Phoo-d » Chicken

Herbed Butterflied Grilled Chicken

Annie — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:20:17 +0000

Now and then you come across a recipe so brilliant you know that it will forever change the way you prepare a dish. When this method for an herbed butterflied chicken crossed Mr. B’s path, he printed it out and put in a request that I make it soon. As always, his recipe intuition was spot on.

The recipe calls for a spatchcocked (butterflied) chicken that is marinated in a herb laced brine and then grilled to golden perfection while basted with a glaze of honey, lemon, and garlic. Together Mr. B and I watched a few youtube videos to learn how to spatchcock a chicken. Once you understand the methodology, it is actually a simple technique that turns a whole chicken into one flat layer which cooks evenly on the grill. It is the perfect solution to the age-old problem of dry breast meat and undercooked thighs; with a flattened chicken you end up with an incredibly moist, perfectly cooked bird. To spatchcock a chicken, you begin by using heavy duty kitchen shears and cutting out the backbone of the chicken. Once the backbone is removed, you flip the chicken over so the breast side is up. Then you use the heels of your hands to press downward and crack the breastbone, pressing the chicken into a single layer. After that you are ready to marinate and grill the chicken. It is a simple technique- great to have in your back pocket for grilling chicken.(...)
Read the rest of Herbed Butterflied Grilled Chicken (574 words)

Tandoori Roast Chicken

Annie — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:41:00 +0000

When the weather turns cold I inevitably find myself craving warm comfort food. In January this often poses a challenge, as comfort food and healthy food don’t always play together nicely. Whoever first thought that January 1st was the best time for diet resolutions must have been nuts or living in Hollywood. Or even more likely both nuts and living in Hollywood- I tease. Seriously though, sub-zero temperatures and salad greens that are thousands of miles away from their source create nothing but a sad cold stomach.

To satisfy my desire to spend entire days between warm flannel sheets and the need to balance out holiday excess, I find a happy middle ground in roast chicken. Almost every Sunday night during the winter months I find myself stuffing ingredients underneath a chicken skin, patting salt and pepper on top, and roasting the bird in a warm oven that fills the house with a comforting chicken aroma.

Our favorite recipe is still a roast chicken with meyer lemon and sage. However in an attempt to avoid butter and branch out a bit I created this delicious variation on tandoori chicken. Marinating a chicken in yogurt and spices resulted in a fantastically tender bird. If you have an older or mediocre quality whole chicken this is an excellent way to achieve the moist tenderness that can be lacking in lower quality birds. The Indian spices added a bit of heat and took the dish beyond typical roast chicken flavors into an interesting and delicious alternative. Mr. B braved the cold and cooked this chicken on our grill to achieve a smoky tandoori quality. However if your grill is buried under 3′ of snow (which subsequently happened to ours!) the oven would definitely be an acceptable alternative. For a comforting yet healthy dinner, roast chicken is hard to beat.

Tandoori Roast Chicken (Printable Recipe)

Inspired by Canyon Ranch Cooking

Serves 4-6

The chicken will need to marinate for a minimum of 6 hours and up to 24 hours, so please plan accordingly.

Ingredients:

1 3-4lb whole Chicken

2 large Onions, cut into wedges

Salt and Pepper

Kitchen Twine (If roasting the chicken in an oven)

Marinade

1/2 cup minced Onion

2 Garlic cloves, pressed or minced

1 cup non-fat plain Yogurt

1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh Lemon juice

1/2 Tablespoon Paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground Cinnamon

Pinch ground Cloves

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground Black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground Tumeric

1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 teaspoon chopped Cilantro

Directions:

Place all of the marinade ingredients in a medium bowl, and mix together until they are well combined.

Place the whole chicken on a large rimmed plate or dish that will fit in your fridge. Use your fingers and carefully separate the chicken skin from the breast and leg meat, creating a pocket between the two. Take care not to tear the skin- it should still be attached to the bird.

Next take small handfuls of the marinade and stuff it into the pockets created between the skin and meat. Rub the marinade around to cover the meat as best as possible. (This is a messy step.) Once all of the marinade is underneath the chicken skin, tie the legs together using kitchen twine if you plan to roast the chicken in an oven. Sprinkle a dusting of additional salt and pepper on top of the Chicken skin, and pat it in. Cover the plate and chicken with plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge to marinate for a minimum of 6 hours and up to 24 hours.

