Recipe Time: chicken in coconut oil

We'll get to the recipe in a second.  First, a rant.

Here's a pop quiz:  Saturated fat.  Good or bad?

The answer to this (and every question, as every MBA knows) is "it depends."

Saturated fat has been demonized by media in this country as the chief culprit of heart disease.  Over the past 30 years we have been told to cut our saturated fat consumption (actually, all fat consumption, right?) Entire industries have arisen around the need to reengineer foods to contain no saturated fat.  Indeed, on average, per capita saturated fat consumption in the United States has declined over the past 30 years.

Notice anything in particular about public health, obesity levels, and fitness levels during those 30 years?

Now, clearly our current obesity/diabetes epidemic cannot be blamed solely on low saturated fat consumption, but new evidence suggests that the original research that damned saturated fat may have been very flawed.  At the same time, our quest to excorsize fat from our diet has led to an unhealthy reliance on carbohydrates, particularly processed carbs and a dizzying variety of sugars. 

It's time to rebalance the scales and recognize saturated fat for the value it adds - namely as a highly stable cooking base.  Without getting into a chemistry lesson, saturated fat is a superior choice for cooking because it does not oxidize when heated.  Cooking with polyunsaturated fats, like most vegetable oils, leads them to oxidize, flooding your body with free radicals (that's why you want to eat anti-oxidant... they can neutralize the oxidation)  Monounsaturated fats, like olive oil, are a decent choice as well - they don't oxidize under medium heat conditions.

The other benefit of eating fats, particularly saturated fats, is that they trigger an intense satiety response - in other words, you eat some fat and you feel happy and full... for a long time.  I see this as a plus.

You love it. You just don't know it yet.

The fat we're going to be using is coconut oil.  You can get high quality organic coconut oil at many health food stores - this comes from Whole Foods.  Note that at temperatures below 85, coconut oil is a solid.  Here we go:

I like to lay things out before the action starts

Ingredients: 1 chicken breast, cut into pieces; 1 small onion, cut into small strips; 2 carrots, peeled & cut; 1 cup spinach; 1 cup broccoli; approx 1 - 2 tablespoons, coconut oil; pepper to taste.

1) place a wok or large pan over medium heat and add coconut oil.

2) Once oil has melted, add onion and sauté for a few minutes.

3) Add chicken and cook for about 5 minutes, consistently stirring chicken and onions around to ensure even cooking.

Step 3

4) Add carrots and cook for another 3-5 minutes.  At this point, grind in the pepper.

Step 4

5) Lower the heat a little, add in the spinach, and steam the broccoli (either in a steamer or the microwave)

Step 5

6) Stir everything around until the spinach wilts a little, then put it on a plate with the broccoli and eat it!  As with all my recipes, this will serve 2 normal people or 1 me.

The coconut oil adds a very subtle but very nice hint of coconut to the dish - it is not as overpowering as you may imagine.  And I guarantee you will leave the table feeling full and very happy.  I hope you enjoy - let me know what you think!

Done! Yum...

Comments

[Carrie Day]

Love this blog, Colin. Everything is so reasonable & smart. This one, in particular, strikes me because I've been considering my 1950s Betty Crocker cookbook recently. Those recipes are not shy at all about using fat, lard, & butter- but heart disease, levels of inactivity, & obesity, etc. weren't as prevalent 30-40 years ago as they are now. Like you said- "Notice anything in particular about public health, obesity levels, and fitness levels during those 30 years?". I think cooking with a few simple, clean ingredients is the healthiest way to go. Everything in moderation (as much as we can moderate in this modern age).

This recipe looks DE-LISH-USH! Can't wait to try it. Keep up the good work!

[Colin Pistell]

Thanks for the response Carrie - hope you enjoy the recipe!