Adapted from the May, 2013 Bon Appétit

Have you noticed how some of the cooking magazines have a page or two each month devoted to reader requests for favorite restaurant dishes? Well this is the spot where I would have included one of those myself, except that the recipe I’ve been wanting to bring to you, or more precisely the restaurant associated with it, is not the sort that believes in sharing. I know this because on repeated occasions I’ve asked whether they (“they” being a little waterside operation on the vacation island of St. Bart’s) would be willing to pass along their recipe for Asian chicken salad, and each time my request has been met with a steely “no.” Given the tenor of their response and the fact that their portions are small and their prices are high, you might wonder why I continue to frequent this particular establishment. The answer, of course, is because I like the food… a lot—especially their coconut tart and the aforementioned chicken salad. And so each time I’ve visited the restaurant over the years I order both (if they’re on the menu) in the hopes that I’ll be able to break down the various components sufficiently to recreate the dishes myself at home, something I have so far been unable to accomplish.

But recently I was thrown a lifeline, in the form of this recipe for Asian chicken and cabbage salad, which I found in the May issue of Bon Appétit. While the dish is not an exact match to the restaurant version I love (for one thing it features red cabbage instead of white), it offers enough of those components that have kept me coming back for more—namely the tang of citrus and vinegar, the subtle heat of a finely diced pepper, the crunch of peanuts and sliced cabbage, and the mild sweetness of roast chicken—to be a reasonable facsimile. In fact, I’m not sure I don’t like this version even more, in part because it also includes a number of ingredients I’ve never noticed in the other, such as baby spinach, cilantro, and a small amount of fresh ginger, all terrific additions to this flavor-packed combo.

I also love how easy it is to assemble, though that probably comes as no surprise since this is a chicken salad we’re talking about and not—I don’t know—a soufflé or something more elaborate. You begin with the dressing, which consists of the chile (either a jalapeño or Fresno variety) and the ginger, some olive oil, the lime juice, and a small amount of soy sauce, brown sugar, and fish sauce, all of it whisked together in a large serving bowl until emulsified. Next you add 3 cups of shredded chicken (pulled from a rotisserie chicken to make your life even easier, though as the recipe points out leftover shrimp or sliced pork would also be great), along with the various vegetables—specifically, half of a small head of red cabbage (sliced), two shredded carrots, a handful of chopped scallions, a cup of slivered spinach, and 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro. In other words, all healthy stuff (okay, maybe not the brown sugar but there’s only a little) and taken together, seriously delicious!

As for those peanuts, these—along with some toasted sesame seeds—are sprinkled across the surface of each serving, providing a little visual interest, not to mention more of that all-important crunch. So clearly, there’s no shortage of things to love here. But perhaps best of all is the fact that unlike those tiny appetizer portions served up at the restaurant in St. Bart’s, if you make it at home you can eat all you want. In other words, forget treating this salad as a warm-up act and elevate it to entrée status. I can’t think of a better, more satisfying meal for a hot summer night.

Ingredients:
—1 red japapeño or Fresno chile with some seeds, chopped (Note: for a touch more heat, try adding a dash or two Sriracha, the Asian hot sauce made from ground chiles and garlic)
—1/3 cup vegetable oil
—1/4 cup fresh lime juice (or more if you prefer a bit more tang; I actually doubled the lime juice but taste as you go)
—2 tbs reduced-sodium soy sauce
—2 tsp light brown sugar
—1 tsp fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
—1 tsp grated peeled ginger
—Kosher salt
—1/2 small head of red cabbage, thinly sliced (about 5 cups)
—2 medium carrots, peeled, shredded
—6 scallions, whites and pale greens only, thinly sliced
—3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
—1 cup baby spinach, thinly sliced
—1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
—1/4 cup chopped dry-roasted peanuts
—1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds (Note: for a touch more sesame flavor, try adding a few dashes of toasted sesame oil to each serving)

Directions:
—Whisk chile, oil, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar fish sauce, and ginger in a large bowl; season with salt.
—Add cabbage, carrots, scallions, chicken, spinach, and cilantro; toss to coat.
—Top with peanuts and sesame seeds and serve.

4 servings

The post 07/11/13 • ASIAN CHICKEN SALAD appeared first on THE RECIPE GRINDER.

