Kai Kaphrao Khai Dao (Stir-Fried Chicken with Hot Basil)

(from Andy Ricker's Pok Pok)

Joef is our resident chef these days, and his favorite cookbook is Pok Pok, which has the most amazing Thai recipes. He's made this one a few times - it's relatively simple, and super-satisfying and delicious.

We haven't yet been able to find actual "hot basil", or "holy basil", which apparently has a different flavor and aroma that Ricker describes as "essential". No, not even Berkeley Bowl has it! Instead, we've used Thai basil and Persian basil, both of which arguably are not the right ingredient, but have worked just fine.

As with the other Thai recipes in this cookbook, the ingredients can seem tricky. But what we've found is that they repeat, so if you can find them and create a little larder for yourself, you can dive into a lot of other recipes very easily, making it a pretty accessible undertaking.

The recipe below is for one - we always double it and cook it all in one batch to serve two. Best to have all the ingredients prepped and ready to go, because it moves very quickly once you start cooking.

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tbsp Thai fish sauce
2 tsp Thai black soy sauce
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp garlic, crushed in a mortar
5 oz ground chicken
1/4 cup long beans, cut crosswise into 1/8-inch slices
1/4 cup peeled yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 fresh Thai red chiles, thinly sliced
3-4 dried Thai chiles, fried (pretty sure we don't fry them), and coarsely crumbled
1 cup hot basil leaves
Jasmine rice

Start by cooking the egg: heat a wok over very high heat, add the oil, and swirl the oil around in the wok, coating the sides. When it starts to smoke lightly, crack in the egg and cook it for about 5 seconds - the whites will bubble and puff, and the whole thing will sizzle. Lower the heat to medium and cook the egg, tipping the pan and covering the egg with the oil, until it's golden at the edges and cooked to your liking. Turn off the heat, and remove the egg to a paper towel, keeping the oil in the wok.

Next, combine the sugar, fish sauce, and soy sauce in a small bowl and stir to combine. Heat up the wok again on high. When it smokes lightly, add the garlic and take the wok off the heat. Let the garlic sizzle and stir it often until it's light golden brown, about 30 seconds.

Return the wok to the hat. Add the chicken, long beans, onions, and fresh chiles. Stir fry the ingredients (flip, stir, etc. constantly), and break up the chicken until it has just cooked through - about 1 minute.

Add the dried chiles and the fish sauce mixture and stir fry until the meat absorbs the liquid, about another minute. Turn off the heat.

When you're just about ready to serve, turn the heat back to high, and add the basil till it has wilted.

Serve with rice and fried egg!

Vietnamese Five-Spice Chicken and Coconut-Mango Rice

(adapted from Williams-Sonoma's San Francisco: Authentic Recipes Celebrating the Foods of the World, and Fred Thompson's Grill Master: The Ultimate Arsenal of Back-to-Basics Recipes for the Grill)

OK, so I'm not even going to tell you the first time I made this. I'm that behind. I can't even remember. BUT! I've made it three times since that first attempt, because it is so, SO good. I mean, crazy-delicious, finger-licking good. I made it around Thanksgiving for the fam, and it was a hit - even my one-year old nephew was smacking his lips. It might just be my favorite grilled chicken recipe. And I've always been a fan of coconut rice.

I hadn't really heard of five-spice till we moved to the Bay Area. You can make your own, or you can buy it from the grocery store (win!). To me, the ingredients are surprising - star anise, cinnamon, cloves - sweet stuff - but in this recipe, you add fish sauce, which combines to make this sweet, salty, savory, marinade. Mmm.

So, here's what you need (this should be enough marinade for a whole chicken, but I use the same amount for five-six drumsticks...):
6 cloves garlic, halved
1 large shallot, quartered
1 tbsp peeled ginger
4 tsp sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/2 tsp five spice powder
Freshly ground pepper
5-6 chicken pieces - thighs or drumsticks

And here's what you do:
Combine the garlic, shallot, ginger, and sugar in a small food processor, and process to form a paste. Transfer to a bowl and whisk in the soy sauce, fish sauce, five spice powder, and a few grinds of black pepper. This is your marinade.

Rinse the chicken pieces in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Place in a shallow dish, and pour in all the marinade. Turn the pieces in the marinade to coat, cover, and refrigerate for as long as possible, up to 8 hours (2 hours work in a pinch). You'll want to turn the chicken a few times. Keep the marinade.

Set up your grill!

Remove the chicken from the marinade (don't throw it out), grill the chicken, and baste it with a marinade a few times. Turn the chicken, baste again, grill until juices run clear. Don't baste the chicken in the final 10 minutes.

Done!

And for the rice (from Grill Master):
1 tbsp canola oil
1 large shallot, minced
1 tsp peeled, grated fresh ginger
2 cups jasmine rice (brown rice works, too)
1 cup coconut milk
Salt
1 (or 2) mango, cubed

In a large saucepan over medium-high, warm the oil. Add the shallot and ginger and saute for about 30 seconds. Add the rice and stir to coat and mix. Add 2 cups water, the coconut milk, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, simmer for about 20 minutes - just like you'd normally cook rice.

When done cooking, stir/fluff with a fork, then add the mango and stir that in, too. 

(Green beans - blanched, with olive oil, salt, pepper.)

Chicken with Tarragon and White Wine

(from Giada de Laurentis)

I'm between jobs right now, so I've been spending a lot of time (sigh) watching all kinds of bad daytime TV. This includes cooking shows (let's face it, though, it's usually Say Yes to the Dress and Property Brothers), which is where I found this recipe. I watched Giada make it, then gave it a stab myself. Her type of cooking is the type I can recognize and replicate without too much instruction (garlic? Got it!), so I was actually pretty happy with how it turned out, sans recipe.

