It’s no secret that we at GainesvilleScene enjoy food.
We’ve showed you the best places to get everything from breakfast to the best pizza, Asian food, Mexican and a helluvalot of popsicles. Gainesville’s food culture is on par with that of the best cities in the country (Chef Valero of Saboré even competed on Food Network’s “Cutthroat Kitchen”). But good food doesn’t live only within the confines of restaurants. It’s also born in our kitchens.
GainesvilleScene is here to help you make homemade dishes that accommodate us — college kids. There is absolutely no reason you can’t make a restaurant-quality meal in half an hour and on a budget.
Sometimes cooking at home is the only way to go.
Like on Valentine’s Day, for instance.
Via: Montreal Gazette
Valentine’s Day is my least favorite holiday. When the calendar flips to February 14, couples are awkwardly and arbitrarily forced to spend the day together doing “cute” things as “cute” couples are supposed to do.
Single people feel lonely seeing these “cute” couples doing “cute” things, while the couples don’t totally understand why they’re obligated to do them anyway. New couples feel uncomfortable because there’s a lot of pressure to make the day special, and more seasoned couples feel uncomfortable because Valentine’s Day is kind of cutting into their study schedule.
The whole thing is a mess.
Despite my feelings toward the holiday, there is one rule I abide by every single year: Do not eat at a restaurant. Every restaurant will be bursting at the seams with amateurs who rarely set foot in a restaurant any other day of the year. And make no mistake — the people who dine out on Valentine’s Day are amateurs. They get dressed up to go to TGI Fridays, don’t know how to read a menu and are the type of people who ask the waiter “What’s good here?”
It’s not an enjoyable atmosphere and should be avoided at all costs.
Whether celebrating with bae, your single gal pals or yaboiz, cook at home. It’ll save you money, be more special, make you look impressive and be all-around more enjoyable.
Make whomever you’re cooking for my Italian orange chicken. It’s in season, on-trend and is the perfect balance of hearty flavors, sweet, sour and bright citrus. It’s also light enough that you won’t feel too full for after-dinner Valentine’s “activities.”
Via: PACA
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Daniel! I can’t cook! I eat in a dining hall five days a week, eat out or microwave some shit. How the hell am I supposed to whip up an Instagram-worthy meal?”
Fear not, my friends. The recipe I have provided is inexpensive and so simple it could be done as your first attempt at turning on your stove. The beauty of this recipe is that it cooks at low heats (so burning is unlikely) and it doesn’t even require a knife.
So let’s talk about what we’ve got here. Italian orange chicken.
Via: The Atlantic
What’s Italian about it? Well, the method of slowly cooking a chicken in its own sauce is super Italian (Italy Italian, not red-sauce American Italian), and serving it over farro (explanation below) is also very common in Italy, and very on trend in the restaurant world.
So what’s orange about it? Well, the sauce tastes mostly of orange juice and, if you use fresh-squeezed, you can roast the orange flesh to make a smokey, complex, caramelized side. The rind is edible too once it’s cooked, but it has a very bitter taste. Personally, I like to eat the whole wedge, the sweet meat of the fruit balances out the bitterness of the rind while the burnt sugar bits at the corners round out the flavor with notes of toasted caramel.
While the color of the sauce will vary depending on how much wine and what color, the flavor of the orange will still come through. (I used a Malbec, which is a deep red color, and I used a little bit extra just because I like the deep, heavy feel it gives to the sauce, which made the sauce turn out purple.)
Via: Daniel Harrison
Now, what the fuck is farro? Farro is a whole grain variety of wheat that you cook like rice in half the time (sorry, it’s not gluten free. Substitute rice or quinoa if that’s what you want.) You can find it at Publix and only costs about four bucks for a bag. It’s full of protein and vitamins and the large grains have a sumptuous chewy texture, somewhere between brown rice and good pasta. It’s the perfect base to soak up all the delicious flavors from the chicken and sauce as it dribbles down from atom the pile of farro.
Follow this easy recipe to impress bae, your friends, your parents, some strangers or whomever you’re cooking for this February 14. Happy V Day, kids.
Italian Orange Chicken
Serves Two
Ingredients
2 chicken filets (one breast sliced longways. No-knife: buy pre-cut)
1 orange (You can cut with a plastic knife, honestly. Just use orange juice if that still intimidates you)
1 cup of farro
1/4 cup of onions diced (No knife: buy pre-diced)
1/4 cup of sliced baby portobello mushrooms (No knife: buy pre-diced)
Via: Daniel Harrison
Wine (It’s Valentine’s Day. You should already have bought a bottle of wine. Use that. Now you guarantee the wine will pair with the food)
Olive oil
Salt and red pepper flakes
Dried thyme, oregano and Rosemary (use whatever herb mix you fancy)
Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 425°F
2. Squeeze the juice out of the orange into a separate container, set aside
3. Slice orange into eight wedges. Toss with a small amount of olive oil, salt, red pepper flakes and herbs. Line on baking sheet with the flesh side down and plenty of room in between the pieces. Put them in the oven and fuggetaboutit.
4. Bring the 1 cup of farro to boil with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt, covered. Reduce heat to simmer. (Give it a stir every couple of minutes.)
5. Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a skillet over medium heat.
6. Liberally salt one side of the chicken filets and put in pan salted side down. Salt the other side in the pan. Let cook for two to four minutes, without moving it, and flip. (It should be a uniform pale white, a few spots of light browning is good. Don’t worry if it sticks, but it shouldn’t.) Cook the other side for another two to four minutes, and set aside on another plate. (Chicken is not fully cooked yet.)
Via: Daniel Harrison
7. Raise heat to medium-high and add onions and mushrooms to pan and move frequently. Add a pinch of herbs and salt.
8. When you smell cooked mushrooms and the scent of the herbs, add a splash of the wine. Raise heat to medium high. Stir the pan frequently.
9. Once the wine is absorbed, add the orange juice and reduce heat to medium. Taste after about a minute and adjust seasoning to taste.
10. Return chicken to pan and lower heat back to medium. Add enough wine so that the sauce is about halfway up the chicken. Simmer chicken for about four minutes and flip frequently until the sauce has reduced to an almost syrupy consistency. (Pro tip: When it’s done, it should feel like when you squeeze the flesh of your palm under your thumb.)
Via: Daniel Harrison
11. After returning the chicken to the pan, it doesn’t need a whole lot of attention. Flip your orange wedges (they will look black on the surface, but they are not burned) and check if the farro is cooked. (It should be soft and slightly chewy. You may have to add a touch more water.)
12. Turn off the oven and take out the orange wedges to cool.
13. The farro should be done now.
14. Plating: Take a small amount of sauce and dollop about a teaspoon full in the center of the plate. Put a serving of farro on top of that. Lean the chicken against the pile of grains and drizzle sauce over the whole deal. Lean the oranges on the other side of the farro.
Via: Daniel Harrison
15. Eat.
Optional last time: Have sex.
Feature photo courtesy of: Inter Biz Portal
