Saturday: sesame chicken and stuck-pot rice

This could have gone in a lot of different directions, Spanish is what I chose.

For the chicken: season chicken breast chunks with salt. Coat with sesame seeds. Cook over medium heat in some rapeseed oil (careful not to burn the seeds!). Serve hot on the spicy tomato-saffron sauce.

For the spicy tomato-saffron sauce:
Cook some chopped garlic and small-diced bacon in olive oil until the garlic just starts to color. Add whole cumin seeds and cook another minute or so. Add dry sherry, canned tomatoes + juice, a pinch of saffron, sweet and hot paprika, and black pepper. simmer until the tomatoes start to break down. Puree with a stick blender.

For the rice: Cook basmati rice in copious salted boiling water for about 10 minutes. Drain. Put the pan back over medium-high heat and add olive oil. When the oil is hot, dump the rice back in the pot, top with some canned tomatoes, cover, and let cook a few minutes until it sizzles. Reduce the heat and let cook another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand until ready to serve.

As a vegetable side I cook sliced zucchini with tarragon and butter.

This was some really nice food.