Chicken Salmoriglio

From Christopher Kimball’s latest book, Milk Street Tuesday Nights Mediterranean, this is a delicious weeknight dinner. 

The book is broken up into three categories: fast, faster, fastest - which helps immensely when you are pressed for time and can’t figure out what to cook for dinner (again!). There are so many great recipes in this book that I have dozens of little post-it scraps stuck to the pages of fabulous sounding (and looking) recipes.

This one, in particular, caught my eye because a) I love chicken thighs, and b) the recipe originates in southern Italy, which holds a special place in my heart. You can’t beat the combination of chicken with garlic, lemon, and oregano roasted crisp in the oven! Served on a bed of arugula or watercress, it’s technically a salad, right? 

The recipe serves four and is from the “fast” section of the book (start to finish in 45 minutes). The name, “salmoriglio,” refers to the sauce/marinade, and you are definitely going to want some crusty Italian bread to sop it up with. I think a chilled Italian white would be perfect with this dish - the WSJ wine columnist has some good recommendations here and here.

Chicken Salmoriglio (Milk Street Tuesday Nights Mediterranean)

Ingredients:

1 TB grated lemon zest, plus 2 lemons halved crosswise

2 medium garlic cloves, finely grated

1 t dried oregano, crumbled

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

5 TB extra-virgin olive oil, divided

3 lb bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed and patted dry

1 TB honey

1 bunch watercress, trimmed, or 5 oz container baby arugula

1 TB finely chopped fresh oregano

Directions:

Don’t skip the step of cutting slashes into the chicken. The cuts allow the seasonings to get into the meat for better flavor throughout and also help speed the cooking.

1. Heat oven to 475°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. Grate 1 TB zest from the lemons, then halve the lemons and trim off the pointed ends so the halves sit stably with cut sides facing up; set the lemon halves aside. In a small bowl, stir together the zest, garlic, dried oregano, 1-1/2 t salt, and 1/2 t pepper. Measure 1 TB of the lemon-garlic mixture into a large bowl. Stir 4 TB of oil into the remaining mixture and set aside.
2. To the large bowl, add the remaining 1 TB oil, the honey, 2 t salt, and 1/2 t pepper, then stir to combine. Using a sharp knife, cut parallel slashes about 1” apart all the way to the bone on both sides of each chicken thigh. Add the things to the bowl and turn to coat on all sides, rubbing the seasoning mixture into the slashes.
3. Arrange the chicken, skin side up, and the lemon halves, cut sides up, on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast until the chicken is beginning to brown and the thickest part reaches 165°F to 170°F, about 20 minutes. Leaving the chicken in the oven, turn on the broiler. Continue to cook until the chicken is deep golden brown and the thickest part reaches about 175°F, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven.
4. Place the watercress on a serving platter, creating a bed for the chicken. Using tongs, place the chicken on top of the watercress. Squeeze 3 TB juice from 1 or 2 of the lemon halves, then stir the juice along with the fresh oregano into the lemon-garlic oil to make the salmoriglio. Drizzle the sauce over the chicken and serve with the remaining lemon halves for squeezing.

Tomato-braised Rotisserie Chicken

Wow! This recipe is a revelation! Take a store-bought rotisserie chicken (preferably one from Costco because they are the bomb!), sauté up some bacon, throw in thinly sliced shallots, add white wine, garlic, chopped rosemary, a few other easy ingredients, top with curly kale, and voila, you've got an incredible dinner. We've made this twice now and it is fabulous! Thank you, @bonappetit! 

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/tomato-braised-rotisserie-chicken

Recipe-in-a-Flash: Dijon-Maple Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner

I have made this terrific dinner three times now for two reasons: one, because it is SO good and SO easy; and two, because I wanted to be sure it was blog-worthy. Oh, it is.

The recipe calls for a mix of drumsticks and bone-in chicken thighs, but you can of course, customize it if you are not a fan of say, drumsticks, etc. 

