Asian Brined Chicken

It's been a crazy week. Son #1 needed surgery and the past few days felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster. Fortunately, everything went well and he's home now, recuperating.

I've missed my kitchen, I've missed cooking, and I've missed blogging. And after preparing tonight's dinner, laying out the table, saying grace and eating together, I feel some semblance of normalcy already.

I brined this chicken last night and the 24-hour soak really worked wonders. The chicken was very juicy and amazingly flavorful. Even the breast meat, which can sometimes taste bland, was excellent. Of course having each bite with a bit of crisp skin helped.

Asian Brined Chicken

1 3-4 lb. chicken
4 cups water
1/2 cup oyster sauce
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1 tbsp. sriracha hot sauce (optional)
2 tbsp. grated ginger
1 tbsp. minced garlic
3 stalks lemongrass, chopped into 1 inch pieces
3 kaffir lime leaves
1/4 cup chinese rice wine
2 tbsp. rice vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. five spice powder

1. Mix all the ingredients except the chicken until well blended.
2. Soak chicken in brining liquid for 12-24 hours. Keep chicken in fridge.
3. Butterly chicken (or not, if you so prefer) and roast at 325 for 45-50 minutes.
4. Raise oven temperature to 400 and roast chicken for 15 minutes more.
5. Alternatively, you could use a turbo broiler and roast chicken at 175, skin side down for 30 minutes. Flip chicken over and roast another 30 minutes.
6. Allow chicken to rest for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

The low roasting temperature for this dish allows the chicken to cook without overbrowning. The soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar will burn if you roast the chicken at a high temperature. So start low and then increase the temperature toward the end of cooking to brown and crisp the skin.

Son #2 had his chicken with hoisin sauce, but I enjoyed mine with a sprinkling of Eurasian Black Sea Salt, which has an "eggy" flavor due to its higher sulfur content. It was a very nice "welcome back home" meal indeed.

Apple-Onion Pork Chops with Smashed Garlic Potatoes

It's only been 3 days, yet I feel like I haven't posted since forever! Well, for Tuesday night, we had M over and it was pasta for dinner, but I used bacon instead of chorizo. Then Wednesday night was left-overs for the boys since I had a work thing. So to make up for left-over night, for dinner we had this...

Apple-Onion Pork Chops

6 pork chops, boneless, each about 3/4 inch thick
kosher salt
pepper
2 fuji apples, peeled and diced
1 sweet onion, sliced
1 heaping tsp. whole grain mustard
4 sage leaves
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth

1. Season chops generously with salt and pepper.
2. In a heavy skillet, sear meat until both sides are well browned.
3. Remove meat from skillet, lower heat to medium and add onions and apples.
4. Saute until onions are partly softened, about 5-7 minutes.
5. Deglaze pan with white wine and add mustard and sage.
6. Reduce until almost all of wine has evaporated.
7. Add chicken broth.
8. Return chops into skillet along with juices.
9. Finish in a 375 oven for 15 minutes.

I served this dish with smashed garlic potatoes, which is one of my favorite ways of preparing potatoes. The skin provides a wonderful contrast to the rustic creaminess of the potato chunks.

Smashed Garlic Potatoes

6 Yukon gold potatoes, washed well
1 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup cream or milk
salt and pepper

1. Boil potatoes with their skins on until tender.
2. Drain. In a large bowl, use a potato masher or a large sturdy fork to smash potatoes. Smash the skins as well. You want small and large chunks, not a homogenous, mushy mass.
3. In a small skillet, heat butter and brown garlic just until fragrant. Pour butter and garlic into smashed potatoes.
4. Add cream/milk and season with salt and pepper.
5. Mix everything together until well blended.

Chicken with 20 Cloves of Garlic

I love garlic. I remember once I went to the garlic festival in Gilroy, California and they had garlic everything...garlic butter, garlic mascots, garlic souvenirs, and even garlic ice cream (!). Ina Garten's recipe for Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic had chicken (good!), wine (good!!) and lots of garlic (GOOD!!!) so I decided to use it as my inspiration for tonight's meal. I was making half the recipe so I baptized my dish:

Chicken with 20 Cloves of Garlic

• 8 chicken thighs, bone-in, trimmed of excess fat and skin
• 2 whole heads of garlic (about 20 cloves), separated into cloves
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup white wine
• 7-8 springs fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 2 tbsp. cream (I used 18%)

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Don't be stingy.

2. In a heavy pot brown chicken on both sides, making sure you get good caramelization. You might need to do this in batches.

3. Meanwhile, boil a bit of water in a small pot and blanch the unpeeled garlic cloves for a minute. Drain then peel the garlic cloves.

4. Remove chicken from pot and set aside.

5. In the same pot, lightly brown the garlic cloves. Set aside. At this point, I remove the excess oil and fat by sopping it up with a paper towel, but you don't have to. It's probably more flavorful to keep it in the dish, but the tiny health-conscious part of my brain nags at me and guilt prevails.

