Bawk the Casbah

New and tasty chicken recipes are always welcome, right? I love Moroccan food, and this tagine was just what the doctor ordered on a recent weekday night. The kids liked it all right, but not nearly as much as I did. And I didn't even have the sweet paprika! When I discovered the empty bottle in the spice cupboard, I was too far into prep to change course. Next time I'll be sure to include it, and update if necessary.

Moroccan Chicken with Chickpeas and Apricots
adapted from Cook's Illustrated, May/June 2006
serves 4

1 1/4 t sweet paprika
1/2 t ground cumin
1/4 t cayenne
1/4 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground coriander
1/4 t ground cinnamon
3 strips lemon zest (about 3/4" by 2"), plus 3 T juice from 1-2 lemons
5 medium garlic cloves, pressed
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (2 thighs, two drumsticks, 4 breast pieces), fat trimmed (back and wings reserved for future stock-making!)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 T olive oil
1 lg onion, halved and cut into 1/4" slices
1 3/4 C homemade chicken broth
1 T honey
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 1/2" coins
1 C dried apricots, halved
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 T chopped fresh cilantro

1. Combine spices in small bowl and set aside. Mince 1 strip lemon zest and combine with 1 t minced garlic and mince to paste; set aside (or just use microplane to get equivalent amount of zest to mix with garlic--way easier).

2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in dutch oven over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke. Brown skin-side down in a single layer until deep golden, about 5 minutes; turn and brown on second side. Transfer to large plate; when cool enough, remove and discard skin. Remove all but 1 T fat from pot.

3. Add onion and remaining lemon zest to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have browned a little but aren't breaking down, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and cook just until fragrant. Add spices and cook, stirring constantly, until darkened and fragrant, about a minute. Stir in broth and honey, scraping bottom of pot to loosen fond. Add dark meat pieces, reduce heat to medium, and simmer 5 minutes.

4. Add carrot, apricots and breast pieces (plus juices from plate), arranging breast pieces in a single layer on top of carrots. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until breasts are 160 in middle, 10-15 minutes.

5. Transfer chicken to plate and tent with foil. Add chickpeas to pot, increase heat and simmer until liquid has thickened slightly and carrots are tender, 4-6 minutes. Return chicken to pot and stir in garlic-zest mixture, cilantro, and lemon juice. Adjust seasoning and serve immediately with couscous.

Couscous Pilaf with Raisins and Almonds
an online Cook's Illustrated Extra, contemporaneous with the tagine

4 T unsalted butter
2 C plain couscous (I like Casbah whole wheat couscous best)
3/4 C sliced almonds (I prefer slivered, for more crunch)
1 small onion, chopped fine
3/4 C raisins (I prefer golden)
salt
1 3/4 C homemade chicken broth
2 C water (adjust liquid amounts depending on type of couscous)
1 1/2 t fresh lemon juice
black pepper

1. Melt 2 T butter in skillet over medium-high heat. When foaming subsides, add couscous and cook, stirring frequently, until some grains are beginning to brown, about 3 minutes. Scrape the grains into a large bowl (have to use a silicone spatula to get all of them) and return pan to heat. Add almonds and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly toasted. Scrape into a small bowl.

2. Add remaining 2 T butter to skillet. When melted, add onion, raisins, and 3/4 t salt and cook until onion has softened and is beginning to brown. Add broth and water, increase heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil.

3. Add boiling liquid/onion/raisins to bowl with toasted couscous and cover bowl with a dish towel. Let sit until the couscous has absorbed the water and is tender, 10 minutes or so. Fluff couscous with a fork, and stir in almonds and lemon juice. Adjust seasonings and serve.

Stuffed.

Somehow I've made these twice without remembering to take any pictures. Big hits with everyone and nary a leftover morsel to be found:

Pork Chops with Spinach-Three Cheese Stuffing
adapted from Cook's Illustrated May/June 2005

Cook's always brines their pork, and I never do. If you want to brine them, go ahead, but they turned out perfectly fantastic without it (insert usual disclaimers about the quality of meat involved here). For this recipe you'll need one-inch-thick bone-in rib chops, the ones with the bones along two sides and a big unbroken eye of meat. Two of these are enough for our family (even with boys who often eat adult-sized portions), though the original recipe is for four chops.

