Perfect Roast Chicken, Or, How to Use a Chicken: Part I

Is there anything as perfectly simple as a roast chicken?  Simply perfect?  I've spent a lot of time thinking about what constitutes a perfect food.  Versatile.  Nutritious.  Easy to prepare.  Delicious.

Sure, there are several foods that fit this definition.  My favorite food, peanut butter, comes pretty close.  Eggs are often billed as the perfect food.  Once thought of maligned for their high cholesterol content, they are now touted as a necessary part of any diet (the experts insist the fat is the good kind).  They even come in their own packaging.  However, you get a lot more out of a chicken.  A chicken can be baked, fried, roasted, grilled.  A chicken has white meat and dark meat, both useful for their own purposes.  A chicken gives you leftovers for a week and bones to boot.  So, is it the chicken or the egg?

I'm not going to weigh in; I am a fan of both, though I admitted eat eggs far more often than their grownup counterparts.  But there is something oh so comforting about having a chicken roasting in your oven.  That chicken means you know there will always be something in the fridge to fall back on.  It makes your house smell like a home.  (And it rewards the cook with secret gifts.)  And, even buying only organic and free-range, my chicken ran me about ten bucks and will feed us for many meals.

Everyone should know how to roast a chicken.  There is barely anything to know.  Season, truss, and stick it in the oven.  It may not be perfection, but it's as close as we're allowed to come.

Perfect Roast Chicken
Serves many

1 chicken (mine was 4 lbs; choose organic and free-range when possible)
kosher salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Rinse the chicken, and dry it very well.  Moisture will create steam, and your chicken will not be marvelously crispy.

Salt and pepper the cavity, place in a roasting dish, and truss your chicken.  Learn how to truss a chicken right now if you don't know how.

Take about a tablespoon of kosher salt, and rain it down upon the chicken.  You want an even coating, which will crisp up and make your chicken's skin irresistible.  Season with pepper.

Put the chicken in the oven, and leave it alone.  Do nothing.  Resist the urge to do anything.  No basting, no changing the oven temperature.  My chicken needed about an hour and a half; allow yourself about 20 minutes per pound.

Take the chicken out of the oven, and baste with its juices.  Let it sit for 15 minutes.  Remove the twine, and immediately consume the chicken butt.  This is your reward for cooking a chicken.  You should also drain the fat into a jar and save for the next time you require chicken fat.

Serve with a salad for the perfect meal, or carve and save the meat for later meals.

Nutella Cupcakes

I remember a time when Nutella was a specialty food.  It was a treat to be enjoyed in Europe, but that nutty chocolate spread could certainly never be found in the United States.  Well, the Atlantic Ocean has gotten smaller - along with the excitement of exotic foods - and Nutella is a staple in pretty much any American market.

Not that I'm complaining.  I do enjoy that I can spread it on some apple slices or a piece of toast whenever I fancy.  But it has lost a certain je ne sais que.  When things are rare, they are special.  When they become abundant... well, not so special anymore.

How do you bring some of that excitement back?  How do you turn what was once a treat back into a treat?  Cupcakes.  Translate any ingredient into its cupcake form, and you have a winner.  So when a coworker's birthday came, I seized the opportunity to make Nutella cupcakes a reality.

I'll level with you here.  They were not amazing.  They could probably use fewer minutes in the oven and less sugar in the frosting.  But if crumbly, sweet cupcakes are your thing, these might be for you.  No one in my office seemed to complain.  As for me, I might stick to liking my Nutella off a spoon.

Nutella Cupcakes
Makes 24

For the cupcakes:
1/2 c + 1 T cocoa powder
1/2 c + 1 T hot coffee
2 1/4 c flour
3/4 t baking soda
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c butter
1 2/3 c sugar
3 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
3/4 c sour cream

For the frosting:
1/2 c butter
13 oz Nutella
pinch salt
1 T vanilla extract
1 1/2 lb powdered sugar
6-8 T cream

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.  Combine cocoa and coffee, and whisk until smooth.  In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking power, and salt.  Set aside

In saucepan over medium heat, combine butter and sugar.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until butter has melted and mixture is smooth.  Transfer to a bowl, and beat for 4 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well.  Add vanilla and cocoa mixture, and beat until combined.  Add flour mixture slowing, alternating with sour cream.

Divide batter into liners.  Bake about 18 minutes, but check after 10, as I found mine to be too dry.  You want a knife inserting in the center to come out clean.  Let cupcakes cool on a wire rack.

To make the icing, cream butter and Nutella together.  Add sugar slowly.  You may not need the entire 1 1/2 pounds; I wish I had used less.  Add salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of cream.  Blend.  Continue to add cream until you have your desired consistency.  Frost your cupcakes once they are cool.

Caramelized Onion Frittata

In my dream world, I would have hours to plan meals, slowly marinate, roast, or braise dishes, and leisurely time to enjoy said food.  In reality, sometimes we have to manage to get food on the table between work, the gym, volunteer responsibilities, going for a hike, and collapsing into bed.  If you need a healthy meal in your stomach stat, the frittata is on your side.

