Roast Chicken Memorial Day 2010

Nice roast chicken last night. The flavor on this one was much more mellow and subtle than previous, mostly because no rosemary in with the butter. This one is based on Tyler Florence's "Ultimate Chicken" recipe. Skin got pretty crispy, but could've been more. The gravy was very subtle and nice too.

One 6lb. young chicken
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp butter, room temp, softened
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
2 carrots, peeled and rough chopped
2 celery stalks, rough chopped
2 cups water (or some combination of water, chicken stock, and/or decent white wine, like Charles Shaw Sav Blanc)
1 lemon, cut in half
1/2 onion, cut in half
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425F
2. Combine garlic and butter, set aside.
3. Remove giblets, and place in roasting pan, with onion, garlic cloves, carrots, celery and water.
4. Dry off skin of bird with paper tower
5. Separate skin from meat; put garlic butter under skin, work it under the breast and onto leg
6. Season skin liberally with salt and pepper; NO BUTTER ON SKIN, only salt
7. Stuff cavity with half-onion and half-lemon
   
8. Roast for 60 minutes
9. Reduce heat to 375F
10. Roast for about 35-40 more minutes, or until thigh temp reaches 160F.

Pan Gravy

Leftover pan juices
Leftover pan fat
Leftover roasted garlic cloves
1/3 cup flour
1 cup water
1 cup milk
2 tbsp brandy
Salt & pepper

1. Remove giblets and vegetables, leave garlic cloves in pan
2. Pick up chicken with wooden spoon, let juices train into roasting pan.
3. Separate juices and fat, if possible.
4. Mash roasted garlic cloves in pan with oil until they're a paste
   
5. Heat roasting pan over medium-high heat
6. Add flour to pan fat, stir fast, whisk for 30-60 seconds
7. Add brandy, whisk for 15 seconds
8. Add water and milk, whisk, bring to boil. Add more water or milk to adjust consistency.
9. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
10. Strain thru fine mesh strainer and serve.

Roast Chicken

Who says that meat can't be cheap? Foster Farms whole young chickens for 69 cents at Ralphs this week. Sure, it's not free range, but it's decent quality.

So here's my roast chicken (based on ATK):

1 young chicken
1 cup butter, softened
3 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
3 tbsp chopped fresh garlic
Salt and pepper
1 lemon, sliced in 1/2
1 onion, sliced in half
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 Fennel fronds, chopped (optional)
1.5 cups chicken stock
Roasting pan with V-Rack

1. Preheat oven to 450F
2. Combine butter with rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper.
3. Remove giblets & set aside; rinse and dry chicken. Salt inside. Set in roasting pan.
   
4. In cavity, stuff 1/2 of onion, lemon, rosemary sprig.
5. Put butter under skin, then smear all over outside.
6. Salt and pepper outside.
7. Add remaining chopped veg (onions, carrots, celery, chicken stock, fennel) and giblets to pan.
8. Roast at 450F for 15 minutes, middle rack.
9. Turn down temp to 375F for 45 minutes, or until breast hits 160F. Check thigh too; you can always cut the thighs off and return them to the oven.

oven fried chicken

Made this last night, after thinking about what to make with chicken thighs I had and seeing Alton Brown's "Fry Hard" episode. Also make in consultation with my ATK cookbook. The buttermilk pre-soak adds a lot of flavor. The oven baking helps keep the calories lower. If you're even more concerned about such things, remove the chicken skin, or use chicken breasts.

Oven-Fried Chicken

4 chicken thighs
2 cups buttermilk
2 tbsp spice rub (your choice; I used Wolfgang Puck's pork rub)
2 cups breadcrumbs (season with extra garlic powder, onion powder and other spices as desired)
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400.
   
2. Soak chicken in buttermilk in plastic container overnight. Drain chicken, and place on paper towels. Dry off with towels to remove excell buttermilk.
   
3. Season chicken with salt, pepper, and spice rub
4. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place a wire rack on baking sheet.
   
5. Put breadcrumbs in separate container. Using tongs, dredge chicken in breadcrumbs, coating both sides, pressing down to adhere. Shake off excess, and place chicken on rack.
6. Let chicken sit on rack for 2-3 minutes; no more, no less. This helps crumb adhesion.
   