To make the pocket for the stuffing, insert a sharp paring knife into the meat from the side of the chop, near one of the bones, until you hit the bone on the far side. Keeping the opening no more than about an inch across, swing the tip of the knife through the meat to make the pocket, then turn the knife around and swing it in the other direction.

Spinach-Three Cheese Stuffing

1 slice white sandwich bread, torn into quarters
1/4 C toasted pine nuts (instead of fresh bread and toasted pine nuts, I substituted a few tablespoons of a bread-crumb/hazelnut mixture I had in the freezer--some time when I'm feeling less lazy I'll do it according to the recipe)
1 T olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves, pressed
6 oz spinach leaves, washed (who doesn't buy pre-washed any more?) and stemmed
2 oz shredded fontina
1/4 C ricotta
1 oz grated Parmesan
1 med lemon, cut into 4 wedges
1/4 t salt
pinch ground nutmeg
ground black pepper

1. Pulse bread and pine nuts in food processor until evenly ground.

2. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add garlic and cook until just fragrant, then add spinach, turning with tongs to coat with oil. Cook until just wilted, then remove from pan. Transfer spinach to colander and squeeze to release excess moisture, then cool until just warm. (I did it this way the first time. The second time I transferred the spinach to a paper towel on top of a cutting board, then topped with another paper towel and pressed. I also chopped it a few times so it would mix into the cheese better. I preferred how it turned out the second time.)

3. Mix together fontina, ricotta and Parmesan in bowl. Add spinach and bread crumb mixture and mix to remove clumps. Stir in 1 T lemon juice, salt, nutmeg and pepper. Cut some of the white pith off the lemon wedge rinds to make little rectangular sections, about 3/4" by 1.5", to close the stuffing hole in the side of the chop.

The recipe didn't give any particular instructions for getting the stuffing into the chops. I found it worked well to have the chops in a bowl next to the bowl of stuffing, hold a chop up on its side, and use one finger to shove the stuffing deep into the pocket. The proportions of meat and stuffing are such that the chops will be really bulging when you're done. When you've got all the stuffing in the chops, insert the lemon rind pieces to seal up the gap. (The second time I made this I forgot to put in the rind stoppers, and the stuffing stayed in one chop and flowed pretty heavily out of the one in which I had inserted my temperature probe. So I recommend using the rinds.)

Preheat your oven to 450, then heat a little vegetable oil in an oven-safe skillet until just beginning to smoke. (The recipe calls for a regular skillet, then transferring it to a preheated roasting pan in the oven, but I just couldn't see the need for getting another pan dirty.) Brown the chops well on both sides, then transfer to oven and cook until center of stuffing is 135 degrees, 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking time. Transfer chops to a platter and tent with foil to rest for 10 minutes.

Spring Risotto

I actually made and photographed this a few weeks ago, just haven't gotten around to posting it before now. It was delicious, but not a big hit with the boys, so I don't think it will be joining our regular rotation.

If I hadn't had chicken on hand, we might have had a veggie dinner, but I did, so we didn't. The chicken (boneless skinless breasts, from a new farmers' market purveyor) I just pounded to even thickness (about 3/8"), then sautéed in a little butter and olive oil and topped with some of the gremolata from the risotto recipe. Yum.

Spring Vegetable Risotto
adapted from Cook's Illustrated, May/June 2008

Gremolata
2 T minced fresh flat-leaf parsley, stems reserved
2 T minced fresh mint leaves, stems reserved
1/2 t grated lemon zest

Combine in a small bowl and set aside.

Risotto

1 lb asparagus, tough ends snapped off and reserved, rest cut on bias into bite-sized pieces (I think I used 1/2 lb because that's what I had on hand)
2 medium leeks, non-leafy parts halved lengthwise, washed and thinly sliced, greens reserved
4 C low-Na chicken broth (or broth made from homemade stock)
3 C water
5 T unsalted butter
salt and pepper
1/2 C frozen petite peas
2 medium cloves garlic, pressed
1 1/2 C arborio rice
1 C dry white wine
1 1/2 oz grated parmesan cheese
2 t freshly-squeezed lemon juice

1. Chop asparagus ends and leek greens into rough pieces, and put them into a pot with herb stems, broth and water. Bring to a boil then simmer 20 minutes. Strain out solids and return broth to saucepan and keep warm over low heat.