From the June/July, 2013 Fine Cooking

There’s nothing like the anticipation of big events in your life (and the arrival of your 5^th decade!) to spur change, which I suppose explains why Alfredo and I have recently made some alterations to our way of doing things—specifically in the realm of food. This isn’t the first time we’ve made such tweaks but it is the only occasion I can remember where the goal was less about looking good then it was about feeling better and having more energy (though needless to say, we’ll happily take the former should that present itself as a by-product). Alfredo was the first out of the gate on this one, and after meeting with a doctor in early April he went on a two-week detox program. Once that step was complete he eliminated all processed foods from his diet, focusing instead on lean proteins and lots of fruits and vegetables. The results have been pretty astonishing: in just under two months he’s dropped 25 pounds of fat, without losing any muscle mass. Naturally he feels better not carrying all that extra weight around, but his energy has also increased exponentially, which means he now bounds out of bed before the alarm goes off at 6:00 am (annoying to me as there is no bounding happening in my day before 11:00 am and several large cups of coffee). I know he misses things like bread and crackers and pizza (this most of all) but at least for now, the plusses so far outweigh the minuses that he’s sticking to the program with virtually no complaint. In other words, up to this point it’s been pretty easy for him.

As for me, the issue is not about losing weight but rather about increasing my energy, something I’ve felt I needed to address for a while now. Aside from the fact that I’m not a morning person (that will probably never change), on many weekday afternoons I find myself struggling to stay awake as I stare into my computer screen. Granted, I’m not getting my full eight hours of sleep every night (more like six) but that shouldn’t require an emergency espresso to get me through the second half of the day. And so I too have launched into the world of detox and, at least for the next 10 days, have sworn off sugar and carbohydrates. It’s only been a day but I have to say I feel pretty awful. I’ve always thought of myself as someone who ate healthfully (if not maniacally so), but the elimination of those three packets of sugar from my morning coffee, and that slice or two of bread from alongside my lunchtime salad, seems to have created both a psychological absence for me, as well as a physiological one. I need a sugar fix, bad! Maybe day two will be easier…

In any case, before I even launched into my own self-improvement program, the changes in Alfredo’s eating habits had prompted me to look out for dishes he’d actually eat (not that I plan to eliminate desserts or pasta or anything involving flour from this blog—where would the joy be in that?). Still, in these early days of his diet I didn’t want to torture him with the likes of brown butter financiers or an Asian noodle salad with roasted peanuts, so I put my sugar/flour blinders on and zeroed in on this recipe for pan-fried chicken breasts with a tomato and basil salad, from the current issue of Fine Cooking. And having now made it a couple of times I’m happy to report that despite my love affair with processed foods (and by that I don’t mean potato chips, but rather things like fresh bread and maple syrup) I’d happily eat this dish any night of the week—especially a summer night, when the bright flavors featured here are particularly well-suited. Then again, given the number of chicken and tomato recipes I’ve posted on this site over the past few years that probably comes as no surprise. We all have particular flavor combinations we’re drawn to, and I guess chicken and tomatoes is one of those for me.

Of course, it’s no secret that I also have a weakness for the acidic side of the food spectrum—something this dish offers as well, thanks to the presence of 2½ tablespoons of balsamic vinegar in the tomato mixture. The vinegar, plus a ¼ cup of thinly sliced basil leaves, a generous glug of olive oil, and some salt, pepper, and finely chopped garlic is all it takes to give this component of the dish a bright summery quality. As such, it’s the perfect counterpoint to the salty, slightly caramelized exterior of the cutlets, and the peppery arugula its sits atop. That said, you may want to tinker with the garlic quantity as on occasion I’ve found the single clove called for by the recipe to be over-powering (though admittedly I may have been working with an exceptionally strong clove).

As for the chicken breasts, these are sliced in half horizontally almost all the way through, so you can open the two halves like a book. Once pounded thin with a meat mallet or a heavy pan (sandwich the breasts between two sheets of plastic wrap so the pounding doesn’t damage the meat) the chicken can be lightly salted and peppered, and then introduced into a skillet with a little hot oil. Working with two breasts at a time, cook the chicken until golden brown (between 2 and 3 minutes), then flip and cook the other side for 30 seconds more. Repeat with the remaining two breasts, keeping the first two warm in a low oven. Once all the chicken has been cooked, place each breast on a plate containing a portion of the arugula, then top generously with the tomatoes and accompanying juices. That’s all there is to it, so not only is this a healthy dinner, it’s one that can be assembled in little more than half an hour.

