I can’t wait until Monday to tell you all about the phone call I got on my way home. So I’m posting now.
Do you remember last year when I beat out thousands of other people to get a chance to cook my Pulled Chicken Sliders at the Foster Farms Chicken Cook-off?
As you can tell by that fact that I am not holding a giant check with my name on it, I didn’t win.
I did have a great time, a fantastic trip to San Deigo, cooked in a fancy commercial kitchen, ate some incredible food, and met some great food industry people. But, I didn’t get one of those big checks that I really wanted.
And since I know how smart you are, you probably already put 2 and 2 together to realize that 4 equals:
I’m going again this year! My recipe (Spice Rubbed Chicken Thighs with Chipotle Béarnaise over Avocado Lime Quinoa Salad) was chosen to compete in this years contest! And the rumor on the cooking contest strip is that more people than ever entered this year. So that makes me even more grateful to be in the running for that Big Check.
And the guy who called to congratulate me said this:
"The fact that your recipes have been chosen two years in a row speaks volumes of your talent."
In which I responded with a silence because the gigantic smile on my face was preventing me from speaking.
Two years in a row, and this time I mean buisness. I want to move on to the next stage, which is the finals in Napa Valley. In which the Grand Prize is Ten Grand.
In honor of my Chicken Chance at the cook-off on September 7th, I’m giving you a great round up of fabulous chicken dishes from my blogger friends:
At the end of the month I have this little cooking on TV gig that I’m incredibly excited about. And as much as I strive to be unique and impervious to social pressure, none of that has been able to penetrate my own vanity. After the initial shock of being asked to cook on CBS, Los Angeles wore off my first very female thoughts went something like this:
"What am I going to wear?"
"The camera adds ten pounds. Awesome."
So here I am, trying to stay as healthy as possible until I can school the Los Angeles metro area on the mid-day news with an introduction to cooking with beer all while still trying to run two food blogs that dazzle you with fun and delicious food. Not as easy for me as I’d like.
I did, however, discovered that if I give up dairy, which I already find skeevey in it’s unmanipulated state, the battle to lose those last few pounds becomes much easier. Butter and goat cheese have been the only real sacrifices, the rest has been easy to ignore or replace.
Don’t forget to come back on Wednesday when I give the best chocolate ice cream I have ever had that happens to be dairy free. It’s insane how creamy it is. You’ll want that recipe.
This recipe, which is dairy and gluten-free, gives you this delicious little mini burgers that are only about 90 calories each. And I am now one step closer to cooking on TV and not crying about it.
Chicken Sliders With Zucchini Buns
Ingredients
For The Patties
1 lb ground lean chicken
1 egg
1/4 cup panko (for GF, use crushed potato chips)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1/2 tsp dry basil
1 cup fat free chicken broth
Condiments & Toppings
1 to 2 large zucchinis, cut into 1/4 inch rings (buns)
Avocado Slices
BBQ Sauce
Pickled Jalapenos
Tomato Slices
Instructions
In a bowl, combine all the the patti ingredients (except the chicken broth) with your hands until well combined.
Spray the inside of a skillet (with a lid) with cooking spray, allow to get hot but not smoking.
Form the chicken mixture into patties about the width of your zucchini slices and about 1/2 inch thick. Cook on one side until browned on the bottom, flip and allow to cook for about 1 minute. Add the chicken broth until about half way up the sides of the chicken patties. Cover with a lid and allow to steam for about 3 to 5 minutes or until chicken patties are cooked through. Because fat is responsible for moist patties, very lean meat becomes dry very easily. This is the method I use to make sure the chicken is cooked through but is not dry.
Remove from pan and allow to drain.
Add the patties to the zucchini slices, top with condiments and serve.
Not just Went. I was asked to attend a VIP tour of Dodger Stadium for a Food Bloggers event that included hanging on the field, a tour of all of the exclusive restaurants, a buffet of all of the incredible hot dog creations the stadium chefs can dream up (macaroni and Fritos dog?!) and even a chat with Andre Ethier. Who told me he doesn’t drink beer (I’ll forgive him, kid can play some ball). And to top it all off, we got to sit in box seats right on the field.
