Comforting Chicken

As it gets deeper into fall, I like to make straight forward meals that don't take much time to prep and toss in the oven. I want something that fights off the cold and lets you enjoy the soothing flavors, like grilled rosemary and olive oil, or the filling heartiness of potatoes.

This chicken bake is quick and easy and hits all of those savory notes without much effort. You get the lovely feeling of crunchy chicken skin as well as the moisture of dark meat, the filling feeling of boiled and roasted potatoes mixing with tomatoes and olive oil. It's almost guiltless comfort food and you can (and should) serve the meal directly from the roasting pan on the table.

All in all the meal takes 45 minutes to cook, but most of that time is waiting for the goodness to come out of the oven.

6 chicken thighs - de-boned
2 pounds small potatoes
8 cloves of garlic
4 whole tomatoes or 2 14 ounce cans of tomatoes (drained and rough chopped)
4 sprigs of rosemary
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash potatoes and boil in 2 quarts of water for seven minutes. Once you are able to squeeze and burst a potato with a pair of tongs easily, drain and roughly tear them up with your fingers and place in your 13x9 baking pan.

Thoroughly wash and de-bone chicken thighs and pat dry. After all of the chicken has been cleaned and dried, roughly chop into chunks around two inches and place in a large bowl. Pour one tablespoon of olive oil over chicken and toss lightly with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat a skillet (I prefer stainless for a better browning process) and cook chicken skin side down for three minutes and then flip for another few minutes. You don't need to cook it all the way through, just create a good sear for the skin. Drain on a cooling rack. Once cooler to the touch place in your baking pan.

With the tomatoes you have two options -- blanching or using canned.

If you are using fresh tomatoes, blanch them to remove their skins. To blanch you will need to cut an "X" on the top of each tomato and place them in boiling water for one minute. Immediately remove the from heat and into a container of ice cold water. The skins should come right off. If they don't, use a paring knife and carefully remove the stubborn skin.

If you're going the simple route, open the can and drain the excess juice out.

With either approach you'll be roughly chopping them and placing them into you baking pan. Peel and coarsely chop your garlic and rosemary and also toss into the pan. Pour the remaining olive oil over the mixture and toss with your hands.

Bake for 30 minutes and enjoy. Pair with a tossed salad or mixed greens.

Seared, Sizzling and Satisfying

When you think of a steak, what comes to mind? A seared top and when you cut into it, you see that warm and juicy pink center.

Everyone says that they can make a steak but rarely does this come to fruition. It's really because people often try to add too many things and end up taking away from the meat itself. How many times have you seen something like this on a menu: rosemary infused, balsamic threaded or some other dreadful thing the chef came up with. In the end you spend the money and time to have a well prepared piece of meat cooked to your liking and paired with something that compliments the aforementioned steak.

Simple is always going to be better. Remember this. If you go to a friend's house and they try to shove garlic in the meat, or pound the steak for "tenderness," walk away and save yourself the pain to follow. The only thing that should be asked is how pink would you like the steak.

So how do you get to this magical place of meat bliss? You only need four food related items: a thick (an inch to an inch and a half) cut of NY Strip, olive oil, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and an oven proof skillet and tongs.

List:

3/4 pound NY Strip, roughly an inch and a half thick
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Kosher salt
1 tbsp freshly ground pepper

Side Dish
1/2 pound of butternut squash, peeled and rough chopped
2 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Process:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel butternut squash and roughly chop into similar sizes for even cooking. Toss in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in a roasting pan and cook for 30-40 minutes.

After thoroughly defrosting your steak, lightly squeeze it together to create more height. This action will give you greater control of doneness. Keep this in mind when buying your steaks as it's worth the money to go bigger not necessarily wider. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil on a plate. Sprinkle and press 1/2 tablespoon of salt and 1/2 tablespoon of pepper on steak and then repeat on the other side. It may look like too much seasoning but remember that some will fall off during the cooking process. Coat each side of the steak in olive oil and place in a preheated, oven proof skillet.