2. Heat 1 T butter in dutch oven over medium heat until foaming subsides. Sauté asparagus with a pinch of salt and some pepper until crisp-tender, 4-6 minutes, then add the peas for 1 minute. Set aside on a plate.

3. Melt 3 T butter in same (empty) dutch oven over medium heat until foaming subsides, then add leeks, garlic, 1/2 t salt and 1/2 t pepper. Cook until leeks are softened, 4-5 minutes. Add rice and cook about 3 minutes, stirring quite a bit, until grains are translucent around the edges. Add wine and keep cooking and stirring until it's fully absorbed, 2-3 minutes.

4. Add 3 C hot broth to rice/leek mixture. Simmer, stirring frequently, until almost fully absorbed, then repeat with smaller amounts of broth until rice is just cooked through (not mushy, but no hard bit in the middle, either). Take pan off heat and stir in remaining butter, parmesan, and lemon juice, then fold in asparagus and peas and some of the gremolata (or you could put it on top).

Chicken Biryani

Having gone out for Indian really whetted my appetite for more. So, once I had finally acquired all the ingredients, I moved up a recipe in my queue, from the Mar/Apr 2004 Cook's Illustrated, for Chicken Biryani with Yogurt Sauce. I served it with steamed cauliflower (though next time I might use a past recipe for Curried Cauliflower), and dang it! I forgot the naan (from Trader Joe's, in the freezer)!

You should make the yogurt sauce first so the flavors have time to meld, so:

Yogurt Sauce

1 C plain yogurt
1 medium garlic clove, pressed
2 T cilantro, minced
2 T mint, minced
salt and pepper

Mix and season to taste. Let stand at least a half-hour or so before serving.

Chicken Biryani
adapted from Cook's Illstrated Mar/Apr 2004

Equipment note: make this dish in a 3.5-4 qt saucepan about 8" in diameter. It won't work properly in a wide dutch oven or saute pan. I used a 3.75-qt soup pot that worked perfectly. You will also need a large nonstick skillet.

Spice bundle (sachet?):
10 green cardamom pods, whacked with flat side of chef's knife
1 cinnamon stick
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, cut into 1/2-inch thick pieces and smashed with chef's knife
1/2 t cumin seed

Wrap spices in cheesecloth or something else porous, and secure with twine or whatever. I didn't have cheesecloth, so initially thought I'd bundle them in a coffee filter.


But then the coffee filter started to tear when I started to tighten the bundle. A quick rifle through a pantry cupboard turned up a length of nylon tulle that had been used as a bow on a hostess gift. My sewing machine was fortuitously already set up in the dining room, so I just cut off a piece of tulle, folded it around the spice-bearing coffee filter, and stitched around it to secure.



In that specially-sized saucepan, bring spice packet and 1 1/2 t salt to boil in 3 qts water. Simmer, at least partially covered, 15-30 minutes and no longer.

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 lbs), trimmed and patted dry*
salt and pepper

Season both sides of chicken thighs with salt and pepper and set aside.

3 T unsalted butter*
2 medium onions, sliced thin (I used my mandoline)
4 medium garlic cloves, pressed
2 medium jalapenos, seeded and chopped as per your heat preference (the original recipe suggests using the seeds of one; I left them both out since I was feeding kids and personally did not feel like something was missing, though Mavis may differ)

Heat butter in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until foaming subsides, and add onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until soft and browned around edges, 10-12 minutes. Add garlic (and jalapenos, if using) and cook another two minutes or so.





Transfer onion mixture to a bowl, season with a little salt, and set aside.

Wipe out skillet with paper towels and return to medium-high heat, and put chicken thighs in skin-side down. Cook without moving for about 5 minutes, until well-browned. Flip and brown for another five minutes on second side, then transfer to a plate, remove skin, and tent with foil to keep warm.

1 1/4 C basmati rice (preferably both Indian and aged--I bought mine bulk so don't know if it meets either of these criteria)
1/2 t saffron threads, crumbled
1/4 C dried currants or raisins (I used currants, but I think golden raisins would also be good)
2 T chopped cilantro
2 T chopped mint leaves

Add rice to boiling spice-infused water and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain rice through fine-mesh strainer, reserving about 3/4 C of the liquid, and discard spice packet. Transfer rice to bowl and stir in saffron and currants.

