Chicken Liver Paté

Watch out--I'm doing NaBloPoMo again! I was planning on doing it, but then yesterday suddenly was November 1st. What's up with that? Good thing I posted. I thought I had more time! Writing every day really jumps starts me, and a little extra pressure always helps. Every day I'll be talking about what's on the menu and other assorted things.

Today is about this chicken liver paté. I bought these lovely livers the other day; couldn't resist the little half-pound containers from Bell & Evans at the grocery. Although I used a recipe from Jacque Pepin on Food and Wine, I used a tip from the pate recipe on Simply Recipes and soaked the livers in a little milk. Instead of pouring the milk down the drain before cooking, I gave it to my cat. She licked the bowl clean, and proceeded to sit around the kitchen waiting for more scraps. I don't blame her--the kitchen smelled fabulous from just the livers simmering with onion, garlic, salt, thyme, bay leaf and water. My only other deviation from the recipe, aside from the milk soak, was to use applejack instead of cognac or whiskey. Everything else I followed to a T. It tastes incredibly good.

It sounds glamorous, making paté on a Saturday morning, doesn't it? But it's really very down home. Especially when it's me, my hair in a sloppy pony tail, yoga pants on, and my son downstairs in the TV play room watching Bob the Builder giving me the 45 minutes to bang this out. But the richness comes later, when I'll be hopefully sharing this with some friends, alongside some grape mostarda and a good baguette.

Trout with Vegetable Hash and Fresh Ricotta Cheese

Last night's dinner was outrageously good. Was it because it was warm and sunny? Was it because we had dinner on the porch along with a bottle of rosé? Perhaps, rabbit, perhaps. I still think it was one of the better meals we've had in a while, and I'm sure it also has to do with the taste of meals to come. That is, it was a spring time meal. We had trout that I stuffed with the foamy leavings from my tangelo lemongrass jelly. I saved the lemongrass and foam because it looked too good to throw out. Good idea, says I, because stuffed in this trout was an inspired move. (And I cleared a jar out of the fridge!) I was waiting for some nice duck for that jelly foam, but haven't seen any. Did you ever think to stuff your fish with jelly? No? Think again! I baked the whole fish, stuffed and drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, for about twenty minutes at 400 degrees.

This here is what I'm talking about. Early springtime hash. Carrots, beets, leeks and portobello mushrooms, diced, sauteed in olive oil, salt, pepper, and drizzled with shallot confiture syrup. Can I say boo-ya? I hate saying that, but I really think it deserves it.

And, oh, what's this? Some fresh ricotta that I made and crumbled on top of the hash? You should make some of this cheese. I can't believe it took me this long in life to figure this out. Easiest cheese ever. (Except for maybe yogurt cheese.) I used this recipe from 101 Cookbooks, although it's pretty much standard stuff. And don't forget to save your whey. Yah, whey! You can bake with it, drink it (if you want, maybe I don't want to), use it in a soup. It's going to rain this weekend, so bread and soup it is.

And who is this?

Meet my girls! I didn't think I would get so attached to them so quickly! They are Ameraucanas, and I couldn't be happier with them. They lay delicious blue and brown eggs.

More on them soon. I've only had them a week so we're still getting to know one another, but I've been bribing them with scraps from the house and they are buying it. This weekend is all about outdoors and celebrating spring. I couldn't be more thrilled.

Happy Vernal Equinox, everyone!

Chicken and Dumpling Soup

A while back, before it got arctic out there, my son and I would go for a walk every morning before his nap. We would walk down to the pond to see what the resident muskrats were up to. Maybe we would be lucky and see the albino red tailed hawk sitting in the big oak, waiting for some unlucky rodent to be his breakfast. Or the great blue herons we see from time to time visiting from the marsh down the road who fly away with prehistoric flaps of their huge wings as soon as we get near. We would play by the barn a little, now empty of animals and a bit forlorn, hay still cemented to the stall doors and the faint smell of manure lingering in the cold air, not unpleasantly. But now it is truly winter, and the idea of bundling up before nine and traipsing around the icy grounds with a 23 pound toddler in tow is not a reality. The snow is too awkward for a new walker to navigate, and although it's good exercise, I'm just not up for the walk. We go outside in the afternoons now, and there's still a lot to see, but I miss my morning walks.

Usually I don't get wistful for nicer weather until February, but this year it's struck me sooner. We've really been cooped up quite a bit, and yesterday I had a strong pining for a cold beer on the porch while green fluttered all around the trees. We were reading a book in which a dragonfly zips across the water, and a luna moth sails through the night, and it squeezed me right in the heart, all that warm, simple green. It's at that moment I realize that I have to get real and focus on the very beautiful moments of winter: sitting in front of the fire, baking a tray of cookies, the sparkly glint of huge flakes of snow coming down in the sun, the patterns of ice on the pond, the waves of frost on the windows, and a big pot of stock cooking on the stove. Lucky for me, Steve decided to make his amazing stock yesterday. He's much better than me, impatient fool that I am. He takes his time and really cares for the stock. He does it right. And for that I'm thankful, because then I could make this chicken and dumpling soup which hit the spot yesterday for dinner and today for lunch. Thank you, winter!

