Chicken Primavera Aioli - The Art of Saute

Hey everybody, I'm Chef Dennis Littley and welcome to Around the Kitchen Table. And I've got my co-host here in New York, Susan Sarah. How you doing, Susan?

Hi, Chef! I am doing just great. Beautiful day here, low humidity. You would be jealous. It's probably, I don't know, 80 with low humidity. In fact, 20 minutes ago I was at the beach in the water playing with my grandchildren. So it's a good thing.

That's good. Now we're in the heat of summer right now. These are the dog days of August, and it's not been terrible, but it's been 90. Like yesterday I said, "Oh, it's only 90." Someone asked me what the temperature was, and I said, "I don't think those are words I would ever utter. It's only 90." Oh my gosh.

I'll tell you, I know it's tough to go outside, but you know, it's been great. And I've been— I don't know if you've seen my posts on Facebook. I've been going kayaking. Early in the morning, it's just delightful. I'm really feeling summer. I'm going to regret the close of summer, and with all the food that's going to go away, I'm trying to eat all the corn I can, all the local corn.

I know. I got some Jersey corn last week. I don't remember if I told you, but that was just outstanding. Whole Foods down here had it, so I snatched that right up.

Yeah, it's very sweet, right?

It was bicolor, and usually the bicolor is not quite as good, but this was amazing. It was really sweet.

Yeah, yeah. Now, so I've been doing a lot of summer cooking, and I've been making, you know, I've been— I'll tell you, very exciting. I've been sous vide— you know, I like to sous vide. So I've been sous vide— my own word, sous vide-ing— boneless chicken breasts, and then you can stir I have this vacuum sealer thing, so I do that. They're tightly vacuum sealed, put them in the refrigerator, and then when I need them a few days later, I can just make a chicken salad or, you know, for lunch or for a light dinner or whatever. So I've been doing that. I did that with boneless pork chops. We didn't get to eat them the other night, so you put them in an ice bath and then in the refrigerator, and we'll have them tonight. So I like that kind of flexible cooking. Maybe we can do a show on that at some point.

Absolutely, whenever you feel like you're up to it and you want to demonstrate it, I would be happy to see that.

Yeah, you need one of those. You really need one of those.

I'm still learning how to use my slow cooker. I want baby steps for me.

Yeah, but you have the spiralizer. That's the newest thing you have.

I have it, and I actually have zucchini, so I'm going to try it today and hopefully have it ready for next week, and we'll do something with it.

Good, good, good. Where are we this week? What do we have?

Vegetables are in full swing everywhere. We've got a great bunch of them in Florida. I thought I was going to do Pasta Primavera. I'm going to add chicken into mine, but you could go so many different ways with this. You can just use the vegetables. You can use the vegetables— I'm going to serve it over pasta today, but you could do it over rice. You could do it over grains. Instead of chicken, you could use shrimp. You could do beef and little beef strips. Strips, or tenderloin strips. You can even grill or cook up fish and serve the vegetables with that the same way over pasta. Chunk it up, flake the fish out, salmon. There's a variety of things. If you've got leftover blackened salmon in the refrigerator, if you've got something else, after the vegetables have cooked, you throw that in to get some heat into it and mix it in your pasta. It's a very simple, versatile dish. There's just a few things you want to think about when you're doing it. That's all.

Yeah, and you know, also, just generally speaking, you know, I feel like I have expanded my confidence, you know, not only my cooking repertoire, but my confidence since we've been doing these shows. And you know, I've always been a recipe— most people are recipe people, except for their few favorite dishes which they expand upon and they can do, you know, by rote. And but I've been doing new things. And for example, I made it— I told you I did a chicken salad. I did a chicken salad. I had the chicken. I put in, I think I chopped up some plums, celery. Oh, I don't know what else. Maybe something else. And then of course, what didn't I have? I didn't have mayonnaise. And I just didn't feel like making it by hand. So you know what I did? I have this white— this specialty white vinegar, white balsamic vinegar, which turns out to be kind of thick and a little bit sweet. And I said, you know what? I'm going to start to drizzle that and put it on the chicken salad and mix it all up together. Who knew? It was Fantastic. It was different. It was just a little experimentation. So all these things you say so casually, you know, if people really take them to heart, you know, it makes cooking interesting. So—

well, that's it. And just like you said, you didn't feel like schlepping out to get more mayonnaise. Look in the refrigerator. You've got other things you can use, you know, whether it's sour cream or yogurt, plain Greek yogurt, or a salad dressing. You went with a white balsamic vinegar, and I love good aged balsamic because it does get sweet.

