Shrimp Shumai

I've been wanting to make dim sum at home for a while now. I've made steamed pork buns and potstickers before, but I wanted to try my hand at other kinds of steamed dumplings. So, last night, Nick and his daughter Maggie came over to prepare dinner with me. 

Maggie was in charge of making sesame chicken potstickers, and she did a fabulous job! She also made a spicy peanut dipping sauce (recipe at the end of this post) to go with them.

I was in charge of the shrimp shumai, a recipe that I wanted to test so that I can use it in an upcoming cooking class. 

I was very happy with both of these recipes, and I will definitely make them again. They were much easier and not as tedious as I'd expected. 

Today, I'm using the leftover chicken filling (it makes way more than 20!) to make meatballs that I'll eat with rice and veggies. 

Shrimp Shumai


adapted from Mark Bittman

Chicken & Dumplings

School started on Monday. I ended my summer break last week by binge watching season 2 of The Mind of a Chef. Sean Brock is just so damn adorable. And his southern comfort food is absolutely swoon-worthy.

One recipe that I knew I wanted to make as soon as possible was his mother's version of chicken & dumplings. Here's the clip:

All last week, I needed comfort food as I watched the world implode around me. The unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, hits close to home...literally. Ferguson is only 15 miles from my front door. So I decided there was no better way to start the school year and to relieve some of the tension of current events than by inviting friends over for chicken & dumplings and pie.

Here's my version of the Brocks' recipe:

Chicken & Dumplings

Note: This dish is much brothier when it's first made, more like a soup. The picture above was taken after the leftovers had been in the fridge for a couple of days, soaking up all the stock. Still delicious.

Coq au Riesling

I love when people come over to cook. Monday night, my friend Theresa helped me make a recipe that's been on my list for a while...Nigel Slater's Coq au Riesling. I wanted to try coq au vin (chicken cooked in red wine), but the color the chicken takes on from the wine isn't appealing to me. Using a white wine, however, sounded much better!

Here, chicken is browned then braised in wine with bacon, mushrooms, and onions. The sauce is finished with heavy cream. We served it over creamy truffled polenta to soak up all that deliciousness.

Next month, Theresa and I are going to make lobster rolls...including homemade buns!

Curried Chicken Salad

This is not a "new to me" recipe; it's one that I've pulled from my personal recipe box. In fact, this is based on my Uncle Eric's recipe, one that he served at a small coffee house/lunch spot (The New Leaf Cafe) that he used to own with my Aunt Nancy (his sister) in Springfield, Illinois, in the early 1990's.

My favorite photo of Eric, taken at his house in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

I like this recipe so much that I asked him to make it for my high school graduation party. It's my favorite chicken salad, and during the summer I usually make it every couple weeks or so. Each time I do, I'm hit with a wave of nostalgia.

Curried Chicken Salad

Green Curry Stew

I'd never made curry paste from scratch, so I tried this recipe recently. This makes a soupy kind of curry, perfect for serving over rice or rice noodles. Be careful not to cook the stew too long after adding the green vegetables, as they will start to gray if overcooked (as you can see in the photo). 

 

This is a fairly mild curry, but you can spice it up by adding more peppers to the paste (or using 3-4 serrano chiles instead of jalapenos) and adding more spicy to the finished stew.

Green Curry Stew

recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

serves 4-6

For the curry paste:

1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 large jalapeno chile, seeded & sliced

1/2 cup fresh cilantro or parsley

zest of 1 lemon

3 large garlic cloves

2 green onions

2 tablespoons chopped & peeled fresh ginger
zest of 1 lime
juice of 2 limes

For the stew: 
2 ounces spinach (1 cup)
1 can (14 ounces) unsweetened regular coconut milk
1 can (14 ounces) unsweetened light coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced 1-inch thick
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups haricot verts, cut in half
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

• To make the curry paste: Blend all the ingredients in a blender or food processor. (Curry paste can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 3 months.)
• To make the stew: Puree 5 tablespoons curry paste, the spinach, and 1 cup regular coconut milk in a blender until smooth. Reserve remaining curry paste for another use.
• Bring remaining regular coconut milk, the light coconut milk, and the stock to a boil in a medium Dutch oven or heavy stockpot. Reduce heat, stir in curry-spinach mixture, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the chicken, zucchini, broccoli, & green beans and cook until chicken is cooked through & vegetables are slightly tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, & cayenne (if you want more heat). Remove from the heat & stir in the basil.
• Serve over cooked rice or noodles.

Paella

Between end-of-the-school-year grading and dealing with other people's bullshit (I've finally decided that I'm too old for all this drama & am now ignoring those people), I haven't had time to cook. But, I'm trying to remedy that. So, a couple Sundays ago I invited my friend Stephanie (aka Iron Stef) & fellow food blog mafiosa over to get busy in the kitchen.

