Chicken Canzanese, Toasted Fennel/Shallot Brown Rice
Originally a peasant dish (perhaps of stewing hen or rooster) from the Abruzzo region in Italy, Americans were likely first introduced to this classic in a 1969 article from the New York Times.
My riff on America’s Test Kitchen’s modern adaptation (see video below) uses locally pastured chicken thighs, prosciutto, garlic, fresh herbs, chicken stock and white wine, all served over fennel-scented brown rice with toasted shallots and flat-leaf parsley..
Pollo Canzanese (serves 2-4)
4 large skin-on, bone-in, pastured chicken breasts
2 ounces prosciutto, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2-3 cloves garlic, slivered (not minced)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons sprouted wheat or spelt flour
1-1/4 cups dry white wine
3/4 cup homemade chicken stock
2 bay leaves (fresh preferred)
2 sprigs rosemary, stripped, leaves chopped (reserve the stems)
8 leaves fresh sage
3 whole cloves
juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon cultured butter, cold
freshly-cracked black pepper
Rinse chicken and pat dry. Refrigerate, uncovered 4 hours or overnight to help ensure a crispy skin when cooked.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add prosciutto and sauté until lightly brown, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute more. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the prosciutto and garlic to a side dish.
Return the pan to the heat and add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering, season the chicken with pepper and place in the hot oil skin-side down. Allow the chicken to cook without moving until golden brown, about 5-6 minutes. Turn the chicken over cook another 5 minutes, again without moving. Transfer the chicken to a side dish.
Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of olive oil/fat, reserving the remainder for the rice.
Sprinkle the flour into the pan and whisk continuously to form a light roux, about 1 minute.
De-glaze the pan with the wine, taking care to scrape up all the brown bits (the fond) from the bottom.
Add the cooked prosciutto and garlic back into the pan along with the bay leaves, sage, cloves, rosemary stems (without leaves) and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.
Add the chicken to the pan, making sure that the volume of liquid is sufficient to rise to a point just below the crisp chicken skin. Pour a little liquid off if there’s too much, or add a little stock if there isn’t enough.
Place the uncovered pan into a 325 degree oven and cook until the chicken is fork tender, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, prepare the rice..
1 cup germinated brown rice, rinsed
2-1/4 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon reserved oil/fat
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, cracked
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley
Toast the fennel in a heavy-bottomed saucepan set over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the reserved oil/fat and shallots and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes.
Add the rice and stir to coat.
Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until done, about 45 minutes.
To Finish and Serve
Remove the pan with the chicken from the oven. Transfer the chicken to a platter and cover with foil.
Working quickly, put the chicken pan on the burner over medium-high heat. Pick out and discard the cloves, sage, bay and rosemary stems.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, chopped rosemary leaves, parsley and butter and whisk until smooth.
Line a platter with the rice and ladle the sauce over the rice. Place the cooked chicken on top of the rice, drizzle with a little of the sauce and serve piping hot.
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Like this:
Proper Beef Stock
“…if there’s one preparation that separates a great home cook’s from a good home cook’s food, it’s stock. Stock is the ingredient that most distinguishes restaurant cooking from home cooking.” -Michael Ruhlman
Here, then, is a proper yet relatively easy way to make a rich and delicious beef stock at home..
Beef Stock (makes about 1 quart) (informed by recipes by Ruhlman and Darina Allen)
6 cups (more-or-less) cold, filtered water, divided
2 pounds meaty beef bones (shin bones with meat attached are ideal) from a clean, non-industrial source
1/3 pound unpeeled yellow onions, roughly chopped
1/3 pound carrots, roughly chopped
1/3 pound celery, roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 large fresh, ripe tomato, cut into wedges
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2-3 whole cloves
1 bouquet garni of parsley stalks & leaves, fresh bay leaves and fresh thyme
Arrange the beef bones on a roasting pan or in a large cast iron skillet, allowing plenty of space between each (as you can see, I wasn’t able to find any bones with meat attached, so I rummaged around in the freezer and found an old tri-tip to add to the pan). Place the pan in a 400 degree oven and roast until nicely browned, about 45 minutes. Take care not to let the bones burn, or the stock will be bitter.
Remove the pan from the oven and scatter the chopped vegetables, garlic and peppercorns over and around the bones. Return the pan to the oven and roast until the vegetables are browned around the edges, about 20 minutes.
Transfer the roasted bones, vegetables, garlic and peppercorns to a clean stockpot or Dutch oven.
Pour the grease off from the roasting pan and deglaze with 1 cup of the water. Bring the water to a boil, then use a wood utensil to scrape up the fond (the brown bits) from the bottom of the pan. Pour the liquid over the bones and vegetables in the stock pot.
Add enough of the remaining water to cover the bones, then add the cloves and bouquet garni.
Bring the pot to a rapid boil, then lower the heat to a bare simmer. Skim and discard any foam that may be present on the surface.
Partially cover the pot and allow to simmer for 6-8 hours, skimming and adding water as necessary to keep the bone submerged.
Turn off the heat and allow the stock to cool in the pot for 30 minutes. Strain the stock through a cheesecloth-lined fine mesh strainer to ensure a clear and clean-tasting stock.
Store stock in the refrigerator and use with 3-4 days, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Like this:
Sautéed Veal Tips with Cremini, Cipolline and Port Wine Demi-Glace
Pastured veal sautéed with fresh crimini mushrooms and cipollini onions, simmered in a reduction of port wine, bone broth, shallots and demi-glace, flavored with fresh English thyme and cracked black pepper..
