Tag: chicken

Weekend Finds 3:9:14

It has been an exhausting week. I’d like to nap until next week to recover please and thank you. I woke up this morning thinking maybe I’d finally caught up on my sleep since I’d slept until 10 (10! It’s like I’m in college again!), but alas, it was simply daylight savings playing a trick on me. My suggestion? Read these weekend finds with a mug of hot cocoa to keep you company, and then take a nap yourself.

1. Miso Coconut Chicken from I am a Food Blog

Miso Coconut Chicken from I am a Food Blog // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Miso and coconut, two of my favorite things, in one recipe on the beautiful I am a Food Blog.

I’ve been gazing at I am a Food Blog for a couple weeks now, admiring its beautiful pictures, scrumptious looking recipes, and gorgeous layout. But this recipe. This recipe for miso coconut chicken includes two of my favorite ingredients: miso and coconut milk. So I think I’ll have to make it. Soon.

2. A Curious Invitation

A Curious Invitation by Suzette Field // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
A book about the best parties? Adding to my reading list immediately.

This book about the best parties in fiction by Suzette Field sounds like a very fun read, and a great point of inspiration for any party host/ess.

3. The Cocktail Demystified

The Cocktail Demystified in Portland // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Learn about your favorite liquors and cocktails from the distillers themselves!

If I was going to be in Portland on March 29th and not in Vietnam (like I can even pretend to be upset about that), I would 100% buy a ticket to this event with Distillery Row. Learning how to make cocktails featuring your favorite liquors straight from the source? Yes please.

4. Yelp…?

To Yelp or not to Yelp? // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
The question remains, how good of a resource is Yelp?

I’ve been hearing some interesting thoughts on Yelp lately. Andrew Zimmern doesn’t like the platform, we all know that. And now we know a lot of chefs don’t read reviews themselves, but rather assign the task to their managers. Do you use Yelp? I do, but everything is definitely taken with a grain of salt. I have trouble trusting people whose taste and experience levels I don’t know. I would so much rather have the review or advice of a friend, or someone I admire, or who I know is an expert. Every place is bound to have at least one bad review, so do you let that deter you from going? All of this crowd-sourcing of reviews puts the consumer in a position of power, and I think it’s very interesting. What are your thoughts?

5. Blu Skillet Ironware

Blu Skillet Ironware from Seattle // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
I love the blue hue of these pans, though it will fade and change after use.

Hello? Yes. I would like ALL of the things from this shop in Seattle. I’m definitely making a point to visit the Blu Skillet Ironware workshop next time I’m in town. Specifically, I love the fry pans, and also think the salt bowl set is very sweet. But let’s be real, I would take any of it.

Weekend Finds 2:2:14

I’m writing this weekend finds quickly as I bake my cornbread for the Superbowl party. This past week was a busy one! It included 3 really good meals (chile rellenos for Grandma’s birthday, steak with balsamic reduction sauce, and cleanse chicken), and lots of new adventures. This morning, I also had breakfast (at The Sugar Cube, one of my favorite places) with some lovely Portland bloggers, specifically Rachel from Love, Rachel, Brooke from Babbling Brookelyn, Spencer from 12 oz Beehouse, Sarah from Will Run for Pasta, Erika from A Tiny Rocket, and Erin from Bakery Bingo. I love slowly getting to know more people in this community I am now a part of – everyone is so friendly, and it’s really nice to be able to talk shop with some of these ladies. Here are some of my discoveries from this week:

1. Superbowl

Superbowl food madness on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
At least I’m not making a stadium out of deli meats…

What are you making? I gotta say, I wasn’t really wanting to attend a Superbowl party, but then the restaurant decided to close (notoriously one of the slowest days of the year), and now I find myself making cornbread to take to a friend’s house. What a bizarre day that is just as much about football as it is about food.

2. Sarah Illenberger

Sarah Illenberger on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Three of my favorites of Illenberger’s work.

I love her imagination and use of food! I WILL have one of these in my kitchen one day. I swear. You can buy prints of her work here.

3. Kayden + Rain

Kayden + rain video on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
This Kayden + rain video is the sweetest. My new go to for when I’m feeling down.

I know this has nothing to do with food, but this video is perhaps the most heartwarming thing I’ve ever seen. A little reminder to enjoy the simple things in life.

4. Cleanse Chicken

Cleanse Chicken on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Beautiful cleanse chicken, roasted to golden perfection.

Jonah made this cleanse chicken, and it was really really good. I think we decided that next time we’d add a little salt and minus a little cayenne, but the long marinade (we went for close to 48 hours) made it so incredibly moist.

Weekend Finds 12:15:13

It’s time for weekend finds!

1. Chefs Feed

Chefs Feed // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
The Chefs Feed homepage

My latest neat food-oriented website discovery is Chefs Feed, a website where you can look up chef recommended dishes, restaurants, and chefs in your town. Who better to trust than these experts themselves?

