I’ve been doing a ton of weekend batch cooking lately. Basically, I take a bunch of meat out of my “meat freezer” and place it in the bottom drawers of my spare refrigerator, which also houses leftovers on the upper shelves. I tend not to cook a lot with chicken, but this week, I pulled out some boneless skinless chicken breast that my husband bought on sale at the grocery store. It’s been so long since I’ve cooked boneless skinless chicken breast that I have to admit, I was stumped as to what I was going to make. I texted my buddy Michelle Tam, who ALWAYS has tips for me and is my absolute favorite recipe creator. She suggested I make Pressure Cooker Salsa Chicken Tacos in my Instant Pot, which I did. They rocked! I had extra chicken though, so I decided to sear it in a cast iron skillet and use the sauce from her Pressure Cooker Lemongrass & Coconut Chicken, but because the instant pot was tied up with other recipes, and I didn’t have all the ingredients she called for, plus I wanted to use up the oyster mushrooms and summer squash from our farm share, I altered the recipe to make it work for what I had. It was AMAZING! The sauce is so incredible, I could drink it straight. I plan on making it on a regular basis for a new, lighter spin on curries. I know you’ll love it!
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons ghee or coconut oil, divided
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (boneless pork chops would also work great!)
- 1 medium onion, sliced thin
- 1lb oyster mushrooms, or mushrooms of choice, chopped
- 5 small summer squash or zucchini, about 4 cups, sliced
- 1 thick stalk fresh lemongrass, papery outer skins and rough bottom removed, trimmed to the bottom 5 inches
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 2 tablespoons Red Boat fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon five spice powder
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- Juice from 1 lime
Directions:
- In a large cast iron skillet, heat 1 TBS of ghee or coconut oil to medium high heat.
- Place the chicken breasts in the pan and don’t touch for five minutes
- Flip the chicken and continue cooking until cooked through, about another five minutes
- Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside
- Reduce the heat to medium and add another TBS of oil
- Place the onions in the pan and cook for about five minutes or until translucent
- Add the mushrooms and zucchini and sauté for about 10 min, stirring occasionally
- While the vegetables are cooking, add the lemongrass, garlic, fish sauce, coconut aminos, five spice powder, coconut milk, salt and pepper to a food processor or blender and blend until creamy
- Slice the chicken into thin strips and place back in the pan with the vegetables.
- Add the coconut milk sauce to the vegetables and simmer for five minutes
- Remove from heat and add the lime juice and cilantro