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Sunday, July 29, 2012
Roasted Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Don't throw away those remnants from that Herb Roasted Chicken just yet. This rendition will completely change the way you view the old classic, and I think you'll find yourself making it again and again.
When you get done eating your roasted chicken, pull all of the leftover chicken off of the bone and separate out the skins and excess bits leaving just the meat. Take all of those "undesirable" bits, and put them in your trusty crock pot. I leave out the gizzards and such, using only the cooked parts, but if you want to put them in, and thats your thing, don't let me stop you.
-Note- If you dont have the time or energy to spend three days creating a soup, feel free to use a store bought roasted chicken. Just pull all the meat off of the bird and stuff whats left in your crockpot, then continue along in the same manner.
After you stuff everything in your crock pot, fill it up with water to about 1/2 inch from the top, put the lid on it, put it on low heat, and forget about it for at least 24 hours. After it has sat for considerable time, line a colander with cheesecloth, and use it to filter all of the bones and leftover fatty bits out of your stock. You want to remove as much sediment as possible as this will affect the taste and texture of your stock. If its done right this stock should take on the color of dark tea, but will be mostly clear. Once filtered, clean out your crock pot (to remove excess sediment) and put your stock back in it. And now you're ready to create your soup.
Ingredients:
Fresh Chicken Stock (about 5-6 cups)
Meat from 1/2 to 1 whole roasted chicken (personal preference applies)
4 large cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon of the Herb Roasted Chicken seasoning
2 cubes of chicken bouillon
(or 3 packets of chicken flavored ramen seasoning, its essentially powdered bouillon)
2-3 cups of seasonal vegetables chopped into 1/2 sized pieces (I use red onion and zucchini)
1. Combine everything but the meat and the vegetables, and let sit on low heat for 2-8 hours.
(The longer it sits the better it tastes)
2. Add the vegetables about 2 hours before you intend to eat.
(3-4 hours for potatoes or other hard cookers)
3. Add the chicken about 45 mins before you intend to eat.
4. Serve with large spoons.
I like to serve this incredible treat over ramen noodles. You can spend anywhere from $15 for a large bag of fancy ramen noodles in a package written entirely in japanese, or you can buy the $0.50 packs from Wal-Mart by the case. Either way the noodles are the important part. And since all you have to do is pour the soup over the top and let them sit for 5 minuets or so (recommended because it comes out piping hot), it limits the amount of work you need to do.
I recommend enjoying this dish with friends on a cold night, or if you're feeling especially nice, its a great thing to bring to a friend who's feeling a bit under the weather. Either way its a tasty treat that leaves you feeling like everything is right in the world.
Bon Appetit!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Food Tech Friday- Magic Bullet
The Magic Bullet at work this afternoon, helping me cook
First I'll tell you what it won't do. Unlike some of the insane machines out there, it wont eat a golf club, it wont turn a bunch of random ingredients into the best spinach ice cream you've ever had, and it wont replace a whole foods blender or even a good juicer.
But heres what it can do, and does well. I use the magic bullet for things like whipping up a mousse, or even some whipped cream. For grinding everything from herbs to coffee to fresh tea. For chopping up nuts, and occasionally some onion. For making a great home made completely emulsified balsamic vinigarette, and even for making the occasional smoothie. So while it won't mow your lawn or do your taxes, the Magic Bullet is definately a machine to be recon'd with.
The machine comes with the base, 2 large jars with handles, 2 small jars with handles, 2 large and 2 small without, a chopping blade and a grinding blade, a couple of sealed covers, a cover with a strainer, a large blender type jar, and some trim rings that screw in place so you can drink right out of the jars, as well as multiple seals and other little trinkets I haven't even begun to explore the possibility of.
Honestly its a great little countertop device to have around, and we use ours daily if not multiple times a day. So go pick you one up at your local retail establishment and start experimenting!
- Bon Appetit!
Poblano Cream Sauce
I bought these Poblano peppers, knowing that I like Chile Rellano
(sp) and knowing that these particular two Poblano peppers looked absolutely
stunning. Dark green and perfect skin. Still slightly dirty from the field
(clearly not waxed) and perfectly ripe. I knew from the moment that I layed
eyes on them that these babies were going to make something special. I just didn’t
know what. Then I found a recipe for a Poblano chile sauce online. Pretty simple
I thought, but needed some adjustment. So here is my rendition. This sauce is
slightly spicy, very savory, and complements the herb roasted chicken in my
previous post quite nicely.
