Two techniques that I'll come back to again and again

So, I just finished my first lunch on the HCG diet, and I have to say...it wasn't half bad! This was due to two things, both of which I love:

1) Wilted spinach
2) Pan sauce

I started out with:

1 small steak (31/2 oz.) - or use chicken, fish, whatever meat you prefer!
A handful of fresh baby spinach (3 oz.)
Half of a very small onion, chopped (1/2 oz.)

Place the steak in the center of a nonstick skillet. Arrange the chopped onions around the steak, and the spinach on top of that.  Next, add in:

1/2 can chicken broth
1 tsp. seasoning blend of choice (Mrs. Dash or whatever you like...use more or less to taste)

Turn heat to medium high and bring the broth to a boil. Cook until onions are translucent, spinach is wilted, steak is cooked to your desired doneness, and liquid is almost but not quite all gone.  It took MAYBE 10 minutes, start to finish, but then I like my steak on the pink side.

Easy, right?  Yeah, but the really great thing about this recipe is it uses two core cooking techniques that I know I'll use, if not every day, then pretty darn close to it.

Oil is off limits, so if you're going to cook something on the stove without burning it, you need some kind of moisture in the bottom of the pan.  There's nothing wrong with water, but broth does double duty by moistening the pan while it adds flavor...and TRIPLE duty if you're quick-cooking a vegetable!

When the broth boils, it releases steam, and if you have a delicate vegetable on top of it, it steams to perfection quickly.  So, the spinach cooks really fast and wilts...the wilted spinach continues to cook in the pan and soaks up the rich chicken-brothy flavor, which improves the taste of the spinach...and as the water in the broth boils away, the flavors in the broth become more concentrated, the broth thickens to a nice consistency, and you have a nice pan sauce to serve over your steak and spinach!

I'm looking forward to using these same techniques to experiment with different flavors.

Hi there! I'm Sarah, the Shackled Chef.

Hello and welcome!  My name's Sarah, and today I started on the HCG diet.  I love to cook, and though I've never gone to culinary school, I'm a self-taught student of classic French cuisine and cooking techniques.

I can already tell that the major obstacle for me with this program is going to be the seriously short list of what we can eat.  How the heck am I supposed to saute anything without oil?  How do I make a decent pan sauce without wine or dairy? (NO, skim milk does NOT count as an ingredient. It doesn't even count as EDIBLE, in my book.)

And don't even talk to me about bread, rice, pasta and potatoes.  Leave me alone to mourn those in peace.

So that's why I called this blog "The Shackled Chef"...since I'm unable to use so many of my favorite ingredients and cooking styles, it almost feels like I'm in handcuffs in the kitchen.  I feel handicapped by the limitations of this program...but on the other hand, I have to admit I'm kind of looking forward to the challenge of finding tasty and creative ways to create satisfying meals from our tiny list of allowed ingredients!

My plan is to post a recipe or technique each day for the next 28 days, to hopefully share some ideas of not only what you can cook while staying within the confines of the program, but also some new ways of cooking that can help to make the same few ingredients new, different and delicious!