From the Pure Wow food editors, this one-tray meal comes together very quickly. The full recipe is below, but read on for just how simple it is: 

Prepped and ready to go (and pretty, too)!

Start with a mixture of soy sauce, Dijon, and maple syrup, and brush over chicken pieces (which you’ve seasoned with S and P and arranged on a parchment or foil-lined sheet pan). Toss cubed butternut squash, trimmed and halved Brussels sprouts in a bowl with olive oil, S and P, and fresh thyme. Spread the veggies in a single layer around the chicken, and bake for about 40 minutes. Add another 5 minutes after you brush more maple syrup and mustard on the chicken, and voila, dinner!

PS: I've installed a new "print" widget at the bottom of the post - please let me know if it works for you. Thanks!

Just out of the oven, beautifully crisped and caramelized.

Dijon-Maple Chicken with Brussels sprouts and Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

Olive oil spray (I used regular non-stick spray)

2 TB reduced-sodium soy sauce (I used regular soy sauce)

4 TB Dijon mustard - divided

3 TB pure maple syrup - divided

4 large bone-in chicken thighs (6-1/2 oz each), skin removed and fat trimmed

4 skinless chicken drumsticks (3-1/2 oz each)

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

12 oz Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

12 oz butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 3/4” cubes (I used organic, pre-cubed squash from Costco)

6 sprigs fresh thyme

1-1/2 TB olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Line an 18x13” large rimmed sheet pan with foil or parchment paper. Spray with olive oil.
2. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, 3 TB of the mustard and 2 TB of the maple syrup.
3. Season chicken all over with S and P, then arrange on prepared pan.
4. In a large bowl, combine Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, thyme, and olive oil. Season with S and P. Arrange vegetables on prepared baking sheet in a single layer around the chicken. Pour the Dijon-maple sauce over the chicken, turning to coat completely, and pour any remaining sauce over the vegetables.
5. Bake until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together the remaining 1 TB each mustard and maple syrup.
6. Brush the mustard-maple mixture over the chicken. Bake 5 minutes more until browned. Serve right away.

Two Hour Chicken (or the perfect excuse to skip a holiday party)

With all the holiday hub-bub going on, you might just want a quiet dinner at home one night. I've got the perfect meal for you right here. A cinchy baked chicken, cozy mashed potatoes, a side dish so easy and tasty you are going to want to make it part of your regular repertoire, and two great cookie recipes that you can wow your friends with.

The chicken dish was created by the late writer, Laurie Colwin, however, I picked it up via The New York Cookbook by Molly O'Neill. It is simply called "baked chicken," but we lovingly refer to it as "two-hour chicken." The recipe calls for two broiling chickens (quartered), however, I always make it with bone-in breasts. A fragrant mixture of Dijon mustard, garlic, fresh thyme, and cinnamon is brushed on the breasts, topped with fresh seasoned breadcrumbs. Fresh breadcrumbs are definitely worth the little bit of extra effort for this recipe - it really makes a difference. Arrange the chicken in a baking dish, top with a few pats of butter, sprinkle with paprika and in it goes for 2-1/2 hours. What emerges on the other side of the clock is the most delicious, moist, flavorful breast of chicken I've come across in a long time. Crunchy outside, tender and juicy inside.

Perfect side dishes: the aforementioned mashed potatoes, which I'm sure you've got your own terrific recipe for, and one which you may not be as familiar with -- a mixture of cabbage and onions sauteed with butter and olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper. This is a hearty winter vegetable that fits well with the chicken but is also a great companion to any number of braised dishes, such as brisket, or a nice pot roast. A nice alternative to the these sides would be buttered orzo and sauteed spinach.

For dessert, two cookies from last week's excellent NY Times holiday cookie article, Cardamom Crescents and Shortbread Jammers. The crescents are so light they are almost ethereal, and the cardamom essence is heady.  The jammers (love that name) are made with a delightful little shortbread cookie dough and topped with a preserve of your choice (I used raspberry). 


