Rotisserie Chicken

 

Click the Video to watch the Chicken Spin

We made a Rotisserie Chicken and Tom brought a homemade Blueberry Crisp. 

We like Rotisserie Chicken with its crispy skin. The juices from the Chicken drip down into the pan of Potatoes and Onions. Cathy decided to par-boil the potatoes for a few minutes before dicing and putting them in the rotisserie. In the past, sometimes the potatoes would not get completely cooked. This ensured that they would be perfect!

We stuffed the two chickens using the recipe for Roast Chicken for Two and from The Balthhazar Cookbook by Keith McNally, Riad Nasr & Lee Hansen. This is a great recipe that keeps the chicken very moist. You can find the recipe on our blog of: June 23, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

White Asparagus and Porcini Mushroom Pasta

Spring means White Asparagus imported from Europe. It is expensive but a special treat. White Asparagus is much more creamy than regular Green Asparagus. It must be peeled becuase the outside is tough. After peeling them, we boiled for 10 minutes then Cathy smothered them in Brown Butter before serving.

Porcini's are also expensive, but what the hell we are celebrating being alive after the deprivations of the Pandemic! We were able to buy the Porcini's and White Asparagus from Four Star Seafood. They ship it from San Francisco overnight.

It was a luxurious and satisfying dinner. Hope we can repeat it.

Porcini-Style Shiitake Mushroom Pasta Sauce

Marcella Cucina

Marcella Hazan

 

¾      pound fresh white cultivated mushrooms

½      pound fresh shiitake mushrooms

3       tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½      cup chopped onion

1-1/2         tablespoons chopped garlic

2                tablespoons chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

Salt

½      cup heavy cream

2       tablespoons butter

Black pepper ground fresh

¾      cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta, making 6 adequate servings

 

Late in spring and early in the fall, puddles bring mushrooms, and mushrooms in Italy bring their gatherers, both professional and amateur, who scour the woods with bent back and a large potato sack in hand. As I am writing this, at the end of September in Venice, baskets full of fresh wild mushrooms are glorifying the Rialto market, display. mg porcini (Boletus edulis), yellow and black finferli (chanterelles), spugnole (morels), chiodini ("little nails,” a long-stemmed, densely clustered variety), and ovoli (orange-capped agaricus).

 

When Italian cooks say funghi—mushrooms—they are referring to the wild variety, because the cultivated ones are a poorly regarded synthetic version of the real thing. Ovoli are highly prized for salads; but to cook with, the intense musky scent and juicy flesh of porcini makes it by far the most desirable of all funghi.

 

When working with cultivated mushroom,  I try to find methods that will excite from them flavor reminiscent or Boletus, An example is the combination of dried porcini and fresh cultivated white button mushrooms that I discovered years ago; it is described in my earlier books. Recently I found that I could achieve a comparable result by using white mushrooms and fresh shiitake together. The exchange of flavor that takes place between the two varieties produces such a remarkable evocation of the aroma that one looks for in Boletus that, as long as I have shiitake, I am more peacefully resigned to the absence of fresh porcini from American markets.

 

There is nothing like olive oil for bringing out the woodsy accent from mushrooms, and that is how I start them. But I love to serve mushrooms with homemade pasta, whose porous texture thirsts for butter and cream, so I add the two in the final cooking stage to achieve both objectives, full flavor from the mushrooms and an elegant sauce for fine homemade egg pasta.

 

Suggested Pasta:  Any of the homemade noodles; the square ones known as tonnarelli, pappardelle, or fettuccine,

 

1.            Rinse all the mushrooms quickly under fast-running water. Cut the white mushrooms from cap to stem into thin lengthwise slices, detach and discard the hard shiitake stems, and slice the caps into thin crescents.

2.            Put the olive oil and chopped onion in a 12-inch sauté pan, turn on the heat to medium high, and cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until it becomes translucent. Add the garlic and continue cooking, stirring, just until the garlic begins to release its scent, without letting it become colored any darker than a pale gold.

3.            Add the parsley, stir quickly once or twice, then add all the mushrooms. Add salt—do not be salt-shy if you don't want a bland-tasting sauce—turn over all ingredients a few times, then cover the pan and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for about 10 minutes or more until the liquid that the mushrooms shed has simmered away.

4.            Add the cream, butter, and liberal grindings of pepper to the pan, raise the heat to maximum force, and reduce the cream to half its original volume, stirring frequently.

5.            When the pasta is tender but firm to the bite, drain it, and toss it immediately in a warm serving bowl with the mushroom sauce. Add the grated Parmesan, toss thoroughly to coat the pasta well, and serve at once.

 

Ahead-of-Time Note: You can cook the sauce up to the end of step 3 several hours in advance. Reheat briefly before proceeding.