That being said, I made this over a month ago, and promptly forgot how to make it. Luckily for me, the Internet is a great refresher, and I found the exact recipe (without God-knows-what modifications I made), which you can find below, with some modifications.

This was really easy and delicious, and it's nice because it seems fancy and could therefore be served to guests. Of course, Giada made some kind of appetizer and these little miniature fruit tarts...for lunch. Not going to happen, folks. So I made it for dinner, with some roasted Brussels sprouts, and called it good. And it was!

So:

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil. I mean, come on...)
1 (4 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces (I used four chicken thighs)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flour for dusting

1 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) cipollini onions, trimmed and peeled (grab a handful)
4 cloves garlic, halved
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup white wine, such as Riesling
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus 1/3 cup
1/2 cup chopped fresh tarragon leaves, plus 2 tablespoons

Heat the oil over high in a Dutch oven or large saucepan. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, dust with flour, and cook, turning occasionally to brown on all sides.

Scoot the chicken to the side and add the onions and garlic, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste, about five minutes. Increase the heat and add the wine, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the pan. Add 3 cups of the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of tarragon, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low to simmer, and cover. Turn the chicken every 10 minutes or so until it's cooked through. Serve over brown rice and garnish with remaining tarragon.

Now, what the Internet version says to do is a little different, and not what I remember following from TV. It sounds good, though, so if you wanted. You'll need:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Remove the chicken to a platter. In a small bowl, mix the remaining 1/3 cup chicken broth and flour. Whisk the flour mixture into the sauce in the pan until smooth. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook uncovered until it thickens. Stir in the butter, and serve the sauce over the chicken.

Bake Sale Betty's Fried Chicken Sandwiches with Jalapeno Slaw, and, Welcome to California!

(adapted from www.food.com) 

Phew, talk about a hiatus! We're back, folks! To remind myself how long it's been since I've posted, and therefore, how long it's been since I've cooked anything (new, at least, but pretty much just anything), this recipe is from MAY. Specifically, from Joef's graduation from the Yale School of Management (watch me burst with pride!). Since then, we've moved out of New Haven, CT, driven to Pittsburgh, Chicago, Madison, and Minneapolis; camped in the Boundary Waters; driven back to Chicago and St. Louis; flown to San Francisco; driven back to Minneapolis, back to St. Louis; and then driven all the way from St. Louis to Berkeley, CA, where we now reside (hooray!).

This first-recipe-back is appropriate, then - Joef requested it for his graduation because he'd gotten to know and love Bakesale Betty's, an Oakland favorite, during his internship last summer. And now, internship has turned into full-time position, and here we are, living in the East Bay. And I'm finally posting this recipe. It's like a welcome to the neighborhood. And WOW, is it beautiful here. The local grocery store has more (low-price!) fruits and vegetables than I could count, about half of which I've never even heard of before. But I digress...

What really makes these sandwiches (besides the delicious, delicious grease!) is the jalapeno coleslaw. That's right. It's wonderfully tangy and hot, and cuts the grease of the fried chicken just right. I borrowed the recipe from Food.com, and it was a crowd pleaser.

By the way, this makes a TON of coleslaw. Way more than you need. So you could halve that portion of the recipe, if you so chose.

CHICKEN
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or however many sandwiches you want to serve - my memory is failing me, but I may have fileted the breasts in half, but that's up to you)
Salt
1 quart buttermilk

VINAIGRETTE
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt
 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

SLAW
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 cup red wine vinegar
2-4 jalapenos, seeded, cut in half and sliced crosswise
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 green cabbage, core and outer leaves removed, and very thinly sliced
Salt

BREADING
1 lb all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon salt (or more to taste)
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper

AND
2 quarts vegetable oil for frying
4 rolls (or however many sandwiches you want to make)

Season chicken breasts with salt. Let sit at least 5 minutes. Fill a wide, shallow nonreactive bowl or casserole dish with buttermilk. Add the chicken and soak in the refrigerator for 1 hour. 

In the meantime, start on the vinaigrette: combine mustard, vinegar and salt in a bowl. Slowly whisk in olive oil until well blended.

Then, start on the slaw. Macerate onions in the cup of red wine vinegar, and let sit at least 20 minutes. (I had to look up what "macerate" means. It's the process of softening something by soaking it in liquid.) Remove onions and discard vinegar. Toss onions with jalapeno, parsley, cabbage and salt. Toss with vinaigrette until evenly coated. 

Ready to fry the chicken? Prep the breading by mixing flour, cayenne, salt and pepper in a wide, shallow bowl. Pour vegetable oil into a large stockpot. Do not fill up more than halfway, or the oil could splatter. Bring oil up to 365°, using a digital thermometer/candy thermometer to monitor the heat. Pull a chicken breast out of the buttermilk one at a time, letting excess drip off, and dredge completely in flour. Do not drain or shake off excess buttermilk or flour during the breading process. That's the yummy part!

When the oil is at 365°, carefully place chicken pieces into oil one by one. Let each cook for a minute before moving the piece, then help it “swim” in the oil with tongs, until it is evenly cooked, about 5-7 minutes. Remove chicken from oil and drain on paper towels. Season immediately with salt.

To pull it all together, place fried chicken breast on bottom of torpedo roll and top generously with coleslaw. DEVOUR!

