Spork or Foon?

Spiced Chicken and Chickpea Stew

In my pre-cooking days, I was not a big fan of flavor.  I ate dry cereal (Lucky Charms, no matter the age, thankyouverymuch), turkey and cheese (one slice each) sandwiches on whole wheat with relish (still do, no shame in that), and any kind of pasta with minimal sauce.  And cookies, of course (of course).

At that same time, I was very into astrology and horoscopes.  Scorpios are fiercely loyal (check), intense (check), intensely private (yup), dramatic (double check), and wise beyond their years (umm???....).  

According to Tarot.com "Scorpio is the only sign that has three animal totems. First, there is the well-known Scorpion with its active tail. Second, as the Scorpio learns to master its passion and hold its instincts at bay, it changes into the Eagle. The Eagle has more perspective, for it flies high above the surface of circumstances, swooping down with its power only to kill prey for food. In its third form, the Scorpion becomes the always-peaceful dove. The real meaning of Scorpio is thus shown. Scorpio is about metamorphosis. Scorpios transform the painful poisons of possessive passion into a higher consciousness based on universal love."

I've got three animal totems?! Holla! Whatever those are they must be special. Because that makes a shape shifter much like Sam Merlotte from True Blood - from a Scorpion who will kill you to an eagle that flies high to a dove!? I'm a hot commodity.

Scorpios are in the 8th House (Transformation aka Shapeshifting Holla) and are ruled by the planet Pluto. When it comes to food, Scorpios are known to enjoy foods as fiery as their personalities:  foods like Indian, Thai, West Indian, etc.

Well, that just isn't true! I would think to myself.  Is everything I stand for a lie? Am I not the Scorpio I thought I once was?  AND Pluto is not a planet??? 

Who am I?

Little did I know that I just needed to come to my senses. Maybe it's because I cook, maybe because my palatte is more refined, or maybe I just realized that one can't go through life eating dry sandwiches with relish and Lucky Charms marshmallows, as much as I tried. 

But it happened. I love food that is packed with flavor. So when I received my daily (weekly? I can't keep track) email from Saveur Magazine for quick weeknight dinners, I immediately headed off to the supermarket to make this dish. And quick it was.  It takes about 30 minutes to throw together, and luckily, I had all of the spices on hand to make the frangrant, complex Iraqi spice mix that is suggested for the dish (you can use curry powder if you don't have all of the ingredients for the spice mix).

No tricky or complicated methods here. Just simple cooking to create a delicious stew of fall-off-the-bone chicken, tender potatoes, firm chickpeas, and a deliciously flavorful broth.

You don't even need to be a Scorpio to enjoy the dish.  But if you want to fly around the streets with a killer tail, you'll have to have been born between October 23 and November 23. Sorry. 

Spiced Chicken and Chickpea Stew adapted from Saveur

1⁄4 cup canola oil
6 cloves garlic
3 small onions, quartered
4 medium waxy-style potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp. Spice Mixture or curry powder
1 tbsp. ground turmeric
1 tbsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
4 skinless chicken legs (about 1 lb.)
4 skinless chicken thighs (about 1 lb.)
1  19-oz. can chickpeas, drained
4 pieces khubuz al-tannour (Iraqi flat bread),
   naan, or pita
1 lemon, quartered

1. Heat oil in a 6-qt. pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onions, potatoes, bay leaves, spice mixture, turmeric, and salt. Cook, stirring and scraping bottom of pot occasionally, until onions and potatoes are golden, about 10 minutes. Add chicken and 3 1⁄2 cups water; stir to combine. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, uncovered, until chicken is tender and cooked through, 20–25 minutes.

2. Add chickpeas; cook for 5 minutes more. Taste the stew and season with more salt, to taste. Line 4 bowls with torn pieces of the flat bread. Ladle stew over bread. Squeeze a wedge of lemon over each bowl and sprinkle with sumac.

SERVES 4

Top Chef with Teanna - Season Six, Episode 9, Part 2 - Pressed Chicken with Calamari Noodles

I have to keep this one short and sweet - Jack and I are moving (AGAIN) this week to our permanent apartment! 

Here is the winning restaurant wars dish from restaurant Revolt(ing). Michael Voltaggio made a Pressed Chicken with Calamari Noodles.

