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Stewing Hen Goodness

On Sunday, I took the stewing hen I bought earlier this month through my buying club, and boiled it up, resulting in both meat and a luscious broth.  The meat really is tough – the stewing hen is a chicken past her egg-laying prime; no spring chicken, ha ha!  This is a true free-range bird, so it’s understandable about the meat’s texture.  However, it yielded probably the most delicious chicken broth I’ve ever tasted.

broth

I could have just stuck the whole bird in the pot with its integrity intact, but I chose to butcher it a bit.  I cut off the wings and legs, and left the rest alone – I further exposed the bone because I wanted to make sure that I’d have a good chance for the broth to be gelatin-rich.  Then I added half a chopped yellow onion, three large garlic cloves and a tablespoon or two of Mexican oregano.   Finally, I added a teaspoon of fine sea salt.

I boiled the hen for a couple of hours, then set the pieces out to cool down enough for me to handle then.  I shred the meat and will have it available this week for tacos, sandwiches, or chicken salad.  Since the meat is tough, I’ll store it immersed in the broth, which I hope will tenderize it.  I added an additional teaspoon of sea salt to the broth, and that was the perfect amount of seasoning.  Since I’ve cut back on sugar, my sensitivity to both sweet and salty has heightened, and I now find overly salty things to be much more intense than they used to be.

stewing hen collage

I strained out the veggies and herbs from the broth, and set the pot in the fridge to cool down overnight.  By tonight I’ll have a better idea of its gelatinous quality and the amount of fat in it (I’ll scrape that off it there’s enough, and use it for other things).  I’m going to freeze a bunch of the broth, but also leave some in the fridge for when I cook quinoa and millet this week.  Cooking the grains in this broth will make them even more nourishing and healthful.  Not to mention delicious!

Usually when I make stock, I use the carcas of a roasted chicken.  This is the first time I’d actually bought a chicken for the express purpose of stewing it and collecting the meat after the fact.  I’m looking forward to seeing how it works out this week.

final result

This was the first week in I don’t know how long, that I planned out my meals for the week.   I’m happy about this, and I have a lot of great meals in store.  Plotting out the week I expect will make lunches easier to handle, too.  Too often I just eat out, and I’d like to not do that so much (once a week, tops).  Bad for the pocketbook and the waistline, since it’s challenging to find truly nourishing food near my office.

I’m also starting a running training schedule this week, with my goal of running a 4 mile race in mid-Jully.  I miss racing and running, and really want to start up again; I’m really excited to “get back on the horse”, as they say.  I sustained a bad ankle injury a bit over a year ago, and have found it difficult to get back into running.  Having a schedule should make it easier to keep at it.

Here’s to an active, interesting, and delicious week!

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Gratin Dauphinois – Creamy and Comforting Roasted Potatoes

potatoes daphaunoise

Cool weather continues to reign here in NYC, even though it’s almost mid-April.  It’s also feels kind of damp to me, which makes it seem even chillier.  Some of you might laugh when I say that temperatures in the low-60s make for chilly times, but I (like to joke that I) have thin California blood and have always found that this kind of weather produces in me an intense longing for 80-degree days.

naked potatoes

However, weather like this is perfect for roasted root vegetables – they are so comforting, plus it’s not hot enough yet to eschew your oven.  Sweet potatoes with rosemary and garlic are nice; butternut squash with thyme is also delicious; carrots, onions, and parsnips underneath a roasting chicken is truly fantastic.  However, what’s really calling me these days is gratin dauphiois – a simple dish of roasted potatoes in milk.

potatoes simmering

Contrary to popular belief, there is no cheese in this dish (though I’ve seen some recipes that ask for it).  You wouldn’t know it by just looking at it – to me, it really looks like there must be cheese in there.  What else would produce such a glorious and tasty crust? Well, it’s the starch in the potatoes that encourage this, actually.  Whoever figured this out was brilliant.

in the dish

The potatoes come out perfectly cooked – warm and creamy and smooth.  The milk/half-and-half/cream thickens from the starch.  The garlic and nutmeg add a nice hint of flavor, too.  Be sure to use a good quality milk/half-and-half/cream – preferably from grass-fed cows, which provides so much more nutrition, not to mention superior taste.  Organic potatoes are preferred because of the pesticide residue that can remain with conventionally grown potatoes; Yukon Golds would be nice.

potatoes again

As an aside, whenever I read the name of this dish, I think of the piece by the great French theorist and composer Jean-Philippe Rameau, La Dauphine.  Of course, gratin dauphinois is named after Dauphiné, a former province in southeastern France, where the dish is a specialty of that region. In any case, La Dauphine is the first piece of Rameau’s that I ever played, and it is the only solo harpsichord piece he wrote after spending his time writing operas.  It was written in the style of an improvisation, to honor the marriage between Marie-Josèphe of Saxony and Louis XV.