A frittata is like a quiche without that bothersome crust.  It's like an omelette on steroids.  You can pack whatever you want in there, and it will always be beautiful and delicious.  It's happy to be your breakfast, perfectly fine with being your lunch, and makes a wonderful dinner.  The best part about cooking a frittata is those last five minutes.  You slide that sucker under the broiler, and it puffs up, like it's enormously proud to receive the honor of feeding you.  Well, that's the second best part.  The best part is that the whole thing is on the table is less time than it takes to poke around and see what leftovers you can reheat.

Caramelized onions bring any dish to another level.  True caramelized onions have been cooked for an hour or more, but you can get a pretty good approximation in shorter amount of time.  But if you want to have them on hand at all times, make a big batch over the weekend, and portion them into sandwich bags in the freezer.  Just pull one out and and saute whenever you please.

I like to keep a frittata in my back pocket for days when time is short but the desire for take-out or leftovers is small.  It's certainly better than the bowl of cereal to which we have all fallen victim at one time or another. It's time to reclaim dinner.

Caramelized Onion Frittata
Serves 3-6

1 T butter
1 t olive oil
3 onions, thinly sliced
8 eggs
3/4 c milk
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 T thyme leaves, minced
salt and pepper
other vegetables, optional

Melt butter in a cast iron skillet over high heat.  Add oil.  Add onions all at once.  Cook onions down for 10-15 minutes, or until soft.  You may continue caramelizing for up to an hour.  Add other vegetables before continuing if you are using them.  (I used one green pepper; broccoli, summer squash, or other vegetables would be nice, too.)

Whisk eggs with milk and salt and pepper.  Pour over onions in skillet.  Sprinkle top with cheese and thyme.  Cook for 5-6 minutes, or until almost set.  Preheat broiler on high.

To finish cooking, place the frittata under your broiler for 1 minute.  Cut into wedges and serve with toast.

Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti

Biscotti have definitely gotten a bad reputation.  They're dry and hard, much as I imagined hardtack might be (during a period when I read many, many historical fiction books that involved the eating of hardtack).  At best, they're a second thought, just something to dip in your coffee, tea, or latte.

I empathize with this view.  Now that I sell biscotti, I have seen where these delightful cookies can go wrong.  But when they go right, they certainly don't play second fiddle.  Take these biscotti, for example.  The bright, spicy cinnamon.  The subtle, playful sugar.  The crunch.  The butter.  The crumbs that you use your fingers to pick from your plate.  These biscotti are pure childhood memory.

Cinnamon and sugar may be the best combination of flavors ever created.  This coming from someone who practically worships the marriage of peanut butter and chocolate.  But cinnamon and sugar is primal.  Who didn't enjoy a slice of bread, spread thickly with butter, topped with cinnamon and sugar, and toasted to perfection as a child?  The instant gratification of carbs and fat and that kick of spicy cinnamon makes me want to curl up in the rocking chair by the stove in my parents' living room.  Cinnamon and sugar is like being home.

And these biscotti recreate that feeling perfectly.  They manage to retain the buttery satisfaction of that toast, the lingering sensation of cinnamon and sugar on your tongue.  I've made some pretty good biscotti in my day, but these just might be my favorite.  And even though they don't need it, dip them in a good cup of coffee, and you've got yourself a nice afternoon.

Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti
Makes 20

2 c flour
3 t ground cinnamon
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 1/4 sugar
6 T butter, softened
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 t vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Sift flour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, baking powder, an salt together.  Set aside.  Also mix together the remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar.  This will be the topping.  Set aside.

Beat butter and remaining cup sugar together until fluffy.  Add one egg and the egg yolk, and continue to beat.  Add the vanilla and combine.

Add dry ingredients to butter mixture.  Bring all ingredients together to form a stiff dough.  Separate into two equal halves.

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, form two logs.  They should be about nine inches by two inches.  Beat the remaining egg, brush over the logs, and sprinkle cinnamon sugar topping over everything.

Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from the oven, and let cool for about 10 minutes.  Cut logs into cookies, and place back on baking sheet.  Bake for another twenty minutes.  Let cool.

Goat Cheesecake

I'm not doing much to debunk the assumption that all we do around here is eat dessert.  Not that there's anything to debunk.  We certainly eat a lot of dessert.  I made a pie on Wednesday, and if the pie pan were a clock (with pie hands, obviously), it would say it's about 10 o'clock.  Which is, coincidentally, a perfect time for a slice of pie.

But if you make a pie on Wednesday, what can you do on Thursday?  There's nothing left to do but make a cheesecake, really.  I'm pretty good at whipping things together.  I've been known to put a piece of cake (frosted and all) in front of my wife about an hour after she says something like "I'd really like a piece of cake."  I throw together gourmet desserts the way some throw together brownies from a box.  Sometimes, I really do feel like an athlete in the kitchen.  Everything must be perfectly timed, and I move swiftly and efficiently through the steps.  I even wash dishes as I go, so when the cake goes in the oven, I have a clean kitchen.