7. Place chicken on sheetpan+rack in the middle shelf of oven.
8. Bake for 30-4o minutes, or until reaches 175 degrees F.
   
9. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes, tented under foil.

Serve with mashed potatoes and a salad.

Speaking of mashed potatoes, the mashers I made last week with yellow potatoes were great. The key was a dash of cream, a reasonable amount of butter, and enough milk to make it more runny than you think it should be...it will set up as it cools!

Beacon chicken wings

Watched a video on the delicious Beacon chicken wings that Kazuo Matsusaka makes in Culver City.

He says that he marinates in soy, ginger, and canola oil overnight. Then they are dusted in cornstarch before frying.

Looking closely at the wings on the plate before he puts them in the deep fryer, it \looks like these wings have been blanched in hot oil (they already look golden and crispy), then re-fried for 3-5 minutes. I'm sure that helps with their extra crispy texture.

A little Google search turned up an LA Times Culinary SOS article for these wings. I'm reviewing and adapting this recipe to better suit.

Beacon-like Chicken Wings

12 wings
1/2 cup cornstarch
Marinade (recipe follows)
1 cup Ginger-Soy Glaze (recipe follows)
1/2 tbsp butter (optional)
4 cups vegetable oil (for frying)


1. Make marinade. In non-reactive container, add wings to marinade, cover, and refrigerate overnight (at least 8 hours, but no more than 24 hours preferable). Drain marinade and discard.

2. Season the wings with the salt and pepper, then dredge with the cornstarch. Shake off excess.

3. In a large pot, heat oil to 350 degrees. Fry the wings, a few at a time, until lightly golden about 2 minutes. Drain the wings on paper towels and/or rack and let cool. Repeat with remaining wings.

4. Reheat oil to 375 degrees; working in batches, fry wings for 2nd time, for about 5-8 minutes. Drain the wings on paper and/or rack.

3. When all the wings almost all fried, heat a wok or heavy sauté pan over high heat. Add the reserved ginger-soy glaze and bring to a boil, then add the wings, stirring to coat. Cook the wings in the sauce, stirring constantly, until the sauce reduces enough that it coats the wings in a thick, syrupy glaze, about 1-2 minutes.

4. Remove from the heat. Serve on top of daikon sprouts. Pour remaining extra sauce from pan over wings, and sprinkle with black and white sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Marinade
makes about 3/4 cup

3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp mirin
3/4 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/2 c. canola oil

Whisk marinade ingredients together, and set aside.

Ginger-Soy Glaze
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup mirin
1/4 cup sake
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon finely chopped ginger

Boil, then simmer until reduced to about 1 cup.

Orange chicken

Made orange chicken tonight, best crust ever so far. This recipe calls for 75:25 ratio cornstarch-to-flour. This worked really well, I think it maybe was just a tad too thin. However, I have to say that parts of it fried up exactly like restaurant-style chinese fried chicken: that kind of crispy, almost glassy transparent yet toasty thickness with a good crunch. More than the batter, the key I think is the double-fry technique: blanch at low temp, cool, then re-fry at high temp.

Next time I recommend:

1. Try cornstarch only; cornstarch lends crunch, flour lends chew.
   
2. Try using a bottle of Blue Moon Amber Ale for the batter: should make it more crispy, and Blue Moon naturally pairs well with orange, as any respectable bartender will tell you. Or, seltzer water should help enhance crispness.
   
3. Make sure the liquid that's added to the batter is cold! May even consider refrigerating the batter.
   
4. Slightly thicker batter. The recipe below has been adjusted to reflect this already.
   

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs, de-boned, skin off and cleaned of excess fat, cut into 1" chunks
Marinade
Batter
Sauce
3 thick scallions, cut into 1" rings
At least 4 c. vegetable oil, for frying

1. In a plastic bowl, combine chicken pieces and marinade. Stir to combine, and let sit 1-2 hours.
   
2. Drain chicken in colander, reserving 1/3 cup of marinade. Pat chicken dry with towels.
   
3. Make sauce (without slurry) and set aside.
4. Combine batter ingredients and set aside.
5. In a large pot, heat oil to 350 degrees (use a fry thermometer!).
   
