Roasted "It turned out to taste a lot like kugel" Chicken

AC is really good at roasting chicken, has a million variations, and since the technique is so solid, he's consistent. This particular roast chicken was a surprising step-up. Not surprising in that we know what he is capable of in the kitchen, but surprising in a normal-weekday-night-not-a-lot-of-time-to-cook kind of way.

Using ingredients we had around the kitchen from other meals, AC created a roasted chicken that made both of us stand up and notice. It was reminiscent of kugel- a raisin, cinnamon-y casserole that is pure comfort food. The creamy cheese mixture, stuffed in between the skin and the meat was sweet, spicy and complex. The skin was perfectly crisp and the chicken perfectly moist and flavorful. The vegetable mix complemented the chicken perfectly- both of us cleaned our plates and ate way more than usual. So we thought we'd pass it on to see what you think.


In a small bowl place three cloves of  smashed garlic, 1/3 minced chile
and 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar and let it soak while you prepare the chicken.

Preheat your oven to 425*.


In a small mixing bowl, combine the following,
2/3 chopped hot chile
3 oz feta cheese
1 1/2 tbsp of plum preserves (or other slightly savory preserve)
black pepper to taste


Take 2 chicken, thigh/leg combos, and stuff the cheese mixture under the skin. Then sprinkle the outside of the chicken with salt, smoked paprika, 1 tsp dried rosemary and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

Prep the following:
1-2 oz cured Italian salami sliced thin
1 can cannelini beans, rinsed
1/2 bell pepper (yellow) sliced
1/2 red onion, chopped roughly
5-6 crimini mushrooms, chopped in large pieces
1 cup cheap dry red wine
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp dried lavender
1/2 tsp of Kachai powder
black pepper and salt to taste
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tbsp bacon fat


Place the above ingredients and the smashed garlic-chile-balsamic mixture into an oven safe frying pan and bring to a boil on your stove top, let it boil for about 30 seconds. This is to basically heat the pan so it cooks faster in the oven.



Place the chicken on top of the vegetables and place in a 425* oven for 20-25 minutes.


Pull out, add 2 cups of spinach underneath the chicken, put back in oven and cook for an additional 5 min. 

He's sort of a big Jerk Chicken

Okay- the title of this post- the AC came up with it. He describes this delectable dish as "sort of" jerk chicken. Because it's not traditional jerk. And if AC is anything it is NOT traditional.

In Minnesota we have a problem with spice. Really, here paprika is spicy. When things are spicy, it's the spicy just to be spicy- think XXX hot sauce- heat with no flavor. So flavorful and spicy can be hard to find if you don't know where to look. Since I have been with the AC my spice tolerance has risen exponentially. So when other Minnesotans say that something tastes spicy, I usually think- "it is???".  In most mainstream restaurants a dish called "jerk" is just really, really salty. We do have flavorful, spicy jerk, just go to Harry Singh's. Thai spicy can be found at On's Kitchen. Otherwise see my previous sentence.

This dish reminded me of New Orleans. The sauce is rich and flavorful with a spice that warms your mouth to hot. The sauce is not just spicy, but has true dimension. The cayenne we're using right now is very spicy. If you want this to be hot, double the cayenne. For my loved ones who struggle with spice, feel free to adjust ingredients, the "sort of" in the title allows it.

Marinate 2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs for 3-5 hours in:

1/2 c coconut milk
1 1/2 tbsp of sweet dark soy sauce
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp galangal
1 tsp kachai powder

You will also need the following:

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into 1" squares
1/2 red onion, cut into larger chunks
1/4 c white rum
Black pepper
White pepper
2 tsp Vietnamese garlic chili paste
1 tsp Five spice
Salt

After the chicken has been marinaded: In a sauce pan with a cover, place the red bell pepper, red onion, and lay the chicken on top. Pour the rest if the marinade over the chicken and vegetables. Add the white rum, black pepper and heavily dust with white pepper. Smear the Vietnamese garlic chili sauce on the chicken thighs- about 1 tsp on each piece. Cover the pot and bring to low boil for 15 minutes.

Make rice according to instructions, but add tsp 5 spice and a large pinch of salt before cooking. When the rice is cooked, garnish with chopped cilantro.

Beef Stew: a perfect one pot meal

Our picnic table, photo taken by my neighbor Cathy

Just when I thought it was too late for winter comfort food, we get another 3 inches of snow, I am choosing to look at the bright side. Don't get me wrong, I am still holding on tight to the Spring fever that gripped me last week, I'll just have to wear my fabulous new wedge sandals in the house for a couple more weeks. Sitting at my kitchen table eating stew. That's called making the best of it, people.

My favorite thing about winter is comfort food. Big surprise, I know. There are a number of AlphaChef dishes we only eat when it's cold, and they happen to be some of his best. My favorites are a Mexican pasta dish we haven't named yet, but will post, Thai sweet green curry, chicken soup and beef stew. This stew takes a little planning and foresight, but is simple to execute, using the Minnesota favorite slow cooker aka Crock Pot. The best thing about AlphaChef's stews is he frequently uses fruits and vegetables most people wouldn't think about putting in. My favorites have apple, dried cherries, sweet potatoes and parsnips. Once you get the technique down you can use anything you want, the key is to think out of the box, meaning beyond carrots, red potatoes and celery. How boring. Ironically, this recipe follows the boring, standard fair, but is really delicious. You can add anything, as I named above, or you can stick to the tried and true. What is special about this dish is the broth. AlphaChef uses a technique used in Beef Bourguignon, a French dish which uses wine to marinate the meat and for half the broth. This allows for a layering of flavor that elevates it beyond the typical dish of stew. I'll forgive him for not using fancy ingredients...this time.

