I grew up in the kitchen. From a tender age, I watched my mother cook dinner every night, and began “helping”, by stirring a sauce here, adding a pinch of herbs there. But soon I began branching out on my own. I have a very clear memory of pulling the kitchen chair over to the counter so I could make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which is a staple for any kid. As I got older and I was allowed to do crazy things like use a knife or turn on the stove, my preparations got more elaborate (grilled cheese!). And then there was the night I actually cooked dinner for my entire family. And this is what I made.
Chicken curry. Not an authentic, subcontinental masala, but a simple, 1960′s version of the classic, cribbed from my dad’s old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. The recipe calls for chicken that has been previously cooked, so not only is it another great use for leftover roast chicken, it also is a great recipe for an adolescent me to cook without running the risk of poisoning my family with undercooked chicken. The rest of the ingredient list includes pretty standard and nonthreatening pantry ingredients — apples, onions, butter, flour, milk, chicken broth, and curry powder (I always use Sun brand Madras curry powder, which is the same kind my mom kept around when she was growing up).
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Tags: chicken·easy·leftovers·roast chicken·weeknight
Back in the day when I lived in New York, I was more than a little homesick. I pined and yearned for my home state of California, and pounced on everything I could find that reminded me of home. I wore flipflops at the very first sign of spring in the city (and narrowly avoided frostbite in the process), I saw the movie Sideways 3 times in the theaters, and bought the DVD when it was released; I traveled all the way to TENTH AVENUE to find a tiny taqueria in the back of a bodega that sold real tacos; I listened to the Beach Boys on repeat. So you can imagine how happy I was when the last apartment we lived in in Manhattan was right next door to a California Pizza Kitchen (it also had a balcony, which means my poor husband was sent outside to grill in 50 degree weather. He was happy when we finally moved to California because I immediately started wearing black and wanting to see foreign films in a desperate cling to my New York days). Now I realize that California Pizza Kitchen is about as truly Californian as Red Lobster is truly a restaurant of Maine, but I was desperate.
And the truth is, I kind of liked their food. Sure, peanut butter is not my FAVORITE topping on pizza, and some of those combinations were just weird, but the barbecue chicken chopped salad was quite tasty and quickly became my go to order.
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Tags: chicken·Kid Friendly·leftovers·salad·weeknight
I was roasting a chicken the other night, and I realized that I’ve never posted roast chicken on my blog, which I really should. It’s my go to Sunday night supper, one we have at least once or twice a month. It’s elegant enough for company, but casual enough for a kitchen supper (if you had an eat in kitchen, which we don’t. Say it’s casual enough to eat while curled up on a couch, with a glass of $4/bottle Tempranillo and a DVD of Mamma Mia. Don’t judge.) It appeals to kids, picky eaters, those who don’t eat red meat. It doesn’t require fancy ingredients. And it creates wonderful leftovers which can be repurposed into all sorts of great things — chicken salads, chicken curry, and chicken stock (more on all of those, later). In short, roast chicken might just be the perfect meal. And as such, it’s my duty to share this recipe with you.
I’ve tried many different roast chicken recipes — Martha Stewart’s Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, Thomas Keller’s Roast chicken (which, incidentally is almost identical to my family roast chicken recipe, which was given to us by the Moroccan cook at my godmother’s in-laws’ villa on the Cote D’Azur), and the standard rub with butter and roast at 350 until it’s done recipes, but I always come back to this one, which I found in Judy Rodger’s marvellous Zuni Cafe Cookbook
(incidentally, this is one cookbook I think every serious cook should own. The techniques are amazing, the recipes flawless, and the dishes wonderful). Judy Rodgers has converted me to dry brining — sprinkling the chicken with salt well before you want to cook it — which yields a tender and juicy chicken with a crisp, salty skin that is seasoned all the way to the bone. Dry brining can yield great results in any meat (even the Thanksgiving turkey), but a dry brined chicken is a thing of beauty and should be in everyone’s repertoire.
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Tags: chicken·Zuni Cafe
