Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk

Chris has been home nursing a broken foot and spending a lot of time on his I-Pad. During his virtual travels, he came across a recipe called "Chicken in Milk" by British celebrity chef and restauranteur Jamie Oliver. Since we have tried, and liked, cooking pork in milk in the past, Chris decided he would try this recipe, and surprised Amy with a nice chicken dinner after she had a long day at work last week.

While this quote appears on the website:

Trust me, you're going to love this one – the milk creates the most amazing flavoursome sauce. 

that is not what we found with this recipe. In fact, the sauce was unpleasantly lumpy from the lemon juice curdling the milk, and it was quite lackluster in flavor. We would definitely increase the amounts of ALL of the flavor-inducing ingredients (cinnamon, sage, lemon zest, salt, pepper) and remove the skin from the garlic cloves next time we make this recipe.

Which we will. Why, you ask? Because the thing we most certainly did love about this recipe was how tender the chicken was after cooking in the milk. Milk contains calcium and lactic acid, both of which help break down the protein in meat, thus creating a more tender consistency. We doubt anyone could follow this recipe and come out with dry chicken. Although they will not come out with crispy chicken skin, which is yet another fault with this recipe.

So, to sum up, this is the chicken in milk we made as per Jamie Oliver's recipe. When we make it again, we will create a new post with any and all of our own changes and our updated results.

Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk

minimally adapted from here

Ingredients:

1 whole roasting chicken (2-3 lbs.)

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

olive oil

1/2 stick cinnamon

1 "good handful" fresh sage leaves

zest of 2 lemons

10 cloves garlic, skins on

2 1/2 cups whole milk

Preheat oven to 375 F. Season chicken all over with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a pot that is "snug-fitting" for the chicken, then brown it on all sides in the oil. Remove from heat and discard oil from the pot. Add remaining ingredients to the pot with the chicken, then place in preheated oven. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, basting often. Spoon sauce over chicken when serving.

Honey Lime Curry Chicken Stir Fry

For as long as we've been going to the Coventry Regional Farmers Market on Sundays, we've noticed from afar the stand of Connecticut-Grown artisan hot sauces and condiments known as "Dragon's Blood Elixir." And we can't give you one single good reason that we never tried them other than we have some hot sauce favorites always in our fridge, namely, Cholula and Louisiana, and really, how many hot sauces does one couple need? Nevertheless, we've been ever-so-slightly obsessed with the CT local scene as of late, and Doug, the maker of Dragon's Blood was giving out tastes, and there was no line, so there you have it. We stopped. We tried. We got hooked.

Three bottles and a few days later, we thawed a pound of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and prepped to make a stir fry with Dragon's Blood's Honey Lime Curry sauce, one of Doug's several "special" sauces, made with CT-grown chilis and other local ingredients. At our market tasting, he had suggested mixing the sauce with yogurt to thicken it and make it more of a stir fry sauce, and we did, with plain Greek yogurt. Since we had nearly every flavor profile we might need with our sauce (salty, sweet, sour, bitter), as well as great spice from the curry, all we really needed was crunch, which we added with celery, carrots and green beans. Next time we'll try a squeeze of lime over the top (we didn't have any on hand) to punch up the citrus.

This was a lovely, very easy, pretty healthy and quite delicious weeknight dinner that pleased the palette with its variety of flavors and textures. We served it over rice to balance the heat, and had enough for lunch the next day. This one is definitely doing into the weeknight repertoire. We might have to make it on Game of Thrones nights!!!

Honey Lime Curry Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 carrot, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 pound green beans, cut into thirds
1 celery stalk, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup Honey Lime Curry Sauce
1 single-serve container plain Greek yogurt
cooked rice

Heat oil in a wok or large skillet. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Add chicken  and cook until browned.  Add carrots, green beans and celery and continue to cook, stir-frying, until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender. In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt and curry sauce; season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce into wok/skillet and stir-fry until everything is coated and sauce is hot. Serve over or toss with

cooked rice.