We decided to try paella, which neither one of us had made before. Initially, I thought this would be a difficult--but welcomed--chore, but it turns out that paella is fairly easy...it just involves several steps. I also thought that it would be expensive to make, with all that seafood (mussels and clams and shrimp). However, it was a lot less spendy than I thought...the shrimp were $9.95 a pound, while the mussels and clams were each only about $5 a dozen. (St. Louis folks: I bought all the seafood at Bob's Seafood at 170 & Olive).

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: A Moveable Feast

Foodbuzz sponsors a monthly event that features 24 bloggers from 24 cities around the world who prepare unique meals during the same 24 hours. Earlier this month, I submitted a proposal for a meal inspired by Ernest Hemingway's memoir of 1920's Paris, A Moveable Feast...and my proposal was chosen!

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

-Ernest Hemingway, to a friend, 1950

A Moveable Feast is Hemingway's story of living as an expatriate writer--part of what fellow writer Gertrude Stein termed "Une Generation Perdue," The Lost Generation.

"That's what you are. That's what you all are," Miss Stein said. "All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation."

"Really," I said.

"You are," she insisted. "You have no respect for anything. You drink yourselves to death. . . ."

Though not a cookbook or food memoir, Hemingway's narrative includes many descriptions of the things he drank and ate in friends' homes and in various French cafes.


Though I originally planned to have dinner outside to emulate a Paris cafe, the heat index in St. Louis was over 100 that day, so I moved the meal inside. I tried to create a cafe feel with red plates, mismatched wine glasses, & an Eiffel Tower lamp on the buffet!

I invited fellow food & literature enthusiasts (from left): Jerad, Andy, Ellie, Bill, me, Stephanie, & Maggie (who took this pic).

M E N U

(recipes follow)

Aperitif:
Eau-de-vie
(strawberry-infused vodka)

My wife and I had called on Miss Stein, and she and the friend who lived with her had been very cordial and friendly and we had loved the big studio with the great paintings. It was like one of the best rooms in the finest museum except there was a big fireplace and it was warm and comfortable and they gave you good things to eat and tea and natural distilled liqueurs made from purple plums, yellow plums or wild raspberries. These were fragrant, colorless alcohols served from cut-glass carafes in small glasses and whether they were quetsche, mirabelle or framboise they all tasted like the fruts they came from, converted into a controlled fire on your tongue that warmed and loosened it.

--> -->
Hor d'oeuvre:
Les Huîtres Crues avec Mignonette
(raw oysters with Mignonette sauce)

-->I closed up the story in the notebook and put it in my inside pocket and I asked the waiter for a dozen portugaises and a half-carafe of the dry white wine they had there. After writing a story I was always empty and both sad and happy, as though I had made love, and I was sure this was a very good story although I would not know truly how good until I read it over the next day.

As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.

Maggie reading the oysters passage.


Maggie eating her first raw oyster!
(Bill is in the background, twittering about how we made him drink Barefoot Bubbly.)

Premier Cours:
Cervelas Remoulade, Pommes a l'huile
(sausages with mustard sauce, marinated potato salad)

It was a quick talk to Lipp’s and every place I passed that my stomach noticed as quickly as my eyes or my nose made the walk an added pleasure. There were few people in the brasserie and when I sat down on the bench against the wall with the mirror in back and a table in front and the waiter asked if I wanted a beer I asked for a distingué, the big glass mug that held a liter, and for potato salad. The beer was very cold and wonderful to drink. The pommes a l’huile were firm and marinated and the olive oil delicious. I ground black pepper over the potatoes and moistened the bread in the olive oil. After the first heavy draft of beer I drank and ate very slowly. When the pommes a l’huile were gone I ordered another serving and a cervelas. This was a sausage like a heavy, wide frankfurter split in two and covered with a special mustard sauce. I mopped up all the oil and all of the sauce with bread and drank the beer slowly until it began to lose its coldness and then I finished it and ordered a demi and watched it drawn. It seemed colder than the distingué and I drank half of it.

Stephanie & Ellie reading the sausages & potatoes passage (my typos & all).

Deuxième Cours:
Truffé de Poulet Rôti, Radis et de Salade d'endives
(truffled roast chicken, radish & endive salad)

[Disclaimer: The chicken, our third course, was served at nearly 10:00 pm. By that time I had consumed much vodka, champagne & wine and therefore forgot to photographically document the dishes. My apologies.]

-->We were halted by rain about an hour north of Lyon. In that day we were halted by rain possibly ten times. They were passing showers and some of them were longer than others. If we had waterproof coats it would have been pleasant enough to drive in that spring rain. As it was we sought the shelter of trees or halted at cafés alongside the road. We had a marvelous lunch from the hotel at Lyon, an excellent truffled roast chicken, delicious bread and white Macon wine and Scott was very happy when we drank the white Maconnais at each of our stops.

