Sloe Gin Fiz: a classic cocktail worth a second look, and taste!

This truly classic cocktail, made from infusing Sloe or blackthorn berries, with gin or other neutral grain spirits, is a favorite of western Europe. Large hedge rolls of Blackthorn berries are common in England, where the people pick the berries and then mix them with spirits, and allow them to ferment until the liquor is infused with the wonderful flavors of the fresh berry. It's not common here in the country, the berry or the liquor and when I am looking to find a bottle, I often have to search several liquor stores for it. When I find one, its usually a last bottle, on a bottom shelf covered in dust. Which is a real shame. This is an absolutely incredible cocktail and I hope you try one.

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

There have been many times in the past where I scanned thru a recipe for chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, but I never really got around to  making it.  In theory they all sounded good, I but I noticed that almost always  the chicken was essentially stewed in a closed moist environment and I personally don't n like rubbery chicken skin.
  I recently saw Ina Garten make a similar recipe and I looked at it and had decided that if I was going to make this recipe, that her recipe and method would be the one I would follow.

Then this week, while looking through the recipes from another source I came across this particular method. The first thing I noticed was the dark, crisp skin on the finished product. Separating the cooking methods, and not sealing the chicken in a pot seemed to solve the big issue I had with all the other recipes.

The first step of buying a great all organic chicken, cutting it up and then letting the pieces rest in a simple brine meant that the chicken would remain moist throughout the cooking process.
Secondly, roasting the garlic prior to adding it to the chicken and sauce meant that the final dish would have a much more complex and deep flavor. Better than just tossing 40+ cloves of garlic into a pot with the  chicken.

To get the great dark, crisp skin the chicken is browned on the stovetop over medium high heat. Once the chicken has that gorgeous golden color, they are taken out of the pan and the extra fat is removed. Good quality chicken stock and dry vermouth is used to deglaze the pan. The pre-roasted garlic and shallots are put back into the pan and the chicken pieces are set down onto the garlic. The upper half of the chicken is kept up out of the sauce. The whole pan is then put back into a 450 degree over for another 12-15 minutes. Just until the internal temp  of the chicken reaches 165 degrees. Then the chicken is taken out of the pan and set aside to rest. The garlic and shallots are strained from the sauce, pressing gently to extract as much of the liquid as possible, but not enough to crush the cloves. 10 of the cloves are removed and set aside and then they are are  pushed through a sieve or minced into a paste and whisked back in to the sauce. 2 tablespoons of butter are whisked into the sauce, one tablespoon at a time  to make sure the butter is well incorporated and finally  just a  touch of fresh  parsley is stirred in just for color.

The garlic cloves and chicken are presented on a platter and the sauce can be served in a gravy boat on the side, or like I did; I just served the whole dish family style and poured the sauce over the chicken.

Although there is a 30 minute brine required for the recipe, this is an easy and quick recipe and I hope you get a chance to try it. Don't be scared of the amount of garlic in this recipe. Its actually very mellow and sweet. Its not over powering.

very simple, ingredients yet a very complex and wonderful flavor

• 1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), cut into 8 pieces (4 breast pieces, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks) and trimmed of excess fat.
•   Ground black pepper
• 3 large heads garlic (about 8 ounces), outer papery skins removed, cloves separated and unpeeled
• 2 medium shallots , peeled and quartered pole to pole
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine
• 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 1/2 pound organic, all natural chicken

Prior to roasting

30 minutes at 400 degrees, covered. Then
10 minutes longer uncovered. I think I actually
added another 8-10 minutes overall.

