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Contents
Herb Roasted Chicken
- 1 (5 to 6) pound roasting chicken
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon each of dried thyme, rosemary and sage
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Several sprigs fresh thyme, rosemary and sage
- 1 cup chicken broth
Serves 4 to 6
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Season the inside of the chicken cavity with salt and pepper.
- Put the crushed garlic, chopped onion and 2/3 of the dry herbs inside the cavity of the chicken.
- Use the twine and tie the legs closed.
- Rub the entire outside of the chicken with an even coat of olive oil.
- Coarsely chop remaining fresh herbs and sprinkle the herbs evenly on the chicken.
- Place the chicken into the pre-heated roasting pan and roast at 425 degrees for 45 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to roast for an additional 1 hour.
- Remove from oven and rest on a platter for 15 to 20 minutes before carving.
- Deglaze the pan drippings with the chicken broth and de-fat as desired.
- Use a spoon to scrape up all the roasted on pieces and bring to a boil.
- Remove from the heat and strain the liquid into a gravy boat.
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Chicken Piccata
- 2 half chicken breasts
- ¼ cup pitted olives
- ¼ capers
- ¾ cup white wine
- 1 lemon sliced into 1/8 inch slices
- 1 clove of garlic
- unbleached flour
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 large sauté pan, big enough to cook chicken breasts without crowding.
Serves 2
- Combine flour, salt & pepper and place in storage bag.
- Trim fat from chicken breasts and pound thin to about ¼ inch.
- Place chicken breasts in flour bag and shake until covered.
- Heat olive oil to almost smoking point in sauté pan and medium high.
- Shake off any excess flour and place chicken breasts in hot oil.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes per side, or until golden brown.
- Remove chicken from the pan and set aside.
- Add lemon slices to pan and brown on each side (about 1 to 2 minutes per side)
- Remove lemon from sauté pan and set aside as garnish.
- Add remaining ingredients to the pan to cook for 1 minute.
- Return chicken to pan and continue cooking until sauce has reduced by 2/3’s.
- Move chicken to serving platter, pour sauce over chicken and garnish with lemon slices.
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Chicken Salad with Roasted Red Peppers
I have used different types of left over chicken in this recipe, and except for barbequed chicken any other seems to go well.
- ½ lb cold chicken meat cut into ¼ to ½ inch cubes
- 1 red pepper
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon minces sun-dried tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon mayonnaise
- dash of hot sauce of your choice
- salt & pepper
Serves 2 to 3
- Roast the red pepper over an open gas flame until all sides are black. If you do not have a gas stove then roast the red pepper close under the broiler until blacken on all sides.
- Let roast red pepper cool to near room temperature, about ½ hour.
- Either under running water or with damp paper towels rub off the blacken skin from the red pepper.
- Discard all seeds and inner pith from the pepper.
- Cut the roasted red pepper up into the same size cubes as the chicken meat.
- Place chicken, pepper, sun dried tomato, and garlic into a mixing bowl
- Add mayonnaise and a dash of hot sauce
- Mix and taste
- Add salt & peeper to suit your taste, and mix again
Serve on warm baguette, or other home made bread like our European White Bread (recipe given earlier)
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Roast Brined Duck
This recipe produces one of the most tender, most flavorful and least fatty ducks I’ve ever had
- 1 - 5 to 5 1/2 pound Long Island duck
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup sugar
- water
- ¾ cup of sweet sauce. My favorite is simply ¼ cup of Stonewall Kitchen’s Peach Pomegranate Jam or the Sherry Wine Jelly from the Trappist Monks thinned with 2 tablespoons of water and heated to melt.
serves 2
- Into a large non-reactive container add the sugar and salt and 2 pints of water.
- Mix until sugar and salt is dissolved.
- Add duck
- If needed, add enough water to cover the duck.
- Place in refrigerator for 24 hours.
- Pre-heat oven to 300
- Split duck lengthwise and remove the backbone
- Place duck skin side up on roasting rack in roasting pan, and place in oven.
- Roast for 3 hours
- Heat oven to 425
- Roast for 15 minutes or until skin is crispy.
- Coat duck skin with Peach Pomegranate Jam or Sherry Wine Jelly and return to oven 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes.
Why Brining Works
Many have attributed the added juiciness of brined duck, turkey and chicken to osmosis—the flow of water across a barrier from a place with a higher water concentration (the brine) to a place with a lower one (the chicken). During roasting, poultry taken straight from the package can lose 18 percent of its original weight, while poultry soaked in water losses about 12 percent of its presoak weight. Remarkably, a brined bird will shed only a mere 7 percent of its starting weight. The benefit of brining can not be explained by osmosis alone. Salt, too, was playing a crucial role by aiding in the retention of water.
Table salt (including Kosher salt) is made up of two ions, sodium and chloride, that are oppositely charged. Proteins, such as those in meat, are large molecules that contain a mosaic of charges, negative and positive. When proteins are placed in a solution containing salt, they readjust their shape to accommodate the opposing charges. This rearrangement of the protein molecules compromises the structural integrity of the meat, reducing its overall toughness. It also creates gaps that fill up with water. The added salt makes the water less likely to evaporate during cooking, and the result is meat that is both juicy and tender.
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Poulet a la Crème avec Jerez
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/3 cup Sherry
- ½ cup tomato paste
- ¼ cup sundried tomatoes diced
- ¼ cup capers
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- salt & pepper
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- ½ lb cooked pasta of choice
Serves 2
- Cut chicken into strips or ½ inch cubes.
- In a large fry pan or skillet brown the chicken in the olive oil over medium high heat until browned on all sides and cooked through.
- Add the tomato paste, capers and sundried tomatoes and stir to coat chicken
- Add the sherry and allow alcohol to evaporate.
- Add the cream and stir until sauce is even consistency.
Serve over your favorite pasta.
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