* * *

“We’ll come home and eat here and we’ll have a lovely meal and drink Beaune from the co-operative you can see right out of the window there with the price of the Beaune on the window. And afterwards we’ll read and then go to bed and make love.”

“And we’ll never love anyone else but each other.”

“No. Never.”

“What a lovely afternoon and evening. Now we’d better have lunch.”

“I’m very hungry,” I said. “I worked at the café on a café crème.”

“How did it go, Tatie?”

“I think all right. I hope so. What do we have for lunch?”

“Little radishes, and a good foie de veau with mashed potatoes and an endive salad. Apple tart.”

Dessert:
Tarte aux Pommes, Café au Lait
(apple tart, coffee with milk)

-->It was a pleasant café, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old waterproof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a café au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write.

My favorite pic of the night!

R E C I P E S

Strawberry-Infused Vodka:

An eau-de-vie, which Gertrude Stein served to Hemingway on numerous occasions, is actually a clear, colorless fruit brandy. However, I decided to make my own fruited liquor by infusing vodka with fresh strawberries.

This is so delicious yet so easy! Simply cut up a large container of strawberries (de-stemmed) into quarters. Pile into a pitcher and top with an entire bottle of vodka. Let sit at room temperature for a few hours (or in the fridge overnight), then strain back into the vodka bottle (or another decorative vessel). The result is sweet enough to sip straight from danty stemmed glasses.

NOTE: Do NOT store the finished vodka in the freezer. It will freeze solid (I learned that lesson this morning)!

Mignonette Sauce:

This is my favorite accompaniment to serve with raw or lightly steamed oysters.

Mix 1/2 cup champagne vinegar with 2 tablespoons finely shopped shallots, 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, & the zest of one lemon. Spoon over raw oysters before eating.

Sausages with Mustard Sauce & Marinated Potato Salad:

I sauteed Italian sausages in a bit of olive oil until they were brown and cooked through. I turned off the heat and let them sit in the pan while I made the mustard sauce & potatoes. When I was ready to serve, I quartered the sausages.

For the mustard sauce: mix 1 cup of mayonnaise with 1 tablespoon (or more to taste) Dijon mustard, 1 minced garlic clove, juice of half a lemon, a pinch of salt & freshly ground black pepper. Serve on the side.

For the potato salad: boil whole red new potatoes until just tender on the inside. You wante them to be retain a little firmness. Drain. While still warm, but cool enough to handle, thinly slice the potatoes and transfer to a bowl. Add a finely chopped shallot (or green onions) & a handful of chopped parsley. Sprinkle with salt & pepper, then drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil & red wine vinegar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Truffled Roast Chicken with Radish & Endive Salad:

For the chicken: Wash & dry a roasting chicken. Rub olive oil all over the skin & sprinkle liberally with truffle salt. Roast at 425 degrees for about an hour (for a 4.5 pound bird), or until the skin is browned & crispy and the juices run clear (meat should register 160 at the thickest part of the leg). Remove from oven and let rest while you prepare the salad. Serve with a small carafe of black truffle oil that your guests can drizzle over their chicken.

For the salad: Slice endive heads & radishes thinly. Season with salt & pepper and dress with a simple vinaigrette. I used the leftover Mignonette sauce whisked with some olive oil.

Apple Tart:
(recipe from The Pioneer Woman)

This was my favorite dish of the night, partly because it was so easy to make & partly because if was pretty tasty!

Thaw a puff pastry sheet, unfold it, cut it in half, then roll each half to form two larger rectangles.

Cut 2-3 apples in quarters & cut the core out. Thinly slice the apples & transfer to a bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt & 1 cup of brown sugar. Mix well to coat. Layer the apples, in one over-lapping line down the center of each pastry. Bake at 415 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed & browned. Remove from oven & transfer the tarts to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkle with powdered sugar just before cutting.

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A Play in the Park & the "Ultimate" Chicken Liver Pate

Let me begin by urging all you St. Louis folks to make a point to attend the Shakespeare Festival in Forest Park. Each year, the group performs one of the Bard's plays outdoors. This year, the show is The Merry Wives of Windsor. This FREE show runs every night except Tuesday at 8:00 from Memorial Day through Father's Day.

We always take a blanket, a stocked picnic basket, and a couple bottles of pricey wine to enjoy the weather and entertainment.

Before the show, Jerad was reading the playbill and commented about the summary, "Hey, a character's name is Falstaff. Like the beer."

"Yeah, that's where the beer people got the name," I replied (always the English teacher, I am). "Didn't you notice the inn's sign on the set? It's a nod to the beer."