Spread half of rice in bottom of empty saucepan. Top with half of onion mixture, then chicken. Top chicken with cilantro and mint, then remaining halves of onions and rice, pressing layers down into pan. Sprinkle reserved cooking liquid evenly over rice.





Cover pan and cook over medium-low heat until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Keep heat under pan low enough that not much steam is escaping. Scooping from bottom of pot with a large spoon, serve a chicken thigh to each person. Top with yogurt sauce.



*I thought this dinner was fantastically delicious, but no one else liked it quite as much as I did. My one complaint was that, although the article in Cook's Illustrated thought that the recipe sufficiently combatted the dish's tendency toward greasiness by removing the chicken skin and not deep-frying the onions, I still found it a bit greasy. If I were ever to make it again (oh how I wish I'd thought to make it for the book group at which we discussed The Namesake!), I might reduce the butter even further, or substitute bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (still removing skin after browning), since they have less internal fat than the thighs.

Roast Chicken IV

MWR had suggested that I try the Chez Panisse and Simply French roast chicken recipes, and since he was going to be passing through on Sunday, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. So, Chez Panisse it was. It's quite a simple recipe, involving rubbing the chicken inside and out with a spicy rub, shoving a handful of fresh thyme in the cavity, and roasting it until it's done, in a pan with no rack, no turning, no basting. In other words, no funny stuff.

Spice-Rubbed Roast Chicken

1 t fennel seed
1/4 t red pepper flakes
1 1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 t ground black pepper
bunch fresh thyme
4 lb roasting chicken, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine first four ingredients in mortar and pestle and grind to crack fennel seeds. Remove giblets and excess fat from chicken cavity, and rub chicken inside and out with salt mixture. Stuff thyme inside cavity. Put chicken in roasting pan and roast for about an hour, or until thigh temp is 165 and breast no more than 170. Remove from oven and let rest 10-15 minutes before carving.

Here it is before popping it in the oven (note: this is not a four-pound chicken! It was the last one in the coop that day, so it's a 5.25-pounder).



Sous-chef/dinner guest MWR brandishing the chicken as we flip it onto its tummy to rest.



Resting chicken before I tented it with foil.



The flavor, with the fennel and red pepper, was really lovely. We overcooked it a tad, so the breast meat wasn't as moist as I like, but the flavorings were worth doing again for sure.

We had ganache-filled and cream-cheese-frostinged mini cupcakes for dessert, and once again I forgot to photograph them with their pretty pink frosting on. Here's what it looked like after we had consumed a dozen.

Saffron-Yogurt Chicken Curry

So, I copied Adriana and made that Chicken Curry from FoodBuzz. Because it was a complicated recipe, I did a mise en place with most of the ingredients, and naturally missed adding a couple of things (the sugar and the tomato puree (I used tomato paste from a tube)) at the right time. It still turned out fantastically tasty.

The yogurt-saffron mixture (I used whole milk yogurt, and some of that Spanish saffron):



The spices to be bloomed in hot oil:



The onion/garlic/ginger paste, with the spices due to be added with it:



I decided to brown my chicken before starting anything else, for more flavor. Next time I'll cut the chicken into smaller pieces.



After the sauté, starting to stew (next time I'll add the cauliflower half-way through, and resist the impulse to add just a little extra water):



The finished curry, after stirring in the yogurt/saffron and simmering a bit longer (when I first added it, the yogurt seemed to curdle, but after a little while simmering, it seemed to un-curdle; white bits visible in the finished dish are from the overcooked cauliflower):



Served over long-grain brown rice, with frozen naan from Trader Joe's (remarkably tasty):



Finally, a picture of Cindy Lou with Mavis (he's usually the one behind the camera). I wanted a picture of her in one of my favorite outfits for her before she outgrows it:

Mmmm, Chowdah

For tonight's dinner I tried another recipe from that free trial issue of Cook's Country. It was quick and tasty. I made about 2/3 of the recipe, and we ate about 2/3 of it or a little less. Next time I'll have proportionally a tad more chicken (tonight's package had just under a pound). Here's more or less how I made it (using the magazine's original proportions):

