Delicious dishes from the holidays

Although I've been making brisket for almost 50 years, I found a new recipe that may be the best of the bunch.  I made it for the first night that all of my family was here for the holidays, and everyone loved it.  It was delicious hot at dinner, and delicious cold on sandwiches the next day.  That it was mindlessly simple made it all the better.

And although one would think I have enough chicken recipes to feed the world, I found yet another one that hits the spot.  It's in a wonderful book by Marion Burros.  Actually it's a re-issue of her "Elegant but Easy" cookbook from 1960, the one I used constantly as a young bride.  She and her co-author updated it, eliminating the Cheez Whiz, canned onion rings, cream of mushroom soup and other staples of mid-century cookery.  But the recipes are still wildly simple and tasty to boot.

So here goes.

Chicken Gloriosa from Marion Burros's "The New Elegant but Easy Cookbook"

2 lbs skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs
3 T lime juice
s&p
2 T canola oil
2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
6 slices very ripe fresh pineapple,, cut into bite-size wedges (save the juices if you can)
1/2 c coarse bread crumbs
1/4 t or more hot red pepper flakes
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/4 c tomato paste
1/2 c dry sherry
1 c orange juice
2 large or 3 small seedless tangerines, peeled and segmented

Wash and dry chicken; cut breasts into quarters.  Sprinkle chicken with 2 T lime juicem s&p, and allow sit sit in refrigerator for 2 hours or more

Drain and reserve the juices.  Saute chicken pieces in nonstick pan in hot oil, browning well on both sides.  About 30 seconds before removing chicken from pan, add garlic and saute.  In a 9 x 11" pan, arrange chicken and garlic.

Stir pineapple wedges and bread crumbs into pan in which chicken was cooked; add remaining 1 T lime juice, any pineapple juice from the cut-up pineapple, hot pepper flakes, cranberries, tomato paste, sherry, and oj.  Spoon this mixture over the chicken pieces.  Strew tangerine segments around chicken, and cover with aluminum foil.  Refrigerate, if desired.

To serve, preheat oven to 350 and bake chicken for about 1 hour.  Serve with saffron rice.

As a side note, I didn't have "coarse" bread crumbs, just the usual ones from a can.  They thickened the sauce nicely, almost as if I'd added cornstarch.  I served this over my new fave, pearl couscous, instead of saffron rice.  For what it's worth, this reheats really well when you can't finish all you made.

Brisket Texas Style (from who knows where)

2	large yellow onions, sliced and peeled
2.5	pound brisket
¼	cup apple cider vinegar
¼	cup soy sauce
¼	cup Worcestershire sauce
¼	cup strong black coffee
¼	cup liquid smoke
¼	cup A1 steak sauce
	salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Scatter the onions on the bottom of a roasting pan that is just large enough to hold the brisket. Place the brisket on top of the onions with the fat side up. Salt and pepper the brisket.

Place in a roasting pan and roast tightly covered, for 2-½ hours to 3-½ hours depending on the size of the brisket you choose.  You want it to come out fork-tender.

Remove roasting pan from oven and transfer brisket to a cutting board. Tent with foil.

Make a gravy by blending the cooked onions and a little of the liquid from the roasting pan. Blend until smooth. Leaving it a little chunky would be tasty too. Set aside.

Slice meat across the grain. Serve with the onion gravy.  It's delish.

I made it the day before, mostly to get the fat off easily, and because I've come to believe that you need to cook brisket and pulled pork the day before serving.

Happy and healthy new year!

Yet another fabu Moroccan chicken recipe, this one roasted with vegetables

A little trendlet is in the making, what with two Moroccan chicken recipes in a row.  Despite their place names, the dishes themselves are quite different.  The Braised Moroccan chicken with preserved lemons and green olives is prettier, but the curried Moroccan chicken and vegetable roast includes vegetables, thereby eliminating the necessity for a separate side dish.  So here's what I did.