K's "Semi-Homemade" Gumbo

We were in New Orleans over the holidays visiting with our friends K and J when it suddenly occurred to Amy to ask K how she makes her gumbo. In the proud fashion only a Southerner could pull off, K explained that she started with Zatarain's Gumbo Base and then "doctored it up." Now, Amy loves Zatarain's products. In fact, she once served Zatarain's Shrimp Creole to a New Orleans native who claimed disbelief that something so delicious could come from a Yankee's kitchen. (Well, with a little help.) And if Zatarain's is good enough for K, it's good enough for us.

Missing NOLA (and K and J!) already, we decided to make K's "Semi-Homemade" Gumbo yesterday and it was perfect. We don't serve ours with rice, just plenty of crusty bread to soak up the thick, gravy-like stew. And while we used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and andouille sausage in ours, any mixture of meat and/or seafood that you like can be thrown into the gumbo pot. This recipe made eight servings, so there was enough for dinner and a couple of Louisiana-style lunches. Laissez les bon temps rouler! We're going to have to make this for Mardi Gras!

And doesn't it look so good in our NOLA "Soup"-er Bowls?!?!?

K's Semi-Homemade Gumbo

Ingredients:

1 box Zatarain's Gumbo Base

6 cups water 

1 - 1 1/2 pounds pre-cooked chicken or sausage (or raw seafood), cut into bite-sized pieces

3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil, divided

3 bay leaves

dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme, salt and black pepper to taste

1 medium onion, chopped

3 celery stalks (including leaves), chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

12-16 oz. frozen cut okra

1 14-oz. can petite diced tomatoes

In a large pot, combine the gumbo base, water, browned chicken and/or sausage (if using seafood do not add yet), 2 tablespoons oil, bay leaves, and a shake each of dried herbs, salt and pepper. Stir thoroughly and bring to a boil. In the meantime, heat last tablespoon of oil in a skillet. Cook onion, celery and garlic until softened. Add to the pot, then re-season with herbs, salt and pepper to taste. When mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. As all of that cooks, put frozen cut okra in the vegetable skillet with 1/2 cup water.  Bring to a boil, cover, and cook on medium until the okra is soft. Then add the okra and tomatoes to pot. Continue to cook until the 30 minutes are up. (If adding seafood, add after 20 minutes of cooking, return to a boil, then cover and simmer another 10 minutes.) Serve over rice and/or with crusty bread.

Skillet Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

"Whole roaster chickens, buy one get one free? Seems like a decent deal. Let's do it." Later, at home: "Now...where are we going to put these?"

This was the conversation we had on Saturday, when we decided take advantage of our local grocery's chicken offer, then freeze one and make the other one for Sunday dinner the next day. It just so happened that Sunday morning, while sipping coffee and reading rag-mags in her pjs, Amy saw what looked to be a great recipe for "Skillet Chicken" by Jessica Seinfeld.

Chris butchered the chicken while Amy sliced the onions and potatoes and cut a couple of sprigs of rosemary out of the garden. In less than an hour, we had crispy-skinned chicken over a bed of melted onions and soft, herby potatoes. What a cozy, one-pot wonder, just begging to be made in that cast-iron skillet.

Skillet Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

slightly adapted from Jessica Seinfeld's recipe out of People Magazine

Ingredients:

1 onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup water

8 new potatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 sprigs (about 2 tablespoons) fresh rosemary leaves

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 roaster chicken, butchered (we saved the breasts for another meal)

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon onion salt

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

2 teaspoons ground coriander

Preheat oven to 425. Scatter onions over the bottom of a large cast-iron skillet. Add water. Lay the potatoes over the onions. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle rosemary leaves over the potatoes, then season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken pieces over the pototoes, skin side up. Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt, onion salt, Italian seasoning and ground coriander. Roast until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender, about 1 hour.

Cooking Club: Glazed Chicken with Apple Salad

Amy writes:

The first meeting of my school's cooking club was today, and the student-chefs-in-charge this year are focusing on 30-minute recipes. Today's recipe was one from Pampered Chef, and can be found in various places online, including here. Our market did not have watercress, so teacher-chef-in-charge (Dave) substituted escarole, the bitterness of which balanced nicely with the sweet salad dressing. Speaking of dressing, who would have thought to use jelly in salad dressing? Certainly not I. 