If you follow me on instagram (@JackieJDodd), these pictures will look rather familiar.
Moments like these remind me to take a second to just sit and be grateful. Even when I feel like I am nowhere near the goals I have set for myself I always take time to appreciate what I have. The opportunities, people and experiences that give so much more to my life than I even deserve. I just finished Marcus Samuelson’s Yes, Chef and was incredibly inspire by his work ethic: "Always chase one shot of good luck with two shots of hard work" Great advice, Marcus. I’ll take it. Sitting side stage at America’s Favorite Past Time felt like a shot of good luck, so this week I’ll chase it with an even harder push towards my goals.
And after eating my body weight in hot dogs and chocolate cake at the Stadium, I needed a salad to balance it all.
And I know that I don’t have to tell you that Chinese Chicken Salad is much more about the dressing than it is about the chicken (which I replaced with shrimp).
This dressing, THIS dressing is so easy and so good you will never even be tempted to buy it pre made ever again.
And I also decided that I am also going to chase one negative though about myself with two positive ones. I like that formula, after all he is a Top Chef Master.
Chinese Shrimp Salad
3 cups green cabbage, chopped
3 cups red cabbage, chopped
1 cup jicama, peeled and diced
2 cups yellow peaches, chopped (about 2 large)
1 large avocado, chopped
1/3 cup green onion, chopped
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
3/4 cup cooked bay shrimp
5 wonton wrappers, cut into 1/4 inch strips and lightly fried
For The Dressing:
3 tbs rice wine vinegar
2 tbs brown sugar
3 tbs ponzu sauce
1 tsp sriracha
1 1/2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp sesame oil
(you can also make a double recipe and save half in an air tight container in the fridge, should last about 1 month)
Add all of the salad ingredients (except the fried wontons) in a bowl, toss to combine. Top with wontons.
Add all of the dressing ingredients to a bowl, stir to combine. Drizzle over the salad. Serve cold.
Literary Grief. This is the term I use for the moment you finish a great book and realize that it’s gone. This sort of anchor to those free moments in your life is now spent and the characters that ran behind your consciousness during the busy moments of your day, beckoning you back to the pages have run their course. You miss having more left to discover, but all mysteries have been unearthed and the plot has crescendoed. Most recently for me, that has been Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton.
Inspired writing and an intriguing story peppered with mentions of thought-provoking recipes that I couldn’t help but mark for later reference.
One of those recipes was a reference to a Jerk marinade that Gabrielle still makes on a regular basis. Her only notes about it were just that it contained Stout, Scotch Bonnet Peppers, and Honey as well as the fact that the recipe’s ingredients totaled an upwards of 25.
The Stout Jerk marinade that I have created falls very short of the 25 ingredient threshold, but the inspiration to use stout, scotch bonnet and honey is from the above book. As fascinated as I am with Gabrielle, and grateful that I was able to eat at Prune years ago, I would bet all of my recipes on the hunch that she may have less than favorable opinions about lowly Food Bloggers.
After all, I’ve never slept on a pile of chefs coats between 12-hour shifts. I’ve never scraped mold out of a walk in. I’ve never reached calloused fingers into a deep fryer or worked one handed with a blood-soaked bandage covered with a finger cot slowing my progress. I worked as a waitress in the front of the house, but I always knew my place. I begged to be allowed do deep prep when we were slow, took the fall for wasted produce when the owner would hassle the over-worked line cooks, and made sure the cooks "water" cups were full when we were slammed. But I know my place even now, in the world of food and I am still, in so many ways, "front of the house" hoping one day to be in the kitchen doing more than just deep prep.
Here is a jerk marinade, inspired by Blood Bones & Butter and using Stout Beer for its flavor and its meat tenderizing properties.
1/2cupstout beerI used Storm King Stout, by Victory Brewing
4Scotch Bonnet or Habanero Peppers
6clovesof garlicpeeled
3tbsponzu sauce
3tbsbrown sugar
1tspdry mustard powder
2tspChinese 5 Spice powder
1tspfresh ground black pepper
3tbschopped shallots
1tbsfresh squeezed lemon juice
2tbshoney
1tspKosher or Sea salt
3lbschicken wingslegs, thighs
Instructions
Add all of the ingredients (other than the chicken) to a food processor and process until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Add chicken to a large Ziplock style bag, pour marinade over the chicken and seal, removing as much air as possible.
