Adventures with chicken - part 2
We have a new "best of" recipe! If anyone is confused by that it just means that this is one of the best chicken recipes I've ever made at home. It was so tender and flavorful! I thought the elements that went into this dish all came together really well and gave it a sophisticated, but not overly complex taste. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First the recipe...I made Chicken with Bacon, Tomato and Thyme. There is slight assembly required with this dish, but I felt that it was all worth it, and after you do the prep work and put it all together it just goes into the oven and comes out moist and wonderful smelling 30 minutes later, what's not to like? A better title for this entry might be: "how many ways can I find to use up these fresh herbs before they go bad?" because that has been one of the major things influencing my recipe choices lately. I hate buying a small package of fresh herbs to make a recipe and then having all the leftover herbs go bad. I really need an herb garden, but since that's not available at the moment I'll just have to keep making exciting discoveries in herb-based recipes. Here is the finished product before the plate was scraped clean:
Oh, but this isn't all. I don't have any pictures, but last night was a delicious dinner as well! Craig and John took me out to dinner at One Midtown Kitchen. Though I have been there many a time this was my first time going since chef Richard Blais took over the kitchen there. I'll say first that I've never had a bad meal at One, so this meal wasn't wildly better than all the others, but it was different and exciting. Blais has an interesting way of playing with textures and ingredients which has definitely added an new dimension to the menu at One. I thought all the food was good, but I'll just describe mine as best as I can. For my appetizer I tried one of the new small plates. There were a lot of exciting new choices as well as some old favorites, and I went for a poached fig dish. I wish I had taken notes from the menu because when the dishes came we couldn't remember/figure out what exactly we were eating, but it was sinfully good. My dish had a generous pile of figs that were sprinkled with crumpled bacon and sitting on a white foamy pond of something slightly sweet but unidentifiable. Drizzled around the foam was a bright green oil (parsley oil? sage oil? we couldn't tell, but it was very pretty). Also sitting in the foam were some small brown jello cubes. Again, we didn't know what flavor of jello it was, but certainly not your typical boxed variety and very tasty. But see what I mean about playing with textures? I had crispy bacon, soft figs, jello cubes, foam, and oil - it was so cool, and really delicious! Craig's appetizer was also really good (peach sashimi) which was basically rectangular slices of peach prepared like a pice of sushi, there was horseradish and everything - very good. For my entree I had the cod special. It was another tasty combination. I had the big white pieces of white cod sitting on sauteed vegetables (corn, okra, red pepper) and all of that in a pool of mango butter - yum! My plate was completely clean, I was using the complementary bread that we got before the meal to soak up all the leftover juices, it was that good. The final thing was a free dessert (that was given to John due to overcooked, but still tasty, tuna) of three mini, homemade moon-pies (which Craig said were much better than real moon-pies) and a small Coke float. It was playful, delicious, and just the right size for an after dinner treat. I was very pleased with the whole experience, and I'm very lucky to have such sweet friends.
Oh, but this isn't all. I don't have any pictures, but last night was a delicious dinner as well! Craig and John took me out to dinner at One Midtown Kitchen. Though I have been there many a time this was my first time going since chef Richard Blais took over the kitchen there. I'll say first that I've never had a bad meal at One, so this meal wasn't wildly better than all the others, but it was different and exciting. Blais has an interesting way of playing with textures and ingredients which has definitely added an new dimension to the menu at One. I thought all the food was good, but I'll just describe mine as best as I can. For my appetizer I tried one of the new small plates. There were a lot of exciting new choices as well as some old favorites, and I went for a poached fig dish. I wish I had taken notes from the menu because when the dishes came we couldn't remember/figure out what exactly we were eating, but it was sinfully good. My dish had a generous pile of figs that were sprinkled with crumpled bacon and sitting on a white foamy pond of something slightly sweet but unidentifiable. Drizzled around the foam was a bright green oil (parsley oil? sage oil? we couldn't tell, but it was very pretty). Also sitting in the foam were some small brown jello cubes. Again, we didn't know what flavor of jello it was, but certainly not your typical boxed variety and very tasty. But see what I mean about playing with textures? I had crispy bacon, soft figs, jello cubes, foam, and oil - it was so cool, and really delicious! Craig's appetizer was also really good (peach sashimi) which was basically rectangular slices of peach prepared like a pice of sushi, there was horseradish and everything - very good. For my entree I had the cod special. It was another tasty combination. I had the big white pieces of white cod sitting on sauteed vegetables (corn, okra, red pepper) and all of that in a pool of mango butter - yum! My plate was completely clean, I was using the complementary bread that we got before the meal to soak up all the leftover juices, it was that good. The final thing was a free dessert (that was given to John due to overcooked, but still tasty, tuna) of three mini, homemade moon-pies (which Craig said were much better than real moon-pies) and a small Coke float. It was playful, delicious, and just the right size for an after dinner treat. I was very pleased with the whole experience, and I'm very lucky to have such sweet friends.
posted by Erin at 11:21 PM
2 Comments:
have you checked your back yard lately? there was an herb gaden started there and it should be thriving my now if it is not mowed over. The trick is to designate 'areas' for herbs so you know where everything is readily available. Also at the end of the season you can by some herbs which will winter well and get them at a much reduced price. Look especially for the pineapple sage there was a huge bunch of it.
Love, Mom
the chicken recipe looks great. If you wanna kick it up a notch, though, you can serve it on a butternut squash sauce (which goes very well with chicken and herbs).
roast a butternut squash (cut in half, seeds out, sprinkled with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper) cut side down on cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil) at 400-425 degrees for 50-60 minutes, until skin is a little brown and the squash is tender. let cool enough to handle.
on a sauce pan melt some butter (to taste) and saute one medium minced shallot. once the shallot is translucent, deglaze the sauce pan with about 1/2 cup of spanish brandy (preferably sherry brandy - "brandy de jerez," which gives it a nice sweetness). Once the alcohol evaporates, add about 1/2 cup of chicken stock and about 1/4 cup of maple syrup. lower the heat to low Then add the flesh of the butternut squash and mix. Adjust consistency by adding chicken stock if too thick. Transfer to blender or use a hand held (the hand held yields a more rustic sauce, the blender a smooth one) and blend until smooth. You can adjust thickness with chicken stock to get as thick or thin a sauce you want.
Once blended, transfer back to sauce pan and simmer for about 5 minutes and check for salt and pepper. Ready to serve.
Some optional additions are about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon or quattre epices (a french combination or cinnamon, white pepper, cloves, and nutmeg).
What to do with the left over sauce?
-freeze in a freezer bag (squeeze air out)
-mix in some cream and make soup, add grilled shrimp, scallops, or crab meat.
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