Cook Like a Rock Star (27 page)
Read Cook Like a Rock Star Online
Authors: Anne Burrell
Fall is totally different. It’s one of my favorite seasons because everyone is back from being scattered during summer vacation. It’s a time to reconnect with friends, to enjoy festivals and community activities, to go apple picking or hit the pumpkin patch. Fall is sweater weather—when the air just starts to get cool and crisp. The tomato season is over, but the big harvest is in, the market is super-bountiful, and there’s tons of produce to play with. It’s exciting for me to make the most of what’s fresh and available before we all hunker down for the cold weather.
When winter arrives, my approach changes again. I want to stay home and curl up on the couch with a big glass of red wine. I want to spend time with friends and family and enjoy the beautiful smell of short ribs or lamb shanks braising or root vegetables roasting in the oven. Winter is when I crave hearty meals and turn my attention to stews and big meaty main courses.
Then, after hibernating for a few months, I’m always excited for spring—it’s like the world is waking up, rubbing its eyes and saying, “Good morning!” I crave fresh, lovely produce after months of root vegetables and am always totally psyched for the first fresh peas and asparagus. But no matter what the season, I look for the ingredients that scream, “Cook me now!” and I let them tell me what recipes will make the most out of dinner’s main event.
Grilled Chicken with Lemons & Dijon
Rosemary & Lemon Roasted Chicken with Gravy
Braised Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms & Almond Purée
Duck Breast with Dried Fruit & Vin Santo
Chef Anne’s Cheater’s Duck Confit & Bitter Greens
Dry Rubbed Bone-In Rib Eye (Just Good Stuff)
Big Brown Braised Short Ribs with Horseradish
Pork Milanese & Escarole Salad with Pickled Red Onions, Hazelnuts & Pecorino
Rockin’ Porchetta with Fall Veggies
Braised Cabbage Stuffed with Sausage & Fennel
Brined Pork Chops with Fennel Pollen
Rack of Lamb Crusted with Black Olives
Seared Red Snapper with Sicilian Cauliflower & Parsley Salad
Halibut in Paper with Yummy Summer Veg
Whole Roasted Fish with Sliced Potatoes, Olives & Herbs
Grilled Chicken with Lemons & Dijon
SERVES: 4 • TIME: ABOUT 2½ HOURS, MOSTLY UNATTENDED
Grilled chicken is totally ubiquitous—it’s on every menu and it’s usually no big whoop. In fact, it’s often totally boring. But this grilled chicken is SOOOOO worth getting excited about! It’s slathered in mustard, lemon, rosemary, and spicy crushed red pepper so it just titillates your palate with flavor. Then it’s grilled until the outside is tangy, crusty, and crispy while the inside stays nice and moist. To make this as super-sexy as possible, it’s served with a perfectly charred and caramelized lemon half for an extra squeeze of flavor.
MISE EN PLACE
4 lemons, 2 zested and juiced, 2 halved
1 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
Kosher salt
Extra virgin olive oil
2 3-pound chickens, backbone removed, and split in half
1
In a small bowl, combine the lemon zest, juice, mustard, rosemary, red pepper, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the mustard mixture to loosen it slightly. Slather this mixture generously all over the chickens and let them hang out for up to 2 hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. (If any of the mustard mixture is left over, save it for reslathering while the chicken is cooking.)
2
Preheat the grill to medium (you want the chicken to cook on the grill as long as possible without burning to develop lovely crispy, tasty, tangy skin). Place the chicken on the grill skin side down and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. If the chicken flares up, move it to a cooler part of the grill; you don’t want sooty film on the chicken (it won’t taste good).
3
Once the chicken has started to brown and crisp, it’s a good idea to close the grill to allow the heat to cook the chicken from all directions. You want to cook the chicken skin side down for a total of 10 to 12 minutes, then turn it over and cook it for another 10 to 12 minutes. If you’re using a grill pan, you can transfer the chicken to a 375°F. oven when it’s ready to flip so it can finish cooking. If there is leftover mustard mixture, use it to paint the skin of the chicken on the second side. The chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer registers 165°F.