An hour before cooking the chicken, remove it from the fridge and set it on the counter to come to room temperature.

Pre-heat the grill to medium-high heat or an oven to 425 degrees. Set the chicken on a grill pan or a rack set into a roasting pan. Distribute the onion wedges around the chicken. Cook the chicken on the grill for 45-75 minutes, until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165 degrees. Cooking time will vary depending on the temperature of your grill and the size of the chicken, so check the bird frequently after 45 minutes.

If you are using an oven, roast the chicken for 15 minutes at 425 degrees, and then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. If the onions look too dry in the roasting pan while the chicken is still cooking, add a 1/2 cup of water or chicken stock to the pan. Continue to cook the chicken for another 30-60 minutes, until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165 degrees and the juices run clear.

Let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes before carving and serving.

Fire Roasted Chicken Enchiladas – Updated!

Annie — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:23:00 +0000

Now with new pictures, freezing instructions, and a printable recipe I couldn’t resist sharing one of my favorites again- I love these enchiladas.

Please click below to go to the full story and recipe!

Fire Roasted Chicken Enchiladas

© Annie for Phoo-d, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chicken, Comfort Food, Make Ahead, Mexican

Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup

Annie — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:33:00 +0000

As promised, here is my recipe for a delicious chipotle chicken tortilla soup. There really is not much of a story to go along with this, other than it is a beautiful way to use up leftover chicken from the chipotle beer BBQ chicken. The bold flavors in the soup are all at once spicy, comforting, and quite satisfying.

Making the Stock

Making the Soup

You can dress up individual bowls with chopped avocado, fresh lime juice, crushed tortilla chips, or whatever else strikes your fancy. As usual, I seem to be incapable of making a small amount of soup, so this makes a very large pot!

Is it possible to have too much soup? I don’t think I’ve found my limit yet!

Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup (Printable Recipe)
Serves 6-8

If you don’t have a roasted chicken and still want to make this recipe, simply use a whole uncooked 3-4lb chicken when making the stock. Once the stock has cooked, shred the meat off of the chicken and discard the remaining carcass. You will need to taste the soup as you make it and determine if it needs additional spices, such as cumin and garlic.

Ingredients:

Stock
1 Chipolte Beer BBQ Chicken Carcass (or a 3-4 lb. chicken carcass)
2 carrots
1/2 large yellow onion
1/2 head of garlic, smashed but not peeled (don’t bother)
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 small handful of cilantro
1 small handful of parsley
4 stalks of celery with leaves

10-12 cups of water (enough to cover the contents in a large soup pot)

Soup
10-12 cups of stock (recipe above), divided

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
1 serrano pepper, seeded and diced
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1 Tablespoon grapeseed oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 green bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
1 cup of short grain white rice
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

2 ears of corn, kernels removed
Kosher salt, to taste (I used about 3 Tablespoons)

Toppings
1 lime, cut into quarters
1 avocado, diced
1 tomato, diced
fresh cilantro, chopped
Mexican crema (or sour cream)
Crushed corn chips

Directions:

Make the Stock
Place a large stockpot with lid over medium heat. Add in the chicken carcass, carrots, onion, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, cilantro, parsley, and celery. Next add in enough water to cover the contents of the pot by a few inches (approximately 10-12 cups). Bring the liquid to a strong simmer, and then reduce the heat to maintain a very low simmer. Cover the pot and cook the stock for 2 hours. Once the stock has cooked, carefully strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a very large bowl. Rinse out the stockpot, and set it aside in a heatproof location.

Make the Soup
Place 1 cup of the stock in a blender along with the jalapenos, serrano pepper, and chipotle peppers. Blend the mixture until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Set aside.

Return the large stockpot to the stove, over medium heat. Add grapeseed oil to the pot, and then add in the onion and green bell peppers. Saute the vegetables until they are just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add in the rice and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Next, add the strained stock to the pot along with shredded chicken and the blended pepper mixture.

Cook the soup at a moderate simmer for 20-30 minutes until the rice is cooked. Add in the corn and simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat and taste the soup. Add in as much salt as desired, tasting as you go. (I added about 3 Tablespoons.)

