Category Archives: Comfort Food

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!

Posted on by

Herbed ChickenIn this corner, weighing in at a plump 3 1/2 pounds the current heavy weight roasted chicken champion of the world: Madeline Kamman’s Herbed Butter under-the-skin.
A traditional French technique for chicken that can be used for roasting or Sous Vide cooking. This mighty dish has charmed royalty the world over and stands as the pinnacle of simple poultry preparation.

Mahogany ChickenAnd in this corner, weighing in at a firm 3.25 pounds, the Contender, Jessica Cogan’s made-by-mom-at home Mahogany Chicken. The pride of the borough, this friendly approach to adding flavor should not be underestimated; stylish, smart and sassy. Who will be the winner is anyone’s guess.  Kamman’s herbed champion has the breasts to put up a great fight.  But Cogan’s Mahogany contender has got the legs to run away with it all.   Marquis of Queensbury rules apply!

Round 1

Round 1 In the left corner prepped with just a rub of salt and pepper on the skin: The Mahogany Contender.  In the right corner with an herbed butter rubbed under the skin directly on the breast: The Herbed Champion.

The judges score this round evenly. An equal effort from both birds.

The Contender’s basting marinade is 1 part brown sugar, 1 part balsamic vinegar and 1 part dry vermouth applied after the first 45 minutes of cooking then every 15 mins after that until done.The Champion’s herbed butter is 1/4 cup butter, salt, pepper, garlic. rosemary, thyme and basil.

Round 2

Round 2In the left side of the oven The Contender holds its own against The Champion.  But don’t count out the slippery moves that Herbed Butter can bring to this fight.  The heat is up for both of them and so far neither is backing down from a basting.

Uh Oh! The Champ is showing signs of melting down while the challenger, showing great poise under all this heat, is just crackling away.  The crowd is silent watching these to birds go head to head in headless combat. Never before have we seen such fancy footless footwork.  Ding!  Saved by the bell.

Round 3

Round #The final round and The Contender is putting on a show.  Evenly browned after multiple bastings She’s showing no sign of legging off.  The Champ, a little unevenly used from the butter directly under the skin, is still in the fight. Her delicious herbs giving off the airs of a true champion, one who never quits.

 

The Fight is Over!!

End of FightAmazing!! Never before is the history of Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner have we seen anything like this before.  Who would have guessed it?  Folks, just who could have foreseen the outcome of today’s match up? Not you, not me, nobody could have predicted this!!  After 1 hour and 25 mins in a 350°F oven the judges score the final numbers equally at 170°F. I still can’t believe it. My hats off to both of these plucky fighters.  I guess we’ll just have to wait until after they cool down before we can get a taste of what happened here today.  My oh my! I’ve never seen anything like it before.  No sir- ee.

 

Judge’s Decision

In a 2 to 1 vote the new Roast Chicken Heavy Weight Champion of the World is . . . . an upset!!

Madeline Kamman’s age old classic recipe proved feisty but it’s moves were a bit outdated and predictable.  The Contender, Jessica Cogan’s Mahogany Chicken takes the title with it’s even browning and moist marinaded flavor.  Our hat’s off to both the fighters in this matchup.  What?  What’s that I hear?  A rematch??  That’s right folks you heard it here first.  These two birds aren’t done flapping their wings yet.  Until next time . . .

Eat Well and Smile Often,

tj

p.s. Run Chicken Run!!

Fee, Fie, Fo, Farrum!!

Posted on by

Or “How Farro Can You Go?!”

fArro MedioFarro is a wheat that has been grown in Italy since the Roman times when it was referred to as Farrum!  Now I really don’t know how farro it can go but it has come farrum.

Enough silliness, farro is a name given to 3 cultivated hulled wheat species, einkorn, emmer and spelt, also know as farro piccolo, farro medio and farro grande respectively. They have a very hard husk and require further processing after harvest in order for us to make use of its nutty goodness inside.  While Farro was the predominant grain for centuries it has been replaced by wheat like durum which are free threshing, light hull that removes when threshing. It has made a recent comeback though as the quest for more local and bio-diverse crop systems are being planted and is often raised organically.

As a food it has a great nutty taste and a very toothsome texture. Many cooks boil it like rice in broth or add it to soups. At the Union Street Faire Sunday June 3rd I’ll be assisting in a demonstration in making a risotto styled dish called farrotto.  It’s made in exactly the same way as risotto except with farro instead of arborio rice.While a little time consuming the lovely creamy texture combined with the nutty flavor and toothsome quality make this a remarkable dish.

For a recipe please be sure to drop by Suzanne Griffin’s website.

 

Eat Well and Smile Often

 

tj

 

To-farro, To-farro, I love you To-farro, you’re only 30minutesofstirringinapan Aaaaa-Waaaaaayyyyyy!!!!

 

Many thanks to http://www.underutilized-species.org/Documents/PUBLICATIONS/farro_in_italy.pdf as the main resource for this piece

Happy Mother’s Day To All . . . Especially!!

Posted on by

Mother's Day!!I want to start off by wishing an extra special Mother’s Day to Melani Robinson who very kindly has taken me under her protective mother-blogger wing. Melani, who authors an emotionally brave blog 1 Year of Online Dating at 50, has been uncommonly generous with her time, advice, and support . So much so that she has created a special section on her blog entitled: Things I’m CRAZY About, where she graciously included a link to my humble little blog. Although, we’ve never met, her brand of kindness reminds me that the unselfish acts of mothers around the world should be celebrated. My hat’s off to you Mrs. Robinson.

