Sizzling Fried Rice Soup and Salt and Pepper Chicken

There is an extremely affordable meal I want to recommend that is so simple it's brilliant.Go to a local Chinese restaurant and get the Sizzling Fried Rice Soup for two. My husband and I go to New Hong Kong at the about once a week and we each order our own individual bowl of Sizzling Fried Rice for two, and nothing else.  We spend about ten dollars - total - on our meal. So, let's go over those portions again to make sure you understand. Each individual at the table should order his own "Sizzling Fried Rice for two". That's right, each person is theoretically eating for two. It is delicious. It will fill you up and it will cost you very little. 

About every 4th or 5th visit to this restaurant we splurge and get one of the more expensive things on the menu to accompany our soup - the Salt and Pepper Shrimp. It....is....amazing with that salt and pepper crusted shrimp on a bed of thinly sliced onions and dotted with little 1/2 inch pieces of beautiful, hot dried red chiles. 

Speaking of salt, there's a very inexpensive dish I make at home that also features salt.  It takes one minute to prepare -  Salt and Pepper Drumsticks. This is a dish you have for 3 reasons. First,  you're in the mood for a drumstick because you've had too many "Chicken Breasts in....." whatever - you fill in the blank. Second, you are one of the fortunate few who understands that next day, cold chicken legs from the fridge are almost better than first day, hot chicken legs. And third, you are having one of those days when the extent of your creativity for dinner is to turn the oven on and throw something in it. If you meet these qualifications then this dish is for you. 

If you want to make this dish, please consider buying the Greenwise Publix brand chicken. I had a nice little talk with the manager of the Publix across from Roswell High School and he explained to me that this premium, organic meat of theirs does not have water added to it like so many of the other brands do. This matters. It doesn't cook right when it's watered up. Same goes for beef, of course. And here's the thing, even though the organic poultry is more expensive, chicken legs are about the least expensive piece of the chicken you can buy. 

So, here's what you do. You come in from work or school and immediately turn the oven to 450, yes 450, and then you go straight to the fridge and pull out the chicken. Let it rest on the counter and sort of acclimate to the room temp while you go pull your shoes off, throw your bags down, etc. Then you make yourself some hot tea, or iced tea, or an adult beverage, or whatever drink you typically make yourself at dinnertime. Good. Now, pull those chicken legs out of the package. Rinse them. Pat them dry with a paper towel. Then generously sprinkle salt and pepper all over them and I mean generously. You really want to coat those legs with s and p. Pull out your rimmed baking sheet and put the chicken legs on it, leaving room between each one. If you've bought the chicken legs without the water solution added to them, like I recommended, then your legs will cook up in about 40-45 minutes. If you bought some miserable box store package of cheap chicken with a water solution, then all bets are off.

Throw a few Bibb salad leaves on a bowl and add a splash of good olive oil and a splash of good vinegar. There's your salad.  

If you must have a starch, consider cooking up some of those tiny buttery potatoes. They are so naturally buttery that they don't need a whole lot of extra butter to make them delicious.   

I think you'll like it. My kids always loved this dish and like I said, I like it best the next day.