The second best chicken recipe ever and making weird stuff

I have so much to tell you and little energy to tell it. So, here is the condensed version. You know I put enough stuff in one post for 3 blog posts but that is because I don't like to string it out. I want to show you what I did this weekend.

First off I have to tell you the recipe I made on Friday night because it was so easy and good. It was the Second Best Chicken Recipe in the world. The FIRST best Chicken Recipe EVER is here



This SECOND best Chicken Recipe ever is easy easy easy too. Just coconut milk, brown sugar, and Red Chili Paste.



Flatten a chicken by cutting the backbone out (or you could use chicken parts)



Rub all over chicken and grill.



Make it. You will like it.

Next off I started making Soy Sauce. Yes, Soy Sauce. Someone happened to say to me "Next thing you know you will be making Soy Sauce" and that was all I needed to hear. I was going to ferment and make soy sauce damnit.



So, I found organic dried soy beans at the local health food store and I brought home 500g and soaked them overnight. Next day I boiled them until they got soft.



Made quite a mess on the stove at which point Dr. Food said "um, do you realize that you paid more for making it than a damn bottle costs at the store? (he didn't say damn but I heard it).



I mumbled as I cleaned up the mess that buying it isn't as good. His reply was "So you think it is going to be THAT much better?" I pretty much think that it will be THAT much better or I will be poisoned by the bacteria that I am growing.



Soy beans are smooshed into a paste and a log is made.



Then discs are cut and laid out.



They are covered with wet paper towl and plastic wrap and left to mold.



Check back often for updates. May take months and months but I will still be here.



Saturday night we were making a dish from Rick Bayless called Tangy Yucatecan Grilled Pork with Roasted Onions and Fresh Garnishes



This recipe was fantastic and pretty easy to make.



I made some salsa to go with it. The ingredients are simple and tasty.



The Weber was used to grill the onions and the meat.



Thin slices of pork.



Served with some tortillas it was a perfect dinner. Dr. Food made some beans that I forgot to eat.



So Sunday came around and I found a recipe in Kate Hill's cookbook A Culinary Journey in Gascony: Recipes and Stories from My French Canal Boat So simple and so good. It will be made again in the Winter.



A simple chicken stuffed and stewed.



Lots of vegetables.



The broth on this dish is amazing and is meant to be served as first course (We saved it for another time)



Oh oh! One more thing. I was watching TV and Mark Bittman came on and showed this cabbage salad. I loved it and it is also really easy to make.



Ok, so I am a bit out of breath from so much info. 2 fantastic 2nd Best Chicken Recipes Ever. 1 Amazing Cabbage Salad Recipe and a tale of soy sauce making. Ok now go cook something.


Grilled Red Curry Chicken
Food and Wine Contributed by Melissa Rubel Jacobson


One 3-pound chicken, wing tips removed
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons red curry paste
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Light a grill. Using kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the chicken backbone; discard the backbone. Turn the chicken breast side up and press down firmly on the breast bone to crack and flatten it. Using a sharp knife, cut deep slits to the bone 1/2 inch apart along the chicken legs and thighs. Transfer the flattened chicken to a medium baking dish.

In a small bowl, whisk the coconut milk with the curry paste and brown sugar until smooth. Rub the curry mixture all over the chicken, into the slits and under the skin; season with salt and pepper.

Grill the chicken skin side down over moderate heat until the skin is browned and crisp, about 10 minutes. Turn the chicken skin side up, cover and grill over moderate heat until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Carve the chicken and serve.

Print Recipe

Tangy Yucatecan Grilled Pork with Roasted Onions and Fresh Garnishes
Rick Bayless

2 medium white onions, unpeeled
1 1/2 pounds well-trimmed, thin-cut, boneless pork steaks, cut from the shoulder or leg
OR 1 1/2 pounds thin-cut, boneless pork chops
3/4 cup fresh sour orange juice, plus a little more if needed
OR a generous 1/2 cup fresh lime juice, plus a little more if needed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, for seasoning the meat and vegetables
3 cups thinly sliced cabbage
1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro, plus a few sprigs for garnish
1 pound (2 medium-large round) ripe tomatoes, cored and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 large avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced 1/4-inch thick

DIRECTIONS

1. Roast the onions. Light a charcoal fire and let it burn until all the coals are medium- hot and covered with gray ash. Nestle the onions directly in the coals and let them roast until charred on the outside and soft within, about 20 minutes.

