Roast Chicken

Image courtesy of Barefoot Contessa

Simultaneously the simplest dish and the most elegant, roast chicken is one of those go-to meals any time of year. It can be an easy weeknight dish, satisfy a craving for a home-cooked meal, or served as the centerpiece for a lovely dinner party. It’s also one of those quick and easy recipes you should have in your back pocket.

And because it’s so versatile, you can serve it with just about any side dish. Roasted potatoes. Cous cous. Basmati rice. Broccoli rabe in garlic and oil. A simple salad. Frankly, that’s how I prefer my roast chicken. Make the chicken the highlight of the meal. I often serve it with just a mesclun mix dressed lightly with a champagne vinaigrette, warmed baguette, and a nice Sancerre. Now, that’s good eatin.’

There isn’t a top chef or major food star out there who doesn’t tout the simple beauty of a roast chicken. Ina Garten. Jacques Pepin. Martha Stewart and so many others. Roast chicken is the winningest meal. 

Julia Child said in her Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1, “You can always judge the quality of a cook or a restaurant by roast chicken. While it does not require years of training to produce a juicy, brown, buttery, crisp-skinned, heavenly bird, it does entail such a greed for perfection that one is under compulsion to hover over the bird, listen to it, above all see that it is continually basted, and that it is done just to the proper turn.” The Joy of Cooking agrees with Child that it doesn’t take a restaurant chef to cook a good chicken. It just takes a good quality bird, a solid roasting pan, and a hot oven.

Here’s my favorite recipe:

1 3-4 lb. chicken

1 lemon, halved

1 bunch of thyme

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Blot chicken dry inside and out. Coat the chest cavity with salt. Cover the outside with good quality olive oil, salt, and pepper. Inside the cavity, place the lemon halved and the bunch of thyme. In a roasting pan covered in foil, place the prepared chicken and pop it in for one hour or until juices run clear.

Et voila! 

Chicken Tikka Masala

It’s a popular dish for good reason. Succulent chunks of poultry marinated in yogurt and then sautéed in a tomato-based cream sauce then spooned over steaming Basmati rice. While most certainly tasty, its origins are debatable. Tikka Masala has an Indian base in terms of its flavor and spices, but it likely has its roots in Britain. Dating back to probably the 1960s, it was first cooked by a Bangladeshi chef in the U.K. (also disputed as to whether it was outside London or Glasgow) and became a sensation immediately.

There are variations to the recipe, but it is typically done with garlic, ginger, cilantro, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste, garam masala, and cream. Cayenne pepper and jalapenos are often substituted for the heat factor and the yogurt is widely used for the original marinade. But those main flavors are the foundation of the dish. It’s approachable and easy to make, yet it has an exotic flavor. A little naan to wipe up the excess is a must.

Here’s the recipe I use:

For the marinade:

2 lbs. chicken thighs cut into chunks

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 c. Greek yogurt

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp. ginger, minced

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. cayenne

1/4 tsp. coriander

1/4 tsp. cardamom

1/4 tsp. turmeric

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

For the Tikka:

1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

1 tsp. tomato paste

1 small onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. garam masala

1 TB canola vegetable oil

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a separate bowl. Cut chicken thighs into chunks and incorporate them into the marinade. Place all of it in a Ziploc bag and let sit for at least one hour. Can be left in marinade overnight.

Heat oil in heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, spices, and tomato paste and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and simmer down until sauce thickens, 8-10 minutes. Lower heat, add cream and cilantro, and simmer for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place marinated chicken on it. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Then incorporate into the simmering sauce and cook for another 10-15 minutes until the chicken chunks are cooked through. 

Serve over steamed Basmati rice with a cilantro garnish.

Whoopie Pies

Courtesy of Epicurious.com

I love the idea of whoopie pies. They’re a cake, a cookie, a sandwich, and kind of a cupcake all in one. Whichever dessert you prefer, this one covers it. Sort of a crowd pleaser, if you will. While the traditional flavor is chocolate with vanilla buttercream, there are plenty of other variations that are just as tasty. Pumpkin. Gingerbread. Golden Vanilla. Red Velvet. Peanut butter. Chocolate Chip Cookie. The fillings are typically buttercream, cream cheese, marshmallow fluff, but they can be a whole host of other flavorings.