Thai Chicken Curry

(adapted from Williams-Sonoma's Food Made Fast: Weeknight)

This is a pretty neat cookbook. Joef got it for me a few years back for my birthday, and it's perfect for my style of cooking - fast, and not too many ingredients. If something takes more than 1/2 an hour to make, it had better be a special occasion, or something I can just leave on the stove for a couple hours while I go about my business.

Pasta is my favorite "fast" food (and favorite food in general, really...and pretty much my whole diet), but when it comes to weeknight cooking, I default to pasta, perhaps, too often. So I was excited to try this recipe, and it was really yummy, and fun to make.

The cookbook gave this a "30 Minutes Start to Finish" rating. I'm going to have to disagree. There was a lot of prep involved, which took about 20 minutes on its own, and then there was the actual cooking, another 20 minutes or so. Still, not bad for a meal that looks and tastes pretty fancy. I especially liked the crispiness of the green beans.

I'd make a few modifications next time (reflected in the instructions). It called for two limes. It was just too limey. And I couldn't find Thai red curry paste, so I used red curry powder, which was probably not an ideal substitute, although it worked. Finally, I got panicky at the end that it wouldn't be enough sauce, so I added the whole can of coconut milk (as opposed to 1 cup), and then doubled the broth, fish sauce, and curry paste. (Even with that doubling, it was still too limey.) Of course, then it was really brothy.

So, let's see if I can reproduce this:
1 lime
1 package (1-1.5 lbs) boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp peanut oil (careful, the flash point on this stuff is intense - lots of bubbling and popping)
1/4 lb green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1.5 tbsp Thai red curry paste (alt. if absolutely necessary, red curry powder)
1-2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
2/3 - 1 1/3 cups chicken broth
1-2 tbsp Asian fish sauce
6 green onions, including white and tender parts, sliced
1/4 cup fresh basil (Thai if you can get it, which I couldn't)
Steamed brown rice, for serving (1-2 cups)

Grate 1/4 - 1/2 tsp lime zest and squeeze 1/16 - 1/8 cup juice (like 1/2 a lime, maybe 1 whole lime, depending on what you want). Set aside. Cut the chicken into thin strips or cubes and season with salt and pepper. In a large frying pan or wok over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until golden. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add the green beans to the wok and cook, stirring frequently, until they start to get tender and a little golden/crispy. Transfer to the plate with the chicken.

Stir the curry paste into the pan over medium-high. Stir in the coconut milk, broth, and fish sauce. Bring to a simmer and stir, scraping up any browned bits on the pan. Stir in the lime juice and zest.

Add the chicken and green beans back to the pan and stir to coat with sauce. Simmer until the chicken is opaque throughout. Stir in the green onions and basil, then serve over rice.

Shrimp and Chicken Etouffee

(adapted from www.simplyrecipes.com)


I have no idea if this tastes anything like a true etouffee, but I scarfed it down nonetheless. Maybe it's just because I love shrimp. Love it. But the other thing I loved about this was the flavor of the sweet paprika. And the addition of the tender chicken thighs (to placate my shrimp-neutral husband, tsk!) made it extra-savory and delicious. Plus, etouffee always makes me think of the Broadway Oyster Bar in St. Louis, which catered our wedding. Can't beat that!

I didn't have any Cajun seasoning, as the original recipe called for. A Google search found a recipe for Cajun seasoning that included salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, thyme, sweet basil, and bayleaf. I wasn't about to make five cups of the stuff, so I just sort of sprinkled a selection of those ingredients in at will. Which doesn't make this the most easy or, um, reliable recipe, but hey - season according to taste!

1/4 cup vegetable oil
Heaping 1/4 cup flour
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
1 large celery stalk, sliced thin
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped into small bites
5 cups chicken broth, hot
A combination of cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt, and basil, totaling about 1 tbsp - plus more cayenne
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1/2-3/4 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
Salt to taste
3 green onions, chopped

Start by making a roux (my friend David from Louisiana taught me this a few years back): heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the flour, leaving no clumps. Let this cook, continually stirring, until it browns, 5-10 minutes.

Add the celery, green pepper, jalapeno, and onion, and stir into the roux to coat. Cook this over medium for another four minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Next, add the garlic and and the chicken, and sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, black pepper, seasoned salt, and dried basil - and cook another 2 minutes.


Slowly add the hot chicken stock, stirring constantly so it incorporates. Add enough stock to make a sauce about the thickness of syrup, about 5 cups. Add more cayenne, along with celery salt and paprika, and mix well. Sprinkle in more of the spices as desired. Add salt to taste, then stir in the shrimp. Cover the pot, turn the heat to its lowest setting, and cook for 10 minutes, uncovered. 

Add the green onions and hot sauce to taste for garnish. Serve over brown rice.

Three-Pepper Burmese Chicken Curry

(adapted from Dave DeWitt's 1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes)

Joef turned 29 this year, and to celebrate, we hosted a spicy potluck dinner party. We stocked our fridge with ice cream and whole milk, turned to Dave DeWitt, and used spice with reckless abandon. We even made spicy drinks - bloody Marys and (to be posted soon) habanero pina coladas (surprisingly great). Our friends all brought (delicious) spicy dishes, from peanut noodles to what was described to me as Indian "sloppy Joes". Seriously, our friends can cook - the food was awesome.

I randomly selected this Burmese Chicken Curry. I've been really promoting cookbooks lately, and I'll do it again - DeWitt's book is really, really good. We haven't had a so-so recipe from it yet. This was delicious. I probably wouldn't make it this spicy again (it won spiciest for the night) - Joef, of course, disagrees - and the flavors were awesome. Which is actually pretty lucky, because I accidentally swapped the proportions for the paprika and the turmeric...pretty significant error, which turned out totally OK. So - below is my (accidentally) adapted recipe, with the heat turned WAY up (to turn it down, substitute red pepper flakes for habanero, and regular oil for the Naga-Jolokia infused). Can't wait to make this one again.