Allow to chill and marinate in the fridge for 8-24 hours, rotating about every 3 hours to redistribute the marinate.
Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Remove the chicken from the marinade and arrange on the sheet, spooning a bit of the remaining marinade over the chicken. Bake at 375 for 18-22 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Baking time will depend on the size of chicken you use. For very small chicken wings, start to check after 12 minutes.
There’s a good chance that when you think about cooking with beer, a meat recipe comes to mind. Your Dad’s beer marinated ribs? Beer can chicken? Beer braised pork? There’s a good reason for that.
Not just for the spectacular flavors that craft beer can impart on the meat, but because beer, especially high acid beer, acts as a meat tenderizer by breaking down tissue.
For this recipe you are free to run the spectrum of beer styles. Most recipes I write will be accompanied by stern warning about using any beer other than the type called for, this isn’t one of those recipes. That IPA I keep shaming you into avoiding? You can even give that a try. My gut instinct with a recipe like this was to use a light, high acid beer with herb notes (basil, sage, oregano) but I opted for a porter to test my "Any Beer Goes" theory.
The porter effect, as I am now calling it, gave a "meatier" quality to the chicken. Which turned out wonderfully, and gave this a bit of a pork taste.
The beer I used for this recipe was the Payback Porter by Speakeasy. It’s a fantastic choice for a porter because the notes are similar to those I see in barbecue sauces and rubs: smoke, coffee, cocoa, and molasses.
Next time I’ll use a beer with a high acid content for a little contrast, but as far as the beer that you pick, experiment and let me know how it goes.
Beer Braised Chicken Sliders With Hoisin Beer Barbecue Sauce
Heat 2 tbs canola oil in large pot or Dutch oven. Sprinkle the chicken with salt on all sides. Place in the pot and cook on each side until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Cover with 1 1/2 cups of beer and 1/2 cup chicken broth, cover and cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.
While chicken is cooking, prepare barbeque sauce by warming olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds; add 1 cup beer, hoisin sauce, chili powder and soy sauce. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until thickened and reduced, remove from heat.
When chicken is cooked, remove from pot and allow to cool. Using two forks, shred chicken to as thin slices as possible, then add to hoisin barbeque sauce pan, tossing well to coat.
Split rolls in half across the middle to resemble small sandwich buns, fill with chicken.
In the food world you hear terms thrown around so casually. Words like confit, reduction, braise, semifreddo. I even see those words being used wrong so often, their meanings seem to change as more and more people republish inaccurate content. Braise is one of those terms.
Maybe it’s ignorance, maybe it’s an attempt to fancy-up boiled chicken to make it sound more impressive or maybe it’s just the result of blindly believing everything that’s posted online. As I post the definition of braise, I hope an inherent skepticism creeps into you, it should. Anyone can post anything online and hit "Publish". I have no editor, or fact checker, I don’t even have any consequences if I publish inaccurate content. Just the reputation as a reliable, solid source of information that is important to me, an integrity in writing that I hope to keep in tact. And for that, I’ll give you three sources, that you are free to check at your leisure.
Braise:
A cooking method by which food (usually meat or vegetables)
is first browned in fat, then cooked, tightly covered,
in a small amount of liquid at low heat for a lengthy period of time.
For this recipe I chose Allagash Black, one of my favorite beers of all time. It’s a stout that has notes of caramel, chocolate, coffee and roasted malt and such well-balanced flavors it not only incredibly perfect for mole, it’s a beer I will always list in among my Top 5 of All Time. It’s a beer that I urge you to seek out, whether you decided to make this recipe or not.
If you can’t find Allagash Black, look for a Stout with coffee and chocolate notes. This is a recipe that is on the difficult side and the flavors are in a delicate balance. Choosing the right beer will make all the difference.
