Brooklyn Forager

Earlier this year, we were gifted with beautiful Misty Knolls organic chickens from Vermont.  I believe I have expressed my general ennui when it comes to chicken in the past.  Friends, it is because I so often am thinking of boring old chickens.  These are not those sort of chickens. 

When presented with a beautiful chicken, too tasty to fail, I do get excited.  My plan has long been to attempt to feed us for a week on one such roast chicken and figure out all of the exciting things I can do with one bird.  That challenge will still come, but this time, I marinated the chicken in a lovely balsamic, rosemary (and ramp oil!) and garlic vinaigrette a la Giada DeLaurentiis. 

I abandoned the one chicken, many meals idea because I thought this marinade was too flavorful and distinct to lend itself to a number of different meals.  I was essentially proved wrong daily.  Below I've listed the variety of meals that I pulled together over the course of the week. 

Possibilities aside, as a stand-alone dish, this chicken does not disappoint.  I marinated a whole chicken, cut into pieces (thanks to my mother-in-law for her chicken selection as well as her chicken butchering skills), in a savory mix of ramp oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic cloves, dried rosemary, sea salt and pepper. The chicken marinated for about 15 hours, although you could get away with a couple of hours. 

The resultant chicken is juicy and flavorful.  Not boring at all.  As the rosemary was my own addition, feel free to omit or adjust as you see fit.  My hefty handful made rosemary the shining star of the marinade.  In my opinion, this makes the chicken slightly less versatile than a lemon, garlic chicken or something more simple, but no less delicious. 

Our uses for the roast chicken (and pl.ease leave notes in the comments if you come up with more uses): 

• Cold chicken breast with pan drippings, fresh rustic bread and green salad (with scallions! )
• Roast chicken quesadilla with  Vermont-grown baby spinach, smoked gouda and caramelized onions
• Pasta with shredded chicken, marinated mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and homegrown basil
• Chicken Sandwich with Vermont-grown baby spinach and homemade Spicy Stout Mustard 

Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Rosemary Vinaigrette (adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis)

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• a good handful of fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or ramp-infused oil)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (4-pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces (giblets, neck and backbone reserved for another use)
• 1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

 

1. Whisk the vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, olive or ramp oil, salt, and pepper in small bowl to blend. Combine the vinaigrette and chicken pieces in a large resealable plastic bag; seal the bag and toss to coat. Refrigerate, turning the chicken pieces occasionally, for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.
2. Preheat the oven to 400F. Remove chicken from the bag and arrange the chicken pieces on a large greased baking dish. Roast until the chicken is just cooked through, about 1 hour. If your chicken browns too quickly, cover it with foil for the remaining cooking time. 
3. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Place the baking dish on a burner over medium-low heat. Whisk the chicken broth into the pan drippings, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the baking sheet with a wooden spoon and mixing them into the broth and pan drippings. Drizzle the pan drippings over the chicken. Sprinkle the lemon zest and parsley over the chicken, and serve.

 

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Foodhave chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

The idea was to work them into Cinco de Mayo or some other festive occasion, and I can see why.  The recipe is great and  will definitely go on my showstopper recipe list, but it takes some effort, although not so much time. 

The first step was to roast the Anaheim chiles to develop flavor for the green chile sauce.  The roasting and even the peeling were fairly simple, but I found I had a rough time getting rid of those seeds.  Everywhere I turned, there were more of them! I meant to do a little research to see if the seeds add heat as with hotter chiles or if they would have a negative effect on the sauce.....but alas, I just fought the battle trying to remove every last one. 

After preparing the Anaheim chiles, I turned to the tomatillos.  These were much easier to prepare since I just had to boil and peel off those papery skins.  My one lesson learned here - boiled tomatillos are HOT.  Even once you give them a chance to cool down.  I removed the core by hand which may not have been my best move. 

It was at this point, with all my green items prepared, that I departed from the recipe instructions, though not by much.  Not wanting to drag out my blender (and my food processor has a bit of an injury from creative storage), I attacked the tomatillos with my immersion blender.  It took a little bit of effort to really get the tomatillos pureed, but it did the trick with less mess (except the bit of splatter that got on me). 

Once the sauce was put together to simmer on the stove, I got to work on the chicken and the tortillas (there really is a constant flow of work in this recipe).  I will definitely take the effort to warm my corn tortillas in oil for future recipes.  It added a nice texture and flavor. 

With everything ready, I began to stack.  My additional recommendation here is to go with as much cheese as you can handle! I used about 8 ounces for the four stacks, rather than 6 ounces and while the inside stacks had a good amount of cheese, I could have stood a little more on the tops.  

While the stacks baked, I decided to give my immersion blender another trip through the extra sauce (I had a LOT of extra sauce for some reason).  The chopped Anaheims pureed nicely and I really liked the smooth sauce better than the chunkier one.  Full disclosure - I'm like that with salsa and marinara too, so consider more pureeing if you're like me.  I also decided it needed a lot more heat to be successful in our house, so I added a good amount of hot sauce.  We poured this over the top once the stacks were done - a nice touch to kick up the heat. 