6. Working in 4 batches, dip 1/4 of chicken in batter, shake off excess, and add pieces quickly but one at a time (so they don't stick together), fry for 1 min, turn, fry for 1 more minute (2 min total). Use spider or slotted spoon to remove to paper-towel-lined plate or sheet pan to drain and cool.
7. Repeat for remaining 3 batches. Make sure oil temp stays around 350 degrees. Don't stack cooked chicken on top of each other, it needs to be spread out to cool.
   
8. Reheat oil to 375-380F.
   
9. Starting with coolest pieces (1st batch that has cooled), work in batches to refry the chicken for 1.5-2 minutes. Return the oil to temperature before adding next batch. Drain on separate paper-towel-lined sheet pan.
   
10. When last batch is finished, heat sauce to boiling, whisk in slurry, bring to boil.
    
11. Pour over chicken, toss chicken (like you would for chicken wings), then serve immediately.
    

Marinade

1/4 c mirin
2-3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 c vegetable oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 pinch chili flakes

Batter

(3/4 c cornstarch + 1/4 cup all purpose flour) OR (1 c cornstarch)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup COLD liquid (cold water, cold beer (see intro note), or cold seltzer water...)
1-2 tbsp water (extra)

Whisk dry ingredients together. Whisk in 1/2 cup liquid ingredients except extra water together. When combined, batter should coat a piece a chicken so you can't see the raw meat when you dip and shake off the excess batter. I think perfect crust would be at just the moment when it ceases being transparent; too thick and then it's not good either. Whisk in extra water only if the batter is too thick (it may be).

Sauce

1 c chicken stock
1/4 c ketchup
1/4 c white sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 c chicken marinade, reserved
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sesame oil
1 pinch chile flakes
Juice of 1 orange
4-5" x 1" strip of orange peel, chopped into 1/2" pieces
Corn starch slurry: 1 tbsp corn starch, dissolved in 2 tbsp water

Combine all ingredients except slurry, bring to a boil in a sauce pan, reduce heat to low. When chicken is ready, bring back up to a boil, whisk in slurry all at once, return to a boil and boil for 1 minute till you get sugary, foamy bubbles. Pour immediately over chicken, toss and serve.

Chicken stir fry with Brown Sauce

Don't know how better to describe this one. I made chicken stir fry over the weekend, and was enjoying some leftovers this evening, and after tasting the leftover brown sauce I thought "boy that's good!" Too bad it was relatively improvised, so I'm not sure on the quantities; but I am sure on the ingredients.


Chicken Stir Fry with Green Beans

2 chicken breasts
1 cup Brown Sauce (recipe follows)
1 cup frozen green beans
1 small onion, halved and sliced thin
1 large or two small red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced into rounds
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tbsp hot bean paste
Salt + pepper

1 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp beef stock

Start the sauce first, and keep it simmering on a burner.

Over high heat, heat 1 tbsp oil in skillet until almost smoking. Add onion, season with salt, stir 3x and cook undisturbed for 2 minutes. Add bell peppers, stir 3x and cook undisturbed for 1 minute. Stir occassionally and cook for 1 more minute. Add 2 tbsp hot bean paste + garlic, cook for 30 seconds, then transfer pepper-onion mixture to a bowl/plate.

Blanch the green beans in Brown Sauce for about 2 minutes, and remove using wire skimmer. Add to pepper onion mixture. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and beef stock to form a slurry. Whisk into brown sauce, and reduce heat.

Season chicken liberally with salt + pepper. Heat remaining 1 tbsp oil in skillet over high heat until almost smoking. Add chicken all at once, and spread out quickly into single layer. Let cook undisturbed for 2 minutes. Stir and cook for 2 more minutes. Add hot bean paste, and stir. Add onion/pepper/bean mixture to chicken. Add in about 1/2 cup sauce, and cook for 1 minute, until sauce bubbles and thickens. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve immediately with white or brown rice.

Variations:

• Try marinating chicken in cornstarch/brandy/salt/pepper
• Add orange zest/orange peel to veggies at the beginning
  

Brown Sauce

2 cups beef stock
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp quality balsamic vinegar (or lower quality balsamic vinegar, cooked to reduce by 50%)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tbsp brandy
Salt + pepper to taste
1 tbsp fresh ginger (minced) or ginger juice (optional)

Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil, turn down and let simmer uncovered for 30 minutes until reduced. Adjust seasonings to taste. Ready to use, or refrigerate overnight for better flavor.