NOTE: After a few impromptu surveys at the play and Tuesday night at The Stable, it has been determined that most people do NOT know where Falstaff beer got its name.  Apparently, only us nerdy teacher types know such trivia.

Anyway, the play was funny, the weather was perfect on Monday night, the company was extraordinary, and the food was...well...awesome.

I had another "I made!" moment when I tasted the chicken liver pate I made especially for the outing. It was so easy to do and really very tasty...rich but without the gamey liver taste you sometimes get with liver. It definitely is a special kind of dish; I only wish we'd had more people to share it with.

Chicken Liver Pate

from Tyler's Ultimate

1 pound chicken livers, trimed of any membranes or fat *
6 tablespoons Port wine
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
2 shallots, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves, plus 1 nice-looking sprig for garnish
1/4 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

* I used fresh chicken livers that I bought at the farmers market. I would suggest only using fresh, local meat for this recipe since it's really all about the quality of the liver.

• Rinse the livers and pat them dry. Put them in a small bowl, pour the Port wine over them, cover & refridgerate for 2 hours.
• Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a medium skillet. Add the shallots, garlic, & chopped thyme and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until softened but not brown (3-4 minutes).
• Add the livers, reserving the Port, and cook without browning until the livers just change color (3-4 minutes). (Browning would toughen the exterior of the livers & the pate would not be smooth.)
• Add the reserved Port to the pan and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Put all of that in a blender and puree until smooth. Add 3 more tablespoons of butter and process again until smooth. Now pour in the cream and pulse just until incorporated. Season with salt & pepper. (Note: It looks & smells horrid, but don't be alarmed! It's much better once it's cooled!)
• Spoon the mixture into a 3-cup terrine or dish and smooth the surface. Refridgerate for 1 hour, or until the pate just firms up.
• Then, melt the remaining 8 tablespoons of butter (1 stick) and pour it over the top of the pate to cover completely (this will seal the top & keep from discoloring). Press the thyme sprig into the butter and chill overnight (or up to a week).
• Serve with toasted baguette slices & red grapes.

Turkey Ossobuco

Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I usually have a lazy morning, run a few errands, maybe do some baking, make plans for the work week, then cook something fabulous for dinner. Well, at least I try to cook something fabulous. I haven't quite "recovered" from the holidays. I mean, it's been difficult to get back into the swing of things, to keep up with all I have to do for work and then cook & blog on the weekends (especially since I am taking two graduate classes this semester). Plus, I've been fighting illness and stress the past couple weeks.

So, I made a point to try a new recipe for dinner tonight. I browsed through all the recipes I have bookmarked on the computer and decided on one I considered making for Thanksgiving. It's a slow-braised dish that turned out tender and flavorful...a comforting meal on a cold Sunday evening.

Turkey Ossobuco
from Gourmet

For the ossobuco:

• 5 1/2 to 6 pounds whole fresh turkey legs (I used 4 legs.)
  
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 6 to 8 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 flat anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry, and chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
  
• 1 (14-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice, drained, reserving juice, and chopped

For the gremolata:

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest

To make the ossobuco:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Pat turkey legs dry. Stir together flour, salt, and pepper, then dredge 1 leg in flour mixture, knocking off excess. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown leg, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes, and transfer to a large (17- by 12-inch) roasting pan. Meanwhile, dredge another leg. Continue to prepare, brown, and transfer legs in same manner, adding up to 4 tablespoons oil to skillet as needed.

Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to skillet, then add onion and anchovies and cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until onion is golden and anchovies are dissolved, 7 to 8 minutes. Add wine and boil until reduced by half, about 3 minutes, then stir in broth and tomatoes with their juice.

Pour liquid over turkey legs and cover surface with a sheet of parchment paper, then tightly cover pan with foil. Transfer to oven and braise until meat is very tender, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Transfer legs to a cutting board and cut them into thigh and drumstick portions, then transfer to a deep platter. Skim off fat from sauce. If sauce measures more than 3 cups, boil until reduced. Season sauce with salt and pepper and pour over turkey.

To make the gremolata:
Stir together garlic, parsley, and zests and sprinkle over turkey just before serving.

Note: The turkey can be braised 2 days ahead and cooled in sauce, uncovered, then chilled, covered. Reheat in sauce, covered, in a 350°F oven.

Turkey Breast Roulade

Do you roulade? You should. All the cool kids are doin' it.

"The word roulade originates from the French "rouler" meaning "to roll". Typically, a roulade is a European dish consisting of a slice of meat rolled around a filling, such as cheese, vegetables, or other meats. A roulade, like a braised dish, is often browned then covered with wine or stock and cooked. Such a roulade is commonly secured with a toothpick or metal skewer, piece of string or twine. The roulade is then sliced into rounds and served. [...] The second most common form of roulade consists of a souffle-type mixture baked in a flat pan rolled around a filling. Appropriate to the meaning of the word however, a roulade may refer to any such "rolled" dish, such as sushi, and is not limited strictly to the European dishes."

