Spinach Tiger

Cooking Italy: Cast Iron Roast Chicken with Lemons

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 13:56:11 -0600

This recipe is part of the cooking curriculum for Cooking Italy, a cook along group that cooks mostly from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classical Cooking. It’s a group of friends and food bloggers who want to learn how to cook classic regional Italian cooking. If you are interested in joining, this group, go to Cooking Italy, and email me.

Last November I attended the Food Buzz Festival in San Francisco and was fortunate enough to have a free night to dine with a fellow food blogger, Peter G. We went to the Zuni Cafe, and at his suggestion we ordered their signature dish, Roasted Chicken with Bread Salad. This is not that particular recipe, although I immediately came home and replicated the dish for our Thanksgiving. There is no bread salad here, which is a big part of makes Zuni chicken, Zuni chicken, but what does remain is the secret to roasting chicken, no matter how you choose to flavor it.

The flavoring for this chick is lemon. The easiest and guaranteed most successful recipe from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classical Italian Cooking has to be roast chicken with lemons. The folklore surrounding this lemon chicken is that a marriage proposal is soon to follow after it is served. Hmmm, cooking food a man will marry you for. If this sounds corny, old-fashioned, or sexist, I can’t apologize. Food is a love language. Observe any Italian mamma, and it’s undeniable.

The Process
Use an organic chicken. It makes a difference. Rinse in cold water. Pat dry. Salt using 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt, wrap in plastic for 3 days. When ready to roast, rinse chicken again. Pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Pierce two organic lemons all over with a skewer and place inside cavity of chicken. You can either sew up the chicken or use string to keep the lemons in. As the chicken roasts, the lemon soften and flavors the chicken.

The Zuni chicken is salted and refrigerated for three days. It is then roasted quickly at a very high temperature of 450 degrees, (turning once and starting breast side down) for 45-60 minutes. It will depend on your own oven, and the size of the chicken.

In Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking, she also suggests a one-hour, starting breast side down. However she cooks her chicken at a lower temperature.

I’ve done it both ways, and whichever temperature you choose, at least start with a very high temperature and a hot pan. You can reduce the heat to 400 after 20 minutes.

Here’s what happens. You heat up your cast iron pan in the 450 degree oven. You place a “patted dry” chicken (seasoned with whatever herbs and spices you prefer), or in this case a chicken stuffed with lemons, and you will hear that beautiful sound of the skin hit the hot cast iron and sizzle. This is my favorite part of the process. The next favorite part is when you take the chicken out of oven after the breast has been turned over and you feast your eyes on the almost balloon-like skin that is crispy and oh so golden brown. It’s hard to believe that when you cut through the crispy brown skin, the breast underneath is as tender as thigh meat.

The only way I have found to improve upon the Zuni chicken is to incorporate Marcella’s idea of placing lemons that have been punctured all over inside the chicken. When I cut into the succulent breast meat and smelled lemons, I felt like I had never known how to roast a chicken before. I’ve had my successes with roast chicken, but not like this. Doesn’t this make you curious as to what is happening? It did me, and here is what I learned.

Successful Chicken Roasting
Salt in advance for up to three days - gives the same effect as a brine.
Chicken must be patted dry before placing in oven.
Start with a HOT HOT oven, and pre-heated (seasoned) cast iron pan.
Begin with the breast side down, and crisp up the back of the chicken first.
Turn over after 30 minutes and finish with breast side up.
It is not necessary to tie chicken unless you are stuffing it as in this case with lemons.

If you follow these steps, you will have a crispy, yet juicy roast chicken every time.

NOTE: This is the first time I have combined two recipes and credit must go to both. These are cookbooks that should be in every kitchen. Read them, use them, tweak them, combine them, but come under their influence.

Recipe (adapted from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classical Italian Cooking and the Zuni Cookbook)

A 3-4 pound chicken
Salt
Pepper, freshly ground
2 small lemons

Marcella roasts at 350. I roast at 450. Both temperatures work, with varying cooking times. The hotter temperature brings the sizzle when using the cast iron pan. You can even roast at 400 degrees, but start with the hottest oven.

