Archive for November, 2009
The naked ravioli – Malfatti "gratinés" in a spicy tomato sauce
Nov 30th
I ravioli nudi – Malfatti gratinati con salsina di pomodoro
After this Thanksgiving celebration, it’s good to go back to a healthier kind of cuisine. The turkey ended up so dry, due to a guest arriving over an hour late, and my new oven with circular heat that cooks three times faster than traditional oven. I think I am so done with the turkey anyway. Arriving 20 minutes late to a sit down dinner when food is served is fine, but one hour is somehow rude. Don’t you think? everyone has its “acceptable” time and for me 20 minutes is the limit. An unforeseen circumstance might also happen but that’s not something that happens on a regular basis.
Malfatti or Gnudi is a traditional Tuscan dish…I make them often but never think of posting them. It’s basically ravioli without dough called “gnudi” in Tuscan meaning “naked” or also “malfatti” meaning “not well made”, they’re either served with a gorgonzola sauce, a béchamel or tomato sauce and baked in the oven. I like it with a light and spicy tomato sauce, then you can just play around with them and see what you prefer. There is no meat just vegetables and cheese, so it’s quite a light dish.
I like traditional and rustic dishes like this one, because they’re peasant food and you cannot find them in the stores nor in restaurants, so it’s basically recipes you find only at people’s houses. Tuscan and Marchigiana cuisine are quite similar with slight variations since they’re two regions in Central Italy. Growing up on Marchigiana cuisine, Tuscan cuisine is not completely foreign to me. Even after living half of her life in France, my mom still cooks traditional Marchigiana cuisine and barely makes French food. She would make quiches or choucroute once in her while but that’s it. I guess no matter where you move, and for how long, you are still attached to what you are used to eating growing up.
I did not put the flour quantity, you need to add enough so that the spinach/ricotta mixture is no longer soft but still a little sticky. If you put too much flour, the ravioli will get heavy and chewy. You just have to play with the flour. It took me a few times before making them just right.
Ingredients about 20 ravioli
For the ravioli
- 1/2 lb ricotta
- about 1/2 lb fresh spinach
- 6 tbs parmigiano reggiano, grated (+ 2 for sprinkling on top)
- 2 eggs
- flour
- salt and pepper
For tomato sauce
- 4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seedless, crushed
- 2 garlic cloves
- 4 basil leaves
- chili powder
- 2 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the sauce
Heat olive oil in a pot, add garlic, stir to get the flavor out, add basil, tomatoes, chili pepper, salt and pepper, and cook until the tomato is cooked for about 15 minutes.
For the ravioli
Cook spinach in a large pot of boiling and salted water for about 5-10 minutes, depending if you use baby spinach or regular ones. Drain, let them cool and remove excess water by squeezing with your hands. Chop them.
In a large mixing bowl, mix spinach, ricotta, parmesan, eggs, flour salt and pepper. At this point, you need to play with the flour, try getting a soft mixture not too sticky, but not too thick. It still needs to stick to your fingers a little bit.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Start making the gnudi. Add about 1 cup of flour to a plate, and start forming small balls with spinach/ricotta mixture the size of a big walnut. Coat them well with flour.
When water is boiling carefully, add gnudi to the water, it’s better to cook about 10 at one time, so they have enough water and space too cook. When gnudi come out at the surface, remove them, and drain. Proceed the same way for the second batch.
Place in a oven tray and pour some sauce on top, sprinkle with parmigiano and olive oil, then cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 20 minutes or until the top turns golden brown. Serve hot.
Bitter and sweet and not for Thanksgiving – Scallops with mandarin sauce on sauté radicchio
Nov 25th
Amer et sucré – St Jacques à la mandarine sur lit de Trévise
One day before thanksgiving and I am so not in the mood for turkey, but fish, seafood, and more seafood. I think my guests would be disappointed, if I serve them a seafood dinner.