Let's talk about the brilliance that is Michael Voltaggio. Michael is so brilliant, that in this past Wednesday's episode, his dish prompted Natalie Portman to ask "Who is his dealer and is he accepting new clients?" Toby Young is kicking himself for not thinking of something so witty. 

But that is an episode that I will discuss with next week's dish. And there is a lot to discuss... like the uncomfortable innuendos that were being thrown around the table about a prick. It was... odd.

Here's what I changed:  You know with any Voltaggio dish, you're going to be doing some crazy stuff.  Like putting frozen calamari steaks through a meat press.  I couldn't find calamari steaks, so I just got the largest pieces of calamari that I could find and cut them into noodles with a pairing knife.  No freezing required. Secondly, I do not have an immersion circulator, so I just poached the chicken in 2 cups of chicken stock, extra garlic and thyme, and added a lemon slice to really bring out the flavor.  I then followed the rest of the instructions for the chicken by pressing a large frying pan on top of them and then crisping the skin when they were ready to serve.

The broth was delicious and reminded me a lot of the Cardamom Tomato broth that Kevin and Jennifer made in a previous episode.  Michael's broth wasn't as sweet, as there was no sugar, but the sweet, licorice flavor of fennel and the citrusy lemongrass added the perfect flavor profile to this dish. 

Although the recipe is challenging, it is definitely adaptable to the home kitchen if you put your mind to it.  Click herehttp://www.bravotv.com/foodies/recipes/pressed-chicken-with-calamari-noodles-tomato-confit-and-fennel-salad for the recipe. 

Oh, and here is a real picture of the other dish that Kevin and Jennifer made a few weeks back.  I had to replace the crappy iPhone photo.

Top Chef with Teanna: Season 1, Episode 7 - Restaurant Wars - I'm Not Your B-, B-!

Yes, my friends, it is here. My favorite Top Chef Theme and yours: Restaurant Wars.

In Season 1, Tiffani, Dave, and Harold teamed up with an American Workshop Concept, serving classic American Food such as Tuna Tartare (don't ask, it's not classic American, but they did it as sort of an homage to a dish Harold created in Episode 5), Roasted Chicken, and a Fruit Crisp. It doesn't sound too impressive, but one thing we have learned over the years in Top Chef is that sometimes simple is better. Let's see if it worked.

They were against Leanne, Stephen, and Miguel's Spanish restaurant, Sabor. Their menu included a tapas trio, red snapper with crispy risotto cakes, and olive oil ice cream. 

It turned out that the American Workshop won, due in no small part to Dave's friendly demeanor at the front of the house, which won over diners and judges alike. 

Let's get down to what was really important in this episode. If you thought it was the food, you are strongly mistaken. No, no. It was the line that was heard round the world.  A little ditty that goes a little something like this:

I'm not your bitch, bitch!

Ah, yes. Sweet, often nervous and fidgety, Dave, put the evil Tiffani in her place once and for all. And not only did he put Tiffani in his place, he started what is now the Bravo TV phenomenon of creating T-Shirts for their reality TV programming.  You, too, can now thank Dave for your Housewives of Orange County T-Shirt with two orange slices going across your boobs.  It is capitalism at its finest. Click here for your very own I'm Not Your Bitch, Bitch T-Shirt.

This was a great week for me for several reasons - All of the dishes were relatively simple, there were no recipes with hundreds of ingredients (there were no recipes at all, being that these were pretty straightforward), and I would have carte blance to prepare what I like. 

I could not find sashimi grade tuna, so I skipped the Tartare Course and went straight to the main.  I was rifiling through my first EVER (seriously, I remember it like it was yesterday) Food and Wine Magazine, with a section from Thomas Keller and his pastry chef for a delicious summer meal with Roasted Chicken. He served the chicken with wilted arugula heirloom tomatoes with a summer succotash and pickled pearl onions.  

Score. 

I only followed the recipe for the pickled onions, but used the rest as a guide.  I've linked to Thomas Keller's Roasted Chicken Recipe, which is the most beautiful recipe ever. Dry Chicken. Salt Chicken. Put Chicken in oven. Leave it alone for an hour. Eat it the way I tell you (yes, he tells you how to eat it).

I then made a Banana Flambe Crisp with a Hot Butter Rum Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream. Yes, it sounds as good as it was.  I will post about it tomorrow. 

