Tips for Chicken

So, about those reserved chicken necks and backbones. I recently discovered that the main difference between stock and broth is that broth is made from boiling meat while stock is made from boiling bones. I always like the flavor of stock better (especially my own) because I think it has a richer mouth feel and a more full-bodied flavor, this probably has to do with all the gelatin that comes out of the bones with long simmering.

To make stock with those parts, I just toss them in a pot with a rough chopped (not even peeled) carrot, a couple stalks of celery, onion and garlic if you have it and a little sea salt. Gently boil for about an hour or more and then strain out the chicken parts and vegetables. You can freeze this, refrigerate it (I would guess it will last in the fridge for about a week) or use it immediately.

The other day, Bruce and I were craving a warm light soup for lunch so I made up the stalk and then made my first attempt at egg drop soup.

After sifting all the veggies out of the stalk, I tossed in thinly sliced carrots, celery, a bit of onion, some cabbage and a couple dashes of soy sauce. I let those cook until the veggies were a bit tender and then I carefully whisked in one egg, gently beaten to combine the yolk and white.  I served it with a little garnish of chopped scallions and a bit more soy sauce (if desired).

Was very yummy and perfect for the cool weather.

Roast Chicken with Thyme-Garlic Paste

I stole this recipe from Bon Appetit and made it my own by using fresh thyme instead of rosemary and a dash of Worcestershire sauce instead of juniper berries (because , until the other night, I didn’t even imagine that you could purchase juniper berries like that).

I’ve made the recipe twice and it’s fabulous. It involves a new technique for me – butterflying a whole roasting chicken. Turns out, the Henckel kitchen shears that came with my knife set are totally recommended by B.A. for this sort of task. Yay me! Butterflying a chicken couldn’t be easier. Just flip it so the breast side is down, cut up one side of the backbone and then the other side and pull it out. Reserve it for chicken stock (I’ll talk about that in my next post), you won’t regret saving it! Then flip the chicken over, and press down on the breasts to open it up like a book.

I’ve been using Rosie’s Organic chickens. They’re a bit more expensive (about a dollar/lb compared to Rocky Jr. all natural) but with the cloning and all…it seems like a good deal. Plus, one chicken can be stretched for at least three dinners in our family, so it’s pretty economical. The other nights I try to cook vegetarian.

I served this recipe on a bed of spinach tossed with balsamic, olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Lately we’ve been experimenting with our diet to try and make it more pH balanced, which means eating less carbs and a lot more dark green veggies. Spinach is one of my favorites because those organic, triple-washed tubs are so easy to work with!

Anyway – try this recipe. Your house will smell like a five star restaurant, and your meal will taste like it came from one.

 

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

From Smitten Kitchen. For Homemade Oreos. The reverse creaming method works wonders with these cookies and makes them criminally easy to assemble.

2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. Ghiradelli Cocoa Powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 c. (or 1 3/4 c. if you’re making oreos) white sugar
1 c. + 4 TBSP. butter, room temp.
2 eggs

Mix dry ingredients in mixing bowl with paddle attachment (not the whisk!). Gently blend in butter and then egg until dough comes together. Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet, handroll and press flat with fingers or a cup dipped in sugar. Bake for 9 minutes (no more! no less!) at 350 degrees. Eat them plain with a glass of milk. Or make oreos. Or increase the size of the cookies (maybe a tablespoon or two) and make ice cream sandwiches. I freeze theses and keep them on hand for cravings.

For filling:

1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. shortening (like Crisco or Spectrum if you want organic)
2 c. powdered sugar
2. tsp. vanilla
Beat until fluffy, spoon into pastry piping bag. Pipe by teaspoon dollop onto every other cookie and top with another cookie.

Midnight Snacks

This is a post that would be much better with pictures. But I wasn’t thinking about pictures when I went ravaging through my fridge at midnight looking for food. Again. No. You’d think I was pregnant. But no. Just nocturnal. And breastfeeding. I’ll go with that explanation.

Regardless of the reason – midnight found me hungry for snacks. And one of my favorite late-night snacks is eggs and toast. I’m very partial to the over easy egg with sourdough and any permutation thereof.

The movie Spanglish glorified this sort of midnight snack to an art form, with a special DVD feature showing how to make that fried egg, bacon, tomato sandwich. I should have guessed but this recipe was developed by Thomas Keller (of French Laundry), who also created the amazing Ratatouille recipe for that adorable, rodent-filled movie.

In a similar vein, when I was a kid, I had this really old (like 1950′2 era) Betty Crocker cookbook for young girls and in it were tons of retro recipes. My favorite was a recipe for “Eggs in a Frame.” Basically, you butter both sides of a piece of bread, toast it in a pan, cut a circle in the middle (save that toast round for later!). Break an egg into a cup or bowl and lightly salt, drop a little more butter in the center of the “frame” and gently slide the egg into the frame. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes on medium heat, then gently flip over. This will yield an egg with a yolk that is thickened but still a little runny. That’s how I like it…you can also cook it through on one side until the egg white is set and serve it sunny side up.

Anyway, tonight, lacking bacon and lettuce to make the Thomas Keller version – I just ate my eggs in a frame with an extra slice of toast and some sliced, salted cold tomatoes. So yummy.

Crave

 

Unlike Erin, my late-night craving last night for Peanut Butter Cups was NOT pregnancy-induced. Just the same, it demanded gratification.  I never eat Reese’s since they contain lots of dairy and hydrogenated garbage so it was already more than time for me to develop my own method of satisfying the timeless urge to combine peanut butter and chocolate.

Scrounging through my cupboards I found a jar of creamy peanut butter, some powdered sugar and some bittersweet chocolate chips and some random, mini candy cups leftover from Christmas baking. Perfect.

A bit about the chocolate (since I’m here), I really like Guittard  Semisweet Chocolate Chips and not just because they’re the only widely-available baking chips that don’t contain milk or butterfat. They are dark and not too sweet and they melt exquisitely and have a delicious mouth-feel.

I melted about 2/3 c. chocolate in the microwave (which is basically sacrilege in the melting chocolate world) but just until most of the chips were melted. Stir it with a spatula (no metal! plastic or silicone only!) to help the remaining chips melt.

While that was going on, I whipped up (with a fork) about 1/2 c. of peanut butter (probably less) and a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar and scooped it into a small ziplock with a corner snipped off to make a piping bag.

Clear a spot in your freezer so these can chill.

Drop some melted chocolate in the bottom of your candy cup, enough to coat the sides of the cup (all the way to the top of the cup) and to leave a slightly thick layer on the bottom. Put these in the freezer to set. Once the chocolate is matte and hardened, pull them out and pipe your preferred portion of the peanut butter mixture into the center of the cup. Cover this with more chocolate and then return to the freezer. Mine took maybe 10 minutes to set and then I could peel of the cup and devour.

I have to warn you though – these are like 1000% more rich than the store-bought version and I could barely eat one at a time. Enjoy with caution, they may put you into a peanut-y-chocolate coma.