A note on leftovers - we ate two fresh out of the oven (yum!) and the remaining stacks two nights later.  I reheated the stacks in the toaster oven at 350F for about 15 minutes, maybe a bit less.  The tortillas were a bit soft, but the chicken was great and the flavor was still there.  Two nights of dinner definitely made the work worth it! 

And a final note on wine - what to serve with green chile enchiladas? I thought about getting a recommendation from my new favorite wine store, but I trusted my gut and went with a Gruner Veltliner.  An Austrian white wine that is crisp and bright and a little effervescent at times held up nicely with the flavors.  I tried the 2008 Windspiel Gruner Veltliner and found it a very pleasant pairing.  Enjoy!

Way back when I made risotto with my homemade stock, I also found myself with tons of shredded chicken straight off the bone.  The process of making stock made the meat literally fall off the bone, so I wasn't faced with my usual situation - I'm somewhat averse to the whole bone thing, so I leave way too much meat on the bones when faced with them without assistance. Those bones were picked clean this time!

With so much meat, I really should have made an effort to see how many different recipes I could make like some other challenges I've seen out in the blogosphere.  I intend to do that in the future, but this time I had one thing in mind.  Enchiladas! I used to consider this dish an unhealthy indulgence that I made once in awhile since there are very few dishes where I use something from a can that isn't beans or coconut milk (okay, there are probably more things....but you get the drift). Now, I found a recipe to make enchilada sauce from scratch which eliminates the processed factor and makes things all around more fun!

Besides the development in sauce, this recipe packs in more vegetables than your typical enchilada recipe and certainly could handle even more.  I thought about mixing in some black beans (especially if you want to use less chicken) or chopped spinach.  As usual, you could throw in chopped sweet peppers if you actually eat those things :) I'd love to hear about other suggestions.

And finally, besides all of the fun that I had making the enchiladas and thinking up revisions, I will leave you with the ultimate eater's recommendation - my husband says: Best.  Enchiladas.  Ever. 

Chicken Enchiladas (adapted from Tyler Florence)

• 1 4lb organic free-range chicken, shredded
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 red onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil (or chicken drippings if you cook the chicken yourself)
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 4 chipotle peppers in adobo, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp pickled jalapeno slices, roughly chopped
• 1 28 ounce can of crushed or diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups of enchilada sauce
• 12 whole grain or whole wheat tortillas (or more depending on size and stuffing)
• 2 cups of grated Cheddar and Jack cheeses

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Add cumin, garlic, paprika, chili powder and cayenne to shredded chicken. 
3. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil (or chicken drippings) until fragrant and soft.  Add corn and chiles and mix well. Add tomatoes and saute for 1 minute.
4. Add chicken to tomato mixture and stir until heated all the way through and well combined.
5. Cover the bottom of 2 13 x 9 inch baking dishes with a thin layer of enchilada sauce. Spread small amount of sauce on a tortilla; fill with chicken mixture.  Roll tortilla closed and place seam down in the pan.  Top tortillas with remaining sauce and shredded cheese.
6. Bake for 15 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbling.

 Chicken Enchiladas

I'm a little bit late to the table on this, but I wanted to throw out a big thank you to Christy over at Balance for putting together a really fun and successful event this past Sunday to raise money for Haiti relief in conjunction with the Stir It 28 event happening simultaneously in several cities.

The afternoon consisted of way more food and drink than could be consumed by around 30 or more very happy attendees (at least the ones I knew said so!) and another 10 or so food bloggers who got to play in the beautiful teaching kitchen at NYU School of Nutrition and Food Studies.  In the excitement, I only managed to get pictures of my own food and the decorations, but I encourage you to check out the blogs below because everything was really tasty and the bloggers themselves are fun people.

 

Menu (links to participating bloggers courtesy of Balance)

For my part, I made one of my favorite dishes of all time - Minced Chicken with Lettuce Cups.  Lettuce wraps are considered lucky for Chinese New Year because the word for lettuce wrap in Cantonese (I hear - please Year of the Tiger!correct me if I'm wrong) sounds like the word for 'rising fortune' - a very good thing indeed.  Apparently adding dried oysters makes the dish even luckier, but I wasn't ready to give that a try just yet.  If you do, let me know.

The recipe I used comes from the old stand-by Williams Sonoma Stir Fry Cookbook and represents a very simple basic version which satisfies the craving.  The recipe defies my usual rule which is to substitute more authentic ingredients whenever possible.  The traditional Chinese dish, Gai Soong, is made with pigeon, and while using some Brooklyn pigeon could make this extremely local and authentic, minced chicken is a much better choice for me.As an aside, I still think the best lettuce wraps are at Betelnut on Chestnut Street in San Francisco, but I'm on a constant quest to try more.

As a challenge to myself and in order to help make the dish appropriate for a mixed crowd, I also played with a vegetarian version (it's even vegan!) and was quite pleased with the results.  I've included an either/or set up in the recipe, but feel free to make both (doubling the sauce) and mix and match. 

A note on lettuce: the recipe calls for iceberg lettuce, undoubtedly for its tough structure and cool crunch.  I used butter lettuce for its pretty leaves and marginally better nutritional value.  I urge you to experiment with lettuces keeping in mind taste, texture and strength of the leaves.  Butter lettuce is a bit flimsy, but it's my favorite.

