Alright, so today was one of those days where I actually remembered to track what I was doing in the kitchen. The mission? A gluten-free, non-veg meal. Sounds straightforward, but you know how these things can go if you’re not paying attention, especially when you’re trying to feed someone else.
My buddy’s been crashing at my place for a week, and he’s strictly gluten-free. No ifs, ands, or buts. So, the usual easy takeout options are mostly out the window, or it turns into a twenty-minute interrogation of the restaurant staff about ingredients. I figured, heck, I can throw something together. I’m no gourmet chef, but I can manage basic stuff. Decided to keep it super simple because, let’s be real, after a full day, the last thing I wanted was a complicated recipe.
My Adventure with a Simple Gluten-Free Chicken Dish
First off, the protein. We’re definitely non-veg in this household, so chicken was the obvious choice. I grabbed a couple of chicken breasts I had thawing in the fridge. Chicken is usually a safe bet, right? Pretty hard to mess up too badly. I just got a knife and chopped them into what I’d call rustic chunks. No precision dicing here, just getting them to a cookable size.
Then, onto the veggies. I did a bit of a raid on the vegetable drawer. Found some bell peppers – a red one and a green one. Always good for a bit of color. An onion, because what savory dish doesn’t start with an onion? And a handful of cherry tomatoes that were looking a bit sad and needed using up. Chopped all those up too. Again, nothing fancy. Just functional pieces.
Getting it all cooked: This is where the real action happened. I got out my biggest frying pan – the one that’s seen better days but cooks evenly. Splashed in a bit of olive oil and cranked up the heat. Once it was shimmering, in went the chicken. I let it sit for a bit to get some browning. I think that adds flavor, or at least it looks better. After the chicken was mostly white, I tossed in the onions and peppers. Gave them a good stir and let them soften for a few minutes. The tomatoes went in last, just for a minute or two, so they wouldn’t turn into complete mush.
For seasoning, I really didn’t get fancy. My spice rack is pretty basic:
- Salt, obviously. Gotta have salt.
- Plenty of black pepper.
- A good shake of garlic powder – sue me, I was too lazy to chop fresh garlic.
- A pinch of dried Italian herbs I found at the back of the cupboard. Smelled okay.
Mixed it all up, covered the pan, and let it simmer on low for about ten more minutes. Just wanted to make sure everything was cooked through and the flavors had a chance to, you know, become friends. I did the old “cut into the biggest piece of chicken” test. All white. We were good.
So, how did it turn out?
Honestly, it was pretty decent! Served it up straight from the pan. My buddy ate it all and didn’t complain, which is basically a five-star review in my book when it comes to dietary restrictions. It wasn’t going to win any cooking awards, but it was a solid, filling, gluten-free, non-veg meal. And it didn’t take a huge amount of effort, which was the main goal. Sometimes just throwing basic stuff in a pan is the best way to go. Job done.