The list goes on and for good reason. It’s a simple concept of two mini cakes sandwiching a filling. The cake batter can be just about anything as can the creamy inside. Consider a strawberry shortcake version by adding strawberries to the vanilla buttercream and a little red food coloring to the golden vanilla batter. That’s just pink heaven right there. Or, make the chocolate cakes with a mint cream filling adding crushed peppermint sticks. Perfect for the holidays. These are just two examples of how creative you can get with the recipe.

Doing a little digging, it appears the whoopie pie is a Northeastern phenomenon. Often held as a New England tradition as well as a Pennsylvanian Amish favorite, it also happens to be the state treat of Maine. No joke. I wasn’t even aware that certain states had declared favorite foods, but whatever works. There is debate as to the birth place, but either way it is a Northern dessert harking back to probably the early 1920s.

I searched through a bunch of different recipes for whoopie pies, so this recipe is a representation of the most common ingredients and methods. One thing I will add about the buttercream: make sure you use more confectioner’s sugar than milk. My cream was initially too thin. It sort of oozed off the sides of the chocolate cakes. That’s not what you want. Ideally, the buttercream should be stiff enough to hold up the top cake and remain intact. Just add more confectioner’s sugar if you feel the filling just isn’t the right consistency.

The other misstep I made with this recipe was in the cooking process. I baked the cakes at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. That worked to actually cook the batter all the way through. But, the rest of the cake was continuing to rise while the upper layer had already baked causing it to crack on the top. You want a smooth cake mound. So, the next time I might try to go low and slow. I’ve changed the recipe here to reflect that. Take the temperature down to 350 degrees and bake for 15-18 minutes on the middle rack in your oven. Using a cake tester, make sure it is baked through. If not, just pop it back in for another minute or two.

Here’s the recipe:

For the pies:

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. granulated sugar

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 lg. egg

1 c. buttermilk, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the buttercream:

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

4 c. confectioner’s sugar

1/4 c. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, buttermilk, and vanilla. Combine well. Gradually, add the dry ingredients until fully incorporated.

Using two large spoons (like a serving spoon or soup spoon), make a rounded mound of batter and place on the parchment, about 12 per pan. (Note: an ice cream scoop is often suggested to use here. But unless you have one with a scraper on the inside, it doesn’t quite work. You need something to push the batter onto the parchment.) Bake for 15-18 minutes or until done. Cool on a rack. 

For the buttercream, cream butter until smooth. Gradually, add the confectioner’s sugar. Mix until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla and thoroughly combine. Add more sugar if consistency is too thin.

You can spread the buttercream on the cake or use a disposable pastry bag and pipe the contents onto each cake. Top with the other half.

Serve and enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is quite possibly my favorite dessert. That’s not to say that there aren’t other desserts out there equally as yummy. But this one is sumptuous, yet simple with only a few ingredients to its name. Fine quality chocolate and egg whites are the stars of this recipe. While it’s gluten-free because of its lack of wheat-based flour, that aspect is almost irrelevant because its texture is so dense and chocolatey. 

There are a number of theories as to the cake’s origin. Most of them revolve around a mistake in leaving out the flour. Some say it originated in Italy, others France. Still others refer to its “Chocolate Decadence” days from a California restaurant in the 1980s. A New York Times article in 2011 focused more on the flavor than the history and broke it down this way: “It is a wonderful showcase for good chocolate…[and it compares] to cheesecake, where the chocolate takes place of the cheese.” 

