Ginger lime grilled chicken

The Goods*:

3 medium sized chicken thighs

Brine

2 kg warm tap water

100 grams kosher salt

25 grams sugar

2 bay leaves

6 cloves garlic

Ginger Lime Rub

1/2 stick butter

1 black cardamom pod

1 lime

14 grams ginger**

5 cloves garlic

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp AP flour

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Prepare the brine in large container. Add the chicken thighs to the brine and weight them down with a small plate. Refrigerate for about three hours.

Place the butter in a small saucepan on low heat. Smash the black cardamom pod with the back of a chef's knife. Add the cardamom pod to the butter. Cook on low heat for about 15 minutes, or until the milk solids in the bottom of the pan begin to brown, but not burn. Strain the butter through a wire mesh strainer into a bowl and set aside.

Slice the tops off from the garlic cloves. Stand up in a small aluminum foil package, drizzle with some olive oil, and bake at 400 F for half an hour to roast the garlic cloves.

Grate the ginger on a microplane. Add to the butter. Zest the lime, slice it in half, and juice into a measuring cup. Add the lime zest and juice to the butter. Remove the garlic from the aluminum foil and finely mince the garlic cloves. Add the remaining rub ingredients to the butter. Mix throughly. The rub should have the consistency of peanut butter.

Remove the chicken from the brine. Rinse thoroughly under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. By hand, slather some rub under the skin and all around the top and bottom of each thigh.

Preheat the grill by turning the burners on high. Grill the chicken, skin side down, over high flame for 2-3 minutes. Turn over, reduce the flame to low, and grill, covered, for 13-15 minutes, depending on individual chicken-doneness-preference. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes, then serve.

*This was an interpretation of a another recipe.

**I've found that keeping ginger is a huge pain. Typically, I'll use a bit of one root, store it in the fridge, and then go to use it again only to find that it has spoiled. This problem was compounded when I purchased a whole sack of ginger from the Super 88 recently. I decided to freeze the ginger roots to preserve them longer. This, unfortunately, creates a new problem of how to use the ginger. I discovered that, once one end of the root is cut off, the microplane works wonders on the ginger. The resulting grated ginger has the appearance and texture of finely packed snow. I've provided a weight measurement because the stuff is fluffy, but its about a tablespoon.

Spinach and sage roasted chicken

The Goods:

Roasted Chicken

1 large skin on chicken breast

1 tbsp fresh sage

2 handfuls fresh spinach

1 shallot

1 splash white wine

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp lemon juice

1 cup water

olive oil

Israeli Couscous

1 cup Israeli couscous*

2 cup water

1 tbsp sage

1 tsp lemon juice

1 small leek

1 tsp fresh parsley

1 clove garlic

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Add the butter to a small saucepan. Heat on medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the butter browns. Pour most of the brown butter into a small bowl, keep the remainder (1/4 or so of the total) in the saucepan. Trim the green portion from the leek. Slice the remainder in half lengthwise, then in ~1 cm slices. Finely mince the garlic. Finely mince the sage and parsley. Place the saucepan with the remaining brown butter on medium-low heat. Add the leeks. Cook until they're translucent, about 5 minutes or so. Add the 1 tablespoon sage, parsley, and garlic. Cook for 1-2 more minutes. Add the couscous, water, and lemon juice. Cover. When the pot reaches a simmer, reduce the heat to low and cook until the water has been fully absorbed.

Spritz some olive oil on the chicken breast and season it with ground black pepper and kosher salt. Spritz some olive oil in a heavy-bottomed, oven-proof skillet and set on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the breast skin-side down. After three minutes, flip the breast over and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes**. Finely mince the shallot. Wash and dry the spinach leaves. Add the flour to the set aside brown butter to make a paste.

When the chicken is cooked, remove the pan from the oven and place on the stove top. Place the chicken in a plate and cover with tin foil until ready to serve. Place the skillet on medium-low heat and add the minced shallots. When the shallots have turned translucent, about 2-3 minutes, add the tablespoon of sage and spinach leaves. Continue cooking until the spinach wilts. Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine. Add the water and lemon juice. When the mixture begins to simmer, fold in the brown butter/flour paste to thicken the sauce. Split the chicken breast in half. Serve with couscous, covered in spinach/sage sauce.

*Or, more politically correct, as the local WF plays it, "Middle Eastern Couscous."

**I've long been experimenting with different oven temperatures and baking times when making roasted chicken breast. This one gave fine results, with a rather large breast that was just, just, just rare in the very center.

Fun with kale and quinoa

The Goods:

1 large bunch green kale

1/2 dozen medium crimini mushrooms

1 chicken sausage link (~ 1/3 lb)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup quinoa

1 tbsp clarified butter

Marsala Morels

1 dozen fresh morels*

1 small shallot

1 handful fresh parsley

1 tsp butter

1 generous splash Marsala wine

Trim the ends of the stems from the morels. Place them in a bowl of warm water to wash the dirt from the mushrooms. Repeat as necessary until the water runs clear**. Finely mince the shallot, then the parsley. Place the tsp of butter in a heavy sauté pan and set to medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for two minutes, or until translucent. Add the parsley and deglaze the pan with the Marsala wine. Allow some of the alcohol to cook off, about a minute or two, then add the morels***. Cook the mushrooms for three to four minutes, or until they're soft. Place in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine the quinoa and 2 cups of water in a small saucepan. Add a spritz of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and set to high heat to boil. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for ~20 minutes, or until all of the water is absorbed.