Yeah. Yeah. I think this— it just had a wonderful— it was perfect. It was great. I'm getting more experimental, and it's really fun. I just want to encourage other people to do the same.

It's not rocket science, people. I used to love that Chinese guy, "If Yan can cook, you can too." It's good to get out of your rut. That's for sure. Today, I bought a few things for this, but I also knew I had vegetables in the refrigerator. It's a good way to use things up, too, if you build around some things you already have on hand. Even if I hadn't wanted to go out and buy any more, I I probably could have used a few more things that I have on hand and put together a very nice dish just out of the odds and ends that I have. Again, I was talking about using leftover salmon or fish. If you've got chicken, like you said, you cooked up that sous vide chicken, well, do your vegetables, chop that up a little bit or slice it up, and add that in just before you serve it. There's all kinds of things you can do so you don't lose food. So you use what you have on hand and you don't waste food and you don't throw money away. Okay, that's really important.

That's true. And one other thing too, you know, this meal that you're doing, this dish that you're doing today, it inspired me to continue talking about the healthy kitchen. So I will be showing some images on the healthy kitchen. So you just tell me when the timing is good and we're going to go into it.

This isn't going to be too long. The only thing that's going to take any time is cooking up a little bit of the chicken. So let's get started with that and we'll go from there. Turn it on. Switch cameras. As usual, I've got my sauté pan on. I'm going to let it get hot. One thing to talk about while we're thinking of this is the vegetables that you use. When you make a dish, if it's going to be all vegetables or mainly vegetables, one thing you want to think about is color and variety. Variety doesn't necessarily mean the type of vegetables as much as the shape of vegetables, too. You want your dish to be colorful and you want it to be interesting. If everything's cut the same way, it's going to be fine. It's going to taste good. It's going to be pretty, but it's not going to be quite as interesting. So one of the things I do when I prep vegetables is I try to make them in different shapes, or I try to get vegetables that can be cut in different shapes. So starting like usual, I'm going to put a little olive oil in here. I'm going to add a little bit of garlic off there. Just let that— I got this wet. Let me dry the bottom of this pan. I was wondering why it was kind of making noise there. Yeah, and then I've got some chicken cut up already, and these are chicken tenders, but you could use breast, you could use thighs, you could use wings if you wanted to, you know, anything that you really like or you might have on hand. Now I'm just going to roll these a little bit in flour. I'm coating my protein here because it's raw, and a couple things will happen. It protects the chicken It gets some flavor on the chicken because I've got it seasoned with salt and pepper. It's also going to thicken up whatever little bit of sauce I might have in the pan. There's not going to be a lot of liquid today, but there could be depending on how you wanted it to go. As those are going to cook, my rule of thumb on adding vegetables is as soon as I turn it around, I start to add them. So that's in. Now I'm going to add in whatever is going to cook— take the longest to cook. I've got some zucchini. Let's see how I cut them in half moons. I have some sliced mushrooms. Okay, I have some sliced fennel.

Oh, I have to use Fennel, that's something I don't know if I've ever used fennel.

Fennel is lovely. It really is a nice vegetable, and it roasts really well. I mean, I used it last week in the fish. I had some leftover, so there it is again. I have some red pepper, and for color, yep, red and some orange pepper. Okay, I have got some tomatoes, and I'm using just grape tomatoes. I could cut these in half, but I'm going to put them in whole. And again, this is more for color.

I love cooked or roasted, you know, raw potatoes, grape tomatoes. I love it.

Wonderful roasted. And you could roast them too and then put them in right at the very end.

Yeah.

