Samin Nosrat's Roast Chicken (Marinated in Buttermilk)

My plans changed for Thanksgiving with Gov Walz's (kind of) stay home order, such that I did not travel to see my sister and her kids in Iowa, and instead had a solo retreat for several days at home. It was totally luxurious, particularly because I was busier with work and was ready for vacation. I had stacks of compelling books to read or page through, and had leftovers all weekend! My thanksgiving harvest dinner featured a whole roast chicken, mashed sunchokes, roasted kabocha squash with salad, and roasted savoy cabbage. I also made some cranberry/date sauce at the last minute after remembering I still had frozen cranberries in the freezer from last year. I felt happy that all the veggies were from my garden, and was very pleased with how everything turned out. Yum. 

This chicken preparation is really easy, and yielded a delicious, crispy skinned, very moist chicken. Thanks to my friend Allison for alerting me to this Samin Nosrat recipe, where all you do is salt your chicken and then marinate it in buttermilk for 24 hours before following some helpful instructions about chicken placement in the oven and cooking it. I didn't know Samin before this, but the trailer for her Netflix show Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat looks good, primarily because she seems great. It is on my list for some winter viewing in lieu of my Top Chef obsession, and I like that they list some recipes, including this one, on the website. I didn't see a note until afterwards to use plain yogurt if you have no buttermilk. (I had been wondering b/c I needed to go to three stores for buttermilk!)

Samin's Chicken

• 3½- to 4-pound (about 1.5 kilograms) chicken
• Salt
• 2 cups (475 ml) buttermilk

The day before you want to cook the chicken, remove the wingtips by cutting through the first wing joint with poultry shears or a sharp knife. Reserve for stock. Season the chicken generously with salt and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Stir 2 tablespoons of kosher salt or 4 teaspoons fine sea salt into the buttermilk to dissolve. Place the chicken in a gallon-size resealable plastic bag and pour in the buttermilk. If the chicken won’t fit in a gallon-size bag, double up two plastic produce bags to prevent leakage and tie the bag with a piece of twine.

Seal it, squish the buttermilk all around the chicken, place on a rimmed plate, and refrigerate. If you’re so inclined, over the next 24 hours you can turn the bag so every part of the chicken gets marinated, but that’s not essential.

Pull the chicken from the fridge an hour before you plan to cook it. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C), with a rack set in the center position.

Remove the chicken from the plastic bag and scrape off as much buttermilk as you can without being obsessive. Tightly tie together the legs of the chicken with a piece of butcher’s twine. Place the chicken in a 10-inch cast iron skillet or shallow roasting pan.

Slide the pan all the way to the back of the oven on the center rack. Rotate the pan so that the legs are pointing toward the rear left corner and the breast is pointing toward the center of the oven (the back corners tend to be the hottest spots in the oven, so this orientation protects the breast from overcooking before the legs are done). Pretty soon you should hear the chicken sizzling.

After about 20 minutes, when the chicken starts to brown, reduce the heat to 400°F and continue roasting for 10 minutes and then move the pan so the legs are facing the back right corner of the oven.

Continue cooking for another 30 minutes or so, until the chicken is brown all over and the juices run clear when you insert a knife down to the bone between the leg and the thigh.

When the chicken’s done, remove it to a platter and let it rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving. 

This is the mashed sunchoke view - they were so good!

Magic Wings and homemade Ranch dipping sauce

My friend made these Nom Nom Paleo wings for a dinner some weeks ago, and I've been wanting to make them ever since. There was something decadent about them, and about the really delicious ranch sauce, maybe just because it is not something I usually make at home. Once in awhile I get the wings at Geek Love cafe as an easy dinner, because there is something so tasty about wings. But these are even better! I finally made them last night, along with a salad (because, homemade ranch!) and some sweet potato "fries" (aka sweet potato slices).

The tasty part about the wings is the special umami salt, what Michelle of Nom Nom Paleo calls Magic Mushroom Powder: it's dried porcini mushrooms mixed with salt and spices. It's really good. And of course the ranch with homemade mayo. Both of those recipes are listed below the one for wings.

Magic Wings, 4-5 servings
3 pounds chicken wings

1 1/2 tablespoons Magic Mushroom Powder (see below)
1 tablespoon olive oil 

 

1. Place the wings in a large bowl, and throw on the Magic Mushroom Powder. Toss the chicken with your hands to evenly distribute the seasoning. Cover and marinate the wings in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

2. A half-hour before serving, take the wings out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 425°F with the rack in the middle position.

3. Place a wire rack (if you have one) on top of an oiled, rimmed baking sheet, or just oil a rimmed baking pan. (I have to do both because my wire rack and pans are not big enough). Grease the rack with the melted fat before arranging the chicken wings in a single layer. Don’t overcrowd the wings, or they won’t brown properly!

4. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Then,flip each wing and rotate the tray. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the skins are crisp, taut, and brown.

