A boneless chicken breast can be a daunting thing. In and of itself, it's just about the most tasteless piece of food in existence this side of tofu. Cooked as-is, it promises several delightful mouthfuls of just about completely flavor-free protein.

This can be daunting, or even worse, it can lead one into the murky world of premade sauces and packaged gravy mixes, where much salt and hidden fat can lurk. The easy route is to submerge that bland bird meat in spaghetti sauce, or even make the old traditional cream of mushroom soup casserole that most of us grew up eating.

This was my dilemma one night a few months ago. I was trying to cut some fat out of our evening meals, so I'd bought a giant sack of chicken breasts at a warehouse store. I'd thawed two of them, and then realized I had nothing resembling Shake 'N Bake or any other low-impact coating on hand. Following my nose, as is my wont when doing culinary exploring, I rooted around in the spice cabinet to see what I could come up with.

I came upon my pile of bags of spices and blends from my occasional trips back to Houston, or more specifically to the bulk spice section of Central Market there. I found curry powder, Chinese five-spice powder and some ancho chile powder. All of those play well with poultry. I also found a bottle of Chipotle Chicken Rub from TexMexToGo.com.

Not willing to settle for just one flavor, I began putting together a spice mixture that would have made an alchemist proud. I ended up with two parts of curry powder and five-spice powder, one part ancho chile powder and three parts Chipotle Chicken Rub. I dusted it liberally on the breasts, sprayed them with a shot of cooking spray to help with the browning and help hold the spices together, and cooked them in a nonstick pan.

The results were amazing! Without a trace of added salt, and with only the tiny amount of fat in the cooking spray, I had come up with a unique flavor that, while it leaned strongly to the Southwest, had hints of Asian flavor floating around.

Having, as usual, mixed up far more spices than I needed for the initial application, I began to experiment. I quickly discovered that the chicken breasts cooked with what I dubbed the Mongo Mix played VERY well with a topping of fresh or jarred salsa. When my craving for Alfredo sauce overtook me one night, I discovered that adding an Italian element to the party was a superb choice. If you like your chicken cheesy, melt some queso fresco, a soft, white cheese available at most supermarkets, over the top with a quick pop under the broiler.

I'm still exploring flavors, and have also discovered that the Mongo Mix is a winner for pork and salmon. I'd invite you to try it yourself and let me know how it comes out.

Vinaigrette Discovery

Last weekend, I smoked three pork butts and had some friends over for a Saturday-evening feast. I perfected my method this time, leaving the butts on the smoke for only seven hours, then reapplying my rubs (I use a different one for each butt) and sealing them in foil to finish in the oven. In three hours, I had perfect pulled pork. Last time around, I had left the meat in the smoker for 11 hours, and to me the smoke flavor was a bit too pronounced. I use good spices in my rubs, and I couldn't taste any of them. This time, the smoke and spices were in perfect balance.

I like vinegar-based sauces with my 'cue, and had a selection on hand to sample. I'd also whipped up a batch of Paulette Mitchell's Sangiovese Vinaigrette for the salad I'd made to accompany the meal.

Well, as will happen when there is much eating going on, an instance of sauce misapplication occurred when one of my guests spooned some of the vinaigrette over her barbecue.

The result was nothing short of amazing. Since the vinaigrette uses balsamic rather than more traditional vinegar, it was a bit sweeter than regular vinegar barbecue sauce, and the red wine gave it a complexity that almost seemed too refined for such a primitive creature as pork 'cue.

Tuesday, I was craving green veggies, and planned on using the rest of the vinaigrette on a heaping bowl of greens. I decided to toss in a generous handful of small pieces of my barbecue, and voilá! The barbecue salad was born.

Paulette, the world-famous vegetarian chef, may never forgive me.

What I'm getting at in both these bits is that exploration is a GOOD, and necessary, part of kitchen life. If you don't have exactly what you need, look at what you have and figure a substitute. Or just strike out into the wilds of your spice cabinet or pantry and see what you can toss together!

Got a question? Comment? Topic you'd like to see covered? Drop me a line anytime!