Kitchen Conundrum

Chicken Lady Chicken and Raw Vegetable Slaw – David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen

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Chicken Lady Chicken-3384I love a good roast chicken. My favorite recipes for chicken always start a couple of days in advance. Whether it’s brining or marinating them, if you buy your chicken on Friday and cook it Sunday, then you can use the leftovers during the week. That is, if you have any leftovers! I can usually scrape enough off the carcass for a few servings of chicken to toss into a salad or just a midnight snack.

David’s Poulet Crapaudine Facon Catherine has an exceptionally crispy skin and the marinade is incredibly flavorful. We used the last little bit of Sriracha we had in the pantry (need another bottle STAT!) along with the honey, wine and soy sauce to create a deliciously sweet and spicy bath for the bird to hang out in for the weekend. The marinade would also be great to use for boneless/skinless breasts or thighs that you grill too. I can certainly see this being added to our roast chicken repertoire.

The technique of spatchcocking a chicken cuts the cooking time down. It exposes more “flesh to the fire” as they say and the skin crisps up in no time while keeping the bird moist inside.  We use our cast iron pan for roasting chicken, but we always add a little oil to the bottom so that the chicken skin does not stick. No matter how hot the pan is, the skin will stick if a little oil isn’t used. And the skin is one of the best parts, so you don’t want to leave it behind in the pan!

David suggests a side of Raw Vegetable Slaw to go with the chicken, which is really just a mixture of any of your favorites that you may have around, topped with a tangy, garlicky dressing. We had some broccoli and carrots so I tossed them together, but I can see devising several different combinations and adding nuts, and fruits to the mix as well. But for this time, I kept it super simple.

Raw Vegetable Slaw-3412

This week’s recipes can be found on pages 173 and 96. For details on recreating this and other recipes, check out the CookTheBookFridays site and see others who are also cooking the book-

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You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato. A Fresh Tart for Summer Entertaining!

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We threw this together for an annual brunch block party. It was gone in mere minutes and we only got one tiny slice to share. We love tomatoes in the summer.  And even though it’s not officially summer, it’s been such nice weather that we thought it was time to break out this simple and delicious tart.  The best is when we find the big, sweet Jersey tomatoes. Sprinkled with a little salt, they are amazing. We grow tomatoes in our garden and they have a very good flavor but nothing compares to those Jersey tomatoes. For this recipe we just used store bought tomatoes as it is still a bit too early in the season to find good local ones.

This tart can be made with most any cheese but Gruyère is the most common cheese to use. It would be delicious with an herbed goat cheese too.  We used shredded cheddar this time, as it was all we had on hand and it was already shredded. You can also drizzle a little bit of balsamic vinegar on top right before you serve but it’s not necessary. This is a perfect meal in itself when served with a handful of salad greens on the side or it makes a nice side dish.  Sometimes, we will make small individual ones for parties. It’s very versatile!

Ingredients

1 Par-baked Tart Shell (11” Tart Shell baked for only 10 mintues), recipe below

¼ Cup Dijon, Stone Ground, or Whole Grain Mustard

1 Cup Shredded Cheese (Gruyere, Cheddar, Goat Cheese, or any other cheese you may have)

3 large Tomatoes, thickly sliced

Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Thyme

1 Tablespoon Parsley

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

Method

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In the bottom of the tart shell, evenly spread the mustard.

Add the shredded cheese.

Arrange the tomatoes in a circular pattern slightly overlapping them on one side.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for 30 minutes or until tomatoes are fork tender.

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, thyme, parsley and garlic.

Spread over the baked tart while it is still warm.

Tart can be served either hot or at room temperature.


Pâte Brisée (Pie/Tart Dough)

This buttery dough is our standard tart and quiche crust. It’s produces a firm crust, making it perfect to hold up well with weighty ingredients. The dough can also be made by hand by using two knives to cut the ingredients into one another or by food processor. We have given you the conversions to the weighed ingredients. It’s a good idea to make several batches at a time as it freezes really well and you will always have some on hand for a last minute meal. The key to a good crust is to use very cold butter and very cold water and to not overwork the dough.

Ingredients

200 Grams Flour

100 Grams Butter, Very Cold

5 Grams Salt

60 ml Water, Very Cold

Ingredients Conversion

2 Cups All Purpose Flour

7 Tablespoons Butter, Very Cold

1 Teaspoon Salt

¼ Cup Water, Very Cold

Method

In your food processor fitted with a dough blade, add flour and salt.

