by Sam Tackeff | Jul 11, 2010 | chicken, Salads
Dinner: No recipe here – Jicama slaw made with corn and pepper relish (homemade, although Trader Joe’s corn relish might be a good substitute) , a handful of chopped parsley, salt, pepper, lime and meyer lemon dressing made with good olive oil. A dash of this and a dash of that until it tasted right. Served with grilled chicken, my first attempt in my newly acquired (saved from the San Francisco streets) cast iron pan. Chicken thighs from Drewes. Simply seasoned with salt, pepper, Rancho Gordo ground red chile pepper, Rancho Gordo Indio Oregano, and Cumin. Seared to form a lovely spice crust.
Wine Pairing: Dashwood Sauvingnon Blanc 2009 – Vavasour Wines, Marlborough, New Zealand. Slightly overpowered by the jicama slaw, but overall, citrus notes went well with dinner. This is a lovely wine that I’m looking forward to drinking more of. Actually, dinner is over and I’m still drinking it!
(Disclaimer: I was sent this wine as a sample from Pasternak Wine Imports – purveyors of some extremely good wines. They are in my book of awesome.)
by Sam Tackeff | Jul 1, 2009 | Soups
Last weekend we had lovely guests – Devon’s dad John and his wife Patti, who came not only with gifts of garlic from Gilroy (home of the garlic festival), but a copy of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything – Vegetarian which I have been lusting after for the past several months and haven’t had the chance to acquire.
We took them to our favorite thai restaurant, Regent Thai, which happens to be a block from our house, and has blissfully delicious Tom Kha Gai, thai coconut chicken soup, and then on Sunday morning we went for breakfast burritos next door at Toast – which are enough to sustain you for the majority of the day. I’ve been working diligently to re-create the Tom Kha Gai soup at home – I’m still tinkering, but I’ll post it when I get it up to speed!
After going on a wandering adventure in the car over to the East Bay, our guests suggested that I make dinner (something that I concede I hadn’t even considered doing at the time of our market trip.)
And so it’s a very good thing that my new habit has been to go through cookbooks and magazines, and food shows and write down the recipes I think I will enjoy in my little moleskin, which ideally I will have in hand at the market if I have to shop for something at the last minute. This has proven to be very useful, because if my menu planning is left to the last minute, I end up fretting, ravenous, and very cranky – or – as in this case – heading to the market with guests a 4pm without a thought having been given to cooking.
We ended up at The Berkeley Bowl – my first time in this fabled food purveyor. The Berkeley bowl is a supermarket that has a produce section much more akin to a farmers market than the vegetables and fruits being relegated to the lackluster outer edges of your everyday super chain. I was excited to find some fresh shellbeans and oyster mushrooms – the perfect additions to Coq Au Riesling – a lovely chicken stew.
I must admit – I hadn’t actually tried this recipe before serving it to guests – but I trust Nigella, and indeed it turned out lovely. It’s definitely one I’ll keep on hand!
Coq Au Riesling
adapted from the lovely Nigella
serves about 4, with a smidge of leftover
Ingredients
a few tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smushed
a leek, chopped (or an onion)
1/2 cup chopped bacon
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
5 ounces (or more) oyster mushrooms
1 cup fresh shellbeans (I used cranberry)
3 Turkish Bay Leaves
1 entire bottle Riesling
– Cream (heavy or half and half) – optional, but tasty
– a few tablespoons chopped fresh dill
– Papardelle Egg Noodles (to serve)
Method
1. Heat the oil in a large french oven or soup pot, and fry the bacon until slightly crisp. Add the smushed garlic and chopped leek for a minute or so.
2. Cut the chicken thighs into two or three pieces, and dump them into the pan with the bay leaves, torn up oyster mushrooms, and fresh shellbeans. Pour in the entire bottle of Riesling (unless you want to reserve a half cup or so for the chef….)
3. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil, cover the pan, and turn down the heat to simmer gently for about 45 minutes – or until the shellbeans are cooked through and soft. If you’d like, finish with a quarter cup or so of cream for the last few minutes.
4. Serve over the Papardelle egg noodles, and be sure to sprinkle with fresh dill. It’s delicious.
Note: This tastes really good right when you make it, but even better the next day!
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 12, 2009 | Barefoot Blogging, Poultry, Quick and Easy
This Thursday’s barefoot blogging challenge was chosen by Lindsey of Noodle Nights and Muffin Mornings, and had us all in the kitchen cooking Ina Garten’s Chicken Piccata. Now, to be fair, because there are no capers in this dish, I’m not sure how she gets away calling it a piccata, but nevertheless it’s certainly tasty.
I chose to accompany the dish with some Sautéed Broccolini (for BB extra credit, chosen by Mary, of Meet Me in the Kitchen). I suppose you could pair this chicken with almost any vegetable (green beans, regular broccoli, and swiss chard come to mind), and just sauté them the same way in your pan- it tastes infinitely better if you do it in the pan right after you make your delicious piccata sauce, so it absorbs all of that wonderful lemony flavor.
Other things you could do with this chicken: I think that this would taste equally tasty on a nice bit of ciabatta bread with some arugula as a sandwich, or served over some pasta with freshly grated Parmesan. My mother also makes a similar dish served with a side of sauteed cabbage and onions, over farfalle pasta, that my brother swears by.
Breading Chicken: To bread your chicken, it’s easiest if you have a little lineup set up. You can do it in plates, but I think that bowls make it all a lot cleaner.
Some things about online recipes to keep in mind: Sometimes, the recipe gets translated badly onto the food network, or other recipe posting sites online. Most of Ina’s recipes are for four in her cookbook, and yet somehow the food network versions are for two, with some errors (like enough sauce and breading ingredients for four, but only calling for two pieces of chicken). I find that I tweak many of the recipes posted here online, although the recipes in her book are usually winners.
Crispy Lemony Chicken
serves 4
adapted from Ina Garten
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4 inch thick
salt and pepper
1/2 cup flour
1 extra-large egg
3/4 cup seasoned dry breadcrumbs (I used plain that I seasoned with my own spices)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup dry white wine
Chopped parsley leaves, for serving
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
2. To pound your chicken, place the breast between two sheets of parchment paper or saran wrap, and pound flat with a heavy object. *Thin chicken breasts are really important so that the chicken cooks quickly and evenly.* Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
3. Create your breading line: I like using three bowls (see above). In the first bowl, put the flour, with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. In the middle bowl, crack in one extra large egg, and a 1/2 tablespoon of water. In the third bowl, place your breadcrumbs. Now comes the fun part! Dip each chicken breast- first in the flour, to coat lightly, then in the egg mixture, and finally in the breadcrumbs. (You will have enough leftover in the bowls if you want to make extra chicken.)
4. In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the chicken breasts, and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until the crust is nicely browned. Place them on the sheet pan, and then bake in the oven for about 5 minutes while you make the sauce.
5. In the same saute pan that you have cooked the chicken, add a tablespoon of melted butter, then add the lemon juice, the wine, some salt and pepper. Boil for a few minutes over high heat, until it reduces by half, and then take off the stove and swirl in the extra two tablespoons of butter. Set aside in a bowl, and use the pan to make whatever vegetable you are serving it with.
6. Plate the chicken, pour on some sauce, add the fresh parsley, and serve with a wedge of lemon. It’s a surprisingly light and refreshing dish!
Sauteed Broccolini
serves 2
Ingredients
1 small bunch broccolini
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small clove of garlic, minced
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
Juice of half a lemon
Method
Steam the broccolini with a few tablespoons of water in the microwave for three minutes, and drain. In the pan that was used for the lemon sauce, add a the butter, garlic and lemon juice, salt and pepper, and heat as the broccolini steams. Add the drained broccolini to the pan and sauté for a minute or two, turn off the heat, and plate.