Rinse in cold water, pat dry and salt chicken inside and out with 1 1/2 t of salt. Wrap in plastic for a minimum of one day, a maximum of three days.

Rinse salt off, pat dry and proceed.
Salt and pepper chicken inside and out moderately.
Pierce two organic lemons all over. Stuff inside of chicken.
Close up chicken, but not air tight.

Preheat cast iron pan in 450 degree oven. Place chicken breast side down. It will sizzle and sear. In 30 minutes turn over and reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees. Use a meat thermometer to test doneness at 20 minutes. Chicken will take 45-60 minutes depending on size and your oven.

Allow to rest 10 minutes before cutting.

Spinach Tiger Entry 180 - Angela Roberts -Cooking Italy: Cast Iron Roast Chicken with Lemons

Key Words: Chicken, Cooking Italy, Zuni Cookbook, Marcella Hazan, Lemons, Cast Iron
Categories: Cooking Italy, Italian, Cast Iron, Meat,

All original content (outside of adapted recipe) copyright © 2010 Angela Roberts, All Rights Reserved

Crispy Sweet Potato Chips Need A Stylist

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 09:31:15 -0600

When your eyes land on these crispy beauties, don’t they lure you in? Don’t you want to just munch away biting into every bit of salt and olive oil and crunch? Well go ahead. They are not deep fried, but baked to crispiness. When I was making my most recent roasted sweet potato lasagna, I just left this batch in the oven a bit longer and voila, a healthy snack was born.

And, just in time for the oscar. Like every star that will be walking down the red carpet, they are in need of a little dressing up. See that heart shaped little bowl in the middle. It’s empty and this is where you come in. As you read, the nominees are making their stylists crazy, wanting just the right dress, right hair, dazzling piece of jewelry, my sweet potatoes need a dipping sauce.

What sauce would you want to accessorize these chips with? Something creamy and dreamy or hot and spicy?

Leave a comment with either a sauce or an idea, and I’ll make it and blog the winning recipe. And, to show my appreciation, I’ll send you an ITunes gift card of $10, and you can rent a few movies. It’s not much, but it’s just a bit of blogging love and this is all for fun.

You can leave a comment describing your sauce, or if you want send me a link to something I can see, or email me a picture with the recipe. Winner will be chosen for best idea on Sunday during the academy awards. Obviously, no geographical limitations.

Recipe
Sweet potatoes, multi colored if possible
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper

Toss slices in olive oil, salt. Bake at 375 degrees. You can place on preheated stone pan, or baking sheet with parchment paper. Turn at 20 minutes, and cook 10-15 minutes longer. Keep in oven until crisp. Turn a few times, so potato browns evenly.

Dipping Sauce: You gave me choices. My original choice was an aioli, and I love the ideas below particularly, the citrus saffron and the fennel aioli. I didn’t want to be persuaded by personality, so I turned the decision over to my husband. He chose Joan of Foodalogue’s Bean Sauce because it sounded the most interesting.

Joan was awarded a $10 gift certificate to purchase iTunes.
Spinach Tiger Entry 179 - Angela Roberts - Crispy Sweet Potato Chips Need Your Help

Key Words: Sweet Potatoes, iTunes,
Categories: Appetizers, Vegetarian

All original content (outside of adapted recipe) copyright © 2010 Angela Roberts, All Rights Reserved

Roasted Sweet Potato Lasagna

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 09:48:31 -0600

A few weeks ago, when I learned that the ingredient for this month’s Beet ‘n Squash YOU was sweet potatoes, my obsession began. There are hundreds if not thousands of ways to make sweet potatoes and if you google sweet potato recipes, you will find it’s companion word, is “casserole.” But, that’s a problem for me.

Can I say this in a very polite and respectful way?

I hate casseroles.

Okay, that was not so polite, let me try again.

Most often casseroles kill food.

Oh dear, now I’m talking about murder here and I just know someone is getting insulted. I’ll try one more time.

Casseroles have often taken a delicious whole food and disguised it to the point of changing it’s texture, taste and food value.

I’m sorry, now this sounds patronizing and snooty. I’ll try one more time.

Casseroles are all too often unnecessary ways of preparing food that is at its best when prepared with less fuss.