Cut butter into very small pieces and add quickly to the flour and salt. Pulse until the butter is well incorporated and resembles a fine meal, about 15 seconds.

Add the cold water and pulse a few more times until the dough comes together.

Turn dough out and form into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to rest for ½ hour. The dough can also now be frozen for future use.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to fit into an 11” tart pan. The key to making sure your dough is the right size is to turn your tart pan upside down over the dough and making sure there is at least another inch around all the sides still visible.

Transfer to the tart pan gently pressing the dough to the pan’s shape. Prick the bottom with a fork to prevent the dough from puffing during baking.

To prebake the crust, preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place rack in center of oven.

Line the unbaked crust with a round cut out of parchment paper or aluminum foil. Fill tart pan with pie weights or dry beans, making sure they are evenly distributed over the entire bottom surface.

Bake crust for 20 to 25 minutes or until the crust is dry and lightly browned. Remove weights and cool crust on wire rack. Proceed with your recipe that calls for a prebaked crust. To par bake, only bake for 10 minutes to set the shell and ready for ingredients.

Test for Doneness. Filet With Garlic Roasted New Potatoes

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This is one of our favorite meals. It never gets old. It’s quick, easy to make and we clean our plates every time. It’s nice to make a peppercorn or Bearnaise sauce to accompany the steaks, but because the meat is so good on it’s own, its not a necessity. Add a bottle of wine and you have a nice dinner for two.

The key to making perfectly cooked steaks is a hot pan and a hot oven. Searing the meat on the stove first and transferring to a hot oven to finish cooking helps keep the juices intact and the meat retains its flavor and does not dry out. With this method, you should have perfectly cooked meat every time.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Place a high heat, oven safe pan into the oven to heat up while you prepare the potatoes.

Slice 1.5 pounds of red new potatoes into 1/8 inch slices.

Toss the potatoes in a bowl with two tablespoons olive oil, 5-6 peeled garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons of garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.

In a 9×13 baking pan or on a  cookie sheet, layer the potatoes to cover the bottom. Try not to over crowd them so they have room to crisp.

Place in the oven, keeping an eye on their doneness while preparing the steaks. They should cook in about 10 minutes. Remove the potatoes once they are browned and fork tender.

The steaks from our butcher come with a layer of fat held on with a string. We remove this before cooking.

Season the steaks with salt and pepper.

Remove the pan from the oven carefully. Place over a high flame on the range top.  Add a teaspoon of vegetable oil to the pan. Do not use olive oil as it will burn at a high heat. Add the steaks to the heated pan, searing the outsides for about 1 minute on the first side. Flip the steaks when you have a nice brown crust.

Leave on the second side for about 30 seconds before transferring the pan back to the oven.

Test for doneness by taking the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer inserted  into the center of the meat at a 45 degree angle to the flat surface. Depending upon the thickness of your meat, there will be residual heat and the internal temperature will rise during resting and cause the meat to continue cooking. This means the meat should be removed from the heat at an internal temperature of about 5 degrees lower than your desired final internal temperature, allowing the residual heat to finish the cooking.

For rare, a red cool to warm center with a very spongy feel , the temperature will be 125 degrees F. For medium rare, a red warm center and bit springy, it will be 130 degrees F. A medium steak, or a hot pink center with a little spring and will have a temperature of 140 degrees F. Medium well done has an internal temperature of 150 degrees F and only has a slight pink color and feels frim. A well done steak has no color and feels very firm with little to no give. It’s temperature is 160 degrees F.

You can also use the hand method of touching the steak to feel it’s firmness.

For rare, it should feel like the fat in between your thumb and first finger when your hand is relaxed. Stretch your thumb out a  little more for medium rare.

For well done, it should feel like the fat of your thumb on the palm of your hand.

Once your desired temperature is reached, remove the pan from the oven and place on top of the stove half on a burner so the pan is on an angle to rest the steaks for about 10 minutes.  Placing the pan at an angle will keep the steaks from sitting in their juices and loosing their crispy crust.  It is important to let the steaks rest as this lets the juices meld back into the meat and keeps it juicy.

Serve with the potatoes and a vegetable of your choice and you will have a lovely dinner.