Then you could cut a bunch off and you have them in the refrigerator. I have some green beans that were going to go if I didn't use them, so I cooked some of those up. And then I had gotten a little bit of broccoli especially for today. So that's really the only thing I really bought for today was the broccoli. And last but not least, I have a little bit of carrot, and I julienne the carrot.

Mm-hmm. So that's it.

So then I'm just going to stir-fry. The only thing I did was I let the chicken get a little bit cooked first.

Well, I mean, it's in such small pieces, it seems that it will cook very quickly.

Absolutely. And then this depends on, again, how long you want, how crispy you like your vegetables, how you like your vegetables cooked is how long you're going to leave it sautéing. Because this, again, is just a matter of taste at this point. You know, if you like them really crunchy and really fresh, you don't need to cook them so long. But this is really done for my taste. This is done. Everything's almost just about there.

It's hot.

Let me see if I have a little bit of— oh, yep. Lisa's got a little wine started, so I'm just going to hit it with just a little white wine to get a little steam under it.

Nice! Doesn't look so— it looks so healthy, but a good healthy.

Now, let's think about what else you could do with this. If you have pesto, put a little spoon of pesto in.

I was going to ask you about pesto.

I'm just going to hit it with some salt and pepper because I'm keeping this really plain. But pesto— now say you like it in marinara, put a little marinara in this right now. If you want to make it a Rosa sauce, if you want to make it an Alfredo sauce, if you really want to push the envelope with the healthy vegetables and hit it with cream. Or take it off the stove, hit it with some Greek yogurt, stir the Greek yogurt into it because you don't want to let it get too hot, and that'll be your fall Alfredo sauce. Right now all I'm going to do is I'm going to add in a little bit of pasta that I have pre-cooked. This is, I said, an aglio e olio sauce. An aglio e olio sauce in Italian is just olive oil and garlic, and just enough, you know, good healthy oil.

Is that possible?

What's that?

Yes, thank you.

Fresh basil.

Boom.

All right, and We are done.

That is looking good.

Now all I'm going to do is make it look a little pretty. I'm going to pull some of these vegetables to the top, get a little bit of color up here.

And you know what I like to do as often as I can? I love fresh herbs. Oh, yeah. I love to just put a few sprigs of thyme. I love tarragon.

You can add those into this as it's sautéing, whatever flavors you like to change it up and make it special. The only thing I'm going to do with this at this point is I didn't put any onions in it, but I have some scallions, so I'm going to hit it with a few scallions for flavor. I got this beautiful cheese at, I think it was BJ's or Sam's, that is just sliced Reggiano Parmigiano. And other types of cheese.

That looks great. Look at that. That's a perfect summer dish. Perfect summer dish.

If you have snap peas, sugar peas, any other vegetables you have or you really enjoy, that's all you got to do. Look how fast that was to cook up.

Yeah.

Now let me tell you what I'm going to do with this. Lisa's at school, right? This dish, and I'm gonna put it in a little casserole, and I'm gonna top it with a little bit of mozzarella cheese. And when she comes home, I'm gonna put it in the oven for her for dinner.

Oh, nice.

So I mean, here it is. All right, I want to do something else a little different. And you could always sauce it just a little different if you wanted to, a little bit of marinara on it. You know, anything to make it interesting and fun.

How about, how about squeezes of lemon or lime?

Absolutely. Whatever you enjoy eating. I always say whatever flavors excite you. Whatever things— with citrus, you just want to watch what you're mixing with them sometimes so that the citrus doesn't overpower your taste buds. It'll work well in this. You could hit a little bit, maybe if you did more of a butter bean and some greens. This would have been lovely if I'd taken some bitter greens and mixed them in, too, because then that would have been throughout it. So you have a nice bite of different flavors.

You know what I'm thinking, too? In my farm share thing, the past few weeks I've gotten a bunch of beets, and they're beautiful beets. So what I did is I roasted them, and now I just kind of have them in the refrigerator. But I've also been reading about beet greens. Did you use beet greens?

Yeah, you don't want to ever throw those away.

That's what I read, so I put them in a Ziploc bag, and I'll do something with them.

