Cooking San Francisco

Spiced Roasted Chicken

“You can't judge a book by its cover.”

“Those who assume the most; know the least.”

These quotes came to mind after I had the opportunity to meet Ruth Reichl last May. Ruth Reichl, as many of you know was the editor of Gourmet Magazine from 1999 until its shuttering just over a year ago.

What I thought I knew about Ruth: elite New Yorker; pretentious foodie; better than the rest of us, epicurially-speaking. (I was still very excited to meet her, mind you.)

What I learned from reading her memoirs and meeting her in person: Californian at heart; down to earth, curious food adventurer; likes Negronis and a cupcake-making iPhone app.

When we found out that I would be meeting Ruth in person, Kerrie dared me to ask her for a favorite family-friendly recipe. When an opportunity in the conversation presented itself, I mentioned that I had a food blog and asked her if she could recommend an easy to prepare recipe from the then-new Gourmet Today cookbook (the one I had just excitedly asked her to autograph.). She quickly flipped to this Spiced Chicken, which originally appeared in the April 2000 issue of Gourmet Magazine.  We tested it ourselves and delighted in the spice combination-full of fall flavors -and the simple preparation. It pairs very well with our Lemon Couscous with Apricots and Pine Nuts and a simple green salad.

-Daphne

Cooks Notes:

• We used very large chicken breasts, which took about 30 minutes to cook through. As always, we recommend that you determine doneness by temperature not time. Poultry should reach at least 165 degrees.
• We love this high heat cooking method, as it leaves the chicken skin brown and crispy and the meat exceptionally moist.

4 chicken breast halves
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons grapeseed or other vegetable oil, divided
4 tablespoons water

1. Remove chicken from its packaging, pour off any juices and dry off the chicken with a paper towel. Combine spices, salt, and 1 tablespoon oil and rub evenly all over chicken.

2. Allow the chicken to sit at room temperature while you preheat the oven to 450°F. When the oven is ready, heat remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in an ovenproof, heavy skillet (preferably cast iron) over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Place all four chicken breasts in the hot skillet, skin side down. Brown the chicken for about 3 minutes or until skin starts to crisp. Flip the chicken and brown for 3 minutes more.

3. Carefully transfer skillet to middle rack of preheated oven and roast chicken, (which should be skin side up still), until just cooked through and reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees (18 to 20 minutes for small breasts and 25 to 30 minutes for larger pieces).

4. Remove skillet from the oven and transfer chicken to a plate. Put the pan back to the stovetop and over high heat add the water to the pan and deglaze, scraping up brown bits off the sides. Pour pan juices over chicken and serve.

Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

 

Turkey Curry

Thanksgiving Day has yet to arrive, but it's not too soon to start thinking about leftovers! This dish from Bon Appétit, November 2000 has become the go-to recipe when we're staring at the inside of the fridge wondering what to do with the remnants of the glistening 24 pound turkey we pulled out of the oven just a few days earlier. This is not an authentic Indian curry, but the bright flavors are a much-needed change from the cranberry sauce, potatoes, stuffing and gravy we've eaten at every meal for 72 hours. This recipe has more ingredients than a normal Cooking San Francisco post, but we suggest that you resist the temptation to leave any of them out, since each one contributes to the overall flavor.

To make things go smoothly, we add the curry ingredients to our pre-Thanksgiving shopping list so everything is ready to go when the time comes, and then enlist family members to help with the chopping and measuring. This is also one of the few recipes where we take the time to employ mise en place to make the cooking process go more smoothly (normally, we are running around the kitchen grabbing ingredients at random) since the recipe comes together quickly once the first ingredients are on the stove. We find this recipe to be quite flavorful as is (not to mention appealing to kids), but if you prefer a spicier dish, do substitute a hotter curry powder. For that matter, if you are a vegetarian this sauce would be great with firm tofu instead of turkey. Finally, for an extra special finish, serve this curry with condiments such as dried currants, sliced green onions, shredded coconut and toasted chopped cashews.
 