Beer Braised Enchiladas with Beer Mole
6 boneless chicken thigh fillets
1 tsp kosher or sea salt
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 to 2/3 cup Stout Beer such as Allagash Black
12 tortillas
2/3 cup mozzarella cheese
For the Mole:
2 dried ancho chilies, stem and seeds removed
2 dried anaheim chilies, stem and seeds removed
2 dried guajillo chilies, stem and seeds removed
4 prunes
1 stick mexican cinnamon
1 cup Stout Beer such as Allagash Black
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup dry roasted almonds
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup Stout Beer such as Allagash Black
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup tomato puree
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs creamy peanut butter
Toppings (if desired):
1/2 cup mexican crema
2 tbs chopped green onions
In a pot over medium heat, at the 3 types of dried chilies, the prunes, cinnamon stick, 1 cup beer and enough water to submerge the chilies. Bring to a boil, cover and remove from heat. Allow to soak, covered for 20 minutes.
In a skillet, add the almonds and toast over high heat, tossing frequently until toasted, about 5 minutes, remove from skillet and add to a food processor. In the same skillet, add the olive oil and allow to get hot but not smoking. Add the onions and sauté until translucent, add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Add to the food processor.
In a pot over medium high heat, add the 3/4 cup beer, 3/4 cup chicken broth and chocolate. Cook until the chocolate has melted, stirring frequently. Once the chocolate has melted, add the contents of the pot to the food processor along with the sesame oil, tomato puree, smoked paprika, sugar and peanut butter. Removed the chilies and the prunes that have been soaking from the pot and add to the food processor, discard the cinnamon stick. Turn the food processor on and puree until smooth, about five minutes. Add a bit of the soaking liquid from the chilies pot to achieve the right consistency. Return the mole to a pot on the stove to keep warm, adding more soaking liquid or hot water to thin if mole starts to thicken.
To make the chicken:
Sprinkle each side of the chicken thigh fillets with salt. Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Add the chicken thighs and cook on each side until slightly browned. Add enough beer to barely cover the chicken, cover and reduce heat to maintain a low simmer. Allow to simmer until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and shred with two forks.
Fill warm tortillas with shredded chicken, and cheese, roll and place 3 or four on each plate. Top with mole sauce, mexican crema and green onions.
This is the ultimate comfort food, combining three great comfort food players: Beer, Cheese, Warm Soup. Add to that a flaky pastry crust and you pretty much have pot pie perfection. I use Mission Street Blonde Ale for this, from the Mission Brewery out of San Diego.
A really beautiful blend with the mild cheddar I used. It cooks really well, leaving a mild lemony flavor with traces of wheat. The hops are subtle and blend well with the rest of the recipe.
Beer cheese has started to climb out of frat boy myths into actual culinary acceptance of the past decade. This recipe isn’t a traditional Beer Cheese recipe, but the idea is captured and transformed into a hearty soup and a filling entrée. A great recipe to have in your beer cooking arsenal.
Beer Cheese Chicken Pot Pie
For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs sugar
5 tbs butter cold, cut into cubes
1/4 cup shortening
2 tbs vodka
2 tbs cold water
For the Filling:
1 tbs olive oil
½ cup sliced leeks (white and very light green portion only)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
5 strips of bacon, chopped
3 cups mushrooms, chopped
3 cups raw chicken, cut into cubes
2/3 cup chicken broth
1 1/3 cup Mission Street Blonde Ale
¼ cup flour
½ cup corn kernels
½ cup peas
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
¼ cup melted butter
1. Combine 1 cups of flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor, pulse a few times until its combined. Add the butter and the shortening and process until it forms a ball around the blade, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the remaining flour and process until well incorporated, about 1 minute.
3. Move to a bowl and add the water and the vodka, combine with a spatula or wooden spoon.
4. Form the dough into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill until very firm, about two hours.
5. Preheat oven to 400.
6. In a pan over medium, high heat, add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the leeks and the garlic, sauté until leeks are soft.
7. Add the bacon and cook for 2 minutes.
8. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft and darkened.
9. Add the chicken and sauté until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
10. In a separate bowl, add 2/3 cup of broth and the flour, stir until combined. Pour mixture into the pan through a small mesh strainer to remove any lumps.
