lime chicken/tofu and caramelized broccoli

I haven't posted in a while because I went on spring break to Italy, which was very fun and exciting. I met up with one of my closest college friends, and we had a very relaxing and food-filled trip. The first Monday back, I made an unimpressive shrimp wrap dinner, largely unimpressive because the avocados were bad and I had never used frozen shrimp before, so I don't think I cooked them correctly.

This Monday, in spite of being in the middle of third quarter grades (now finished!), I am back to cooking. I found a recipe on 101 Cookbooks that I wanted to try, but the HIT sabotaged me by not having cilantro. I even went back and had a conversation in Bulgarian to try to find it, which my students would kill to have me relive, but still had no success.

So, cilantroless, but with all the rest of the ingredients, I stressed a bit about what to make. I decided that I couldn't fudge the recipe that I had chosen without cilantro, so I resorted to googling my ingredients: lime chicken, and broccoli garlic. I got two recipes, one for spicy garlic lime chicken and one for caramelized broccoli with garlic. I decided to make the chicken and tofu, separately, using the spicy garlic lime recipe, the caramelized broccoli with garlic, and attempt rice again, which always stresses me out because I find that I either burn it or its too wet and mushy still. In the end, it all turned out well, and as we have a Williams visitor who is currently walking across Europe, we got rid of all the leftovers, too.

I will post the recipes separately below, but the way I timed it:

1. Start water for rice, get boiling, add rice, cover, etc, hope for the best 
2. Get broccoli started
3. Marinate chicken in lime juice (not in recipe, but my improvisation)
4. Cook chicken and tofu, separately, after applying spice mix

Caramelized Broccoli with Garlic

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 heads of broccoli (1 1/4 pounds total), stems peeled and heads halved lengthwise - I may have used less

1/2 cup water

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Pinch of crushed red pepper

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In a large, deep skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the broccoli, cut side down, cover and cook over moderate heat until richly browned on the bottom, about 8 minutes. 

Add the water, cover and cook until the broccoli is just tender and the water has evaporated, about 7 minutes. 

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil along with the garlic and the crushed red pepper and cook uncovered until the garlic is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Season the broccoli with salt and black pepper, drizzle with the lemon juice and serve.

Spicy Lime Chicken with Garlic 

(for the tofu, I just added a bit extra of each spice and then mixed it with lime juice on about 5 oz of tofu)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried parsley

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves - I used about a pound of little chicken tender filets

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons garlic powder

3 tablespoons lime juice

In a small bowl, mix together salt, black pepper, cayenne, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and parsley. 

Sprinkle spice mixture generously on both sides of chicken breasts.

Heat butter and olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 6 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons garlic powder and lime juice. Cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently to coat evenly with sauce. [I had added my lime juice to the chicken to marinate earlier and so didn't add it in later.]