8 pieces of chicken, prior to brining

a 30 minute brine

• 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Dissolve 1/4-cup salt in 2 quarts cold tap water in large container or bowl; submerge chicken pieces in brine and refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 30 minutes. Rinse chicken pieces under running water and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels. Season both sides of chicken pieces with pepper.
• 2. Meanwhile, toss garlic and shallots with 2 teaspoons olive oil and salt and pepper to taste in 9-inch pie plate; cover tightly with foil and roast until softened and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes, shaking pan once to toss contents after 15 minutes (foil can be left on during tossing). Uncover, stir, and continue to roast, uncovered, until browned and fully tender, 10 minutes longer, stirring once or twice. Remove from oven and increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.
• 3. Using kitchen twine, tie together thyme, rosemary, and bay; set aside. Heat remaining 1-teaspoon oil in 12-inch heavy-bottomed ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke; swirl to coat pan with oil. Brown chicken pieces skin-side down until deep golden, about 5 minutes; using tongs, turn chicken pieces and brown until golden on second side, about 4 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to large plate and discard fat; off heat, add vermouth, chicken broth, and herbs, scraping bottom of skillet with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Set skillet over medium heat, add garlic/shallot mixture to pan, then return chicken, skin-side up, to pan, nestling pieces on top of and between garlic cloves.
• 4. Place skillet in oven and roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers about 160 degrees, 10 to 12 minutes. If desired, increase heat to broil and broil to crisp skin, 3 to 5 minutes. Using potholders or oven mitts, remove skillet from oven and transfer chicken to serving dish. Remove 10 to 12 garlic cloves to mesh sieve and reserve; using slotted spoon, scatter remaining garlic cloves and shallots around chicken and discard herbs. With rubber spatula push reserved garlic cloves through sieve and into bowl; discard skins. Add garlic paste to skillet. Bring liquid to simmer over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally to incorporate garlic; adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in butter; pour sauce into sauceboat and serve.

Blood Oranges or, "aren't you glad I didn't say banana?"

delicious either as a snack or made into a variety of other dishes

fresh squeezed blood orange juice, vodka and a touch of simple syrup. Shaken with ice and poured into a chilled glass

blood orange juice, organic lemonade and a touch of simple syrup. Shaken and poured in a chilled glass

The wonderful blood orange.

Blue Cheese & black pepper pop corn.

Saturday night: A Christopher Walken marathon and a bowl of freshly popped popcorn, tossed with crumbled blue cheese and a healthy dose of fresh cracked black pepper.

I make the popcorn on the stove top. Using bacon drippings as the fat. Once the popcorn is done, I quickly empty the bowl and use the residual heat remaining it to melt a bit of crumbled blue cheese. The I add back the popcorn, tossing it around to pick up the melted blue cheese.  I finish it with freshly cracked black pepper and more crumbled blue cheese.

Chunks of Danish Blue cheese, & fresh cracked black pepper

I add bacon drippings to the kernels. It gives the popcorn a smokey flavor

The thin bowl means it has to be watched closely. Shaking often to keep the popcorn from burning 

I have a favorite mixing  bowl that works perfectly for the stove top method.

This is so superior to any bagged cheese flavored popcorn you have ever had. I hope you try it.

Harvest Highball!

I came across this recipe on the food page of the Huffington Post web site. There was an article describing several lesser know drink recipes that they thought would be great for a Super Bowl party. 

It looked wonderful and when I did a quick search for more information, I was taken to a page on YouTube where a gentleman mixed and reviewed cocktails. Throughout his presentation, he made several references that this was a cocktail more suited to fall and winter and holiday drinking, hence the name “harvest highball”. But looking thru the ingredient list: fresh lim juice, ginger beer, citron flavored vodka, ... it didnt seem like there was a reason to limit this to a autumn  recipe. In fact once you taste it, you will find that the fresh, crisp spicy taste is suited for all kinds of situations. This would be a perfect drink for a summers night, or a cold winters evening when you need something to warm you up.  The night I saw this I knew I wanted one, I had everything in the house but the ginger beer so I needed to wait a bit till I could get to a liquor store and purchase the beer. 

   Last year I had wanted to try a Moscow Mule. Which is almost the same recipe. I had found  cans of the ginger beer at my favorite little gourmet market and I bought a can to experiment with. Unfortunately I bought the can in mid summer, in the midst of a major heat spell. I tossed the can onto the top of the dash of my jeep and I drove home. I left the can in the vehicle for several hours without imagining that the intensified heat would cause the can to explode. But, it did. When i returned to my jeep several hours later I found ginger beer dripping from every part of my dash. It was a sticky, disgusting mess that I am still cleaning up. So my initial experience with the stuff had been pretty disappointing.  The second time I tried it I was less than impressed. But I think it was more that I tried it straight from the can, which made it a  bit “intense” even for me and I absolutely love ginger and often by a box of the candied kind and eat it as a snack.  But I was hoping that blended with the other ingredients the ginger beer would be more sublet, and I was right. It was worth giving this recipe a try. I found the ginger beer at a local liquor store. 4 small bottles,  6 oz each for nearly $6.00, which I thought was pretty pricy, but still worth trying.  The rest of the recipe calls for:

2 oz citron flavored vodka

2 oz ginger beer

1/2 oz of fresh lime juice

1/2 oz simple syrup

You can buy pre-made simple syrups. Or you can make your own by combining equal parts sugar and water and lightly simmering it until the sugar melts. Its so easy and way less expensive. 

