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Recipes! (Chicken, Salad, and Watermelon)
This is what I made for dinner tonight. It was a Saturday dinner for a guest, and so it's got some of the "stupidly complex" about some of the steps, but, eh.
The dutch oven chicken is adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe, as is the salad. The watermelon is a fairly standard recipe, but the direct inspiration was from Vegetarian Times.
The tomato and etc. salad is vegetarian but not vegan; the minted watermelon is vegan.
Dutch Oven Lemon-Garlic Chicken
a 3-4 lb roasting chicken
salt
pepper
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 medium onion
1 head garlic
3 medium lemons
vegetable oil
bay leaf
Preheat the oven to 250F.
Thoroughly dry the chicken, and salt and pepper on all sides. Let rest while you prep the vegetables.
Coarsely chop the carrots, celery and onion. Break up the garlic head, remove most of the paper, and lightly crush. (You don't need to fully de-skin them, though.) Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest of the lemons in big strips.
Heat a dutch oven large enough to hold the chicken over high heat. Lube the bottom with some vegetable oil, and add the chicken, breast-side down. Cook about 5 minutes, until browned, then flip. Distribute the chopped vegetables around the chicken and cook about 5 more minutes. Add the juice of the lemons and the bay leaf, put the lid on the dutch oven, and pop in the oven.
Cook 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the chicken reaches 160F at the thickest part of the breast and 175F at the thickest part of the thigh.
Remove the chicken from the pot, tent with foil, and let rest. Strain the liquid from the pot and reserve, then discard the solids. Skim off the fat. You can either use the liquid as a jus as is, boil it down to concentrate it more, or make a gravy out of it with any standard gravy recipe. (I made a basic gravy, starting with a roux and adding the liquid, then cooking until thick.)
Tomato, Cucumber and Etc. Salad
1 pt cherry tomatoes
1 large cucumber
1 small zucchini
2 green onions
salt
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
black pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 apricots
handful fresh basil
ricotta or chevre cheese
Halve the cherry tomatoes. Peel, seed and slice the cucumber into small bite-sized pieces. (If you have very nice thin-skinned cucumbers, you may not need to peel them.) Peel and very thinly slice the zucchini. Mince the green onions.
Combine the above in a medium bowl and salt fairly generously. Let sit at least half an hour, at room temperature. This will allow the salt to draw out a lot of the juices.
If you have a salad spinner, spin the tomato-cucumber-zucchini-onion mixture in the salad spinner to drive off excess moisture; if you don't, strain and press gently to extract the liquid. Put the tomato-and-etc. water into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a sort of tomato syrup, then remove from the heat. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and then whisk in enough olive oil to make a vinaigrette. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Cut up the bell pepper and apricots into small bite-sized pieces and toss with the drained tomato-cucumber-etc. mixture, then toss it all with the vinaigrette. Sprinkle with ricotta or chevre and serve.
Minted Watermelon
1 small/"baby" watermelon
1 lime
salt
superfine sugar (optional)
handful mint
Cut the watermelon into bite-sized chunks. Drizzle with the juice of the lime and a pinch of salt, stir well, and taste. If you think it'd do well with a bit more sweetness, dust with superfine sugar.
Finely mince the mint and stir into the watermelon. Chill quite cold, and serve.
The dutch oven chicken is adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe, as is the salad. The watermelon is a fairly standard recipe, but the direct inspiration was from Vegetarian Times.
The tomato and etc. salad is vegetarian but not vegan; the minted watermelon is vegan.
Dutch Oven Lemon-Garlic Chicken
a 3-4 lb roasting chicken
salt
pepper
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 medium onion
1 head garlic
3 medium lemons
vegetable oil
bay leaf
Preheat the oven to 250F.
Thoroughly dry the chicken, and salt and pepper on all sides. Let rest while you prep the vegetables.
Coarsely chop the carrots, celery and onion. Break up the garlic head, remove most of the paper, and lightly crush. (You don't need to fully de-skin them, though.) Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest of the lemons in big strips.
Heat a dutch oven large enough to hold the chicken over high heat. Lube the bottom with some vegetable oil, and add the chicken, breast-side down. Cook about 5 minutes, until browned, then flip. Distribute the chopped vegetables around the chicken and cook about 5 more minutes. Add the juice of the lemons and the bay leaf, put the lid on the dutch oven, and pop in the oven.
Cook 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the chicken reaches 160F at the thickest part of the breast and 175F at the thickest part of the thigh.
Remove the chicken from the pot, tent with foil, and let rest. Strain the liquid from the pot and reserve, then discard the solids. Skim off the fat. You can either use the liquid as a jus as is, boil it down to concentrate it more, or make a gravy out of it with any standard gravy recipe. (I made a basic gravy, starting with a roux and adding the liquid, then cooking until thick.)
Tomato, Cucumber and Etc. Salad
1 pt cherry tomatoes
1 large cucumber
1 small zucchini
2 green onions
salt
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
black pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 apricots
handful fresh basil
ricotta or chevre cheese
Halve the cherry tomatoes. Peel, seed and slice the cucumber into small bite-sized pieces. (If you have very nice thin-skinned cucumbers, you may not need to peel them.) Peel and very thinly slice the zucchini. Mince the green onions.
Combine the above in a medium bowl and salt fairly generously. Let sit at least half an hour, at room temperature. This will allow the salt to draw out a lot of the juices.
If you have a salad spinner, spin the tomato-cucumber-zucchini-onion mixture in the salad spinner to drive off excess moisture; if you don't, strain and press gently to extract the liquid. Put the tomato-and-etc. water into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a sort of tomato syrup, then remove from the heat. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and then whisk in enough olive oil to make a vinaigrette. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Cut up the bell pepper and apricots into small bite-sized pieces and toss with the drained tomato-cucumber-etc. mixture, then toss it all with the vinaigrette. Sprinkle with ricotta or chevre and serve.
Minted Watermelon
1 small/"baby" watermelon
1 lime
salt
superfine sugar (optional)
handful mint
Cut the watermelon into bite-sized chunks. Drizzle with the juice of the lime and a pinch of salt, stir well, and taste. If you think it'd do well with a bit more sweetness, dust with superfine sugar.
Finely mince the mint and stir into the watermelon. Chill quite cold, and serve.