Chicken and Asparagus

20100824:
I put this batch of chicken into the freezer with soy sauce and "Caribbean Tradition" Chicken Seasoning. I had massaged the mixture around a bit. When I was at the market and contemplating the meal, I decided I wanted to use asparagus.


Steps I Took:

Washed the asparagus.
Boiled water, added salt.
Cut the ends off the asparagus; I didn't see any blemishes.
Threw the asparagus into the boiling water.
Cut the chicken.
Oiled the pan.
I was short on time, so I just took a spoonful of the "Ready to Use" chopped garlic.
Added the chicken to the pan.
Poured on some soy sauce.
Drained the asparagus, keeping the broth in a bowl.
Put the broth back into a pan.
Added spaghetti (as usual, I broke the strands in half before throwing them in)
Remembered to put the asparagus in an ice-water bath.
Drained the spaghetti, keeping the broth in a bowl.

Put the chicken onto a plate.
Threw the asparagus into the pan.
Added some soy sauce.
Added some pepper.
Used kitchen shears to randomly cut the asparagus in half. Some strands were missed, some strands were cut into smaller pieces.
Returned the chicken to the pan together with the asparagus.
Got the chicken to 180 degrees.
Threw the spaghetti into the pan together with the chicken and asparagus.
Threw some canned crushed tomatoes into the pan together with the spaghetti, chicken, and asparagus.
Test tasted the combination, I felt the tomato added too much of the wrong flavor.
Shook in some dried oregano leaves.
In a rush, I decided this was better, though not as great as it could be.
Turned off the heat.
Transferred the contents to the Pyrex container.
Added grated Parmesan.

Immediate Comments:
Upon putting the asparagus in the ice-water bath, I could tell I over cooked the asparagus, so they were soft instead of their usual expected slightly crunchy.

I overcooked the spaghetti. Not a big mistake, but I do enjoy my pasta al dente.

Upon adding the pepper, I mused that perhaps I added too much, because I opened the wrong flap and a bunch came out! Fortunately, as I distributed the pepper around, it seemed like my mistake was not grievous. I picked up a strand of asparagus and it didn't taste too peppery. I figured that when I later added the chicken and other ingredients, the pepper would spread itself out even more and I would be good to go.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any fresh grated Parmesan (or any fresh Parmesan to grate), but the cheese helped balance out the flavor of the dish.

Result:
Overall, the chicken was good, tough some bites were salty.

While I had overcooked the asparagus, soft asparagus was not a terrible eating experience.


If I had time, I would have cooked some more pasta and mixed it in - in hopes that the salt would then spread itself out.

[20100825][20161018 Edit]

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