But as far as whipping together desserts quickly goes, this one takes the cake (ha... takes the cake).  We're talking fancy here.  This is no ordinary cheesecake.  We've got some goat cheese going on.  Mascarpone.  We're whipping our yolks and our whites separately, and we're topping it all off with berries (and some bunting, why not?).  This is a cake for a celebration (if not a cake to celebrate).

A good friend of ours has had a pretty tough year.  So when she was offered not one, not two, but three awesome jobs in great cities, I was ecstatic for her.  And when she decided to jet down to Berkeley for the weekend, I knew a cake was in order.  And nothing says congratulations like a goat cheesecake just bursting with berries.  Goat cheese lends some seriousness to a cheesecake.  It's a little more grown up, a little less sweet, and it offers complex flavors not found with a cream cheese base.

And it may prevent the daily baking of dessert.  Maybe.

(I regret that I only have one picture of this lovely cake to offer you.  I uploaded all my pictures off my camera and onto my computer, and then my computer up and quit on me for good.  This may mean a slow down in posts over the next few weeks, as I build up my backlog again.  It really was a beautiful cake.)

Goat Cheesecake
Makes one 9-inch cake

1 1/4 c sugar
6 eggs
1 lb goat cheese, softened
1/2 lb mascarpone, softened
3 T flour
2 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
berries, for topping

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and butter a 9-inch springform pan.  Sprinkle some sugar inside the pan, and shake to distribute.  Put the pan aside.

Separate the eggs.  In the yolks, add 1 cup sugar, and beat until thick and pale yellow.  Add the goat cheese, mascarpone, flour, and vanilla, and mix until smooth.  Mixture will be very thick.

Add the salt to the egg whites, and beat until stiff.  Slowing add the remaining sugar will continuing to beat.

Fold the egg white mixture into the cheese mixture.  Do not over mix.  Pour into the prepared pan, and place the pan inside another dish (I used a skillet; you can also use a baking dish or roasting pan).  Pour hot water into the larger pan until it is halfway up the springform pan.  Cover the whole thing with foil, and bake 40 minutes.

Take the foil off, and continue to bake another 10 minutes, or until the cake has set.  Let cool in the water bath until cool enough to touch, and then cover and refrigerate until firm (preferably overnight, but a few hours will suffice).  Cover with berries before serving.

Blackberry Pie

Thanksgiving has somewhat of a monopoly on pies.  Visit any holiday table, and you'll find at least one or two, if not eight different kinds of pie.  Apple, pumpkin, sweet potato, mince meat, pecan; they're all decadent, heavy, syrupy, and darn delicious.  But it's really a shame that the pie season peters out as we usher a new year in, since the very best pie fillings are ripe and ready about six or seven months later.

I've made a pie on the Fourth of July since I was probably 15 or 16.  It's the perfect time to fill up a pie crust with any number of berries or stone fruit, and many come with the festive benefit of being red or blue.  I don't love Independence Day.  As a child, I was scared of fireworks, and as an adult I find them mildly annoying, since they interrupt the quiet solitude I've chosen for myself.  I'm not into drinking, and even barbecues aren't really my thing.  But a pie makes the holiday mine.  

The key to a good pie is a good crust, and the key to a good crust is Crisco.  I've experimented over the years, hoping against all hope that pure butter would result in the crust I desire, but it doesn't.  I imagine lard would turn out a similar crust, but I haven't had the courage to try it.  So get some Crisco, or you'll find yourself with a much more dense, less flaky pastry.  You can, of course, substitute your favorite crust recipe or buy a crust, but I promise this is the best crust out there, and you won't be disappointed by trying it.  Crust really only takes ten minutes to come together, but it impresses people beyond the effort.  Even established bakers think that pie crust is difficult, so making a good one will earn you points.

My wife talks about her grandmother's blackberry pie fondly.  Since she passed only six months ago, I tried to do her proud with my interpretation, and it received a thumbs up (through a full mouth).  So celebrate your grandmother and your independence at the same time.  There's nothing quite so American as eating pie.

Blackberry Pie
Makes one 9-inch pie

For the crust:

2 1/2 c flour
3 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1 c Crisco
5 T cold water

For the filling:

2 pints blackberries
1/2 c sugar
3 T flour
1 T lemon juice
1 T butter

Whisk flour, sugar, and butter together in a bowl.  Mix in Crisco with your fingers until the dough resembles bread crumbs.  Add water, and stir until you have formed a dough that can stay together.  Shape into a ball, cover, and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Let dough stand at room temperature for ten minutes.  Mix blackberries, sugar, flour, and lemon juice together, and let it sit.

Split dough into two even pieces.  On a floured surface, roll out one piece into a 12-inch round.  Line your pie plate with the dough.  Fill with berry filling, and sprinkle pieces of butter over the top.  Roll your second piece of dough into an 11-inch round, and cover the pie.  Crimp together, and trim the edges.

Bake for 75 minutes, and let cool for a few hours before serving.