First off, I shamelessly borrowed Amy Rudnick's recipe for the curried Moroccan chicken and vegetable roast.  Could it have been simpler?  A big fat NO.  Could it have been more delicious?  Another big fat NO.  Could it have been healtheir  Yet another big fat NO.  Kind of your all-round go-to easy recipe when you're in a hurry but still want to impress.

So here goes.

1	lb butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes
1	lb brussels sprouts, halved
1	large red onion, cut into thin wedges
½	cup canola or olive oil, divided
½	cup plain Greek yogurt
1	T minced fresh ginger
1	large garlic clove, minced
1	+ ½ tsp Madras curry powder
6	skinless, boneless chicken thighs

Preheat oven to 450.
Toss the squash, brussels sprouts, onions in ¼ cup of oil. Season with S & P.
Spread the vegetables on a rimmed baking sheet.
In a bowl, combine the yogurt with the ginger, garlic, curry powder and remaining ¼ cup of oil. Season with
S & P. Add the chicken and toss until thoroughly coated. Arrange the chicken on top of the vegetables.
Roast for 40 minutes. Pour off any accumulated liquid and continue roasting for another 10 to 20 minutes until vegetables are tender and chicken is browned.
Serve with rice or Israeli couscous, which worked brilliantly for me.

For what it's worth, the pan looks pretty with squash offering an orange element, the Brussels Sprouts a green contribution, the red onion thrown in for fun and games, and the chicken getting nice the brown so set off everything appealingly,

People say the dish begs to be served with rice,  Heartlessly I ignored the rice and went with Israeli couscous instead.  I prefer the couscous.  Others may prefer the couscous,  Whatever.  Won't make a difference so don't worry.

Along with the chicken and vegetables, I served a sweet salad with sliced cherry tomatoes, slicedArenian cukes, and diced celery.  A nice vinaigrette perked the veggies up, making the guests smile.  Dessert was a mint panna cotta with fruit on top.  Pretty darned wonderful, they all said, although I retain a preferece for the basil, which had made the its panna cotta so outstanding.  Lesson learned.  Don't use mint when basil's so much better.

So now we're fixed for Moroccan chicken recipes for a while.  Upward and onward to different menus.  Let us hear from you. 

widowinthewoods

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• Published on December 02, 2011.

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Braised Moroccan chicken with preserved lemon and green olives

Oh dear.  I've been absent from this blog for far too long.  A tip-off that I haven't spent much time in the kitchen.  I was invited out for Thanksgiving, so didn't even have a chance to cook then.

But tonight I attended a winsome potluck dinner party hosted by the parents of Sarah Shatz, the photographer for the wonderful new cookbook from the Food52.com folks.   If you haven't already found that website, go to it right now.  The premise of the first two years was that each week the authors invited readers to submit a recipe on a particular food--your favorite artichoke dish, or chicken thighs, or chocolate chip cookies, or...well, you get my drift, right?

So this new book, Food52 Cookbook, is a compilation of the weekly winners of the first year.  Cleverly organized by season.   Sarah's parents put together a menu and then offered about a dozen dishes that guests signed up to bring.  As tonight's entry indicates, I chose braised Moroccan chicken and olives.

Like many people, the first time I make a recipe I follow it, well, more or less follow it, omitting ingredients that are not to my taste.  But today I followed the recipe slavishly to maintain the spirit of the evening.  And I'm very glad I did so because the result was delicious, not to mention very beautiful.

Tonight it was served on couscous prepared by Annette Grant, and they were flavorful.  Perfect accompaniment.

So here's the recipe should you be so inclined to go Moroccan some night.  And if you get the book, the recipe start on p. 125.  Enjoy!