Serve in individual bowls, topped with any combination of lime juice, avocado, tomato, cilantro, crema, and tortilla chips.

Chipotle Beer BBQ Chicken

Annie — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:27:00 +0000

I am not an impulse shopper. In fact Mr. B and I both take so long to research purchasing decisions that we once went over three months without a TV just to be certain we would get the right one. (Painfully true!) Yet every now and then I see something and know instantly that it is for me. This vertical chicken roaster from Williams-Sonomoa was one of those things. Basically a fancy way to make beer-can chicken or other variations on that theme- when it appeared in the summer magazine I knew I had to have it.

Now I’m all for just sticking a beer can up a chicken and calling it good, however the ingenious design of this roaster has a wide base allowing ample space for vegetables to hang out and soak up all of the delicious chicken juices- it was love at first sight. Once the roaster arrived I eagerly put it to use.*

With chipotle chilies leftover from our addictive peach salsa adventures, we both decided that a chipotle infused chicken should be on the menu. I was particularly thrilled with this idea because it gave me a chance to use my one of my all time favorite cooking beers, Rogue Chipotle Ale.

If you aren’t familiar with the Rogue line of beers I encourage you to check them out. They are very different from your normal beer as they brew things such as soba noodles, chipotle chilies, and juniper with their hops. Now the chipotle ale is a bit strong to drink by itself (unless you are having a very spicy meal) but I have found that it is an excellent beer to use when making chili, spicy stews, or in this case beer-can chicken.

Placing the Rub Under the Chicken Skin

Ready to Roast

Using chipotle as my base flavor I improvised from there, creating a wet rub full of garlic, honey, and cumin to season the chicken. Mr. B fired up the grill and within about two hours we had a beautifully roasted chicken. Honey turned the chicken skin a deep golden brown and the moist meat had a subtle heat from the chipotle peppers and beer. The roasted vegetables were deliciously caramelized and with a hint of smoke flavor turned into a fantastic accompaniment. In fact, they were so irresistible that I almost burned my fingers snatching them out of the roaster before they were cool!

Now by all means, DON’T THROW OUT THE CHICKEN. Instead save the bones and any leftover meat to make a marvelous Mexican-style chipotle chicken tortilla soup.

*One drawback to the roaster is that once you use it, it will take on a black “patina”- meaning it is nearly impossible to scrub clean. Now I don’t get my knickers in a bunch over pans that aren’t out-of-the-package shiny so this really doesn’t bother me. However if you are one of those people buy a lot of SOS pads and good luck!

Chipotle Beer BBQ Chicken (Printable Recipe)
Serves 4-6

If you don’t have this fun roaster, you could easily substitute a sanitized tin can filled with the beer and grill the vegetables on the side. When you are finished cooking the chicken, save the juice in the can and pour it over the vegetables for added flavor.

Ingredients:

1 (3-4 lbs) Whole Chicken

Rub
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
1 Tablespoon honey (I used a delicious Guajillo honey)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 chipotle pepper in adobo, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 1/2 Tablespoons worth)
2 Tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

Bottom of Roaster
4 small potatoes, cut into 1″ thick slices
6 small carrots, cut on a bias into 2″ long pieces
1 sweet onion, cut length wise into eighths

Roaster Well
~ 1 cup Chipotle Ale (Rouge Brewery)

Directions:

Pre-heat the grill to 450 degrees (medium-high). Mix all of the rub ingredients in a small bowl until well combined. Gently place the rub underneath the chicken skin, spreading it around as much as possible. Pour 1 cup of the Chipotle ale into the roaster “well” and place the chicken on top. Scatter the vegetables around the chicken in the bottom of the roaster. Place chicken and vegetables on the grill, and cook at 400 degrees for about 1 hour 30 min. or until a thermometer inserted into the thigh reaches 165 degrees and the chicken juices run clear.

Remove the roaster from the grill and take the chicken off the vertical well. Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes before carving. Save any leftover juice/beer in the well and serve it as a sauce on top of the meat and vegetables.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon and Olives

Annie — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:30:00 +0000

I have found that the most interesting people, places, and cuisines are often the result of disparate influences colliding and then merging into something new and wonderful. While I have yet to visit Morocco, in my mind it is one of these places; a fascinating crossroads where Europe, Africa, and the Middle East mixed over the centuries to create a richly complex culture.