Culinate is currently featuring a recipe for Fennel-Stuffed Roast Pork Loin with instructions on how to butterfly a boneless pork loin in preparation for stuffing and rolling.

Last weekend, I made a turkey breast roulade stuffed with sauteed leeks. The recipe came out of Tyler's Ultimate cookbook. It was easy to prepare, the meat was juicy & tender, and it made for an impressive presentation. I am very happy with this dish, and I think I'll make it for Thanksgiving again next year instead of roasting a whole bird. Though, this is easy enough to make anytime with a whole chicken breast.

The original recipe (below) calls for golden raisins & dried apricots, but I omitted the fruit. I also sauteed the leeks in bacon fat, because I was out of butter.

Turkey Breast Roulade

1 whole boneless turkey breast, butterflied

2 whole leeks, roots trimmed

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs (I used rosemary)

salt & pepper

• Trim off most of the green part of the leeks & cut the leeks almost in half lengthwise, leaving the halves attached at the root end. Rinse under running water to get all the sand out. Pat dry.
• Heat 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks & cook for about 10 minutes, turning every now and then, until the leeks are softened by not colored. Take the leeks out of the pan and let cool.
• Spread the butterflied turkey breast out flat. Season the inside with salt, pepper, & chopped herbs (save some for the outside, too!).
• Lay the leeks vertically on one side of the turkey. Starting with that side, roll the turkey up into a cylinder.
  
• Drizzle the outside of the breast with a bit of olive oil & season with salt/pepper/herbs. Tie in four places with butcher's twine.
• Roast in a 400 degree oven until the meat registers 160 on a thermometer.
  
• Let the turkey rest 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Crostini di Fegato (Chicken Liver Crostini)

This summer, I bought a pound of fresh "Young Chicken Livers" at the Tower Grove farmers' market. I thought I'd make pate, or saute them, or at least fry them up. But, I never did. I stuck the livers in the freezer.

The thing is...I don't really like liver. Fried chicken livers are okay; I can stand to eat a couple every once in a while. I really want to like pate, but I haven't been able to stomach many that I've tried so far (except the Chicken Liver Terrine I had at Niche earlier this month. THAT was damned tasty...rich & meaty).

Friday night at Kitchen Conservatory, the class made a chopped liver crostini. It was also very tasty...flavorful with none of that icky liver-i-ness.

So, tonight I thawed out those fresh young livers (doesn't that sound naughty?) and used them to make this:

Crostini di Fegato

1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 onion, finely minced
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound chicken livers, cleaned & roughly chopped
4 anchovy fillets
1 tablespoon capers
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped parsley
white wine or stock
French bread

• Saute the onion, carrot & celery in the oil until softened.
  
• Add the anchovies & capers and cook briefly.
• Add the chopped livers and cook until browned.
• Moisten with a couple tablespoons of white wine or stock (I used veggie stock.) & cook until all juices are evaporated.
• Add 2 tablespoons of butter.
  
• Transfer the mixture to a cutting board & chop the mixture very fine.
• Serve on toasted French bread slices. Garnish with chopped parsley.
  

Rosemary Fried Chicken

Believe it or not, I've never fried chicken. Sure, I've eaten fried chicken. My Grandma Green used to make it...in an electric skillet with tons of melted Crisco. But, I've never made it myself. Neither had Jerad. Jerad, the country boy. How is that possible? Isn't fried chicken some kind of rural requirement? Guess not.

I had always thought fried chicken was difficult and time-consuming to make. Not so! Especially if someone else does it all for you. Last weekend, Jerad voluntereed to make a batch of Rosemary Fried Chicken, a recipe we found in Everyday Food. I can't take any credit for this because I did nothing to help prepare the chicken, which was tender, juicy, crispy and flavorful (you could really taste the rosemary). I did, however, make a pot of delicious (if I do say so myself) fresh-from-the-garden beet greens to go with it.

Rosemary Fried Chicken

aka

Make Extra Because This Is So Good You'll Want Leftovers Fried Chicken

Ingredients
8 chicken legs and 8 chicken thighs (about 3 1/2 pounds total)
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves, plus 4 sprigs
2 cups vegetable oil, such as safflower

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line one large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; place a wire rack over a second rimmed baking sheet. In a large bowl, combine chicken, buttermilk, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; set aside (or refrigerate up to 2 days).
• In another large bowl, whisk together flour, paprika, chopped rosemary, 1 tablespoon salt, and 2 teaspoons pepper. Lift chicken from buttermilk, a few pieces at a time (allowing excess to drip off), and dredge in flour mixture (shaking off excess); transfer to foil-lined sheet. Dredge chicken in flour mixture a second time; return to sheet.
• In a 12-inch cast-iron skillet (or a 5-quart Dutch oven), heat oil and rosemary sprigs over medium-high. When rosemary sizzles rapidly, remove and discard. In three batches, fry chicken until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side; transfer to prepared rack. (If chicken browns too quickly, reduce heat.)