So there you have it! An easy meal for this hectic time of year when you need a night off from the holiday party circuit. 


Stay warm and eat well!


Print Chicken Recipe Here
Print Cabbage and Onions Recipe Here
Print Cardamom Crescents Recipe Here
Print Shortbread Jammers Recipe Here

Weekend Wrap-up

Well, we never got to the ribs I was so hopeful about last week, but it was one of the most relaxing weekends in a long, long time. There was alot of great food, though, so not to worry.

Friday was a terrific opener. After a late Thursday night work-related event in NYC, I was thankful to work from home in the morning; then we took a nice ride through some picturesque NJ backroads in my husband's just-recently-purchased, previously-owned convertible. My new weekend equation: beautiful, blue skies + warm breezes + a convertible = something pretty close to divine. There is nothing better than tooling around on a nice day in a convertible. Definitely good for what ails ya...

Later that day, with nothing really planned for dinner, I remembered reading a review in New Jersey Monthly for a Thai restaurant in Belleville. Since my husband, Barry, is always lobbying for us to visit non-Italian restaurants (not that he is anti-Italian food, in fact, he loves it, but there is a definite glut of Italian restaurants in NJ and Italian is always my go-to cuisine), I thought this was worth a visit. Topaz Thai is a small, family-run operation with "Mama," otherwise known as Wanida, at the helm. Wanida cooks for you like you were in her home; everything is fresh, plentiful, and cooked to order. When she learned that Barry had requested his food really spicy, and that he had been to Thailand many years ago, she came out to chat and to make sure he meant "really spicy." Wanida learned to cook at her mother's side in Thailand and this is the real deal. When I mentioned above that the food is fresh, I wasn't kidding: the fish of the day (Sea Bass) was caught that morning by Wanida's husband (a chef at the Pierre Hotel). It was delectable. We ordered it crispy and she suggested the chili sauce - definitely the right choice. We began the meal with two appetizers: Green Papaya Salad and Thai Spring Rolls. Both were wonderful. Looking forward to our next visit.

Sunday, we grilled Seasoned Chicken Burgers (from our favorite Goffle Road Poultry Farm), enjoyed with fresh corn, and Stiner's Famous Potato Salad. When we picked up the corn at the roadside stand in Chestnut Ridge, NY (just over the NJ border), the farmer had baskets of gorgeous apricots that I couldn't resist. I knew I had white nectarines waiting at home, now all I needed was a recipe. In my trusty recipe vault I found "Summer Fruit Crisp," a recipe (see below) that allows for many variations of fruit fillings. This was the perfect recipe for late summer stone fruits, and the crisp topping of butter, chopped walnuts, brown sugar was de-lish! I love the fact that you can use just about whatever fruit you have at home or can find at the local market -- the fig and cherry from the list below sounds divine.

Today, the last day of the long labor-less weekend, we are grilling chicken thighs in one of Barry's marinade concoctions that are always good, more corn (because at the end of the summer, you just can't get enough), potato salad redux, and probably another small helping of fruit crisp. Truly, a delightful way to cap the weekend. I hope good friends, great food, and a little R&R found their way to your home this holiday weekend.

Summer Fruit Crisp

8 Servings - serve with a dollop of whipped cream or a splash of good and thick heavy cream (good vanilla ice cream would also do nicely).

Crisp Topping:

1-1/4 C flour

1/2 C firmly packed light brown sugar

7 TB sugar

Pinch of salt

10 TB (1 stick plus 2 TB) cold, unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces

2/3 C slivered almonds or chopped walnuts

1 t vanilla extract (may substitute 1/2 t each vanilla and almond extract)

Confectioners' sugar for dusting the baked crisp (optional)

Fruit Filling:

5 C fruit (peeled, pitted, thickly sliced stone fruit; berries, or a combination of sliced fruit and berries; see variations below)

2 TB peach or apricot preserves

6 TB sugar, or more to taste (if the crisp is made entirely of blueberries or blackberries, or with very juicy fruit, blend 2 TB cornstarch into the sugar)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Have ready a deep 12-inch ovenproof baking dish.