5. Plate and serve immediately with ranch dipping sauce! (recipe below)

 

Magic Mushroom Powder - makes about 1 1/3 cups
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms (I bought mine at Seward)
2/3 c sea salt
1 T red pepper flakes
4 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1) Grind the mushrooms - I did this in my coffee grinder, and had to do it in 2 batches. Be sure to let the mushroom powder settle right after grinding - don't remove the lid for a few minutes. Otherwise it plumes out in mushroom cloud. (Michelle warned of this, and I opened my grinder after only a minute and it was still pluming.)
2) While waiting, measure out all other ingredients into a bowl. Add mushroom powder, and mix thoroughly. Done!

Ranch dressing makes 1/2 c
1/4 c homemade mayo
1/4 c heavy cream or coconut milk
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried dill
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Stir everything together and eat!

Paleo Chicken Tikka Masala

Typical weekends often include me experimenting with a new recipe - or just trying something new. In the past two weeks though, my cooking curiosities have been eclipsed by wool rug braiding. I have spent hours and hours planning out a rug, getting wool, examining rug patterns, etc. Everything was finally assembled this weekend (in order to begin the braiding), and I found myself generating some interest in something other than rug making. The object of that interest is Chicken Tikka Masala - a recipe I bookmarked in Bon Appetit at least a month or two ago. (The rug braiding may continue to trump cooking over the next several weeks, depending on how things go...we'll see!)

I substituted coconut milk products for the cream/yogurt, and it turned out delicious, especially atop some cauliflower rice with cilantro. It's a rich, creamy dish that seems filling and warm on these cold days. Plus, I am always a fan of something that makes good leftovers. Yum.

Paleo Chicken Tikka Masala (adapted from Bon Appetit) 
4 teaspoons finely grated peeled ginger
2 T minced onion (or garlic)
4 teaspoons ground turmeric
2 teaspoons garam masala 
2 teaspoons ground coriander 
2 teaspoons ground cumin 
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
2 T lemon juice
1 tablespoon kosher salt 
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
3 tablespoons ghee
1 small onion, thinly sliced 
1/4 cup tomato paste 
1 tsp ground cardamom  
1-2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes 
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes (or equal amt frozen ones)
1 1/2 cups coconut milk 
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro plus sprigs for garnish
fresh lemon juice to taste 

Marinating Chicken

1. Combine onion/garlic, ginger, turmeric, garam masala, coriander, and cumin in a small bowl. Whisk coconut milk, lemon juice, salt, and half of spice mixture in a medium bowl; add chicken and turn to coat. Cover and chill 4-6 hours. Cover and chill remaining spice mixture. 
2. Heat ghee in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion, tomato paste, cardamom, and chile pepper and cook, stirring often, until tomato paste has darkened and onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add remaining half of spice mixture and cook, stirring often, until bottom of pot begins to brown, about 4 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes with juices, crushing them with your hands as you add them. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often and scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot, until sauce thickens, 8-10 minutes. 
4. Add coconut milk and chopped cilantro. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens. Bon Appetit suggests 30-40 minutes - but I did about 20 with good results.
5. Meanwhile, preheat broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set a wire rack inside sheet (I did not have this, so just used a baking tray). Arrange chicken on rack in a single layer. Broil until chicken starts to blacken in spots (it will not be cooked through), about 10 minutes. (I flipped them to get both sides due to lack of wire rack!) *I also added extra marinating sauce to the larger pot - I didn't want to waste any of that goodness!

6. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces, add to sauce, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, 8-10 minutes. 

Serve with cauliflower rice with some cilantro. I made my cauliflower rice by finely chopping 1/2 an onion that I sauteed in ghee in a large skillet. After the onion was translucent, I added cauliflower that I had pulsed in a food processor until it was rice/couscous consistency. I cooked them together for another 5-8 minutes, stirring a bit. I added some chopped cilantro before serving. The cauliflower rice was perfect to absorb all that amazing sauce! Yum. 

Chicken with Olives and Lemon (+ Carrot Salad)

After making paleo bastila last month, I got inspired to get some Moroccan cookbooks from the library. One of them is my favorite so far, with stunning photos and lots of great recipes: The Food of Morocco. Yesterday I made a couple of recipes - one of the chicken/olive/preserved lemon ones (there are at least 6 or 8 different recipes focused on these three ingredients), and a traditional carrot salad. I LOVED the carrot salad - it was spicy and fresh tasting, and the chicken was good too.

It was the first time I tried cooking a chicken on a can - it was super easy and cooked faster than roasting and got a nice crispy skin. Plus it was very comical to see the chicken all standing upright on a can! Why is that so funny and bizarre? I will totally cook chickens this way form now on - though probably I'll go even simpler and not even do the sauce. The sauce was good, and had nice preserved lemon flavor - but also not totally necessary for me. My adaptation below does not include garlic or saffron, but put both in if you have them!

I served the whole feast with some cauliflower couscous and ate a stuffed date for dessert. Yum.