Spritz some olive oil in a heavy sauté pan and set on medium-high heat. Remove the sausage from its casing and add to the pan. Cook until the meat is mostly browned. Remove the meat from the pan and set to the side. Wash, dry, and thinly slice the crimini's. Tear the kale from the stems into bite sizes leafy pieces. Place the clarified butter in the sausage pan and heat to medium. Add the mushrooms and cook until they have browned. Place the sausage back in the pan, along with the kale, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup water. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, covered, until the kale just wilts. Toss the quinoa and morels together with the kale mixture. Serve immediately.

*I've been on the lookout for morels since I saw a version of this preparation in Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc, which, is a beautiful cookbook. I was skeptical when Keller, he of French Laundry and Bouchon fame, announced in the introduction that this book was meant to be a down-home collection of simpler recipes (it turns out they're a wee bit more complex than "easy," but definitely not rocket science. ANYWAY, I finally spotted fresh morels at WF, but could only commit to a handful because I had no idea if I'd enjoy them and they are not cheap.

**I would recommend erring on the side of caution here. Usually when I see something like this, I tend to think that one thorough wash is good enough. Unfortunately, some of the morels were still a bit sandy. They're actually kind of hollow, so I can see dirt building up on the side. So yeah, wash 'em good.

***This would seem to contradict all of my mushroom cookery experience that says to sear mushrooms. But, when the prophet Keller says they're best cooked gently in butter, I tend to abide.

Stuffed chicken breast, brussels sprouts, and roasted root vegetables

The Goods:

Chicken

1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 tsp clarified butter (or other high heat fat)

4 crimini mushrooms

1 small shallot

1 clove garlic

4 cups beef short rib braising liquid*

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 small handful fresh basil

1 small handful fresh parsley

1 tbsp crumbled gorgonzola cheese

Sprouts

2 stalks fresh brussels sprouts**

2 kg water

100 g kosher salt (5 wt% salt solution)

1 tsp butter

Root Veggies

1 lb fingerling potatoes

2 medium-size parsnips

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp ground coriander

several spritz olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400. While the oven is preheating, wrap the chicken breast in wax paper or plastic wrap. Pound it down to thin it a bit. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then dredge in some flour, patting off the excess. Add the clarified butter to a sautè pan and set the heat to medium high. Brown the chicken breast, about 2 minutes per side. Turn off the heat and set to the side.

Trim the parsnips by cutting away the skin and slicing into pieces roughly equal in size to the potatoes. Mince the three cloves of garlic. Spritz some olive oil in a pyrex baking dish. Add the potatoes, parsnips, and garlic. Season with salt, pepper, the red pepper, and the coriander. Add some more olive oil and mix. Add to the oven, it will bake for ~35 minutes, or until both vegetables are soft.

Re-heat the sautè pan (almost all of the clarified butter from cooking the chicken should still be there) on medium-high heat. Slice the mushrooms and shallot. Mince the garlic. Add the mushrooms first. Cook at this heat until the mushrooms have just begun to brown, then lower the heat and add the shallots. After a few more minutes add the garlic, then, just before the garlic burns, add 2 cups of the braising liquid. Reduce the braising liquid down to a viscous consistency.

Remove the sprouts from their stalk and give them a quick wash in cold water. Prepare the salt solution using your kitchen scale or volumetric equivalents, if you're not into the whole weight-as-a-cooking-measure meme. Bring this solution to a boil in a medium saucepan. Combine the mushroom/shallot/braising liquid mixture with the panko, basil, parsley, and gorgonzola in a bowl and mix. Depending on the size and shape of the chicken breast, the stuffing procedure may vary. In my case, I had the one piece as two smaller pieces look, so I made a crude chicken-stuffing sandwich. Place this in an oiled pyrex. Place on the top rack in the oven along with the vegetables for 15 minutes, or until the chicken has cooked through.

Once the water has boiled, add the sprouts. Prepare an ice bath using several ice cubes and a large boil full of cold water. Boil the sprouts for 4 minutes, then remove them using a wire strainer and blanch them in the cold water bath. Strain them from the bath and return them to the saucepan. Add the butter and cook on low until the butter has melted and coated all of the sprouts.

While the chicken and root vegetable are finishing in the oven, place the original sautè pan back over medium heat and add another 2 cups of braising liquid. Reduce this to the same viscous consistency as with the mushroom/shallot mixture. This will be the sauce for the chicken and root vegetables. With any luck, everything should finish around the same time. Depending on the size of the chicken breast, this is most likely a meal for two.

*Yeah, they don't sell this one in the supermarket, even Whole Foods. I had another go at beef short ribs last week and saved the braising liquid. More to come on this. I suppose one could combine red wine and beef stock (the braising liquid tastes like I imagine these two things taste like together) as a substitute here.

**I was floored to learn that they look like this fresh out of the ground. These came from a farmer's market, though I have seen them at WF.