BBQ Parmesan and Corn Salad

Okay, it's not really parmesan, but you get the idea... Grilled chicken with BBQ sauce and cheese.  It tastes every bit as good as it sounds!

Ever since making the BBQ sauce last night I've been thinking of how good melted cheese would taste on top of it - and a few thick slices of havarti proved me right!

I just salted and peppered the chicken and placed it on the grill.  When it was about 3/4 cooked, I liberally (great word, liberal!)  doused the breasts with BBQ sauce and when they were done, added the cheese and let it melt a bit.  The cheese slid all over the grill and made a nice mess.  But it really did taste good!

The rice is a throw-together rice and orzo rice-a-roni-type-dish.  Rice and orzo browned in butter and cooked in chicken stock.  Simple.

The other star of the show was a Fresh Corn Salad.

Cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, basil, rosemary, and parsley from the garden.  Lovin' the goodies from the garden!

Fresh Corn Salad

  • Corn kernels cut from 2 ears of corn
  • 1 small bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 yellow zucchini (or other squash) diced
  • Cherry tomatoes, sliced
  • Fresh herbs (basil, rosemary, parsley, whatever)
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp while balsamic vinegar
  • garlic
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Blanch corn kernels and plunge into ice water to quickly cool.  Drain.

Add all vegetables and herbs to bowl and lightly todd to combine.

Add mayonnaise and vinegar.  Mix well.

Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, to taste.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Really simple.  The vegetables can be switched out to whatever you have on hand.  It's a great clean-out-the-refrigerator salad.

The BBQ sauce was really good, but as I said yesterday, just doesn't have the pronounced root beer flavor I'm looking for.

What I finally realized is I have to construct the recipe backwards.  I have to start with the reduced root beer, treat it as my base and add my ingredients to it instead of the other way around.  It's hard to believe I used to get paid do this stuff.  I need a refresher course in Recipe Development 101.

Oh well.  I'm not in a huge hurry to get it done.  I have two BBQ sauces in the 'fridge right now that will keep us going for a while...

I'm just glad I finally realized where I was making my mistake.  Things are a lot different when you're in a  commercial kitchen with (more or less) unlimited supplies and all day  - or longer - to do something.  It's really a lot easier to stop midway and toss and start over.

And over.

And over.

 

 

 


Raspberry Chicken

One of our wedding gifts last October was a huge box of fun foodstuffs from our friend Ruth.

Ruth and I spent many years standing next to one another playing with food - she knew exactly how much fun we would have with all the different sauces and oils and tapenades and the like.

One of the goodies was a bottle of Martin Pouret Vinaigre d'Orléans avec du Jus de Framboise.  A French wine vinegar with raspberry juice. The Pouret family has been making vinegars and mustards in Orléans since 1797 and the company today is run by a 6th generation Pouret family member.  Talk about continuity.  And flavor.

I had been holding back a bit on opening it because I knew that once I did  I would find two dozen things to do with it and it would be gone.

Today I finally figured out that it's okay to use it all up.  That's what fun food and enjoying life is all about!  To quote Patrick Dennis in Auntie Mame "Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!" It's time to Live! Live! Live!

I knew that dinner was going to be grilled chicken.  I also knew I was cooking some broccoli.  I had picked up peaches a few days ago and thought grilled peaches would go good with chicken and when I looked up into the cabinet, I knew just how good raspberry would go with peaches, as well.

A really simple marinade was born:  Raspberry vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Nothing else.  The raspberry vinegar is rich and fruity with a nicely-pronounced raspberry flavor.  It's totally unlike most fruit vinegars I've had in the past.  It really tastes like raspberries.

I marinated the chicken for about an hour and then put it on the grill for about 20 minutes total.

The peaches received a light coating of olive oil before going onto the grill, themselves, for about 5 minutes.

Buttered broccoli and faux rice-a-roni completed the plate.

The chicken really was stellar.  It had a great raspberry flavor without it being overpowering.  There was just enough acidity to balance the sweet with the tart.  I'm really glad I resisted adding more flavors.  Garlic would have been fine and any number of different herbs or spices would have worked, as well.  But the simplicity of the raspberry alone made the dish stand out.

Naturally, the little gray cells are working overtime trying to figure out what else to make.  I'm thinking a full-fledged raspberry barbecue sauce might be in the running..

