And I have a request. When I make a bold statement that you know to be absolutely incorrect, first of all, please forgive my ignorance. Then please let me know the error in my statement. I can then edit the post or at least offer an alternate possibility. Thank you. Now back to this recipe.

I made this easy to prepare dish the other evening and served it over steamed brown rice. And you know, the thing is, I didn’t begin to like brown rice until recently. Before I just thought it was like eating kernels of cardboard. But I have learned to prepare the rice in such a way, that both of us can really enjoy both its flavor and texture. I use 1 cup of brown rice, 1¾ cup water, some seasoned salt, a bit of freshly ground black pepper, and a couple of teaspoons of either veggie or olive oil, depending on what I’m serving with or on the rice. Then I walk away from the rice cooker for about an hour. Perfect brown rice, every time.

I hope you enjoy this lovely recipe from Sara at dinneratthezoo.com. If you haven’t visited Sara’s site, then I highly recommend you do so at your earliest convenience. She is great!

And as always, keep having fun in your kitchen. Keep finding the joy in life. And don’t be afraid of not knowing everything. No one knows all there is to know, even about any one subject, be it great or small. So, just for the fun of it, I am delighted to share with you the technical description of a function most of us perform on almost a daily basis. It’s called the shoelace knot.

(From Wikipedia) “The shoelace knot, or bow knot, is commonly used for tying shoelaces and bow ties. The shoelace knot is a doubly slipped reef knot formed by joining the ends of whatever is being tied with a half hitch, folding each of the exposed ends into a loop (bight) and joining the loops with a second half hitch.”  

Peace and love to all. (And good luck tying your shoes next time!)

2 tsp. toasted sesame oil

½ c. low sodium soy sauce

⅓ c. water

⅓ c. dark brown sugar

¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, or more to taste

2 tsp. + ¼ c. cornstarch, divided  

3 T. vegetable oil

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 tsp. minced fresh ginger

5-6 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces on the diagonal

Whisk the sesame oil, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, crushed red pepper flakes, and 2 teaspoons cornstarch together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Place the chicken and remaining quarter cup cornstarch in a resealable plastic bag, shake to coat evenly. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.

Add the chicken to the pan in a single layer and season lightly with salt and pepper.  

Cook for 3-4 minutes per side or until browned. Remove the chicken to a paper towel lined plate. 

Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and cook for 30 seconds. Add the sesame oil mixture to the pan and bring to a boil. Boil for 30-60 seconds or until just thickened.

Add the cooked chicken and green onions to the pan and toss to coat with the sauce. Great served over steamed rice.