Serves 4

• 4 tablespoons canola oil
• 2.5 pounds chicken legs and thighs
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• 1 1/2 cup small diced onion
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2-3 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron
• 1/2 cup green olives, rinsed
• 2 preserved lemons, pulp removed; rind cut into strips
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a Dutch oven or large, deep skillet or over medium high heat. Dry the chicken pieces and season them with salt and pepper. Place them in the skillet in batches and brown on all sides. Remove the chicken and place on a plate.
2. Add the onion to the skillet and cook until slightly softened. Add the ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, paprika, turmeric and cayenne pepper and stir together. Add the chicken pieces and stir to coat with the spice mixture. Pour the chicken stock into the skillet so that 2/3 of the chicken is submerged. Add the saffron and stir to combine. Bring liquid to a simmer, cover the skillet and simmer on medium low heat 20-25 minutes. Add the olives and preserved lemons. Cover and cook another 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and turn the heat to high. Cook for another 6-8 minutes until sauce reduces slightly. Stir in the cilantro. Adjust seasoning to taste.
3. Serve chicken on a bed of couscous. Spoon sauce over the top. Garnish with cilantro.

Curried Pineapple Ginger Chutney (which is as good as it sounds)

Julia Erickson and Annette Grant at Preserves Swap

I'm pleased to report that the first annual Berkshire Grown Preserves Swap was a huge success. The most fun was to seeing the wide variety of jars and cans that people brought--tall ones, short ones, fat ones and skinny ones, too. Jars filled with bright red or dark green or orange or yellow goodies, some with tags and others with labels. Lots of people showed up, some disappointed because they didn't realize it was a swap, not a sale. There was enough enthusiasm to let us know that this was aptly named "first annual" preserves swap--we'll be back next October so think ahead.

In the run-up to the swap, I was busy making more and more jars to swap, including a most excellent curried pineapple ginger chutney. After making the first batch, there was some leftover, which I poured over Israeli couscous (my latest fad). Wow! Practically inhaled it.

Last night I threw a jar of it into a cast-iron skillet with a pile of seared shrimp and then tossed them with more Israeli couscous.  Talk about a winsome combination!  Luckily there's some left over so I can eat a delicious lunch.

If you want to try it, here's the recipe.  It makes a lot, so I put it into half pint jars which then went into a hot water bath.  If you're not going to do that, you might want to cut the recipe in half.  Whatever the portion, you'll eat it up quickly.

Curried Pineapple Ginger Chutney (from Salsas, Sambals, Chutney and Chow Chows by Schlesinger and Willoughby)

1/4 c veg oil for sauteeing
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2" squares
1 green bell pepper, ditto
1 red onion, peeled, halved, and cut into 1/2" squares
1/4 c minced fresh ginger
1 T minced garlic
1 T minced poblano pepper
3 T good quality curry powder
1 large pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2" chunks (about 4 cups)
1/2 c raisins
1 1/2 c white vinegar
1/2 c oj or pineapple juice
1 c brown sugar
s&p

In 4-qt saucepan, heat oil over med-high heat until hot but not smoking.  Add bell peppers and onions, and saute, stirring constantly, until onions start to become translucent, about 5-6 minutes.  Add ginger, garlic, poblano, and curry power and saute a minute.  Add all remainig ingredients except s&p and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally until liquid has thickened slightly.  Season w/s&p to taste.  Remove from heat and cool to room temp if not putting through hot water bath. 

Will keep covered and refrigerated for about 2 weeks.  Super duper with rice, couscous and the like.  Or probably almost anything else.

The most versatile cake imaginable

I hope you'll like the idea of this cake as much as I do.  Its versatility appealed to me immediately, but now that I've made it, it's become a dear friend because it's just so delicious.  And easy!  Embarrasingly easy.  Probably easier than using a cake mix.  Really.

My friend Annette Grant, she of the endlessly quirky recipes, passed this on from her friend Natalie Boyce, to whom I am indebted for the favor.  This is one of those recipes that can be as varied as your imagination allows.  Listed below is the "master" recipe, which should be used as a starting point.  And because it uses olive oil, it can remain almsot forever moist.

Natalie Boyce's Olive Oil Cake as Delivered by Annette Grant

1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa
1/2 t salt

2 T vinegar
1 t vanilla
1 c water
1/3 c olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter a suitable cake pan.

Whisk dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Mix in liquid ingredients. 

Bake 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool on rack and remove from pan after about 20 minutes.  You can drizzle some simple syrup over it or frost it or just leave it as it is.