Chicken/Sweet Potato/Corn Chowder
serves 8-10

3 C whole milk
1 cup Jiffy corn muffin mix
2 T butter
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t dried oregano (I'll use fresh when I have it)
2 qts low-sodium chicken broth (I used turkey broth from last Thanksgiving--it needed to be used up or risk languishing in the freezer forever)
1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 sweet potatoes (about 1.5 lbs), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I always use garnet "yams")
1 C shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used cheddar, because the Monterey Jack I had had on hand got used up before I got around to making this recipe)
3 C frozen corn kernels (not thawed)
1/2 C chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix milk and muffin mix in large glass measuring cup (if you have to measure the milk anyway, why dirty another bowl?). Heat butter in dutch oven over medium heat until foaming. Sauté onion until softened and starting to brown. Add chicken and continue sautéing until chicken has lost most of its pink parts and the fond is building up on the bottom of the pan. Stir in garlic, cumin, oregano and about 1 t kosher salt until onions and chicken are coated and spices are fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add broth and sweet potatoes, bring to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are just forkable, 5-6 minutes.

2. Stir in milk/muffin mix mixture and simmer another 10 minutes, until soup thickens. Remove pan from heat and stir in corn and parsley. Adjust seasonings, then ladle into bowls and topped with grated cheese to serve.

Simple Crusty Bread v1.2

This time I tried with about half whole-wheat flour (Bob's Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour), and I baked it in the cast iron dutch oven without parchment, just carefully picking up the risen loaf and putting it as gently as possible into the hot pot. It didn't stick and the crust didn't have a funny flavor on the bottom, so that's good. The crust was also really nice. However, the bread itself was a little cardboard-y. Then I remembered that a lot of bread recipes I've seen say to add some honey if you replace any of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat. Aha. So next time I think I will add 2 T honey to the warm water/yeast/salt mixture before adding flour.



[Edited to add] Today's (Friday's) loaf (second of three from this batch of dough) turned out even better. I think the whole wheat flour benefits even more from the long, long refrigerated rise/rest than the white flour does.

Bread and Chicken, Chicken and Bread

Friday was the third and last roast chicken trial. This is the method I used most in the past, taken from The Cook's Bible by Christopher Kimball.

Slow-Roast Chicken

3.5-lb chicken
little bit of butter
kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove giblets from chicken cavity and pat dry with paper towels. Poke chicken all over with small skewer (I used a bamboo cake tester) (this is borrowed from the crispy-skin method, in part to make the skin crispier and in part because the pok-pok noise when you pierce the skin is so satisfying). Put chicken in V-rack in roasting pan, breast side up. Put a little softened butter on your hands (a teaspoon or so) and rub the chicken all over. Then sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. (I suppose now is where you could put the whole assemblage into the fridge overnight to dry out the skin, in which case you shouldn't have the oven on yet.)

Put chicken in oven and roast for 30-35 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees and roast for an hour. Then raise oven temperature to 400 degrees for a further 15-30 minutes, until temperature is 165 in the thigh and 170 in the breast (or thereabouts).

As you can see from the pictures, I also tried this time to stick veggies in the bottom of the roasting pan: a garnet yam, peeled and cut into chunks, the rest of the Russian Banana fingerling potatoes, a few carrots, peeled and cut into sections, and two leeks, quartered. I drizzled with a tiny bit of olive oil (since the chicken would be dripping its own fat on them, too), sprinkled with some salt and pepper and tossed to coat. The leeks didn't fare so well--if I do them again, I'll leave them whole (the ones I've been getting don't have much if any dirt down in them), or switch to whole shallots.

This chicken was delicious, and just about as easy as the French pot-roast method. I think in the future I'll use the French method if I want to make gravy, or just for a change, but I'll go back to this method as my default.

I also baked up the last of the Simple Crusty Bread, this time borrowing from another no-knead bread recipe, in Cook's Illustrated. They suggest letting the dough rest/rise in a parchment-lined skillet, and then transferring dough and parchment to a preheated cast-iron dutch oven in the oven. The oven and pot are preheated to 500 degrees, and then the temperature is lowered to 425 for the remainder of baking, the first half-hour with lid in place, and second half-hour uncovered.