(You could pretty easily make this vegetarian - just swap the chicken for cauliflower and/or potato, right?)

(Warning - the fish sauce smells awful. Really awful. I promise it will taste great.)

For eight or more servings:

5 chicken drumsticks, skin removed
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground turmeric
8 tbsp fish sauce
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
8 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
4 tbsp fresh ginger, sliced
1 tsp paprika, plus a little more
2 tsp habanero flakes
1 cup plus 4 tbsp water, divided
1 jalapeno, stems removed, minced
6 tbsp Naga Jolokia-infused peanut oil
2 large/medium tomatoes, chopped
2-3 cups brown rice
1 tbsp rice flour (optional and if needed)

Wash the chicken and pat it dry with a paper towel. Place the chicken in a deep dish. In a separate bowl, mix the salt, paprika, and fish sauce, then pour over the chicken. Marinate the chicken in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

In a food processor or blender, blend the onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, chile flakes, 4 tbsp of the water, and the jalapeno, plus a few shakes of paprika, until it turns into a coarse paste.

In a large, deep frying pan, heat the oil over medium. Add the paste and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken and tomatoes, and stir fry for 15 minutes or so. Add the rest of the water, partially (mostly) cover the pan, and cook over medium-low for about 25 minutes, until the chicken is done and the sauce has thickened. (My friend Archana taught me a trick - if it's not thickening the way you want it to, you can take a little bit of the sauce out of the pan, add 1 tbsp or so of rice flour, stir them together until blended, and then return the combination to the pan and stir it in.)

When the chicken is ready, remove the drumsticks from the pan, remove the meat from the bone, and return to the pan. Allow to simmer for a few more minutes, then serve over rice. And wash it down with whole milk.

Coconut Chicken Curry

Well, I said to stay tuned for coconut chicken curry, in the style of the St. Louis Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Grand. They make absolutely the best coconut chicken curry I've ever had, and it's totally different from any other coconut curry I've had, too. It's...coconuttier...um...well, it's creamier. I don't know, it's just delicious.

So when I made the Chile Chicken with Lime and Coconut Milk, I had, for the first time, at least an inkling of how to even go about making a curry like that. (Yeah, this is a pretty close replica of that recipe.) I'm not going to say I totally got there. Maybe I didn't even get close. But it was good, and it was a start.

If anyone has eaten at Pho Grand, and has better ideas on how to do this, I'm wide open! For now:

1.5 cups brown rice
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 white onion, cut in half and sliced
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp madras curry powder
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp salt, or to taste
2 stalks lemongrass, chopped
3-4 dried hot chile peppers, crushed
4 chicken thighs
Tomatoes slices for garnish
Cucumber slices for garnish

Combine all of the ingredients in a large pan, spooning the sauce over the chicken. Cook, covered, over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the chicken is cooked and tender. The sauce will thicken. Turn off the heat, remove the chicken thighs, and remove the meat from the bones. Return the chicken to the sauce in the pan, stir and heat again for a few minutes or until heated, over medium. Serve over brown rice, with tomatoes and cucumbers for garnish.

Chile Chicken with Lime and Coconut Milk

(adapted from Dave DeWitt's 1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes)

Man, I am not doing so well on this whole blogging thing lately, am I? Somehow I've been having trouble coordinating the new recipe lookup with grocery shopping...and now I feel like I'm repeating myself from a previous post...rut, anyone? Well, this one snapped me out of it a bit. The best part is that I think it gave me a hint as to how to prepare one of my favorite restaurant dishes - a coconut curry that I've only been able to find at a Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Grand, in St. Louis (stay tuned for that one).

This was really good and really simple. All the ingredients just get thrown into a pan and left for awhile, and then you eat! It was so good that I actually enjoyed eating it with brown rice. Now that's a testimonial.

I think next time I'd either leave out the limes, or I'd certainly remove them before serving. And if the grocery store hadn't been out of lemongrass, that would've been a great addition. Even with that, it was tasty, satisfying, and a nice change of pace - especially with how little effort it required.

So:
5 chicken drumsticks (or equivalent chicken parts of your choice)
2 cups coconut milk (about 1 can)
1/2 tsp turmeric
4 shallots, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp salt
1 stalk lemongrass (optional, but preferred)
1/4-1/2 lime, slice in rounds
2-4 dried hot chiles (DeWitt calls for Santaka; I used tien tsin), crushed

Combine all of the ingredients in a large pan, spooning the sauce over the chicken. Cook, covered, over medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the chicken is cooked and tender. The sauce will thicken. Remove limes and serve over brown rice.

Pesto-Baked Chicken

(adapted from Saveur magazine)

I'm super-excited right now because I just ordered a subscription to Saveur magazine. I've clearly missed the fact that magazine subscriptions don't make a ton of sense in a world where you can find nearly-identical content online, but hey, why not buck the trend? I picked one up for a flight home, found a coupon for a cheap subscription, and there you go. I mean, the feature was pesto. Pesto, people! Pages and pages of pesto...

Among those pages I found this recipe for pesto-rubbed chicken. The recipe is really intended for the grill (which I do think would kick it up a notch, as they say), and they offered a baked alternative for those of us without a backyard. It's a nice variation, and an easy variation to make - just whip up some pesto, spread it under the chicken's skin, bake, spread a little on top of the chicken, bake a little more, and serve. I omitted the pine nuts, since I am just not a fan.

