Spice-rubbed chicken

Week 4: Spice-rubbed chicken with charred summer corn and sweet pepper cream

THIS MISUNDERSTOOD CONCEPT is how chefs can cook tastier dishes with dirt-cheap ingredients than you can with A5 Wagyu beef.

The secret?

They cook with many of the same ingredients that you do...

But they make the most of the things you leave behind.

Here's what I mean:

Instead of adding more ingredients TO to a dish...

Chefs use the aromatic liquids created during the cooking process to stack flavors WITHIN a dish.

Examples:

• Natural juices from roasted chiles -> pureéd into a sauce

• Turkey pan drippings -> mixed with breadcrumbs for stuffing

• Juice from steaming clams -> saved to make linguine w/ clams

• Pasta blanching water -> added to finish a pasta sauce (creamier texture)

• Roasted chicken pan drippings -> reserved for steaming rice (arroz con pollo)

At the highest levels of cooking, the leftovers from cooking Ingredient 1 often become a flavor enhancement to Ingredient 2.

And when you learn to stack flavors on top of each other...

Creating a dish that's more than a sum of its parts...

You're unlocking a cooking superpower:

Building flavors.

This week's high-protein meal is a spice-rubbed chicken with charred summer corn, black beans, cilantro-lime rice, and sweet pepper cream.

It's a great example of building flavors in 2 ways:

1. The rice is steamed in water PLUS the leftover cooking juices from roasting the chicken, infusing it with all the rich aromas of the chile powder, cumin, and chicken.

2. The roasted chile juices are strained and pureéd together with the peppers and sour cream. I like it because it adds an extra charred/savory dimension to the dish that's twice as intense as the charred peppers alone.

I round it out by tossing the rice with some black beans, charred summer corn, chopped cilantro, and a splash of lime juice.

I'll plate the rice mixture on the bottom of the bowl, top it with the diced roasted chicken, and drizzle the sweet pepper cream on top using a squeeze bottle.

This recipe makes 5 portions, and it took me 2 1/2 hours to make, but that's because I was recording the process on my phone...

So it shouldn't take you more than 1 1/2 hours.

Here's the nutrition breakdown for 1 portion:

Calories: 724

Protein: 56g

Carbs: 62g

Fat: 28g

P.S. If you have kids, let them do the squeeze bottle-drizzling part. They can even use it to write their names in sauce.

Get access to the full recipe PLUS step-by-step cooking video and links to buy ingredients when you become a SIMPL Insider: https://cooksimpl.beehiiv.com/upgrade