People eat dandelion greens, and dandelions are weeds, right? Anytime radish greens, anything green that grows on the top of a vegetable, people are now using. I'm sure back in the old days, in the 1800s or even in the early 1900s, Nothing was thrown away. I'm sure they made use of every bit of the vegetable, the green, and used it, and knew it was nutritious. We just, as Americans, have got wasteful a lot of times. That's why we buy things precut, because we don't want all the muss and the fuss. Save your peels if you have enough, if you have room, if you have freezer space. You can save your peels and freeze them for when you make stock or for when you roast meats. You go into a professional kitchen, some of them, they don't throw anything away. They have a bucket for all the greens and vegetables that they make stock out of. They have a bucket for the chicken. I cut up a whole chicken the other day, and I put all the bones that I didn't use, and I made stock, and I put it in the freezer with my other stock. Next time I make chicken soup, I have a nice flavor for it.

That's great. It's funny. I told you that I'm— My husband and I are— we have like camp kitchigumi this week, which means we're watching our two grandchildren. So we're calling it camp kitchigumi.

Oh my God.

So yesterday I made lemonade. I made fresh lemonade. And I saw a recipe where you put the whole lemon and 2 cups of water and a little bit of sugar and some ice. Into the blender and the whole— first you cut it in half or in quarters and take out the seeds, but otherwise you put the whole lemon in.

Wow, I never heard of that.

I know, so I did it and I have a Vitamix, which I love, and so, you know, blended it like crazy and it was great. It was great. And so when you say about, you know, not using everything, That reminded me of yesterday and the lemonade. Talk about an easy way to make lemonade.

Oh my God.

That's what I like. The easier the better. I have some images to show.

Absolutely. Let's do them.

Okay, good, because again, you're inspiring me about talking about the Healthy Kitchen. There's so much to talk about, so many different parts of it to talk about, which I'll cover over the months ahead. I'm going to go ahead and screen share. And here we go. We'll start with this image, which, you know, it's funny, you don't see a whole lot healthy about it, maybe. I mean, it's not unhealthy, but what is it? Lighting is important. It's part of being able to really have good strong lighting over your work surface. This is also a stainless steel sink. Everything is very simple. The countertop is uncluttered. I happen to love this kitchen, by the way. It's actually a kitchen and an office, so it's very stylish, but it's very small. On to— now, this is not everyone's type of kitchen, of course, but what I'd like to point out is the faucet that's on the wall. So doing something like that, it allows, you know, you to have a clean sink area, very easy to clean, clean countertop, clean sink area. You know how it's so difficult to clean around the faucet. In fact, that's really very, very useful to have something like that. Grilling in the kitchen is another appliance that can, of course, be so healthy, another way to cook. This is a grill with lava rocks. I believe this is Thermador, Thermador brand. I had a grill in my own kitchen for 20 years that had lava rocks, and it was exactly like this. And oh, did I love it. Oh, did I love it. I cooked— I grilled everything on it.

They did that for a while, even in professional kitchens you saw a lot of them, and they kind of got away from the lava rocks.

Yeah, well, you know, I'll tell you, most homeowners will never consider it because they say, oh, it's horrible to clean. And you know what? It is. But, but like your grill outdoors, you have a wire brush and you simply, you know, brush the grill. And then every once in a while you'll replace, maybe once or twice a year, You replace the lava rocks, end of story, that's it. And of course you need very good ventilation, but the point is it's a way you can have fun, you can enjoy cooking in a healthy way. So that is a healthy kitchen.

Absolutely.