Carrot Salad with Cumin, Cinnamon, and Sweet Paprika
1 pound (6-8) carrots, trimmed
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp ground ceylon cinnamon
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp sugar (or 1 drop stevia)
fine sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
chopped flat leaf parsley for garnish

1. Early in the day, or the day before: Steam carrots over boiling water until just tender, about 10-15 minutes.
2. Dice the carrots and put in a bowl. Mix with the spices, lemon juice, sugar, and pinch of salt. Cool, then cover and chill until ready to serve.
3. Just before serving, correct the seasoning with salt. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley.

Roast Chicken on a Faux Spit with Lemon and Olives 
One 3 1/2 pound chicken
1 preserved lemon
Coarse salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
3 T chopped flat leaf parsley
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T ghee
1 c chicken stock
2 med onions, grated, rinsed, and squeezed dry
12 green-ripe or red olives, pitted*

1. About 4 hours before serving, rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry. Slide your fingers under the skin to loosen the flesh.

After cooking the wings tucked themselves in!

2. Remove the pulp from the preserved lemon, chopping and saving the peel for the sauce. Add the lemon pulp (4 cloves garlic and saffron water if using), 1 tsp salt, ginger, pepper, turmeric, herbs, oil, and ghee to a blender and grind to a paste. Insert some of the paste under the chicken skin, and "massage" onto the flesh. Put some of the paste in the cavity, and rub the rest all over the skin. Put the chicken in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
3. About 2 hours before you plan to serve the chicken, remove it from the fridge. Position a rack on the lowest shelf of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. Set a beer/soda can in a shallow baking dish, and stand the chicken on it. Add one cup of water to the pan, and roast for 45 minutes to an hour, until a thermometer set deep into the inner thigh reaches 165 degrees.
5. Meanwhile, add the chicken stock to the marinade bowl, then scrape all the liquid and marinade into a 9" skillet. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until the onions turn golden brown (10-15 minutes). Add the olives and reserved lemon peel and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
6. Transfer the chicken to a carving board and let rest for 5-10 minutes before carving.
7. Meanwhile, skim the fat from the juices in the baking dish (I actually just added all the juices, fat included), add the juices to the skillet, and boil down to a thick, unctuous sauce.
8. Carve the chicken and serve with the sauce.

*I had a hard time finding unflavored olives, so used some of the kalamata type ones. Because they are brined with vinegar and other spices, I did several cold water rinses to get ride of it so that the olives would not taste strange in this dish.

(Paleo) Chicken Bastila

Fresh out of the oven!

My personal tradition of these days we call Christmas and Christmas Eve revolve around making some good food. This year I spent several weeks considering what to make, including some rumination of different seafood options. But then I read Melissa's (Clothes Makes the Girl) recipe for Paleo Chicken Bastila, and decided to give it a go. I found the lengthy cooking time and celebratory nature of the dish fitting. Traditionally this is served as an appetizer on special occasions, and is a pie of chicken, cinnamon & sugar, and almonds all in layered pastry dough with a dusting of confectioners sugar on top. Here is a nice article and recipe about traditional Bastila with photos.

My Charming Companion has particularly strong memories of Bastila from eating at Marrakesh, a Moroccan restaurant in Philadelphia. He ate there about 3 times over 20 years ago, but has thought of the sweet chicken pie ever since. (He told me last night while eating dinner that he had become inordinately excited at the prospect of my making a paleo bastila, but was playing it cool.) It was great that he had eaten it before because there could be some comparison between his memory of bastila and the one on the plate before us. We ate it as they served it in the restaurant: in the dark and with our hands.

It was delicious. When I make this again, I will do the filling prep the day before. It will save time because you don't need to wait out the cooling, and will make assembly much easier. I also would love to actually serve this as an appetizer to a main meal of something less sweet. We ate it as the entree here, but the sweetness of it lends to a more secondary dish than a main one. Not thinking about the sweetness, I made a carrot and beet salad to serve with the bastila, but that was too many sweet things. Bastila would be better with a tart, olive-y salad with tomatoes and cucumber, or lemony greens or something. It wants a companion that is salty and tart.

Sprinkling the "almond dust" over the egg layer

2nd chicken layer

Final "almond dust" layer topping

Yum!

My thoughts for the recipe (which was lovely):

• I will use one additional egg next time in the egg custard part (plus a little more liquid to cook down from the chicken) to add to overall moistness.
• I want to pour some ghee over the chicken layers to get more of the buttery pastry taste. 
• Sprinkle cinnamon directly on top of the whole thing to really up the initial cinnamon sensory flavor.
• I'll simplify the bottom pastry crust to food process all ingredients and press them into the pie pan. I've made crusts this way before (with cold or melted ghee/coconut oil) and had them turn out great. This will save a little fussiness.

So - there was the holiday dinner. I did get my fancy seafood in last weekend by making scallops and shrimp on pea puree, and I made gravlox to bring to a family dinner today. I tasted it last night and it turned out amazing! I'll be posting both of those recipes later this week!