Gratin Dauphinois
Clotilde’s recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini

2 pounds potatoes, a mix of waxy and baking potatoes (if you prefer to use only one type, pick waxy potatoes, not too firm), preferably organic
2 cups half-and-half or whole milk (absolutely not skim milk), preferably grass-fed
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
freshly grated nutmeg
1 clove garlic, sliced lengthwise
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives (optional)
1/4 cup heavy cream, preferably grass-fed

Peel the potatoes, rinse them briefly, and slice them thinly (about 1/10th of an inch) and evenly.  Do not rinse after slicing, or you will lose all that precious starch.

Combine the sliced potatoes, milk, salt and a good grating of nutmeg in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, and keep simmering for 8 minutes, stirring the potatoes and scraping the bottom of the pan regularly to prevent sticking/scorching. The milk will gradually thicken to a creamy consistency.

While the potatoes are simmering, preheat the oven to 430F and rub the bottom and sides of a medium earthenware or glass baking dish with the cut sides of the garlic clove.

Transfer half of the potatoes into the baking dish, sprinkle with the chives if using, and drizzle with half of the cream. Add the rest of the potatoes, pour the cooking milk over them, and drizzle with the remaining cream.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until bubbly on the edges and nicely browned at the top. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 6 as a side dish.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

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Fish and Pasta – Penne in Guazzetto

finished dish

The other day the daily edition of TastingTable arrived in my inbox, which promised an article about Roman food. I love food from Italy – from all regions – so I opened it right away.

Then I saw Danny Meyer’s name, and felt the need to read on. Turns out the email was about his new trattoria, Maialino, in the Grammercy Park neighborhood, and included a recipe. I’m a big fan of Danny Meyer’s ventures, so I took a closer look at the recipe and it seemed very doable for a weekday, post-work meal.

bread and garlic

It also looked delicious.  Simple, real ingredients – basically fish, olive oil, pasta, tomatoes, and herbs – and simple preparation.  It looked like the clean flavors of the dish would really come through.

I did find that cooking the fish in the oil was not as neat as I anticipated it to be.  The fish sort of stuck to my pan, but it was easy enough to release it once I added the tomatoes (their juice essentially deglazed it, lifting up any caramelized bits).  It all cooked very fast, too.

Additionally, I am not big fan of long pastas – spaghetti, linguini, fettuccine.  I much prefer smaller pasta shapes, like penne, rigatoni, and oricchete.  I am a big fan of rustichella d’abruzzo pasta, so I used their penne for this dish.  They prepare their pasta with  more traditional techniques, from their special bronze molds, to long and low drying times, which preserves more of the nutrition in the pasta. Since I did use this pasta, I’ve changed the name of the recipe to reflect that.

The dish was extremely well-received in my household.  Our resident picky eater loved it and asked that it be made again.  I am sure we will make it semi-regularly for the foreseeable future.  It also made a lot of food – we got two dinners each out of it, and figured we spent about $12 total for the ingredients, so it’s an economical dish as well.

fish in three stages

Penne in Guazzetto
Adapted from Nick Anderer, Maialino, New York

6 ounces skinless cod fillet, cut into 3-inch-wide strips (preferably line-caught Pacific cod)
sea salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes (I used Aleppo pepper)
One 28-ounce can peeled whole tomatoes, preferably organic, crushed by hand

1/2 pound penne pasta
1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped (about ½ cup)
12 basil leaves, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs, toasted in olive oil until golden brown

Generously cover each piece of fish with salt and let stand for 12 minutes to firm the flesh. Rinse the fish under cold water and pat dry.

In a deep saucepan, heat 1/4 cup of olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil begins to ripple, add the fish and cook until the cod turns opaque and starts to lightly brown, about 3 minutes; turn the fish over and cook for 1 minute longer.

Add the garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the cod begins to flake easily when pierced with the tip of a knife, 5 to 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente, then drain and add to the tomato sauce, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Stir the pasta water into the sauce until emulsified, then add the parsley and basil and toss gently. Season with salt and pepper and divide among plates. Sprinkle each plate with bread crumbs and drizzle with olive oil.