This method definitely works better than throwing water in the broiler pan underneath the baking stone for developing a crisp, shiny crust. However, it seemed to me that the parchment imparted a slightly off flavor to the bottom crust of the bread. I've never had that issue with baking on parchment before, but then it's never had direct contact with a preheated-to-500 degrees hunk of cast iron before, either. I seem to recall one of the other no-knead recipes I've seen also called for baking in a dutch oven, but without parchment. I'll see if I can track that one down and try it.



And finally, the bebe, hanging out with Grandma.

"The Perfect Dinner"

Or so Number One said, per Mavis (I didn't hear it when he said it, and true to form he wouldn't repeat it). I don't know if I liked it better than the previous night's chicken (and the prep was a bit more complicated), but it was delicious and worth making again.

Crunchy Baked Pork Chops, Apple Slaw, steamed broccoli, roast Russian Banana fingerling potatoes.

Crunchy Baked Pork Chops
adapted from Cook's Illustrated Jan/Feb 2008

4 boneless center-cut pork chops, 6-8 oz each, 3/4 to 1 inch thick, trimmed of excess fat (I had some random tenderloin ends instead, about the size of chops, so I just cut off the silver skin and went for it; I'll probably use chops next time)
4 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into one-inch pieces (I had a random collection of crusts in the freezer leftover from some other recipe. I had originally thought yesterday's homemade bread would have enough left over for this recipe, I didn't feel like buying a whole new loaf, and this stuff was at least white)
1 small shallot, minced (about 2 T)
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed (about 1 T)
2 T vegetable oil
ground black pepper
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 t minced fresh thyme leaves
2 T minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
2 large egg whites
2 T dijon mustard (Cook's calls for 3 eggs whites and 3 T mustard, and a little bit more flour, which I think would be possibly too much and wasteful; in any case I had plenty)

Preheat oven to 350. (Cook's calls for brining the meat, which I never do. If you want to--and if you are using injected/seasoned supermarket pork you unequivocally SHOULD NOT--they recommend 1/4 C table salt in 1 qt water in gallon zipper-lock bag. Squeeze air out of bag before sealing and refrigerate 30 minutes. Then rinse under cold water and dry thoroughly with paper towels.)

Pulse bread in food processor until coarsely ground, making about 3 1/2 C crumbs. Put crumbs on rimmed baking sheet with shallot, garlic, oil, 1/4 t salt, and 1/4 t pepper. Toss with your hands until oil coats crumbs and other ingredients are evenly distributed. Bake until browned and dried, about 15 minutes, stirring every five minutes. Remove baking sheet, but do not turn off oven. Let crumbs cool to room temperature, and toss with Parmesan, thyme and parsley.

Put 1/4 C flour in one shallow dish. In another, whisk egg whites with mustard until smooth, then mix in 1/4 C flour until fairly well blended but not entirely smooth.

Increase oven temperature to 425. Cook's calls for using a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet, but I only have the one rimmed baking sheet and no rack to fit it, so I used a nice broiler pan (with pointed ridges and therefore less contact with the meat). Season chops with pepper (oops, forgot that). Dredge each chop in flour, then use tongs to coat with egg white/mustard mixture, letting excess drip off. Coat all sides of chops with bread crumb mixture, pressing gently to help adhere, then transfer to broiler pan.

Bake until center temp of chops is 150, 17-25 minutes (20 was just right for mine). Let rest 4 minutes before serving. (Cook's serves with lemon wedges, obviously because they didn't have the following Apple Slaw recipe.)

Apple Slaw
from Real Simple, who knows how long ago

I think if I were serving this as a condiment, this recipe would make too much. That was my initial thought. But if you take it as a salad (and it works quite well as one), this is just the right amount. I think any firm and tart apple would work about as well as the Granny Smiths--this fall I hope to use the winesaps from my own tree.

2 Granny Smith apples, cut into matchsticks (I started out using a knife and quickly switched to the julienne blade on my mandoline)
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/4 C sour cream
1/4 C chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/3 C toasted pine nuts

Clawing My Way Out of That Rut

We were all getting sick of the winter rut (Mavis actually told me after I last served it that he was pretty much done with pearl couscous with sausage and butternut squash), so I am now entering what I sort of hope will be a significant period of experimentation and adding new things to our regular repertoire. I say "sort of" because as much as I love cooking and putting together wonderful meals for my family, trying new recipes takes more time than throwing together familiar ones, and I get even more behind in my other projects and responsibilities. So we'll see how long I am able to keep it up before the burgeoning chaos (read: piles of random stuff) completely swamps the computer.