Lettuce Wraps Two Ways (adapted from Williams-Sonoma Stir Fry)

• 1lb. ground chicken
• 1 1/2 - 2 blocks extra firm tofu
• 16 ounces shitake mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed
• 2 tbsp soy sauce, divided
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar, preferably unseasoned, divided
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil

Sauce:

• 5 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar, preferably unseasoned
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce (available in the Asian section of your grocery store)
• 2 tsp corn starch

• 6 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
• 4 scallions, finely chopped (including green tops)
• 4 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
• 2 cups water chestnuts, rinsed, well drained and coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
• 1 head lettuce of your choice

1. Place tofu under a heavy plate or baking pan weighted with cans.  Let water squeeze out while you chop mushrooms and other ingredients. This step may be omitted but helps the tofu absorb the sauce and marinade.
2. In a bowl, combine chicken and half of soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil.  Stir to mix well. Set aside.
3. Slice tofu lengthwise into thin strips and chop again into small cubes. Place in a bowl with chopped mushrooms and remaining soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil.  Set aside.
4. To make the sauce, combine all of the ingredients and stir in corn starch to dissolve.  Set aside. (Note: I transported the sauce in a jar which made the dissolving very easy - shake it up!)
5. In a large pan, heat 3 tablespoons of oil over high heat.  Add chicken and stir quickly, breaking up any large pieces until no longer pink.  Push to side of pan or remove and set aside. Add half of scallions, ginger and water chestnuts and toss quickly for 1 minute.  Add 1/2 of prepared sauce and stir in cooked chicken.  Stir until thickened slightly.  Remove from heat.
6. Wipe down pan (or use a second one if maintaining vegetarian/vegan meal is important) and heat additional 3 tablespoons of oil over high heat.  Repeat step 5 with mushroom and tofu mixture.
7. Stir in half of pine nuts in each finished mixture.  Serve with lettuce wraps.

Note on leftovers: if you run out of lettuce wraps or want to make extra of either mixture, they taste great over rice.  Serve with a vegetable or salad and you have another twist on the meal.

 

 

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day. 

This was definitely my favorite Daring Cooks Challenge to date.  In our house, we LOVE satay.  And in these leaner times, we often do without as we're avoiding takeout.  How excited was I to find that this months challenge would allow me to experiment at home with one of my favorite things. 

The challenge allowed for us to use any sort of protein (or vegetable if we wanted) to make our satay.  I decided on chicken mainly because of the availablity at the store, again relying on Trader Joe's organic free range chicken tenders.  I also wanted to try beef or pork, but the cuts available weren't ideal at the time.  I am getting ahead of myself, but with this recipe, I will be trying all possible iterations in the future.

Each DC challenge revolves, generally, around a skill or technique.  The technique this month was marinating the meat.  It might sound laughable, since I got to work on this skill while traipsing around New York City seeing my friends and sleeping late and curling up with a book, but I really appreciated the opportunity to think about the components of a marinade and the goals such a marinade is intended to serve.

This marinade is a combination of oil, garlic, onions, ginger, lemon juice, soy sauce, cumin, coriander and turmeric.  I also made the additions recommended to make the recipe more traditionally Thai - extra ginger and fish sauce.  Apparently Thai-style also calls for dragon chilis which I did not seek out, but will next time.  As Cuppy taught us, the acidic elements help to tenderize the meat while the flavor components seep into the meat over the marinating period and really infuse flavor into the meat.  For chicken, which I've said I'm not so terribly fond of, the effect is fabulous.

I let the meat marinate for longer than suggested - about 26 hours.  This was chiefly due to a last minute dinner invite that superseded the need to cook the chicken immediately.  I think this accident of time helped the whole process and I would certainly consider keeping a similar marinade time if I was prepared enough in advance.

The next big step in the process was creating the peanut dipping sauce.  I've been searching for the perfect peanut sauce recipe for at least 6 years when I made it and lost it.  This recipe blended coconut milk (which I believe is key), peanut butter, soy sauce, lemon juice, sugar, cumin, coriander and chilis.  I think the ratio of peanut butter to coconut milk should be higher, but all in all, the sauce was tasty and a great accompaniment to the chicken.

Once the chicken was marinated and the sauce was started, I popped the chicken under the broiler until crispy and browned.  The end result had a beautiful deep flavor with an almost buttery tenderness.  While I may experiment further to find my perfect peanut sauce, I will search no further for a satay marinade. 

I served the chicken and sauce with caramelized broccoli which I wlll write about separately since it was also a great new approach to the vegetable for me.  I am happy to say that we have once again conquered the takeout beast and will be making this dish repeatedly in the future.

 

Satay Marinade

1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)

Feeling the need to make it more Thai? Try adding a dragon chili, an extra tablespoon of ginger root, and 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz or 15 mls) of fish sauce. (I keep some premature (still green) dragon chili peppers in the freezer for just such an occasion.)

Directions:
1a. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2a. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3a. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Peanut Sauce

3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.