Thanksgiving dinner will be a non-American Thanksgiving with a white fish terrine, turkey with porcini, truffles, and cognac stuffing, chestnuts, chanterelles, and a bunch of nontraditional vegetables such as cauliflower purée, and potatoes boulangère, and to keep the tradition, a cheese plate with a green salad and ending with a pear and chocolate charlotte.
I was going to make a chocolate and pear tiramisù but then I realized that’s what I made last year, so let’s be a little more fun. I think there is still a little bit of Thanksgiving in there, don’t you think? I would make yams but the French don’t like yams nor cranberry sauce, so two ingredients that won’t be on the table…and no pumpkin pie either….
I’m sure there will be people thinking I am just ruining it, and that is so not a Thanksgiving dinner. I am sorry if I’m calling Thanksgiving something that should be called something different.
It’s been a while I did not make scallops, and those made my day…Scallops marry perfectly well with the the citrusy flavor of the mandarin. Radicchio brings a little bitterness to the dish and balances well the natural sweetness of scallop and mandarin. I love flaming with liquor, and Calvados is one of my favorite alcohol in cooking, since it’s made with apples and a you do get a very fruity flavor. It’s a quick dish to prepare when you feel like something on the fancy side but still that doesn’t take forever to prepare, that’s the one. I had to make my fish terrine and my chocolate charlotte so I didn’t have much time to play with anything else today.
Ingredients for 10 scallops
- 10 large scallops
- 10 mandarins
- 1 head of radicchio, cut in strips
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
- 1 tbs heavy cream or crème fraîche
- 1 tbs calvados (or any fruity liquor)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
In a pan, heat olive oil, add garlic, stir and add radicchio, adjust with salt and pepper. Cover and let it cook at medium temperature until radicchio is tender but not overcooked.
In a grill pan, grill scallops on both sides and keep warm.
Squeeze the juice of the mandarins and keep aside. Crush coriander seeds in a mortar.
In another pan, heat olive oil, add shallots and let them brown. Add coriander seeds, stir to get the flavors out, then add mandarin juice. Let it reduce for a few minutes. Add Calvados and flame. Add cream and let it reduce for less them one minute. Adjust with salt and pepper
Serve in individual small dishes. Place one tsp of radicchio in the middle of the plate, add one scallop on top and spoon some mandarin sauce on scallop. Decorate with chervil.
Little corks for little hunger – chocolate and coconut "corks"
Nov 25th
Petits bouchons pour une petite faim – bouchons au chocolat et noix de coco
Originally this dough was made to bake chocolate madeleines, then I changed my mind and decided to use some other molds instead. So if you wish, you can use them as madeleines. Those days, I just cannot help changing my mind as far as food is concerned. I don’t know if this has to do with the fact that I am a libra, but it might. I don’t know much about astrology, but I heard that is one trait of the Libra sign.
Nothing very original, since we’ve seen this combination of chocolate and coconut thousands of times, but this particular mixture only has egg whites and no yolks and no baking powder so they’re quite light.
I am quite a contradictory person, I don’t eat sweets, I don’t care for sweets but I cannot help baking them. I don’t eat them and give them away. Thinking about it, it’s more of an impulsive behavior. Oh well, better baking than stealing!
I bought so many of those silicon molds when I was in France that I filled my kitchen with them. I love those little round ones, they’re so perfect for large dinner celebration, because they have 20-36 individual molds per tray. So you can bake a lot at once, and serve them with fruit salad at the end of the meal. They’ve been so popular in my house, that I adore baking them…even if I don’t really eat them.
If you look at the size of the raspberry, you’ll realize that the size of those little “corks” is quite small and two would fit in one’s mouth without any problems.