The other nice thing is that the tomato and arugula treatment lends itself to a variety of other pairings as well, most notably sliced steak. That said the tomato mixture tends not to be great the next day (tomatoes don’t do well in the fridge, unfortunately) which means leftovers aren’t nearly the treat you hope they’ll be. Then again, it’s an issue you’re unlikely to face, since in my experience the only thing remaining at meal’s end is a lot of empty plates.

Ingredients:
—1 lb ripe plum tomatoes (about 5 medium), seeded and cut into ½-inch dice
—1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
—5 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
—2½ tbs balsamic vinegar
—1 medium clove garlic, finely chopped
—Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
—4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 2 lbs)
—4 oz (4 loosely packed cups) baby arugula

Directions:
—Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 200˚.
—In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, basil, 3 tbs of the oil, the vinegar, garlic, ¼ tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper.
—Butterfly each chicken breast by slicing it horizontally almost but not entirely in half so you can open it like a book. Open and pound each breast between two pieces of plastic wrap with a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy pan until ¼ inch thick.
—Pat the chicken dry and season lightly with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbs of the remaining oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook two of the breasts until golden brown on one side, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and continue to cook until just cooked through, about 30 seconds more. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining 1 tbs oil and chicken.
—Divide the arugula among 4 dinner plates. Set the chicken on top, spoon a generous amount of the tomato mixture and its juice over all.

Serves 4

The post 05/28/13 • CHICKEN CUTLETS WITH TOMATOES appeared first on THE RECIPE GRINDER.

Adapted from the Sept., 2005 Gourmet

It felt like something special was in order for this, my 100th posting, and as luck would have it, the date aligned with another important milestone: the fortieth birthday of our good friend Dennis. I’ve mentioned Dennis often over the past few years, both because Alfredo and I spend so much of our time with him, and because he’s my partner-in-crime in so many food-related adventures (even though he hates olives). And so an idea was hatched—to throw Dennis a birthday dinner that would also celebrate this key moment in TRG’s life. The question was what to cook, since the 15 or so assembled guests were to include two vegetarians (who also can’t abide onions, tomatoes, or anything in the nightshade family), one individual who tries to maintain a gluten-free diet, another who hates cheese, and Dennis, who gets squeamish around seafood. In other words, this was not going to be an easy menu to assemble. For a few days there I was completely stumped.

I should also mention that when it comes to planning a menu I aim for some kind of loose logic to the meal that will tie everything together—be it a region, a season, a holiday, what have you. Even if it’s an organizing principle that’s only apparent to me, it helps in my ability to put something together that feels balanced, so it wasn’t going to work for me to just throw a bunch of things on the table and call it dinner. But I had to start somewhere, and that starting point was presented by the two elements I was certain of: the appetizer (though I ended up adding a second one), and dessert. For the former I’d identified deviled eggs, simply because they always seem to make everyone happy, and because they embody springtime; and for the latter, the chocolate cake with vanilla icing from Billy’s Bakery, because it’s decadent and infantile—everything you could wish for from a birthday cake. With those two cornerstones in place I was able to construct a meal with a southern/soul food vibe. What’s more, it was a meal with enough elements that everyone would find something they could eat… but not with so many parts I wouldn’t be able to knock it out in a day.

Here’s the menu I came up with:

Appetizers
—Deviled eggs
—Pimiento cheese spread

Main event
—Garlicky fried chicken
—Macaroni and cheese
—Collard greens
—Tomato and cucumber salad with buttermilk dressing

Dessert
—Chocolate cake with vanilla icing

With two exceptions, links to the recipes for all of these items (including the two previously featured on this site) are attached above and are identifiable by their red type-face. Not included are the recipes for the cake and the fried chicken, as the cake was purchased, and the fried chicken is the featured recipe for this posting and so follows my standard format (link at the top of the page and the typed recipe at end). Phew! Have I put you to sleep with all that information?!

Well wake up, because this recipe is definitely worth adding to your arsenal! And, as someone who had never fried chicken before, it’s also a good deal faster and less messy than I would have guessed. In fact, other than the chicken taking longer to cook than the recipe indicated it would (almost double the time, as I was working with very large breasts), I racked up the most minutes during the early stages of the recipe—while making the marinade and cutting my pile of chicken breasts in half to allow for a more manageable size (something you won’t have to worry about if using smaller breasts or other chicken parts).

