Culinary Thursday: Chick-Hen Piccata On A Bed Of Sauteed Spinach and Toasted Pine Nuts

Oh hai furrends, here I am in teh kitchen!  I realized we has not hadded a Culinary Thursday post in quite a long time, so here is what I make'd for dinner tonight - a chick-hen piccata dish over a bed of sauteed spinach and toasted pine nuts.  And I must says, it was deeeeeeeee-lish!

Get your simple seasonings out.  Salt, black pepper, and your favorite complete seasoning.

Use thin-cut chick-hen breasts (we likes Perdue, they comes in a package that says "great for scallopini" cause they is skinny), and sprinkle your seasonings lightly onto each side.  Tip for this dish: do not rinse teh chick-hen when you removes it from teh package, just go right for it!

Plop into a container of flour, cover, and shake!

You will ends up wif a pile of chick-hen looking like this.

Heat olive oil in a pan wif just a touch of minced garlic, and fry away.

 Cook until golden.

 

Mmmmm, chick-hen pile!

 When all your chick-hen is cooked, set it aside.  Wifout rinsing, fill teh bottom of teh pan wif white wine.  This is called de-glazing.  (Ooooh yes, you is fancy now!)

Squeeze in lemon juice to taste.  (We likes it verreh lemony.)

And grind in some fresh peppers.

Cook on high until verreh reduced, then add in about 3 tablespoons of butter.

 

It finishes looking like this.  You can strains it if you wants to, but we just leaves it, it's great how it is.

Pour teh sauce out and set aside.  Briefly rinse teh pan now, and dry wif a paper towel.  Get it back onto teh stove on low heat, wif olive oil in teh bottom.  Put your fresh spinach into teh pan, and turn/stir until it is cooked down nice and soft.

In another pan at teh same time, you can toast your pine nuts.

Use a dry pan (that's verreh important) and keep teh heat on low/medium, stirring often to keep teh pine nuts from burning.  You wants them to brown, but not too much.

This looks good to me!

Now, assemble!  Make a bed of teh spinach wif some of your toasted pine nuts over it, a piece of chick-hen on top, teh sauce poured over that, and a few more pine nuts sprinkled over it all as teh crowning glory.

 Nommy, nom, nom!!!

But do not puts yours on a paper plate, MOL.  Looks nicer on a pretteh plate, but my mommeh said "enuff wif teh dirty dishes to wash!!!"  I says it is not MY fault we has no dishwasher.  Isn't that what she is there for?  Sheesh.

A glass of teh same wine you used for teh sauce will make a lovely accompaniment.  Oh mommeh, dinner is readeh...!

Audrey Steals Dinner

My little sis-ter is a dinner theif.  My mommeh forgotted (again) to defrost our rabbity dinners in teh fridge today while she was at Teh Work Place, so when she gotted home she putted teh dinners in a zippy bag and into a pot of waters to defrost fast.  Well.  SOMEONE did not wants to wait.  My mommeh hear'd a colossal crash from teh kitchen, and grabbed teh camera to come investigate, and aside from waters all over, this is what she see'd:

And now we has to wait eben longer for our dinners, cause Audrey kept stealing it still froze'd, so it had to go in teh fridge.

Mine Romantikal Mancat!!!

My mommeh came'd home wif a surprise from teh mails!  A fat package from mine Lolo, all teh way from teh Czech Republic.  Just lookit all this stuff.

I wants to open everyfing!

Let's start wif this pink envelope, because pink is mine verreh favorite color.  Aww, he draw'd hearts and a birdie.

Check out this card that was inside!  Lolo and Tiny's mommeh make'd it.  I did not know she make'd art!  I loves this bluebird, I wants to chase it...  As for teh contents of teh card, I will not lets you see that, heehee, is private between a mancat and his ladycat.  Let it suffice to says he is a charmer.

Now a teeny envelope...



Mmmm, sniffs like a present.

Oh wow!  A magnet wif mine Lolo on it!

Okay, how smexay is he, seriously.  Plant one on you indeed, purrrrrrr-ow!  And look - carved into teh wood of teh bench behind him is our names and initials and hearts.  He is just too romantikal.  This goes on teh fridge right away.

Next, anuver little envelope...

A pretty pink pipecleaner, wif a tag for me!!!


Signed from mine mancat.

Look!  On teh end of teh pink pipecleaner is a lovely blue flower tag, and it says "Lolo's Love."  How sweet is that?  This will go on mine summer collar.

And how wunnerfully sweet of my fabulous boyfriend to include somefing for mine little sis-ter, there is a teeny envelope for her too.

Teh tag is to Audrey Cupcake, which is what he calls her, MOL.

From Lolo, your "brother-in-paw!"  He is so clevers.

It is hard to see in this piksher, but it's a paw-shaped tag that says Cupcake!  This will go on Audrey's summer collar too.

Now a paper-wrapped packet for me...

A pretty red bag inside, wif golden hearts...

*sniffa*  It is pretteh, what could possibly be inside?

Oh my!!!  How lovely!!!


A beautyful new charm for mine GGC!!!

Can you sees what it says?  "L+A 4EVER."  I loves it!!!  He is so sweet!

And three pikshers of mine handsome mancat, two in teh front of this frame, and one on teh back.  I intends to rotate.  He is so nice to looks at, isn't he?  And two flower clippies, I will lets my mommeh use these to keep mine v-e-t papers together.

Pretty birdies for teh windows!  These will be nice to puts up in teh summer, so we can has birdies to look at on our SunnySeat!

And a souvenir coaster from England, where his mommeh was on a recent visit I believe. 

Miss Cake loves her pipe cleaner and just wants to play wif everyfing.

A few pikshers of mine lovely self, showing off teh new addition to mine GGC.

My mommeh halped me hang Lolo's piksher frame right by mine favorite sleepy spot, on teh cat tree.

And now a couple videos of us enjoying teh loot:

Fank you soooooooo much, mine Lolo-Licious, mine Lolo-Love!!!  You is teh bestest mancat a ladycat could ever hope to has in her life, I luff you!!!

Charms on my new GGC!

Well, my mommeh finally founded where I hided my old Good Girl Collar.  And looking at it now, I says "old" is teh right word.

Teh one on teh top is my new GGC.  Teh bottom one is teh old one.  See how long it is?  All that excess used to gets in mine way.  And teh diamonds only go partly around, which was No Good.  My new GGC is way betters!  It has teh KittyKlip buckle, so it's shorter, and that also makes it possible for teh diamonds to go allllllllllll teh way.  Just how I wants it. 

My new GGC has only three rows of sparkle, instead of four like teh old one, but that is okay accause teh diamonds is BIGGER!  And look how teh old one is falling apart, awww, poor old fing.

 Now we can takes teh charms off teh old collar, and puts them onto teh new one!  Here is mine cuppycake.

And my "I <3 my human" fishie!  (Cause I does luff mine mommeh.)

Oh dears, mine old diamond kitty has realleh hadded it, huh?  This one is not making teh transfer, it is teh garbage can for you old kitty!

Ah and here is mine Princess address tag.

Well here it is, teh fully new and improved GGC!

 Does I look as smexay as I finks I does?