For example, the casserole has often done a disservice to the sweet potato by adding in lots of sugar and mushing and mashing the flesh to death.

Maybe this would have never bothered me if my husband hadn’t told me when we got married, “I don’t eat sweet potatoes.”

I just couldn’t accept this statement, and upon investigation, discovered his idea of sweet potatoes was the sweet potato that looks like baby food. He didn’t know that a sweet potato could have meaty texture and savory flavor. I set out to change his mind. And, I did.

I started serving baked sweet potatoes, and the irresistible sweet potato fries.

So in my weeks of obsessing about sweet potatoes, I knew I wanted to keep them in their more whole and natural form, but still, I needed a “recipe.” This is, Battle sweet potato.”

And, to my utter surprise, and probably your delight, I turned my sweet potatoes into a casserole. But it’s not your grandmother’s casserole. You know exactly what you are eating and there are several textures and tastes exciting you all at once. Homemade buckwheat pasta, fontina cheese, shallots, and slices of roasted sweet potato in blood orange olive oil deliver a healthy, hearty happy casserole.

I made this at lunch time, and we were going to eat this for dinner, but it was one of those “just one more bite” experiences and we gobbled it up in moments. D.C. is already asking for this again.

The Process
I used a homemade buckwheat pasta which is not that easy to make, but you could certainly use regular lasagna noodles. Handmade pasta is often delicate and tender and that type of texture against the fleshier sweet potato is what makes this so successful.

The most fun of this dish is using purple sweet potatoes. The combination of colors dance together, looking like mood enhancers, but alas, are just sweet potatoes. You know how much I love purple foods and you might remember my purple sweet potato fries. Both the orange and purple were regionally grown. I got the idea for finishing with finely chopped hash because when using a mandolin, there are always chunks of potato left, and I hate wasting food.

This is very easy to make, unless you’re like me and start eating these sweet potato coins as soon as they come out of the oven.

Slice potatoes with mandolin in medium thin. You can use a knife if you don’t have a mandolin.

Layer with pasta sheets, potatoes, buttery shallots, fontina cheese.

Top with a hash of chopped sweet potatoes.

Recipe
Lasagna noodles (enough for six layers in casserole dish the size of quick bread pan
4 Large sweet potatoes, peeled (1/4 potato reserved from each for chopping hash)
Fontina Cheese (8 oz. sliced thinly
6 shallots, finely chopped
2 T unsalted butter
Blood orange infused olive oil (I used Stonehouse; see note)
Parmigiano reggiano cheese
Sea salt
Black pepper, freshly grated

Slice potatoes thin. Save about 1/4 of each potato to chop up for the topping.
Roast at 350 in blood orange olive oil, salt. Turn after 20 minutes.
Roast until completely done. If you don’t have blood orange olive oil, see note.
In a small frying pan, saute butter and shallots until softened. Add a touch of the blood orange olive oil. Remove half of the shallots and set aside. Add chopped potatoes and cook until softened.

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until pasta is almost cooked. You want it to have a bite, but you will only be baking the casserole to melt the cheese, so pasta will not be cooking more than five minutes in oven.

Assemble: Layer pasta, sliced potatoes, top with a small amount of the reserved shallots, parmiggiano cheese, fontina cheese. Continue to layer, up to six layers. The final layer will be covered with fontina cheese, parmigiano reggiano and the chopped potatoes.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Allow to sit for five minutes before cutting.
Serve with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table.

Note for Olive Oil: You can infuse your own olive oil with blood orange zest. Allow olive oil to sit for several hours with zest and a little juice from a blood orange or any other orange citrus. Meyer lemon would work equally as well.