One of the best recipes I have found for this cake appeared in Bon Appetit in 1999. I have made it a number of times since then. Now, this recipe not only calls for a ganache glaze—which for supreme chocolate lovers is just about enough chocolate in each mouthful—as well as gold leafing (can anyone say overkill?). While the ganache makes this cake truly decadent, I find it’s an easy addition to skip. Very often, this cake is topped with just a dusting of powdered sugar, which frankly I prefer. The simpler, the better. Feel free to add a little fruit—a few raspberries, a decorative strawberry, or even roasted, caramelized blood orange slices and call it a day. 

Here’s the recipe for both cake and ganache:

For cake:

12 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 sticks of butter (3/4 c.) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

6 large eggs, separated

12 TB sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

For glaze:

1/2 c. whipping cream

1/2 c. dark corn syrup

9 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Chocolate shavings or gold leaf (seriously optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9-inch springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper and butter paper. Wrap outside of pan with foil.

Stir butter and chocolate chips in saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and cool.

Using electric mixer, beat egg yolks and 6 TB of sugar in a large bowl until mixture is very thick and a pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Fold lukewarm chocolate into yolks and then fold in vanilla. Clean beaters and whip egg whites in a separate bowl forming soft peaks. Gradually add the remaining 6 TB of sugar to the whites, further beating until stiff peaks form. Fold whites into chocolate and yolk mixture, then pouring batter into the prepared pan.

Bake cake until top is puffed and cracked and a cake tester comes out clean, approximately 50 min. Cool cake on rack. Gently press down crusty top once it falls to make an evenly thick cake. Loosen from pan and remove sides. Invert and peel off parchment.

In a saucepan, bring cream and corn syrup to a simmer. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Place cake on a rack over a baking sheet. Spread the glaze smoothly over the top and side and then freeze for 3 min to set. Pour remaining glaze over cake smoothing it out and chill for 1 hour in refrigerator until firm, 1 hour. Garnish optional. Serve at room temperature.

Chicken Marbella

Courtesy of The New York Times

Chicken with dried fruits in wine. That’s basically the recipe that got its fame from The Silver Palate Cookbook first published in 1982. But then cut to 2005 when renowned chef Ferran Adrià, who put the now defunct elBulli on the gastronomical map, gave his version of this chicken dish with dried apricots and sour cherries. In 2018, Israeli-British chef Yotam Ottolenghi produced his latest cookbook, Simple, with his version of the Silver Palate recipe. 

Ottolenghi uses dates instead of the prunes the Palate calls for. Adrià uses port with a cinnamon stick rather than the dry white wine of the Palate recipe. Ottolenghi and Palate call for green olives and capers. Adrià replaces those with citrus zest. Regardless of ancillary ingredients, this is a basic recipe of chicken with dried fruit with a savory foil to balance the sweetness. It is meant to be marinated ahead of time and then cooked in its own juices to further infuse those flavors into the meat. You could switch out the chicken for lamb or pork in this recipe. But I think the chicken is the best canvas for this kind of flavor profile.

While many attribute the recipe to the cuisine of southern Spain and the town of Marbella, it actually has its origins in the Silver Palate. The cookbook’s main recipe creator is co-author Sheila Lukins. She has claimed that the Mediterranean was an inspiration for the dish, but a dish she can call her own. And it was so good, two top chefs put their creative energy into it.

Here’s the recipe I used:

8 chicken thighs

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lime

Juice of 1 orange

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 c. dried oregano (or 1/2 c. of fresh oregano)

3 TB pomegranate vinegar

1/2 c. olive oil

3 TB capers

3 TB pine nuts

1/4 c. Medjool dates, quartered

1/4 c. dried cherries

2 bay leaves

1/2 c. dry white wine

2TB parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

In a separate bowl, combine the chicken with 1/4 c. of olive oil along with the lemon and lime juices, bay leaves, and 1/8 c. of the dried oregano. Also add a 1/2 tsp. of salt. Let sit for as little as 2 hours and as much as 24—the longer you marinate the better. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together the vinegar, white wine, orange juice, garlic, and the remainder of the olive oil and dried oregano. In a baking dish, place the marinated chicken and dried fruit. Pour the liquids over the chicken. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Serve immediately on a platter garnished with parsley.