Cook on each side for three minutes. Do not touch nor move it around. Just let it cook and create a good sear. Once you have seared the meat, place in the oven with the butternut squash. Cook for another 10 minutes for medium rare.

The Beautiful Simplicity of Fall

As we get deeper into fall, the food gets easier to cook as we all just want something filling, warm and savory to make us feel better. I love that really all it ever takes is a few ingredients and time. So with five ingredients and 45 minutes, I've put together a meal that recalls many of the things I love about this season -- crispy and savory skin on a moist bird, hints of heavy flavors with the herbs and the sweetness found in corn, oh and butter.

Have a go at this recipe.

Stuff
2 1 1/2-pound Cornish hens, rinsed and patted dry
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3 tbsp crumbled dried sage
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sweet corn


Preparation

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

In a small bowl mix 2 tablespoons of the butter with two tablespoons of sage and the salt. This is made far easier by letting the butter come to room temperature first. Resist the urge to pop the butter in the microwave or put it on the stove top. Believe me on this. The mixture should still have some resistance to it.

Loosen the skin covering the breast meat on each hen by slipping your fingers under the skin and sliding them between the skin and the meat. It'll feel a bit weird to be lifting the skin up but its' all worth it once you get in there. Be careful when you're doing this because you don't want to tear the skin.

Once you create some loose space under the skin of the hens, break up the butter mixture into equal portions and begin filling in the space underneath. Be sure to spread the butter out underneath the skin and get in as many spaces as you can. Afterwards season the hens with salt and pepper. If you'd like you can tie each hen's legs together with kitchen string. I don't find this step needed but some cooks really enjoy this presentation piece.

There are two options at this point.

If you have a large enough ovenproof skillet, you can heat the remaining butter and and sage sear the hens with the breast side up for one to two minutes and then place the skillet in the oven.

If you do not, heat butter and sage in a skillet and brown the hens one at a time (depending on space restraints) for one minute and then transfer hens to roasting pans with all of the juices.

Once the birds are in the oven, cook for 45 minutes. You should baste the hens in their juices every ten minutes. Continue to monitor the temperature until it reaches 180 degrees at the inner portion of the thigh.

I prefer using a steamer to prepare vegetables. Just keeps everything moist and it's just easier. Pop that corn into a steamer and cook for 12 minutes. Once done, place on plate and cover in some of the juices from the hens. The sage butter will really boost the flavor of the corn.

Bringing Back the Brussels

Thought it was time that Brussel sprouts made an appearance on the table but I know that many don't really fond memories of them. What to do? Well I figured why not cover them in nature's elixir? BACON! You know when I think about it, there's nothing I wouldn't eat if it were coated in bacon grease and cooked again.

I also needed something to pair with these morsels of goodness but didn't want to take away from the this star side so I balanced it out with shrimp in a butter tarragon sauce over couscous.

It's a great meal and isn't too heavy.

Whatcha Need

10-12 medium shrimp (de-veined and shelled)
4 cups whole Brussels sprouts
1/2 package of bacon (Center Cut is really the way to go)
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 package couscous
4 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp tarragon
Salt and Pepper

Whatcha Do With It

Clean and shell the shrimp. If you can find fresh shrimp in your area, all the power to you but if not, you know that frozen is just as good. Actually it's better as most fisheries freeze them right off of the boat and seal in the freshness and you can use the amount at your leisure, but I digress. Once cleaned, place in a bowl, cover and place in fridge.

Fill a large saucepan with 2 cups of water, add a pinch of salt, and bring to a boil. Add the Brussels sprouts and cook them for about 8 minutes. Remove the sprouts from the heat, drain, and then chill them in the refrigerator. Slice the sprouts in half when they have cooled.

While this is going on, boil 2 cups of water. Once it begins to boil, stir in your couscous, cover the pan and remove from heat.