(The magazine also had a one-page photo and story of the Oak Park Farmers' Market donuts, which is SO awesome, because my mom and I used to ride our bikes there every Saturday morning and eat donuts and fresh raspberries on the curb while listening to the live bluegrass band. Once we even volunteered and helped to sugar the donuts in the basement kitchen!)

Also, this recipe marks Joef's and my official transition to adulthood, as we accompanied this chicken with...wait for it...brown rice. That's right, folks, we've officially made the switch. I sort of love white rice (esp. with a little parmesan cheese), but you know, sometimes you have to move on. Whole grains and all that business. Yes, it's brown rice from here on out for Joef and Julia.

So:

2 cups packed basil

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1 clove garlic, quartered

4 chicken thighs

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 475.

Using your fingers, loosen skin from meat on chicken and spread half the pesto in between skin and meat. Transfer chicken to a baking sheet and season generously with salt and pepper.

 

Cook chicken in the oven, skin side up, for 25 minutes; rub with remaining pesto and cook until chicken is cooked/juices no longer run pink.

Serve with brown (!) rice and arugula salad.

Chicken Baked with Lemon

 

(adapted from Loukie Werle's Italian Country Cooking)

I love when I actually manage to make a complete, balanced meal - you know, with multiple food groups, side dishes, etc. Like this meal, lemony baked chicken served with aglio e olio and a side of broccoli rabe. It barely all fits in the photo!

The most fun part about this dish was making the "aromatic salt"...or, you know, seasoned salt. It's kind of a recipe unto itself, and it makes a lot of it - so you can keep it around for a few months, refrigerated, to use in other dishes. I'd call it a lemon-garlic salt, but you can taste a good bit of the rosemary in there. You should pay better attention to Werle's recipe than I did, though - in her introduction, she notes that you just need a teaspoon of salt to flavor six chicken thighs. I used four thighs. What can I say, I got excited about the aromatic salt.

4 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

1 lemon, thinly-sliced

1 lemon, squeezed

1.5 tbsp olive oil

1/3 cup white wine (the recipe called for water, but wine sounds better for deglazing the pan, right?)

AROMATIC SALT (halve this if you want - it makes a lot, and certainly more than you need for the chicken):

3 cloves garlic, peeled and 2 chopped

1 cup coarse salt

Zest of two lemons

1.5 tsp chopped fresh or dried rosemary leaves

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf, if you have it (I didn't)

For the salt, place all of the ingredients except the 1 non-chopped, reserved garlic clove and the bay leaf into a food processor and chop until the salt is ground. Store the mixture in an airtight container, with the reserved garlic and bay leaf buried in the salt. Refrigerate if storing.

Place the chicken on a plate, season with the aromatic salt, and cover with plastic wrap to marinate in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425. Place sliced lemon in an ovenproof dish. Heat a pan over medium-high, add the oil, and add the chicken with the skin side down. Brown well on both sides, about 6 minutes. Place the chicken on top of the lemon slices in the ovenproof dish, skin side up.

Add the lemon juice and wine to the pan in which the chicken was browned and boil, scraping up any brown bits, for about four minutes, or until it gets slightly saucy. Pour over the chicken. Put the chicken in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked. (I forgot the next step, myself:) Remove from oven and place on a heated platter, cover loosely with foil, and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Tandoori-Style Chicken

(adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking)

My first Indian dish, thanks to Archana, who got this great cookbook for me as my Secret Santa in December, and who took me spice shopping at the Indian grocery store. I started with this recipe partially because I had all the ingredients on-hand (thanks to that grocery trip!). It was delicious! As you can tell  from the picture, I probably should have included a vegetable, but hey - this was a first attempt.

Did you know that tandoori chicken's red color actually comes from food coloring? I didn't! I skipped that part, obviously.

So, I've always avoided recipes that require marinating. I just don't plan that far ahead. But what happened here was that I started making it, realized it was going to have to marinate for 6-24 hours, and so I went for it. I made the marinade for the chicken, let it sit overnight, and then just popped it in the oven the next night! It was great, actually. The marinade process was minimal on the first night, and then the actual cooking the next night was even simpler. To more marinades!

The red sauce on the side is mango pickle (thanks again, Archana and the Indian grocery store!) - I kind of feel about it the way I feel like hot wing sauce: I'm not sure if I like it, but I can't stop tasting it. Very tangy.

Anyway, this was really, really tasty, and I can't wait to try more recipes from this book.

I halved the recipe, but I've provided the full 4-6 serving version here.

2.5 lbs chicken pieces, skinned (legs, breasts, or both)
1 tsp salt
1 juicy lemon
1 3/4 cups plain yogurt
1/2 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1 clove garlic, peeled
3/4 inch cube fresh ginger, peeled and quartered
1/2 fresh, hot green chili, roughly sliced (I totally had the wrong kind, but it worked well enough)
2 tsp garam masala
Lime wedges (I bought these, and forgot to use them)

NIGHT ONE: MARINATE
Cut two long slits on each side of each part of the legs and/or breasts. The slits shouldn't start at an edge, and they should reach down to the bone.

Spread the chicken pieces out on one or two large platters. Sprinkle half the salt and squeeze the juice from 3/4 of the lemon over them. Turn the chicken pieces over and do the same on the other side with the rest of the salt and lemon juice. Set aside for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the yogurt, onion, garlic, ginger, green chili, and garam masala in the container of an electric blender or food processor. Blend into a smooth paste. Empty the paste into a strainer placed over a large bowl. Push the paste through.

