Sesame Chicken

The Whole30 is over! CaveBoy and I had a very successful month. I am now wearing a smaller size than I ever imagined possible (which doesn't make my bank account very happy - but sure makes it easy to decide what to wear in the morning, now that my choices are so limited).

CaveBoy has had consistently great workouts and hit a PR jerk this morning. We celebrated our success with one of the only take-out foods we still eat: gluten-free, cheese-free pizza (what can I say? We went buck-wild). But then again, our choices are pretty-much limited to nada-pizza, Thai food, and lettuce-wrapped burgers. Not that I'm complaining, those foods are amazing!

But we do miss Chinese food. The Chinese restaurant down the hill from our Cave is delicious. That restaurant is single-handedly responsible for CaveBoy continuing to eat wheat for over a year after I cut it out of my life.

A while back, I was sitting in traffic thinking about food (it's what I do during the commercial breaks) and began to wonder if I could make something approximating Chinese food out of the apricot fruit spread and sriracha in my refrigerator. When I found sesame oil at Trader Joe's, the deal was done.

Sesame Chicken

Don't tell the Chinese restaurant down the hill, but I like my version better!

Ingredients

3 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 large heads broccoli, cut into florets

1 cup sesame oil (don't freak out! it's on the good list)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 heaping cup no-sugar-added apricot fruit spread (like this one or this one)

1/2 cup Sriracha (you can either sharpie over the ingredients list, or make your own paleo sriracha)
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds

3 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

Salt and pepper

Water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange chicken in a baking dish. Season with a few healthy shakes of salt and pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, paprika and poultry seasoning. Bake until chicken is fully-cooked. About 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool enough to touch. Once cool, slice into bite-size chunks. Set aside.

While the chicken is cooking, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add a large pinch of salt (a punch of salt, really). Place a large colander in the sink. Dump half of the broccoli florets into the boiling salt water. Cook for 45 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, take the florets from the boiling water to the colander. Run under cold water until the broccoli stops steaming (you're blanching baby).* Allow the salt water to return to a boil.  Repeat the process with the second half of the florets. 

For the sauce. In a small sauce pan, over low heat, whisk together sesame oil, olive oil, apricot fruit spread, sriracha, 2 teaspoon garlic powder, two big pinches of salt, and a few shakes of pepper. Be careful not to overheat the sauce or it will splatter everywhere (trust me).

In a large bowl, toss together sliced chicken, broccoli, and sauce. Add the toasted sesame seeds and toss again to distribute. Makes 10 servings.


*Note: Well, not technically. But, if you're like me and your ice-maker is broken (but you have too much good stuff in the freezer to contemplate unplugging the refrigerator for a weekend to get it fixed), this is how to get it done.