The cuisine of Morocco intrigues me, blending familiar and foreign ingredients in ways that are novel to my North American palate. Whenever I set out to cook a Moroccan dish I feel a sense of excitement and adventure. Mr. B shares my fascination with Moroccan cuisine and to encourage my adventures gave me a tagine and Moroccan cookbook for Christmas. You may recall that I shared my first foray into the book here, with the recipe for preserved Meyer lemons. After patiently waiting months for the lemons to “preserve” it was finally time to break them out of our dark pantry and into a Moroccan dish.

The first dish that came to mind when I thought about preserved lemons was a chicken tagine incorporating big olives and chunks of preserved lemon in a fragrant stew. I don’t know where this image came from, but surprisingly it wasn’t in my Moroccan cookbook; so I looked around to find a recipe. Google came to the rescue as usual and I stumbled across the fascinating website Culinary Anthropologist. The site belongs to a couple who took a year-long culinary journey around Europe, Turkey, North and West Africa. He’s a linguist, she’s a San Francisco chef, and together they have a wonderful selection of recipes and stories. Their recipe adapted from a Moroccan cooking class was just what I wanted. (Though I opted to skip killing my own chicken- so I guess I can’t claim to be truly authentic!)

Mr. B and I are both big fans of braising. In fact, I even have an entire section of the Phoo-D recipe index devoted to this method. However, when the Midwest weather goes from freeze-your-buns-off cold to burning-car-seats hot, my braising standbys take a break. Happily this method for a stove top braise (you don’t need a tagine, they’re just fun) works very well when the weather is warm. In fact, I may even be tempted to try a tagine on the grill if things get really hot. Preserved lemons are key to creating the depth of flavor and unique salty tang in this recipe. I’ve heard you can buy them at specialty stores but they are also really easy to make.

An aroma of chicken, saffron, lemon, and olives had us lifting the lid repeatedly for whiffs of the simmering goodness. The finished dish was absolutely delicious. Matt and Anna’s suggestion to use bread to sop up the cooking liquid was spot on and we greedily dug into the dish with our hands and big hunks of bread. Nibbling on savory chicken, slurping up the lemony broth, and popping juicy olives into our mouths we both agreed that it was just the beginning of our Moroccan adventures.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon and Olives (Printable Recipe)
Adapted from Culinary Anthropologist
Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 chicken legs
1 lemon, juiced
Salt
2 medium red onions, finely sliced or diced
1 Tablespoon minced/grated garlic
1 Tablespoon powdered ginger
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cumin (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground saffron threads (optional)
1/8 teaspoon hot chilli powder (optional)
4 teaspoons parsley stems, minced
4 Tablespoons coriander stems, minced
1 preserved lemon, rinsed and diced (pulp removed if very salty)
1 1/2 cups violet or green olives (not pitted)
1 1/4 cups water

2/3 cup olive oil

1 Tablespoon butter, softened (for optional final step)
Coriander leaves to garnish

Equipment:
Tagine or Large stove-top-safe heavy casserole dish with lid

Directions:
Arrange chicken legs in the bottom of your tagine (or casserole dish). Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and lemon juice. Set aside and allow to marinate for 30 minutes. While chicken is marinating prep the other ingredients.

Once the chicken has marinated, add all remaining ingredients except the olive oil and butter into the tagine. Mix gently with your hands to incorporate the seasonings and ingredients throughout the dish. Set aside for another 30 minutes.

Add olive oil into the dish, and cover with the tagine or casserole lid. Place dish over low heat. Allow dish to cook slowly for about 75 minutes, until the chicken appears tender and begins to pull away from the bones. Stir the mixture carefully while it is cooking to make sure the chicken is not sticking to the bottom of your tagine.

Once the chicken is tender, turn off the heat and transfer the chicken pieces to a grilling rack set in a large foil-lined baking sheet. Smear the softened butter all over the top of the chicken skins (yes this seems excessive, but trust me it’s delicious) and place the pan underneath the broiler. Watch the chicken very closely and as soon as it turns golden brown pull the pan out of the oven. While the chicken is broiling, turn on the burner underneath your tagine to medium-high and briskly simmer the sauce until it is reduced to a thickness of your liking. Taste the sauce to determine if it needs additional salt or pepper. Return the broiled chicken to the tagine and sprinkle coriander leaves on top to garnish.