Thai Chicken Pizza

slim pickins 'n' thai chik'ns...

I like leftovers; they're very "homey" eating. Yesterday was mac & cheese & a leftover slice California Pizza Kitchen Thai Chicken Pizza. I personally think CPK's food is delicious. My standard meal at CPK is a 1/2 Caesar salad and a BBQ Chicken Pizza.

I came across their recipe for Thai Chicken Pizza as listed in their book (available on Amazon.com), so I thought I'd share it. NOTE: the dough must be prepared the night before for best flavor. Worst case, you can use the dough after the first rise.

MAKES 2 PIZZAS
Spicy Peanut Sauce
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. hoisin sauce
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp ginger, minced
2 tbsp sesame oil (Chinese or Japanese)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp Vietnamese chili sauce (like Sambal Oelek?) or dried chili flakes
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp water

1 tbsp olive oil
10 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
Pizza stone

Pizza Dough
2 c. Mozzarella cheese, shredded
4 scallions, slivered diagonally oriental style
1/2 c. white bean sprouts
1/4 c. Shredded carrot
2 tbsp chopped, roasted peanuts
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

To prepare Peanut Sauce, combine sauce ingredients in small pan & over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil, and boil gently for one minute. Set aside. You will use 1/2 on the chicken and 1/2 on the pizza.

Heat pan over high heat, add olive oil, and cook chicken stirfry-style for 5-6 minutes. Do not overcook. Set aside in refrigerator until chilled through. Once chilled, coat with 1/4 cup of Spicy Peanut Sauce. Return to refridgerator to chill again.

Heat pizza stone in a very hot oven (500 degrees F.) for 1 hour. Shape dough into pizza round, and spoon 1/4 cup sauce evenly over pizza, spreading it around. Cover sauce with 3/4 cup of mozzarella. Save rest of mozzarella for later.

Next, add to pizza in the following order:
1. chicken pieces
2. green onions
3. bean sprouts
4. carrots
5. An additional 1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella
6. roasted chopped peanuts

Bake pizza in oven for 9-10 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese at the center is bubbly. Remove pizza from oven, sprinkle with 1 tbsp cilantro.

Pizza Dough
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 c. plus 1 tbsp warm water (105 -110 F)
1.5 c bread flour (preferred) or all purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (for coating)

Dissolve yeast in water and set aside for 5-10 minutes.

Place dry ingredients (flour, sugar and salt) into a 4-6 quart mixing bowl. Make a weill in the middle & pour in yeast/water mixture and 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Use a wooden spoon to combine ingredients. Once mixed, lightly oil your hands and knead dough for 5 minutes. When done, dough should be slightly tacky; that is, it should be barely beyond sticking to your hands. Don't knead more than 5 minutes, or the dough could be tough and rubbery; the same goes if you overmix the dough in a electric stand mixer. Incidentally, if you use a stand mixer, use the mixing paddle and not the dough hook for this batch size; the dough hook is too small to be effective for this batch size.

Lightly oil the doughball and the interior of a 1 quart glass bowl. Place dough ball in bowl and seal bowl with plastic wrap, with as much an "air-tight" seal as possible. Set aside at room temperature to rise until doubled; this should take about 1.5 to 2 hours at 70-80 deg. F.

1st rise has been completed. Punch down the dough, reform it into a round ball & return it to the same bowl, covering it again tightly with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in the refridgerator overnight.

2nd rise has been completed by the next morning. About 2 hours before you are ready to build your pizza, take the dough out of the refridgerator. Cut the dough into two pieces with a sharp knife. Roll the smaller doughs into round balls on a smooth, clean surface. Place newly formed balls in a glass casserole dish, spaced far enough apart to allow them to double in size. Seal dish with plastic wrap, as airtight as possible. Set aside at room temperature to allow them to double in size (about 2 hours). Now they should be smooth and puffy.

The 3rd rise has been completed. You can now carefully stretch out the pizza dough into rounds as desired. Dust your pizza peel in cornmeal, semolina, or flour, and transfer the stretched dough to the peel. Top your pizza with ingredients & bake.

Enjoy the pizza and buy the CPK Cookbook at Amazon.com.