Cooking, Eating, Food, Travel, United States

Cooking Miami’s Infamous Chop-Chop and My First Published Article

July 28, 2014

Last month I published my first article in a real magazine – Run South Florida.  Someone actually liked my words enough to print them!  I’m not sure why it has taken me almost a month to mention it here on my blog.  You’d think I’d make a grand announcement with animated balloons and Nickelback music (I think Rockstar would be appropriate).  Alas, my big splash into the world of adding “published” to my credentials was more of a pebble drop.

In honor of my first published article, I offer you an excerpt from Savoring Miami’s Infamous Chop-Chop as it appeared in Run South Florida (you didn’t think I was going to write about running, did you?):

As a self-proclaimed food nerd, I appreciate the endless culinary options when visiting Miami.  There’s the cutting-edge fare of South Beach, the elegance of Brickell Key, the exotic of Little Havana.  Yet, it’s chop-chop I seek out.  If I’m in town on a work trip, I’ll arrange client meetings around the nearest Chicken Kitchen or even arrive hours early to schedule in this culinary fix.  Once, on a weekend vacation, I even tasked the concierge staff at W South Beach to fetch us some chop-chop carryout (“Whatever / Whenever” is their motto after all.).  What is it about this dish that I can’t get enough of?

It’s so elemental, so basic – yellow rice, grilled chicken, fresh lettuce and tomatoes.  This same combination is most likely found on the dining table in millions of households around the world on any given night.  But chop-chop is so much more.  [Read more at Run South Florida]

Since chop-chop isn’t found outside of South Florida, below is a recipe to try it at home.  And yes, it’s as good as the real thing!

Chicken Kitchen Chop-Chop
Wandering Gourmand Chop-Chop

Chop-Chop Recipe

The Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoon curry powder
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon of white vinegar
  • ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup of white wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • One package of Vigo Saffron Yellow Rice
  • 1 heard of iceberg lettuce shredded
  • 1 tomato diced
  • 1 cup of shredded cheddar

The Cooking

  • Whisk the yogurt, Dijon mustard, curry powder, water, and white vinegar in a bowl for mustard curry sauce
  • Refrigerate a couple of hours before serving to allow the flavors to blend
  • Whisk EVOO, white wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper in a shallow dish for marinade
  • Marinade the chicken breasts for no more than two hours (You don’t want too much of the marinade flavor in the dish so resist the temptation to marinade longer)
  • Prepare yellow rice according to instructions on
  • Grill chicken breasts on low for 10 minutes on each side
  • Dice chicken breasts
  • Serve chicken over a bed of yellow rice and top to your liking with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and mustard curry sauce.