fromhils' Quick Chicken Recipe (Submission to @fandw)

RT @fromhils: @fandw chix leg, rub thym, truffle mustrd, oil. Brown chix. Chix+wedge potato w/ garlic-shallot in oven 375, 20m. Deglze pan sherry+butter 4 sauce


This recipe is one of my favorite old standbys. It is quick, very easy and delicious. The best part is that the short active time makes it perfect for a weekday evening diner party.

Roasted Chicken w/ Fingerling Potatoes

(Prep to Table approx. 45 minutes, Active time 15)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 P. Organic, Free-Range Chicken (leg and thigh, attached)	4 T Honey Truffle Mustard (Far West Fungi makes a great one: http://store.farwestfungi.com/fwf116.html)
10P. Sm. Fingerling Potatoes	4T Chopped Thyme - Fresh
1 Sm. Shallot (finely chopped)	4 T Olive Oil
1 Sm. Garlic Clove (finely chopped)	3T Sherry
3T Butter	Salt & Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 375°

For Chicken:

Clean and trim the Chicken as needed, leaving the skin intact

Mix together, Mustard & 2T each of the Olive Oil and Thyme.

Spread mixture evenly and lightly over the chicken (both over and under the skin). Salt and Pepper generously (preferably coarse kosher or sea salt & coarse fresh ground black pepper)

Heat a large deep-sided (at least 2") oven-safe skillet on high until just smoking. Place the chicken, skin side down to brown.

Potatoes:

While the chicken is browning, slice the potatoes into small wedges and toss with remaining Olive Oil, Thyme, Shallot & Garlic. Salt and Pepper generously (preferably coarse kosher or sea salt & coarse fresh ground black pepper).

Once browned transfer chicken to a plate. Close the fire and deglaze pan w/ 1T of the sherry. Transfer the potatoes to the waiting pan and toss gently in pan juices.

Return chicken to the pan, skin-side up, placing directly on top of the potatoes, add 1T of the butter (cut into little pieces & spread throughout the dish) and approx 3T water (or white wine) cover and place in the waiting oven.

Cook approx. 25 minutes . Until potatoes are slightly softened and browned (a little bite should remain, the crunchy bits are delicious) & chicken is cooked through.

Transfer Chicken and Potatoes to a warmed serving platter.

Return pan to stove-top on Medium and deglaze with remaining Sherry, add butter and mix till fully incorporated. Pour sauce over chicken and potatoes.

Accompaniment: A simple salad of mixed lettuce w/ red wine vinaigrette

Wine: Serves well with white, rose and lighter reds. Such as: Elyse Rose 2006, Kistler “McCrea” 2006, or Hirsch Vineyards Pinot Noir 2006

Chilaquiles Raul y Hilery

Years and years ago, back when I was a pastry chef at Wolfgang Puck's cafe at south coast plaza, there was a line cook named Raul. One Sunday morning he made breakfast for the kitchen crew. It was an amazing dish made with cheese, eggs and tortilla chips, I was instantly in love.

I would beg him every Sunday to please create this dish again. Knowing he was having a good laugh at me, a vegetarian at the time he assured me he was not using chicken stock. I of course knew better and simply didn't care it was that good...

I soon started making a variation of his recipe for Mike and I, whenever possible. Mike was similarly enamored with this Mexican peasant dish.

Now Mike and I try this dish, called Chilaquiles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilaquiles), whenever we find them on a menu whether here in SF or on vacation in Mexico. We have come to realize that there are many regional variations of this dish, some covered in green sauce some in red and others with no sauce at all. Raul's version (as well as mine) is most closely related to what you find in Guadalajara.

Over the years I have developed my own variations, however it stays true to the origins of that first magical incarnation created by Raul.

With no further ado here are the pics and recipe hints for Chilaquiles Raul y Hilery.

This morning I had some blue corn tortillas that were beginning to dry out so the first step was to cut them into triangles and lightly fry them.

In a deep-bottomed skillet sweat (in 2T of butter) half a yellow or white onion and large clove of garlic, once they are just beginning to go transparent I add two sliced Serrano peppers -- cook covered. Mike and I tend to like things pretty spicy so i do not seed them, however the spice level can be moderated to your taste.

Chilaquiles a great way to use up old chips...

Once the onions garlic and peppers are fully cooked (about 5 mins) you'll add the chips, I used the blue corn chips I made earlier as well as the remnants of a bag of white corn chips I had laying around.

Stir to mix with the onions etc. then add about a cup of chicken or veggie stock. In this case I dissolved half a cube of veggie bouillon into a cup of hot water. Mix gently and simmer, covered, for about 5 mins or until the chips begin to get slightly soft.

I then add 2 diced Roma tomatoes, cumin, cayenne, salt, and this pico de gallo seasoning I get from the corner store, ah the beauties of living in the mission.

I stir gently and add about half a cup more liquid, regular water works fine at this point. Cover and simmer for another five minutes until the tomatoes just begin to fall apart.

Now its time for the greens, in this version I used an Arugula blend but spinach is excellent too. Toss with the other ingredients and cook uncovered until the greens are ever so slightly wilted.