Don’t forget to serve with a pita or crusty bread to mop up the sauce!

© Annie for Phoo-d, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Braised, Chicken, Lemon Love, Moroccan

Glazed Chicken with Porcini and Crisp Potatoes

Annie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Roast chickens are showing up all over the place. Mark Bittman of the New York Times wrote about a lovely Roast Chicken with Cumin, Honey, and Orange I can’t wait to try. Nick over at The Paupered Chef wrote of a tempting Roast Chicken with Crispy Drippings Croutons, which I may cook just to eat the croutons. And the March issue of Gourmet Magazine featured a lovely multi-course meal starring Roast Chicken Glazed with Porcini, Honey, and Marsala.

Glazing the Chicken

As I continued our quest to empty out the freezer before Spring, roast chicken seemed like the perfect way to take a break from lamb shanks and short ribs. Since I had been itching to make a mushroom soup “cappuccino” for months the Gourmet recipe won out, leading to a delightful mushroom themed meal. I previously determined that fresh porcini mushrooms simply do not exist in my town, so using a recipe that called for dried porcinis made sense. The resulting chicken had a beautifully crisp skin with a moist and juicy interior. Our favorite part was the pan sauce, which uses white wine vinegar to provide tang and balance to the rich flavors of the glaze.

Cooking the Stuffing and Glaze

If you enjoy roasted chicken then this is a good recipe to try. I do, however, have a few small insights to make the meal even better the next time-

I’m not a big fan of chicken skin. Yes a crispy chicken skin can have a wonderful flavor and crackle, but after a bite or two I’m good. I just don’t like the texture and all of the fat that comes along with the skin. Since I don’t enjoy eating the skin it seems a terrible waste to put a tasty and beautiful glaze all over the chicken, only to pull it off later. This may be why my favorite roast chicken recipes involve stuffing things under the skin. The next time I make this recipe I think I will try making the glaze before the chicken goes into the oven and rub the glaze directly into the meat underneath the skin.

I cut the potato pieces WAY too big. They took forever to cook, didn’t quite reach “crispy”, and were hard to swallow. The larger pieces lost the proper ratio of stuffing to potato and ended up being rather boring. So take your time and cut the potatoes into small pieces.

Paired with a mushroom soup “cappuccino”, fresh asparagus, and a unique red wine this roast chicken will help you happily start the transition towards Spring while still hanging on to the warm comfort food of Winter.

Glazed Chicken with Porcini and Crisp Potatoes
Gourmet Magazine, March 2009
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 cups dried porcini mushrooms ( 1 3/4 ounces )
1 1/2 cups boiling-hot water plus 1/4 cup cold water
1 cup thinly sliced shallots (about 3 medium)
1/3 cup olive oil, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped thyme plus 3 whole sprigs
5 tablespoons dry Marsala, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons mild honey
1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds)
2 1/4 pounds large Yukon Gold potatoes, cut in 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar

Equipment: kitchen string

Directions:
Soak porcini in hot water (1 1/2 cups) in a small bowl until well softened, 20 to 30 minutes. Lift porcini out, squeezing liquid into bowl, then rinse porcini (to remove any grit) and coarsely chop. Strain soaking liquid through a sieve lined with a damp paper towel into a small saucepan and reserve.

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle.

Cook shallots in 2 tablespoons oil with 1/4 teaspoon salt in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 7 minutes. Add porcini, chopped thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons Marsala and boil until most of liquid has evaporated, then remove from heat.

Add honey to soaking liquid in saucepan with thyme sprigs, remaining 2 tablespoons Marsala, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Boil until syrupy and reduced to about 3 tablespoons, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard thyme sprigs.

Meanwhile, remove excess fat from chicken and pat dry. Season inside and out with a rounded teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Stuff cavity with mushroom mixture and tie legs with string.