Sauté quartered brown mushrooms and small cipolline onions (about 1/4 pound of each) in a tablespoon of clarified butter in a heavy skillet until amazing-looking, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer vegetables to a side dish.
Return skillet to temp, add a little more butter and quickly sear a pound 1-1/4-inch cubes until well browned on the edges, but still rare on the inside. Transfer to the side to keep company with the vegetables, leaving the skillet on the burner.
De-glaze the skillet with about 1/3 cup of a good quality port wine, scraping up all the fond (the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, i.e. the best part!) with a wooden utensil.
Add a cup and a half of good roasted bone stock, 1/2 tablespoon of minced shallots and a loose tablespoon of fresh thyme. Bring to a boil then lower to a fast simmer and cook until reduced in volume by half (patience shall reward).
Return the veal, mushroom and onions to the pan and add a tablespoon and a half of demi-glace. Simmer slowly, stirring constantly until the sauce is thick and the veal is just heated through (still a little pink on the inside), maybe 5 minutes.
Off the heat, whisk a tablespoon of cold, cultured butter into the sauce, taste for salt and pepper and serve hot with a favorite side (French beans or asparagus, perhaps).
Like this:
Grilled Pork Porterhouse Adobada
Inch-and-1/2-thick pork porterhouse steaks (New York and filet attached) are seasoned with sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper, then quickly seared over an open fire before being slathered in a rich red chile sauce flavored with toasted cumin, coriander and garlic, with coffee beans, guajillo honey, cloves and fresh lime juice. The chops are dressed with toasted corn, fresh avocado and slivered radishes..
For the Adobada
4 large dried New Mexico chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
2 teaspoons whole coriander seeds
2 cloves garlic, peeled
3-4 whole cloves
1 heaping tablespoon whole coffee beans
1-1/2 tablespoons fermented ketchup
2 teaspoons raw cider vinegar
1 tablespoon (more or less) guajillo honey
1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lime juice
fine sea salt to taste
Toast chiles, cumin, coriander, garlic and coffee in a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-low heat until the chiles are pliant and the coriander begins to pop, about 5 minutes.
Put the toasted chiles and cloves into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand 20 minutes.
Transfer soaked chiles, cloves, cumin, coriander, garlic and coffee to the bowl of a food processor. Add the ketchup, vinegar, honey and lime juice and process until thoroughly combined.
With the blade of the food processor spinning, slowly pour in enough of the chile soaking water until the sauce is thinned enough to barely coat the back of a spoon.
Season the sauce to taste with sea salt and if necessary, adjust the bitterness with just a little more honey.
Hold for service.
To assemble, season pork chops with salt and pepper and allow to stand at room temperature while you prepare your grill in the usual fashion (I like to use charcoal and soaked mesquite wood chunks).
Once the grill is seriously hot, place the chops on the lightly-oiled grate and sear 3-4 minutes without moving (to get great grill marks and to help prevent sticking). Turn the chops over and grill another 3-4 minutes, again without moving.
Move the chops to the cooler side of the grill and baste heavily with adobada sauce. Cover the grill and roast chops for 10 minutes. Turn the chops over, baste and cover for another 5 minutes.
Transfer chops to a serving platter and dress with toasted corn, avocado, slivered radishes and a spoonful of adobada sauce.
Like this:
Coconut-Crusted Chicken with Ginger, Mango Gastrique
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Locally-pastured chicken breast halves (off-the-bone, skin removed) are marinated overnight in a mixture of mango juice, fresh ginger, sea salt & cracked black pepper, then dredged in coconut flour, dipped in egg wash and breaded with toasted panko. While the chicken is baking (about 30 minutes at 350 degrees), a gastrique of fresh mango, cultured butter, chicken stock and champagne vinegar is reduced and blended for the accompanying sauce. The finished plate is dressed with toasted coconut and slivered scallions..
Like this:
Lobster Corn Cakes
Maine lobster, sweet corn, scallions and parsley in a fritter batter of fresh cream, sprouted flour and pastured egg. Seasoned with sea salt and lemon pepper, served with red chili paste and fresh lime..
Makes 4-6 4-inch Cakes (basic fritter batter based on a recipe by Michael Ruhlman)
1 cup lobster meat, blanched, cooled and coarsely chopped
1 cup organic sweet corn (no GMOs here!)
2 fresh scallions, slivered
1-1/2 tablespoons parsley, chopped, rinsed and squeezed dry
1/4 cup sprouted flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
2 ounces fresh cream
2 ounces lobster stock
1 egg
oil for frying
Stir lobster, corn, scallions and parsley together in a bowl.
Combine flour, salt, pepper and baking powder together in another bowl.
Whisk together cream, lobster stock and egg in a third bowl.
Pour flour mixture into cream mixture and whisk until smooth (batter will be very thick).
Pour just enough fritter batter over the lobster mixture to hold it together. You may not need all of the batter.
Heat 1/4-inch of oil over medium heat in a wide, heavy-bottomed skillet until a flicked drop of water pops, then carefully drop quarter cupfuls of batter around pan, flattening slightly with the back of a spoon.
Shallow fry cakes until golden brown on both sides, then transfer to a side plate to drain for a moment before serving hot with your choice of condiments (I like red chili & lime).