Then pour in 6 lightly beaten eggs. Salt the eggs lightly and stir to begin scrambling. I usually cover for a couple minutes here, it allows the eggs to steam a bit as they scramble and gives a nice texture.

Be sure to stir often so the eggs don't stick to the bottom of your pan as most of the butter and liquid has already been soaked up by the tortillas.

Once the eggs are cooked to your desired consistency, I like them on the undercooked side, Add about 1.5 cups of a mellow cheese -- Jack works beautifully. Stir lightly and close the fire.

Once plated I add, sliced avocado, creama fresca casera, a smokey hot cause, a little cilantro and crumbled queso fresca. Served with refried black beans leftover from Nachos we made earlier in the week.

Rainy Saturday Baking

I had oginally planned to do gardening this afternoon but since the weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate I decided baking was in order instead.

Made my flourless almond butter chocolate chunk cookies and some banana walnut muffins.

First the cookies.

This is my favorite cookie recipe, I modified it from a flourless peanut butter version by Michael Recchiuti, http://www.recchiuti.com/recipe_detail.html?recipe=02.

I love the richness of flavor created with the almond butter, the toasted almonds and rough chopped 70% chocolate for the chips.

The final modification is to combine fleur de sel and vanilla salt together and sprinkle a small amount on the cookies just after they come out of the oven.





The cookie in all its glory

For the Banana Walnut muffins I modified a recipe for banana bread from the new farm vegetarian cookbook, http://www.farmcatalog.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17.

The farm is a commune in Tennesee where an old friend of mine grew up. I always loved this banana bread, so I decided to try a muffin version. Ended up modifying to the point of near unrecognizability.

In place of the margarine the recipe calls for I used clarified butter, which was blended with medium brown sugar.

In place of the all purpose flour I used cake flour, which gave the finished product a cupcake feel.

For the bananas I froze very ripe bananas then let them thaw into a mush. Then I added toasted walnuts and some burnt caramel I had in the fridge.




After placing in the muffin tins, prior to baking, I swirled some additional burnt caramel around the mixture using a toothpick (for the mini cupcakes) and a paring knife (for the standard).


The finished muffin here is from the standard batch.


An afternoon well spent.

Pizza Night

Two posts in one week. I wonder if that means I have finally shaken off my winter cyber-hibernation?

Had a good Sunday, went and picked up a bunch of veggies for my garden. I'll be potting them throughout the week.

I also got ambitious with dinner and decided to make pizzas with homemade dough and mozzarella.

This was definitely my best batch of mozzarella yet. The consistency, flavor and melt point were all excellent.

Took some pics along the way.

Here is a pic of the supplies I used.
I was able to find unpasteurized (raw) cows milk at whole foods.
I think this may have been one reason this batch was so good.

Here are a couple pics of the different milk stages after adding the rennet.
When the curd pulls away from the side and the whey is basically clear its time to start ladling it into a large bowl.

Pre-stretching/ post-draining

Post-stretching
(modified the recipe and stretched once rather than twice, I think this helped with the melt-ability)

For storage, petite mozzarella balls in olive oil w/ chili peppers and parsley.

Pizza Pics:

Ingredients: Mike's had Dino Kale lightly sauteed w/ chili oil and fluer de sel, House-Made Arugula Pesto, House-Made Chili Oil, Fresh Mozzarella & a Fried Egg. Mine had Rapini lightly sauteed w/ chili olive oil and fluer de sel, Truffle Oil, Prosciutto de Parma, Fresh Mozzarella and a Fried Egg.

Both were served w/ a lovely Rose of Pinot Noir from Robert Sinskey Vineyards, Caneros.

Mike's pizza pie

Hilery's pizza pie

I'm Back...

Don't have any new garden or cheese making photos right now. So thought I post some photos from the Taste of the Nation (http://tasteofthenation.com) benefit my friend Steffi and I attended on Thursday.

fore warning I've said it before and I'll say it again a photographer I am not, especially once the wine starts flowing. I think you'll get the idea though. Remember clicking the photos makes'm bigger.

The Menu, sorry I know its hard to read, did my best w/ it but using crappy iphoto software and was pretty buzzed by the time I remembered to take a photo of it.


The line from were we sat, if you squint or click and enlarge the photo you'll see Jamie Lauren, Absinthe, Top Chef. Her Crudo of Kampachi w/ pickled peppers and lemongrass oil ended up being the favorite dish of the evening for our entire table (of course we all forgot to take a photo of it).

Our table, Steffi and I were assigned to table 62 and had great table mates in Rick and Luis.

And now to the food:

Grilled Asparagus salad w/ Meyer Lemon and Smoked Mozz by Koren Grevson, Avec Chicago


The soup, Onion Veloute w/ spring garlic puree and crispy frogs legs, Gavin Kaysen, Cafe Boulud NYC. Man those frogs legs were delicious.


Chris from Incanto, SF's Braised Beef Shank w/ Bone Marrow Horse Radish Creme Fraiche. This was definitely my favorite of the main courses. The next pic is all of the main courses, the snapper was good but wrapped in grape leaves and dill, which made it a bit bitter for my taste. C'est la vie.




