What I had for dinner:

Chicken & Veggies

15 Sep 1994 21:15:52 -0400

On my way to the subway, I had this sudden vision of broiled monkfish over oven-browned mashed potatoes, but it did not survive the realities of the store: no monkfish, and anyway I had potatoes last night.

Behind the fish counter is the chicken bin. Chicken breast and vegetables. I already had shiitake mushrooms and half a beefsteak tomato at home, so add some zucchini and a red pepper, and we're in business.

Half a chicken breast was put under the broiler, then I prepared the vegetables.

A small zucchini, a large handful of mushrooms, one pepper, and the half tomato were cut into sticks, about 2" in length, then were cooked separately over high heat for a few minutes in a wok. The idea is to heat them thoroughly and sear the surface without really cooking the inside. The vegetables were set in separate little mounds on a plate and kept warm.

At the same time, I hard-boiled an egg yolk, to be used for decoration. (The raw egg white was frozen, waiting to be used for meat balls.)

In the wok, I made a sauce/dressing with a little olive oil, Roquefort cheese, Tabasco sauce, and balsamic vinegar, and finally clotted cream to bind it all together.

The chicken, sliced in strips, was placed in the middle of the vegetables, then the sauce drizzled over it. Finally, the hard yolk was pushed through a sieve to sprinkle chicken and vegetables with yellow dust.

Instant fake nouvelle cuisine that sticks to the ribs.

To drink, a bottle of Affligem Dobbel, a Belgian double ale, strong and sweet, with a prominent estery nose. It is, after all, time to train for Saturday's Beer Fest at the Brooklyn Bridge.