And now we're seeing more apps come out in appliances, and actually JennAir Apliances just introduced an app for the oven. So if you're talking about, maybe that's more convenience than healthy per se, but it's just something to, you know, be aware of that these apps, you know, are coming in. They're very useful, and maybe that's conducive to cooking more, you know, in that respect. Ventilation, so important, as we see here. Now these are not traditional hoods. These are actually their blowers that are— that will mount in a ceiling. This is in a display, it's not in the home, but there's different types of blowers. They'll mount in the ceiling if you don't want the big hood look, you can put something in a ceiling. So very low profile, and now of course then there's a downdraft, which now the downdrafts are going taller and taller and taller. They used to go maybe 6 or 8 inches high, which you couldn't— it wouldn't take anything in practically, but now they're much taller, they're extremely effective. So in terms of a healthy kitchen, absolutely ventilation is critical to take away those toxins and smoke and fumes and so on. This is an interesting configuration of an induction cooktop and then a teppanyaki. So another fun, different, interesting way to cook with this teppanyaki. Maybe use a little bit of oil and you'll sear those steaks and vegetables. And you know what, it's— I love fun appliances, and I think it makes you more interested in cooking. Again, here's another tall, very tall downdraft. Now here, what I love about this is we have a very flush sink But we also have a large butcher block, which is terrific for prep. I, you know what, I'll tell you, I'm all about a handy butcher block, butcher block, one that you don't have to take out and it's so heavy, but you have it integrated somehow into the countertop, something like this. And even this picture, it's behind you, there can be another workstation behind you, integrated countertop and sink, so easy cleaning, healthy, you know, there's not a whole lot to, you know, worry about as you're cleaning around the countertop. It just goes right into the sink. And another butcher block— well, this is actually solid wood type of countertop. And here, if you want to be really clean and, you know, sterile, here's stainless steel, but it's also integrated into the sink. So, you know, really, you know, very beautiful. I'll tell you, I'm so excited about sinks these days. Sinks are getting very, very versatile. They are having so many different functions. Sure, they've had them for many years, but sinks today are upping, you know, the versatility, and I feel they're getting larger and larger, but so that some areas can be used as countertop as well, like we see here to the right of the faucet, this section, which is a sort of a cutting area. Here is a cover for a cooktop so you can increase your prep space and just make use of it. So I think that's great, too. How about herbs? How about the kitchen, the healthy kitchen, growing herbs in the kitchen? Give yourself good lighting and you have Lots of opportunity. And here, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what all of these things are, but I bet it's functional. You move these things back and forth and maybe it all, you know, it's sort of a drainboard type of thing where it all goes back into the sink. That's, you know, or for heat, something like that that's possible. This is something that I love. Again, it's a cutting board. It's near the sink. It may be a little high for me, but the point is it's right there. You can actually move the items, the good or the bad parts, into a bowl in the sink. So I think if the point is, if you have a cutting board nearby you, I feel that will be conducive to prepping with fresh foods. I really do, because it's at the ready, it's always there. And you know, it's really great for cabinetry. You know, be careful of white. Here is a variety of shades. You know, something with white will be— it— white will get dirty, white will get dings, and so on and so forth. Here, putting some of your useful items on a backsplash, very, very handy. My daughter has that in her kitchen. You'd be surprised at how, you know, it cleans off the countertop, no clutter. And it's, you can change what you put on that. It's really nice looking. This is probably the most cold kitchen you'll ever see in your life, visually. But the point here is the lighting, lighting, lighting, lighting. When you— it's so delightful to do all the prep work, when you have good lighting, it's so important. Another example of a sink which has some, you know, sort of, you know, different parts to it, movable parts to it, and even you have a backsplash that has useful items. And likewise, here's a wall with all kinds of useful items on it. Maybe if your utensils are at an easy reach, maybe you'll use them more. You know that you need easy access, and I think that has a lot to do with how you're going to cook and prep. And this countertop, very fun visually. That's some kind of laminate. Laminates are fantastic now. They're, they're interesting looking, they're easy to work on. They're— of course they're not indestructible, But, you know, there you should have fun when you're cooking, when you're planning your kitchen. And some shelves here too for useful items and with easy access. So I think it's a lot of fun. You know, you have— you should just like you have fun with cooking, you really should have some fun and express yourself in the kitchen. You know, refrigeration, of course, the upper refrigerator and the lower freezer. Easy access. Who likes to get the vegetables at the floor, you know, with a side-by-side refrigerator? So consider the lower freezer and upper refrigerator. Steam oven. Steam oven. I'm beginning more and more to experiment with my steam oven. Talk about healthy cooking. I mean, vegetables and, you know, reconstituting foods to add more moisture, maybe that have you know, leftovers, that type of thing. You will use it, you know, you'll be able to eat fresh foods for longer for sure with a steam oven. So I'm continuing to experiment with that. And grill, another type of grill. Now take a look at this sink, Chef. Take a look at the sink. This is what I'm talking about. These are all movable parts.