6. Deglaze the pot with wine, scraping the brown bits on the bottom.

7. Put chicken and garlic back in the wine, along with the the thyme sprigs.

8. Simmer for 30 minutes.

9. Remove chicken and garlic from pot and mix in the flour into the sauce making a roux.

10. Once flour is thoroughly incorporated and sauce has thickened, turn off heat and add cream.

11. Pour sauce over chicken and garlic.

In the end, the garlic becomes soft and sweet and buttery. It's perfect slathered on pieces of rustic, crusty bread which you can then use to mop up the wonderful sauce.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

This is one of my tried and true recipes. I've made it many, many times...using a mixer, by hand, with salted butter, with unsalted butter, with full fat sour cream, with low-fat sour cream, in a 350 oven, in a loaf pan, as cupcakes...I haven't had a disaster yet. So I guess you could call this recipe fool-proof?

My hand-written recipe, copied from somewhere long ago, stained with butter from the many times it's been used, is permanently attached to my fridge door.


Sour Cream Pound Cake

• 1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp. lemon extract
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Grease and flour a 10 cup bundt pan.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after eah addition.
5. Add 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sour cream, next cup of flour, rest of sour cream, and rest of flour, mixing after each addition.
6. Add the extracts and baking soda.
7. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60-75 minutes, baking until top is golden and cake tester inserted into middle comes out clean.


The finished cake will look like this...

Invert cake onto a wire rack to cool. Dust with confectioner's sugar. This cake is great with a cup of coffee or tea. It freezes very well too!

Brown Sugar and Mustard Roast Pork

I felt like making a nice dinner tonight. Our menu:

Goat cheese and arugula salad with pears, dates and walnuts

Brown sugar and mustard-crusted roast pork

Rosemary-garlic duo of potatoes

Brown Sugar and Mustard-Crusted Roast Pork

*2 tbsp. whole grain mustard
*1 tbsp. packed brown sugar
*1 tsp. salt
*1/2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
*1 tbsp. olive oil
*1 tsp. dried rosemary
*6 cloves garlic, each clove sliced into 4 slivers
*1 to 1.5 kg pork roast

1. Mix first six ingredients and set aside.

2. Stab pork roast in several places and insert garlic sliver into each hole.

3. Put pork in roasting pan and rub with mustard mixture. Let stand to marinate for a couple of hours.

4. Roast in a 350 oven until thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 140, approximately 60-90 mintes. Once your thermometer reads 140, turn oven to 500 and finish roast for another 10 minutes. You can also use the broiler for 5-7 minutes.

5. Let roast sit for 10-15 minutes before carving.


Rosemary-Garlic Duo of Potatoes

*6 medium Yukon gold potatoes, cubed into 2 inch pieces, skin on
*2 yams/sweet potatoes, peeled, cubed into 2 inch pieces
*3 tsp. minced garlic
*1/2 cup olive oil
*2 tsp. kosher salt
*1 tsp. cracked black pepper

1. Toss everything together.
2. Roast in 350 oven for 30-45 minutes.
3. Brown under broiler or put back in oven when you raise the roast temp. to 500.
4. Watch closely because the sweet potatoes can burn. Brown for about 5 minutes.

Goat Cheese and Arugula Salad with Pears, Dates and Walnuts
*3 cups arugula leaves
*2 slices goat cheese, cubed
*1 bosc pear sliced
*1/2 cup walnuts, toasted lightly
*4 dried dates
*2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
*3 tbsp. olive oil

1. In a small skillet, saute pear slices and dates in a bit of olive oil until pear slices are lightly caramelized.
2. Toss with arugula, goat cheese and walnuts.
3. Dress with an emulsion of 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar and 3 tbsp. olive oil.

Hershey's and Maldon

Hershey's Caramel Pecan Filled Milk Chocolate Truffle sprinkled with Maldon Sea Salt...don't knock it 'til you try it.

I was craving a sweet morsel to end my spicy Thai inspired meal. I opened the cupboard and scanned my stash. An epicurious recipe came to mind. So I though...why not?

It was fabulous. The high note from the salt and the sweetness of the caramel and chocolate intermingled and struck the perfect balance. The Maldon added a fleeting crunch as the creamy milk chocolate and caramel melted in my mouth.

One more...just one more...I promise...

Green Chicken Curry

This is my version of "thirty minute curry." It's delicious, simple, and very easy. Plus, it's a great way to get my kids to eat their veggies. I like the Mae Ploy brand of curry paste but I always fix it up. Somehow, ready made pastes and powders lack that oomph that gives Thai curry its kick.

• 6 boneless chicken thighs, cut into cubes
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 heaping tsp. shrimp paste
• 2 tbsp. green curry paste
• 2 tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 5 slices ginger
• 3 kaffir lime leaves
• 3 stalks lemon grass, cut into 1 inch pieces (white parts only)
• 2 heads broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 cup sliced white mushrooms
• 1 cup snow peas
• 1/2 red pepper, cubed

1. Simmer coconut milk with shrimp paste, curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, ginger, lime leaves and lemon grass for 10 minutes.

2. Add chicken and cook for 10 minutes.

3. Add veggies. Simmer for a few minutes more.

4. Serve with jasmine rice.