Mix well.
Add either four large chicken breasts or 2-3 pounds of pre-cooked chicken. If you use breasts, space them evenly and cover with mixture. If you use pre-cooked chicken, mix it thoroughly throughout the dish.
For four or less people, the breasts work well. For more than four, it seems it’s always a fight for who gets what. I’ll let you decide, but the pre-cooked chicken seems to work best.
If pre-cooked is your decision, try to use various sized chunks, not just chicken shreds. I like to cut it into cubes, tear a little of it into shreds, and leave some pieces large. This breaks up the monotony of eating a casserole.
Slice the half a stick of butter into 10-12 THIN slices with the steak or paring knife. Place them about on the top of the casserole.
Sprinkle a LITTLE paprika over the top of everything. Just a light dusting here and there.
Bake at 375 for an hour and fifteen minutes, or until it stops looking soupy on top and the surface is turning brown (please note, it will bubble up through a few geysers, but that’s normal).
Remove from the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes.
Cut with the edge of the spatula and serve in spatula-sized sections. I like to put a few dashes of Tabasco sauce on mine, but then again, I like Tabasco on everything.
No matter how you eat it, you’re sure to love it. It seems everyone does.
Enjoy.
SKILLET STEAK
DIFFICULTY: You’re heating meat.
TIME: One hour, total. It only takes 8 minutes for the steaks, but you’re having a one-hour baked potato, too.
What you’ll need from the cupboard: A cast iron skillet, a cookie sheet, a hot pad, a tablespoon, and a pair of tongs.
What you’ll need from the pantry: Salt, pepper, 2 steaks (a GOOD cut of ribeye, preferably), 2 baking-sized potatoes, 2 garlic cloves, thyme, 1/2 a stick of butter, olive oil, and some vegetable oil.
I’m not easily intimidated. I’ve stared into the eyes of prisoners, lunatics, thieves, and at least a dozen federal agents who wanted to kill me, and none of them intimidated me.
Cooking a steak, however, can be intimidating.
Until now.
Follow this procedure and you’ll be the king (or queen) of the house. Nothing, and I do repeat, NOTHING beats a finely cooked steak.
You can do this. It’s easy. Really. All you have to do is follow these simple instructions.
Preheat oven to 450.
Remove the steaks from the fridge. Unpackage them.
Wash your hands.
Wash the potatoes. Dry them completely. Cover the entire surface with olive oil (olive oil your palm and rolling them in it works well). Salt the oily potatoes thoroughly with kosher salt. Pepper them thoroughly. Put a few light dashes of garlic powder on them.
Carefully place them on the cookie sheet and shove it in the 425-degree oven, using the middle rack.
Let the steaks sit out at room temperature for 45 minutes. It seems no one wants to do this, but it’s an essential step to cooking a fabulous steak.
Do it. You’ll soon see the difference.
After 45 minutes, pat the steaks dry with a paper towel. Discard the towel.
Wash your hands.
Salt and pepper both sides of the steak. LOTS of salt. A decent amount of pepper. Press everything into the meat.
Wash your hands.
Chop the 2 cloves of garlic. Fill a teaspoon with thyme, but not quite completely full. Cut your half stick of butter in two. Place your tablespoon beside these things. Have everything within arm’s reach of where you’ll be cooking.
Turn the fan on the range hood on.
Cover the cast iron skillet in a thin layer of oil. Position the skillet on the burner with the handle at the three o’clock position.
Seriously, do it.
Heat over medium-high stove until oil is smoking. This will take some time. Ten minutes or so if you’re using an electric burner. Four or so if you’re using gas.
Place one of the steaks at the three o’ clock position, and one at the nine o’clock with the long edge of the steaks against the perimeter of the skillet. Press the steaks against the pan with your hand, ensuring the entire section of meat is against the surface of the skillet.
Don’t touch anything with your nasty hands.
Make note of the time.
Hurry the fuck up and wash your hands.
Cook the steaks (without toying with them) for 4 minutes.
Using the tongs, flip the steaks, moving one to the six o’clock position and one to the twelve o’clock position.
Cook for 3 more minutes.
After 2 of the allotted 3 minutes, reduce the heat to just shy of medium. Make a mental note that you have ONE MINUTE left.
In the space between the steaks, toss in the butter, thyme, and garlic. Don’t spend any time dicking around, because every second matters when you’re cooking steaks.
When the butter melts, press down on the skillet’s handle (using the hot pad, so you don’t get burned). This will cause the butter to run to the three o’clock position of the skillet (which is void of anything because of here you’ve placed the steaks).
Using the spoon that you’ve placed within arm’s reach, spoon the butter/thyme/garlic over the top of each steak a few times.
Three times should suffice.
If you have your respective shit together, a minute should have passed by now.
Slide the skillet away from the burner. Immediately transfer the steaks to a plate with the tongs.
Let the steaks sit for 5-7 minutes. This is a must. During this time, turn off the oven and remove the potatoes.
Place one potato beside each steak. Once you’ve reached the next to the last section of this book, you’ll know how to make my bacon Brussel sprouts. Adding those would make one hell of a good meal.
Enjoy.
SECTION FOUR
MOSTLY MEAT
Bacon
Baked Bone-In Chicken Breasts
Prime Rib Roast
Italian Meatballs
Insta-Pot Roast Beef and Veggies
Chicken Parmesan
Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts
BACON
DIFFICULTY: C’mon, it’s bacon.
TIME: 25 minutes.
What you’ll need from the cupboard: A cookie sheet. A cooling rack that is capable of fitting on the cookie sheet. A spatula.
What you’ll need from the pantry: Bacon.
This recipe is for breakfast bacon. Other bacon can be cooked differently.
No matter how you like it when it’s done, you want to be able to cook bacon the way you want it and have all of it the same. Cooking it in a skillet (for a family) requires more than one skillet. Then, you end up with a bunch of bacon cooked differently.
It seems I always end up taking this slice out and that slice out. Then I’m leaving the rest for another minute or two (during which time people steal my cooked bacon, leaving me with nothing).
For a family, cooking it in the oven is the way to go. It also allows the preparation of eggs without a hassle or overlapping cooking times.
Once you’ve cooked it in the oven, you’ll find it tough to go back to skillet cooking it if you need a large batch.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Take a cooling rack (a wire rack for cooling bread, cookies, etc., and place it on the cookie sheet, tabs down (this will leave a flat wire surface facing up).