Roasted Chicken w/ Preserved Lemon and Root Veggies

Parks' "American Gothic"

I recently read the "One Read One Minneapolis" book, A Choice of Weapons, a memoir by Gordon Parks. Do you know Gordon Parks? I didn't. He is most famous for his photography, specifically American Gothic (at right), and he grew up in St. Paul. He grew up in the 30s and it is a really interesting read about race at that time in the Twin Cities (and elsewhere), and about all the crazy ways Parks survived, found ways to use his numerous talents, and create social critiques. His book actually has a forward by Wing Young Huie, the photographer who did the exhibitions of Frogtown, Lake Street, and University Ave. I thought the book was excellent. There is going to be an exhibit of Parks' work at the Mill City Museum, alongside photographs by Minneapolis high school students, in connection with the book. The exhibit opens tomorrow and will be there until spring.

The book has nothing to do with the recipe, but I do love reading while something is roasting in the oven, and I have been reading like a fiend lately. My curriculum seems to be "recent books by African American Authors." Other titles I highly recommend are Buck by MK Asante, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, and Long Division by Kiese Laymon.

I love roasting chickens in this cold weather. It's nice to have the oven on, and it tastes so much more delicious than the rotisserie chickens at the co-op. This chicken was a bit of an experiment. I wanted to use the preserved lemons I made last spring, and I had some random root veggies I wanted to cook in the chicken juices. The preserved lemon on the chicken and veggies was Ah-Mazing - it added such a nice lemony/savory touch, and the drippings/sauce was incredible. The photo here is not mine (I am in denial about the loss of my camera), but is from Martha Stewart's recipe for roast chicken with preserved lemon. She does not pre-make the preserved lemon, but makes them in the brine for the chicken. I'm sure it's good - just more fussy.

Chicken (mine was 3.8 lbs)
1 preserved lemon (or a bit more)
salt
pepper
fresh thyme sprigs
root veggies - I used carrots, turnips, and sweet potatoes
onions
ghee/butter (room temp)
olive oil

I rubbed some salt all over my chicken the night before I was going to cook it - it was my replacement for brining. No need to be sparing, I did a nice Tablespoon or two and rubbed it on all sides, and put on a good few cranks from the pepper grinder too. I then left the chicken uncovered in the fridge overnight (or a couple of hours would be fine, or not at all).

I was making my bird in the morning before work, so I took the chicken out of the fridge first thing to bring it up to room temp. I am not sure why this helps, but many of the good recipes suggest it, so I followed suit. While it was acclimating, I chopped up the root veggies and an onion into coarse, larger pieces. (I cut the carrots lengthwise down the middle and then chopped them into 2" long pieces, and cut the onion into 6ths. The sweet potato cooks fastest, whereas the turnip was the slowest cooker, so cut the turnips smaller than the carrot, and the sweet potato bigger!) Throw the veggies in the bottom of a roasting pan and toss with some olive oil and several sprigs of thyme. I only lightly salted the veggies since they'll get the drippings from the salted bird.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and prep the chicken. My preserved lemons still had rind and innards intact, so I cut the rinds off (that is the really tasty part), reserving the rinds in one pile and the (somewhat slimy) lemon innards in another. I sliced the rinds so that I could tuck them in the chicken skin. Using my fingers, I separated the skin from the meat of the chicken - it pulls away and becomes like a pocket. Tuck in the sliced lemon rinds here. Next, rub some ghee all over the chicken. I rubbed the lemon innards all over the outside of the chicken too. I stuffed the cavity of the chicken with 1/2 an onion, some big sprigs of thyme, and the rest of the lemon innards. Tie the legs together and set the chicken (breast side up) on top of your veggies. If you have one of those fancy racks that suspends your chicken over the roasting pan and veggies underneath, great.

Tie those legs together; this is breast up!

Stick the roasting pan full of veggies and chicken into the oven. I cooked it for 20 minutes at 425 (the higher heat browns the skin and makes it crispy), and then turned the heat down to 350 and cooked for another 60 minutes or so. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of your chicken, but you want the temp of the thick part of a thigh to come out to at least 160. (I was rushing and accidentally temp checked the drumstick, which was at the right temp, so I took out the chicken. Later I realized that the inner thigh was definitely not done and had to put the whole thing back in the oven - so be sure you check the right spot!!) Once the thigh is hot enough, remove the roasting pan from the oven and let it rest for 20 minutes before you dig in. It will finish cooking all the way through and all the juices will set and it will get really tasty. During the 20 minute rest, I took the opportunity to stir the veggies around in all the juices, and also added some minced preserved lemon. Parsley would be great stirred in there too - though I did not have any.

Finally - SERVE! The meat is delicious, and I loved getting bites of preserved lemon rind in there. The veggies were soft and sweet and also great with the preserved lemon. All in all the preserved lemon was the star of the meal because it made everything else so extra special.