4
When the chicken is nearly done, place the lemon halves on the grill cut side down and leave them alone until brown and caramelized, 5 to 6 minutes. (These will smell great while they’re grilling!)
5
Remove the chicken from the heat and serve with the grilled lemon for extra lemony goodness.
That’s what I call a tangy chick!
SERVES: 4 TO 6 • TIME: ABOUT 2½ HOURS, MOSTLY UNATTENDED
Even the simplest roasted chicken always seems like a special dinner to me. I’m not sure why; maybe it’s because making a whole bird is like having a mini-Thanksgiving. The irony, of course, is that Thanksgiving is a huge deal and a ton of work, while there are few dinners faster or easier than roast chicken. All you have to do is buy a nice bird, lube it up, shoot it in the oven, and voilà! You have a beautiful chicken dinner. Add some gravy to that and mmmmm … Just for the record, I’m not a gravy strainer, but if you are, knock yourself out!
MISE EN PLACE
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves finely chopped
Pinch of crushed red pepper
2 lemons, zested and juiced
4 cloves garlic, 2 smashed and finely chopped, 2 just smashed
Kosher salt
Extra virgin olive oil
1 4½- to 5-pound chicken
2 onions, cut into ½-inch dice
2 celery ribs, cut into ½-inch dice
2 carrots, cut into ½-inch dice
1 quart
chicken stock
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup dry white wine
1
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2
In a small bowl, combine the rosemary, red pepper, lemon zest and juice, and chopped garlic; season generously with salt and drizzle in just enough olive oil to make a paste.
3
Using your fingers, gently work your way under the skin of the chicken to separate it from the breast and the leg meat, then massage half of the herb paste under the skin. Rub the remaining paste all over the outside of the bird; really lube it up so that the paste acts like suntan oil and the skin gets nice and brown and crispy (the bird will also be really well seasoned!).
5
Put the smashed garlic, onions, celery, and carrots in the bottom of a roasting pan. Add 1 cup of the chicken stock and a sprinkle of salt, then plunk the chicken on top, breast side up (the soft side, breasts are soft!), and put the pan in the oven.
6
Cook for 20 minutes, then check the bird. When it’s brown and lovely on top, pull it out of the oven and use tongs to turn it over in a little chicken pirouette. Cook for another 20 minutes.
7
Reduce the heat to 375°F. and turn the chicken over again. Spoon some of the pan juices over the chicken every 15 minutes or so. Keep an eye on the vegetables—move them around now and then, and if they start to brown too much, add a little more stock, about ½ cup at a time. Cook for another 45 minutes.
8
Remove the chicken from the oven and insert an instant-read thermometer into the crease between the breast and thigh; it should read 160°F. If not, continue cooking until it does. Remove the chicken from the roasting pan, cover with foil, and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
9
Use a spoon to skim and discard as much of the excess fat as you can from the vegetables in the roasting pan by propping up one side of the pan a bit so all the liquid runs to one end; you won’t get all of it, but that’s okay—fat tastes good! Put the roasting pan on the stovetop over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour over the veg and whisk; the mixture will turn to a paste, which is what you want. Slowly add the wine and continue whisking until most of the lumps have dissolved and the wine has reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the remaining stock, bring to a boil (BTB), and reduce to a simmer (RTS); cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the gravy thickens. Taste and season with salt as needed.
10
To carve the chicken, pull the leg and thigh away from the breast until the thighbone pops out of the socket (a sign that the chicken is cooked properly). Use a carving knife to separate the thigh and drumstick at the connecting joint. To remove the breast meat, feel for the ridge of the breastbone in the center of the chicken and carefully slice down around the ribcage on both sides. Serve with the gravy.
Tastes like chicken!
TRUST ME! TRUSSING WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE
Your chicken will never taste the same again—I promise! Trussing helps keep your chicken in that lovely football shape (once you get the hang of it, your chickens will look as perfect as that turkey in the Norman Rockwell painting). It also evens out the cooking process; by bringing the legs up to protect the breast, trussing helps keep the white meat juicy and allows the heat to hit the legs more evenly.