I have read in several places lately (okay, probably over the last year or so) several different versions of no- or low-knead bread. Tonight I tried the first of these collected recipes. As with the chicken, this one seems so easy that I may never get to all the others (although watch this space for the third and last roast chicken trial, coming in about a week). I got this from the Oregonian FOODay, but I can't find the recipe online.

Simple Crusty Bread
makes 4 loaves

1 1/2 T yeast (regular, not instant or rapid-rise)
1 1/2 T kosher salt
6 1/2 C unbleached all-purpose, plus more for dusting dough
3 C water
cornmeal for dusting pizza peel

In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 C lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose [not really]. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours [what I did]).

Here is the dough after mixing and before rising (after five hours it was up to the rim of the bowl; actually, it was there after 2, but didn't get any bigger after that):

Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece [or, since this is supposed to make four loaves, 1/4 of the dough] with a serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a mounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it, loosely covered.

Here is the shaped loaf, sitting on the pizza peel to rest.

Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour 1 C hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Tonight's other trial came from the latest Cook's Illustrated. It seemed like something we would all like, and I already had some of the ingredients. The original recipe called for using 4 8-oz chicken breasts cut into 8 cutlets to serve 4 people. Heavens, that's a lot of meat. I halved it (or close to it--the two breasts I bought were just over a pound total) for the four of us, and it was perfect. Here's how I made it:

Chicken Saltimbocca

1/4 C unbleached all-purpose flour
freshly ground black pepper
2 chicken breasts
1 1/2 t minced fresh sage leaves, plus 4 whole large leaves
thinly-sliced prosciutto to cover one side of each cutlet (for me, 2 slices of Prosciutto di Parma were enough)
2 T olive oil
5 oz dry vermouth
1 t freshly-squeezed lemon juice
2 T cold unsalted butter, cut into four pieces
1 1/2 t minced fresh parsley
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 200. Combine flour and 1/2 t pepper in shallow dish. Trim chicken, removing tender from underside, and carefully cut parallel to cutting board into 1/4 to 1/2-inch-thick cutlets.

If chicken seems wet (mine didn't), pat dry with paper towels, then dredge in flour, shaking off excess. Sprinkle one side of cutlets evenly with chopped sage, then top with prosciutto, trimmed to fit (Cook's says to press lightly to adhere, but when I did this it only made it stick to my hand).

With familiar recipes I'm cooking from memory, I don't usually do a mise en place, but it's a really good idea when you're trying something new to have everything ready to go before beginning, especially if it's a pretty fast-moving recipe and/or you're trying to prepare (as I was tonight) other parts of dinner at the same time.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add sage leaves and cook until leaves are uniform in color, 30 seconds maximum. Carefully lift out with tongs and put on paper towels. Carefully put half the cutlets in the pan, prosciutto side down (tricky because it doesn't really stick to the chicken), and cook until light golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Flip carefully (I used tongs) and cook on the second side until also golden, another 2 minutes or so. Transfer to warm plate in the oven, and repeat with the second batch.

Pour off excess fat from skillet, and pour vermouth into the pan, scraping up brown bits if necessary (I found that the pan was hot enough that the boiling action of the vermouth lifted it all up without any scraping on my part). Simmer until reduced to just a few tablespoons, 5 minutes or so. Stir in lemon juice, then reduce heat to low and stir in butter, one lump at a time. Remove from heat and stir in parsley and season with a little salt and pepper.

The finished sauce:

Remove chicken from oven, pour sauce over it, and top each cutlet with a sage leaf.

I served it with the bread (just a tad dense; I'll make more/deeper slashes for the next loaf) and cheesy polenta with zucchini. Argh! I just realized I forgot the fruit dish I had planned to serve, incorporating some of those beautiful canned pears I put up last fall! Oh well.



This meal was a big hit with everyone except Number Two, who was too tired to be overtly enthusiastic about anything other than the bread, but who nevertheless ate almost all of what we served him.