The results: Did we make it in 30 minutes? Yes, in fact, just under. Then we enjoyed it, sharing some future serving suggestions, such as adding walnuts or Craisins. But all of us thought it was an easy, tasty, healthy meal and we'd all make it again. Success!

Chicken with Chicory

Gordon Ramsay. Some people love him. Some people hate him. Some people love to hate him. However you feel about him, you have to respect the guy. He's a successful celebrity chef and restauranteur with several Michelin stars. He's always on American television, but recently, we've been recording (from BBC) our favorite Gordon Ramsay project yet - Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course. This is a nice Gordon Ramsay. A gentle, helpful, teacher-esque Gordon Ramsay. Not at all shouty and mean like the Gordon Ramsay of certain other shows (it's called Hell's Kitchen for a reason, people!). And come on, the accent is pretty attractive. Amy loves how he says "basil." But we digress.

Suffice it to say, this recipe is pretty much his, from the first episode of Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course, which focuses on making things in a pan. There seems to be a cookbook attached to the show, but we're just enjoying figuring the recipes out ourselves by watching, as if we're having a private cooking class. Gordon doesn't always give exact measurements, and this recipe makes up only about 2 minutes in the half-hour long show, but we did our best. Whatever it was, it was yummy. And we'll be making it again. That much we know.

And by the way, chicory is endive. You donkey!

Chicken with Chicory

inspired by Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course, episode one

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 split chicken breasts

kosher salt and black pepper to taste

2 heads chicory/endive

2 garlic cloves, crushed

handful of sprigs of thyme

1/4 cup marsala wine

1/4 cup chicken stock

2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Heat oil in a large skillet or cast iron pan over high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and lay, skin side down, in the hot oil. Cook until skin turns golden brown. Flip the chicken to cook the other side. Cut the chicory heads in half and lay in the pan with the chicken. Add crushed garlic and sprigs of thyme and cook until chicory starts to caramelize, then flip the chicory. Add marsala and stock and continue to cook until chicken is cooked through and liquid reduces. Swirl in the butter to baste the chicken and make a pan sauce. (Our chicken breasts were pretty big, so we needed to put them in a 425-degree oven for about 20 minutes to finish cooking, during which time we left the endive and pan sauce on very low heat). 

Guest Post: Baked Chicken with Apricot Glaze, Sage and Lemon Zest

One thing 2012 seemed to be was the year everyone we knew read the  Fifty Shades trilogy. Amy and her BFF Karen read it at the same time and chatted about it on the phone, in texts, and finally, over their 40th birthday girls' weekend in Vermont, even going so far as to add a vanilla ice cream cone charm on their bestie charm bracelet! In honor of 2012, we've asked Karen to do a guest post inspired by the books. Thanks, Karen! And to everyone, Happy New Year and thanks for reading!

Karen writes:

After spending my summer reading the popular Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy I laughed hysterically when I received for Christmas Fifty Shades of Chicken: A Parody in a Cookbook.  I have to say it has been the perfect gift for a foodie/Christian Grey groupie!  It is told through the eyes of Miss Hen who is being “cooked” by her chef Blades.  The recipes, and stories which accompany them, mirror the steamy books from the first meeting (to the first of many other things) all the way to the happy ending  presented in dishes such as “Plain Vanilla Chicken” and “Popped-Cherry Pullet” to “Roast Me All Night Long Chicken” and “Chicken with Hearts and Flowers.”  No cookbook would be complete without side dishes and this one wouldn’t be complete without “Taters, Baby”!!  So, I now find myself on a quest to cook all 50 chicken recipes (and maybe even some sides)! 

I have chosen to begin with “Baked chicken with apricot glaze, sage and lemon zest.”  As Miss Hen says in describing the dish, “I’m in warm pieces all over the plate.  My own juices mingle with the sticky sweet jam he’s spread all over me.  My skin feels melting and soft.  He ignores the fine silver flatware and picks up a thigh with both hands.  Wow.”  You can see why I chose to start there!