He does all the work the night before and the slow cooker does the work all day. Start with beef, we used a pound and a half of chuck, sliced into 2-3" pieces. The traditional way is to marinate the raw meat overnight and then braise it in the morning. AlphaChef is more efficient and wanted to be able to pour it all in the slow cooker in the morning, so he braised the beef first and then put in the dish to marinate with red wine overnight. It turned out amazing, so the shortcut worked. Don't worry about the quality of the wine, in fact if you use good quality red wine, you're wasting it. An inexpensive $5-$8 bottle is fine.

To braise the meat: heat a frying pan to medium high, add 2 tablespoons of oil, like peanut oil which won't smoke and not olive oil. Cut the meat into 2-3 inch sections and throw the meat into the pan. Brown each side of the meat using tongs to turn it. Repeat until the beef is browned on all sides and remove. In a dish with a cover or zip-lock bag , pour red wine over the beef until it's covered. Marinate the beef overnight.

AlphaChef puts all of the following ingredients into the slow cooker where is sits overnight in the refrigerator, next to the beef, marinating in red wine (got it?). For this stew he used some baby carrots, grape tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, 1 sweet potato cut into chunks, 3 cloves crushed garlic, 1-2 bay leaves, 4 cloves, 1 onion chopped into large pieces- sauteed in beef fat (from the braising) until clear. In the morning, put all the vegetables and the marinated, braised beef into the slow cooker. Cover the beef halfway with one part beef stock and one part red wine. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 10 hours (while you're at work, or whatever you do all day). About 30 minutes prior to serving, add salt and black pepper to taste, 1 1/2 cup chopped parsley, 1 tbsp dried oregano and mix.

I live in Minnesota, where the cold is very cold and stays around much longer than we like. There is nothing like the energy of Spring and Summer in the Twin Cities, which actually (sometimes just barely) makes the winter worth it. Warm fireplaces, dinner parties with friends, hiring someone to shovel the snow and, for me, rich, warm comfort food, are strategies for getting through. Right now my tulips are peaking out, (yes, they will survive the snow) which means Spring is coming and my fabulous new sandals will soon see the sun.

"I don't want chicken again" chicken

Okay- I'm going to pay for the whole "AlphaChef gets naming rights" thing. We're in Trader Joe's deciding what to make for dinner and AlphaChef grabs another whole chicken, I said "come on, I don't want chicken again", he assures me it'll be good. I said he has to cut it off the bone, cause I don't feel like cutting it up tonight- he puts that in a blog posting (see the one in which he rails against cider) and then creates one of the most amazing chicken dishes I've had in a long time. I eat his food and, this time, my words.


This chicken dish was done in one pot, for Ruth, and made without excess ingredients and spices, hopefully meeting Venu's needs. You'll both have to try it.

Preheat your oven to 350-365 degrees depending on if your oven runs cold. Take a whole chicken, weighing approximately 3.5 lbs, cut into pieces, de-bone if desired. Or you could just buy chicken parts- legs and thighs are best- to make it even easier. Brown the chicken in a deep, dutch oven or oven safe high-sided pan over medium high heat with a small amount of oil. Put the skin side down first, fry for about 2-3 minutes, when you can ease a spatula underneath and it's browned, flip. Once you've done this with all of the chicken, set it aside. Pour and discard the extra chicken fat from the pan.

Mid-way through, after baking

Take 1 1/2 handfuls of baby carrots, 1 small red bell pepper chopped large, about 2 oz prosciutto in 1" strips, 1 medium white onion cut into 1" chunks, 2 handfuls crimini mushrooms cut in half, 3 cloves of garlic, smashed and 6 halves diced sundried tomatoes, place all in pan. Return the chicken to the pan, on top of the vegetables, add one can of drained and rinsed garbanzo beans, add 50/50 dry vermouth and chicken stock, so that chicken is half covered. Sprinkle a tbsp fish sauce, cayenne and black pepper to taste. Push 2 bay leaves into the broth.

With spinach, post broiler

Cook in the oven on the middle rack for 1 hour. Check periodically, about 3 times, if vegetables look too brown, submerse in liquid. After 1 hour, remove from oven, pull chicken pieces out, add 2 handfuls fresh spinach without stems (you''ll see in the picture, we didn't remove the stems, he was too lazy) and mix into vegetables. Put chicken back in, skin side up, on top of the liquid/vegetables, turn off the oven and turn on the broiler (high), cook under the broiler until the chicken is nicely browned. Pull out, remove chicken and vegetables, add 3/4 tbsp butter to the broth, bring liquid to a boil until reduced to half, plate and pour the broth on top. 

We paired the chicken with a bottle of red wine we discovered recently at Bar la Grassa (a fabulous place you'll hear more about when we work on our restaurant section).

It's a 2006, Weinert Carrascal, Mendoza. It was about $14, at Zipp's Liquor Store on Franklin and Riverside. A blend of Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged for 2 1/2 years in french oak casks. It pairs well with vegetables, steaks, pasta and this chicken dish. We never remember wines we like and actually took a picture of the label at the restaurant, we were so impressed. Our memory was right and we really enjoyed the bottle last night with this dish.