Put chicken in a small (13-by 9-inch) roasting pan. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into fleshy part of a thigh (do not touch bone) registers 170°F, about 1 hour. About 5 minutes before chicken is done, brush with all of honey glaze. If glaze begins to get too dark before chicken is cooked through, loosely cover with foil.

While chicken roasts, peel potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. In cleaned nonstick skillet, heat remaining 3 1/3 tablespoons oil over medium heat, then add potatoes, stirring to coat. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup water and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Remove lid and increase heat to medium-high. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and potatoes are golden brown all over, about 20 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet (do not cover).

Transfer chicken to a cutting board to rest 15 minutes. Turn off oven and put potatoes in oven to keep warm.

Meanwhile, straddle roasting pan across 2 burners and add flour. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, 1 minute. Add broth and vinegar, stirring and scraping up brown bits. Boil mixture until reduced by about a third, about 4 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a gravy boat.

Discard kitchen string from chicken. Scoop out mushroom mixture into a bowl, stir in potatoes, and serve with chicken.

Cooks’ notes:
- Shallots and porcinis can be sautéed and honey glaze can be made 1 day ahead and chilled. Bring to room temperature before using.
- Cooked potatoes can be kept on baking sheet at room temperature up to 2 hours before reheating and serving.

Marsala Chicken

Annie — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:00:00 +0000

When I think of favorite meals from my childhood, high on the list alongside Mom’s Minnestrone and Bacon and Egg Spaghetti is Marsala Chicken. Last week I cooked this dish for Mr. B for the first time and now I’m wondering what took me so long! The flavors are at the same time comforting and seductive. Combining Marsala wine with simple breaded chicken creates a dish characterized by satisfying sweetness and velvety textures. This dinner would be perfect to make for a date, guests, or even kids as it manages to be both elegant and approachable.

Traditionally my mother made this dish with pheasant and depending on my Dad’s success hunting, we could eat Marsala “chicken” a few times a month during hunting season. Oscar has yet to discover the difference between a pheasant and a robin, so our freezer is quite lacking in pheasant meat this year. I substituted boneless chicken thighs, which fill in nicely for pheasant if you aren’t inclined to hunt for your dinner! We enjoyed the chicken over a simple bed of capellini pasta- an excellent foil for the flavors of the dish.

Breading the Chicken Thighs

Preparing the Chicken and Sauce

Marsala Chicken
Adapted from Northern Italian Cooking by Biba Caggiano
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs chicken thighs (boneless, skinless)
2 eggs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup dry unflavored plain bread crumbs
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup butter plus 3 Tablespoons, divided
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups dry Marsala wine

Directions:
Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Beat eggs with salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl. Spread crumb mixture on aluminum foil in a long line. Dip chicken breasts in beaten eggs, then coat with bread crumb mixture. Press mixture onto chicken with the palms of your hands. Let coated chicken stand 10 – 15 minutes.

While the chicken is resting, melt 3 tablespoons butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large heavy skillet. When butter foams, add mushrooms and onions. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms have released their liquid and the onions are beginning to caramelize. Remove onions and mushrooms from pan and set aside.

Add remaining butter and oil to the skillet. When the butter foams, add in chicken, taking care not to crowd the pan. Cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until chicken has a light-golden crust. Remove chicken from pan, and turn off heat. Add Marsala to skillet. Turn heat back on to medium, and use a whisk to deglaze the pan by scraping up any residue on the bottom of the skillet. Return chicken, mushrooms, and onions to the pan. Cover skillet and reduce heat. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is tender. Turn chicken several times during cooking. If sauce looks too dry, add a little more Marsala.

When finished, place chicken on a plate and keep warm. Taste and adjust the sauce with salt or pepper as needed for seasoning. Arrange chicken on top of a small bed of capellini pasta then spoon sauce over the top. Serve immediately.

Roast Chicken with Meyer Lemon and Sage

Annie — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:30:00 +0000

I must confess, when it comes to recipes I’m a bit of a heart breaker. I will find a recipe, love it, and then promptly leave it in pursuit of the next dish. I’m still at the point in life where I’m eager to try as many new flavors and foods as possible and hate the thought of being stuck in a recipe rut.