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 tbsp chopped peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tart green apple, cored, peeled, chopped
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 1/2  tbsp yellow curry powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 cups  canned low-salt chicken broth
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup 2% fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup mango chutney
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbsp tomato paste
4  cups coarsely chopped cooked turkey
Steamed brown rice (we used Trader Joe's pre-cooked frozen)

1. Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, ginger and garlic; sauté until onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add apple, then flour, curry powder and cumin; sauté 3 minutes.

2. Gradually whisk in broth. Add cider, cream, chutney, cilantro and tomato paste. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until mixture thickens, about 20 minutes.

3. Add turkey; stir until heated, about 2 minutes. Spoon curry over rice.

Serves 6

Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 35 min

Total Time: 1 hr 5 min

Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon Salt

This recipe comes from renowned Napa Valley chef, Michael Chiarello and his book Casual Cooking.  We wanted to adjust something about the recipe, but we couldn't. It's just too good the way it is. The skin is crisp and flavorful and the chicken meat is tender and juicy. Because we can actually grow rosemary and lemons in our foggy backyards, we have the fragrant, amazing salt mixture in our fridge at all times. It's important to use chunky sea salt in this recipe because using the same amount of table salt or kosher salt will make the rub too salty. If you only have kosher salt, decrease the amount of salt to 1 tablespoon.

1 chicken, about 4 lbs.
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 fresh rosemary sprigs
4 lemons, zested, then cut into chunks
Lemon Rosemary Salt (see below)

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, or to 425 degrees if you have a convection oven.

2. Rinse the chicken inside and out and dry well with paper towels.

3. Make the salt mixture (see recipe below). Rub the chicken all over with the olive oil, then rub with 3 Tbsp of the seasoned salt.  (Reserve the remaining salt for another use.)  Tuck the rosemary sprigs and lemon chunks into the chicken cavity.

 

4. Place the bird on a rack in a roasting pan and roast for 15 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees (or 350 with convection) and continue roasting until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees, 50 to 55 minutes longer.  Transfer the chicken to a platter and let rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.

Lemon Rosemary Salt:
The recipe makes extra seasoned salt, which you can use on pork chops, leg of lamb, or roasted potatoes.  It will keep in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for a month.  If you prefer not to have leftover seasoning, cut the salt recipe in half.

2 Tbsp very finely minced lemon zest
2 Tbsp minced fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp sea salt, preferably gray salt
Freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, combine the lemon zest, rosemary, salt, and pepper and mix well.

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 70 minutes
Total Time: 80 minutes

Chopped Chicken Salad

Here in the City, while we don't always get to enjoy the hot, dry weather of the surrounding farm areas, we certainly do enjoy their bounty at our farmer's markets and local stores. This salad is particularly exuberant in late summer and early fall, when nearly all the ingredients are in season and available locally. We love the cool crunchiness of the cucumber, onions and corn as they meld with the creaminess of the avocado and tomatoes. Lemon is an essential ingredient. We've written the recipe using lemon juice, but we also tried it with a lemon champagne vinegar which is lovely as well. As you can imagine, this salad scales very well and is ripe for variations and substitutions. If you'd like to make the salad ahead of serving, you can chop everything except the avocados and tomatoes and store in separate containers in the refrigerator.

1/2 English cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 heirloom tomato, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cob of corn, cooked, or 3/4 cup of frozen corn, defrosted
1/8 medium red onion chopped in 1/2 inch cubes
1 avocado, chopped in 1/2 inch cubes
1 chicken breast, cooked
juice of 1 large lemon
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp fresh basil, julienned

 

 

1. Layer all ingredients on a large plate or small platter.

2. Drizzle salad with lemon juice and olive oil to taste. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lightly toss and serve.

Serves 2

Total Prep Time: About 15 min