Speaking of Number Two, I've decided to come up with better blog names for my kids. Suggestions are welcome.

The Great Roast Chicken Trials

For various reasons (farmers' market not in season, all the other reasons why one should avoid eating too much red meat), we've been eating more chicken lately. There have recently been a couple of intriguing takes on the roast chicken in Cook's, so I decided to try them, along with the method I used to use when I had a great farmers' market source for poultry, and decide which one we liked best.

The first method was for French roast chicken in a pot--the perfect opportunity to use the robin's egg blue Martha Stewart Collection enameled cast iron dutch oven I got for Christmas. Before I had even tried the other methods, I was leaning toward choosing this one as the default, because it's dead easy.

French Roast Chicken in a Pot

4.5-5.5 lb chicken
kosher salt and fresh-ground black pepper
1 T olive oil
1 med onion, chopped medium
1 rib celery, chopped medium
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 sprig rosemary

Preheat oven to 250. Remove giblets from chicken, pat dry, and season with salt and pepper. Bring oil to just smoking over medium-high heat in dutch oven (mine is 7.5 qt). Add chicken, breast side down, and put vegetables and rosemary (I think I'll try thyme next time) in pot around it. Brown well, then flip over and brown the backside, stirring veggies occasionally. Then cover with foil and put the lid on (Cook's says the foil helps create a tighter seal), and pop in the oven for 80-110 minutes, until the chicken is 160 in the breast and 175 in the thigh.

Like I said, dead easy. It was also deliciously moist. Cook's says to strain the veggies out of the exuded juices, degrease, add a little lemon juice and serve alongside the chicken, but I skipped this. I did strain and degrease the juices (about a cup), but I saved them to add to the stock I plan on making in a few days.

The next trial was of Crisp-Skinned Roast Chicken, from the March-April 2008 Cook's. From the get-go this one has a disadvantage in that it requires some advance prep, always hard for me to remember to do (I ended up doing it at about 1 am last night--definitely not ideal). But it promised ultra-crisp skin, which I knew would be a big hit with Number One.

Crisp-Skinned Roast Chicken

3.5-4.5 lb chicken
1 T kosher salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 t ground black pepper

Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. Pat chicken dry. Using a sharp paring knife, cut four one-inch slits in the back skin of the chicken (alongside the spine). Use your finger or a wooden spoon handle to loosen the skin, front and back and legs. Then flip it over and use a skewer to poke 15-20 holes in the skin of the breasts and drumsticks. Pat dry again. Sprinkle salt mixture over bird and rub it in with your hands. Put chicken in roasting rack in pan (they say rimmed cookie sheet, but frankly my roasting pan is smaller) and refrigerate, uncovered, 12-24 hours.

Put oven rack on lowest position and preheat oven to 450. Tear off a sheet of foil big enough to mostly cover the bottom of your roasting pan, and poke holes in it with a paring knife about 1.5 inches apart. Put the foil loosely in the pan, and put the rack on top of it. Flip chicken breast side down, and roast for 25 minutes.

Take pan out of oven and flip chicken onto its back (they say to use wads of paper towels, but I used my turkey-flipping forks and they worked just great). Put it back in the oven and roast until the breast is 135 degrees, about 15-25 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees, and roast until the skin is brown and crisp, and the temperature is 160 in the breast and 175 in the thigh, 10-20 minutes. Transfer chicken to cutting board and let rest, uncovered, 20 minutes, then serve.

Once again, we had a deliciously juicy chicken. I wasn't blown away by the skin, though. Yes, it was pretty brown and pretty crisp, but there was just the slightest hint of chemical aftertaste from the baking powder, and it was a bit more hands-on and time-consuming in the prep than I would have liked. I haven't fully polled the boys, but I suspect this will not become a regular (since as the cook I have more votes).

Here is the chicken the night before, after rubbing with the salt mixture.



Here it is the next afternoon, after about 16 hours in the fridge drying out.



And here are the remains after we were done eating (sorry no pic of the golden glory!).



I served it with orange and green mashed potatoes (the kale was actually dark purple, not green, and stained the onions in the sauté) and clementines,



and Ganache-Filled and Frosted Cupcakes for dessert. Yum.