Yet there are exceptions- a few dishes so enchanting I cannot resist calling them up for dinner again and again. Julia Child’s Roast Chicken with Lemon and Herbs is one of those dishes. I started making this recipe right after Mr. B and I were married, following the discovery of an excellent source for locally raised chickens. The meat is always satisfyingly moist and delicious. The basic recipe can be adapted to whatever fresh herbs you have on hand. If you are fortunate enough to have Meyer lemons available, they are excellent when used in this dish. (I’ve even gone so far as to incorporate sliced rings of bell pepper under the skin when I really wanted to branch out.) Combined with roast carrots, potato gratin, and a German Riesling, this roast chicken is one of our favorite ways to wrap up the weekend.

The ingredient line up

Distributing butter underneath the skin

Before Roasting

After Roasting

Roast Chicken with Meyer Lemon and Sage
Serves 4
Recipe adapted from Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home

Ingredients:

1, 3 1/2 lb chicken (Free range/Organic and fresh if at all possible)
Salt and Pepper
6 fresh sage leaves (or tarragon, rosemary, or basil)
2 large lemons, cut in ¼ inch slices (Meyer lemons if available)
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
2/3 cup mixed roughly chopped carrots and onions

For the deglazing sauce:

1-2 Tablespoons minced shallot or scallion
1/3 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine
2/3 cup chicken stock
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter (optional)

Special equipment:

A roasting pan 2-6 inches deep, a V-shaped roasting rack; a pastry brush for basting; a board or platter for resting and carving; cotton kitchen twine

Directions:

Remove the chicken from the fridge and set out on a counter for 30 minutes.

Place the oven rack on the lower level of the oven, and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Preparing the Chicken

Rinse the chicken well (inside and out) and pat it dry with paper towels.

If you like (it makes carving easier) remove the wishbone. A photo of how to do this can be seen here. Don’t worry if the wishbone breaks, just use your fingers to pull out the pieces.

Tuck the wings up against the breast where they will be held in place by the rack.

Cut 6 tablespoons of butter into small pieces. Carefully slide your hand underneath the chicken skin, and gently move over the breast and leg meat to create space between the skin and the meat. You don’t want to tear the skin, so try to keep your hand as flat as possible and work slowly if necessary. Once you’ve created space, evenly distribute the butter beneath the skin.

Next, take 6 lemon slices and slide them underneath the skin, giving them a slight squeeze, and again evenly distributing them on top of the breast and thigh meat.

Finally, evenly distribute sage leaves underneath the skin as well.

Take the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, and gently rub it all over the outside skin of the chicken. Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken and inside the cavity. Drop 2 lemon slices and any leftover herbs into the cavity, giving the slices a slight squeeze as you place them inside.

Tie the ends of the drumsticks together with twine. Place the chicken breast up on the rack in the roasting pan. Finally, squeeze the juice of the remaining lemon pieces all over the top of the chicken.

Roasting the Chicken

Place roasting pan in the oven, with the chicken legs pointed to the back of the oven if the pan will fit this direction.

After 15 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Check on the chicken every fifteen minutes or so, and when you see it beginning to brown quickly on top, baste the chicken with the pan juices. If there is no liquid in the bottom of the pan, add a 1/2 cup of water or chicken stock to the pan.

After 30 minutes has passed, place the onions and carrots into the pan and continue cooking.

Roast the chicken for an hour, basting several times. The chicken will be done when the juices run clear and when the leg joint can be easily moved if wiggled. A thermometer inserted into the thick part of the thigh should read 180 degrees.

Depending on the size of the chicken this will take 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.

Once done, move the chicken off of the rack and place on a cutting board to rest for 15 minutes before carving. According to Julia, this allows the juices to retreat back into the flesh.

Deglazing Sauce

Once the chicken is resting, remove the rack from the roasting pan; tilt pan so juices run to one corner, and remove as much accumulated fat from juices as possible.

Place the roasting pan on a stove burner over medium heat; add the shallots and stir briefly, until sizzling. Carefully pour in the wine or vermouth and the stock and heat rapidly to a simmer, scraping up all glazed bits in the pan.

Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning; you can add more wine or stock, and boil it down a bit to thicken. Whisk in the butter just before serving, for a richer finish. Using a slotted spoon remove bits from sauce and serve alongside the chicken.

Slice chicken into serving pieces, pour a bit of the sauce on top, and serve.

