This recipe is used to make a decent variety of meals for a week of dinners and lunches. I used my fairly large cast-iron pan to cook these meals and saved a lot of time 'washing' dishes by reusing flavors from the previous meal to build on the next... I also used a lot of oil to protect the cast iron, so in a wok or some other large pan, less oil is advised.
Start by ever-so-slightly browning one heaping tablespoon of minced garlic in a generous amount of avocado oil (1:3 in surface area, garlc:oil).
you might use less if you're not cooking in a cast iron and that's ok! I love garlic oil so I made a lot
Having already given the chicken a good salt, pepper and paprika rub, brown the outsides in the garlic oil - do not burn the garlic!!
Once the chicken begins to brown, top off with about another tablespoon of avocado oil & move all but one piece of chicken onto a separate plate, separate most of the oil out of the cast iron into a container or on top of the other pieces of chicken.
Pour about half a cup (or half the can) of coconut milk into the cast iron. Over medium heat, let that simmer with the remaining tablespoon of oil and the garlic/chicken. Add about 2 teaspoons of tumeric, 1 teaspoon cayenne, 1 teaspoon of garam masala or curry (optional, if you brown it beforehand, adds some depth to the flavor) and 2 teaspoons of ginger. Simmer until fragrant, top with a little chopped cilantro. Or parsley if you don't like cilantro, because everyone knows presentation is crucial.
Move that into some tupperware and scrape out the rest of the sauce. Rinse it super fast, towel off and heat another two tablespoons of oil on medium-medium/high.
In the new oil, briefly brown some garlic until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute depending on your heat settings.
To that, add the rest of the coconut milk and a heaping scoop of pesto (pre-made or purchased, whatever suits your schedule/budget). Mix well. Heat for two minutes.
Once the pesto starts to bubble, add a piece of chicken and reduce the heat to medium if it was higher. Simmer for about ten minutes.
Depending on your level of commitment to the dishes after this, you can add some cheese to the pan (I used a combination of shredded mozzarella and crumbled feta), or you can add it to the dish once you transfer it to tupperware.
Scrape the pan, rinse and dry and heat another two tablespoons of oil and some garlic. To a piece of chicken, rub in some lemon pepper and herbs of your choice (I used herbs de provence on top of the salt and cracked pepper I already put on it). Add this to the oil and simmer on medium until you can smell the herbs.
Once fragrant, add a squeeze of lemon juice and some fresh rosemary. Move to a new tupperware, scrape the pan, rinse and dry. Do NOT add any oil back into the pan.
Cook some bacon (slowly to avoid getting it too crispy), once it's cooked, chop it up and set aside. To a little bit of the bacon grease (maybe a tablespoon), add another tablespoon of avocado oil and a teaspoon of garlic. You can cook one of your last pieces of chicken in this and THEN cook some tomatoes in it, or you can hop right in and cook your tomatoes. I went with the former. Simmer them on medium high heat until they brown on either side, toss with a little bit of bacon and transfer it to tupperware. No need to rinse the pan this time - if you have left over chicken, you can cook it in this and whatever spices you prefer or you can jump straight to the quiche.
Add about a tablespoon of oil. In a blender, blend 8 eggs and about two tablespoons of milk (I used greek yogurt because I like a thicker texture). To this blended mix, add bacon, cheese and veggies of your choice - I used some of the roasted tomatoes, but spinach or peppers and onions would be great additions if you cook 'em ahead of time. Add the eggs to the pan and THEN turn the heat on - I browned the 'crust' for about 5 minutes on medium high heat and then transferred to the oven.
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Check on it at 15 just to be safe and remove from the oven when the top browns and a toothpick goes through without any residue.
as a side note: I made the pasta while I was cooking the chicken and added it to the creamy coconut milk pesto - that will keep in the fridge until the end of the week so it's ok for your Thursday or Friday meal. You can either make the rice right before you use the curry or take a tip from a Japanese person and cook your rice, press into a ball, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze it, even if you're using it the next day. When you take it out to use it, put it in a dish you can cover and microwave it.
