My go to marinade for thighs (convection oven at least, no air fryer here), my wife swears by it, is the “teriyaki” marinade from an older edition of Joy of Cooking. I use quotes, because there’s no sake in it, so I don’t know if it’s a true teriyaki.
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup oil
1 tbs fresh grated ginger (I used dry ground for the longest time, nothing wrong with it)
2 tbs sherry (we’ve switched to apple cider vinegar for digestive reasons)
3 tbs brown sugar
3-4 cloves minced garlic (I use the jarred)
One way we incorporate more veg is plating pastas on a bed of greens. Arugula and spinach work well. The hot pasta is enough to wilt the center greens just a tad but leave some crispness when eaten with the pasta.
A story today of tragedy and redemption (in the kitchen).
We had porcini and truffle ravioli in the fridge from Trader Joes. I usually pair that (or gnocchi) with a mushroom cream sauce. So I started cooking down the mushrooms a couple hours ahead of dinner. A Tbsp butter, some thinly sliced onion sweated but not carmelized; some grated fresh garlic, then into the pan goes a few hundred grams of sliced cremini mushrooms. I cook those nice and slow for about 45 minutes, covered (since I want to create a broth of sorts). I added some dill, some nice tuffle and porcini oils I have, salt and fresh ground black pepper, and some of the TJs umami seasoning, which is mostly mushroom powder. More slow cooking. I set aside a cup of half-and-half to approach room temp, then take the mushroom mix off the heat. I combine the half-and-half and mushrooms, then turn the heat back on very low while stirring. I added in a little corn starch to thicken and whisked.
At this point the sauce is usually done, but my partner remided me of the sausages! So I cut the sausages into rounds and added them to the mushroom sauce to heat up (they were pre-cooked). This is where things went off the rails. I had the pan on low heat, but got distracted with something else and when I checked, it looked like the heat was off. IT WAS NOT. When I finally went to serve the pasta, the sauce was a hot mess. It had separated and there was a gross fondant of mushroom mess on the bottom of the pan. It was 60-40 keep or toss. I attempted a rescue.
I chucked another half cup of half-and-half in the pan and stirred. Gradually, the fondant dissolved and merged with the cream. It looked like I had saved it.
I had. Whew. Otherwise, that would have been a lot of effort gone to waste. If you had seen what the sauce had looked like when I checked on it, you’d be calling for a puke emoji.
I’m so glad you were able to rescue that - the sauce sounds amazing! But I have to ask as a lover of both mushroom umami bombs (which is what the sauce sounds like) and sausages, what kind of sausages were they?
Oh, just some chicken-cheese sausages. Not an ideal combination, but that’s what was in the fridge. A bratwurst or Italian sausage would have been better. These actually faded into the background.
I don’t have a recipe but a broccoli ‘salad’ I used to enjoy is broccoli florets briefly blanched then mixed with chopped up hard boiled eggs, mayo, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper, sometimes curry powder for a change. Probably preserved lemon skin finely chopped or even lemon zest would go well with this, I think. Maybe some toasted seeds like pepitas and sunflower, or slivered nuts like almonds, would also add crunch.
Its by volume. I usually do between 2Tbsp to 1/3 cup of soy, sugar (sugar substitute works just as well here) and diluting liquid (sake, water or sherry) in equal quantities.
i have two marinades that i use. they are both simple and the chicken comes out very juicy!
the simplest one is 4 to 6 thighs and one 12-16oz bottle of italian salad dressing (not creamy - something like Newman’s Own) or same size bottle of sesame-garlic dressing in a gallon ziplock freezer bag and bung it in the fridge overnight.
easy.
my teriyaki style marinade is soy sauce, apple sauce, a little rice vinegar, copious garlic and pepper mash (the leftover mash from fermenting hot sauce - don’t throw that stuff away!), saki (the cheap stuff in the giant bottle) and for the sugar, one 12oz can of Sprite. that is a trick taught me by a lovely Korean woman who really knew how to cook!
again marinate overnight and air fry to the suggested temp/time.
i’m sorry i don’t have proportions, i just always start mixing stuff up. that’s when the alchemy is done! never the same, never disappointing.
I find fresh, finely grated ginger and garlic make a big difference. I use a microplane to grate both. I use about equal amounts of ginger and garlic, and plenty. One cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup sake, 1/2 cup sweet mirin, one tsp sesame oil. Black pepper to taste.
