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Picked up a pesky little cold on the plane, so keeping the cooking simple for now.  Simple and tasty.  Luckily, mom has so much food in the house that I have yet to even think about going to the store.  Yesterday, a package arrived with two frozen Poulet Rouge.  If you've never heard of it, you're not alone.  This is a special breed of chicken that is soooo tasty!  The chickens that most Americans are familiar with are Cornish chickens.  These birds have been bred to satisfy the demand for more breast meat.  The result is an in-bred, weird chicken that behaves in a bizarre manner, including pecking at other chickens, and getting its head stuck sideways for no reason.  You can simply snap the head back into alignment and the bird goes about on his merry way.  Even most organic, free range, pastured, and otherwise politically correct birds are this breed.  Big boobed chickens.  While there is nothing showing that these chickens are in any way unhealthy to eat, the in-breeding freaks me out a bit.  Yes, I generally eat them anyway because I'm not yet independently wealthy, but sometimes I wonder....

The Poulet Rouge Fermier (which in French, means red chicken) is what our grandmothers knew chicken to be.  It is a slow growing Heritage breed with thin skin and an elongated breast.  There is a whole Label Rouge program in France certifying them... I won't go into that here.  You can order them online from http://www.joycefoods.com/, or from Amazon.  In the SF area, Riverdog farms grows these birds, but they are sometimes hard to find in stores.  And they are not cheap.  I found one at Avedano's a while back for $6/pound.  At an average of 3lbs, that's an $18 chicken!  

But I digress.  We put one of the chickens in the freezer, and set the other in the fridge to defrost for tonight.  With some nice roasted potatoes and carrots, we had a delicious dinner in about an hour.

For the chicken:

1 Poulet Rouge Chicken
4 tbsp butter
1 lemon
1/2 onion
about 10 sage leaves

• Salt chicken, inside and out.  
• Mix room temperature butter and chopped sage.  Make a little pocket under the skin and put some of the butter between the breast and the skin.  Rub the remaining butter all over the outside of the chicken.  
• Cut up lemon and onion and put in cavity.  Tie legs closed with kitchen twine.

All buttered up!

• Cook at 450 in convection oven for about 15 minutes, then lower heat to 400 till done (about an hour…till temp in the thigh reaches 160).
• Let rest for 5 minutes

Resting chicken...ahhhh.....

For potatoes and carrots:

2 lb red potato

3 carrots

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tbsp Rosemary, Fresh

Salt

• Peel and cut potatoes and carrots.  Place in roasting pan.  Toss with olive oil, salt, and rosemary.

Potatoes and carrots ready for the oven

• Roast the potatoes uncovered for about 45 min to 1 hour. (Just put in oven with the chicken) Stir the potatoes occasionally during the cooking time, cook until crisp, lightly browned and tender. 

Tortilla Soup

For the last two weeks, I was fighting off a cold, and yesterday I lost the battle. So when I got home from work today, I whipped up a batch of spicy tortilla soup. Felt like I needed more than a traditional chicken soup. Here's what I did.


2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 tbsp ancho chili powder
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 zucchini, diced
1 cup frozen corn
1 can stewed tomatoes (check labels - some have high fructose corn syrup)
6 chicken thighs, seasoned with salt and pepper
8 cups chicken stock or water, or combination of both
Salt
1 avocado
tortilla chips
Mexican crema

• saute onions, carrot, celery, and garlic in olive oil in a heavy soup pot till soft, about 8 minutes.  
• add chipotle and ancho chili powders, and tomato paste and cook about a minute.
• add zucchini, corn, tomatoes, chicken, and stock.  season with salt
• bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cook for about 45 minutes.
• remove chicken thighs, shred meat, and return to pot
• ladle into bowls and garnish with tortilla chips, avocado, and Mexican crema.

