May 2008 Archives

It's Memorial Day Weekend and the weather is supposed to be decent, though not warm. The last of the parsnips are still available at the local farmers markets, so I present one last winter recipe.

This is another recipe that can be made with just about all local ingredients. I do recommend using salt and pepper, which I have yet to find produced locally. Originally, this recipe came from the Amateur Gourmet who took the recipe from Molly Stevens' All About Braising. I adapted it slightly.

Cider Braised Chicken with Hard Cider and Parsnips
(Adapted from Molly Stevens' All About Braising)
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons hazelnut or olive oil (optional)
• 4 thick slices of bacon (ours was from Skagit River Ranch)
• 3 pounds chicken breasts or thighs (from Rickman Gulch)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 large shallot
• 2 1/2 cups hard cider (from Rockridge Orchards)
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
• 1 pound parsnips

1. Prepare the ingredients by mincing the shallot, dicing the bacon, and chopping the rosemary. Peel the parsnips and cut them into sticks. Larger parsnips will have a woody core that should be discarded.
2. In a large, oven safe pan, saute the bacon until crispy. The original recipe calls for cooking the bacon in the oil, but I've found this is usually unnecessary.
3. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and transfer it to a paper towel lined plate. 
4. Preheat the oven to 325.
5. Rinse the chicken pieces and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper and brown them on all sides in the same pan over medium-high heat. If you are using skin-on chicken pieces, brown the skin side first until crispy.
6. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate and set aside.
7. Add the shallot and saute, stirring often to prevent burning. Add 2 cups of the hard cider and deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
8. Boil and reduce the cider to approximately 1/2 cup, about 10-15 minutes.
9. Add the rosemary and the last 1/2 cup of cider and reduce again until there is about 3/4 cup of liquid left in the pan.
10. Add the parsnips and some salt and pepper. Crumble the bacon over the parsnips and then add the chicken. If you're using skin-on chicken, the pieces should be skin side down.
11. Place a piece of parchment paper over the pan and cover with a lid. Bake for 25 minutes.
12. Turn the chicken pieces and make sure the liquid isn't boiling too rapidly. If it is at a rolling boil, turn the oven down 10-15 degrees.
13. Bake for another 20-25 minutes until the thickest chicken piece is done and the parsnips are fork tender.
14. Remove the chicken and transfer the pan back to the stove. Over medium-high heat, boil the sauce for another minute or two to thicken it slightly.
15. Plate the chicken and arrange the parsnips and sauce over it.

Patricia's Notes: I don't usually use chicken with the skin for this recipe. It adds just a bit more fat than I'd like and the recipe really doesn't need it. I do often use chicken thighs as they are a bit better suited to long, slow cooking, although breasts work just fine. The parsnips absorb the sweet tang of the cider and the saltiness of the bacon. The chicken should be practically falling apart by the time the dish is done.

I've been on a bit of an apricot kick lately. We've had apricot biscotti, this recipe, and stuffed chicken with apricots and goat cheese (see the Examiner site for that recipe later this week).

This recipe was adapted from Crispy Apricot Pork Chops that I blogged for the Examiner yesterday. I just wasn't thrilled with how the recipe turned out with pork, so we tried it with chicken. It was fantastic. I run hot and cold with pork (at least pork in a non-sausage or non-bacon form) and so having the option to use chicken is very helpful.

The recipe is from a new cookbook we bought at Costco a few weeks ago. Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. It's a cookbook from the Martha Stewart collection, and while I'm definitely no Martha (in fact I usually shy away from anything Martha related), I have to admit that this cookbook hasn't steered us wrong yet. What I love about the cookbook is that it tells you exactly how long a recipe takes to prep and to cook. As an added bonus, every recipe has a full color picture along with it and the pictures actually aren't that far off from what the food looks like!

The original recipe called for apricot jam, but I prefer to use Apricot Yum from Pipitone Farms. They have an interesting little fact on their jars of Yum. In order to be called Jam, a product must have 50% sugar! That's an amazing amount of sugar. Since well grown ripe apricots are incredibly sweet, it is a shame to add all that sugar to it. Apricot Yum does not have all that added sugar. In fact, it doesn't have any, making it much better for John.

Crispy Apricot Chicken from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast
Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

• 1 Tbsp oil of your choice
• 2 slices crusty bread
• 4 chicken breasts
• Salt and Pepper
• 4 Tbsp Apricot Yum (Pipitone Farms)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 and start your prep work. Tear the bread into large pieces and put the pieces in a food processor. Pulse until the bread now resembles large crumbs. The largest crumbs should be no larger than your fingernail.
2. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil into the crumbs and pulse a couple more times to moisten the crumbs. You're aiming for about 1-1.5 cups of crumbs.
3. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
4. Put a little oil on a baking sheet.
5. Lay the chicken breasts on the baking sheet and season with salt and pepper.
6. Spread 1 tsp of apricot yum on each breast. Top with breadcrumbs and pat gently so the crumbs stick.
7. Bake about 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve.