For the topping: in medium bowl, thoroughly combine the flour, sugars, and salt. Scatter over the pieces of butter, and using a pastry blender (or two round-bladed knives), cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles small flakes. Add the almonds of walnuts and the vanilla. Using your fingertips, work the mixture to form big and small cohesive lumps of topping. The pieces will be moist, buttery, and irregularly shaped. Set aside.

For the fruit: in a medium bowl, gently combine the fruit or berries, preserves, and sugar. Turn the fruit mixture into the baking dish. Strew the topping over it to form an even layer, but keep the crisp light rather than packing it down.

Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes, or until the topping is set and golden and the fruit is bubbly. Sprinkle the top with confectioners' sugar, if desired. Serve warm.

Note: the crisp may be made into individual servings. Divide the fruit mixture among eight 1-cup ovenproof baking dishes and sprinkle on the topping. Place the dishes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 375 for 35-40 minutes, until the fruit is bubbly and topping is golden. Just before serving, dust tops with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Variations: a combination of sliced fruit and berries creates a flavorful base.

Peach (or nectarine) and Blueberry: use 3 C thickly sliced peaches (or nectarines) and 2 C blueberries.

Peach, Plum, and Blueberry: use 2 C thickly sliced peaches, 2 C thickly sliced red plums, and 1 C blueberries.

Apricot and Cherry: use 3 C (halved, pitted, quartered) apricots and 2 C (stemmed and pitted) sweet cherries.

Apricot and Peach: use 3 C (halved, pitted, quartered) apricots and 2 C thickly sliced (peeled) peaches).

Apricot and Blueberry: use 3 C (halved, pitted, quartered) apricots and 2 C blueberries.

Nectarine and Cherry: use 3 C thickly sliced nectarines and 2 C (stemmed and pitted) sweet cherries.

Plum and Cherry: use 4 C thickly sliced plums and 1 C (stemmed and pitted) sweet cherries.

Fig and Cherry: use 2 C (stemmed and quartered) figs and 3 C (stemmed and pitted) sweet cherries.

Welcome, Spring?

The calendar tells me it's the first day of spring, but take a look at the photo above -- that was taken at 6:45am today on my back deck -- snow! A spring snowfall is not that unusual, but we did have temps near 60 just a few days ago.

Ah, but why quibble? We have officially left winter behind and moved onto spring. To celebrate, as I write this tonight I am having my favorite warm weather drink: V&T, otherwise known as vodka and tonic, with a handful of wonderful Spanish Marcona almonds. I didn't plan ahead too well because I forgot to buy lemons at the market just an hour ago, but I will make do with a wedge of frozen lime from last summer for my drink (tip: take lemons or limes, cut into appropriately-sized drink wedges, pile into a zip lock and freeze; not only do they flavor your drink, they act as little fruity ice cubes). The sun is setting out my window and I already feel a slight lift off my shoulders from the burdens of the work week.

To make this a little more interactive, I've got a couple of questions for you:

1. What are you doing to celebrate spring?

2. What is your favorite spring recipe?

Post your comments below by clicking on the little envelope.

I'm not sure I have a favorite spring recipe, but to welcome the advent of warmer weather, on Sunday (when it is supposed to be near 60 again) we are going to grill up a few links of fabulous chicken sausage from the Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff, NJ. The chicken sausage here is like no other - the taste and the texture is way above par. Along with maybe a nice helping of sauteed spinach, terrific potato salad, and crusty bread, and we've got the makings of a great "Welcome, Spring" dinner.

Of course, when I think spring, I think Easter. And when I think Easter, I think back to my childhood Easters with my Italian family. Which inevitably leads me to ricotta. We would always have a ricotta pie or cheesecake at our Easter celebrations. And while I could supply you with a traditional ricotta cheesecake recipe, I thought you might like to try something a little different. The recipe below is straight out of Nigella Lawson's book, Feast. I will be making these for our Easter meal this year. What I like about these is that you can serve them as part of a brunch or dessert after a big meal. They are not too heavy so you can pop two or three and not feel guilty (who needs that?).