• Remove foil; set a rack on that baking sheet. Transfer half the chicken to this empty rack. Bake chicken on both racks until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh registers 165, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. (To store, let cool, then layer between paper towels; refrigerate up to 1 day. If desired, bring to room temperature before serving.)

Helpful Hint
You don't need a thermometer for the oil -- once the rosemary sprigs are hissing, it's time to add the chicken. Frying time is cut in half by finishing the chicken in the oven.

Quick Cassoulet

After reading Bill Burge's (of stlbites.com) comment about cassoulet in November, I couldn't stop thinking about that Southern French dish. For those of you who aren't familiar with cassoulet, it's a slow-cooked stew typically containing beans, sausage, duck, and lamb.

I've looked at several cassoulet recipes, but ultimately decided that it would be easier and cheaper to order it at a restaurant than make it at home...duck confit and all. Alas, I never went out for cassoulet this winter.

Instead, I made a quick version of cassoulet for dinner on Sunday--with chicken, sausage, bacon, & beans--adapted from one of those little Pillsbury cookbook pamphlets you see in the supermarket checkout lane. It's the first, and only, one I've ever bought, but I wanted to see if the recipes were any good.

I really liked this cassoulet, which is actually just a hip, fancy way to mean casserole (casserole is like so 1970s)...and I will definitely make it again.

Sausage & Chicken Cassoulet
Prep Time: 30 minutes. Start to Finish: 1 hour, 15 minutes.
Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients:

4 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 chicken thighs
1 cup baby carrots
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
dried thyme leaves
salt
black pepper
12 ounces Polish sausage, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cans (15 oz each) cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with garlic

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350.
  
• In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, cook bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove & drain on paper towels. Reserve 1 tablespoons of drippings.
• Season chicken with salt, pepper, & thyme. Add chicken, skin side down, to skillet. Cook, turning once, until brown on both sides. Remove from pan.
• Add carrots & onion, season with a pinch of salt & pepper, to pan and cook about 5 minutes.
• In an ungreased 13x9-inch baking dish, mix sausage, beans, tomatoes, bacon, carrots & onions, and a teaspoon of thyme. Top with chicken, skin side up. Cover with foil.
• Bake 30-45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through (the juice should run clear & meat should register 180 degrees).

An Appetite for Paris...and Chicken

I've been a little Paris-obsessed lately, with having read Insatiable (where Gael Greene recounts her many gastronomic trips to the city of lights) and Julia Child's My Life in France. I've never been a Paris freak...until now.

Now, I feel that tug towards Paris. Just a tad late...a couple good friends of mine from high school just moved back after living in Paris for a few years. Damn!

So, I've tried to fulfill my Paris longing with French films (like Paris, Je T'Aime) and foods...hence the Boeuf Bourguignon.

In both books, the authors mention roasted chicken as the quintessential French dish. While I've roasted chickens and turkeys before, I'd never cooked a fresh, farm-raised chicken. That's why I decided to drive out to Benne's farm earlier this week. Julia goes on and on in her memoir about how fresh, organic chickens taste better--more "chickeny"--than supermarket birds. I wanted to see if that was true.

Plus, I have just read through Nigel Slater's Appetite, in which he has a recipe for "classic, unmucked-about-with roast chicken". He writes, "Don't believe any of the smart-arse recipes you see for roast chicken. This is the one. Basic roast chicken, its skin crisp and buttery, its juices savory and aromatic--and quite possibly the best meal in the world." How could I not try that?

Since I wanted to taste the chickenyness of my bird, I dressed it simply with olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, & lemon. I cooked it at 375 for 1 hour, rotating the pan occasionally but not turning the bird (as Julia and Alice Waters suggest) or basting (which Slater doesn't deem necessary). While the skin browned and crisped nicely, the meat wasn't quite done after an hour.

So, I put it back in and check it every 10 minutes or so. I took it out after another 45 minutes. At this point, I think it was a little too done; the meat was kind of tough. Although, I don't know if it was overcooked or if that's just how the meat in fresh birds taste, as I was told by Jolene that her birds have a denser meat than grocery store brands.

My roasted chicken was far from the best meal in the world. In fact, I hate to admit it, but those rotisserie chickens you can buy at the supermarket deli...there are better than the chicken I roasted last night.