Wow.

All movable. This is probably a 5 or 6-foot sink. You can take things out because you have this little ledge that you see behind the colander. Take things out, move them around, use them as you want to, and it becomes a sort of countertop, but useful, where all the dirt and the mess is kind of confined in here and not on the countertop. So it's an entirely new concept.

Wow.

And they come in all different sizes. This one is about, I don't know, 3, 4 feet. And so that's my, that's my story for today.

That's pretty cool.

Cool stuff, huh?

Yeah. And you know, and you know, you're absolutely right about having fun in the kitchen because that's what I always tell people. You have to enjoy the experience and the kitchen is a place for everyone to meet, to enjoy life, to share stories, to share food, to share life experiences. And you know that the more fun your kitchen is, the more apt you are to spend more time in it. Kitchen should be the focal point of your home.

This is something we— I want to talk more about, and you cover this every week, but it is about— it's about access, it's about experimentation, it's about expressing yourself, I think, in a culinary way and in an aesthetic and functional way too. And, you know, I'll tell you something, the National Kitchen and Bath Association advocated the kitchen work triangle for, I don't know, 40 years. You know what? It went out the window about 5 years ago when the current— when the thinking became You know, arrange your kitchen for how you work, for how you cook. And if you need a refrigerator in another spot that's not according to the rules, do it. So we're definitely seeing that in the design area.

Yep, absolutely. And again, you know, you just may have learned a different way. Maybe your parents had their kitchen set up different and you learned that way. And that's how you like things. Or if you're left-handed like Lisa is, you know, we always— she puts things away in the refrigerator. And to me, she always puts them in the wrong spot because she's left-handed.

Well, don't tell her that.

No, she knows. I'd let her know. She's not left-handed. She'll just look at me and set the stuff on the counter.

Well, your dish looks fantastic and summery and gorgeous.

And see, I put it in the baking dish, and that's a nice small size. That's not too much. And what I had in the bowl is exactly— I think I threw 2 noodles away that kind of stuck, but that was it. And tonight, like I said, I'm just going to take it. I may put a little bit of stock in it, or I may just let it go, only because as it bakes, I don't want it to dry out. If I put any liquid in it at all, that would be why. I wouldn't put it in now, because if I put it in now, the noodles will soak it all up.

—Ah, there you go.

—Before it goes in the oven, that's when I'll put it in. I'll put a little bit of mozzarella cheese on top. Just let it get a little hot. I could throw this back in a sauté pan and just reheat it. It's an easy do. I could put it in a Ziploc bag if I wanted to store it that way, and then just take it out and cook it. This is dinner tonight. I'll make another one in a little while. Have a dinner for me as well.

I think that's really— I think she's going to be very happy.

Oh, yeah. She loves fresh vegetables. We both love pasta, although when I make mine later, I'll use a gluten-free pasta. Although I don't follow it religiously anymore, whenever I can, I eat gluten-free products. I like the gluten-free pasta. I have no problem with that, and breads. It's only when we go out to dinner and I want to get a good sandwich that I'll bite the bullet and eat the bread. Yeah, that's okay. That was it. Easy, good, delicious. Like I said, a variety of things you could put in. Open your refrigerator, see what you have that you can use up. Even like I said, if it's cooked protein already, just put it in at the end, re-season it if you have— depending Vinnie asked about her making it an Oriental style. Absolutely. Teriyaki sauce, serve it over rice, soy sauce, General Tso's, whatever you got in there that you want to add to it will work fine. Beef, shrimp, scallops, fish that's left over. Instead of giving it away or throwing it away, do something with it. Great. Nice and good. Good dish today. Very good. So thank you for coming around our kitchen table, and we will see you next week. Although next week I do think we're going to be doing this on Blab. We're going to give it a try. In fact, at 1 o'clock I'm coming back and I'm going to do this again on Blab just to try and draw people in. And next week Susan and I will be doing it together there, so you can join us there. And maybe some of you can actually come into the Blab session with us and ask your questions directly. That would be great. So I'll see you then. Have a good week, everyone. See you next week. Bye.