Seafood Chowder

When the weather starts to turn gray and dismal, there’s nothing more satisfying than a hearty bowl of soup. It’s like a little ray of sunshine in your bowl. As a lifetime New Englander, seafood chowder is something I can’t get enough of. Don’t be surprised if you catch me eating even in the summer.

The best part of seafood chowder is it’s really just New England clam chowder. But, you can add whatever fish you’d like. Lobster. Shrimp. Langoustine. Crab. Scallops. Clams. Muscles. Cod. Halibut. Frankly, anything that swims. 

Chowders typically start with a roux of butter and flour. But, there are plenty of chowder-type soups and stews that are more broth-based and just as hearty. Think bouillabaisse—it’s a seafood blend with fennel in a tomato broth. Try another tomato dish with Manhattan clam chowder. And, the Rhode Island version also has no roux, just clam juice as its base.

For this recipe, I used not only a mirepoix of onions, carrots, and celery but a flavor point that started with bacon. Cooking the chopped bacon off and using the rendered fat, I could soften the diced veg nicely. Adding thyme and parsley, I snuck in a little knob of butter. Sifting the flour over the top, I stirred it to thicken. Adding chicken stock and a little wine, the base was now ready for an infusion of milk and cream. Corn kernels made the dish come alive as I’m sure peas would have been a good addition (if my kids didn’t hate peas). You could even leave this dish alone with just the corn and call it chowder. The sky’s the limit!

Here’s the recipe:

1/2 c. bacon, chopped

1 large onion, diced

2 large carrots, diced

3-4 ribs of celery diced

1 c. corn kernels

1 c. lobster

2 c. langoustine

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. white wine

2 c. chicken stock

2 c. milk

1 c. cream

3 TB fresh thyme

3 TB fresh parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, heat the bacon over medium heat until browned and the fat has been rendered. Remove the bacon using the fat for the onions. Once the onions have become translucent, add the carrots and the celery. Cook until soft. Add the flour to thicken. Stir in wine and chicken stock until all the flour has been incorporated. Add the milk and the cream. Once the chowder has started to come back up to temperature, add the remaining ingredients and cook for another 15 minutes.

Serve with a side salad and crusty baguette for a hearty lunch!

Mushroom Galette

Sure, a picture of the WHOLE thing would have been nice...

When you hear that little French word, “galette,” you might think more of dessert than you would a main meal. But, this rustic tart form is pretty versatile. It can be as sweet or as savory as you’d like to make it.

While generally the dough is rolled out like a flat pancake, it folds over the top of whatever filling you desire. My favorite dessert has always been an apple galette. Far quicker and easier than an actual pie, it still has that apple pie taste and surely a good pairing for a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

While a galette is lovely served at the end of a meal, it can be the meal as well. In this dish, I used a combination of caramelized onions and shitake mushrooms. Once the mixture is cooled from the sauté pan, spoon onto the rolled out dough and fold the sides over the top adding a little egg wash for a nice golden brown.

 Here’s the recipe:

For the dough:

2 1/4 c. flour

1 c. butter, diced

1 egg, plus 1 egg and water for egg wash

1 TB white wine vinegar

Ice water

For the filling:

1 c. shitake mushrooms

1 c. thinly sliced onions

1 TB butter

1 TB olive oil

1/4 c. fresh thyme

1/4 c. parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place the dough ingredients in a food processor and pulse until fully combined. Place on a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Wrap ball in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

In the meantime, heat skillet on medium high and then add butter and oil. Once melted, add the onions, thyme, parsley, salt, and pepper. When the onions have become soft and translucent, add the mushrooms, cooking down until the liquid has reduced. Set aside and cool.

Roll out dough onto a floured surface. Make sure the dough is evenly distributed and wide enough to fold over (approximately 10-12” diameter). Place the filling in the middle 2/3 of the dough. Fold the tops over leaving the filling in the middle uncovered. Brush egg wash on the dough before popping it into the oven.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Serve immediately.