*If you are without preserved lemon, just slice up a regular lemon and stick the slices in the chicken cavity with the thyme (no onion is needed in that case). I'd also rub a little lemon juice on the outer skin too, and squeeze a bit onto the veggies.

Doro Wat and Garden Berries!

It's finally cooling off! The heat of the past week enforced some strict relaxation time for me - I spent many hours laying around in front of a fan, reading. The reading has included some YA sci-fi, but also a non-fiction book called The Man who Quit Money that is really sticking with me. I've been thinking about it ever since I finished, and am feeling affected by the person's story and thoughtful choices to live not just outside a cash economy, but really in total separation from it because he doesn't barter or trade. He's been living this way for over 13 years, and it sounds like somewhat of a spiritual practice for him.

So, while pondering a gift economy, I got to enjoy some bounty from the garden: the rest of the snap peas, the first zucchini and cucumber, and also blueberries and black raspberries! The berries usually don't ripen at the same time, but because of the late and weird weather this summer/spring, they somehow have and so I get to enjoy them together, which is quite delicious. I mostly am eating them with some coconut milk or cream on top, but made some pancakes this morning as a conduit for the berries. The leftover pancakes functioned as crepes to hold more berries for lunch. Yum!


I also tried a recipe from Nom Nom Paleo for Doro Wat, an Ethiopian dish that is primarily chicken, berbere spice, onions, chicken broth, and hardboiled eggs, plus some lime juice and ginger in there. It was really delicious and pretty easy - all on the stove top so did not heat the house up too much. I don't use berbere spice very much, but I bought a really nice blend (that was not as spicy as regular berbere) in Iowa City a couple of years ago. The flavor is really different from the other foods I've been eating lately, so it was a nice change. The Doro Wat reheated nicely for lunch, and was a good dish to eat where I had air conditioning!

This is my extremely un-photogenic version of the dish!

Sunday Roast Chicken with Carrots (and Kale)

I have had a chicken in my freezer from Hilltop Pastures farm since late last summer - I have not had one of their chickens before, and it was tucked away for some treat later on. This weekend was the day! And oh my, it was delicious - so juicy and tender. Their chickens are pasture raised, and are comparable to Callister farms' chickens that are sold at the co-ops. These ones are cheaper (I can't remember how much now, but I know they were less than Callister) - though of course you have to get them at the market or via their delivery locations. I highly recommend all of their meat - it is all pastured, the beef is grass fed and finished, and the family is great. You will see them all at the Midtown Farmer's Market, including the kids. (I am already waiting for the spring market and their pork chops on a stick!)

Anyhow. Sunday chicken. I never had the "sunday roast" tradition in my family, but while cooking the chicken and a bunch of veggies, I sort of had a longing for something like it. There is something satisfying about making a big roast of some kind, with lots of side dishes, to eat earlier on Sunday for a nice long meal. I don't know, maybe it is also the hint of spring, and the longer days that make me want to linger over early dinner, followed by tea and a whole evening ahead. I mean, I can do things after dinner now! Not just go to bed?!

I decided to make the chicken with a simple compound butter of salt and cinnamon (garlic would be good too). I also made roasted carrots, and kale salad (with just a tablespoon or two of golden raisins instead of craisins). I had just a wee bit of left-over cauliflower mashed potatoes, so they got reheated and spooned onto the plate too. All in all, it was a pretty low maintenance dinner. I love things that roast in the oven requiring nothing from me.

My upside down chicken! It's so fat!

Roasted Chicken
1 3-4 pound chicken
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 t salt
3 T butter

1. Get your butter to room temp, and then use a spoon to mix it with the cinnamon to create a light brown butter mix. I put the compound butter under the skin and in the cavity of the bird. I also rubbed some on the outside, but the chicken was coola nd really the butter was not sticking to it. Later I thought I could have melted the compound butter and poured it on top. Anyway, however you do it, it will be good. Let the chicken sit out at room temp for about an hour or two before cooking.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Put bird in the smallest pan that it fits in, and set it in the middle of the oven. I just left mine be for 90 minutes. You certainly could flip the bird, but I didn't. I did go in during the last 20 minutes or so and spoon the buttery liquid from the bottom of the pan back over the chicken. (For some reason I put the bird in breast side down. I am not sure if this contributed to the really juicy chicken meat or not!)

Roasted Carrots
8 Carrots, sliced lengthwise (go for thinner carrots than the big fat ones if you can)
1 1/2 T Butter (or coconut oil)
Salt
Fresh rosemary (opt)

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Lay carrots in a single layer in a baking sheet or pan that has a rim. Pour butter over the carrots, sprinkle with rosemary and salt. Bake in the 350 degree oven under the chicken for 35-45 minutes. I flipped my carrots once or twice during the cooking, but this does not seem necessary. (If you are making these separately and not with the chicken, you can do them in a 400 degree oven.) They turned out SO delicious.