 With this recipe, I chose to add the zest from 2 limes to 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Once the syrup was off the heat and cooled to room temperature, I added the juice of one lime to it. It was the only change I made to the original recipe. I just wanted to boost the flavor a bit. Other than that, this recipe is perfect as is and I wouldnt change a thing. 

Enjoy!

So delicious, you'll slap your Momma for another bowl

Today, Sunday was my 41st birthday. It was a busy stressful week; A week where I reverted to eating freezer burned strawberry ice cream and convenience store prepackaged sushi. So I knew that since I had no plans for this weekend  and that I didn't want to do take away, or delivery food. I didn't want to eat something out of a can and more importantly I didn't want to have to go shopping, cook, clean, wash a dish or leave the house at any point on Sunday. Hell, I wasn't planning on  getting dressed or opening the curtains on Sunday, let alone cooking, putting something on a paper plate or microwaving to reheat was as much effort as I was going to exert.  I gave it some thought but nothing really stuck in my mind as that one dish that I wanted.  Sometimes when you have to many options its hard to settle on something and that's where I was with this decision. So Saturday afternoon  with a very messy kitchen still waiting for me to return, I ran over to work to drop off a big meal for Super Bowl Sunday and while I was driving home I started thinking again about what I was going to make. It was just beginning to snow and it was bitter cold outside and I knew that I wanted something warm and spicy. I knew I wanted something easy that would leave me with left overs in the fridge and it had to be easy enough that I could work on it while I cleaned up the kitchen and out everything back in order from the long week.






Ok, so what do I want? Italian…? I could make a pan of lasagna. No, thats to much work.  Mexican…? Yeah, something Mexican. Red pork chile?   Yep,  that's what I wanted.   Once I got home I could have pulled a recipe off the internet or out of one of my cookbooks, but I wanted it to be and taste like my moms. I didn't want anything extra of different. I wanted my moms chile and since I wasn't going to drive to colorado springs to get some, I called my mom to find out how to make it. I have eaten pounds of it. It's a staple at my mom's, it's the filling my mom an aunts use for their tamales and its a prominent feature at our family's Christmas Day dinner. But I have never really paid that much attention to how she made hers. I've been in the room when its made, but just never written down how she does it.

It's always hard trying to get real details out of my mom. Its a "pinch of this", or a "pinch of that", "enough to make it taste good", or "I don't know, its the one in the bottle with the red label", or some other vague description. But I listened patiently to her while I drove home as she described her method. I asked just enough questions to feel confident that I could make the recipe and make it tastes just like hers does. So with one last stop at the grocery store to pick up what I needed I headed home.

It's a very basic recipe. Few ingredients and while I listened to my  mom, I knew that there was room for "improvement". But I didn't want to tamper with the recipe to much, otherwise it wouldn't be like my mom's.  But, me being me, I did make a few minor adjustments.

I started by browning about 4 pounds of boneless pork country style ribs. I seared them in  my largest Dutch oven. Working in batches to make sure the meat was browned on all sides. Then, where my moms recipe didn't call for fresh onion or garlic; she prefers garlic and onion powder, I used a small diced onion and a few fresh garlic cloves. I pulled the pork out of the pan. Drained off a bit of the accumulated fat, turned the heat down and then added the onion and the garlic. I just wanted to sweat them and not really brown then to much. Once they were opaque, which took about 5 minutes, I added about 2 heaping tablespoons of cumin and chili caribe (another departure from my moms recipe. My mom doesn't add cumin at all and prefers to season with the caribe after the pork is finished and shredded. But I wanted to infuse the flavor of the chili into the roast while it cooked) and just quickly toasted the spice in the oil. Just to bloom the flavor. Then I added two good tablespoons of tomato paste (my mom  recipe adds no tomato product But I wanted it for flavor and for color) I slowly cooked the tomato paste, stirring often for about another 5 minutes. Just long enough to intensify the flavor. Then I added the pork back to the pot, tossed in a couple of bay leaves and a few pinches of salt and grinds of pepper. I poured in chicken broth to lightly cover the pork. I brought the broth up to a simmer on the stove burner before I put the lid on the pot and put it into a preheated 300 degree oven. It cooked for about 3 hours and while it was simmering away I went about cleaning the kitchen. It was so nice to be home, in a warm clean house, filled with the aroma of red pork chili .