 

  

Roasted Chicken with Fish Sauce Butter

Roasted Chicken with Fish-Sauce Butter is a great recipe. It reminds me Zuni Chicken in a way, because of the Toasted Bread. I liked this sheet pan recipe. We will make it again!
 

Roasted Chicken with Fish-Sauce ButterNew York Times

Roasting chicken thighs in a hot oven is a hands-off way to achieve two of life’s greatest pleasures: crispy skin and golden schmaltz. And you want that chicken fat because it will crisp hand-torn bread into croutons. This meal is made even more lovely thanks to a bold but balanced fish-sauce butter that you whip up on the stovetop while the rest of the meal takes care of itself in the oven. Be sure to start with cold butter; the gradual melting of the fat helps thicken the sauce without breaking it.

 

Ingredients

 

4       bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)

Kosher salt and black pepper

2       tablespoons olive oil

¾      pound bread, crusts removed, bread torn into bite-size pieces (about 4 cups; see Tip)

1       tablespoon dark brown sugar

1       tablespoon fish sauce

1       tablespoon lemon juice

3       tablespoons cold unsalted butter, kept whole

Cilantro leaves with tender stems, for serving

Preparation

1.   Heat oven to 450 degrees. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season lightly with salt and pepper. (The fish-sauce butter is plenty salty, so don’t overdo the salt here.) Arrange the chicken skin-side up on a sheet pan and drizzle the oil over the chicken skin, coating it evenly. Roast until the chicken is light gold and the sheet pan is pooling with hot, rendered chicken fat, about 25 minutes.

2.    Take the sheet pan out of the oven, scatter the bread around the chicken and toss gently to coat in the chicken fat. Place the pan back in the oven and roast until the chicken is golden, crispy and sizzling (you’ll hear it), about 15 minutes.

3.    While the chicken roasts, combine the brown sugar, fish sauce and lemon juice in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, occasionally swirling the pan or stirring the sauce with a wooden spoon, until bubbling vigorously and the mixture has reduced by about half, 2 to 3 minutes. This part is fun: Turn off the heat and add the butter, constantly swirling the pan or stirring with a wooden spoon, until all of the butter has melted and incorporated into the fish sauce mixture.

4.    To serve, scatter the cilantro all over the chicken and bread and spoon some of the fish-sauce butter over each chicken thigh, reserving some to add to each plate for dipping the chicken and croutons while eating (which is divine).

Tip

 

Many breads will work here, especially stale loaves that you’re trying to use up. Crusty sourdough lends pleasurable tang for instance, while chewy tender milk bread tastes comfortingly sweet. 

Gochugaru Salmon With Crispy Rice

 

We made this Korean Style Salmon. I must have had a strong Martini, I don't remember if we liked it or not! Try Gochugaru Salmon With Crispy Rice and let me know what you think!

Gochugaru Salmon With Crispy Rice

The New York Times

 

Gochugaru, a mild, fragrant red-pepper powder, bedazzles this quick salmon dinner. As a key ingredient in Korean home cooking, gochugaru proves that some chiles provide not only heat but fruity sweetness as well. Here, that’s especially true once it’s bloomed in maple syrup, vinegar and butter. If you like shiny things, you may find great pleasure in watching this pan sauce transform into a mirrored, crimson glaze. Try to get long center-cut salmon fillets for uniform thickness and even cooking. Their crispy skin tastes wonderful with white rice, which toasts in the rendered salmon fat. To balance the richness of the fish, serve it with fresh, crunchy things, like cucumbers or pickles, or a big green salad.

 

Ingredients

 

4       skin-on salmon fillets (6 ounces each) 

Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal) and black pepper

1       tablespoon olive oil

4       cups cooked white rice, preferably leftovers

4       teaspoons gochugaru (see Tip)

2       tablespoons maple syrup

2       tablespoons rice vinegar

2       tablespoons cold unsalted butter, kept whole

Sliced cucumbers or pickles, for serving (optional)

 

Preparation

 

1.            Season the salmon on all sides with salt and pepper. Heat a large cast iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and sear the salmon fillets skin side down until the skin is browned and crispy, 2 to 5 minutes. The salmon’s orange flesh will begin to turn pale coral as the heat slowly creeps up the sides of the fish; you want that coral color to come up about two-thirds of the way at this point for a nice medium-rare. Carefully flip the salmon and cook the second side until the flesh feels firm, another 1 to 2 minutes. When you press it, it should not feel wobbly. Transfer the salmon to a plate skin side down and keep the pan with the rendered fat over the heat.

2.            Add the rice to the fat in the pan and spread in an even layer, packing it down as if making a rice pancake. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the bottom is lightly browned and toasted, about 5 minutes. You should hear it crackle. Flip the rice like a pancake, using a spatula if needed. You may not be able to flip it all in one piece, but that’s OK. Cook until lightly toasted on the second side, another 1 to 2 minutes. Go longer if you want crispier rice, but the trifecta of crispy-chewy-soft tastes wonderful.