2. Prepare the meat and vegetables. While the onions are roasting, pound the meat with a flat mallet to about 1/8-inch thick. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of the sour orange (or 3 tablespoons lime) juice, cover and set aside. Cool the onions until handleable, peel the charred outer layers off, then cut what remains into 1/2-inch squares. Toss with 1/4 cup of the sour orange (or about 3 tablespoons lime) juice and season with salt and pepper. Toss the cabbage with the cilantro and the remaining 1/4 cup of the sour orange (or 3 tablespoons lime) juice; season with salt and pepper. Spread onto a large serving platter about 14-inches or so in diameter. Decorate the perimeter with alternating slices of tomato and avocado, and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

3. Grill and serve. Stoke your fire with new charcoal and let it get really hot. Sprinkle both sides of the meat generously with salt and pepper. Working with a couple of pieces at a time, grill the pork: let it sear about 2 minutes on one side, then flip it over and sear on the other. (The total cooking time for 1/8-inch pork steaks over a very hot fire will be no more than 3 or 4 minutes.) Lay the meat slightly overlapping down the center of the platter and strew the onions over the meat. Decorate with a few cilantro sprigs and serve without delay, accompanied by salsa and baskets of hot tortillas.

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Cabbage Salad
Mark Bittman

Recipe: Cabbage Salad Time: 10 minutes, plus 1 to 2 hours for salting

Time: 10 minutes, plus 1 to 2 hours for salting

1 small head white cabbage, about 1 pound, cored and shredded

1/2 small head red cabbage, about

1/2 pound, cored and shredded

1 or 2 carrots, peeled, trimmed and shredded

Salt as needed

Extra virgin olive oil to taste

Vinegar or lemon juice to taste

Black pepper to taste

Chopped fresh parsley leaves, optional.

1. In a colander, combine cabbages and carrots. Toss with at least 1 tablespoon salt, enough so that leaves exude moisture within 10 or 15 minutes. If they do not, add a little more salt. Let sit an hour or two, pressing out moisture out with your hands once or twice.

2. Taste, and if mixture is too salty, rinse and dry. Toss with oil, vinegar or lemon juice, and pepper; you may even need a little salt. Serve, garnished with parsley if you like.

Yield: At least 4 servings.

Print Recipe

Preserving Scapes

This is going to be short and sweet. Wha? Janis is going to be short and sweet?



I might have a scape problem. I never really saw scapes around when I lived in California or maybe I just didn't notice or care. Since I have gotten to New England I have this addiction to them and go nuts in the summer when I see them. Dr. Food says "You buying MORE scapes? You haven't even used the ones you have" I say "Dr. Food, mind your own beeswax" I love having them for the winter when everything is dreary and I don't have enough vitamin D in my body and I mope around feeling glum. I pull my scapes out and they make me feel like a itty bitty part of summer is there. So, I bought about 4lbs of scapes to freeze. Weeks went on and Dr. Food would say "Uh, you need to do something with those scapes". I didn't feel like chopping them up and putting them in the food processor wasn't appealing because I didn't want a paste I wanted hunks.



So I read that you could salt them and be done with it. We will see if it works. If not this is going to be a long grumpy winter.

Goober goes international...or "my first poutine"

We were all set. Goober had his passport. A little back story first. Goober is really from Norway. My friend Nella won him for me from the good folks at JarlsbergUSA Cheese. He is now a part of our family so he became an American citizen. Hence the passport (I love saying things like "hence" that is why I wrote that sentence).



One of our first stops was in Vermont. We stopped at the Maple Museum. Goober was very excited.



I couldn't get a picture of him AND the sign because he is too small. Goober did beg us to buy him this Maple tap so that we can tap our maple tree and see the sap come out.



He begged to have his picture taken with this sculpture.



Next stop was Burlington Vermont. Little did we know that it was orientation day at the university. Hotels were packed. We ended up in a hotel that Goober hated. Ok, I might have hated it too. It was right off the freeway for gods sake.



Goober stood on the ledge and pretended like he would jump if Dr. Food ever dragged her I mean him to a crappy hotel off of the freeway again.



Goober liked jumping on the bed.




Thank god we got up the next morning and got to move on.


Before long we were on the road again. We stopped more along the way but I didn't get pictures. We stopped at an amazing antique store where the woman was psychic and had a photographic memory (the memory we saw for ourselves, the psychic...um, well who knows).