2. Winter Fruit Whiskey Mash

Winter Fruit Whiskey Mash from A Beautiful Mess // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Winter Fruit Whiskey Mash from A Beautiful Mess

This winter drink looks delicious. If I were in a rush, I would probably skip the persimmon simple syrup (though I think I need to give persimmons another try), and head straight for the muddled orange and pomegranate.

3. Reclaiming Provincial

Reclaiming Provincial // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Reclaiming Provincial

I found this blog through another blog (now I can’t remember which one), and I’m pretty happy about the discovery. With recipes like smoky cardamom ginger-molasses cookies and crispy sweet potato roast with herbed coconut creme fraiche, they seem unique, interesting, and the photos are beautiful.

4. Easy roasted chicken

Chicken Legs inspired by FoodSwoon // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Chicken Legs inspired by FoodSwoon

The other day Jonah and I bought some whole bone in, skin on chicken legs, and it was my job to figure out what to do with them. After some research, I based my creation on this recipe from FoodSwoon, except instead of doing either garlic or herbs or butter, I did all three. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Peel a few garlic cloves and cut each one into a few pieces, and pick a  few herb leaves (I used sage). Peel back the chicken skin and place the sage and garlic underneath (I did probably 3 cloves and 6 sage leaves per leg), then tightly and carefully re-wrap the skin. Rub each leg with half a teaspoon of butter, and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 45-55 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. (Also, FoodSwoon looks like it will quickly become a recipe resource for me.)

5. Mulled Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mulled Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from London Bakes // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Mulled Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from London Bakes

I went out for drinks and a white elephant gift exchange with some former co-workers the other night, and the place we went had some mulled wine, which I promptly ordered. When they asked what I got, and I said “mulled wine!” with all the enthusiasm that one ought to have when you say that phrase, all I received in return were blank stares. THEY HAD NEVER HEARD OF MULLED WINE. I was sad for them. We’ve made mulled wine and cider a couple times this year, and I can’t get over how much I love mulling spices in anything. So this recipe for chocolate chip cookies with mulled brown butter from London Bakes seems pretty decadent and incredibly perfect. I love the idea of using orange chocolate for the chips as well, just to tie everything together. (Also, the inspiration recipe from Top with Cinnamon also sounds wonderful.)

Chicken Liver Pâté

Chicken Liver Pâté

Chicken Liver Pâté

Chicken Liver Pâté
Chicken Liver Pâté

Recently I have discovered my love of liver in pâté form. When I was younger and my parents would eat liver, I would screw up my face and impolitely decline a taste. Now I wonder why I was so against the stuff. It’s rich and creamy and makes a delicious spread for a snack or appetizer.

After seeing a recipe in An Everlasting Meal for chicken liver pâté, I had been wanting to try it. But, like anything I’ve never cooked before, I was a little nervous about it. I didn’t know if it could go wrong, and if it could, how badly. I had been checking the meat counter at my grocery store for a few weeks and hadn’t seen any chicken livers until one day, there they were, slimy and maroon, in all their glory. So I grabbed a pound of them. How much did a pound of chicken livers cost me? $2.73. This stuff is cheap AND delicious? I’m so in.

I got home, pulled out my book, and started cooking.

Chicken Liver Pâté

Ingredients

1 lb chicken livers
salt and pepper
roughly 12 Tbl butter (1 1/2 sticks)
2 Tbl white wine (sherry, bourbon, scotch, cognac, or brandy will also do)
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/2 leek, finely sliced
1 small clove garlic, minced
2 Tbl water
a pinch of cloves
a pinch of cinnamon
1/8 bay leaf, crumbled
1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves, chopped (I didn’t do quite a quarter of a cup)

Instructions

Trim any connective membrane type stuff from the livers and season them with some salt and pepper. Melt 1 Tbl of butter in a nonstick pan. When it’s starting to sizzle, add a batch of livers (depending on how big your pan is, you’ll need to cook the livers in 2-3 batches). Don’t crowd them in the pan; leave some space around each liver. Let each liver brown on one side, then flip and brown on the other side. Put the livers on a plate or in a shallow bowl – they will release some juices. Add 1 Tbl of wine to the pan and scrape the brown bits from the pan. Pour the wine over the cooked livers. Add more butter to the pan, and cook the rest of the livers as you did above, skipping the wine step.

After you’ve cooked all the livers, add the shallot, leek, and garlic to the pan with the remaining 1 Tbl of wine and 2 Tbl of water. This will help the veggies become tender. Cook the veggies over medium heat until they’re tender.

When the veggies are done, add them, the livers and their juice, the cinnamon, clove, thyme, and bay leave to the blender. Don’t blend yet! Cube one stick of butter and add the cubes to the blender too. Blend it up and taste. Season as you see fit (I found myself adding more salt…). When it’s seasoned to your liking, put the pâté in a bowl and allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving. It may seem liquidy, but it will solidify as it cools. If you’ve got leftovers (like we did), melt some butter and spread it over the top of the pate, and allow to cool. You can store it like this (according to Adler) for up to 2 weeks.

We liked our pate with crostini and herbed goat cheese, or nut thins and various cheeses from our grocery store’s scrap bin as well as one from the PSU Farmers Market.