In the meantime, there's a lot more peaches and the ice cream maker has gone into the freezer.  Tomorrow night is peach ice cream.

And maybe a raspberry sauce...

 

 

 

 


A Tough Old Bird

Of the goodies I received from Polyface Farms, the stewing chicken was one I was really looking forward to.

Stewing chickens are -generally- not actually raised for food production.  They are older laying hens who just aren't laying like they used to.   They -generally- are larger birds since they've been around a while and have had the opportunity to grow, and while not suited for quick-cooking, are excellent slowly stewed.  They can be really rich and flavorful with meat literally falling off the bone.

I got 1 out of 3.  Sorta.

My big ol' stewing hen was a pretty scrawny stewing hen.  It was maybe the size of a standard fryer but without anywhere near the meat.  And I simmered that bird for hours and it was tough and stringy.  Tough.

The original dinner plan was to stew the chicken, pull the meat from the bones and make a cream sauce with vegetables and put mashed sweet potatoes on top - pop back into the oven to brown a bit.

Pretty basic.

But that chicken just didn't have enough ooomph.  I ended up making the chicken and vegetables but chopping the sweet potatoes and cooking them off in the pan.

Dinner was good - and we had leftovers for lunch today - but it wasn't the stellar chicken I was expecting.

Oh well.  I'm doing an interesting beer and soy sauce marinade tonight for some beef.  It's pouring rain outside - and I do mean pouring - but I plan to grill nonetheless.

There's always the next meal to look forward to!

 


Lyle's Chinese Chicken

Victor is still in the kitchen.

Last night he was looking for something different to do with chicken when he happened upon the Lyle's Golden Syrup jar.  For those not in the know, Lyle's Golden Syrup is a British mainstay.  It's a cane syrup - actually a byproduct of sugar refining - and has been around for over 125 years.  It's probably found in every British household in the world.  And ours.

I use it interchangeably with Karo syrup although it has a stronger flavor than the light vanilla-accented Karo.   (Karo, by-the-way, has finally removed HFCS from its light syrup!)  It works really well for sugar glazes and the like.

The recipe on the jar was for chicken wings, but Victor tweaked it a bit for boneless breasts.

Lyle's Chinese Chicken - Victor-Style

  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp Lyle's Golden Syrup
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp sambal oelek (chili paste)
  • sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients and marinate about an hour.  Drain and roll in sesame seeds.  Bake at 375° about 30 minutes. (Depending upon size of breasts.)

The Lyle's version didn't call for the sambal oelek, but it's another staple in our home and we both really like sweet and spicy combinations.  He served it with parsley potatoes, peas, and the last of the bread stuffing disks from the other night.  They were a fun accompaniment.

The knee is coming along.  This morning it was sore and stiff, but moving around has helped it out.

Slowly but surely...

 


Brining a Chicken

When one is pig-headed and opinionated about things, I always find it's a good idea to once in a while revisit the things that one is pig-headed and/or opinionated about.  It can either validate the opinion or - in rare cases - actually change a mind.

Yes...  as opinionated and pig-headed as I am, I do - occasionally - change my mind on things.

I'm pleased to report, however, that brining is not one of the things I'm going to change my mind about, tonight.

In my not-so-humble opinion, brining, at least on a commercial level, has always been about putting flavor where factory-farming has taken it away.  Pick up a package of name-brand chicken breasts and notice the "May contain up to 14% (or 15% or 22%) solution" label.  It's usually in pretty small print somewhere.  They've bred the natural flavor out so now they have to add flavor to make it palatable.  But even more than reintroducing flavor, brining changes the texture of the product.  It breaks it down.  Where most people say "moist"  I say "mushy."

It's totally a texture thing.

So...  last night, I decided I needed to revisit my pig-headed opinionatedness.

I had a lovely 4 1/2 pound organic chicken that I decided to experiment with.  These are great birds on their own and I know the flavor profile perfectly.  I had my base line.

Not being a brining expert, I went to Epicurious to see what was up.

I came upon every type of brine imaginable, from basic salt and water to way-over-the-top flavorings.  Armed with a little bit of knowledge, I made up my own:

Brine for Chicken

  • 6 qts water
  • 1/4 cup kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp rubbed sage
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp onion seeds

Bring two cups water to a boil, add salt, sugar,a nd spices, and mix until sugar and salt have dissolved.  Add remaining water mixed with ice cubes to chill. Pour over chicken making sure it is completely submerged.  Brine 8 - 24 hours.