Here is the recipe (serving for 2) with a few minor changes made by me….

Mix 3 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil with 1 ¼ tsp sea salt and ¾ tsp pepper

Place 4 chicken thighs in a plastic storage bag and pour in the oil mixture

Massage the thighs with the mixture then place sprigs of sage on the chicken

Tighten the bag and place it in the refrigerator “until the chicken is begging you for it, about 6 hours or overnight”

Preheat the oven to 400

In a bowl, grate the zest from one lemon, squeeze the juice and add 1/3 of a cup of apricot spread, 1tsp Worcestershire sauce and 1 large clove of garlic minced

Remove the sage from the chicken and spread the sticky jam all over the chicken

Lay the thighs in a 9x13 baking dish “leaving plenty of breathing room between each succulent morsel”

Bake 45-55 minutes “until the skin is alluringly golden and the juices run clear when pricked” 

Enjoy a sweet and juicy dish!

Serve with:

Sage and Marcona Almonds with Rosemary Pesto Pasta

(not in cookbook – just something special for my Bestie!!!)

Pulse in food processor:

10 sage leaves

2 cloves of garlic

½ lemon zest

1tsp lemon juice

1/8 cup Marcona Almonds with Rosemary

2 tblsp Pecan Oil then add Extra Virgin Olive Oil until desired consistency

Toss with pasta

Tea-Smoked Chicken and Leftover Tea-Smoked Chicken Pho

We found a two-ounce package of this distinctive tea in our cupboard. It smelled so good - smoky, caramel-y, rich. Neither of us could remember where it came from, but we had just bought a brick of pu'er tea on a recent visit to Boston's Chinatown, so we decided to use this package to make Tea-Smoked Chicken.

Before we go on, we should share a hard-earned tip. When you are tea-smoking a chicken, open the windows in your kitchen, turn on a fan or two. This method of ours makes a LOT of smoke. It reminded us that we need to replace our smoke detector batteries...

 

Anyway, we digress. First we dry-brined the chicken in kosher salt for about three hours in the refrigerator. Then we smoked the chicken on our stovetop with a smoking mixture of the pu'er tea, raw rice and sugar; this took about 25 minutes. Finally, we baked the chicken with a basting glaze made from garlic, ginger, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and Szechuan peppercorns. The meat was very juicy, really tender, and extremely flavorful. The skin was salty and smoky and sooo very yummy. Tea-smoked success!

We really enjoyed this chicken, and so we ate quite a bit of it that night, but when two people sit down to eat a whole chicken, there's bound to be leftovers. So the next night, we used our easy pho recipe and made Leftover Tea-smoked Chicken Pho. And we had leftovers from that, too! So from one $5 chicken (on sale!), a few pantry ingredients, some tea (which, it turns out, is pretty expensive, but you can use any tea you want!) and a little bit of fresh produce, we ended up with six individual meals. That works for us!

Tea-Smoked Chicken

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

1/4 cup kosher salt

2 ounces loose tea

1/2 cup uncooked rice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns, crushed

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced ginger

pinch granulated sugar

Rub the chicken inside and out with the kosher salt. Place in refrigerator and allow to dry-brine for 2-3 hours. When ready to cook, heat oven to 375. Line a large roasting pan with two layers of aluminum foil. Combine the tea, rice and sugar in a bowl and pour into the roasting pan over the foil. Place a roasting rack over the tea mixture and set the chicken on the rack. Create a tent of aluminum foil over the whole pan and set over high heat on the stove top. Allow the chicken to smoke on high heat for 15 minutes, then turn heat off and let it sit in the smoke for another 10 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the basting glaze. Whisk together the peppercorns, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic, ginger and sugar and brush about half of it over the chicken. Place uncovered in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes (or until temperature reaches 165) , basting occasionally with the remaining glaze. Allow to rest for five to ten minutes before serving. Use leftovers to make pho using this recipe.