The marinade itself features a large quantity of onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and water, and although these elements imbue the chicken with a subtle zip, their more critical function is as a brining liquid, ensuring the meat stays juicy once cooked. In other words, if onions and garlic aren’t your thing, don’t be put off by their presence here; you’ll barely notice them in the finished product. Of course, you will need to factor in some time for the marinade to do its work—twelve hours at a minimum, or as much as a full day. So clear space in the fridge, and begin marinating the chicken the night before you start cooking.

Once you’re ready to tackle the frying, the chicken can be removed from the marinade, dredged through a mixture of flour, salt (just a little this time), and black pepper and left to sit for twenty minutes or so, before being introduced to the hot oil. And by “hot” the recipe stipulates a temperature of 365˚, so you’ll want to have a candy- or deep-fat thermometer clipped to your pot so you can pounce at just the right moment. (The oil—enough to fill the bottom two inches of your pot—will take little more than 10 minutes to reach the desired temperature, a process that speeds up the warmer the oil gets, so keep a close eye on things.) At this point it’s just a matter of gently placing the chicken in the pot and turning it a few times until it’s golden brown on the outside and cooked through on the inside (which, despite the original recipe’s instructions, can take as little as eight minutes, and as much as fifteen). Remove from the oil, let drain on a cooling rack placed over a paper-towel lined baking sheet, and enjoy—either warm or at room temperature.

It bears mentioning that unlike the skillet my mom used for frying chicken when I was a kid, a cast-iron pot (such as a Dutch oven) cuts down dramatically on the oil spatters, which means less post-frying clean-up. Even so, a little extra effort would not be out-of-line for chicken this good. And while a fried chicken dinner may not be something you want to make a weekly habit, for a special occasion (a birthday, a 100th posting, whatever) I can’t think of a meal with the power to make people smile more broadly—something I attribute to its very summery associations. The night of our dinner may have been chilly (too cold to eat outside for sure), but even so the evening felt like an enthusiastic waving-in of longer days and warmer nights. Like the opposite of a rain dance.

Here’s to the next 100 postings!

Ingredients:
—2 medium onions, chopped
—8 large garlic cloves, chopped
—1/3 cup plus 2 tsp salt
—2 tbs black pepper
—1 tbs cayenne
—8 cups water
—8 to 9 lbs chicken parts (breasts, drumsticks and/or thighs). Note: I used only breasts here, cutting each breast crosswise prior to marinating.
—10 cups all-purpose flour
—About 8 cups vegetable oil (one 64 fl oz bottle)

Special equipment:
—A wide 5- to 6-qt heavy pot (preferably cast-iron; 10-inches wide and 4 inches deep)
—A deep fat or candy thermometer

Directions for marinating the chicken:
—Purée onions and garlic with 1/3 cup salt, 1 tbs black pepper, cayenne, and 1 cup water in a food processor until smooth, then pour into a large bowl and stir in remaining 7 cups water.
—Divide chicken and marinade among 3 (1-gallon) sealable plastic bags, then seal, forcing out excess air. Place bags in a large bowl or pot in case of leaks.
—Marinate chicken, chilled, turning bags over a few times, for at least 12 hours, and up to 1 day.

Directions for dredging and frying chicken:
—Whisk together flour, remaining 2 tsp salt, and remaining tbs black pepper in a large bowl, then divide between 2 large roasting pans.
—Drain chicken in a colander, discarding marinade, then dredge each piece of chicken in the seasoned flower and leave sitting in flour. Let chicken stand 20 minutes.
—Line 2 large baking sheets with paper towels and set a cooling rack on each. Preheat oven to 250˚. (TRG note: The chicken is equally good served at room temperature, an option that allows you to bypass the oven-related portion of this recipe).
—Heat 2 inches oil in pot over moderately high heat until it registers 365˚ on thermometer. Knocking off excess flour, transfer 4 or so pieces of chicken to oil (keep batches all white meat or all dark) and fry, turning occasionally with tongs, until golden brown and cooked through, about 8 minutes for breasts and 10 to 12 minutes for drumsticks and thighs. (TRG note: I was working with particularly large breasts and found between 12 and 15 minutes were necessary to cook fully).
—Lift chicken from oil with tongs, letting excess oil drip back into pot, then transfer to a rack, and keep warm in oven, if desired. Fry remaining chicken in same manner, adding oil as needed and returning the temperature to 365˚ between batches.