The dessert prepared by Elizabeth Falkner, Citizen Cake, Orsen both SF. She called it Earth, Air, Fire. The fire was the chocolate mouse w/ Cayenne Pepper. The air was a meringue and the chocolate cookie crumbs along side were the earth. They had a nice explosive quality too, a "pop rocks" feel.

Chevre, Pasta & Hope

Well it has been quite a while since my last post and a lot has gone on. So I will be covering a couple different events.

I guess I'll go in order of occurrence...

Chevre:
A couple/few weeks ago I made my first batch of chevre. It turned out awesome and I couldn't believe how easy it was to make. The fact that I was finally able to find the proper type of goats milk was really exciting.

When making the cheese I first let the whole batch drain for about 6 hours, which created a nice slightly crumbly but spreadable cheese. Here's a couple pics:

Above is the crumbly cheese and below is what I made with it.
Chevre omelet w/ heirloom tomato & mache salad, served w/ homemade bagel and chevre spread.

This is what we had for Breakfast that day. I had made a batch of bagels a couple weeks earlier and thrown them in the freezer, they were great toasted w/ a light smear of this single process chevre. I threw just a touch of lemon zest in to the egg mixture, which added a nice dimension to the peppery chevre omelet.

Guava jam and single process chevre tart

For the tart I used a jar of guava jam given to Mike and I by some friends. I reduced down the jam in a saucepan and added a couple of beaten egg yolks for texture. The crust is a standard tart crust however for a bit of a kick I added some fresh ground pepper to the dough. It was a nice addition to the sweetness of the guava filling and creaminess of the chevre. I added droplets of the chevre to the tart once it was about half baked. This allowed it to remain creamy.

I molded the remaining chevre and allowed another six hours or so of draining. This gave the cheese a texture and shape similar to the logs you by in the store. Before wrapping I rolled the fully drained cheese in fresh ground pepper, chili flakes and thyme from the garden.

Check it out:


Pasta:

About a week after the Chevre experiment our friend Pete came for a visit from LA. As is the tradition when Pete comes to town we had a really nice dinner party. Drue and Ali came over and made some excellent dishes. Ali's pumpkin soup in particular was divine (sorry no pics of it). Of course we also drank some amazing wines...

My dish for this party was so yummy I had to post about it. Here's the pic:Truffle Pasta w/ Golden Chanterelle and Rapini.

I was able to get an excellent Italian black truffle from Far West Fungi at the ferry building, which was used in the creation of this dish.

The pasta was handmade and hand cut, I added finely grated truffle to the dough which was made w/ 3/4 type 001 flour and 1/4 fine ground semolina.

For the sauce I used a slightly modified version of Michael Mina's truffle sauce recipe (see link at sidebar). My main modification was that I swapped the preserved black truffle for the fresh. The recipe made a rather large batch so I was able to use the remaining sauce the next day in a very grown up baked Mac and Cheese.

Once we were just about ready for the pasta course I sauteed together the mushroom and rapini and tossed together w/ the pasta. I placed a small serving of the truffle sauce in the bottom of each bowl then twirled in the pasta and veggies. For an extra bit decadence I also broiled some fatted calf fois gras. I placed a couple little slices on top of each serving of pasta (except Mike's of course)and drizzled on the rendered fat. The left over black truffle was then finely grated onto the pasta, together w/ a bit of pecorino, and lastly another drizzle of the truffle sauce.

Hope:

So as many of you who actually read this blog already know I just got back from Reno where I volunteered to be part of the Obama campaign's get out the vote operation.

It was an amazing time and I really felt like we helped turn Nevada Blue.

I was so busy during this time that I did not take many photos but will post the one's I have shortly, together with a more detailed post about my experiences and the great people I met.

Signing off for now.

hils

I've got peppers!

Back again, this time with pics of my pretty new peppers beginning to grow.

On the bell plant, so far I am looking at a single bell pepper but there are some new blossoms that look pretty promising. I think I'll let this one ripen on the plant till it becomes a red pepper as the green ones tend to give me a tummy ache..

Here's a pic of its early stages:


I also have a nice jalapeno starting, there are a couple very promising looking flowers in bloom right now on this plant. When I have a few on hand I think I have to try my hand at making a relish like the awesome one Diane made (Mike and I got to try it this summer in VT).

Check it out:


The Serrano and Anaheim pepper plants are showing some flowering blossoms, hopefully they will hold and soon peppers will be growing there too.

I also noticed this morning that my zucchini may be just about ready to bloom. I may soon have my first blossoms, here's some pics of what I think will soon be a blossom:


and


Everything else is going great the ants have stopped invading my lemon tree which is excellent! Although unfortunately the fruit-flys are still loving my whole garden but I guess in the bay area that is to be expected. You can actually see a bit of their handy work when you look at the leaves of the bell pepper plant. Luckily however the bit of soap burn (from the organic insect killing soap) on the leaves seems to be the only effect to date.

Made a batch of bagels for Mike and I this morning too which turned out very yummy, threw a bunch in the freezer so we would have easy breakfasts when we want. No pics of this but soon enough I'll make a nice gourmet dinner again and post some pics of that.

till then, luv ya.

hils