Ingredients for about 20 corks
- 2.11 oz (or 60 g) butter, melted
- 2. 11 oz (or 60 g) bittersweet chocolate
- 1.41 oz (or 40 g) white flour
- 0.88 oz (or 25 g) almond powder
- 3 tbs coconut flakes
- 3 tbs coconut milk
- 1.58 oz (or 45 g) powdered sugar
- 3 egg whites
- 1 tsp honey
- 20 raspberries for decoration
Preparation
Melt chocolate and butter at very slow temperature, when it’s all melted add honey. In a mixing container, mix flour, almond powder, coconut powder and sugar all together. Add melted chocolate and butter mixture. Mix well and add coconut milk. At this point, you should have a smooth consistency and not liquid.
Beat egg whites to a stiff consistency and add to the mixture.
Butter small individual molds such as madeleines or mini muffin molds, and add batter. Cook in a pre-heated oven at about 360-370F for about 15-20 minutes, until the bouchons have risen and cooked all the way through.
Let them cool down, decorate with some coconut flakes, and raspberries.
Not that "bête" – Verrines of golden beets with herbed ricotta
Nov 23rd
Pas si bêtes que ca – Verrines de betteraves, ricotta aux herbes
I went for a little walk downtown today since my car did not run, the internet and the phone were completely dead, so I decided to take a day off rooming around the city. It had been a while I did not get the chance to do so and that was the perfect excuse for it. When technology decides to let you down, just go back to the basics.
You can feel the holiday spirit all over the city, all the Christmas colors are out, what an exciting feeling! Let’s not jump right onto Christmas since Thanksgiving is not here yet, it’s right across the corner and I haven’t yet decided what to serve for dinner. All the beautiful stemware and dinnerware in display makes me want to buy it all. I love a beautiful table for special occasions and was trying to find some special theme for Thursday night dinner.
In France, we serve turkey for Christmas, La dinde de Noël traditionally served with chestnuts. So that’s the way I will prepare my turkey, with chestnuts and with lots of vegetable side orders. I will call it “Thanksmas”.
We also serve many trendy appetizers like this one called verrines. They’re usually served in small glasses and in small quantities. Un Verre = A Glass. Verrines can be exotic, classics, sophisticated, it all depend on the ingredients. I bought beautiful golden beets and wanted to use the ricotta with them. Beet’s sweetness goes wonderfully well with soft cheeses such as goat cheese, ricotta, etc… You can add some sundried tomatoes on top of the ricotta or a crispy pancetta slice. It’s also delicious served with toasted country bread on the side, so you can spread some of the beet/ricotta mixture on top.
Ingredients for 4 verrines
For the beets
- 4 medium size golden beets, thinly diced
- 2 tbs sunflower seeds
- 1 tbs red onion, thinly chopped
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp raspberry vinegar
- salt and pepper
For the ricotta
- 8 tbs ricotta
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp chives, chopped
- 1 tsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Wash beets and cook them in water or steam them for about 30 minutes or until they’re cooked all the way through. When cooked let them cool and peel them. Cut them is small cubes (1/3 of an inch). In a container, add beats and all other ingredients. Set aside
In a bowl, mix ricotta with all the ingredients.
Using a small glass container, add 2-3 tbs beets (depending on the size of your glass). Place 2-3 tbs ricotta on top. sprinkle with fresh pepper and a little olive oil. Decorate with chives and a cherry tomato cut in half.
Eat with toasted country bread.
Quick, light and refined – Pineapple carpaccio with a mint and rum marinade
Nov 22nd
Rapide, léger et raffiné – Carpaccio d’ananas à la marinade de rhum et menthe
I had this dessert at the Brasserie Lutèce in Paris after a huge plateau de fruits de mer (seafood platter), the carpaccio was served with a pineapple sorbet, and it was the perfect sweet touch to that wonderful dinner. I always kept it in the corner of my head, but there are so many things to try, experiment, that one year went by and I still haven’t made this carpaccio. I just didn’t want this to be left out. Now I have no idea how they made it, all I know is that it tasted like mint and rum. It is a simple way to serve pineapple but simplicity is sometimes worth a complicated and heavy dessert.
Of course, when I like a dish in a restaurant, I try to reproduce it from memory since I am not going to ask the chef for its recipe, I am wondering if they’ll think that is daring or if they’ll be pleased without disclosing the recipe. With time passing by, memory can play some tricks. Pineapple and rum are a match from heaven almost like banana and chocolate.
You need a well ripe pineapple and a great knife. The pineapple slices needs to be cut very thinly. Mine were sliced a little too thick for my taste. It has nothing to do with my knife but more so with my poor slicing skills. The slices are marinated in a light syrup infused with vanilla bean, mint and rum.
I did not remove the core of the pineapple, because I somehow like it. I like it’s fibrous texture. When thinly sliced, you won’t really notice its hard and fibrous texture, the slices are too thin.
For 3-4 people
- 1 large well ripe pineapple, very thinly sliced
- 2 tbs mint, finely chopped
- 1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise
- 2 tbs dark rum
- 3 tbs brown sugar
- 1/3 cup water
Preparation
Peel pineapple from top to bottom removing its skin. Cut pineapple crosswise in very thin slices and set aside.
In a pot, dissolve sugar with water and heat it up a low temperature, add vanilla bean and scrape beans. Let it infuse and boil for a little while until it infuses. When the syrup has reduced, let it cool. Add rum and mint.
Pour on top of pineapple and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours. Serve in cold plates with some coconut cookies or a slice of brioche.
Now it's the goose's turn – Farro brioche with goose egg and orange blossom water
Nov 21st
C’est au tour de l’oie de pondre – Brioche d’épeautre à l’oeuf d’oie et eau de fleur d’oranger
I went to whole Foods again this morning, and I decided to buy a goose egg after the last week experiment with duck eggs. Instead of another omelette, I wanted to try and bake with them since I heard so many wonderful things about how delicious pastry you can get with the use of goose eggs. They’re larger and even richer than duck’s eggs, and more expensive, since one costs $5. I know my mom used to make pasta with those, my uncle in Italy has geese and always gives her some of his eggs, and I don’t think there’s anything that can please her more that that.
So going back to my Whole Foods story, I arrived at the cash register and the cashier had no idea how much they were, so I told him $5 each and he did not believe me, so he proudly decided to give it to me for free. He said there is no price, so it’s free. I like that principle. Oh well, I rarely get free stuff, so I for once I left happily holding carefully my egg in my hand since it was so big, it didn’t fit anywhere and I certainly did not want to break it.
I had made brioches a while ago that turned out really well, so I took that recipe, making some changes to quantities and ingredients but still using the same technique of letting it rest overnight in the refrigerator, and adding some flavors to the dough. Et voilà ma belle brioche!
I think I will have to get used to baking more since this neighborhood I moved into, there are absolutely NO bakeries, and that is a big bummer. There is one a couple of blocks down but I looked at the bread and pastries and they don’t look very appetizing at all, so I will have to either drive miles to get bread or do it myself. I am no baker, and it takes time to make good bread so not sure how that will work. Call me crazy but the other thing I do when I go into a bakery, is look at the cleanliness of the windows. If the windows are dirty, it’s not a good sign of cleanliness of the overall bakery and I walk away.
Goose eggs can very a lot in size, and they’re about the equivalent of 3 regular eggs. Mine was very big and the yolk amazingly huge, so my brioche quite rich. I added half farro flour that I am in love with. I also used Écorce d’orange en poudre, (orange peel powder) I bought in France. I’m sure you can find something similar in the US, probably in some health food stores. The brioche is deliciously perfumed with orange blossom water and rich while being light at the same time. So yes, goose eggs make great pastries and brioches.
Ingredients for 2 brioches
- 1/2 lb (or 250 g) white flour
- 1/2 lb (or 250 g) farro flour
- 1 large goose egg
- 1 cup (or 250 ml) milk
- 1 regular egg yolk for topping
- 2.82 oz (or 80 g) butter, soft and diced
- 2.82 oz (or 80 g) sugar
- 1 tbs orange blossom water
- 1 tsp orange peel powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp beer yeast dissolved in 4 tbs lukewarm water (or dry yeast)
Preparation
In a large mixing container, mix both flours, add sugar and salt. Make a whole in the center and add egg, orange blossom water and orange peel powder. Mix well and gradually add milk, vanilla extract and yeast. At this point, you will obtain an elastic dough. If the dough is too liquid and sticky, add flour. Knead well. Add butter incorporating it carefully to the dough but do not over knead or “heat” the dough. Let it rise for about 2 hours.
Knead again and place in in the refrigerator overnight. Knead the dough again, then cut dough in two equal pieces, then cut again each piece in three . You should have six little dough balls. Grease two loave pans and place three pieces of dough in each pan, and let it rise for another additional 2 hours.
Baste top of each loaf with egg yolk, and cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 30 minutes. Check once in a while to see the top didn’t burn. Remove from the oven and eat lukewarm with jam or as is.
A soothing trio – Shrimps chermoula with mung beans and red kale, red bell peppers
Nov 19th
Un trio appaisant – Crevettes en chermoula, haricots mungo et chou frisé aux poivrons
Some days, you just feel like something hearty, healthy with lost of flavors…so I decided to finally cook those mung beans I had for a while in my pantry. They’re round with a bright green color, they’re very nourishing while being very light to digest. In India, they’re used in Ayurvedic cooking. In some other parts of Asia, they are used in sweet dishes and pastes but I like them cooked as the Indian Moong Dhal and eat them as a side dish. Actually, mung beans are green with the husk, when dehusked they’re yellow and they’re used and called Moong Dhal in Indian cuisine .
Chermoula is a Moroccan mixture or paste to be more accurate of parsley and cilantro with various spices and is used on fish, or meat to enhance its flavor. It’s tangy and so flavorful that is a delight on anything. I love it even on toasted bread. There are so many variations of chermoula recipes. Some recipes include red onions, some have more cilantro than parsley, some add chili. So to each its own, now it must to always have cumin and garlic.
This whole dish combination has a nice exotic twist and the kale makes it very well balanced. The kale is simply enhanced by red bell peppers, garlic and onions which enhance the whole dish without adding too many complicated flavors to it, since chermoula and dhal are quite flavorful. I am not sure why this kale is called red kale, since there is nothing red in it and is called “chou frisé” in French (curly kale), and there is nothing curly in it either. Actually I don’t know if it’s the accurate name but that’s what it said on the label. I think sometimes labels are confusing.
I soaked the beans for about 4 hours in water, but they cook quite quickly so that is not necessary. I always count about 2.46 oz (or 70 g) per person of rice or beans as a side dish, you might want to add more.
Ingredients for 4
For the mung beans
- 10.60 oz (or 300 g) mung beans
- 2 tsp ginger, grated
- 2 garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp turmeric
- salt and pepper
For the shrimps
- 24 large tiger shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbs lemon zest
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the kale
- 2 bunches red kale, stems removed
- 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seedless
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- one pinch cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the mung beans
Cook the beans in water and add ginger, garlic, turmeric and salt. Let it simmer and add water if necessary, they will absorb a lot of it, so keep checking it. When the beans are soft and tender but not mushy, remove from the pan.
For the shrimps
Place all ingredients in a mixer and mix to a fine consistency but not like a paste, you need to see pieces of herbs. remove and keep aside. Marinate the shrimps with half of this mixture and refrigerate for about 3 hours minimum. In a wok, heat olive oil, saute shrimps, then when the shrimps are half cooked, add the rest of the chermoula and stir well.
For the kale
Bring water to a boil, and cook kale for about 5-7 minutes until tender. Drain excess water, set aside and let it cool. Chop roughly.
In a pan, heat olive oil, add onions and let it brown, add bell peppers, cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, garlic, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, and let cook until the tomatoes are cooked and water evaporated. Add kale and saute in the tomato/red pepper fondue. Drizzle with olive oil and dress in plate.
Black is black – Homemade squid ink tagliatelle with spicy calamari sauce
Nov 18th
Il nero è nero – Tagliatelle con nero di seppia e salsa piccante di calamaretti
Here is my favorite pasta, that I had been thinking to make for months. I had two tiny squid ink bags in my refrigerator and was obsessing about them. Today, I finally decided to go ahead with my project. I can no longer use my pasta machine, since the kitchen counters have no extra border to hold it so I just have to use my mattarello (rolling pin) that is huge. Anytime I look at it, it looks like a huge monster rolling pin, my hands are a little small to manipulate it, but it works, I’ll just develop Rambo’s forearms soon. Anyway, let’s go back to the way traditional pasta was still made with a rolling pin, my grandma never used a machine, and my mom’s once in a while, when she was in a hurry.
Squid Ink is used frequently in the Veneto region’s cooking (Venice). They use it to make squid ink risotto and other local specialties. Of course it can be used in pasta as well, and gives a the dough a very subtle flavor without overpowering the dish, which goes to perfection with seafood sauces.
When you roll the pasta with a rolling pin, you need a large wooden board (spianatoia in Italian) to flatten out your sheet. I have a large board but will have one made at Ikea with larger dimensions for larger sheets. You also need a pasta rolling pin, it’s a little different from the regular ones, it is not tapered and that has the same size all the way, from one extremity to the other, so that your sheet will have the same thinness all around.
I like pasta rolled by hand much better than when done with the machine, the texture is more grainy therefore absorbs the sauce much better and I like the irregularity of the tagliatelle when cut by hand.
Ingredients for 4
For the dough
- 2 eggs
- 1 yolk
- 1 small bag squid ink
- 1 1/3 cup white flour or semolina flour
For the calamaretti sauce
- 1 lb calamari, cleaned and cut in 2 crosswise (except the tentacles)
- 2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seedless and diced
- 2 shallots, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbs basil, chopped
- 1 tbs parsley, chopped
- chili flakes
- 2 tbs olive oil
Preparation
For the pasta
On your spianatoia, or wooden board, place flour and make a fountain, break eggs. Dissolve squid ink in a small glass with 2 tbs water. Add squid ink to the flour/egg mixture and mix gradually all ingredients with a fork. Then when all ingredients have been incorporated, use your hands to knead the dough. If the dough is too hard, add a little water. Knead the dough for about 15-20 minutes, to get a smooth round ball. The dough should not be sticky and after kneading it for 20 min should be very smooth. You can let the ball rest in a plastic wrap for about 30 minutes, but I didn’t, if the dough is hard enough, it’s not necessary.
Then start rolling the dough, trying to spread it out evenly making a regular round sheet. The sheet should not be thicker than 1 mm. Add flour if the dough sticks to the table, but it should not stick. If it does, it means you added way too much water to the flour.
Let the sheet rest for about 10 minutes. Fold one side up th its half, then proceed the same with the opposite side.
Using a well sharped knife, cut regular strips and set the tagliatelle aside.
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water for about 2 minutes, or until they come out at the surface. Pour calamari sauce on top, sprinkle with additional basil and parsley and serve.
For the calamaretti sauce
In a pan, heat olive oil. Brown shallots and add garlic, then add parsley and basil, stir to get the flavors out. Add tomatoes and chili flakes, let the tomatoes cook for about 10 minutes until some water has evaporated. Adjust with salt and pepper.
Add calamari and let them cook for about 10 minutes, do not overcook or they’ll get rubbery. Let sauce redue and water evaporate.