Put the chicken in a gallon-sized ziploc bag, and pour in the paste. Seal the bag and use your hands to mix the chicken in the marinade, making sure the marinade gets into the slits in the chicken. Place in the refrigerator for  6-24 hours.

NIGHT TWO: BAKE
Preheat the oven to its maximum temperature. Take the chicken pieces out of the bag and arrange them in a large shallow baking pan in a single layer. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until just done. Serve hot, with lime wedges if you remember them.

Soy Vay Stir Fry

This is one of those posts where I feel like I'm cheating a little bit. I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to stir fry. And really, I'm not doing much - the sauce (Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki) really does most of the work. So now that that I've caveated the heck out of that, I'm going to post "my" "recipe" anyway, because it was delicious.

Can I add another caveat? I really don't know the measurements or cook times for this. I assume that most people do what I do - just throw in a bunch of stuff until it seems right (lucky me, I had leftover ingredients from the Smoked Pineapple Chicken). So this is kind of how it went:

Peanut oil
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
8-10 baby carrots, sliced
4 dried tien tsin chiles, whole (optional)
1 lb chicken breast, cut into cubes
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 red bell pepper
Handful or so of snow peas and/or sugar snap peas
Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki, or stir fry sauce of choice
1.5-2 cups rice

Pour peanut oil into a wok over medium-high heat, and add garlic, onions, and carrots. Let that soften a bit and get flavorful, then add the chicken and heat, stirring around occasionally, until cooked through. (This is where I should have added the chiles, too, so that their heat could do their work - maybe even with the garlic. As it was, I added them with the veggies and it was too late for it to get spicy. I added some habanero flakes after the dish was cooked to make up for it.)

When chicken has cooked, add the bell pepper and snow peas, along with Soy Vay sauce. How much? Enough so, you know, you have a sauce for the rice that you'll serve this over. A good glugs and a couple pours. Eyeball it. Cook, stirring everything around to get coated in the sauce, for a couple minutes, depending on how firm you want the peppers and peas to be (I like them to have a little crunch). Serve over rice.

Smoked Pineapple Chicken

(adapted from 1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes, by Dave DeWitt)

I've gotta say, this cookbook is really a winner. I mean, OK, this is only my second recipe from it, but both have been seriously good. And not too tough to make, really. This had more ingredients than I usually like to see, and really, it was worth it. It really turned out kind of like a paella. It's smoky (from the chipotles), creamy in texture with nice bites of veggies, and all-around satisfying. The book says it's Guatemalan. Plus, I feel like I've been in a little bit of a cooking dry spell, and this revived me!

I will say that I balked and did not add the final ingredient - raisins. I don't know, I just can't do it. It probably would've been good, and I probably need to get over it. I mean, I love raisins...I'm just not sure about them cooked in food. How unadventurous of me, I know. (If you're a better person than I, you can add an 1/8 of a cup with the reserved broth at the end.)

But I did go for the pineapple! And you should, too!

OK:
1.5 lbs of chicken parts, cut up, or 5 drumsticks
2 cups water
1/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1/4 tsp ground pepper, plus more to taste
1.5 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 onion, peeled and chopped
1-2 tsp finely chopped parsley, divided
1/2 red bell pepper, seeds and stems removed, finely sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, seeds and stems removed, chopped
1-1.5 chipotle chiles, soaked in water and then pureed
2 garlic cloved, chopped
1.5 carrots, sliced
1/4 lb sugar snap or snow peas, or both
1/2 cup fresh pineapple, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cumin
A pinch of Naga Jolokia, if you have it
3/4 cup canned diced tomatoes, with liquid from the whole can
2 cups uncooked rice, long or medium-grain

In a large pot, combine the chicken with 2 cups of water, salt to taste, pepper to taste, and 1 tsp parsley. This will cook your chicken and make broth. Cook for about 25 minutes. Remove the chicken, reserve the broth, and cut the chicken into bite-size pieces (careful, it's hot!).

To a certain extent, you can start the next step while the chicken is cooking, but unless your timing is really good, you may have to turn the veggies off mid-way (for example, I started cooking this, added the rice and chicken, turned off the heat, then added the chicken and turned the heat back on). In any case: in another large pot, heat the oil over low. Add the onion and parsley and let the onion get translucent without browning. Stir in the bell peppers, chipotle puree, garlic, carrots, peas, pineapple, oregano, turmeric, salt, pepper, Naga, and cumin. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their liquid, along with the rice, the chicken, and 2 cups of broth. Mix and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed - just like you'd cook rice. Enjoy!

Pantry Chicken Soup

It was one of those nights - ate too much takeout over the weekend, didn't get the chance to go grocery shopping, and starving due to an 11-mile run. The solution was this chicken soup with pasta and vegetables - made with whatever the heck we had around; hence, "pantry" chicken soup. Admittedly, it did require a quick drive over to a little grocery store for a couple veggies.

Of course, when I got home I realized the onion I thought I had was rotten, so I had to substitute a little onion powder and garlic. The beauty of a "pantry" soup is that you can really put whatever the heck you want in it. The only constants, I suppose, would be the chicken and broth. Unless you wanted it to be a veggie soup. Also, you could use rice instead of pasta, or just omit them both all together.

As prepared (hearty and satisfying):

Olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

8-10 baby carrots, sliced

1 small tomato, chopped

5 chicken drumsticks

Onion powder

Dill

8 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2-3 small red potatoes, chopped

1/2 bunch asparagus, trimmed and chopped

1/3 lb pasta

In a large pot, drizzle olive oil, then add garlic, carrots, and tomato and saute over medium-high heat until they begin to soften. Add your drumsticks to the pot so that they all are touching the bottom of the pan and sprinkle with dill and onion powder to taste. Brown on all sides.

Add chicken broth and potatoes, then bring to a boil. Add asparagus. Turn down heat, but boil for a few minutes longer. Turn down heat to simmer until chicken is cooked and potatoes have softened to your liking. Return to a boil and add pasta and cook until al dente. Ready to eat!

Roast Chicken with Dijon Sauce

(from smittenkitchen.com)

Another new favorite! I'm of the opinion that just about anything with shallots is pretty much a winner, and this recipe holds true to that. The flavor is sweet and tangy. It's pretty simple, provides a nice full meal, and is a nice change of pace (at least for us). Here's all it takes:

3 pounds chicken drumsticks (or about 5 drumsticks), with skin and bones
1 tbsp olive oil
2 small shallots, thinly sliced
3/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons smooth Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

Preheat oven to 450F. Season chicken generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat oil in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet (I actually used a dutch oven) over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Brown chicken, skin side down first and turning once, about 5 minutes.

Roast chicken in its pan in the oven until just cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer chicken to a platter, then add shallots, wine, and broth to pan juices the skillet/dutch oven and boil, scraping up any brown bits, until reduced by half, 2 to 3 minutes. Add cream and boil until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Whisk in mustard, chives, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve chicken with sauce over rice.

Super Bowl Chicken Wings - GO PACK GO!

As seems to be the trend with my posts this year, I'm once again a few recipes behind. I made these wings for our Super Bowl party last Sunday (SO excited that the Packers won!), because what else are you supposed to eat watching Aaron Rodgers decimate Ben Roesthlisberger? There were three versions, as you'll see - Medium (sweet 'n spicy), Hot (buffalo style), and "Fun" (Joef). Fun, as you can probably guess from Joef's particular sense of taste, is in this case relative - his wings, as you'll see, contain three tablespoons - yes, tablespoons, of Naga Jolokia powder. I have to commend both him and our guests - those babies got eaten up just about as quickly as the other, milder versions.

Plus, two of these recipes don't even require deep-frying - they're oven-baked! Mmm, healthy!

MEDIUM - Sweet 'n Spicy
from saveur.com
4 lbs chicken wings, kept whole or divided
Dry Rub

-2 tbsp Smoked Paprika

-4 tsp onion powder

-4 tsp coriander

-1 tsp garlic powder

-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

-1 tsp crushed red pepper

-2 tsp brown sugar
-Salt
-Fresh-ground black pepper

Sauce

-1 cup Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

-1 cup good quality barbecue sauce (I used Jack Daniels Hickory Maple or something like that)

Combine the dry rub spices in a large bowl, adding salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste. Toss the wings in the spice mixture (we used gallon ziploc bags), and let wings sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Arrange wings on wire racks set over sheet trays. Place the wings in a cold oven and set for 275. Cook for 30 minutes.

Raise oven temperature to 475. Continue to cook wings until golden brown and crispy, about 30-45 minutes more, rotating the trays and flipping the wings halfway through the cooking. If the wings are not crispy after 45 minutes, run them under the broiler until crispiness is achieved. (Ours were crispy by that time.) After the wings are crispy, let them cool slightly.

Mix hot sauce and barbecue sauce together. Add the wings and toss to coat.

HOT - Buffalo (aka omg, I can't believe all this butter)
from saveur.com
Canola oil, for frying
4 lbs. chicken wings, separated into 2 pieces
16 tbsp. unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2 12-oz. bottle Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce
Heat oven to 200. Pour oil into a 6-qt. Dutch oven to a depth of 2" and heat over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 400. Working in two batches, add chicken wings to oil and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crisp, 10–12 minutes. Stand back! It will get crispy - just wait for it. Using a slotted spoon, transfer wings to a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet and transfer to oven.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and stir into the hot sauce. Pour over chicken wings and combine.

"FUN" - Joef
4 lbs chicken wings, kept whole or divided
Dry Rub

-2 tbsp Naga Jolokia pepper

-4 tsp onion powder

-4 tsp coriander

-1 tsp garlic powder

-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

-1 tsp crushed red pepper

-2 tsp brown sugar
-Salt
-Fresh-ground black pepper

Sauce

-1 cup Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

-1 cup good quality barbecue sauce (I used Jack Daniels Hickory Maple or something like that)

-2 tbsp habanero flakes
-1 tbsp Naga Jolokia

Combine the dry rub spices in a large bowl, adding salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste. Toss the wings in the spice mixture (we used gallon ziploc bags), and let wings sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Arrange wings on wire racks set over sheet trays. Place the wings in a cold oven and set for 275. Cook for 30 minutes.

Raise oven temperature to 475. Continue to cook wings until golden brown and crispy, about 30-45 minutes more, rotating the trays and flipping the wings halfway through the cooking. If the wings are not crispy after 45 minutes, run them under the broiler until crispiness is achieved. (Ours were crispy by that time.) After the wings are crispy, let them cool slightly.

Mix hot sauce, barbecue sauce, and spices together. Add the wings and toss to coat.

Curried Chicken and Banana Stew

(from Dave DeWitt's 1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes)

Oh, I'm excited about this one. For Christmas, my parents got Joef the above cookbook. He was, of course, thrilled. I gave them a "thank you" through (comically) gritted teeth. But sure enough, the first recipe we tried from the book was a total hit all around.