Aji de Gallina

Today I decided to try making this typical Peruvian dish.  I've had it before in restaurants, and always wanted to try making it.  After researching some recipes, and finding dried Aji Amarillo (not an easy task - I finally found it at Rainbow Grocery. I've heard it's also available at some Latin markets in the Mission) this is what I came up with.  It turned out well, although I didn't add enough of the Aji Amarillo, as I was worried I'd make it too spicy... but bring on the heat!  It was very mild, and I'll be adding more spice to my leftovers.

Aji de Gallina

1 whole chicken, cut up

1 carrot

1 stalk celery

1 onion

1 bay leaf

salt

black peppercorns

about 6 slices of white bread

1 cup milk

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp cumin

2-3 tbsp Aji Amarillo

1 tbsp tumeric

¼ cup walnuts

1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano

4 hard boiled eggs

4 boiled potatoes

• ·      Make a chicken stock using whole chicken and gizzards. (Place chicken, carrot, celery, onion, bay leaf, salt and pepper in a large pot of water – bring to a boil – reduce to simmer – cook for about 45 minutes, skimming off any scum that rises to the top)
• ·      While chicken cooks, soak bread in milk.
• ·      Meanwhile, sauté diced onion with a little salt in olive oil in a large pot till soft, about 10 minutes.  Add garlic, cumin, and tumeric and cook for another minute.  Add the soaked bread and Aji Amarillo and cook for a couple of minutes.
• ·      Transfer mixture to a blender, add walnuts, and blend till smooth (you may need to add some of the stock).
• ·      Return to pot.
• ·      Strain chicken, reserving stock.  Discard vegetables and shred chicken.
• ·      Add chicken and about 4 cups of the stock to the pot.
• ·      Add Parmigiano, season with salt and pepper, and heat through.
• ·      Serve with quartered potatoes, quartered eggs, and white rice.

Recipes from my January Meetup

Tuesday night was my first cooking class Meetup of the year. We had a great turnout with some regulars and some newcomers. The food was delicious, and we had a great time eating and watching the innaugural balls while we ate. We made Chicken Cacciatore (a la Valerie), Creamy Herb Polenta, and Fennel & Apple Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette.

Chicken Cacciatore

Serves 6 Prep time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 50 minutes

1 whole Chicken, cut into 8 pieces
Salt & pepper to taste
Flour for dredging
Olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 28oz. can San Marzano tomatoes, chopped, with their juice
1 cup sliced green olives
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chicken stock

• Coat the bottom of a heavy skillet with olive oil and heat over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt & pepper and dredge in flour. Brown in oil on both sides, then remove to a plate.
  
• Add onions to pan, season with a little salt and cook till soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, juice, olives, wine and stock and bring to a boil. Nestle chicken pieces into sauce with any juice on dish, and about a tablespoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper
  
• Cover and simmer very gently for about a half hour. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. If sauce is too thin, remove chicken and reduce sauce over high heat for about 5 minutes. Serve with creamy herb polenta.

Creamy Herb Polenta

Serves 6-8 Prep time: 5 minutes Cooking time: 20-30 minutes

1 1/2 cups polenta
6 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary
1 bunch sage
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

• Bring stock to a boil in a large pot, then add salt. Make a whirlpool in center with a whisk and slowly pour polenta into center. Turn heat down to a low simmer and cook, stirring frequently, for about 20-30 minutes until tender to the bite.
  
• While polenta cooks, gently heat cream and herbs in a small pot.
  
• When polenta is done, strain herbs out of cream and stir cream into polenta. Stir in butter and cheese. Taste and add salt if necessary.

Fennel & Apple Salad

Serves 6 Prep time: 15 minutes

2 Granny Smith Apples
1-2 Fennel bulbs
1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles
1/4 cup toasted pecans
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 small shallot, chopped very fine
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• Put lemon juice, zest, shallot, salt and pepper in a salad bowl. Whisk in olive oil.
  
• Slice apples and fennel on a mandoline on a very thin setting (or slice very thinly with a sharp knife) and place immediately into vinaigrette to prevent discoloration. Add cheese and pecans and toss to combine.