Nothing in the house

M and I have been running pretty close to empty as far as pantry and fridge goes. We're overdue for a big shop, but I've been putting it off. Still, if there's good chicken broth in the house (frozen, from that chicken a couple weeks ago), it's easy to make something good. M picked up a rotisserie chicken night before last, which fed us fine, and I made baby pea soup. That's just the Bird's Eye frozen baby peas boiled for 5 minutes in chicken broth, with salt, pepper and butter, pureed.

For cold chicken, though, my favorite thing recently is just dipping it in Halen Mon Smoked Sea Salt. (Image at left borrowed from bearcreekfinefoods.com.) It adds a little crunch, a little smoke, a spike of salt. Poached chicken is pretty much the simplest way to cook meat. This is the simplest way to season it (outside regular salt). Yet it makes for a very satisfying meal. Last night, when M came home late, I made her some chicken breast, sauteed in schmaltz to alleviate the dryness, with this on the side, plus some griddle-toasted leftover biscuits and leftover pea soup. Pretty good for coming home at 10pm myself.