Thomas Keller's Roasted Chicken 

Thomas Keller's Quick Pickled Pearl Onions

Vine Ripened Tomatoes Stuffed with Summer Succotash adapted from Food and Wine Magazine

¾ cup green peas

½ cup corn kernels

¼ cup yellow onion, diced large

8 firm, ripe heirloom tomatoes (about 5 ounces each)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 1/2 tablespoons snipped chives

 

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425°. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the green beans and corn and boil until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain the beans and corn, transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Slice off the bottom of each tomato so it sits flat. Using a knife, cut around the center of each tomato to form a cone that can easily be removed once the tomato is baked. Brush the tomatoes with olive oil and set them in a large pie plate, stem side up. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper and roast just until tender, about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly, then spoon out and discard the centers to make room for the succotash.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoons of the butter in the 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Cook the onion until very soft and translucent, about 7 minutes.  Add the green beans and corn and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and the chives and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the succotash into the tomatoes and serve warm or at room temperature.

Game Bird Wrapped in Prosciutto with Polenta

A fantastic recipe from my new favorite Magazine, La Cucina Italiana.

I know this looks like a lump on a plate.  For some reason, I could not get a good photo of this.  But I do have to say that I don't think any photo could do this dish justice.  

I love the back story behind this dish.  Beginning in 1275, the head of the ruling council of the Venetian Republic was required to gift local red footed wild ducks to the nobles at Christmas time. Therefore, local hunts in Marano were organized and were gifted after being larded, stuffed with herbs and roasted on spits.  This tradition lasted (and the type of bird expanded to all game birds rather than just local red-footed ducks) through the 16th Century, when Christopher Columbus brought corn to Europe from the Americas and introduced polenta to the Italians.  The duck hunting ceased quickly thereafter, but the ritual still holds its legacy: a local saying:  "Un grasso e un magro come i osei de Marano" (a fat one and a skinny one like the birds in Marano), describes two people of different size, and is still said throughout Venice

Originally, the recipe calls for quail, and I totally thought I hit the jackpot and found a place that sold quail. I was wrong, my heart was crushed, my friend said I was lucky because quail "looks like pigeon and ew, who would eat pigeon?" 

Sigh.

Regardless, this recipe is OUTSTANDING!  Moist, plump cornish game hen that is robust with flavor sits atop a creamy polenta and is surrounded by earthy, tender mushrooms and sweet carrots and topped with the pan sauces as a dynamic finishing touch.

It doesn't get much better than that.  

Ingredients - Adapted from La Cucina Italiana

4 cups chicken stock

Salt

1 cup coarse cornmeal

4 cornish game hens

Freshly ground black pepper

8 fresh sage leaves

8 thin slices speck or prosciutto

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 small carrot, finely diced

1 small shallot, finely chopped

⅓ cup dry white wine

½ pound fresh wild mushrooms such as trumpet, crimini or porcini, trimmed, halved or quartered, if large

2 small garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives

Extra-virgin olive oil

Special equipment: Wooden picks or 6-inch skewers, soaked well before using, if bamboo (if you have them.  If not, I just used toothpicks)

Instructions

Heat oven to 450°.

Meanwhile, discard any innards from cavity of cornish game hen; rinse inside and out, pat dry and season cavity and outside with salt and pepper. Put 1 sage leaf into the cavity of 1 cornish game hen; place a second sage leaf on top of breast side. Wrap breast of cornish game hen with 1 prosciutto slice, turn and repeat on the other side. Thread cavity closed with a skewer (or toothpicks). Repeat with remaining cornish game hen.

In a large ovenproof skillet, heat butter over medium heat until melted and bubbles form; add cornish game hen, breast side down.  Sear for 7 minutes, breast side down, then turn breast side up and sear for another 7 minutes. Transfer skillet to oven and roast for 6 minutes; roasting until just cooked through (check inner thigh—meat will still be slightly pink, and a thermometer should read 165 degrees F).

Remove pan from oven; transfer to a plate. Reserve pan (with drippings).

In a separate heavy saucepan bring chicken stock to a boil; gradually whisk in cornmeal. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, until polenta is very thick and pulls away from side of pan, 8 to 10 minutes.

In the reserved chicken pan, add carrot and shallot to skillet (skillet handle will be very hot; use a heavy pot holder to handle); place pan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until carrot is tender, about 8 minutes. Add wine, increase heat to medium-high and simmer for 1 minute. Add mushrooms, garlic, chives and pinch salt and pepper and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are just tender, 2 to 3 minutes more.