3.            While the rice is cooking, stir together the gochugaru, maple syrup, rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. When the rice is done, divide it evenly among the plates. In the now empty pan, add the gochugaru mixture and cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until it bubbles up and reduces significantly, 15 seconds to 1 minute. It should look pretty sticky. Turn off the heat and add the cold butter, stirring with a wooden spoon or tongs until fully melted and incorporated into the gochugaru mixture. Pour this glaze over the salmon and serve with cucumbers or pickles if you’d like.

 

Tip

 

You can find gochugaru, or red-pepper powder, at Korean or Asian supermarkets and at most grocery stores, as well as online. It sometimes comes in larger bags, which is not a problem because it freezes beautifully and tastes great dusted over just about anything.

 

 

Rishia Zimmern’s Chicken With Shallots

This is a go to dish. We really like Rishia Zimmern’s Chicken With Shallots. It is best when Cherry Tomatoes are at their best. It absolutely calls for a good hot crispy French Bread to dip in the sauce! We highly recommend it! You can find the recipe on our blog of: April 2, 2014. Click the date to get the recipe.

Asparagus Pasta

Once again we made Asparagus Pasta. It is an absolute spring favorite for us. We will make it many times till Asparagus season ends. You can get the recipe on our blog of April 17, 2007. Click the date to get the recipe. Add the to the list of dishes that could make me a vegetarian. It is an excellent and easy to make Pasta.

We started with a Necterine Salad with Toasted Almonds dressed with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar.

Stir Fried Green Beans with Pork

 

Stir Fried Green Beans with Pork is another go to dinner for us. It is easy and delicious. We have made it many times. You can find the recipe on our blog of: November 9, 2018. Click the date to get the recipe. If you haven't made it you should give it a try.

Roast Cod with Black Bean Sauce

We are trying to eat more fish. Roast Cod with Black Bean Sauce was an excellent recipe with a Chinese twist. I like Cod, it is a very flaky fish. It is very bland and takes a spicy interesting sauce. You can get the recipe on our blog of: December 21, 2020. Click the date to get the recipe. We started with a Date Salad with Parmesan Cheese. 

Grilled Steak Salad with Chile and Brown Sugar

 

We had left over Steak. Grilled Steak Salad with Chile and Brown Sugar was a perfect summer dish, making best of use of the Steak and summer Greens.

Grilled Steak Salad with Chile and Brown Sugar

New York Times

 

In this summery beef salad, pieces of grilled, marinated flank steak and charred red onions are tossed with a mound of spicy greens, avocado and a tangy lime-spiked dressing. Keep the flank steak on the rare side — this lean cut is best when still very juicy — then slice it thinly against the grain for the most tender meat.

 

Ingredients

 

2        garlic cloves, finely grated or minced

1        tablespoon dark brown sugar

1        teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

1        teaspoon ancho chile powder

1        teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled between fingers

¼       teaspoon toasted sesame oil

¼       teaspoon ground cumin

1-½   pounds flank steak

1        large red onion, sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds

1        tablespoon fresh lime juice

3        tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1        avocado, peeled, seeded and diced

5        ounces spicy greens, such as arugula, watercress, baby kale, tatsoi or a mix of greens (about 5 cups)

4        radishes, thinly sliced

1        scallion, thinly sliced

 

Preparation

 

1.     In a large bowl, whisk together half of the grated garlic (reserve the other half for the dressing), sugar, salt, chile powder, oregano, sesame oil and cumin. Add steak and thoroughly coat it with marinade; marinate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

2.    Heat the grill to medium-high, or heat the broiler. Grill or broil steak and onion slices, about 2 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. If onions aren’t charred, give them another minute or two while the steak rests.

3.    Transfer steak to a plate and let it rest for 5 minutes, then slice thinly against the grain (save the juices). Chop onions into bite-sized pieces.

4.            Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together lime juice, remaining garlic, a large pinch of salt, and oil. Drizzle a little of the juice from the rested steak into dressing.

5.            Sprinkle avocado with salt. In a large bowl, toss spicy greens, radishes and scallions with just enough dressing to coat it. Gently mix in avocado. Transfer to serving plates and top with the steak and onions.

 

Zucchini Pasta

Zucchini Pasta is a favorite of ours. It is another dish that makes me believe I could become a vegetarian. The key to the dish is too buy more Zucchinis than you think you need. They really shrink when sautéed. Brown them real well. It also helps if you have a Cuisinart to automate the slicing of the Zucchini into this slices. I love this dish. You can find the recipe for this simple and delicious pasta in our blog of: June 19, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

Orecchiette Carbonara with English Peas and Pea Shoots

Fresh Peas are in Season. We always make Orecchiette Carbonara with English Peas and Pea Shoots, this is a keeper of a recipe. It is just wonderful. You can get the recipe on our blog of April 28, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe. We highly recommend it!