Serves 12

TRG’s note on disposing of cooking oil:
As someone who very rarely fries food, on those random occasions when I do I invariably find myself confused about what to do with the used oil (clearly pouring it down the drain, even if you have a garbage disposer, is a really bad idea). Here are a few helpful tips.
—Let the oil cool completely.
—Pour the oil into a large can or re-sealable plastic juice container.
—Freeze it.
—Throw it away once hardened.
—Alternately, you can also reuse it by straining the cooled oil through cheesecloth, pouring into a sealable container, and storing it in a cool, dark place until needed.

The post 04/09/13 • GARLICKY FRIED CHICKEN (& 100th POSTING!) appeared first on THE RECIPE GRINDER.

Adapted from the Feb., 2013 Bon Appétit

Recently someone told me that if an expectant mother wants to ensure her child has an adventuresome palate, she must eat as broadly as possible during her pregnancy—the idea being that whatever she consumes is more likely to become imprinted in her unborn child’s consciousness, thereby increasing the chances that the food, the flavor, whatever, is one he or she will be willing to eat once they have a say in the matter. I doubt it’s quite that simple, though as this piece of kitchen-sink advice was relayed to me by a multiple mom, I accepted it at face value. Plus it makes sense. Part of the lore of my own childhood was that the reason I showed an early inclination for anything sour was that my mother consumed a lot of vinegar when she was pregnant with me. Who knows if there’s any truth to this theory—my instinct is that someone in the medical profession would have a more scientific explanation—but either way my obsession for all things sour has stayed with me, leading my palate towards anything with the promise of a little tang.

Which at least partially explains why this recipe for vinegar-braised chicken and onions got my attention when I saw it in last month’s Bon Appétit. (The rest of the reason can be attributed to the fact that it was created by the ladies behind Canal House—a seasonal cookbook series known for just the kind of hearty, unfussy cooking I’m perpetually drawn to.) The recipe is part of a larger piece that ran in the magazine on the merits of making—and cooking with—vinegar, and while I’m not quite ready to start fermenting wine in my kitchen, I’m always up for adding an acidic kick to my next meal.

I realize, of course, that’s not to everyone’s taste, but one of the appealing things about this recipe is that it combines equal parts tangy red wine vinegar and the sweeter balsamic variety, so the latter mellows the former to create a flavor that’s nicely balanced and not even remotely overpowering. What’s more, in combination with the chicken broth, the two types of vinegars manage to imbue the chicken with a beautiful brown luster—an almost mahogany color that penetrates an eighth of an inch or so into the flesh of the chicken, and that carries the bright vinegar flavor along with it. So it’s gorgeous and delicious.

In essence what this recipe provides is a riff on that classic of French cuisine, coq au vin, replacing the all-important wine with a fermented variety (making this… coq au vinegar?), and swapping out the carrots and mushrooms that are traditionally part of the dish for a ½ cup of golden raisins—an element that provides a nice counterpoint to the tang of the sauce, particularly as the fruit grows plump on the liquid during cooking. In fact, the Canal House ladies point out that braising chicken in vinegar and serving it with a handful of currants is a specialty of Lyon, so perhaps this is simply a regional variation on the French standard. In any case, the other difference here is that unlike coq au vin, this recipe does not call for flour as a thickening agent (after its 35 to 40 minute simmer in the company of the chicken parts, the sauce is thick enough), so it’s ideal for those looking to lower—or eliminate—their wheat intake.

Still, the dish’s principal selling point is its vibrant, mildly tangy flavor—a quality that’s not just due to the vinegar. For starters, there’s a ½ pound of diced and browned pancetta, which introduces a salty, rich component into the mix. And then there are the 2 pounds of boiled (and then browned) cipolline or pearl onions, which along with the raisins add a sweet note to the medley of flavors. It’s these elements, along with the chicken (seasoned with salt and pepper and browned for ten minutes or so, a step which ensures still more rich flavor) that provides the dish’s foundation, and which when mixed with the vinegar, the chicken broth, the bay leaves, a handful or crushed garlic cloves, and those raisins, makes for such a satisfying eating experience. Served over rice or egg noodles and you have the makings for a meal that’s bright, homey, and just a little decadent. In other words, you don’t have to be a vinegar nut like me to go crazy for this dish.