Serve immediately.  Serves 4 to 6.

This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

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Salsa Verde Chicken

salsa verde chicken bowl

I’ve eaten many, many chicken breasts (boneless/skinless) in my days. Unfortunately, many of them have been tasteless, with texture like sawdust. There’s a salad place near my office that serves chicken breasts just like that. When I first tasted them, I couldn’t believe how bad they were, or that any place would be ok with selling something of that questionable quality. Needless to say, I don’t eat them there anymore.

(We ate them weekly when I was a kid, and I don’t remember them being so devoid of flavor then.)

Fortunately, I have discovered wonderful chicken breasts that actually taste like chicken! I get them through my CSA and they are delicious. These are chickens that run around on pasture, eat bugs, and lead a generally good life.  This kind of chicken is always going to produce tastier meat.

March 20102

Usually I grill chicken breasts, but I’ve gotten tired of cooking them that way, and have wanted to find other ways to prepare them. I’ve tried poaching them in spiced/herbed water, but they end up being devoid of fat. Baking them is dissatisfying. What to do?

My current favorite way of cooking them is pan-frying them in coconut oil, which is an excellent fat that lends rich flavor and adds extra nutrition.  Then I chop them up and simmer them in salsa verde – one of my favorite sauces. I like eating them with a little cheese on gorditas, or even by themselves.

I was fortunate enough to find in my freezer a bag of salsa verde I’d made last summer from tomatillos I grew in my community garden.  I find homemade salsa verde to be far superior to anything in a jar, but if you’re stretched for time, using salsa from a jar works just fine.

salsa verde chix

Salsa Verde Chicken

1 full chicken breast
2 tablespoons coconut oil
sea salt and pepper

3 cups salsa verde, either homemade or jarred

Rinse and fully dry the chicken breasts.  Cut them into strips, then into smaller chunks.  Season them with salt and pepper.

Fry in the coconut oil until just cooked through.  Set aside.

Put the salsa verde in a saucepan and heat to a simmer.

When the chicken has cooled a bit, chop the chicken up into smaller pieces, as small as you like. Mine tended to be in general about 1/2 inch in size.

Put the chicken in the sauce and simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

Serve topped with grated cheese and/or sour cream, served over gorditas, tortillas, or the whole grain of your choice.

This dish is even better the day after!

Serves 4.

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Extravagant Stuffed Dates

cooked dates

So, as part of changing my eating habits, I’ve cut out a lot of refined sugar.  I have a huge – like, Godzilla huge – sweet tooth, so it’s a challenge.  However, my health and general feelings of well-being are greatly improved without all that sugar.

Still, I have had to find ways to cope with the sometimes overwhelming sugar cravings!

One way I do that is by eating dates – medjool dates, to be exact.  I live in an area that has a sizable Arab population, and dates fit prominently in their food culture, so they’re easy to find.  You can even find fresh dates at certain times of the year, usually around Ramadan.  I have a source for incredible medjool dates, just a few blocks from my house.  They are huge, sweet, and have a fantastic caramel-like texture, sort of chewy (especially if you put them in the refrigerator for a little while).  I just love them.  And they satisfy my sweet tooth.

These mondo dates are excellent for stuffing.  It’s easy to extract the pit, and the hollow inside holds a good portion of whatever you want to put in it.  I like to use a fresh cheese – either chevre or a fresh cow’s milk cheese – but bleu cheese could also be delicious.

In addition to stuffing the dates, I like to wrap them in prosciutto di parma.  Natural bacon would also be good.  Then I heat them up.  Simply fantastic – sweet, salty, and smoky all at the same time.  I must thank my friend Laura for teaching me how to prepare these.

They’re also rather filling, I find.  They’d be great paired up with a simple green salad and glass of red wine.

stuffed date collage

Prosciutto Wrapped Stuffed Dates

If you can find proscuitto that is made from free range pigs, and not cured with nitrites but only with sea salt (as is necessary for some PDO/Protected Designation of Origin hams), that would be ideal.  You could also wrap the dates in natural bacon as well.  If you use bacon, only use half slices, and also use a well-soaked toothpick to hold it all together.

12 medjool dates
4 oz chevre or other fresh cheese
12 slices of prosciutto

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Take your dates and pit them by slicing into the date lengthwise, then spreading open the date and removing the pit.  They will look sort of butterflied at this point.