I loved this - it's an East African stew, apparently, with Indian influences (curry and coconut). It was also pretty easy - I'd probably save it for weekends, but it's really easy enough to make during the week, too. DeWitt gives it a heat scale of medium, which I found accurate. I wasn't sure about the banana the first night, but it absorbed the flavor of the stew when we ate it as leftovers, and really, it works with the dish if you're up for something different. Also, peanut oil must have a really low flashpoint, because that stuff bubbles like crazy.

I made the whole recipe, and ate it (gladly) for the next two-three days. You're gonna need a REALLY big pot.

3-4 lb chicken drumsticks
3 tbsp peanut oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cups celery, chopped
2.5 tbsp hot Madras curry powder (I could only find mild, but I compensated by buying extra hot chile - see below)
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp ground red chile (I used extra hot, powdered - see above)
2 cups tomato, chopped
1 cup shredded coconut
6 cups chicken broth
2 slightly under-ripe bananas, peeled and sliced

In a large, heavy pot, brown the chicken in the oil over medium-high heat (watch that oil, it pops!). Do it in batches if needed. Set the chicken aside.

Saute the garlic, onion, and celery in the remaining oil for about a minute, then add the curry powder, salt, black pepper, and red chile and saute for another minute.

Add the chicken back to the pot with the vegetables, along with the tomato, coconut, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 40 minutes.

Remove the drumsticks from the pot and remove the meat from the bones. Add the meat back to the pot. Add the bananas and simmer for about 10 minutes. I served it over rice.

Oh, and the Naga Jolokia made a guest appearance. Although I used such a small pinch of it that I think most of it just dispersed into the air. But still!

Mexican Feast, Part 4: Red Chile-Braised Chicken with Potatoes and Greens

(adapted from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen)

Finally, the final course! This was really quite different from anything I've made before, so I was a little unsure of how it was going to turn out. Plus, at this point, I'd been cooking for over five hours, so it was getting a little sloppy. Let's just say the walls got their fair share of ancho seasoning.

It turned out pretty dang tasty, and made for good leftovers, too. Kind of sweet and smoky, less spicy than the shrimp. Make sure you have a good-sized pot - my dutch oven did the job, but it was a little tight. Add more water if you feel yours is getting dry - I added a cup, which is included below. This serves four; once again, it involves making a seasoning paste that you then use in the recipe.

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 smallish chicken (3lbs), quartered (I had no idea how to do this - found the linked video useful. I didn't use the carcass.)
1 medium white onion, sliced into strips
1 cup Essential Sweet-and-Spicy Ancho Seasoning Paste:
8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
4 oz dried ancho chiles, stemmed
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cumin
Scant 1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 2/3 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
8 small boiling potatoes (try the red-skin ones), quartered
4 cups sliced collard greens
Salt, about 1 1/4 tsp
1 cup water or more if needed

Start by heating the oil in a 4-6 quart pot over medium-high. Brown the chicken in a single layer (in batches if needed), browning on all sides. Remove the chicken to a plate, add the onion and fry until soft and browned, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

To make the seasoning paste, roast the unpeeled garlic on a skillet over medium, turning from time to time until it starts to blacken in spots. Cool and peel. While the garlic is roasting, toast the chiles as well, pressing into the skillet and flipping. In a small bowl, cover the chiles with hot water and let them rehydrate for about 15-30 minutes. Stir from time to time, then drain.

Combine the oregano, black pepper, cumin, and cloves in a blender along with the chiles, garlic, and 2/3 cup of the broth. Blend to a smooth puree. Press through a mesh strainer into a bowl.

Bring your original pot to medium-high and when it's hot, add the ancho chile seasoning. Cook, stirring until it gets thicker and darker, about 5 minutes. Then stir in the remaining 2 cups broth and the vinegar. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add the chicken legs and thighs and the potatoes to the sauce. Partially cover and simmer over medium-low for about 15 minutes, then stir in the greens and add the chicken breasts. Add your cup of water if it's dry. Partially cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 20 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken onto a serving plate, then bring the sauce and veggies to a boil over medium and reduce, if necessary, for about 5 minutes. Season with salt.

Pour the sauce and veggies over and around the chicken, then do the same with the onion. Serve with rice (probably sacrilege, but hey, we liked it).

Tortellini in Brodo (Chicken Soup with Tortellini)

Joef was sick this week, so I had a great excuse to make chicken soup, which for me is really just an excuse to make tortellini. I love tortellini. I made extra, plain, and just popped them like candy the next day. That's good for me, right?

Anyway - this recipe cheats a little bit, because I used chicken broth instead of letting the chicken make its own broth (use water to just cover the chicken, season with salt, and let cook for a nice, long, long time). Usually I also prefer to use chicken drumsticks, but hey, you work with what you got. In either case, it's good for what ails you.

Splash or two of olive oil
2 chicken breasts (or five chicken drumsticks), chopped into cubes
1/2 or one whole white onion, quartered
1 stick celery, thinly sliced
6-8 baby carrots, chopped into thirds
8 cups of water
4-5 tsp chicken bouillon
Dried or fresh dill
1/2 package tortellini
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Splash a little olive oil in a large pot, and turn the heat to medium-high. Add chicken, onion, celery, and carrots, and top with a little ground black pepper and a couple of dashes of dill. Stir and brown the chicken on all sides, then add water and bouillon and more dill. (I love dill, so I add plenty.) Bring to a boil, then turn to low and allow to simmer, covered or partially covered, for at least 20-30 minutes. Return to a boil and add your tortellini right into the pot, and cook according to instructions. Done!