Enjoy the weekend!

Baci di Ricotta (Ricotta Kisses)

Makes 30

INGREDIENTS

1 cup ricotta

2 eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons confectioners’ sugar to serve

DIRECTIONS

Put the ricotta and eggs into a bowl and beat until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat the mixture to make a smooth batter.

Fill a wide, shallow pan with about ¾in of oil. Heat the pan of oil until a tiny blob of batter sizzles when dropped into the hot fat.

Drop rounded teaspoons of the ricotta batter into the pan, about five or six at a time; don’t be tempted to make them bigger, boring though this is — they will puff up on cooking. You need to turn them over quite quickly, so it’s best to do a few at a time. You don’t want to get too frantic around all that hot fat. As they turn a golden brown, flip them over and leave them for a minute or so on the other side.

As you lift them out of the pan, place the cooked baci di ricotta on some paper towel, just to remove the excess oil. Then pile the balls of heat-bronzed ricotta on to a plate in a rough-and-tumble pyramid shape, and push the confectioners’ sugar through a small sieve evenly but thickly over them. Eat straightaway. As if…

Valentine Dinner - A Home Run

In what turned out to be the usual Saturday "too much to do in one day" scenario, I was still determined to turn out a really nice Valentine's Day dinner. My husband, Barry, really is the accomplished cook in our family; I can bake, but cooking for some reason just doesn't come as easily to me. But since he does 99% of the cooking every day for us, I wanted to make something over and above my "throw some pasta together" fall-back.  

So I went to my trusty cooking magazine archives and in the January 2009 Gourmet issue that I was raving about in a blog post a few weeks ago, I found a recipe for Polenta-Crusted Chicken with Balsamic Caper Pan Sauce (you can find the recipe here).  Sounds good, no?  And, it was in the Gourmet Everyday Quick Kitchen section - another good sign. I was intrigued by the fact that the chicken was coated with polenta, rather than breadcrumbs, and it was served with escarole (or in New Jersey-Italian, 'scarole). Well, it turned out to be not so quick. It wasn't difficult, but definitely not quick.  And when dinner was finally on the table, I wasn't all that thrilled with the outcome. The chicken was moist and I did like the polenta crust - nice and crispy. But the balsamic caper sauce was just not doing it for me.  Barry liked it more than I did (luckily).

But, as they say, even if your main course doesn't turn out so well, your guests will remember the last course.  Thankfully, for me, last night I hit dessert out of the park (now you get the baseball reference in the title, right?). In my very own little "Pastry Chef Hall of Fame," Claudia Fleming is in the top five (what, everyone doesn't carry around a mini Pastry Chef Hall of Fame in their heads?). For many years, Claudia was the pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern (part of the Danny Meyer restaurant empire in NYC). As Time Magazine said when they included her in their "Culinary Arts Innovators" series, her desserts are "deceptively simple." A few years ago, Claudia and her husband, Gerry Hayden (formerly the executive chef at Aureole), opened the North Fork Table and Inn on Long Island. The inn has been garnering rave reviews since opening, and no wonder with these two at the helm. This place is on that other list I keep in my head of inns/restaurants I must get to some day (another list I assume every real food-passionista keeps in their head).

So last night for my dessert course I made Fleming's "Almond Cakes with Chocolate Passion-Fruit Sauce." This recipe was from her Valentine's Day menu on Epicurious. This had everything you could want in a Valentine's Day dessert - small, cute, chocolate, and "passion." You don't want a big, heavy dessert at the end of a romantic meal. 