Dumplings

2 cups of flour

3 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons olive oil or you can use an egg, beaten

2/3 cup milk

seasonings: I used dried thyme and celery seed

Add wet ingredients to dry. It will be a wet, sticky batter.

While you are doing this, bring two quarts of stock to a simmer. Add one cup of shredded chicken. Once at a simmer again, drop in spoonfuls of dumpling batter. They will puff and float like little clouds. Throw in a lot of spinach in to wilt. Add lots of fresh chopped parsley and dill. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix gently before doling out into bowls. The broth will thicken a little from the flour in the dumplings. Stare out the window at the strange blue winter sky and think about how nice it is to be right there, right then.

Braised Brisket and Roasted Pears

You know, I love my crock pot. And I call it a crock pot, not a slow cooker, for no reason other than crock pot is fun to say. I also like the word crockery. There's a whole slew of reasons to like the word crock, but I'm not going to elaborate. Cause, you know, I don't have much time. There's so much to do right now, and I'm actually ahead of the game this year, amazingly. But, one of the reasons I like my crock pot so much during the winter is why everybody who likes them likes their crock pot: it's so darn easy. Throw a bunch of stuff in it and just forget about it all day long. Dinner is made. As I have said, all I have is time, but what I mean is that I have time for something to take a long time to cook. What I have absolutely no time for is meals that require my attention, because a little fifteen month old guy requires it more. I've tried a few times to cook while he was pulling on my legs and whining to be picked up. He's very convincing. And you know what? I'd rather be reading Who Says Boo for the billionth time. (Well, for the most part...) What I mean is that I'd rather be snuggled on the floor reading another book than having him whine and cry, for what? Just to cook something more complicated? One day I'll get that luxury back again. In the meantime, I eat just fine with super easy stuff like this. There's also infinitely less clean up. One pot. Love it.

Brisket:

2 lb brisket

12 ounces red wine

Half 28 oz. can of plum tomatoes

1 large red onion

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 or 4 garlic cloves

thyme, salt and pepper

Slice the onion in thick rings and layer the bottom of the pot with them. Place the meat on the rings. Add everything else. Put it on for low, eight hours. Serve on egg noodles or polenta with fresh chopped parsley. We also had a nice cabbage slaw with it that I got from Everybody Likes Sandwiches. I dressed it in the morning and picked at it all day, that's how good this salad was.

The other day, I made an Asian inflected dish in the crockery pot with chicken thighs. It was tasty, sturdy fare for a cold day.

4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1/2 cup tamari

2 small onions, diced

1 knob of ginger, grated

3 or 4 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp. lemon lime syrup (I had this on hand, I would sub the juice of a lime and a tbsp. brown sugar)

1 tsp. 5 spice blend

Chopped scallions and parsley to finish.

All in the pot, 4 hours high. When finished toss in diced scallion and parsley. Serve with rice.

While the brisket was doing its thing, I roasted a bunch of pears. I used a recipe for vanilla roasted pears from Smitten Kitchen. Roasted pears are lovely. I usually like doing them a bit plain, but this recipe was on the sweet side. But not too sweet at all. I liked it hot out of the oven with egg nog ice cream. And think about the pan you use because the pear caramel that is made, exquisite though it may be, can ruin a good pan. I made quite a few, good for snacking plain or stuffed with some nice soft and sharp cheese.

Parsnip and Sweet Potato Sheperd's Pie

What to do with some extra poached chicken? How about using it in a riff on sheperd's pie? This was great for the whole family: big, hungry dad, ravenous mom, and hungry little baby alike. Need I mention it was terribly easy? There are a few things that take up time, but there's not too much work involved.

For example, roast a sweet potato at 375 for an hour so it's all nice and oozing with its own caramelized sugar. While you are at it, roast off a sugar pumpkin for tomorrow's dessert, and a finger of ginger. It makes the whole house smell great when you walk in from the brisk and frost bitten outdoors. In a pot on the stovetop, you can simmer steam a nice big parsnip that you peeled and sliced. You can puree both of these together (peel the hot skin off the potato first!) with a little butter and milk, salt an pepper and the peeled roasted ginger.

While that sits and waits for you, get a peeled carrot, rib of celery, some parsley and scallions and whiz them up in the processor. Sautee them in olive oil and a leetle bit of butter for a few. Then take that diced poached chicken breast (one whole, or if you like, two sides) and let that cook a bit--five minutes? Sprinkle in a tablespoon of flour and toss to coat. Add 3/4 cup of chicken broth, some rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper. Let it all simmer until thickened. Pour this into a greased baking dish (glass 13x9 sounds right) and top with the puree, smoothing it out all nice. You might, if you are so inclined, dot the top with butter, but I left it naked. Bake for about a half hour at 400 degrees.

I love the mix of sweet potato and parsnip. The celery/parsley flavor that the parsnip has cut the sweetness of the roasted sweet potato. The color was lovely, and who doesn't love chicken in gravy? And, all told it was quite a light meal. Not too heavy but satisfying. I made sure to leave a small bit for lunch today. But I tell you, I had to hide it in the fridge.