Into the 'fridge it went.

This afternoon, I pulled it out of the brine, rinsed it, dried it,, and got it ready for the grill.

It seems most brined chicken recipes call for the bird to be grilled, so...  when in Rome...

I had preheated the grill and then turned off the middle burners and kept the end burners on high, setting the bird right in the middle.

About an hour and half later, I had a pretty good looking bird.

I must admit that the flavor was really, really good.  The sage really came though albeit in a very subtle way.  There - but not overpowering or overly-pronounced.  Crispy skin for Victor (I'm not much of a skin fan.)

And yes, it was moist and juicy.

Victor's first bite was "It's really moist!"  His second bite was "Yeah.  I see what you mean about the texture."  It's just too soft.  There's no 'chew.'   It just lacks the proper consistency.  The flavor is definitely there, the texture ruins it for me.

And this is one where I know I'm in the minority.

Type in "brining" in Google and every celebrity chef and wannabe restaurateur has a recipe for brining something.  More power to them all.  I could almost see it if one wanted to really infuse something with a specific flavor, but I'd rather have the natural flavor and add a sauce.  And it's easier and less time-consuming!

My pig-headed opinionatedness concerning brining is something I don't have to revisit for a while.

NEXT?!?

 

 

 

 


French-Cut Green Beans

As a kid growing up, "French-Cut" Green Beans came in a frozen cube.  Actually, pretty much all vegetables came in a frozen cube - or a can.  The freezer was always full of those 10 for a dollar Lady Lee boxes.  It was how you fed six kids on a fireman's salary.

Come to think of it, the majority of the restaurants I worked at in the late '60's and early '70's served most of their vegetables from #10 cans.  Alice Waters wasn't yet on the scene.

French-cut green beans were always a special occasion vegetable.  Definitely not your basic Tuesday night fare.  If mom was going to get really fancy, there might be some slivered almonds in them.  But more often than not, they were boiled, salted, and buttered.

I still eat frozen vegetables - ofttimes they're fresher and more flavorful than stuff grown for shipping durability, but when they're available, nothing beats a fresh French-cut green bean.  And they're easy to prepare with the right little tool.

I'm not sure where we picked up the green bean frencher, but it's one of those gadgets that sits in the drawer just minding its own business until I decide it needs to see the light of day.  There's a variation of it on the top of a lot of vegetable peelers.

It's brilliant in its simplicity... a bean gets fed into the little opening and hits about 5 razor blades.  Ya pull it through and you have a French-cut bean.  It only cuts one bean at a time but in a matter of minutes, I had a nice-sized pile.

I simply steamed the beans and added a pat of butter and some salt and pepper.  Very basic.  I wanted to taste the beans - not a lot of other stuff.

The beans set off a classic roast chicken.  Lemon and herbs d'Provence in the cavity, mashed potatoes and pan gravy.

There is enough chicken left over for a couple more meals...

I'm going to have to think of something fun for tomorrow...

 


Counter Culture

Phase One.  New countertop installed.

After disconnecting the gas cooktop, the sink, garbage disposal, et al, my job was to RE-install all of the above.  In and of itself, it's not a difficult job.  That, of course, is assuming that everything just falls into place as it should.

It never does.

The drawer nearly sent me over the edge yesterday.  Today, it was the plumbing.

We had to wait 24 hours to install the plumbing, which was a good thing.  I probably would have take a sledge hammer to everything yesterday.

I came close to it, today.

Hooking up the faucet itself was relatively painless.  I had my plumber's tape, the right wrenches... I got everything connected.  Turned on the water, and voila!  no drips!

I turned on the faucet and Yosemite Falls magically appeared.  Actually, Yosemite Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.  Two leaks.  Disconnect, reconnect, water back on and we're down to one leak.  I take care of that one and we're done.

Now for the disposal.

Those of you who know me well know that I have the patience of a Saint.  NOT!  While it generally takes me a while to work up to sledge hammer mode, once it hits, it's not a pretty sight.

I had my plumber's putty and everything else I needed.  Ready.  Set.  Stop!

It seems the new sink drain is towards the back of the sink and everything was plumbed and set up for it to be in the center of the sink.  The supply pipes are in the way.  The drain pipe is in the wrong place.

