Rethink the Chicken Drumstick

When you think chicken drumstick does a sticky bar-b-qued sauce slathered, shirt staining, finger licking mess come to mind.  Paired up with a picnic potato salad and a fruit platter. Sounds tasty doesn’t it? No doubt this is a great meal, but here is a recipe that takes the chicken drumstick from the picnic table to the dinner table. 

Oven Roasted Chicken Drums over Pasta with Roasted Sweet Onions and Diced Fresh Tomatoes. 

~ Ingredients:

• 8 skin on chicken drumsticks
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 2 tsp coarse salt
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and 2 tbsp (for serving)
• 1  thick sliced large sweet onion
• 3 pats of unsalted butter
• 1 med diced ripe tomato (for serving)
• 1/4 cup grated parrano cheese (for serving)
• 1 box uncooked spaghetti

~ Directions: 

Preheat oven to 500° oven. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. In a large bowl combined lime juice, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, thyme, cayenne pepper and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Toss and coat sliced sweet onions in sauce and place on baking sheet. Toss chicken drumsticks in remaining sauce and place on baking sheet. Pour any remaining sauce in the bowl over chicken and onions. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn  chicken , toss onions and rotate sheet half way thru baking. While chicken bakes cook pasta as directed, drain and toss with remaining olive oil. Bake chicken to an internal temprature of 160°. Plate pasta on a large platter and top with baked chicken. Tent with foil to allow chicken to rest. Place  pats of butter on baking sheet. Place sheet back into the oven just until butter is melted . Then whisk into drippings to finish the sauce.  Just before serving garnish with fresh diced tomatoes and grated parrano cheese (may substitute with parmigiano reggiano if unable to find parrano cheese).  Drizzle chicken and pasta with finished sauce. 

~ Great with:  Garlic Bread ~ Prep Time: 40 minutes  ~ Servings: 4

 

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Dispatch the Cock (Spatckcock Cornish Game Hens)

This last weekend I spatchcocked my first game hen! This was a very fun and surprisingly simple way of grilling a whole bird without having to cut it down into small parts. Of course knowing me I turned to my trusty Google to learn more about this cooking technique and here is what I found out…

According to Alan Davidson in his ""The Oxford Companion to Food," (an encyclopedia about food published in 1999 ) spatchcock is a culinary term, traced to the 18th and 19th centuries and revived toward the end of the 20th century. It is said to be of Irish origin and thought to be an abbreviation of "dispatch cock," a termed used to indicate a way of grilling a bird after splitting it open down the back and spreading the two halves out flat. The term spatchcock also appears in  Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, first published in 1785.


To spatchcock a chicken, you need a sturdy pair of kitchen shears. Place the chicken, breast-side-down, on a cutting board. Using the shears, cut away the backbone and discard it. Then, flip over the bird and press down to flatten it. On smaller birds you can stop there. On a larger bird you may want to cut out the keel bone (breast bone) prior to flattening. Season the bird as desired and grill over a medium heat,  skin side down on lightly oiled grates. Use a baking sheet and 2 foil covered brick to weigh down and flatten the bird while grilling. Not having foiled covered bricks  handy and a little reluctant to head out to the Home Depot before making dinner, I opted to use my trusty cast iron pan.  Grill the bird for 8 to 10 minute with the grill cover open before flipping it over.  Once the bird has been flipped cover the grill and cook until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on your handy meat thermometer and the juices run clear.
My meat thermometer states 180 degrees for poultry yet the cook book advises 165 degrees. You be your own judge on that one. Juices running clear is a good indicator that your chicken is done. Just be careful not to dry out the meat.  If you are leaning towards the 180 degrees, you may consider cooking on an indirect heat after flipping. We pulled ours off at 165 degrees with the juices running clear and it was truly the  best tasting spatchcocked game hen I have ever had.

Lesson 3.5 With Martha (Chicken Piccata)

I am currently working my way thru the Meat, Fish & Poultry chapter of Martha Stewarts's Cooking School. Lesson 3.5 is all about how to Sauté and Fry. The key to sautéed foods is to cook in a sizzling-hot pan with a small amount of fat, cook your meats at room temperature in an even thickness, pat your meats dry to prevent "steaming" rather than browning, and don't overcrowd the pan. Stick with these basic rules and you can’t go wrong. What I like about this book is that it is not just a "how to cook book" but also an actual cookbook as well. Each lesson has a delicious recipe for you to showcase you newly acquire knowledge and skills and this lessons recipe was for Chicken Piccata.

Here is a recipe that I would have never in a million years thought to try. Not because I wouldn't have liked the bright lively flavors or the sheer elegant appearance of the dish. This type of Italian food was just not of my radar. When I think Italian, I think tomato. Usually a rich meat sauce or dice fresh tomatoes tossed in angel hair pasta, olive oil and parmesan. Certainly not lemons and capers. This dish was so unbelievable easy to make and the result where so delicious.

Interesting tidbit here. According to Chow.com, Chicken or Veal Piccata often thought to be a classic Italian dish actually originated right here in the US, in the 1930's Italian-American Kitchens. Piccata translates to piquant or piquancy, which in one definition means tart or zesty. Zesty and tart is exactly what this dish is with the combination of lemon juice, white wine, and capers. I did my best to try and track down the origin of the recipe to verify if Chow.com's Italian-American claim was correct, but had a hard time finding anything to back that up. Regardless of where it was created,  it is now one of my favorite Italian dishes. I will be making this again soon. Besides what else will I do with all those capers??