Stuff the dates with 1/2 tsp or so of cheese.  Make sure the cheese is all the way in the cavity of the date.  Close the halves of the date (some of the cheese may peek out a bit).

Roll up each date in a slice of prosciutto.  Set the dates in a baking pan – one with edges, so that any fat won’t spill out and into your oven – and bake them until the meat crisps, about 20 minutes.

Serves 6 an appetizer, 2 as a meal.

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The Best Brussels Sprouts

raw sprouts

I never grew up eating brussels sprouts.  I’m not sure why, but I suspect it’s because (one of) my parents disliked them.  I was first introduced to them during a Thanksgiving dinner in NYC in 2002.  They were delicious, no lie, but I wasn’t totally blown away.

A few years later I discovered – in my opinion – the very best way to prepare and cook brussels sprouts. And it’s got to be one of the simplest ways, too, which makes them even more appealing.  It’s my favorite way to prepare most vegetables:  roasting.

Brussels sprouts are amazing vegetables in their nutritional profile. Rich in many valuable nutrients, they are chock full of vitamin C and vitamin K, and are an excellent source of folic acid, vitamin A, fiber, as well as being a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. They are also good cancer fighters like most cruciferous vegetables containing sulforaphane.

By roasting these little baby cabbages, the heat, oil, and salt help to caramelize them, bringing out their natural sweetness.  I also love the bit of crunch some of them take on, especially on the cut side.  They taste both salty and sweet, and are simply delicious.  Truly, the best way to eat them!

roasted sprouts

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

These are wonderful simply roasted by themselves, but also would be good with chopped bacon and roasted walnuts added.   If you add bacon, which can be rather salty, feel free to decrease the salt a bit.

1 pound brussels sprouts
extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons coarse sea salt, or to taste
freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash the sprouts.  Cut off any brown ends and remove any sickly or yellowish leaves.  Make sure they are quite dry after washing them.

Cut each sprout in half lengthwise, from “root” to tip.  Toss with enough olive oil to coat them generously, and add salt and pepper.

Put in a pan, cut sides down, and roast for about 45 minutes, or until cooked all the way through and the cut sides of the sprouts have caramelized.

These are good along side something that is rich, smooth and naturally sweet, like creamy polenta or risotto, or with something meaty like roast chicken or pork.

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Larb

larb plated

So, I’ve had a package of ground pastured pork in my freezer for a while and I’ve been itching to use it. It’s delicious stuff, from pigs raised by Alan and Nancy Brown at Lewis Waite farm. I could have made burger with it, but I wanted larb. Larb!

What is larb? It’s a Southeast Asian ground meat salad that can be made with pork, beef, chicken and other poultry, or fish. In Laos, it’s made with a bit of ground toasted rice, but the recipe I used didn’t specify that. The version I made was basically meat and some seasonings, served over lettuce with cucumber.

It was delicious, and had that wonderful mix of tangy-salty-fresh-and spicy flavors that I love so much in Southeast Asian food.  It was also well-received by our resident picky eater, so I see that as a good sign.  It would be an excellent summer dish, perhaps paired with some fresh spring rolls, or perhaps just with a side of papaya salad.  Fresh fruit would be perfect for dessert.  I expect to make it again.

larb

Larb (Spicy Pork Salad)
I adjusted the original recipe to reflect my preference for deeper flavors. I increased the amount of lime juice, mint, and cilantro, as well as the chili sauce. I also found that red leaf lettuce worked just fine, though Boston lettuce would be very nice. I also do not use nonstick pans, so I added a tsp of coconut oil to my cast iron pan, which worked well.

1 pound ground pork
1 tsp coconut oil
4 medium shallots, peeled, sliced in half and then sliced 1/4-inch thick, divided
3 tbsp fresh lime juice, divided
2 medium scallions, sliced
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp chili sauce, hot Asian-style (like Sriracha), or to taste
1/3 cup mint leaves, fresh, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, fresh, coarsely chopped
12 leaf Boston or red leaf lettuce

1 kirby cucumber, thinly sliced

Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it melts, add pork, half of the shallots and 1 tablespoon of lime juice. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon to break up pork as it cooks, until pork is no longer pink, about 6 to 7 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine remaining shallots, lime juice, scallions, fish sauce, chili sauce, mint and cilantro; add pork mixture and toss well to coat.

To serve, place 2 or 3 lettuce leaves on a plate; divide about 3/4 cup of pork mixture over top and serve with cucumber slices.

This post is participating in Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays.