Move over, Colonel Sanders, there’s a new fried chicken in town! Actually, it’s not new at all but it may be new to you. Chicken Karaage (or simply Karaage) is Japanese fried chicken. When I lived in Japan, every Saturday night after work I went to my favorite little izakaya (a Japanese pub that serves small bites) and ordered karaage – along with an assortment of yakitori, homemade tofu, and whatever fresh sashimi was on the menu.

Typically made with thigh meat, karaage are tender, juicy nuggets with a light and crispy exterior. The perfect pairing with this dish? A tall glass of ice cold beer. Give it a dash of Shichimi Togarashi spice (a blend of seven Japanese spices) and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and this chicken dish will surely become a family favorite.

Click below for the easy recipe:

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Japanese • Meat & Poultry	4 Comments
Tags:	chicken • easy dinner • fried chicken • Japanese • karaage • meat • poultry

Normally I steer clear of chicken breasts as they all too often come out dry and boring. I’m a dark meat girl. Give me a hunky juicy thigh and I am in heaven. But I was pleasantly surprised by the tender juiciness of the chicken breasts my aunt made the other night.

As her sous chef I was instructed to do the stuffing. We made a paste with garlic and kosher salt and had a pile of fresh fragrant cilantro. I sliced the breasts almost through and liberally stuffed them with the garlic paste and freshly chopped cilantro (you could also substitute Italian parsley or basil if you aren’t a cilantro fan). Then we pan fried them in a bit of olive oil. To finish them off we squeezed fresh lemon juice on top and sprinkled on some lemon zest.

Easy. Delicious. And, yes, they were juicy! Dark meat girl was sold.

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Meat & Poultry	3 Comments
Tags:	chicken • chicken breasts • cilantro • garlic • lemon

Julia Child once said, “The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.” I reminded myself of that when I cooked her dish of Sautéed Chicken with Mushrooms and Cream. Definitely not a diet dish. But what the heck, it’s Julia Week (Day 6, in fact) and we’re here to celebrate some of her delicious creations! What’s a little cream gonna hurt?

I’ve included a link to the recipe below, but one of the things I love about Julia is how she instructs us to follow our culinary instincts. There’s really no need to measure out each and every ingredient (unless of course you’re baking), but instead follow your senses.  In fact, in her cookbook The Way to Cook her recipe basically goes like this, “While the chicken is cooking, sauté the mushrooms in butter, season with salt and pepper….deglaze the pan with wine….add the cream (never does she say how much)….add the mushrooms….put the chicken back in….baste, simmer and serve.”

I’m sure she would have had a few sips of wine in there too. Love her.

So that is precisely what I did. I sautéed the chicken in a bit of butter and olive oil in one pan, and the mushrooms in another. Then, I removed the chicken from the pan, dumped nearly all the fat, and deglazed the pan with some dry white wine. (I actually just dumped the contents of my wine glass in, then gave myself a refill. It’s what Julia would have done, right?) Back in went the mushrooms along with a good splash of cream – swirl, swirl, swirl – then the chicken was tossed in.

The result: creamy, rich, mushroomy goodness. No need to even open a cookbook. But it’s nice to see Julia’s face on the pages right there next to you.

For the complete recipe:

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Categories:	Chefs • Cookbooks • Cooking tips • French • Meat & Poultry	1 Comment
Tags:	chicken • cream • dinner • French • julia child • main dish • mushrooms • sauteing

This chicken sandwich combines so many ingredients that I adore. It tastes like a bite of Italy with its fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil and pesto – all crammed in a buttery rosemary focaccia just lightly toasted. With a creamy pesto mayonnaise and tender grilled chicken breast this sandwich makes the perfect weekend lunch or easy dinner.

Chicken Pesto Focaccia Sandwich

One chicken breast
Small tomato, sliced
Red onion, sliced
Fresh basil, or organic salad greens
Fresh mozzarella, sliced
Low-fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Pesto
Focaccia bread, sliced half

Grill chicken breast, then set aside to cool. Mix about 1/4 cup of low fat mayonnaise with 1 tablespoon pesto (homemade or store bought), or to desired taste. Slice focaccia lengthwise and toast lightly. Spread pesto mayonnaise on both sides of bread. Place chicken breast on bottom slice and add sliced onion, tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil or salad greens. Top with the last piece of bread.

Makes one large sandwich.

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Categories:	Cheese • Italian • Meat & Poultry • Veggies	2 Comments
Tags:	chicken • chicken pesto • chicken sandwich • focaccia • lunch • pesto • sandwich

I don’t quite remember where or when I discovered chilaquiles, but it was many years ago in Mexico and I remember thinking (or more likely exclaiming out loud), “Tortilla chips for breakfast? I love this country!”

Chilaquiles is a typical Mexican dish served at breakfast or brunch. It’s known as the “poor man’s breakfast” because it’s made from leftovers, namely tortilla chips. Chips or strips (or totopos) of corn tortillas are layered in a dish and smothered in sauce, typically either green (made with tomatillos) or red, and simmered until the chips are soft. It is then topped with grated cotija cheese (similar to feta or ricotta salata but less salty) and crema (like sour cream), and is sometimes served with chicken, refried beans and/or eggs.

For an easy Chilaquiles recipe click here.

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Categories:	Cheese • Cooking tips • Mexican	4 Comments
Tags:	breakfast • brunch • chicken • chilaquiles • corn tortillas • Mexican • refried beans • salsa verde • Tortillas

Chicken is one of those foods I like to refer to as “blank slate” food. It takes on a multitude of flavors wonderfully, as in this dish, and is equally delicious simply roasted with lemon and salt. Best of all, chicken isn’t a bank-breaker, is easily stretched into multiple meals (make chicken stock for soup!), and most of us like it – so I’d call that a win-win.

One of my favorite ways to prepare chicken is a Moroccan-style tagine. With a melange of spices – from saffron to cinnamon – coupled with the salty sourness of preserved lemons and olives, this dish is pure comfort food at its best! Serve it up with saffron rice or cous cous with toasted pine nuts.

Click here for the full recipe.

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Meat & Poultry • Moroccan • Pasta & Grains	1 Comment
Tags:	chicken • chicken tagine • Moroccan • olives • preserved lemons • tagine

I know it seems strange to be sharing a chicken recipe with you the day before Thanksgiving, but I just couldn’t resist. It’s that good. Technically I suppose you could use turkey instead of chicken, but today let’s just stick with the chicken.

In this dish the chicken is cooked smothered in red cabbage. By the time the chicken has finished cooking the cabbage has broken down into a sweet, dense sauce. We served it over polenta and it was heaven.

Chicken Fricassee With Red Cabbage
Adapted from Essentials of Italian Cooking

1 cup onion sliced very thin
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
4 cups red cabbage, shredded fine (about 1 pound)
3-4 pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup dry red wine
Fresh ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Put the sliced onion, 1/4 oil, and the garlic in a sauté pan and cook over medium heat until the garlic turns a deep gold. Add the cabbage, sprinkle with salt, and stir thoroughly until well coated. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cover. Cook cabbage for about 40 minutes, turning occasionally, until it becomes tender and has reduced.

Wash the chicken pieces and pat dry. In a separate pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Once oil is heated add chicken skin side down. Once browned, turn to brown the other side. Transfer all pieces, except for the breasts, to the cabbage pan. Turn the chicken over in the pan with the cabbage, add the wine and pepper. Place the lid on the pan, leaving it slightly askew to allow steam to escape, and continue cooking at a slow simmer. Turn the chicken occasionally, sprinkling once more with salt. After 40 minutes ad the breasts. Cook for about 15 minutes until tender and the meat comes easily off the bone.

Transfer everything to a warm platter and serve immediately.

Serves 4

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Categories:	Meat & Poultry • Veggies	2 Comments
Tags:	cabbage • chicken • chicken fricassee • Italian • Marcella Hazan • polenta • red cabbage

Photo: adactio

Last night I made an absolutely delicious roast chicken, the recipe for which I must share. It started with the desire to have rice with a yummy gravy – led me to pick up a chicken to roast – and wound up with real prize of a dish that I will certainly share with you and my future guests. The rub I created for this dish was a completely spontaneous concoction that defies exact measurement – so, read the mixture and add/substract/adjust at will. I served this roasted chicken with steamed cauliflower and plain white rice. The gravy this chick created was the best I’ve ever made. If you have suggestions for improvement – please send along.

The picture above is not mine, I did not have a camera last night – but this chicken so pretty I just had to post it.

Ingredients:

Whole Chicken: I only use organic, folks.

Onion and Garlic: 1-2 small to medium onions (cut into quarters) and approximately 10 cloves of garlic (peeled and slightly smashed).

Shallots: 1 shallot, cut into quarters, stuffed inside the bird’s cavity.

Parsley: Smallish bunch – enough to loosely fill the cavity of the bird.

Tarragon: 3 good long sprigs to stuff inside the cavity of the bird.

Chicken Broth: I only use Swanson’s or my own…

Spice Rub: These are rough measures, I was free-wheelin’ when I made this, so feel free to experiment with the amounts.

• Kosher Salt (1 tablespoon)
• Black and White Pepper (1 Tablespoon)
• Coriander Seeds (1/2 to 1 teaspoon)
• Cumin Seeds (1 teaspoon)
• Anise Seeds (2 teaspoons)
• Fennel Seeds (2 teaspoons)
• Cayenne (1 teaspoon)

Technique:

1. Wash and dry your bird, inside and out. I also like to cut off any extra flaps of skin/fat. Rub with a little vegetable oil.
2. Stuff bird with quartered shallots, approximately 5 cloves of garlic (peeled and smashed), tarragon sprigs, and parsley. Sprinkle with a small amount of the above spice rub. You could tress this bird – I did not do so – I simply placed it breast down in my roasting pan, stuffed it with the shallots, garlic and tarragon and inserted the parsley at the end to keep those items inside the bird. Do not stuff too tightly or it will affect your cooking time.
3. Place stuffed bird onto a bed of roughly cut onions and garlic.
4. Rub with remaining spice mixture and a little nob of butter (can’t resist).
5. Cook at 425 until the internal temperature reaches 160.
6. Midway through the cooking process I did a few things that I think are worth repeating: (a) I allowed the bird to brown and then began to baste it with the drippings and a little chicken broth; (b) about 1/2 way through the process I began to baste with chicken broth – which added liquid to the roasting pan and began the process of deglazing the pan before I took it from the oven – I would not add more than 2 cups of liquid. This chicken broth boiled down nicely – intensifying the chicken flavor and incorporating the flavors of the rub. A roasting purist would say I did not truly roast this bird, and they would be right. This technique roasted the bird for the first 1/4 of its cooking and braised it the rest of the way. The result was a very rich broth and moist breast.
7. Gravy: Remove bird and any bits from the roasting pan and add 4 more cups of broth. I reduced this to 1/2, added a little pepper, wondra flour (my mom’s trick for thickening gravy), and fresh chives and parsley at the end. It was good. Didn’t need salt – though will want to check it.

Great gravy for potatoes and rice. Lovely on my cauliflower. A real comfort meal. Enjoy.

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Entertaining • Herbs • Holiday • Meat & Poultry • Organic • Seasoning & Spices • Uncategorized	3 Comments
Tags:	anise • cayenne • chicken • fennel • gravy • kosher salt • pepper • roast • spice rum • spices • tarragon

Last Sunday at Powells’ bookstore in Portland, Oregon, we were fortunate to attend a book signing by the legendary Marcella Hazan. Mrs. Hazan is to Italian cooking as Julia Child was to French cooking. We were thrilled that the octogenarian was still out and about and signing books! Namely her new memoir Amarcord: Marcella Remembers.

If you aren’t familiar with Marcella Hazan, please allow me to enlighten you. She is well-worth the enlightenment.

Born in a fishing village in the gastronomic region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy, Marcella spent her young adulthood studying not food, but science, and earned doctorates in natural sciences and biology. In 1967, after marrying her Italian-born American husband, Victor, they moved from Italy to New York.

Up until that time, she told us, she had never cooked, and her Italophile new husband loved food. But, she remembered the tastes and smells of the dishes that were prepared in her childhood home (”amarcord” means “I remember” in her Romagnolo dialect), so the scientist in her began experimenting with cooking and soon was able to reproduce those dishes. Shortly after, she started giving Italian cooking lessons in their apartment, then in 1969 she started her own cooking school. Craig Claiborne, then the food editor for the New York Times, asked her to contribute recipes to the newspaper.

We can thank Marcella for bringing Italian cooking to America. Her first award-winning book and its sequel were compiled into my personal favorite the Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, a must-read for any cooking enthusiast. Her cooking focuses on authentic, traditional cooking. When asked by an audience member at Powell’s what her secrets to great cooking were she responded in her thick Italian accent, “use only a few simple ingredients.”

One of her most popular recipes is for Roast Chicken with Lemons, a dish where you simply season a chicken with salt and pepper, and stuff the cavity with two lemons. I tell you, those roast chickens at Costco that have apparently won some award for best roast chicken have nothing on Marcella. Her recipe is simply the best darn roast chicken.

Ever.

Roast Chicken with Lemons
Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

3 – 4 lb chicken
2 small lemons
Salt and fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, inside and out. Remove the neck and all the bits inside, then trim any loose hanging fat. Drain all the water from the inside and pat dry.

Rub generous amounts of salt and pepper on the chicken, and sprinkle some inside the cavity as well.

Wash the lemons, then soften them by rolling them with the palm of your hand on the counter. This helps release the juices on the inside. Then, with a skewer or toothpick poke at least 20 holes (through to the pulp) into each lemon.

Stuff the lemons into the cavity, then close up the opening either with toothpicks or trussing needles and string. Don’t close it up air tight or the chicken may burst during cooking.

Put the chicken breast down in a roasting pan. The chicken is self-basting, so it won’t stick to the pan. Place it in the upper third of the oven and roast for 30-35 minutes. After 30 minutes, carefully turn the chicken over (breast up). Try not to break the skin. If the skin remains intact then it will swell up like a balloon, making for a fun presentation!

Cook for another 30-35 minutes, then turn the oven up to 400 degrees and continue roasting for another 20 minutes.

Note: Save the bones, for this makes the best soup stock too!

Can you tell I was a little excited to meet them? What a grin.

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Categories:	Cookbooks • Cooking tips • Italian • Meat & Poultry	4 Comments
Tags:	chicken • citrus • Food • foodista • Italian • Lemons • Marcella Hazan • poultry • Powell's • roast chicken • Victor Hazan

There’s never a bad time for a roasted chicken. Especially when the weather is still a bit crisp, and you feel like tucking in for the evening and enjoying a good meal. The smell of roasting bird wafts through the house, taunting your hunger. You almost want to grasp fork and knife in hands and bang on the table, urging it to cook faster.

But roasted chicken can all too often turn out dry. One way to avoid unwanted dryness is to soak your bird in brine, which locks in moisture and enhances all those wonderful flavors we so desire. Another excellent way to ensure your bird comes out of the oven juicy-licious is to roast it on a vertical roaster. Vertical roasting helps sear the inner cavity, keeping all those desireable natural juices and flavors in the meat and not in the pan. Roasting vertically also allows fat and grease to run off, much like rotisserie cooking.

We decided to combine moisture-retaining efforts and both brined and vertical roasted. Crazy, I know. But that’s just the kind of wild, recklessness we throw down in the kitchen every day (OK, that’s a slight exaggeration).

If you want to skip the brining step (it does take at least 24 hours) and get down to the roasting bit, then pull out your roasting pan and place the vertical roaster in the center. Our preparation was simple and no-frills, but you can certainly add more veggies, herbs and seasoning.

To prepare our bird for roasting we rough chopped a large sweet onion and placed it in the bottom of the roasting pan. We sprinkled a bit of fresh cracked pepper in the inner cavity, but did not season with salt since we had already soaked it in the salt water brine. We respectfully placed our bird on the vertical roaster and gave her a little massage with olive oil. Then, we sprinkled the outside with pepper, squeezed the juice of one lemon over the top and popped it in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes (time will vary depending on size).

Finger lickin’ good!

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Categories:	Cooking tips • Meat & Poultry • Seasoning & Spices • Uncategorized • kitchen equipment	1 Comment
Tags:	brine • brining • chicken • Cooking tips • Food • foodista • kitchen equipment • poultry • recipe • recipes • roast chicken • roasting • vertical roaster