This recipe is submitted to the food event, Beet’n Squash, YOU, hosted by She Simmers. Each month, She Simmers and Gourmet Fury take turns hosting. March is Battle Sweet Potato

Spinach Tiger Entry 178- Angela Roberts - Roasted Sweet Potato Lasagna

Key Words: Pasta, Sweet Potatoes, Shallots, Fontina Cheese, Blood orange olive oil
Categories: Pasta, Vegetarian

All original content (outside of adapted recipe) copyright © 2010 Angela Roberts, All Rights Reserved

Cooking Italy: Radicchio with Warm Bean Salad

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:47:37 -0600

Cooking Italy: Pizzoccheri and Making Buckwheat Pasta

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:21:04 -0600

Pot Roast of Beef Braised in Red Wine, Mashed Potatoes

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:36:25 -0600

This recipe is part of the cooking curriculum for Cooking Italy, a cook along group that cooks mostly from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classical Cooking. It’s a group of friends and food bloggers who want to learn how to cook classic regional Italian cooking. If you are interested in joining, this group, go to Cooking Italy, and email me.

Roast beef, mashed potatoes, a smattering a root vegetables. Sounds like something in an American diner right? But, if you think about it, the Italians and French (especially in the north) eat red meat, and they prepare roast beef just like we Americans do, except they tend to cook with wine from their areas. In this case, Marcella is taking her inspiration here from the Piedmonte Region of Italy, Stracotto al Barolo.

I’ll admit that it is not difficult to make a pot roast, but if you can take a dinner that is a 7 or 8 and up it to a 10, why not do that? The more I blog, the more I’m coming to terms with my viewpoint of food. People often ask me if eating at the French Laundry is on my bucket list, and I have to shake my head no. Oh, I would certainly go with my camera and my appetite and high anticipation, but the true Spinach Tiger would be more at home at Ad Hoc (Thomas Keller’s more approachable home-cooking restaurant).

I am so passionate about inspiring people to cook in their own kitchens instead of eating at the hands of take-out and restaurants that a biggest part of my zest is finding dishes you and I can cook at home, yet feel we have been treated out.

I invited neighbors over to enjoy this dinner. Steve travels and eats extensively in nice restaurants. His comments were “this tasted like a great meal out in a nice restaurant.” As it should be, and this is what we can experience frequently if only we know how.

The how of home cooking is simplicity. Home recipes should be understated yet delicious enough that you will return to them again and again.

Marcella did not fail on this recipe. Of course, the base is always the same, the onion, celery, carrot, chopped very finely as they become a part of the sauce. Please take caution when using wine and oil, as I had a little in-pot fire with one of the roasts. I had put the lid on to let the alcohol burn down. Bad idea, as when I took the lid off, a big whoosh of flame erupted. Cast Iron Enamel pots are the best friends in my kitchen for numerous reasons, but they are not to be taken for granted.

Cooking with Cast Iron Enameled Pots and a Little Caution
Of course always follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Some of these will include:
Do not rapidly alter temperature, taking a pot from cold to hot or hot to cold. They can crack.
The pots heat up and RETAIN their heat, which is why they are called dutch ovens. They actually can get so hot, that when you open your oven, you will feel a big whoosh of heat. Always stand back.
Do not use high heat. Even when a recipe calls for high heat, proceed with caution, using medium heat. Once on the stove, even the smallest flame can be enough to keep a continued simmer.
Use Pot holders. This may seem like a given, but even the knobs of the lids will be very hot.

The pots you see above are a 7 quart and a 4 quart, which work perfectly for my needs. I am either cooking for two or for a crowd. The next dutch oven I will get will be an oval braiser.

The Cooking Process
Start with good meat. I used two chuck roasts and cooked in two different enameled cast iron pans. During the last hour, I put the two together in one pot.

These are browned and ready to be braised in red wine to get that fork tender texture. This is still a BEFORE picture.

Recipe (adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking) by Marcella Hazan
Vegetable oil
4 pounds boneless beef roast, preferably chuck
1 T butter
3 T onion, finely chopped
3 T celery, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups dry red wine (see notes)
1 cup or more of beef stock or 1/2 cup canned with 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 T chopped canned imported Italian plum tomatoes
Pinch of dried thyme (I used fresh)
1/4 t fresh marjoram 1/4 t dried
Salt
Black pepper freshly ground

Wine Notes:
Barolo wine at my wine store starts at $46. Other suggestions included Barbaresco, Barbera, Syrah (from California or Australia) or Zinfandel. I chose Zinfandel for the cooking and drinking with this dish.
It is critical to use a decent wine in this dish. I made a six-pound roast and used the whole bottle, doubling all the ingredients. Use a freshly opened bottle; your dish will only be as good as the wine you use.