Paleo Coconut Curry

I am a huge fan of curry and was so excited to put together my own version of a coconut curry.  I have been making my own coconut milk recently and it is tasty, but has a very thin consistency and not very good for cooking as a result.  The canned version is much thicker but always contains guar gum, a no-no on my particular eating plan.  Then, Megan let me know that Seward started carrying Natural Value Organic Coconut Milk that doesn't have any guar gum or other additives.  It also happens to be in a BPA-free can.  So exciting!  Thanks for the tip, Meg!  I was finally able to make a creamy and delicious curry- yum.

I kept the recipe really simple since I don't have very many of the traditional curry spices on hand.  I basically just used sea salt, pepper, and a bunch of turmeric.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken thighs- diced

1/4 yellow onion- diced

1 garlic clove- minced

1/2 can coconut milk

handful of parsley- chopped (cilantro would probably be better)

3 big pieces of bok choy- chopped

large bunch of spinach

sea salt- to taste

pepper- to taste

turmeric- to taste (I used 2-3 tsps)

1 Tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

in cast iron pan on stove top melt coconut oil and saute the onion until soft.  Add garlic and gently saute for a minute before adding the diced chicken.  Saute the chicken for a few minutes, turning to cook on all sides. Add salt, pepper, turmeric, coconut milk and cook on medium heat for a couple minutes before adding the bok choy, spinach and parsley (zucchini or cauliflower would be good as well).  Once the veggies are in, cook for 5-10 minutes, until the veggies are soft and the chicken is cooked through.

Makes 2 servings.  I ate one serving and used the rest for leftovers the next day.  Just as good, if not better, the second time around.  Very satisfying meal for a cold winter evening.

Roasted Chicken Thighs/Roasted Beets & Sweet Potatoes

Well, as fall descends, my work schedule shifts to later hours. Which means I want dinner to be pretty speedy and/or easy, along with tomorrow's lunch prep. Last night I ate steak and some roasted broccoli (20 minutes total, but only 5 of that involved any action on my part). This morning I put 4 chicken thighs in the oven, along with 2 small sweet potatoes (cut into wedges), and 2 beets. They all roasted in under an hour, and I got 2 lunches and a dinner out of it, plus some extra sweet potatoes for breakfast tomorrow. And all I have to do is reheat it for dinner. I love fall and roasting things!

Roasted Chicken Thighs
4 bone-in, skin-on thighs
Olive oil
Spiced salt (I like Sel de Cuisine from Mississippi Market)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub olive oil and salt rub over thighs (all sides). Place them skin side down in a cake pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, flipping over halfway through.

Roasted Beets and Sweet Potatoes

While the chicken cooks, throw in some beets wrapped in foil to roast, and/or sweet potato wedges. I coated the sweet potatoes in coconut oil and sprinkled on a bunch of the Sel de Cuisine. They only take about 20-30 minutes, depending on the wedge size, and can be flipped part way through. You could do giant wedges, which would finish up about the same time as the chicken. The beets take the longest: about an hour. Once they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin (I just waited til I got home later that day.) I made a simple salad a la An Everlasting Meal from a couple of posts ago: slice or chop the cooled beets and top with olive oil, vinegar, a nice salt, and roasted nuts. Mmmm.

Chicken thighs sans 1 (it was in my lunch already)

For the fast dinner: reheat the thighs under the broiler for a few minutes on each side. They get piping hot, and can be served with the chilled beets, or along with the sweet potato wedges (reheated or not) making dinner cook time about 10 minutes.

Chicken Tomatillo Stew

Oh the market is filling up with tomatillos!  I actually still had some frozen ones in my freezer from last summer, so I thought I'd use them up in this stew. The recipe is from Paleo Comfort Foods, and it is pretty simple and makes a big batch - which means good freezing for lunches later. And I got to use the first green pepper out of the garden, and poblanos from the farmer's market!

The flavor in the stew is nice and spicy - not too hot, and your kitchen will smell like a good taqueria. The tomatillo sauce I had in my freezer did have some jalepeno blended in, so that added a little extra heat to mine. For the chicken, I just got some large chicken breasts, coated them in oil and a little flavored salt rub, and stuck it under the broiler for 15 minutes (flip halfway through). Then I shredded it up and added it to the pot.

Chicken Tomatillo Stew
1-2 T coconut oil
1-3 poblanos, chopped
2 yellow onions, chopped
2 garlics, minced (opt)
2-3 green or red peppers, chopped (opt)
1 cubanelle pepper, minced (opt - I used a habenero from my garden instead)
2 t chipotle pepper
2 t chili pepper
1 T cumin
2 t smoked paprika
1 1/2 lbs fresh tomatillos, husked and chopped small/crushed in food processor
1 24 oz can tomatoes (or fresh ones!)
4 c chicken broth
2 lbs cooked chicken, shredded (pulled pork would work too)

1. Heat oil in a large pot.
2. Add onions, poblanos, peppers, and garlic and saute until onions turn translucent.
3. Add spices and minced hot pepper if using. Stir to mix.
4. Add tomatillos, tomatoes, broth, and chicken. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 1-2 hours.
(I opted to move everything to the crock pot to simmer - and I left it in there for a bit longer.)