Rough chop the bacon and render over medium heat until it is done. Discard all but 2 tablespoons bacon fat and grease from the pan, leaving the 2 tablespoons in the pan. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes over medium-low heat until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a skillet or wok and then melt 2 tbsp of unsalted butter with tarragon and toss in shrimp until done. This should take roughly 7 minutes. Fluff couscous and place shrimp atop with Brussel sprouts on the side.

Feeling a bit like Fall

The temperature decided it was time for a change and let us all know by blowing out the badness of the late summer heat and left us with the briskness of Fall. With each degree drop, i thought oh yes it's almost that time again. The time when butternut and pumpkins come out and beg to be roasted, chopped, mixed into tasty treats to fill you right up.

Get ready to make your home smell like the holidays!

Essentials
14oz butternut squash, skin on, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 1/4 cups light soft brown sugar
4 large free-range or organic eggs
sea salt
2 1/2 cups plain flour, unsifted
2 heaped teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon - I prefer grinding down a stick in my coffee grinder.
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Optional
A handful of walnuts

Frosting
zest of 1 lemon and juice of ½ a lemon
1/2 cup soured cream
2 heaped tablespoons icing sugar, sifted
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and seeds scraped out

Get your oven preheated to 350°F. You can either go with pre-lined muffin/cupcake cups or a muffin tin. I also love using mini muffin pans for parties as these bite sized portions are really irresistible.

Pulse the squash in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the sugar, and crack in the eggs. As I don't have an commercial size processor, I transfer this my mixer. It makes things far easier in my opinion. Add a pinch of salt, the flour, baking powder, walnuts (if you want), cinnamon and olive oil and whiz together until well beaten. You may need to pause the machine at some point to scrape the mix down the sides with a rubber spatula. Try not to overdo it with the mixing – you want to just combine everything and no more.

Fill the paper cases with the cake mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Check to see whether they are cooked properly by sticking a wooden skewer or a knife right into one of the cakes – if it comes out clean, they’re done. If it’s a bit sticky, pop them back into the oven for a little longer. Remove from the oven and leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack.

As soon as the muffins are in the oven, make your runny frosted topping. Place most of the clementine zest, all the lemon zest and the lemon juice in a bowl. Add the soured cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds and mix well. Remember to taste this mixture and correct the mix accordingly. Set in your fridge to chill until your muffins are ready to bathed in this tastiness.

Thai'ing One On

My wealthy and beautiful benefactor wanted something light on the menu and I suggested the nice combination of a hot and spicy Thai soup. She smirked and challenged me to see what I could come up with without heading out to the store for more supplies.

Thankfully I'd already made a run and came back with my trusty weapon against colds -- Tom Yum paste. If you don't have any, you need to head out to your local Asian market and grab some. You'll be hard pressed to find any in the "Asian" section of your local grocer as they tend to stock those "Thai Dinner" blends and well these work for some; I just choose to go with something a bit closer to the core of the dish I'm trying to create.

Just so you know, this sop cooks up in less than ten minutes and actually takes longer to prep than to make.

Once you start making this, you may never get sick nor order it at a restaurant again!

Products

2 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
10 shrimp, de-veined, shelled with tails removed
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced finely
1 large carrot, cut into sticks or grated lengthwise
1 zucchini, cut into sticks
1 cup of broccoli, cut into florets (small pieces)
2 tbsp of Tom Yum paste
3 cups boiling water
1 cup of coconut milk
2 ounces wide rice noodles
2 limes sliced in halves
3/4 cup of bean sprouts (optional)
4 tbsp cilantro (optional)

(Substitute for Tom Yum paste - 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste with 4 cups of vegetable broth.)

Method

Start by cleaning shrimp. Anyone that knows me, already is reaching for that bag of frozen shrimp and setting them in a bowl of room temperature water. For everyone else, you can either clean the little fellas from the grocery store and set them aside.

For the veggies -- I like grating the carrots into long strands as opposed to chopping them into sticks as I've found that they cook faster this way and really this soup doesn't need a firm texture/feeling. This is all about subtle spice and comfort with all of the items being slightly firm but not crunchy. I like using a mandolin to slice the zucchini into ribbons to keep everything small yet uniform. I also rough chop the broccoli to ensure that everything cooks quickly.