11. Add the beer to the pan and stir to combine. Add the peas, corn, cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese has melted and is well combined with the broth.
12. Pour into small, portion sized, oven safe ceramic dishes. Makes about 4.
I just realized the perfection of Chicken Pot Pie. Like a creamy soup, with any veggies you want and a beautiful homemade crust on top. I can tell you for sure: This will not be my last pot pie post of the fall.
I used another Kerrygold cheese. There are at least two reasons that I love Kerrygold. First, I will always have a place in my heat for Ireland, and Irish people. The first real trip I ever took was to Ireland. I was just out of college and had spend the past 6 months working two jobs, and finishing up my classes, just to buy a plane ticket to Europe and enough money to see me though a few weeks. I landed in Ireland on a drizzely morning, jet lagged and confused. I had no idea where to go, or how to get there. Before I really knew what was happening, I was being dragged though the streets of Dublin by a charming Irishman who was taking me to a youth hostel at the foot of the Guinness brewery. With a smile and a cheerful welcome, he was on his way, leaving me to realized that this kind stranger had walked at least a mile in the wrong direction just to make sure I found a bed for the evening.
OK, so that really has nothing to do with the cheese, but I was able to meet quite a few Irish people and fall in love with them. And Kerrygold is more of a co-op than a corporation and relies on independent Irish dairy farms to source their produces. Second (third?) if you look at the ingredients they are beautifully simple. Milk, cream, salt, all things that I know and can pronounce.
I used Red Leicester, which is a beautiful mild cheddar. Reminds me of the people I met in Ireland, beautiful, honest, full of flavor.
Mushroom Cheddar Chicken Pot Pie
For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs sugar
5 tbs butter cold, cut into cubes
1/4 cup shortening
2 tbs vodka
2 tbs cold water
For the Filling:
1 tbs olive oil
½ cup sliced leeks (white and very light green portion only)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
3 cups mushrooms, chopped
3 cups raw chicken, cut into small cubes
2/3 cup broth, plus additional 1 1/3 cup, divided
¼ cup flour
½ cup corn kernels
½ cup peas
2 cups shredded cheddar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
¼ cup melted butter
1. Combine 1 cups of flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor, pulse a few times until its combined. Add the butter and the shortening and process until it forms a ball around the blade, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the remaining flour and process until well incorporated, about 1 minute.
3. Move to a bowl and add the water and the vodka, combine with a spatula or wooden spoon.
4. Form the dough into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill until very firm, about two hours.
5. Preheat oven to 400.
6. In a pan over medium, high heat, add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the leeks and the garlic, sauté until leeks are soft.
7. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft and darkened.
8. Add the chicken and sauté until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
9. In a separate bowl, add 2/3 cup of broth and the flour, stir until combined. Pour mixture into the pan through a small mesh strainer to remove any lumps.
10. Add the remaining broth to the pan and stir to combine. Add the peas, corn, cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese has melted and is well combined with the broth.
12. Pour into small, portion sized, oven safe ceramic dishes. Makes about 4.
13. Once the dough has chilled, place disk on a very well floured surface, add flour to the top of the disk as well. Roll out into an even thickness.
14. Cut out circles that will cover the dishes with at least a one inch overhang on each side.
15. To prevent sticking, spray the rim of the baking dish with cooking spray.
16. Top each dish with the dough circle, cutting a slit to vent at the top. Then brush the dough with melted butter.
17. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Allow to cool a bit before serving.
I’ll end the suspense. I didn’t win. I had a great time and the competition was fierce. Well, they were actually really nice, lovely people, but people who had run themselves around this recipe circuit quite a bit. One woman, Roxanne, Has over 800 winning recipes to her name! Pascal owns a restaurant, Jennifer and Jamie have both made names for themselves winning dozens of recipe contests all over the country. Me? This was the 4th recipe contest I’ve ever entered. I was the rookie for sure. It was a fantastic experience for, I met some great people, had a wonderful trip to San Diego, I have such a better understating of what the judges are looking for and I am ready for the next contest, bring it on.