Spoon polenta and vegetables onto plates. Top with cornish game hen. Drizzle with pan drippings and serve.

Chicken Curry with Homemade Roti

 

While I suffered from the killer cold from outer space this weekend, the only thing I craved was spicy foods.  I hoped that it would: A. Allow me to taste strong spices since I couldn't taste anything else and B. clear my nasal passages. 

Well, this dish definitely did the trick.  I love Indian food because it is so complex, yet is relatively healthy.  I added what felt like 1000 seeds from the chili peppers and kept pouring pepper sauce into the dish.  It definitely cleared up my stuffy nose for the time being, yet still seemed pretty subtle in spice for me.  However, when my boyfriend took a bite, his face flushed red and he reached for the water. So you may want to take note when making this dish that you might want to tone down the spices a bit.  

This is a fantastic dish that incorporates a lot of wonderful spices and flavors and pairs perfectly with basmati rice and homemade roti.  

Curry Chicken Recipe Serves 4

1 cinnamon stick
4 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons grated ginger
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
3 tablespoons Vegetable Or canola 0r sunflower oil
4 chicken breasts, cubed
2 Tomatoes & 1 Can Crushed tomatoes
2 medium yellow onions, coarsely chopped
1 or 2 Cut chilis
1 tablepsoon pepper sauce (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add cinnamon stick, cloves, and bay leaves and cook for 5 minutes or until fragrant. Add onions saute until golden brown. Add crushed pepper, garlic, ginger to the onions and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the chicken to the onions. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

Add the remaining spices and mix well. Stir for a couple of minutes letting it setle into the beef. Then Reduce heat to medium, cover dish and let it cook for another 5 to 10 minutes stirring inbetween so that beef does not stick to bottom of dish .

Add the crushed tomatoes can and also the cut tomatoes and stir well . Let it cook for another 15 minutes or so stirring and checking the dish inbetween or until beef is tender.

The Best Caesar Salad In the History of the World.

I'm not a Caesar Salad kind of girl.  I don't like crutons (I know, I know! Who am I???).  I hate creamy dressings.   I prefer my salad under dressed, and am the typical New York City "dressing on the side" kind of girl.  

But something in me changed when I saw an episode of Jamie Oliver at Home. In it, Jamie took the crusty old Caesar salad to a whole new level.  You won't find any dry old chicken breast, clunky dressing, or crusty crutons in this salad.  Oh no.  Here, Jaime roasts chicken legs on top of torn up ciabatta bread (which creates the most wonderful, flavorful cruton you will ever taste), a proper caesar salad dressing (with anchovies! Don't be scared!), lots of rosemary, and some pancetta (I used bacon) to round it all out.

What you get is an unbelievably dynamic and rustic Caesar salad. Moist chicken, smoky flavors from the pancetta (bacon), crutons that are both crisp and moist at the same time and packed with flavor, and an deliciously flavorful dressing that amps up the entire experience.

You have not lived until you have eaten this salad.  Seriously.  Everything up until this point has been a dream.  You're actually not even reading this post right now. 

Proper Chicken Caesar Salad adapted from Jamie at Home

4 chicken legs, skin on

1 loaf ciabatta bread

3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked and roughly chopped

Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper

12 thin slices pancetta or bacon

1/4 clove peeled garlic

4 anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained

3 oz freshly shaved Parmesan, plus extra for topping

1 heaped tablespoon creme fraiche

1 lemon, juiced

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 or 3 heads romaine lettuce

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the chicken legs in a snug-fitting roasting pan with the pieces of torn-up bread. Sprinkle with the chopped rosemary, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix with your hands to make sure everything is well coated, then lift the chicken legs up to the top, so they sit above the bread. This way, the bread will soak up all the lovely juices from the chicken, giving you the best croutons! Pop the pan into the preheated oven.

After 45 minutes the chicken should be nicely cooked. Take the pan out of the oven, drape the pancetta or bacon over the chicken and croutons, and put back for another 15 to 20 minutes for everything to crisp up. The chicken legs are ready when you can pinch the meat off the bone easily. When they're cooked, remove the pan from the oven and set it aside for the chicken to cool down slightly.