Chicken Piccata 

(Martha Stewart's Cooking School)

• 1/4 C all-purpose flour

• S/P
• 4 Chicken (or Veal) cutlets
• 2 Tbsp e-v olive oil
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 3Tbsp dry white wine
• 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp salt-packed capters (soak and drain)
• 1 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

In a shallow dish mix flour and s/p. Dredge chicken in flour and tap off any excess. Heat oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat until butter starts to sizzle. Cook chicken in batches until golden brown on each side (2 to 3 min per side). Transfer the chicken to a platter and pour out any excess fat from the pan. Return pan to medium heat and add wine (I used a Pinot Grigio) and with a wooden spoon scrap up any browned bits. This is called deglazing the pan. Pan can be deglazed with chicken stock if you do not want to use wine. Continue cooking the wine until it reduces by half. (about 30 seconds). Remove pan from heat and add lemon juice, capers, and remaining 2 Tbsp butter. Swirl pan until butter is melted and sauce has combined, then add parsley. Immediately pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.

Over all a very easy recipe. The sauce does comes together really fast. Notice the ransacked cooking station. and yes I did finish the glass of wine with my meal.. ;)

Hey Pillsbury.. Great Crust (Turkey Pot Pie)

Look how pretty my Turkey Pot Pie looks! Jay said the crust was perfect! I told him it was Pillsbury and I will be sure to let him know... LOL.

Turkey Pot Pie

• 2 1/2 cups shredded cooked turkey
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 can chicken stock
• 1 carrot cut into coins
• 1/2 c green peas
• 1/2 c sweet corn
• 1 box Pillsbury pie crust.



In medium sauce pan melt butter and whisk in flour. Whisk for at least 1 minute to cook out flour taste. Slowing stream in chicken stock and continue whisking until gravy starts to tighten up. Add cooked turkey and veggies. Continue cooking on low until veggies are tender. Following directions on the pie crust box press one crust into the bottom of your 9-inch pie pan. Fill pan with turkey filling. Top with 2nd crust, folding the excess crust under and pinching edges with a fork. Cut a couple of slits in the top and bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Cover edges of the crust with strips of foil half way thru baking time to prevent excess browning. Let pie rest for 10 minutes prior to serving.



Super Easy Supper!

Chicken Marsala

When asked to find a recipe, I don’t always marry the first one I see. In the spirit of dating I find 3 or 4 different recipes and read them thru. And just like every girl does, I take the best recipe and make gentle suggestions on how to improve it. While sometime the best recipe should just be left as it is... A little nudge toward a girls liking isn’t a bad thing either. In my research, I find that most of the time the "bones" of the different recipes are very similar, it is the little nuances that specialize the dish to each chef and/or sometimes the region. I often do a little research on the history behind the dish. Getting an idea about where it came from and what the story behind it is. Everything has a story behind it, finding that story is all part of the experience of cooking. It honors the dish and the ingredients that make it.

I was asked by a friend to find a Chicken Marsala recipe for her. It was one of her favorites and she wanted to make it at home. Having never had Chicken Marsala before, I was very excited to take on the task. I hit up Google and found a Ton of recipes. Everyone from Emeril Lagasse, known for his emphasis on Creole and Cajun cooking styles, ( ? ) to the expected Giada De Laurentiis, an Italian chef that was actually born in Italy, and every home cook in between had a different version of the recipe. Marsala is a wine produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. Sorry Emeril...I think Giada has you beat on this one. But I did use the garnish of chopped chives from his recipe so I guess everyone wins.

As I expected each recipe had the same general idea, a Marsala mushroom reduction sauce served over chicken. Some of the recipes called for Shallot or Sweet Onion. Others didn’t even have onion in the recipe. I found many recipes that called for heavy cream and one that suggested sour cream, while again there was a fair share of them that did not have cream at all. But all of the recipes called for mushroom, chicken stock and Marsala wine. Trusting these "bones" I followed the basic technique of the wine reduction sauce and took some inspiration from several of the recipes and came up with this.

Chicken Marsala

• 2 Chicken breast
• Olive oil
• Butter -1/2 stick
• 3 c Sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1/2 Medium sweet onion
• 1 c Flour
• S/P to taste
• 1 tbsp Garlic powder
• 1/4 c Worcestshire
• 1/2 c Heavy cream
• 1 c Chicken stock
• 1/2 c Marsala wine
• Chives

Cut chicken breast in half and pounded into 2cutlets. Put into zip lock bag with Worcestshire while you finish prep work. In small bowl mix flour, salt and pepper to taste and garlic powder and set aside. Remove chicken from marinade and dredge chicken in flour mixture. In skillet brown chicken in about 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 pat butter. Bring heat up on pan slow so the butter does not burn. Remove browned chicken and set aside.

Add another pat of butter to the pan and add sliced mushrooms and onion. Toss to coat with the butter. Once mushrooms and onion are tender add the Marsala wine. Bring up to a boil and then reduce heat to med and let wine reduce by half. Stirring to get any browned bits to release from the pan.

Once wine is reduced add the chicken stock, cream and chicken back to the pan. Bring up to a boil again and then let simmer for about 6 min. Stir occasionally. (Just enough time to go and set the table).  Pull chicken out of sauce and plate on a nice platter or over cooked pasta add 2 more pats of butter to finish the sauce. And then pour over chicken.  Garnish with fresh cut chives.