They even put me up in a fabulous hotel the night before the event. Here is Tater and I, enjoying the room:
For those of you want to try out my Semi Finalist Chicken Sliders, I am now able to post the recipe:
Pulled Chicken Sliders with Hoisin BBQ Sauce & Pickled Slaw
Serves 4 – 6
4 Foster Farms chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless
1 ½ cups red onion, peeled and sliced into thin rings
2 cups cucumber, peeled and cut into matchstick sized pieces
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar, plus ¼ cup, divided
2 tbsp sugar
8 whole dried allspice berries
1 tsp whole cloves
½ tsp black peppercorns
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp fresh garlic, minced
1 cup hoisin sauce
1 tsp chili powder
¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
20 mini Hawaiian bread rolls
In medium bowl, combine onion, cucumbers, salt and lemon juice. Let stand and room temperature 30 minutes.
In small saucepan over medium high heat, combine ¾ cup apple cider vinegar, sugar, allspice, cloves and peppercorns. Bring mixture to a boil and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Strain the liquid to remove the cloves and allspice then pour over the onions and cucumbers and refrigerate mixture for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, place chicken in large pot or Dutch oven. Fill with water to completely cover chicken. Place on stove over medium-high heat and bring to a slow boil. Cover and cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.
While chicken is cooking, prepare barbeque sauce by warming olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds; add remaining vinegar, hoisin sauce, chili powder and soy sauce. Cook for 3 minutes or until thickened, remove from heat and add sesame oil and stir well to combine.
When chicken is cooked, remove from water and allow to cool. Using two forks, shred chicken to as thin slices as possible, then add to hoisin barbeque sauce pan, tossing well to coat.
Split rolls in half across the middle to resemble small sandwich buns. Fill each bun with about 2 tablespoons of the chicken and top with pickled slaw.
Cookin in the fancy kitchen:
*The slider pictures, as well as the above picture of me cooking were taken by a photographer for Foster Farms, Charlie. Here is his website for more information: http://www.charliegesellphotography.com/#
I can’t stop thinking about chicken. Not any chicken,the Foster Farms Chicken Cooking Contest. I am Semi-Finalist for California. Of course I’m excited, giddy even. But I am also so dang nervous. In only 11 days (11DAYS!!) I go to San Diego to compete. Last weekend the Washington Semi-Finalists competed and the winners were:
Tina Hoban, Bellingham – Chicken with Cherry Tapenade over Creamy Pancetta Polenta
and
Rebecca Spence, Vancouver – Crispy Orange Chicken with Fennel, Avocado and Orange Salad
Seriously, how yum do those sound? But more immediate is that fact that in order to even GET to compete with those two in Napa in September, I have to beat out the following recipes:
Jennifer Daskevich, Los Angeles – Chicken and Quinoa with Figs, Spinach and Mint
Jamie Brown-Miller, Napa – Olive & Lemon Poached Tuscan Chicken on Grilled Pitas with Spinach Spread
Roxanne Chan, Albany – Asian Braised Chicken Thighs with Soybean Salad
But after reading those, I’m also hungry. I hope that I at least get offered a taste, because I’ll take it. Or maybe two.
Most people don’t do much bird roastin' outside of late November. Probably because an entire day of roasting a turkey, and an entire night of dishes is something most people don’t welcome more than once a year, although neither of these take place when roasting a little chicken for only a few people, I think the scars of Thanksgiving clean up run deep. Let me give you my arguments for why you should roast a chicken at least once a month:
1. It’s cheap. Really. The last time I bought a roasting chicken I got it in a Los Angeles grocery store for $5, and it feed 4 people.
2. It’s easy, the step by step will show you that.
3. Homemade broth is delicious. Just take whatever is left of that chicken, put it in a big stock pot, cover it with water and allow to simmer for 2-4 hours. Strain out all the solid parts (use a colander lined with cheese cloth) and freeze one cup at a time in Tupperware (I’ve even been known to use zip lock bags) and defrost as needed. That alone will get you $5 worth of chicken broth.