Coq au Vin

Annie — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:42:00 +0000

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day was a week of epic eating. The line up included Fire Roasted Chicken Enchiladas (Christmas Eve), Hearty Meat Lover’s Lasagna, chocolate filled croissants, Berkshire Pork Roast with Winter Fruits and Port sauce (Christmas), Bourbon Pecan ice cream, Meyer Lemon Martinis, and believe it or not, much more.

My family arrived from the West Coast to experience a cold and snowy Midwest Christmas and we celebrated by eating, drinking, and playing games for hours on end. If I don’t see another piece of toffee or a Monopoly card for six months, I think I’ll be a happy woman! Mr. B and I are both ready to embrace January with salad forks in hand. However before we dive into the healthiest month of the year, I couldn’t let such good food pass through our bellies without sharing the recipes.

We started off a day or two before everyone arrived, by making a delicious Coq au Vin from The Gourmet cookbook. I’ve tried other Coq au Vin recipes before, including Alton Brown’s which requires a two day commitment, and am happy to say that this recipe is simplified and very tasty. Instead of using an entire chicken, I substituted chicken legs, since that is our favorite cut of chicken. Also, in past recipes I’ve used both fresh pearl onions (which need to be trimmed, peeled, etc.) and frozen (easy, already peeled). Frozen is definitely the way to go. Fresh just doesn’t make enough of a difference for me to justify the time and fussiness of trying to peel several tiny pearl onions.

The braising wine used in the Coq au Vin was a Concannon Petite Sirah from California. This is an excellent all purpose wine, both for drinking and cooking. The wine is characterized by a strong backbone, a pleasing dried fruit flavor, and a dry finish. It nicely balances out the fat of chicken and bacon in the dish, without disappearing into the background. The recipe called for a white wine to give the dish a more “appealing” presentation, however we thought that the red wine added a deeper flavor and was more suitable for a cold winter night.

As with most braised dishes, the Coq au Vin was even better on days two and three. I would not hesitate to serve this to guests, and entertaining can be even easier since the dish benefits from being made ahead.

Coq au Vin
Recipe minimally adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cups pearl onions (frozen is easiest)
10 oz slab bacon, cut into 1″ x 1/4″ strips
1 (4″) piece celery rib
6 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs, plus 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped (for garnish)
1 fresh thyme sprig
1 Turkish bay leaf or 1/2 California bay leaf
3 1/2 lbs of chicken pieces, rinsed and patted dry
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups dry white or red wine
3/4 cup chicken stock or store-bought low-sodium broth
1 pound small mushrooms, trimmed and halved
1/4 cup Cognac or other brandy
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter, softened
–
Cheesecloth
Kitchen string

Directions:

Set pearl onions in a colander to thaw slightly and drain any resulting liquid.

Cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it is browned but not crisp and most of the fat has been rendered, about 8 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour off and reserve all but 2 tablespoons of fat from skillet; set skillet aside (do not clean).

Wrap celery, 6 parsley sprigs, thyme sprig, and bay leaf in cheesecloth and tie with kitchen string to make a bouquet garni.

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. In the skillet used to cook the bacon, heat remaining fat over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Brown chicken in two batches, turning occasionally, 6-10 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate.

Add onions to skillet and cook until browned, shaking skillet occasionally – about 10 minutes. Transfer onions with a slotted spoon to a 5-quart heavy pot (set skillet aside), add bacon, and stir in wine and stock. Add bouquet garni, bring to a simmer, and simmer, covered for 10 minutes. Add chicken and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile heat reserved fat in skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until they release their liquid, 5-8 minutes. Carefully add Cognac and cook until liquid is reduced to 1/4 cup, about 3 minutes.

Add mushroom mixture to chicken and simmer, covered, until chicken is tender, about 10 minutes more.

With a slotted spoon, transfer chicken, bacon, and vegetables to a platter and keep warm, covered with foil. Discard bouquet garni.

Make a beurre manie by mashing flour and butter into a paste with a fork in a small bowl. Bring braising liquid to a simmer and whisk in beurre manie a little at a time. Simmer, whisking constantly, until sauce is smooth and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.

Season sauce with salt and pepper and spoon over chicken, then sprinkle with parsley.