Oeufs à la neige for Marillyn – Sweet Wholesome Wednesday
Nov 18th
Lovely Marillyn from “Just Making Noise” and living in Costa Rica with her family asked me to be her Sweet Wholesome Wednesday special guest and I proudly accepted, no one has ever asked me to be a guest on a blog, so I was very flattered. I really wanted to make something that would fit her cooking style, and make it wholesome. So I substituted regular milk to this recipe with almond milk, which is quite nutritious and healthy.
You should check her blog, she has the most amazing recipes and composition of fruits, healthy desserts and nutritious dishes made with wholesome and natural products. Living in Costa Rica, you must find the most exotic and freshest fruits we can dream of here. She even promised me to make homemade Nutella with organic hazelnuts. How exciting is that?
After being indecisive (as usual) about my dessert, and going back and forth between French or Italian, I decided to go ahead with this classic and traditional French dessert called “Oeufs à la neige” (eggs “snow-style”). A fluffy meringue cooked in vanilla milk laying on top of a vanilla custard.
If you want to get the recipe of “Oeufs à la neige” check it out, it’s on her blog, “Just Making Noise“
Thanks Marillyn! It was great making this special dessert for you, just hope you like it! It was an honor to be your special guest. Merci encore et à bientôt !
No I did not miss you – Roasted chicken thighs with lemon, herbs, olives and sunburst squash
Nov 17th
Non, tu ne m’as pas manqué - Cuisses de poulet rôties aux herbes, citron et olives à la courge
Since I don’t really eat meat, I know my blog lacks meat recipes, I figured that when I cook for some non-vegetarian people who do eat meat, I take the opportunity for putting up the recipe on the blog. I look at those chicken thighs and it reminds me of my cute and sweet parakeet and I really have to think about something else or I won’t be able to cook them. Sometimes, I have to detach myself from things that bother me, or I won’t be able to do anything.
I love fresh herbs, all of them! When I first moved to California, I was amazed to see tons of houses with bushes of rosemary as a decoration plant. I thought that was funny, I was wondering if people used it for cooking or if it was just as a decoration…and still I have no answer to that. I used to live on a street where almost all houses had huge rosemary plants bordering them and coming all the way on the sidewalk. Sometimes, when I was out of rosemary, I would help myself. I know it’s not very appropriate but at the time, I thought it was not a big deal especially considering the size of the rosemary spreading in a public zone.
This chicken is very flavorful and mainly due to the tons of herbs I use in it. Sometimes I marinate it overnight so it gets infused with herbs and you get a wonderful roasted chicken. You can also use pearl onions instead of yellow onions.
Squash being in season, I figured I would use it, but some other vegetables like potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc…would work as well. If you have guests over, and want to spend time with them rather in your kitchen, roasted chicken is the key, you just need to baste it once in a while and that’s it. It’s like the kid that doesn’t need any attention, you just give him a toy and he keeps himself busy.
You might need to cover the dish with some aluminum foil for about 20-30 minutes, depending on how your oven cooks, then removing the foil to let the chicken brown. I am still trying to figure out how my oven works with the circular heat.
Ingredients for 4 people
- 4 chicken legs
- 1 whole butternut squash, cut in large pieces
- 2 tbs green olives
- 1 tbs strong Dijon mustard
- 3 rosemary sprigs and chopped
- 3 thyme, sprigs and chopped
- 3 tarragon sprigs and chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- 5 lemon slices
- 4 tbs chicken broth
- chili flakes
- salt and pepper
Preparation
You can marinated the chicken overnight with herbs, garlic, mustard and onion, but it’s optional. You can get a fragrant chicken even if you don’t marinate it.
Keep some herb sprigs, chop some of it. Mix all ingredients together in a mixing container except chicken broth and mustard. Place chicken in a oven tray, add herb mixture on top of chicken and coat chicken with it. Spread mustard on both sides of legs.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 30 min, then add broth and regularly baste chicken with it.
Add squash, salt and pepper, and cook until chicken is well roasted and squash tender.