  About 3 hours into the cooking time, I pulled the pot out of the oven to check the pork. It was perfectly tender . It was falling apart as I poked at it with my kitchen tongs. It smelled so good!  I took the pork out,  and set it aside to cool enough so that I could handle it and shred it. About 30 minutes later I went back and shredded the pork, removed the fat and gristle and put it back into the broth. Then, on the stove top I brought the broth and pork back to a light simmer. I added more chile caribe to bring the  taste to where I wanted. I even admit to adding a bit of garlic and onion powder.    Then it was a simple matter of letting the broth simmer long enough to reduce it to a thicker consistency. A little bit more salt and it was ready.

Pretty as a picture

Sometimes its hard waiting long enough to take a picture

YUM!

all gone!

Was it as good as my mom's chili? No. But was it wonderful? OH YEAH! I survived on beans and red pork chili all weekend. Sometimes I didn't even bother to warm it up. There is nothing better for breakfast than scrambled eggs and red chile. Scooped up with tortillas.  It was a good weekend.

maybe you shouldn't eat that with your fingers!

Today I traveled to 2 local gourmet markets, 1 Wal-Mart and a Safeway. (the Safeway twice). I spent nearly $200.00 dollars in groceries and I was in the kitchen for nearly 10 hours. I sent today, or prepped to send tomorrow enough food to feed a hungry army. Everything from a tacos to enchiladas;  from pound cake to sugar cookies.

And what did I have for dinner? I ate freezer burned strawberry ice-cream  directly from the carton,  not even bothering to scrape away the bad part. Oh, and I  had a hefty side of guilt for eating that poorly. But at 10:30 at night, there was just nothing left in me to find anything better.

Tomorrow will be better. 

Days End

Long exhausting day.  It's just about 2:00 A.M. on Friday  and I just finished up the last few sink loads of dishes so the kitchen is back in order for tomorrow.  I didn't really need to do the dishes.  I certainly didn't need to start them at 1:00 in the morning, but found a little extra energy and I figured, "why not?"

  It was a bit of a weird day. I Spent most of the free portion of the morning running around looking for a particular boxed oatmeal for the house. I love how they create names for things among themselves and then provide me with the barest amount of info necessary to describe the product.  They could have just said: "The one with Elmo on the box, in the kids section." and it would have made it so much easier for me. Oh well...

It's going to be a long day tomorrow, or I guess technically later this afternoon. I have a large family dinner to complete and then begin the work for a large taco bar and dinner set up for Super Bowl Sunday.  Everything is always at the last minute. But its what keeps my reputation as a "miracle worker" intact.

Off to bed

Poulet en cocotte: French style chicken in a pot

 

So, the last couple nights in Denver have been brutally cold and the one great comfort has been having a great meal ready for myself when I get home. It's been very busy with work and I have wanted to keep my own personal cooking simple, with little mess and even less clean up. Something I could make a few initial steps and then let finish with little attention payed from me.

  I have heard of this recipe several times. I wasn't sure if it could be that easy, made with so few ingredients and yet be worthwhile. But I decided to give it a try.

I am not going to pretend that I wrote this recipe or created it on my own. I have seen it covered many time from many different sources. most notably Julia Child is famous for just such a recipe. The base recipe here is taken from Cooks Illustrated Magazine with just a few modifications from me.


1 large roasting chicken. 4-to-5 pounds.

1/4 cup diced celery                                                                                   

1/2 cup diced white onion                                                                                

1/4 cup diced carrot
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium sprig fresh rosemary or thyme
6 to 8 cloves of garlic. Peeled and trimmed but left whole
1 bayleaf
salt and pepper
fresh lemon juice

In your dutch oven, add your olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Over medium heat bring the oil up to the point where it begins to smoke. Meanwhile, pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Season the chicken well, inside and out with salt and pepper.