I am not amused.

I finagle things a bit and figure out that there is enough room to get it in there, but it's going to be a tight fit.  What should be a relatively painless job is causing me much pain.  It's now been three hours since I started the project.  I'm getting tired, cranky, and hungry.

I stop to cook dinner.  I have everything but a drain.

I needed quick.  Did I mention the cranky part?  I put some rice on the stove and chicken breasts on the grill.   Roasted corn in a pot.  Cranky.

When the breasts were cooked, I covered them with enchilada sauce and shredded cheese and stuck them under the broiler to melt the cheese.

20 minutes.

I semi-cleaned up, and feeling better, went back at it.  The disposal was hooked up in 5 minutes!

I hooked up the drain pipes, turned on the water, and...  yes, you guessed it, a huge leak!  I took off the trap, put it back, and perfect.  Dry as a bone.  It was just one final little "gotcha" from the gods of water and home repair.

And the sink?!?

All ready for lots of cooking!

Thursday 3/17 the back splash arrives.  We already took off the moulding and trim around the bottom of the cabinets and I have to remove the undercounter lights before they can install the backsplash.  At least with the undercounter lights, I'm not laying on my back shoved inside a cabinet.

Working standing up is so much more civilized.


Orange Chicken and Fun Surprises

There is just nothing better than walking in the door after a crazy Saturday to the sumptuous scents of dinner cooking away in the oven.

And what a dinner.

Victor marinated chicken breasts in fresh-squeezed orange juice and a bit of olive oil all day.  He drained them, breaded them with homemade bread crumbs and toipped them with parmesan cheese.  Into a 425° oven for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, he cubed a couple of red potatoes, chopped a couple of carrots and a red bell pepper and roasted them in the same 425° oven.

The chicken really had a pronounced orange flavor that was both unexpected and totally delightful.  I really liked it.

It's definitely giving me some ideas for Spring!

In the meantime, I received a couple of real treats at work today!  Before Christmas I had been speaking with a customer about our Christmas cookies and, as she is German, was mentioning the Springerle cookies I had made.  She said she had a spice cookie that was excellent and would bring me in the recipe.  Today, she brought in the recipe for Anisplätzchen - the anise cookie, plus a short dough Butter cookie, and her mother's Kraftkuchen - a spice cake!

I am psyched!

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rainy day, so I may just have to make a spice cake!

There are just so many foods and so little time!

The second treat came in the form of a woman I have emailed with for years - my counterpart from Batavia, IL!  Finally, after all these years, I finally got to meet her in person!  Anne and I traded recipes and ideas back in the good ol' days and she has contributed several recipes to the "Quick and Easy" section.  She's even more fabulous in person!

A great day, indeed!


BBQ Chicken

Today was just one of those days.

It was dark, gray, and gloomy all day long.

I spent hours working on some web stuff for a new site that should have taken minutes.  Nothing was cooperating.

When I finally got things working, it was past time to start dinner.

I had decided on grilled chicken tonight.  It has been a while since I used the grill, and tonight it was calling to me.

I bought a beautiful whole organic chicken.

(For those of you out there who claim there is no difference in taste between an organic chicken and one of those national-brand things, I have to seriously disagree. There's a big difference.)

But I digress...

I made a dry rub of :

  • pico de gallo seasoning
  • chili powder
  • cumin
  • paprika
  • smoked paprika
  • celery seed
  • garlic powder
  • boonie pepper
  • salt
  • pepper

and liberally applied it early in the afternoon.  By 5pm, it was ready to hit the grill.

I preheated the grill, then turned off the middle burners and placed the chicken - leaving the two end burners lit.

Into the kitchen I went to double-bake a big ol' sweet potato.

I baked the potato, scooped out the goodies, mixed it with a pat of butter, a drizzle of maple syrup, and some S&P.  Back into the potato and back into the oven.

After about 15 minutes on the grill, I went out to check.

Blazing fire.

As in a big ol' blazing charred-almost-beyond-recognition-fire.

I was not amused.

Did I mention I was having a day?!?

I put out the flames, did a bit of rearranging on the grill, and finished them. I figured they would still be moderately edible

Not amused.

When I brought then into the light, though, I found they weren't quite as bad as I had envisioned.  The dark, gray, and gloomy outside did make them seem worse than they were.

So onto the plate they went, along with a twice-baked sweet potato and some baby broccoli.