Dinner Plans: Wine Braised Chicken with Garlic

The Beef Bourguignon I made earlier this week was my first braised dish. It's perfect for a cold winter evening, like we've been having around St. Louis. In fact, it's been in the single digits & teens for the past week. Frigid enough that my pipes froze last weekend. So, a steaming pot of fragrant & hearty slow-cooked stew was just the thing for a comforting, warming dinner.

It's cold again today. I've been huddled upstairs in bed with my laptop, because the first floor is chilly. Big, old houses tend to be a bit drafty in winter. But, the second floor is nice and toasty. So, I'm hibernating with my kitty and a pot of peppermint tea...planning some meals for next week.

I think another braised dish is in order, so I am going to make a recipe I found in Wineries & Bed and Breakfast Recipes of Illinois, a cookbook by David Alan Badger that we sell at the winery. This particular recipe was actually created by Bridget Kelly of the Kelly Twins.

This is my submission for the Think Spice event over at Sunita's World.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
4 tablespoons olive oil
16 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 cups dry white wine (I'll use a chardonnay)
2 cups chicken stock
1 sprig thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
2 sprigs rosemary (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.

Season chicken with salt & pepper. In an oven-proof skillet or large dutch oven, brown the pieces in olive oil, skin side down first. Remove.

Saute the garlic in the same pan until golden. Pour off oil. Add wine & bring to a boil. Lower the heat & simmer until reduced by half.

Add stock & herbs. Bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the pan. Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove chicken from the pan. Reduce the sauce left in the pan on the stovetop. Add cream.

Serve chicken over mashed potatoes or greens, with sauce poured on top.

Divvy up the garlic cloves with each serving. Or hoard them all for yourself. Mash them into the potatoes, smear them on crusty bread slices, or just savor them alone.

And try to stay warm.

Turkey Noodle Soup

Last December a winter storm rolled through the mid-west, covering everything in ice that flattened trees and cut out power for many days.

For the past few days, it's been raining in St. Louis. Once the temperature drops, all that water turns to ice. Once again, everything is covered with a layer of ice, making cars & houses & trees look as if they were made of glass.

I think it's actually quite beautiful. While driving down the river road on my way to the winery yesterday, I felt a little like I was in a black & white Ansel Adams photograph. Last night, the streetlights & Christmas lights sparkled off the ice.

Winter is finally here (it was way too warm this November). I've been nursing a cold the past week, which I attribute to the sudden change in weather. So, I need some comfort food. All I've been wanting to eat and drink is hot tea and soup...peppermint tea and hearty cream or noodle soup to be exact.

I always have these grand plans to make homemade soups. My freezer is usually stocked with ingredients like chicken bones, shrimp shells, and various vegetables. Right now, in fact, I have bags of asparagus stems saved from the summer. But, I never use any of it, often throwing most of it away when I can't remember the last time I ate shrimp or whatever

However, Friday night after I got home from work, I made a pot of turkey stock with stuff from the freezer...the first homemade stock I've ever made...by simmering that leftover Thanksgiving carcass, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, rosemary, oregano, salt & pepper in water for two hours. When it was finally done...at midnight...I drained the stock, then picked off all the extra meat from the bones. Last night I made turkey noodle soup for dinner by adding thin egg noodles, carrots, celery, garlic, & rosemary to the stock.

I don't know what it is about soup that is so comforting. Maybe it's the warmth, the heartiness, and the memories...this soup reminded me so much of my grandmother's homemade chicken noodle soup. Whatever it is, it did the trick.

And now, after waking up to a literal winter wonderland, I have a pot of soup waiting to warm me.

Playing Catch-Up: Four New Recipes in One Week

One of my favorite ways to waste time is to browse through cookbooks at Borders. I drink a pot of Earl Grey and fondle the newest culinary releases. Most recently, I took a gander at Nigella's new book, Nigella Express...which I see as a sexy, British version of Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals. What I like about Nigella, as opposed to that mousey Rachel Ray, is her extravagance, even with her everyday "fast" food. For instance, she includes a recipe for "Christmas in a glass"...champagne with a splash of gingerbread syrup. I not only want to drink A LOT of that during the holidays; I want to bathe in it.

I made one of her recipes, Mustard Pork Chops, for dinner on Wednesday: Brown a couple of chops in a pan with olive oil (I used bone-in chops), remove them from the pan, deglaze with some hard cider, add coarse mustard & cream, put the chops back in for a few minutes, eat with your fingers.

I've also been reading Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries, which is part cookbook, part diary, and part food porn. So many of his recipes have caught my eye...chicken patties with rosemary & pancetta, lentils with sausage & salami, baked onions with parmesan & cream, and many others. He cooks a lot of seasonal foods & local foods, so during the winter months there are lots of recipes for soups, stews, curries, and roasted squashes. On Thursday, I took a cue from Slater and roasted a small pumpkin. I ate the soft chunks of squash along side a wilted spinach salad with bacon, onions, pine nuts, & feta (a recipe I adapted from Tyler's Ultimate cookbook).