Ingredients-
2 poblano
chiles
2 cloves
garlic (minced)
¼ red onion
(finely chopped)
3 Tbsp Extra
Virgin Olive Oil
¾ cup sour
cream
¼ cup milk
1 tsp chicken seasoning (recipe in “Herb
Roasted Chicken with Brussels Sprouts…”)
1 tsp Everglades Seasoning (see the
“Grocer” tag for more info)
1.
Wash the poblanos and cut the tops off. Then cut
them in half and remove the membrane and seeds, leaving only the skin and the
green meat of the pepper.
2.
Roast the peppers. There are several ways to do
this, under the broiler, on the grill, or in a hot skillet. The important part
is you want the skin to blister and start to turn black. The pepper should be
soft and pliable when you are done.
3.
Cut the pepper into thin strips and set it aside
to rest.
4.
In a skillet, heat up the olive oil on
medium-high heat. Do not let it smoke or the dish will taste burnt.
5.
Brown the onions until almost crispy. They should
still be somewhat pliable but fairly dark in color.
6.
Add the minced garlic and cook only until the
garlic begins to caramelize.
7.
Add the slices of poblano pepper and roughly
half of the sour cream. Allow the mixture to simmer for about 2-3 minuets on
medium-low heat. The mixture should begin to take on a golden-brown/greenish
hue.
8.
Put the mixture in a blender as well as the
remaining sour cream. Blend on high until mixture becomes smooth.
In order to use the sauce as an attractive plate
dressing/drizzle, add small amounts of milk while blending to thin out the
sauce as needed. Remember, you can always add more milk, but you can’t take it
back out again.
Herb Roasted Chicken with Brussels Sprouts, Shallots, and Lots of Garlic
Back when I
was 15 and just learning to cook, my girlfriends stepfather showed me a
roasting pan I had never seen before. The pan and lid were made from terra
cotta and the bottom half was glazed on the inside to prevent staining. This
pan made the most amazing roasted chicken I had ever eaten, and I’ve been
searching for one for 10 years now. Fast forward to 2 days ago… my fiancée
calls me from World Market in Fort Myers, FL and tells me she found one.
Completely matching my description, and it even said made in Portugal on the
bottom (where this style of roaster was invented and to my knowledge the only
place that still makes them this way).
Naturally,
I decided, lets make that chicken I haven’t had in 10 years. So here it is, my
version of delicious herb roasted chicken in a terra cotta roaster.
Ingredients:
1 whole
roasting chicken- Any size will do. (substitute Cornish game hens)
Chicken
Seasoning:
1 tsp sea salt
1
tsp Caraway seed
1
tsp Dried rosemary
1
tsp onion powder
1
tsp black pepper
1/2lb
washed Brussels sprouts
2 shallots-
Roughly chopped
2 cloves
elephant garlic- sliced into 1/8in thick slices
1.
If you are lucky enough to have one of the pans
I mentioned above, soak it in water for about 15 to 20 minuets while you do the
prep work on the vegetables.
2.
Combine all of the chicken seasoning ingredients
in a food processor or coffee grinder and combine thoroughly. Set the seasoning
aside.
3.
Remove the chicken from the package and be sure
to remove the gizzards and chitlins from inside (heart,liver,etc). It seems
like common sense but if you are in a rush its easy to forget.
4.
Place the chicken in the pan, and stuff with the
Brussels sprouts. They wont all fit inside, so put the remainder between the
feet.
5.
Season the chicken thoroughly (about half of the
seasoning) and set the rest aside for later.
6.
Using your fingers, slide the slices of garlic
between the skin and the meat of the breasts and drumsticks. Place the leftover
garlic slices on the outside of the chicken.
7.
VERY IMPORTANT- DO NOT PREHEAT THE OVEN. Putting
a cold wet clay roaster in a hot oven will cause it to explode, ruining not
only your food, but your investment in the roaster. Although they are fairly
inexpensive, terra cotta roasters are very hard to come by and should be
treated like gold.
8.
Place the roaster on the middle rack and set the
oven to 250*F
9.
While the oven warms up, set a deep baking sheet
or shallow pan beneath the roaster. Fill it about halfway with water. This will
keep the humidity up in the oven, and keep your roaster from absorbing any
juices from the chicken.
10. Cook
the chicken for about 45 minuets at 250*F, then increase the temp to 375*F.
