I'm Just Here for the Food (13 page)

Application: Broiling

Combine all ingredients except the steak in the bowl of a food processor and process until the onions are puréed. Pour into a large (1-gallon) zip-top freezer bag. Add the steak and carefully squeeze or suck out as much of the air as possible.

Place on a shallow tray (just in case the bag springs a leak) and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.

Remove the steak from the bag, pat it dry thoroughly, and let it come to room temperature. Preheat the broiler on High and place the rack and broiler pan so that the surface of the meat will be no less than 2 inches from the element or flame. Cook for 3 minutes per side for rare, 4 minutes per side for medium.

Let the steak rest on a resting rig for 5 minutes, then thinly slice it on an angle, across the grain.

Yield: 6 servings

Software:

1 cup chopped yellow onion
4 cloves minced garlic
⅓ cup white wine
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon fresh minced ginger or
¼ teaspoon ground
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black
pepper
1 flank steak (see
Beef Blueprint
)

Hardw

Food processor
Large zip-top freezer bag
Shallow tray or baking dish
Broiler pan
Resting rack

Broiled Chicken Salad

It’s a good idea to occasionally leave home to cook in other people’s kitchens. It’s kind of like culinary Outward Bound: it forces you to focus, to improvise, to think. I recently found myself in just such a predicament.

I was working with an associate at her house one day when hunger struck. Take out didn’t ring true so, fancying myself a cook, I headed into the kitchen to “whip something up.”

First I surveyed the refrigerated edibles and found the following:

1 whole chicken

1 toy
¹⁴
box cherry and yellow pear tomatoes

Scallions (they’re in every refrigerator, including yours, right now)

1 bunch arugula (my friend often picks up farmstand items, which she then allows to rot in the refrigerator; luckily this bunch was perfect)

1 (6-ounce) package Montrachet cheese

Next I checked out the hardware and what I found frightened me badly. It was as if one aluminum pie tin had been melted down and cast into 15 different pots and pans, each of which had then been adorned with a rotting balsa-wood handle.

Despite the fact that it had been built in the mid-1950s, the oven still had its broiler pan. Rock-solid and gleaming clean, I had found my port in a storm.

Next I perused the pantry. Here’s what I found:

A bottle of very nice garlic-flavored olive oil A jar of mixed whole olives (black and green, in brine) Half a loaf of good sourdough, stale, but not rocklike An old but viable-looking bottle of champagne vinegar

And on the counter:

A peppermill

I heated the broiler. I found the biggest knife in the joint and butterflied the chicken by placing the bird spine down on a large cutting board, inserting the knife in the cavity, and cutting straight down, first on one side of the spine then the other. Flipping the bird over I opened it up so that I could see the connective tissue over the keel (breast) bone. I made a shallow slit running from the junction of the wishbone down to the end of the breast, then folded the bird open so that the incision popped open revealing the bone beneath. This I levered out with my fingers on either side. The effect of all this is that I was left with a chicken as flat as a book with a broken binding. I moved the bird, breast up, to the broiling pan, lubed it with garlic oil, and seasoned it liberally with pepper and kosher salt (I always travel with a small supply).

The bird went under the broiler, second slot from the top.

After washing every item the raw meat had even so much as looked at, I pitted a couple handfuls of olives (lay them on the counter, apply palm pressure, pop), sliced the tomatoes in half (about 1½ cups total), and snipped 3 scallions to bits with a dull pair of scissors. All of which went into a bowl.

I checked on the chicken. Browning nicely but not burning—good.

Next I tore the bread into bite-size chunks.

Once the chicken was about as brown as it could stand to be (15 minutes), I flipped it over and let it finish cooking inside-up (another 10 minutes). I removed the pan from the oven and flipped the bird breast up again so that any juices that had pooled under the skin would run out and into the bottom pan. I covered the bird with foil and left it to give up the goods.

Washed the arugula (always sandy, like spinach) and wrapped it in paper towels to dry.