Last night, I made Slater's lemon pepper chicken wings, which are coated with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, loads of cracked black pepper, & sea salt before roasted until crispy. Talk about clearing up your sinuses. Wow.

Curry Lime Chicken Wings

There is a new Borders bookstore in town, and I went there a couple weeks ago on my lunch break. I browsed cookbooks while lunching on a cheese & tomato melt & pot of Earl Grey tea. And I couldn't resist copying down a chicken wings recipe from Tyler Florence's Tyler's Ultimate cookbook.

Since I had the day off yesterday, I made these for a late after grocery shopping lunch. They were an excellent combination of spicy, tangy, and slightly sweet. Here's what you do:

Put chicken wings on a baking sheet or in a baking dish or whatever you prefer. Drizzle them olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Bake at 425 about 30 minutes or until they are crispy.

Meanwhile, blend 1/2 stick of softened butter with 2 teaspoons of red curry paste, the zest & juice of one lime, a tablespoon of honey, and a splash of soy sauce.

When the wings are done, toss them in the curry butter. The butter will melt and coat the wings.

Dinner with Friends

Last Saturday, a few friends and some of their friends came over for dinner. I chose two recipes from Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris cookbook: Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic & Vegetable Tian (both of which I'd never made before).

I planned to have everything prepped when people got here, so that I could cook while they drank (Absolut New Orleans cocktails) and munched (roasted grapes w/cheese & crackers). But, that didn't happen. I had nothing ready when they arrived. And, I mean nothing. Luckily, I have wonderful friends who very willingly helped in the kitchen. In fact, they prepared most of the meal...making cocktails, destemming grapes, setting out cheeses & crackers, peeling garlic, slicing zucchini & tomatoes, layering three veggies artistically in a casserole (Nice work, Ashby). All I did was slice potatoes, cook the chicken, and arrange an arugula & mushroom salad. Oh, and bake two pies: Another blueberry pie like before and one with strawberries instead. Both delish, by the way. And, I have to give myself props for making the scrumptious garlicy gravy for the chicken.

So, after a couple of hours of cooking, dinner was served. Everyone seemed full, a little drunk, and pretty happy, albeit tired from having to cook their own dinners. *sigh*

Chicken/Green Chili Nachos & Mango Margaritas

I was in the mood for Mexican last week. I was scheduled to work on Cinco de Mayo (the Drinko de Mayo pub crawl in Grafton....ick). I decided to make these chicken/green chili nachos that I saw Hot Tyler (aka Tyler Florence) make on Food 911 (Food Network) a while ago.

I must say, for nachos, it’s a complicated recipe. First, you have to make a salsa verde by boiling a few tomatilloes, jalepenos, & onions, then food processoring them up with cilantro and garlic (I was so tempted to just buy a jar of salsa verde, but in the spirit of this project, I went ahead and made my own...substituting parsley for the cilantro, though. I have that gene that makes cilantro taste metallic. Not good). Then, you make a cheese sauce that starts with a roux (butter and flour), to which you add chicken stock (not milk?) and eventually shredded jack cheese. When it’s thick, you mix in the salsa. This concoction gets multi-layered in a casserole with tortilla chips & shredded roasted chicken then baked.

Sounds good, right?

Well, there were some problems. When I make this recipe again, I wouldn’t boil the veggies for the salsa. It made it too watery, even though I left out the quarter cup of water the recipe said to add to the puree. I would just have blended everything WITH the water to make a nice, chunky salsa. Likewise, the cheese sauce was too thin, even though I added about a cup more cheese than what was called for. I would cut back the stock and add even more cheese. For nachos, that sauce should be THICK. Don’t get me wrong...the salsa verde/cheese mixture tasted good. It was just way too thin, and it ultimately made the nachos soggy.

And, why the baking? Why not just layer it all together, top it all off with lots of shredded cheese, then zap it under the broiler for a bit?

Nevertheless, despite the sogginess, it was still tasty. Just more like chicken/green chili/tortilla chip casserole than nachos.

On to the margaritas. Frozen mango margaritas just seemed like perfect compliment to the spicy layeredy chippiness. I figured I would just have to add some diced, fresh mango to the blender with the usual margaritas ingredients. So, I bought a few mangoes at the store. I should have noticed that the fruits were green instead of the orangey color that mangoes are supposed to be. But, I didn’t think about that...until I cut into one and noticed that something didn’t seem quite right.

These mangoes were completely unripe. Hmmmm. I decided to go ahead with the plan anyway. Once blended, they wouldn’t be all that bad, right? Wrong. I got the ice consistency right, but they were too weak and the bits of sour mango were not all that pleasant.

Oh well. I’ll have to try these two things again sometime, I guess.