(picture borrowed from wikipedia)


We stopped in Montreal for lunch at a dive. It was so late already that we didn't really want to eat lunch so we shared a dish of Poutine. It was my first taste of it. First few bites were amazing and then it wasn't. I did love the cheese curds though.



We drove for miles and miles while Goober slept. We finally arrived in Quebec City. We were staying at the hotel Pur Really ultra modern and cool hotel.



Goobs loved the art.



He loved the bed.



He thought the lighting was cool.



He really went wild over the candy they left on his pillow at night.

So the next morning we woke up ready to go visit Isle d'Orleans where there are wineries and artisanal food stuff. I especially wanted to visit the Vinegar making place. We found that poor Goober had a case of the "Travelers Two Step". He was in the bathroom all night and opted to stay back at the hotel while we went out to explore the island.



We went to a Goose and Duck farm which had amazing rillettes and pates. The owner/chef explained to us his passion for an artisanal approach with all things duck and goose. We planned on coming back for dinner for a 12 course tasting menu.



Later that night we did go back. I have to say that dinner was amazing. We got there at 6:30 and there were only 2 other groups that were being served that night. One was a party of 5 and the other was another couple having the tasting menu as we were.

I didn't get pictures on my camera of the meal because I thought that was a bit uncouth in such a small setting. However, Dr. Food did chronicle each course on his cell phone camera (will post another time). I will just say that the chef used no seasonings other than a bit of salt on his food. It was pure poultry and vegetables from his garden. We had a wonderful time, but by 11:00 we were a bit burnt out from sitting there. Yes, we were there for 5 hours. It was only chef and his wife doing everything. Great meal but a one time only sorta thing.



When we got back to the room poor little Goober was awake. He assured us that he felt better.



We did have to stop him from racking up a huge bill off of the mini-bar. He couldn't believe that they left all these goodies in the room for us.



He was getting rambunctious so I knew he was feeling better.

We walked into the old section of Quebec.



While walking I saw this phone pole. It was all leather strips. One of the reason I love walking is because you get to see stuff like this (but don't be fooled, I complained the whole time that we didn't take the car. It was HOT).





We went into Maison Jean-Alfred Moisan. The oldest grocery store in North America. It was beautiful. Here Goober is checking out the spices.



We were ready for lunch and Goober thought that maybe he would find a girlfriend at this restaurant. It was called "Hobbit" and it was really good. Poor Goober has been trying to find a girlfriend for a long time to no avail. If you think of someone to set him up with his number is 000-124-5678.



He was ok hanging with Dr. Food though. The food was really great at this restaurant. Goobers stomach was still a bit "off" so he stuck with the bread.



After lunch we watched a street show that was really funny. These two were hysterical. Goober laughed and laughed.






Goober found this stuffed animal in a shop and begged for me to buy it but I didn't give in.



Lots of pretty things but in this neighborhood things were touristy and expensive. I liked the neighborhood we were staying much better.



Of course Goober got a kick out of these.



Here is Goober in a fountain in front of Chateau Frontenac. We walked around a bit more than headed back to the hotel. No more pictures from that point. So, that was it. The time went too fast. The next morning we blasted back home without stopping much. Goober was exhausted and so was I. I was happy to find that I had cucumbers that had grown while I was gone.



Goober was excited to try out the new Vinegar urn to make our own vinegar that we bought.



He was also very happy to be back in his spot in our kitchen



Poutine
By Rebecca Franklin, About.com Guide

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
Oil for frying
1 cup cheese curds
1 1/3 cups beef gravy, heated
Preparation:

Cut the potatoes lengthwise into thin strips, about 1/3-inch in width. Soak the potatoes in ice-cold water for 1 hour, drain, and pat completely dry. Heat the oil in a deep fryer or deep skillet to 325F and fry the potatoes, in batches, for 3 minutes, until they turn dark white-yellow, but not brown. Drain the fries on fresh paper towels and allow them to rest for a few minutes.

Bring the oil back to 325F and fry the potatoes again, in batches, for 4 to 5 minutes, until they turn crisp and medium golden brown. Drain the fries on fresh paper towels, salt them, and divide them onto 4 serving plates or bowls.

Add 1/4 cup of the cheese curds and 1/3 cup of the hot beef gravy on each serving of fries. Serve hot.

This poutine recipe makes 4 servings.