Patricia's Notes: This was incredibly tasty. Using the apricot yum rather than apricot jam imparted a very strong fruit flavor to the chicken. We used a lot more yum than the recipe called for, and that wasn't a bad idea. The crispy bread crumbs were fantastic and I think the added texture was what made the recipe so perfect. The dish even reheats well in the microwave or oven.

During the summer, we eat a lot of salads. In fact, we'll often buy two large bags of salad each week and have salads for lunch every day. We  add lots of fun stuff, like chicken breasts, almonds, sunflower seeds, feta cheese, dried cranberries, and croutons. This makes for a great salad with one exception. I hate most commercial salad dressings. We've tried many different options and I've just not found anything that I enjoy eating day after day. So this year, I'm going to try to make my own dressings. This was my first attempt.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 6 Tbsp orange juice
• 3 tsp agave nectar or honey
• 3 Tbsp raspberry cider vinegar
• 1 medium shallot
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp orange infused olive oil
• Salt

Directions

Chop the shallot. In a small food processor or blender, mix everything except for the olive oil. Pulse until the shallot is finely minced. Add the olive oil and pulse once or twice to combine.

Serve over mixed greens. This would also likely make a good marinade or rub for chicken.

Patricia's Notes: For my first dressing attempt, without a formal recipe, this was quite good. I used a largish shallot and I think it would have been a bit better had the shallot been medium instead, but otherwise it was excellent.

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When I'm sick, there's not much better than a hot bowl of soup. Last week, I was still fighting the dregs of this awful cold, and John offered to make me soup. We picked up a new cookbook at Costco the other day, Everyday Food: Great Food Fast">Everyday Food: Great Food Fast'>Great Food Fast. I liked it because there were pictures of every recipe, as well as prep time and cooking time for each. So far we've been pleased with the results.

 

Ingredients

• 28 oz chicken broth
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• Red pepper flakes
• 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms
• 3-4 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 3 scallions

 

Directions

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and slice them. Beat the egg well and set aside.

In a large pot (at least 4.5 quarts), combine the chicken broth, soy sauce, red pepper flakes and 2 cups of water. Bring the pot to a boil and add the mushrooms.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk the rice vinegar and cornstarch together to form a thick syrup. Add to the pot and cook for another minute or two, until the soup thickens.

Take a slotted spoon and pour the well beaten egg into the pot through the spoon. This is what creates the ribbons of egg in the soup. It probably won't look "right" as you pour in the egg, but trust me, it will sort itself out.

Take the grated ginger and squeeze any juice you can out of it. We used a fine sieve for this, but cheesecloth would work better. Add the ginger to the soup and taste. You could add more red pepper, more vinegar, or more soy sauce if desired.

Top with sliced scallions.

Our notes: This was quite tasty. I've had better hot and sour soup at restaurants, but not often. We omitted tofu because I'm not a big fan of the texture, but you could certainly add some in after you add the egg. Even though it's not common, I'd even consider adding some shredded chicken to the pot for a complete meal.

Alton Brown is kind of annoying. I'm not sure why I feel that way, something about his presentation, at least on the show Good Eats, just rubs me the wrong way. But I was home alone a few weeks ago and flipping channels, and I caught a few minutes of his show on vinegar. I really wasn't planning on watching, but he intrigued me with a salad recipe that involved grilling lettuce with parmesan cheese. I'll definitely be trying that sometime this summer. Since that recipe caught my eye, I decided to keep watching the rest of the show. When he stuck a roast in a marinade for 3 days, and then used one of my favorite cookies ever to make the sauce, I knew we had to try the recipe. So, now I present to you:  Sauerbraten!

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 medium onion
• 1 large carrot
• Salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 3-4 pound roast (bottom round)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 18 gingersnaps (or about 5 oz)

Directions

Chop the onion and the carrot into medium pieces. In a large saucepan, combine the water, vinegars, onion, carrot, salt, bay leaves, cloves, and mustard seeds. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes and remove from heat.

Next take your roast and pat it dry. Rub it with the oil and salt and pepper it on all sides.

In a skillet (preferably cast iron), cook the roast until browned on all sides.

Here's a little food porn for you.

Isn't that a beautiful roast?

Put the roast in a non-reactive bowl (non-metal).

Now comes the... interesting part of the recipe. It actually says something like "when the marinade has cooled enough not to burn a finger stuck in it..."

Yeah. I'm not sticking my finger in hot liquid to see IF it burns me. So I waited about 20 minutes after removing the marinade from the heat.

Pour the marinade over the roast, cover, and refrigerate for three days. (If the roast isn't totally submerged in the liquid, turn once a day)

...

Wow. Look at that. In the space of an ellipsis and one line feed we've fast forwarded 3 days.

Preheat the oven to 325 and put the roast and all of the marinade in a Dutch oven.

Bake for 4 hours.

Crush the gingersnaps.

Remove the Dutch oven from the... well, from the oven. Keep the roast warm. Strain the marinade and add it to a saucepan. Cook over  medium-high heat and mix in the gingersnaps. Cook until thick, stirring frequently.

Slice (or shred) the roast and top with sauce. Enjoy.