Cook the chicken for another hour.
11. Being
very careful not to splash any juices, take the chicken out of the oven and let
stand for at least 15minuets before serving.
12. VERY
IMPORTANT!- No peaking. Don’t open the pan even once during the cooking
process, or while its standing. The moisture is trapped inside the cooker and keeps
the chicken from drying out.
So some of you
are saying, “but Chris, I don’t have a terra cotta roasting pan, and I don’t know
where to get one”. That’s ok, because up until 2 days ago I didn’t either. Use a
normal roasting pan with a lid and a rack inside. Put a small amount of water
on the inside of the pan under the rack, and be sure to put the bird on the
rack itself. Then, put the lid on, and seal it tight with some tinfoil. It sounds
like a cheap way out, but it does the trick. Also be sure to put the pan full
of water underneath the roasting pan regardless of what kind of pan you use. It’s
an old baking trick that works wonders for anything you put in the oven.
Bon
Appetit! And check out my next post for the side dishes that went with this
meal. The poblano sauce will blow your mind!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Food Tech Friday-Wine Dictionary (Monkey Experience Oy)
A great pair to another app listed in this section, Wine Organizer 1.0, is an app by Monkey Experience Oy called "Wine Dictionary". This app is great when you are trying to figure out just what exactly a "carvalho" is, or whether or not you're going to need that "Korkenzieher". It has two interfaces you can choose from. One is a standard alphabetical listing of all of the terms in the dictionary, the other is organized in listings from A-Z for your easy searching pleasure.
At $0.99 a go, you can hardly go wrong with this app. It's easy to carry around (unlike its book counterparts) and immensely handy when deciphering those bottles from overseas.
At $0.99 a go, you can hardly go wrong with this app. It's easy to carry around (unlike its book counterparts) and immensely handy when deciphering those bottles from overseas.
Food Tech Friday-Wine Organizer 1.0
I personally find this app to be extremely handy since you
can take snapshots of the labels and recall in an instant what you enjoyed,
what you didn’t, and what is or isn’t on your rack at home, while you’re out
shopping. It’s a digital little black book of wine.
This app is available in the iTunes store and in the
GooglePlay store for download on both iOS and Android operating systems.
Out On The Town
In this
section I will review restaurants in the Southwest Florida area, and outside of
that area during my travels. Just like the wine section, I will give you a
good, honest, and simple review of the quality of the food, the service, and
the pricing for each location. Everything from local diners to major national
chains will be reviewed for your reading pleasure.
The Wine Cellar
Riesling,
Gewurstraminer, Syrah, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Champagne, Porto, and
the list goes on. Here lies the wines I’ve tried, what I liked about them, what
I didn’t like about them, and what I think they would go well with. No froo-froo
Napa-Valley winespeak, just a good honest layman’s review. All wines will be
based upon a 1-10 scale with 10 being the holy grail of wine, and 1 being the
worst substance to ever cross my lips.
Recipes
In
this section, I will be giving you a sneak peek at just some of the recipe’s that will be found in the new book I'm writing, "Life Is Too Short To Eat
Crappy Food-The Book".
The Grocer
As its
been said numerous times, I simply
love food. Here I will discuss all of those wonderful little back shelf things
you only find sometimes or in some places. Whether they be ingredients,
condiments, seasonings, or just the general odd snack, I search high and low
for the oddest eats available.
Food Tech
Being that I am a geek, and being that I love food, the next
logical step is that I like food tech. No scratch that, I really like food
tech. Anything and everything that can be considered a cool kitchen toy sparks
my interest. Here I will be writing about cool apps, smart blenders, and the
latest and greatest in kitchen gadgetry.
Have a suggestion or a product you would like me to try out and write about? Let me know!
Friday, July 13, 2012
A word about this site
I'm 25, and a college student. I'm a veteran of the US Navy, and I've sailed from Jacksonville, FL east to Yokosuka, Japan and back. Along the way I've been to just about every friendly country possible, including some stops in the Black Sea and some places as exotic as Singapore. I have quite literally eaten and drank my way around the world, so cooking, drinking wine, and playing with fun technology are all large parts of my life. I decided, on the advice of a few friends, to compile all of my love for food and drink, so that you all can enjoy it too. So, I present to you, Life Is Too Short To Eat Crappy Food. A guide to all things tasty and how to cook them, explained to you in layman's terms and cooked in an every day kitchen. Bon Appetit!
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