A few thoughts about ingredients: While the recipe calls for either cipolline or pearl onions, opt for cipolline if you can find them—they’re larger than their pearl siblings, and therefore easier (and speedier) to work with. Also, while it’s generally a good idea to use at least some dark meat when sautéing or braising chicken (darker meat is richer and therefore less likely to dry out during cooking), I opted to cook with breasts exclusively because I have a marked preference for the white variety. The good news is that thanks to the searing and the braising, the chicken retained much of its moisture, so feel free to use whatever parts you prefer. If you do use breasts as I did, however, be sure to cut them in half cross-wise (some people called this “French-style”) as it makes for easier serving and ensures everything is more uniform in size and therefore cooks evenly.

Ingredients:
—2 lbs cipolline or pearl onions
—Kosher salt
—3 tbs olive oil
—8 oz pancetta, cut into ¼” pieces
—4 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed
—5 lbs skin-on, bone-in, chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, and/or legs; breasts halved crosswise; TRG note: I worked with breasts exclusively)
—3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
—3/4 cup red wine vinegar
—2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
—1/2 cup golden raisins
—2 bay leaves

Directions:
—Cook onions in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Drain and let cool. Trim root ends; peel.
—Meanwhile, heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add pancetta to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and pancetta is brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to a large bowl.
—Add onions to same pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer onions and garlic to bowl with pancetta.
—Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add chicken to pot skin side down and cook, turning, until browned on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes per batch; transfer to bowl with onions.
—Carefully drain fat from pot and return to medium-high heat. Add both vinegars to pot and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pot. Add broth, raisins, bay leaves, and reserved chicken, pancetta, onions, and garlic to pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, until chicken is fork-tender, 35 to 40 minutes.
—Using a slotted spoon, transfer chicken and onions to a large platter. Skim fat from cooking liquid and discard. Remove bay leaves, and season sauce with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over chicken and onions.
—TRG note: Serve over rice or egg noodles to soak up the sauce.

Serves 6

The post 03/07/13 • VINEGAR-BRAISED CHICKEN appeared first on THE RECIPE GRINDER.

From the July, 2007 Cooks Illustrated

Here in the northeast we’ve been mired in what meteorologists like to call “a trough of low pressure.” For those of us who live here that simply means it’s been raining, off and on, for weeks. If you haven’t been drenched you’re one of the few. Last Thursday, fed up with hauling my umbrella and raincoat around, I decided to give them the day off, and soon found myself greeted by the sort of heavy, arrow-like rain that with breathtaking efficiency can transform you from dry professional to drowned rat. It didn’t help that I was on my scooter, tooling down 2nd Ave., when the heavens opened up. I’m not certain of the physics of it all, but suffice to say that even moving at a pokey 20 miles per hour, you can count on getting roughly twice as wet as that guy walking in front of Dunkin Donuts, struggling to right his inside-out umbrella.

Which is to say that the last few weeks have been a good time to start imagining all the warm — or at least dry — places I might like to travel to. And, since the reality is that I won’t be getting on a plane to anywhere anytime soon, it’s also been a fertile moment for envisioning the sorts of big, rib-sticking meals that are the next best thing to being there. It’s funny how as soon as the temperature drops and the sky turns to slate you start craving the kinds of dishes that haven’t entered your gustatory imaginings in months — things like stews, or roasts, or beef braised in red wine, vinegar, and juniper berries (which I ate at Prime Meats in Brooklyn on Saturday night, and was just about the best thing ever)!

That should give you an idea of where my meathead has been lately. And while I haven’t personally tackled anything quite as deliciously Alpine as Saturday night’s sauerbraten, I have corralled my kitchen to purge a little of the damp and chill that has lately begun to settle in. Case in point: the Moroccan chicken dish I bring to you here. The recipe comes from Cook’s Illustrated and is their abbreviated road map to a classic Moroccan tagine. “Abbreviated” because a tagine typically involves a slow braise at low temperature, whereas this one is done in little more than an hour without sacrificing any of the deep flavors associated with the dish, or risking that the star attraction — the chicken breasts — goes dry. (It’s also made in a standard Dutch oven, as opposed to that traditional clay pot so few of us actually own.) These are just the kind of neat tricks CI has come to be known for.