Pound the garlic and anchovy fillets in a pestle and mortar or a Flavor Shaker until you have a pulp. Scrape into a bowl and whisk in the Parmesan, creme fraiche, lemon juice and 3 times as much extra-virgin olive oil as lemon juice. Season dressing, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Pull the chicken meat off the leg bones - you can use 2 forks to do this, or your hands if you're tough like me - and tear it up roughly with the croutons and the bacon. Wash, spin dry and separate the lettuce leaves, tear them up and toss with the chicken, croutons, bacon and creamy, cheesy dressing. Scatter with some Parmesan shavings.

Braised Chicken Leg and White Beans with Rosemary and Garlic

I must say that I am a very lucky girl. That beautiful dish you see above is courtesy of my boyfriend, Jack.  He is, by all accounts, a fantastic cook.  I almost can attribute my love of cooking to him – but I won’t because he’ll gloat and rub it in.  But frankly, before I met Jack, my idea of a good meal was one piece of turkey and one piece of American cheese on dry whole wheat bread… with relish.  I never knew the wonders of simple flavors, like salt or lemon zest, that heighten the flavor of a dish, or the earthy taste of rosemary, the “foresty” (Jack’s adjective) scent of thyme, the wonders of roasted garlic, or the sweetness of sautéed onions.

I just finished reading Molly Wizenberg’s (Orangette) book, A Homemade Life (buy it -  seriously).  In the book, she mentions that her boyfriend at the time (now her husband), Brandon, is the more experimental cook of the two.  Where Molly is “hunched over a cookbook, hanging on every word, he’s at the stove with his fingers in the pot.”  If I weren’t paying attention, I would have thought Molly was talking about Jack and me. There were many times I would read this book and smile, thinking of Jack. I must admit, I sometimes envy his ability to pick up a few ingredients and create something without relying on a recipe, but at the same time, it inspires me to think off the page and trust my instincts.

Sometimes, he’ll work with a recipe to learn about the flavors and then the next time, he’ll wing it, eyeing measurements and adding his own spices and touches.  His mind is always churning.  We both absolutely love Alice Water’s the Art of Simple Food, because her recipes are a canvas to make it your own. If my boyfriend does work with a recipe, it is from her book.  Her recipes are like color by numbers – there is a guideline, but no one is forcing you to color within the lines.

Just so he doesn’t get a big ego, I tell him the food sucks, because I’m a big baby.  He often knows I’m lying from the smile that I try desperately to hide, the sighs that leave my lips, and the clean plate that sits in front of me.

The fact of the matter is I’m a better cook.  So there.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  After writing this post, I asked my boyfriend to read it, thinking that he’d appreciate my acknowledgement of his talents in the kitchen.  He instead edited my post as if he were Editor-in-Chief of Random House and then proceeded to tell me I know nothing about ingredients. 

This is why I have to tell him his food sucks.  

BLECH! Don’t make this recipe! (Ok, ok make it.)

Braised Chicken Leg and White Beans with Rosemary and Garlic adapted from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters

4 chicken legs

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 1/2 onions, sliced thick

5 garlic cloves, sliced thin

2 bay leaves

2 rosemary sprigs

4 tomatoes, diced large

1.5 cups chicken broth

2 tablespoons dry white wine

 

1 cup dried white beans

Salt

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons coarsely chopped rosemary leaves

For the Chicken:

Season the chicken a few hours before with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Heat a heavy bottom pan over medium heat.  Add olive oil and place the chicken legs into the pan skin side down and cook until crisp and brown, about 12 minutes.  Turn and cook for another 4 minutes.  Remove the chicken an add onions.  Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, rosemary, and bay leaves and cook for 2 minutes. Deglaze with white wine, scraping up brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add tomatoes and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Arrange the chicken in the pan, skin side up, and pour in any juices that have collected.  Pour in chicken broth.  The liquid should reach halfway up the chicken; add more if needed. Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer.  Cover and cook at a bare simmer or in a 325 degree F oven for 45 minutes.  When done, pour the braising liquid into a bowl and skim the fat.  Discard the bay leaves and rosemary stems.  Taste for salt and adjust as needed.

