Yesterday I got home earlier than Rob, and I had little work to do, so I pulled up one of the recipes I had marked for Ginger Pear Chicken and was relieved to find I had most of the ingredients. Unfortunately there were no onions in the house (shows how often I'm in the habit of cooking!), so I had to find a substitute. Chose a tablespoon on minced garlic and a tablespoon of onion powder. I also used ground ginger instead of freshly minced... probably a big no-no in the world of gourmet cooking, but hey, I never promised to be gourmet!
Overall this meal was so-so. Probably not one I'll be making again. The sauce was pretty bland. Some of the reviews hinted at this, but usually we err on the side of bland. The pear slices also seemed separate from the rest; they didn't do much to enhance the flavor. Maybe they were the wrong kind of pear. Maybe I should have used real ginger. And, unfortunately the wild rice Rice-a-roni seemed too salty, and the multi-grain rolls seemed too dense. How crappy!
However, the one positive that came of this (besides the fact that the meal was at least edible!) was that we were impressed with how tender the chicken was. I had never done the whole flour-dredging, browning, and then simmering number with chicken before. It came out as nicely as chicken that had been simmering in the crock-pot all day. And, it really didn't take that long. I will definitely be trying this method again. Any ideas to spice it up?
A note of thanks to Rob... because I took one of his snack pears. I promise I'll buy extras next week!!
As you know, I'm definitely NOT a gourmet, but I think the real ginger might have made a bit of a difference since it generally has a pretty strong taste.
ReplyDelete