Jicama chicken sliders

Go to her blog for a GREAT list of paleo picnic foods

I saw these "Jicamadas" on my fave paleo blog and got inspired to try them. One because I love jicama, and two because they just looked fancy and treat-like, which I sometimes miss in the paleo food world. There  tends to be less glamour I think, and this recipe has some. Plus she suggested that these are a little like banh mi sandwiches - you know, but totally different. I agree, in a subtle kind of way. The radishes (which are SO beautiful right now at the store and farmer's market) mix with the carrot, jalepeno and mayo to conjure up some definite banh mi likeness.

My Jicamadas were super tasty - really nice flavor mix with the mint and basil. I found that the small dice of veggies was hard to keep on the jicama, and I thought that next time I'd julienne the veggies rather than dice. I think it will still look festive because of all the great colors, and it will be easier to eat. These would be perfect appetizers for some festive occasion - just make them on smaller pieces of jicama.

*Note that she recommends brining the chicken before you cook it. I did not do that, though I used thighs instead of breast meat. Also, this was my first time poaching meat. It felt strange, and did seem successful in keeping the meat moist. I think you could prepare the chicken any which way though. I sort of like the increased flavor that cooking it under the broiler produces, so I might try that next time.

Chicken Salad with Homemade mayo

I want to use this post to extol the virtues of rotisserie chickens. omg. I love these things: they are totally delicious, are cost efficient, and contribute to amazing stock. and um, they are super easy, because well, somebody else made it.

My personal fave way to use one rotisserie chicken: get rotisserie chicken from the seward after work on Friday when they are $1 off. Proceed to take it home and eat some of it (thigh and leg) immediately, thus relieving hunger and the need to cook at the end of the week. Sometime over the weekend, when a person might again want food to magically appear, heat up the other thigh and leg in the broiler for a few minutes. Make the chicken salad (from the breast meat - see recipe below) - preferably on Sunday so that it is fresh and tasty for Mon/Tues lunch. Make stock, now or freeze to do later. Homemade stock tastes so much better to me, and it is really easy if you already have bones and bits left. And basically free since folks throw these away otherwise.

So. Really. This is a great item if you do a lot of solo food prep...though you know, you could totally share it too. That is also fun.

Chicken Salad (made up by me, but I am sure this recipe exists somewhere):

2 Chicken breasts, diced
One apple, diced
One celery rib, minced
1/4 c. Currants or Raisins (optional)
1/2 c. toasted almonds (whole or chopped)
homemade mayo (whatever amount you like...I seem to prefer 1 c. or so)
1/2 t. salt (more to taste)
1 T. Tarragon

Just mix everything together and you are done! Great with green lettuce for a refreshing salad! (I am channeling Lynda Barry's Marlys here. She expresses a lot in short exclamatory sentences.)

Homemade Mayo: do not be intimidated. It is so easy (as long as you have a blender)! From Fanny Farmer

1 egg at room temp
1/2 t dry or dijon mustard (I prefer dijon)
1/2 t. salt (or more to taste)
2 T lemon juice (at room temp)
1 1/2 cups olive oil (not extra virgin)

*Before you start, there are a few important notes: if you make this with a fancier extra-virgin olive oil, the taste will be pretty olive-y. I thought it almost tasted like the oil was rancid (it wasn't) because it was so strong. I recommend using whatever cheap olive oil you have on hand. Also, the mayo is MUCH more creamy and fluffy if you use ROOM TEMP ingredients. Really. If you forget, like me, just put a cold egg into a cup with some warm water to help it warm up a little faster.

Put everything but the oil and water in the blender and blend. With the motor running, add the oil VERY slowly in a stream - it will begin to thicken. Sometimes the blender clogs up and needs to be stirred a bit to keep going. Once you have all the mayo in, it is done! omg, this mayo is SO good.

It is also excellent as the dressing for the carrot salad posted last month. Also, I did a little research on how long this lasts in the fridge: look at the expiration date of your egg, and then add a week. That is how long this mayo will keep. Which is probably pretty long. Though I have to say, when I have homemade mayo, it doesn't last too long because i eat it on anything it is so good.

Roast Chicken

I am not a frequent poultry cooker, but chickens were on sale at the Wedge last weekend and I couldn't pass up the deal! Several years ago I spent many an evening watching "America's Test Kitchen" videos from the library, where they very persuasively urge that chickens be brined before cooking. This recipe comes from them, and I have to say, it is DELICIOUS. seriously.

One 3.5-4 lb chicken:

Brine = 1/2 c. salt in 1/2 gallon water. They suggest also adding 1/2 c. sugar, but I left that out. I would maybe try some apple cider in place of sugar and part of the water though.

Put chicken in brine for one hour, then pat dry. I brined mine for 2-3 hours, then took it out to dry on a tray in the fridge overnight.