When the oil comes to temp, add your chicken, breast side down into the pan. Make sure your oil is well distributed on the bottom before you do. Otherwise there is a chance the skin of the chicken might stick to the bottom of the pan and pull away from the bird when you try to turn it.  It also helps to really watch the heat for the same reason. While the chicken is searing, toss your diced vegetables  thyme or rosemary into the pan.  I used rosemary each time that I have made this. Next time I am going to try a few spring of thyme. Push them down around the sides of the chicken and let them start browning.

  The original recipe called for about 8 minutes before turning the chicken over and browning the bottom. I found it took a bit longer. I also found a gentle hand, pressing down on the chicken helped it to keep better contact with the bottom of the pan helped improve the color of the chicken. So you need to judge this for yourself. But, if you go to turn your chicken over and you find that the skin is still sticking, give it a few more moments and eventually the skin will release itself from the bottom of the pan. It wont really affect the flavor of the dish. I made this recipe several times to test it and the flavor was just as good either way, but its a much nicer presentation if the skin is intact. But don't think the dish is ruined if the skin sticks to the bottom of the pan.

  When the time comes, either wearing rubber gloves, or using a wooden spoon inserted into the cavity to help lift the chicken, pull the chicken out of the pan. Give the veggies in the pan a good stir to ensure even browning and keep them from burning and return the chicken to the pan. Back side down.
  The dark meat needs to cook a bit longer than the breast meat. The recipe called for 8-10 minutes. This gives the dark meat a head start in cooking and ensure that when the breast meat has reached 165 degrees that its near 175-180 degrees which is perfect. Again I left the chicken a bit longer. But Its more likely due to the fact that my pan was not as hot as the original recipe called for. But the more moderate heat was perfect and the chicken browned without the skin sticking and burning.

The last steps are pretty easy. Take two layers of tin foil and cover the top of the dutch oven I did so in an "+" pattern. Then I closed the lid down over the pot to seal it well and trap in the moist air.

The dutch oven goes into a preheated oven set at 250 for 80-to-110 minutes. Till the Breast meat registers 165 and the thigh and dark meat is 170-ish

Take the chicken out of the pan. Carefully letting the juices trapped into the chicken drip back into the pan. Set the chicken aside. Tent it with foil to cover and keep warm. let the chicken rest 10 minutes or so. While you wait, strain the pan juices thru a fine mesh sieve. Pressing the vegetables to extract as much juice as possible.  If you have a gravy strainer, it works best at this point if you add the recovered juices to it so that at time of service, you can separate the heavy layer of fat from the sauce. I have a gravy separator. But I couldn't find it. So I let the juices sit for a few moments and then used a ladle to skim the fat from the top. When you are ready to serve, add a touch of fresh lemon juice to the chicken Jus and readjust the seasoning with a pinch of salt and pepper (if necessary) Carve your chicken and serve the Jus on the side. This was one of the best chicken dinner I have ever eaten. Its not about crisp, crunchy skin. The moist cooking method is no friend to crispy chicken skin and you might not even think that such a small amount of vegetables would be enough to have an impact on flavor, but it is. The meat is perfumed with the vegetables and the highly concentrated juices in the bottom of the pan are intensely rich in flavor. There are not enough juices to make a "gravy" but just enough to serve on the side. Gently poured over the chicken as a Jus.  This is one of those perfect recipes. Short on complicated effort and yet incredibly flavorful and elegant. I hope you try it.
                                                                                

The dogs woudnt even eat it.

So I attempted my first Rachel Ray recipe today. Caught the show one late night when my insomnia was pretty bad and she was the only thing on to watch. It was either infomercials or Rachel and I chose Rachel.
My first mistake. But the recipe was pretty basic and pretty simply and it looked good. Or at lest to my sleep deprived brain it looked good.

So today I made this chicken cutlet recipe. A butterflied chicken breast, pounded flat and marinated in fresh citrus. Grilled, then toped with an rocket salad.

So i followed the very simple recipe. Couldn't imagine were or how it could go wrong.

It did.

It was awful.

I tossed bits of it to the Chihuahua an the Beagle. Neither would eat it.


No more Rachel recipes for me.