*adaptation.

What you see before you is slightly odd, which I know is not what you've come to expect on the Woodside. 

Ahem.





The fault, as always, lies firmly with the purveyors of groceries 'round these parts. Sometimes I feel like there's some vast conspiracy at the Winn-Dixie. (Quick, K's coming! She's going to need ginger, which we always have in stock. Naturally, we must hide it all in the back so that she has a end-of-a-stressful-day mini-tantrum in the produce department!)

Other things the W-D decided to not carry included shelled edamame, so ... I improvised. With ... lima beans.

Now, I'm an incredible fan of lima beans (I also like edamame but dislike fava beans; don't ask questions), but this was by no means a true-to-the-recipe sort of adventure. Also on the list of things I'm not a fan of is Chinese five spice, so I left that out of the chicken. And I had to use that squeezable tube ginger, which has a list of ingredients most of which are NOT ginger, which meant I had the sad. And, to be fair, no ginger flavor really to speak of.

I adapted this chicken recipe from Alida's Kitchen. I absolutely loved the flavors here, but I noticed that one of her commenters said, "Flavors were great but disappointed that it didn't look anything like photo." I wouldn't say I was disappointed—seems like an awful lot of energy to expend on chicken—but as you can see, I didn't get that beautifully dark and caramelized look, either. Her recipe calls for 1 pound of chicken breasts, but you can't buy them that way at my grocery store (but of course). So I bought 2 pounds and cut them in half, then doubled the proportions of the marinade. I have a phobia—and a history—of undercooked chicken, so I aimed for the outer range of the cooking time and ended up with SUPER delicious, SUPER dry chicken. I will definitely make this one again, but I'd recommend starting at 30 minutes and checking with the poke test so that you don't overdo things. Standard disclaimer: I used a lot more garlic and a lot more sriracha than called for. This is how we do it.

I liked the idea of pairing the chicken with this rice recipe because they shared some of the same profiles: lime, sesame, green onions. I adapted it from Martha, and I strongly disagree with the feedback she got ("OK, Not great). This was a little bit of a revelation for me, and I plan to combine lime, rice vinegar, and sesame oil together a lot more in the future. Make sure what you're buying is rice vinegar and not seasoned rice vinegar, because I checked the ingredients on the latter and saw the sodium quantity and nearly had a coronary event on the spot. The dimensions of the flavors are enough here, so just a little salt will do; 510 mg in 1 tablespoon is going to be absolutely overwhelming in this case. (Or any case?) If you leave your frozen beans on the counter while you go about the rest of the prep, they'll be thawed enough to cook perfectly in the time allotted. I omitted the sugar Martha calls for; I find it so often in recipes with Asian flavors, in these teeny tiny quantities, and I don't really understand it. Who wants to take the edge off vinegar? Not this guy.


Sriracha Baked Chicken

Cooking spray
½ bunch green onions, thinly sliced and divided
½ cup hoisin
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch of salt
¼ cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons sriracha
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half crosswise
Toasted sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 13- x 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray, and set aside.

2. Whisk together green onion whites, hoisin, and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl.

3. Place chicken in sauce, tossing to coat. Place chicken in baking dish, and pour remaining sauce over chicken. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

4. Top chicken evenly with green onion greens, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Makes 4 servings.

Sesame Brown Rice with Lima Beans

Salt
¾ cup uncooked brown rice
1¼ cup frozen lima beans or shelled edamame
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Black pepper
½ bunch green onions, thinly sliced

1. Bring 1½ cups lightly salted water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in rice; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.

2. Stir in lima beans; cover and cook 15 more minutes or until rice is tender. Whisk together lime juice, vinegar, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Stir lime juice mixture and green onions into cooked rice with a fork until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 4 servings.