I prefer using two woks. I have a smaller one for the majority of my stir frying and a larger one (with a handle) for soups. This may sound excessive but anyone that's been using a wok for awhile can attest to the heat levels being higher when cooking and plays well with these soups and grilling methods.

In the larger wok (or pot) get the three cups of water going to a boil. While this is happening, heat oil and cook the onion and garlic in the other wok for ~ 2-3 minutes.

Once the garlic starts to brown, add the carrot, broccoli and zucchini and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

As the water reaches a boil, stir in 2 tbsp of Tom Yum paste in and combine well. Once the paste has mixed completely, add rice noodles and coconut milk. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

Combine vegetables into broth and shrimp. Cook for another 3 minutes or until done. Be sure to remove from heat just as the shrimp turn pink as prolonged cooking will make the shrimp too tough.

Here you can decide to toss in cilantro and/or bean sprouts just before serving or serve as is.

Provide limes to cut the spice of the soup and enjoy!

Everything's Better With Bacon

1 Package of Wheat Angel Hair
1/2 Pound Shrimp
1 Pound Swiss Chard
1/2 cup mushrooms - diced
1/2 Pound Bacon
2 tbls of Unsalted Butter
2 tbls Olive Oil
1 tsp Garlic Powder
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper

Last week, I'd jumped back in the kitchen and whipped up a fresh and easy pasta dish with bok choy and bamboo. It was good, filling and yet I knew that it needed something. It needed extra flavors to take it to where it really needed to be. Enter my two favorite things in the refrigerator - bacon and shrimp.

Normally all that's needed is one of these heavyweights, but when you bring them both to the party, it's like well bacon and shrimp. No need to get all pretty with language. It's frigging shrimp and bacon. Since i was dressing this up, I also decided to swap out the bok choy's delicate flavors for something that wanted to take part in this forbidden dance -- Swiss Chard. I know, I know the Swiss are known for not wanting to get involved in disputes, but should not forget that what they do, they do well. Chocolate, banking, watch making and chard.

The bitterness of the chard is a welcome compliment to the rich flavors of the shrimp, bacon and butter and we also need some foliage to assist in digestion so it's a win win!

So off we go.

Method:
Boil pasta to package specifications.

Clean and shell shrimp. I often grab big bags of frozen shrimp from the mega mart. They are flash frozen and really who has the time to run off to the store all the time? So run these under cool water to defrost. Shell them, cover and set aside.

I admit that this sounds strange but when I saw my idol, Alton Brown, do this the other day I couldn't do anything but laugh and shake my head. If you happen to have a waffle maker, you'll get a kick out of this -- cook your bacon in it. That's right. You take that half pound of bacon, slice those long strips in half and place them in the waffle maker. It's just like using a panini press except smaller. Turn it on medium, toss those bad boys on and wait for the sizzle. It should really only take three to four minutes to cook.

Once done set on a paper covered plate to drain. One great thing to appreciate about this method is the lack of grease flying everywhere and the easier clean up. Roughly chop once all of the pieces are cooked and dry. Set aside.

Now grab your chard, lay the leaves on top of each other, cut off the stems at the base of the leaf, roll into a cigar and then slice thinly (chiffonade) and throw into your salad spinner to clean. It could take a few whirls to get all of the dirt out so be patient. Pre-heat a wok or large skillet and insert butter, olive oil, mushroom, greens and garlic powder.

Toss together until greens wilt and soften, roughly four minutes. Remove from heat and place in a bowl for later. using the same wok/skillet, cook shrimp with a bit of salt and pepper. There should still be reside of butter and olive oil in the pan to help with the browning process. Throw in bacon pieces and toss again and then add greens and thoroughly combine.

By this time the pasta should be ready to go. Again, plating is up to you but I prefer to have the majority of the creation atop and in the middle of the pasta.