Now, here's the fun part.  If you don't want a chocolate cake, eliminate the cocoa and substitute 1/4 c flour. 

Don't bother with the water--use something sexier.  I used black cherry juice the first time--whoosh!  Pear or peach juice would be fun, too. 

Next time I'm going to use a cup of coffee for a mocha cake. 

You can add nuts or coconut or dried fruit....you get the idea? 

The basic recipe is the blank canvas.  The rest is up to you and your imagination. 

Have fun!

Tomatillo sauce and marinated red peppers

I'm feverishly preparing jars of preserved fruits and vegetables to bring to the October 15 Berkshire Grown preserve swap at the GB Farmers Market from 11-1.  And am hoping everyone who comes across this post is doing likewise. 

Today, even though it's frightfully hot and muggy, I've made tomatillo sauce and marinated red peppers--most of the ingredients, I hasten to note, come from my own garden.  Which is quite the thrill.

The book Well-Preserved by Eugenia Bone was my inspiration for these recipes.  Her instructions are clearly written and her pix are delicious.

One interesting note.  She calls for bottled lemon juice, which I was taught to disdain when I attended the Peter Kump cooking school.  The instructors forbade us to use bottled salad dressing and bottled lemon juice.  The onus on using these things was so strong that I've avoided them completely ever since.  Yet Bone asserts that bottled lemon juice is better for preserving because its acidity is more consistent than that of fresh lemon juice. Who knew?

Tomatillo Sauce

2 1/2 lb tomatillos, husked and washed
2 medium mild fresh chiles (e.g., poblano)
1 small jalapeno pepper (optional, which I didn't use cuz I don't like the heat)
2 c chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 c bottle lemon juice
2 t salt

Preheat broiler.  Bring medium pot of water to boil.

Blanch tomatillos in boiling water, but don't overdo it.  Place blanched tomatillos in food processor and pulse to grind.

Place chiles on baking sheet and broil for about 5 minutes, turning as they blister.  Remove chiles and when they're cool enough to handle, remove skins, seed pods, and veins.  Chop chiles.  There should be about 3/4 cup.

Combine tomatillos, chiles, onion, garlic, lemon juice, and salt in medium pot and boil gently for 20 minutes over medium heat.

Have ready 2 scalded pint jars and their lids.  Ladle sauce into pint jars, leaving 1//2- 3/4 inch headspace.  Wipe rims, and set on lids.  Screw on bands fingertip tight.  Add enough water to cover jars by 3".  Process jars in boiling water bath for 15 minutes.  Turn off heat and allow jars to rest in water for a few minutes and then remove.  Allow to cool untouched for 6-8 hours.  Chek seals and store in cool, dark place for up to a year. 

Refrigerate after opening.

Marinated red peppers

4 lbs red bell peppers
1 c bottled lemon juice
2 cups white wine vinegar with 5% acidity
1 c evo
2 medium garlic cloves, sliced
1 1/2 t salt

Place oven rack 7" from broiler and preheat broiler.  Place peppers on baking sheet and char them under broiler, turning often with tongs, so that they blister all over, about 20 minutes.  Let peppers stand until cool enough to handle.  Remove charred skin, cut peppers in half and remove seed pods.

Combine lemon juice, vinegar, evo, garlic, and salt in saucepan and heat just until boiling over medium heat.

Have ready 3 scalded pint jars ad their bands.  Pack peppers into jars and pour marinade all over them.  Using a butter knife (or chopstick), pop any air bubbles in the jars.  See that garlic slices are distributed evenl.  Leave 1/2 - 3/4" headspace in jars.  Wipe rims, place on the lids, screw on bands fingertip tight.

Process peppers in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.  Turn off heat and allow jars to sit in water for 5 minutes.  Then remove jars and let rest for 4-6 hours.  Check seals and store in cool, dry place for up to 1 year.

Canning with pictures

Jonathan Hankin, one of the Berkshires' best photographers, came over yesterday to shoot some pix of Julia Erickson, Annette Grant and me doing some canning.  Some of them are so splendid I need to share them.  I hope you enjoy them.