For the Beans:  Soak beans overnight in 4 cups of water.  Drain and transfer to a heavy pot.  Add water to cover by 2 inches.  Bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and skim off any foam.  Simmer gently for 2 hours or so, until the beans are tender.  Add more water if necessary during the cooking.  Season to taste with salt.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan or skillet, warm olive oil over low heat.  Add garlic and cook just until the garlic is soft, about 2 minutes.  Stir into the beans, taste for salt and adjust as needed.  Let the dish sit for a few minutes before serving to allow the flavors to marry.

 

 

 

Alice Waters - Roast Chicken - No Drinks Needed.

As you may or may not have read a few days ago, I made (read: molested) a roast chicken straight from the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School Lesson Plan.  Though moist and juicy, the skin on this chicken left something to be desired.

I compared it to Alice Water's Roasted Chicken, which, in true Alice Water's fashion, is much less of a hassle to make, focusing only on a few ingredients and minimal fussing (read: molesting).  The result was a moist chicken with crispy skin that bursted with the flavors of thyme, rosemary, and garlic.  This is, in my mind, what every roasted chicken should taste like. There was not a bite that was not packed with juices and flavors.

But I still can't figure out why this skin was so crisp, yet the other fell so limp and flat. I didn't buy this chicken a drink, either.

(By the way, if you don't own this book, I highly recommend it.  Some of the best meals I have ever eaten have come from this book, and all rarely contain more than 5 or 6 ingredients and are not fussy recipes, yet are full of flavor and are completely satisfying.)

Recipe - Adapted from Alice Waters - The Art of Simple Food

1 chicken weighing 3 1/2 to 4 lbs.

Several sprigs fresh thyme

Several sprigs fresh rosemary

3 cloves garlic, sliced thick

salt and freshly ground pepper

oil for the pan

Remove the giblets from the cavity of 1 chicken weighing 3 1/2 to 4 lbs.

Remove the pads of fat inside the chicken. Tuck the wing tips up and under to keep them from burning. Season, 1 or 2 days in advance, if possible.  Sprinkle inside and out with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Put a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary under the skin of the breast and thighs and within the cavity. Add a few thick slices of garlic clove under the skin.

Cover loosely and refrigerate.  At least 1 hour before cooking, remove and place in a lightly oiled pan, breast side up.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Roast for 20 minutes, turn the bird breast side down, and cook for another 20 minutes.  The turn the breast side up again and roast until done, another 10 to 20 minutes.  Let rest for 15 to 20 minutes before carving.

Poulet Roti - Roast Chicken

Inspired by Shari of Whisk: A Food Blog, I joined Whisk Wednesdays, a group made up of several fantastically wonderful, passionate women, cooking their way through Le Cordon Bleu at Home in order to save, oh, I guess $27,000 - roughly the cost of attending culinary school. So, for $20 (@$#%! I paid $50! Stupid sales that happen after I buy things), we are able to get an abridged culinary school education.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to keep up with these most dedicated women by cooking each Wednesday.  Therefore, I am working my way through the book in honor of Shari and the fellow women, but slightly out of the order in which they are doing it, and in the order in which the book was printed. 

I have to note that my boyfriend (who also is an avid cook, and whom I can thank for getting me into cooking, and who will be my sous chef while we work our way through the book) got in an argument as to the "correct way" to work through the book. I wanted to follow the outline that Shari has on her page, where she starts with knife skills, then to garnishes, doughs, and so on and so forth and follows in the natural order of which, I believe, culinary schools follow.  He wants to do it in the way the book is printed - in three parts, ranging from basic to advanced techniques.  

He won. 

I'm a bit bitter, because the girl is always supposed to win.  If you knew my boyfriend, though, you'd see that it is impossible to win in an argument with him.  It doesn't help that he is borderline brilliant, and usually right on any topic that is brought up.  And I'm glad that he doesn't keep up with reading this blog (ahem, as much as he should) unless I remind him, so he won't see that I wrote that. And I won't bother him this week about reading my posts.

Chapter One it is. I guess that the people at Le Cordon Bleu feel that roasting a chicken is, by far, the easiest cooking method there is.  I mean, you throw a chicken in a roasting pan and call it a day, right? 

Wrong.  "Not all chickens are equal in France".  Oh, really?  It seems that in France, there is some type of poultry elitism takes place, and birds from Bresse, near Lyon, are the highest priced, with free-range chickens from Perigord and the Loire Valley coming in a close second.  Well, I'm going to have to tell the French that the fine makers of Pepperidge Farm chicken, sold in the poultry aisle for ten bucks, are fantastically tender, and I won't have to do any plucking myself, thankyouverymuch.