Speaking of generous mothers, I wish my mother the happiest of Mother’s Days! Passed almost 20 years now, my mood brightens daily at the thought of her smile and the happy sound of her laughter still rings in my ears. My mother was extremely supportive of my quitting work to attend culinary school and happily shared in both my joys and frustrations while I was there. There were very few things that I was able to do for my parents while they were alive but one memory comes readily to mind.

My father would fish and often bring home the fruits of his leisure. What wasn’t immediately consumed was wrapped and frozen for some unknown future meal. Enter one culinary graduate of a son. “Tom,” my mother said one day. “Your job is to come up with a dish using all the fish in the freezer.” Imagine my dismay, frozen fish . . . and me, full of my fresh-cuisine-ness. Of course, anything for my mother.  So I set to my cookbooks in search of inspiration and low-and-behold Bouillabase caught my eye. Now the following isn’t exactly line for line from the recipe. Actually I had to adapt a bit bit to make it work but here goes.

Start with a lovely fish fume’ – check – plenty of salmon bones
Saute’ onions – check
Garlic – check
Saffron – double check and double cool
Cook fish in fume’ – check
Serve with crusty bread to mom, dad and mom’s friends. (The ones who always brag about their 2 children graduating culinary school) – check

Here it comes, mom’s friends asked for a second helping. Now I know that mothers love their children unconditionally but it was a nice feeling to sense her pride in my accomplishments. It also felt good that she could brag right back to her friends about me and my various travels around the globe cooking. It wasn’t on Mother’s Day that I cooked for her but I was happy to repay a mother’s love and kindness with that simple meal made with a son’s love and gratitude. Happy Mother’s Day Mom!!

Eat Well and Smile Often

tj

p.s. Give a man a fish . . . and he’ll ask for seconds.

Cooking For Ms. Right!!

Posted on by

Chicken Poulet Supreme!I met her at my first barbeque. I don’t mean my actual first barbeque;  as in a baby with a brontosaurus bone, sipping from dad’s PBR first barbeque. I mean my first movie barbeque, where I worked on a real, live film set.  First barbeque, you see, is a term employed, by those-in-the-know, with both pride and derision.  As in, “This isn’t my first barbeque.” versus “Is this your first barbeque??”

Returning from a whirlwind auto tour of Europe with my best friend Dale, me a recent graduate of culinary school, I got a call from one of my former chef instructors.

“So, how was Europe?” Chef Patty Hart inquired. 

“Great, what’s up?” I wittily replied. 

“Got a job yet,”   “Not yet,” says me.

“Meet me at so & so at 5:30. I’ve got something for you.”

5:30 came and I found myself smack dab in the middle of what was to become my first barbeque: The film set for ‘So I Married An Axe Murderer.’  After a quick meeting with the producer we were off to the production office to meet with – Ms. Right.  Now when I say Ms. Right I mean it in all the best possible ways.  She is beautiful, smart, kind, witty, humble, and unavailable.  Sigh . . .

It was Ms. Right who hired me to cook for Mike Myers, of SNL and Wayne’s World fame, on the set of this new movie.  To answer the question forming on your tongue, Mike is brilliant, funny, considerate, and extremely talented.  It was a privilege to cook for him.

Back to Ms. Right, since she is of a rare breed in the motion picture industry, not a seeker of fame, I have chosen not to use her real name. So Ms. Right she will remain.  I will openly admit to having a crush on her from the first time we met; unfortunately our lives spin in different circles never allowing us more than the odd telephone call,  chance meeting-for-dinner, and  the too few and far between email exchanges.  FYI: She is happily partnered with a charming man and both currently reside in Jolly Old. That being said, Ms. Right and I have maintained a strong bond around food.  We loooooove to talk about it and have shared great fun and laughter over the few meals we have inhaled together. My favorite line of hers is, “This is going to cost me an extra 20 minutes on the treadmill tomorrow but I don’t care!”  Hence the Ms. Right scale of decadence was born.

One recent email exchange brought up the topic of her discovering a local French bistro and she raved about the Cod with fresh lentils.  Positively made my mouth water and think of all things French.  She and her date enjoyed not only the expertly prepare meal, they wisely complimented it with a tasty French Sauvignon. They were happy.  Made me happy just reading about it!  It also put me in the mind to try a few items French and so my foray in to the world of crepes began.  Now the strawberry crepes I wrote about recently were certainly fabulous but honestly, they were just an excuse to prepare a plate of plain ole’ crepes to cook with later.  Then inspiration struck!  A welcome home meal for Ms. Right, the next time she flies through town.  Crepe Poulet Supreme!

Inspired is the right term ‘cuz those little buggers were amazing.  Crispy browned slices of chicken, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and golden bell peppers simmered in a sauce of rich chicken stock and heavy cream.  After a few minutes on the stove, using a slotted spoon, I filled and rolled 2 crepes with the chicken and vegetable mixture and set them aside. Returning to the stove I reheated the sauce and whisked in 3 tablespoons of soft, sweet butter. It made it glisten, it made it shine and boy did it make me smile.  Sauce on the plate, crepes on the sauce, quick photo and then in to my belly they went.

For those of you notice the lack of a green vegetable I offer this:

1.  I garnished with lemon thyme making my mouth very happy.

2.  I stood next to the fresh little plant-lings in my garden while enjoying my fork-to-mouth     exercise.

3. YES, 1 and 2 DO count.)

Thanks for another inspired meal Ms. Right.

 

Eat well and Smile Often,

tj

p.s. This dish would be a 45 on the Ms. Right scale of decadence . . . just saying.