4. It’s yummy AND healthy. Yummy, healthy and cheap is the trifecta when it comes to cooking for your family.
How to Roast a Chicken
5lb Chicken
1 tbs, plus 1 tsp salt
1 head of garlic
1 large carrot
1/2 stick of butter, softened
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp fresh sage, chopped
1 tsp black pepper
2 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of apple juice
Preheat the oven to 425
Step one:
Defrost the chicken. It’s safest to do this by leaving it in the fridge for a few days. Although I don’t recommend it (unsafe food handling an all) some people run frozen meat under warm water.
Step two:
Take the gross insides out. You can save them to make broth, if you want, or just toss them to the dog (my dog, who eats raw garlic and sticks, politely declined).
Step three:
Rinse it off and pat it dry. Seems weird, since you want a juicy bird, but this is how to get crispy skin.
Step four:
Salt the inside of the bird with about 1 tbs of salt. Then cut the top of the garlic (exposing the cloves, just cut it’s head off), chop the carrot, and put both the garlic (sans top) and the carrot inside the bird.
Step five:
In a food processor, add the butter, sage, 1 tsp salt, and the pepper. Blend it up.
Step Six:
Loosen the skin on the breast of the chicken by sliding your hands between the skin and the meat.
Then cover it with the herb butter you just made. Smear it all over the chicken, with your hands, and get it under the skin as well.
Tie the chicken feet together so it keeps it’s shape
Step seven:
Place it in a roasting pan, in the roasting rack. Under the chicken, pour 1 cup of broth and 1 cup of apple juice, but make sure the liquid doesn’t touch the chicken. Replenish the liquid when the pan starts to dry out. As the liquid evaporates, it steams the chicken, adding moisture and flavor.
Step eight:
Cook in the 425 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the internal temp is about 165 (it will continue to cook another 5-10 degrees once removed from the oven). Bast with pan juices as necessary. Allow to rest 5 minutes before carving.
Step nine:
Feed it to people you love. Pretend like roasting a chicken is lots of hard work. People will be very impressed that you do it so often.
I am a finalist in the Foster Farms cooking contest. I’m going to San Diego at the end of the month for the big Cook Off. Of course, I would love to share my Semi-Finalist recipe for Pulled Chicken Sliders with Hoisin BBQ Sauce and Pickled Slaw with you, but I can’t, contest rules don’t allow it. And as much as I love you all, I’m so frickin' excited about this, I’m not gonna chance it. BUT in honor of Foster Farms, and their wonderful locally grown chicken, I AM sharing my favorite chicken burger recipe, as well as the secrets to a juicy chicken burger. And as soon as I am able to share that Chicken Slider recipe with you, don’t think I won’t.
Caprese Stuffed Chicken Burgers
1/2 cup fresh whole milk mozzarella
4-6 basil leaves
1 tomato
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb ground Foster Farms chicken
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup bread crumbs
4 hamburger buns
cooking spray
2-4 cups chicken broth
Slice the mozzarella ball into slices 1/4 inch thick. If you have shredded mozzarella, use about 1 tbs.
Chop the tomato and the basil and add to a bowl with 1/2 tsp salt, tossing to combine.
In a bowl, add the ground chicken, 1 tsp salt, pepper, garlic powder and bread crumbs, mix until combined. One at a time, make 8 patties about 4 inches across and about 1/2 inch high. Place on parchment paper or an oiled surface so it does not stick.
On 4 of the patties, add 1 slice of cheese (or one tbs) and 1 tbs of the tomato/basil mixture, making sure to keep it in the middle, avoiding the edges.
One at a time, add the remaining 4 patties to the top of the filled patties, sealing the edges. Make sure that none of the filling is visible through the meat.
Spray the inside of a skillet (with a lid) with cooking spray and heat the pan over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the patties (don’t crowd the pan, cook in two batches if needed) and cook on one side for 4 minutes or until the bottom has browned. Flip the patties and allow to cook for 2 minutes, add the chicken stock to the pan until the broth comes to about half way point on the patties, but does not submerge them completely. Make sure the top of the patty is above the broth. and cover with a lid. Allow to simmer in the broth for 8 minutes. This method of cooking chicken burger is the secret to juicy chicken burgers. The brilliance is that even an over cooked patty is still moist and full of flavor.
Remove from pan and allow to drain on paper towels before serving on a bun.