The key is the browning of the chicken. This is the first step in a relatively simple cooking process, and a move that imbues some all-important flavor to the base of the braising liquid, while also providing the chicken with a welcome bit of crackle. Once the chicken has been browned and removed from the pot, it’s simply a matter of sautéing the onion and lemon zest, throwing in some garlic, adding a variety of spices — all browns, yellows and oranges — until they go dark and start to smell like a North African bazaar (or at least as I imagine one to smell — I’ve never been). At this point you add your carrots and reintroduce the chicken and let the whole thing simmer for between 10 and 15 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through to make sure it cooks evenly.

Once your chicken has achieved the proper temperature (about 160 degrees) you remove it from the pot, then add the olives and continue to simmer for a few minutes more, until the carrots are tender and the sauce starts to look less like soup and more like a brothy stew. You then return the chicken to the pot for the third and final time along with some garlic and lemon zest (yes — this recipe involves plenty of knife work), a handful of chopped cilantro, and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. By this point your kitchen will be smelling so wonderfully fragrant it will be all you can do to keep your fork out of the pot, so make sure you have some couscous at the ready, then pile the whole thing on your plate, and dig in — a sunny North African response to our wet North American autumn.

One final thought about the recipe: while I loved the saltiness of the olives as well as the acidic kick of the lemon zest here, I found myself craving a sweet note in the mix of flavors. To satisfy this urge I added a cup of golden raisins to the pot, just before the chicken went in for the second time, and simultaneous to the carrots. This allowed the raisins a good twenty minutes in the pot in which to plump up and take on some of the flavors of the sauce — nice for the raisins, and even nicer for me. The addition was just what I was looking for and proved the perfect foil for the heat of the sauce and the mellow flavor of the chicken.

Ingredients:
—1¼ tsp sweet paprika (see note, below)
—½ tsp ground cumin
—¼ tsp cayenne pepper
—½ tsp ground ginger
—¼ tsp ground coriander
—¼ tsp ground cinnamon
—3 strips lemon zest (each about 2” x ¾”)
—3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)
—5 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 5 tsp)
—4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (8 ounces each), trimmed of excess fat
—1 tbsp olive oil
—1 large onion, halved and cut into ¼” slices (about 3 cups)
—1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
—1 tbsp honey
—2 medium carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into ½” thick coins, very large pieces cut into half-moons (about cups)
—1 cup golden raisins (optional)
—I cup Greek cracked green olives, pitted and halved
—2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Note: Another of those nagging cooking questions: is “sweet paprika” the same as the variety marked simply “paprika?” The answer is no. Standard paprika — and the type you’re most likely to find at your local grocery store — tends to be mild with just a touch of sweetness, whereas “sweet paprika” (also known as “Hungarian sweet paprika”) is generally brighter in color and has a more pronounced sweetness. If you only have the standard variety on hand (as I did when cooking this dish) some suggest mixing it with a pinch of very fine sugar. For what it’s worth I didn’t bother, which may have been the reason I felt compelled to add those raisins. The flavor was wonderful but even so, the next time I’ll make sure I have sweet paprika in my spice drawer.

Directions:
Combine spices in a small bowl and set aside. Mince 1 strip lemon zest; combine with 1 teaspoon minced garlic and mince together until reduced to a fine paste; set aside.

Season both side of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke. Brown chicken until lightly golden, about 2 minutes; using tongs, turn chicken and brown on second side, about 2 minutes more. Transfer chicken to a large plate.

Add onion and 2 remaining lemon zest strips to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have browned at edges but still retain shape, 5 to 7 minutes (add water in increments of 1 tbsp if pan gets too dark). Add remaining 4 teaspoons garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add spices and cook, stirring constantly, until darkened and very fragrant, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Stir in broth and honey, scraping bottom of pot with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits.

Add carrots to pot and arrange chicken on top of carrots. Add raisins if using. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of the breast registers 160 degrees, 10 to 15 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through cooking.

Transfer the chicken to a plate or bowl and tent with foil. Add olives to pot; increase heat to medium-high and simmer until liquid has thickened slightly and carrots are tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Return chicken to pot and add garlic-zest mixture, cilantro, and lemon juice. Stir to combine and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

The post 10/06/11 • MOROCCAN CHICKEN appeared first on THE RECIPE GRINDER.