The scent of almond as I prepared the batter was heady. And the batter, oh my, the batter. Due to the beating of the almond paste with sugar and butter for two minutes, which on it's own creates a light batter, but then with the addition of individual beating of the eggs for one minute each, this batter was incredible. So light, so airy, so divine. You bake these in half-cup ramekins (be sure to thoroughly butter and flour the ramekins) so they are just adorable on their own. But with the addition of what has to be the easiest chocolate sauce ever, you have a delectable, show-stopping last course. Let me tell you how easy this chocolate sauce is. You chop up bittersweet chocolate and transfer it to a bowl. In a saucepan, you heat to boiling heavy cream and passion fruit juice. Once it boils, you pour it over the chocolate, stir until smooth, and let stand for 30 seconds. Hello? That's it. Delicious and so, so easy. The only thing I might add next time would be some fresh raspberries sprinkled around the plate. The sauce was fabulous with the almond cake, but I could totally see this drizzled over some good quality vanilla ice cream. 

And wait the almond cakes -- all I could say after the first bite (and each subsequent bite) was OMG. People, I don't swoon easily. Make these cakes for your next dinner party (the recipe makes six and they can be made ahead) and you'll be nominating yourself for your own little Hall of Fame (you do have one, don't you?).

Saturday Dinner with Friends

Ahhhh, do you hear that?  It's the sound of a quiet Saturday.  I love Saturdays - to quote a NY Times ad, "the word alone makes me happy."  I actually love Friday nights more - that prospective feeling of two whole days away from the usual weekday grind.

The day started out great with this wonderful new coffee from Counter Culture in Annapolis.  It's called Magnolia Blend, because this is the coffee served at the award-winning Magnolia Grill in Durham, NC (I knew there was a restaurant in Durham I wanted to add to "my list" - see recent post).  On weekends, we make coffee in our French Press - what a difference.

 

We are having dinner with some friends tonight and we are making Stretch's Chicken. For those of you not from NJ, Stretch's is a very well known Italian restaurant in northern NJ.  They make a dish called Chicken Savoy, served with fabulous crispy, thin potatoes (not unlike those great potatoes you get at Portuguese restaurants).  Through a friend of a friend, we obtained the original recipe for Chicken Savoy and although it takes a long time to cook and makes a mess of your oven, it's worth it. So, tonight's menu is as follows:

• Pre-dinner: Comte (a wonderful French cheese actually purchased at Costco) and Spanish Marcona Almonds (also a Costco item) - I was so excited when I saw these at Costco last week because these are the same wonderful almonds we had in Europe this past summer
• Stretch's Chicken with crispy, thin potatoes
• Sauteed Broccoli Rabe
• Crusty Italian Bread
• Pinot Noir
• For dessert: Cranberry Vanilla Coffeecake (from the December issue of Gourmet, photo above, recipe below)

I hope you are having an "ahhhh" kind of day. 

Cranberry Vanilla Coffeecake - this was very easy to make and the aroma of the vanilla sugar was deluxe.

• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 cups fresh or thawed frozen cranberries (6 oz)
• 2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened, divided
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup whole milk

• GARNISH:

   
  confectioners sugar

• Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 9- by 2-inch round cake pan. Line bottom with a round of parchment paper and butter parchment.
• Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into a food processor with tip of a paring knife (reserve pod for another use if desired). Add sugar and pulse to combine. Transfer to a bowl.
• Pulse cranberries with 1/2 cup vanilla sugar in processor until finely chopped (do not purée).
• Whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Beat together 1 stick butter and 1 cup vanilla sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down side and bottom of bowl. Reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour, until just combined.
• Spread half of batter in pan, then spoon cranberries over it, leaving a 1/2-inch border around edge. Top with remaining batter and smooth top.
• Blend remaining 1/4 cup vanilla sugar with remaining Tbsp each of butter and flour using your fingertips. Crumble over top of cake.
• Bake until a wooden pick inserted into cake (not into cranberry filling) comes out clean and side begins to pull away from pan, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 30 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely, crumb side up.

COOKS’ NOTE: Coffeecake can be made 1 day ahead and kept, tightly wrapped, at room temperature.