Spanish Casserole

Whatever that means. Casserole is a beleaguered word, isn't it? Being that I have a thirteen-month old child, I don't have a lot of time to cook, or eat, for that matter. One-pot dishes that are inexpensive, uncomplicated, quick and tasty are of the essence to my life. If I see too many ingredients in a recipe, I immediately balk. If I see too many steps, I get wary. With that in mind, here is a good, sturdy little recipe that I found in a book called The Reader's Digest Eat Better, Live Better: A Commonsense Guide to Nutrition and Good Health, published in 1982.

This book was one of those books that just somehow gets into your library. You know not from whence they came, and you are even a bit disdainful, until you really flip through the thing and realize, hey, this is actually a good book! It has great illustrations and encyclopedic information on vegetables and fruit, recipes, nutritional content, and so on. I've always loved books of classifications and definitions, ever since that Richard Scarry book that described in detail all the things that are in big boats and houses and stuff. Loved that book! There's even a section on wild, foraged foods. Did you know that Milkweed is edible? The flowers taste like broccoli, apparently. To digress further, we have lots of Milkweed, a beautiful and beneficial plant. At this time of year, its seed pods dry up and inside are silky strands attached to the nut brown seeds and they float away like parachutes, carrying the intended plant on the wind in preparation for next year's plant.

Okay, I will stop rambling. Here is the recipe:

2 whole chicken breasts, split and skinned

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1/4 roasted red pepper, diced

1 cup chicken broth

1 28 ounce can of plum tomatoes

1 cup brown rice

1 teaspoon thyme

olive oil, salt and pepper

Use a nice, heavy dutch oven with a lid. Preheat oven to 350. On stovetop, brown chicken in oil. Take them out and put them on a plate while you saute the diced veggies. Add the rice and cook a few minutes. Then slowly add the tomatoes and broth and return the chicken to the pot. Salt, pepper and thyme. Cover and bake in oven for forty or so minutes.

I served this with a spoonful of greek yogurt, which I'm starting to realize you could add to everything and anything. And I'm sure this will be better today when I have it for lunch.

Roasted Chicken with Beets, Onions and Carrots

I probably make roasted chicken almost every week in the cold months. It's the easiest thing in the world and so satisfying. And variable. And economical. Our supermarket carries all natural, free-range chicken at a sensible price. Many other cuts of meat are not so sensible. In fact, downright crazy! But, I digress.

Just put your split breasts in a roasting pan with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper and some herbs. Rosemary and thyme are always nice. Today I used tarragon and lots of fresh lemon juice. I added to the pan quartered beets, onions and chopped carrots. Put it in the oven at 375 for an hour. Baste the whole shebang once or twice. I served this with boiled potatoes tossed with butter. I would have roasted the potatoes but didn't have room in the pan. 

I will admit, for those of us who work and get home starving this might not jive. But certainly you can do this on the weekend. Of course, you know how to do this. I don't even need to say it.

Winter Squash, Rice and Chicken Casserole

I don't really like squash, but I really want to like it. So, I buy it and try to cook it in ways that are, to me, delicious. It's something about the texture, I think, although my mother thinks that I had an issue with all foods orange as a child. I disagree, because I drank orange juice all day and night. I always volunteered to make the orange juice because not only was it a fun science project, but I could sneak spoonfuls of the orange, sticky, sickly sweet stuff while no one was looking. But, yes, sweet potatoes, squash were not friends of mine in their chunk form. I love them pureed, though, so that's what I do.

This was brilliantly easy, and I happened to have everything on hand, which is how I roll when it comes to cooking. I thought it would come out dull, but it was just delicious. And, of course, it's good for baby, too. You could very easily leave the chicken out for a vegetarian option.

2 cups of cubed, roasted winter squash, roughly pureed (I used butternut)

2 cups of cooked white rice (I'm sure brown would be just as nice; I happened to use Jasmine)

Shredded cooked chicken--1 or 2 cups?

1 cup plain, low-fat yogurt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Mix all together. Grease a lidded quart casserole and fill it with the mixture. Grate some nice sharp cheddar cheese (or whatever you have) on top. Cover with a thick layer of bread crumbs. Drizzle a little olive oil on top. Pop in preheated 350 oven. Bake for about thirty minutes, or until bubbling and looking good enough to eat.

Chicken Orzo Soup

What a soothing balm chicken noodle soup of any kind is on a rainy, stay at home day. I don't believe I need to say more, except that making your own is easy, and delicious. I started off with a whole chicken (an inexpensive fryer from our local super marche, actually, good chicken, not like, the national brands or nothing) and I filled the trusty stock pot with water and boiled off the chicken making a lovely, simple stock. The chicken went in a bowl to cool, and then to be picked. the stock was strained and kept off to the side.

To the soup pot: olive oil, onions sauteed til soft, carrots added, cooked for a bit (five minutes?), stock added slowly while it warmed up til boiling, 1/2 cup of orzo and the shredded chicken meat. In ten minutes, I was reaping the benefits of a hot bowl of soup. Don't forget salt and peppa!