Preheat oven to 350
I used a cast iron dutch oven for one pot cooking. If you don’t have a pot that goes into oven with a lid, you can cook this on top of the stove on a low simmer for 3-4 hours or (slow cooker) for several hours.

Using an enameled-cast iron dutch oven or skillet, brown meat in vegetable oil on high on all sides. Set aside. If you using cast iron dutch oven, remove meat with tongs to another plate. Add vegetable oil, butter and onions, until softened. Add in celery, carrots. Add in wine, cook off alcohol for about 5 minutes. Add broth, meat, tomatoes, thyme, marjoram, salt, pepper.

Oven method: Make sure the liquid comes up about 3/4 of the say. Marcella suggests turning meat over every 20 minutes. I used cast iron pan that has a self basting lid and only turned the roast every 40 minutes. Roast in 350 degree oven to make sure

Top of the stove: Keep lid on, cook on a simmer for 3-4 hours, turning several times.
Slow Cooker: Completely submerge in liquid (adding more broth/water if necessary) and cook for several hours, 6-8.

If roast is over 4 pounds, double all the ingredients, and be sure to use a pan that fits the roast. Too large of a pan will spread the liquid out to much.

Mashed Potatoes Bolognese Style
8 large red potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks (about 8 pieces per large potato)
4 -6 T Butter
1 cup Warmed milk (you may not use it all)
Salt
White pepper
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup parmigiano-regianno
nutmeg

I prep potatoes once roast is in oven. They can sit in a pan of cold water until ready to use. Rinse well, start again in cold, salted water, put on stove. Mashed potatoes should be fluffy, not creamy, so as soon as potatoes are fork tender, drain water, and mash with a fork or masher. Do not use an electric mixer, as this changes the chemistry of the potatoes, too often turning them gummy. You can use a regular dinner fork and mash, adding butter. Slowly add warmed milk, using just enough to make fluffy. Too much milk will also make potatoes too gooey and not substantial enough for this roast. Season with salt and pepper and optionally, parmigianno-regiano cheese, freshly grated.

I made potatoes both with and without cheese and nutmet and liked both versions for this roast.

Spinach Tiger Entry 175- Angela Roberts - Pot Roast of Beef Braised in Red Wine, Mashed Potatoes Bolognese Style
Key Words: Marcella Hazan, Chuck Roast, Red Wine, Mashed Potatoes
Categories: Italian, Cooking Italy, Potatoes, Meat, Cast Iron

All original content (outside of adapted recipe) copyright © 2010 Angela Roberts, All Rights Reserved

Win this Engraved iPod and Bring Water to Haiti

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:27:29 -0600

Is it is hard to imagine an hour of my day without my water bottle. It is out of my comprehension to be thirsty and not have an immediate solution to quench this thirst. It is unbearable for me to think about having a child in my arms asking for water and having nothing to give them to drink.

I know you feel the same way I do, and I have a way we can help those in Haiti devastated by the lack of clean drinking water.

As a member of BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine, I have joined forces to help Haiti obtain drinking water by offering this prize as one of the raffle gifts for this event. The proceeds will go to Concern Worldwide because of their track record and quick response to provide clean drinking water.

Please please go to Cook Sister to see all the prizes you can bid on and purchase your tickets. All they are asking is a $10 donation for the raffle ticket. There are many cook books I know you want to have, and while you are cooking, you can listen to up to 1000 of your favorite songs on this Apple iPod Shuffle, donated by Mr. Spinach Tiger of Roberts Creative Systems. The iPod will be blue, and engraved with H2OPE for Haiti.

I will ship the iPod anywhere in the world, and many of the prizes up for raffle have flexible shipping locations.

The on-line raffle ends Sunday, February 28th, so please participate today, and help to quench a child’s thirst.

Spinach Tiger Entry 174- Angela Roberts - Win this Engraved iPod and Bring Water to Haiti
Categories: General

All original content (outside of adapted recipe) copyright © 2010 Angela Roberts, All Rights Reserved