March 19, 2010

Honey chicken and soba noodle salad


Thursday night of week 4 and we are having a very quick, easy, and tasty family meal to prepare.
Usually I'd blanch the snow peas once thinly sliced, BUT, Alex decided to perch himself upon my kitchen bench and 'have a chat', whilst chatting he started nibbling. First it was with something he knew, something he trusted (cherry tomatoes). After building confidence, he asked what the green stuff was 'Are they peas mum?'
'Yep', I said, he then began popping the peas out of the shell. I then explained that you can eat the whole thing, he gave it a try--he liked it but preferred the 'pea'. Thus began my new stance on snow peas; leave them as is, don't touch, blanch or stir-fry, just slice raw and serve.

You can BBQ the chicken thighs or pan fry. When marinated in honey, garlic, soy, and sesame oil, you have a beautiful blend of flavours that compliment the soba noodles, which are drizzled with sweet soy to give them that hint of sweetness.

Seriously, when you have great ingredients you really don't have to exert to much pressure. And with compliments from the family like 'this is really good mum' or 'yumm, what did you do with the chicken?..' you kinda start thinking...simplicity is best when dealing with family meals. It doesn't have to take hours in the kitchen, but if you put a little love and thought into your family meals, you really do reap the rewards.

After all I am on week four of my recipe books meals and not once have I had a real complaint over 'what is for dinner tonight?'. The boys have enjoyed the journey of the past month as much as Nic and I have, and we have all looked forward to our next family meal whether it be fish sticks with risotto, chicken curry or fish and chips. As long as we are all eating it together for that special 20-30 minutes, all is well in the Baker house and what more could I ask for?

2 comments:

Bryan said...

How true... You are right Camilla, time with the family is so much more fulfilling than the food.

Chicken Thighs are a great ingredient, the kind of get forgotten in the modern days of boneless skinless breast.

TKW said...

That looks and sounds amazing! If it weren't snowing like the Dickens here, I'd run out for the ingredients!