Ingredients

5-pound chicken, giblets removed

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 bay leaf

Several sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 tbsp vegetable oil.

Start off by rinsing the chicken and then patting it dry. Then, season the cavity with salt and pepper and add the garlic and herbs. Then, truss the chicken. I followed the diagram very carefully.  What seems like a very easy process is actually, quite annoying.  I felt like a child trying to tie her shoe for the first time.  Bunny ear, through the loop...

After the saddest trussing job known to man, in which my boyfriend and I had to use extra twine to tie the twine that was already tied together so that it would be pulled taut (that sentence made no sense and I have no interest in trying to make sense of it, since I don't understand it myself), we proceeded rub the chicken down with butter. I mean, rub it down.  What we did to that chicken was illegal in 38 states. That butter never seemed to end. It just lasted and lasted. After 10 minutes of molesting this poor bird carcass with butter, I then had to rub it down with oil. 

The poor chicken never knew what was coming.

The chicken then roasted for an hour on 425 degree heat - 20 minutes on one side, 20 minutes on another side, then add some water, and roast until the juices run clear when pierced, 20 minutes longer.  

After removing the chicken from the pan, I finally got to cook a jus, basically a fancy French word (and seriously, what French word isn't fancy?) for juice, by cooking the particles on the top of the pan with the fat and juices in the pan. No "Gravy Master" here (sorry, Dad)! Just fat in juice! 

It's kind of like the episode of Friends where Joey drinks the fat. 

(And yes, I talk about Friends a lot. It's a great show, and a lot of life's lessons can be applied to an episode of Friends.)  

I grabbed my butcher's knife, which I have yet to use since purchasing my set of knives several months ago. My heart always skips a beat whenever I accidentally pull the butcher knife from the block, as those knives are scary. Like, "if I accidentally drop this, I'm going to sever my foot at the ankle" scary. Like "don't even enter the kitchen while this is in my hand" scary.  But I took an odd fascination with it this time around, as it was going to be put to use. So I butchered the chicken.  Literally.  This lesson obviously did not teach me how to carve a chicken.  I swung away like John McEnroe on the tennis court (not really), with the poor, massacred chicken, my tennis ball.

The final outcome? Very tender. Very, very juicy.  The jus was the most delicious jus (lets just call a spade a spade here - it is gravy) I have ever had. 

But the skin was not crispy. At all. In fact, it was very limp (can you tell from the picture? Don't lie, you totally can). It was tasty, but limp. 

I actually have roasted a chicken Alice Waters style (which I will write about later in the week as a comparison), and the skin was perfectly crisp and delicious.   But I actually can't tell the difference as to why the Alice Waters chicken skin was so crisp, but this was so limp? Alice's chicken was just lightly brushed with oil.  Was it the butter molestation? The smathering down of vegetable oil?  

Was it the chicken's revenge on me for not at least buying it a drink first?

Tandoori Chicken Naanwich

Keeping with the heart of delicious, ethnic, flavorful food, here is another winner!

Tandoori Chicken Naanwich
Everyday Food via Yum Sugar

Ingredients

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 to 4 cloves)
1/4 cup grated onion (1 small onion)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 pounds of skinless chicken thighs, excess fat removed
2 red onions, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
8 pieces of naan
1/2 cup storebought mango chutney
1 cup spinach leaves, tightly packed

Directions
Makes 4 sandwiches.

1. Place yogurt, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, onion, paprika, cinnamon, cumin, salt, pepper, cardamom, coriander, and cloves in a large bowl; combine. Add chicken, and coat with marinade. Cover with plastic wrap; chill 6 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place onions on a large pan; top with marinated chicken. Roast about 40 minutes, until chicken is dark red, slightly charred, and juices run clear when meat is pierced. Set aside.
3. Lower the oven temperature to 250 and wrap the naan bread in aluminum foil. Place the foil packet in the oven until naan is warm but not toasted, 5 to 10 minutes.
4. To make each sandwich, spoon 2 Tbsps. of chutney on one slice of naan, then top with 1/4 cup of spinach. Add onion slices to taste, followed by 1/4 of the chicken. Top it off with another naan slice, cut sandwich in half, and serve.