Mix up compound butter (by hand in a bowl):
3-4 T butter (room temp)
1 clove garlic, mashed
1 T dijon mustard
1 t minced fresh thyme
ground black pepper

Cut out backbone so that chicken can be butterflied for cooking. I had no idea how to do this, but this very helpful Youtube video made it appear super easy. My only problem was getting the breastbone out - I got it, but only after breaking it in the middle and using a knife a bit.

With your fingers, loosen skin across breast and as far down drumsticks as you can, do not tear skin. Spoon butter under skin and work across as much of the chicken as possible. (This was easy, you can move it around under the skin and sort of see it. weird!) Rub 1.5 T olive oil over chicken.

The chicken cooks on top of potatoes (or sweet potatoes and onions in my case):
2.5 pounds roasting potatoes, russets or Yukon Golds
3/4 ts salt
ground black pepper
1 Tb olive oil

Slice potatoes 1/8" to 1/4" inch thickness. Salt and pepper lightly, toss with 1 Tb oil. Line bottom of grilling pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Spread potato slices across pan evenly.

Place grilling rack over potatoes. Arrange butterflied chicken on top, folding drumsticks inward so they cover part of the breast. (I did not get how to do this - so just left it as it was.) Roast at 500 degrees for 20 minutes, turn pan around, roast for another 20 minutes or until internal temperature in breast is 160. *Be sure to put your chicken towards the top of the oven. I had it lower, and it seemed to not get brown enough. I also didn't fully allow the oven to preheat before putting the chicken in, and would wait next time for the full high heat.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Cut chicken up and serve with potatoes, and make sure to spoon any delicious buttery broth over the top too.

Abgusht

I found this recipe in a novel I read a few years ago called Pomegrante Soup. I modified this recipe from one with Lamb in it that they made in the book.

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1-2 onions, chopped

boneless chicken of your choice ( I like to use some breast meat and some thighs)

1tsp Tumeric

sauté the above, then add:

1 tsp Paprika

1 c. yellow split peas, rinsed well

8c water (about)

chopped carrots

3-6 average size potatoes chopped, Yukon gold is nice

2tsp salt (I am not usually a salt person, but this recipe really benefits from it)

1tsp black pepper

1-2 tomatoes chopped or some tomato paste/sauce

1-2 dried limes (you can get them at Bill’s on West Lake Street)

a pinch of saffron threads dissolved in a few TBLSP hot water

1tsp ground cardamom

1tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp ground cumin

Then cook in a big pot for 1-2hours.

Squeeze and remove dried limes, then mash or food process the stew when cooled for best texture and flavor dispersal.

Cobb Salad

oh WFDM! I think many of us are busy with the season: putting in raised beds, planting, trying to keep up with spring, finishing school, looking for jobs, etc. Yay for spring changes and growing and green things!

I was craving cobb salad all last week. I actually am not even sure I have ever even HAD cobb salad before, but the idea of it was sounding really good. So I went to Smitten Kitchen, and sure enough she had a "Classic Cobb Salad" recipe that looked to be just what I was imagining. I followed her recipe pretty much exactly, and it is delicious.


A few notes:
1. Prep these items first: Cook the chicken (35 min), boil the eggs, and cook the bacon - I recommend in that order! I used the same water I boiled the eggs in to quickly dunk the tomatoes so I could remove the skin. Everything will need to cool a bit while you make the dressing and prep the lettuces/avocado/cheese.
2. For the chicken: I got some bone/skinless chicken thighs (darker thigh meat is much juicier than breasts), rubbed them in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and baked them at 375 for 35 minutes.
3. I have not had a chance to get to the farmer's market yet, but the co-op has local tomatoes and lettuces in abundance. According to the Seward produce department sign, watercress is out of season though. I found some WI "Upland Cress" that seems similar and is spicy and nice, and arugula would be good too.

slow cooker buffalo chicken

Ok bloggies, this one showcases my trashy side. But with my crock pot only recently returned from a two-year hiatus at a friend's house, I had to do something. And nothing says trashy like a crock pot and buffalo chicken. The sandwiches were pretty tasty and, for you meat eaters, made largely from stuff you probably have in the pantry.

1 T olive oil
1lb chicken thighs, cut into 1/1/2" pieces
1lb chicken breasts, cut into 1/1/2" pieces
1 onion, diced small
3 garlic cloves
1 red bell pepper
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup hot sauce
3 T Worcestershire sauce
3 T yellow mustard
1 T molasses

1.) Brown the chicken thighs, then breasts (5 min). Transfer to crock pot.
2.) In the skillet, add onion, garlic, bell pepper and cook until soft. Add 1/4 c water and scrape up all the yummy brown stuff. Put it in the crock pot.
3.) Add tomatoes, hot sauce, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and molasses to the crock pot. Cover and cook on high until chicken is tender (about 4 hrs). Shred chicken (Martha suggests using a potato masher. Absent one of these fine tools, I used two forks) and slop it on a bun.
4.) Eat it with a salad if you're feeling fancy.