The chicken was actually pretty awesome!  Tender, juicy, spicy,  perfect smoky flavor...  If I hadn't known I had screwed up in the beginning, I would have sworn I planned it this way!

And the web-stuff is working, too!


Meyer Lemon Chicken Piccata

I was glancing at the latest issue of Cooking Light this morning before going out grocery shopping, and saw a recipe for Meyer Lemon Piccata.  It sounded interesting and I kinda filed it away, as I am wont to do with recipes.  Usually, that means I'll never think of it, again, because something else will take center stage and bury it deeper into the dark recesses of my overly-forgetful mind.

But 30 minutes later, walking into the grocery store, the first thing I saw was a huge display of Meyer Lemons!

It was meant to be.  I grabbed a bag.

Meyer lemons are native to China and thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange.  They're sweeter and less acidic than their grocery store cousins.   They've been grown in California for a hundred years, although they were pretty much wiped out in the 1940's because of a citrus virus.

But they're back in full production, today.

This was an extremely easy dish to make.  The most novice of cooks could make this and serve it to company.

Really.

Meyer Lemon Chicken Piccata

Ingredients

  • 2 (8-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
  • 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4  cup  all-purpose flour
  • 2  tablespoons  unsalted butter, divided
  • 1/3  cup  sauvignon blanc or other crisp, tart white wine
  • 1/2  cup  fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/3  cup  fresh Meyer lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
  • 2  tablespoons  capers, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4  cup  chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation

1. Split chicken breast halves in half horizontally to form 4 cutlets. Place each cutlet between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound each cutlet to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Sprinkle cutlets evenly with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish; dredge cutlets in flour.

2. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 cutlets to pan, and sauté 2 minutes. Turn cutlets over; sauté for 1 minute. Remove the cutlets from pan. Repeat the procedure with remaining 1 tablespoon butter and 2 cutlets.

3. Add wine to pan, and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook for 1 minute or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in chicken broth; bring to a boil. Cook until broth mixture is reduced to 2 tablespoons (about 4 minutes). Stir in juice and capers. Serve over chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.


Soup and Sandwiches

A roast chicken means chicken soup.  A chicken carcass is an automatic free meal.  It takes nothing but a bit of leftovers to create a great meal.

A basic chicken soup has no recipe.  It just is.

Seriously... It's put stuff in a pot and boil.  Place the carcass and whatever meat is still attached, skin, liver gizzard, neck - all the little pieces from the little bag - into a soup pot and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of hours.  You can add some celery, onion, and carrots to the pot - skins, peels, and all - for additional flavor.

Remove from heat and strain.Let the carcass cool and then strip it of every last shred of meat.  It will go back into the pot.

For the soup itself, add the stock and chicken to a pot.  The add whatever you have in the house.  Frozen vegetables, those little tupperware containers of whatever, potatoes, beans, rice, noodles or other pasta...

Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper and anything else you may like or have laying about.

That's the soup I made last night. It's slightly different yet always the same whenever I make it.

There are a lot of other chicken soups out there, from Mulligatawny - one of my all-time favorites - to our friend Karen's Mexican Chicken Soup.

Soup is not difficult.

So that was last night.

Tonight was meatball sandwiches and french fries.  Going gourmet all over the place.

Even the cook doesn't feel like cooking some nights.  Frozen meatballs, jarred sauce, a fresh baguette, and fontina cheese.  French fries dusted with garlic powder and cayenne pepper.

It worked.


Roast Chicken

I have been sadly remiss in getting dinner blogs together the past few days.  We're definitely eating, but I have been really busy trying to get a new website online for Against The Grain Gourmet - a great gluten-free bakery in Vermont.  They've outgrown the site I did for them a couple of years ago and we're going to bring it into the 21st century.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, dinners are being quickly consumed and then I head back to the office to work.

But they've been good dinners!

Last night was a roasted chicken.  Sometimes the simplest foods can just be the best!  A lemon in the cavity, freshly grated orange zest on top with a bit of salt and pepper, and into a 375° oven for about an hour.

It came out great!  Pan gravy, mashed potatoes, and zucchini and tomatoes finished the plate.

Victor had chicken sandwiches today and I'll probably make soup tomorrow, since it's supposed to snow a bit.

Well...  no more goofing off.  Back to work!