Monday Menu: Frozen or Fresh Meats and Fish

Continuing the discussions about frozen versus fresh, this time focusing on beef, pork, chicken, and fish.

This past year has been ridiculously busy, and I have found myself taking more and more shortcuts when it comes to food prep.  Two shortcuts I was reluctant to embrace at first, have become go-tos.

The first is frozen chicken breasts. I would shop sales and buy bulk “fresh” chicken breasts on sale and then spend an hour packaging them into freezer bags. It was messy and time-consuming. And the not-so-fresh packages were usually previously frozen, and then sold.  This meant the quality of the meat was hit-or-miss, and I would often end up with tough, chewy chicken breasts.

One day, there was a not-to-miss sale at Costco on frozen chicken breasts. Since it was soup season, I took the chance and purchased a bag (it was Costco, it was a big bag, LOL), knowing a lot of inferior meat could be dressed up in a good soup. To my surprise, they were excellent, flash frozen, tender, and so easy to thaw and prep what I needed.

I’ve had similar luck with frozen ground beef patties, which I usually avoid. But, again, there was a great sale on grass-fed, one-third-pound patties. Perfect for a holiday weekend cookout. They were amazing and changed my mind about pre-made patties. I was worried about the seasoning, because my burgers are heavily seasoned.  With a little planning, I seasoned both sides of the thawed patties an hour ahead of cooking, and that did the trick.

I am more skeptical of frozen fish. I have had little luck finding a good haddock or cod (my preferred fish) that doesn’t end up tasting fishy.  And I am super picky about fish, spoiled by living on both coasts at one time or another, where the fish was fresh and unbeatable. Middle America is not a great place to buy fresh fish, LOL. I’ll keep looking for alternatives. Let me know if you’ve found a good source for frozen fillets.

This week’s recipe is Potato Encrusted Chicken Breasts – boneless pork or fish fillets can be substituted easily.

Potato Encrusted Chicken

• 2 large baking potatoes
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 tsp Old Bay Spice
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp salted butter
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 large boneless chicken breast , cut into equal halves

OR

• 4 boneless chicken thighs

Wash and shred the potatoes on the large holes of a box grater. I don’t peel them. Drain them well. I squeezed the water out by hand and then patted with a paper towel. Then combine in a bowl with onions, salt, pepper, and old bay spice.

Season chicken or fish fillets with salt and pepper. You want the fillets to be fairly equal in size, so halve the breasts and trim the fillets so they are about 4×4 in size.

Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet.  When the oil and butter are hot, spoon 4 small, evenly spaced mounds of the shredded potatoes (each about 1/3 cup) into the skillet (my skillet is small, I had to do two at a time).

Press a portion of chicken into each mound and cover with the remaining potatoes. Cover the skillet. Cook the potato packages over medium heat for 6 to 7 minutes. Add additional oil if needed (I added a little as I turned each piece).

Turn them carefully with a large spatula and cook them for 4 minutes, remove the lid and continue to cook for an additional to 2 to 3 minutes uncovered. The potatoes should be nicely crusted on both sides.

Reduce heat to low and cook an additional 3-5 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

An added note, I tried this in the air fryer and it wasn’t a good end product. The hashbrowns didn’t get very crispy, and the chicken overcooked. So I’ll stick to the frying pan for now.