Removed bird and grate from the pan, revealing the drippings below. Tossed the bread hunks in the drippings, then put the pan back under the broiler. Every couple of minutes I checked on the frying nuggets, turning them until golden brown and delicious.
¹⁵
Then they got tossed with a couple ounces of Montrachet, which the residual heat melted nicely.

While the broiler pan was still hot, I tossed in the olives, tomatoes, and scallions, seasoned the lot with salt and pepper, and sent it back under the broiler until the tomatoes started to take on a little color (10 minutes tops).

Meanwhile, I cut the chicken into 8 pieces: 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 split breast halves.

I removed the pan from the oven and dumped the arugula (3 cups, I’d say) right on top. Tossed this with tongs (if she hadn’t had those I’d have been in trouble) until the arugula barely started to wilt. Cooled it down with a few splashes of the vinegar, then tossed in the cheesy croutons. Plated the salad and served with the chicken chunks on top.

Mighty tasty indeed. And I’d never have done it at home.

Get Breakfast

I learned to love broiling in college, when I lived in an apartment with an oven that wouldn’t do anything else. Here is a breakfast I developed there (and please cut me a little slack, will you? I was in college and worked at a pizza place).

Application: Broiling

Remove hash browns from freezer to a sink full of water to thaw. Go back to bed. Get up half an hour later and drain the potatoes. (I didn’t have a salad spinner back then so I wrapped them in paper towels to dry.)

Turn on the broiler and heat the skillet. (Since I used to keep the skillet under the broiler, this was a no-brainer. Also, the oven only had one shelf and it was stuck in the slot next to the top. No wonder I broiled a lot.)

In a mixing bowl, beat 2 of the eggs. Add the hash browns along with the spinach. Toss with plenty of kosher salt.

Using fireproof gloves, retrieve the hot skillet, coat it with oil, and spoon in the potato mixture. Pack it down into the corners and spoon the salsa on top. Slide the skillet back under the broiler, and cook for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tomatoes just start to brown.

Retrieve the skillet, sprinkle with a handful of cheese, and crack the remaining 4 eggs on top. Sprinkle with more salt and drizzle with some oil. Place the pan back under the broiler and remove it as soon as the egg whites set, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Place in middle of kitchen table. Shake on the chili flakes, hand a fork to whoever’s there, eat, and wash it down with the flat beer. (You can leave this step out, but that’s the way it happened.)

Yield: 4 servings

Software:

1-pound 12-ounce package frozen
Ore-Ida hash browns
6 eggs
½ of 14-ounce box frozen spinach,
thawed
Kosher salt
Olive oil (stolen from pizza place)
Salsa (leftovers)
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
(okay, I stole that, too)
Chili flakes (ditto)
½ bottle flat beer

Hardware:

10- to 12-inch cast-iron skillet
Mixing bowl
Fireproof gloves

Tres Amigos

Application: Broiling

Lay the fish on a cutting board and very carefully slice down the length of the filets into 8 thin strips of salmon and 8 strips of halibut. Preheat the broiler. Season the fish and scallops with salt and pepper. Lay one strip of salmon on the board and overlap it with halibut about halfway down. Beginning at the top of the salmon strip, wrap the scallop with the fish strips, forming a bi-colored “rose” of fish with a scallop in the center. Using tongs, gently place the wrapped scallops on a broiler pan and top each with a slice of the compound butter. Cook 4 inches below the broiler for 7 minutes. The fish will be perfectly cooked through and the scallop will be just underdone (which is perfect for this type of seafood).

Yield: 8 appetizer portions

Software:

½ pound salmon filet
½ pound halibut filet
8 sea scallops (21- to 25-per-pound
is a great size for this recipe,
but you can go with U-10s if
you like really big scallops; see
Shrimp Smarts
)
Kosher salt and freshly ground
black pepper
Herbed Compound Butter

Hardware:

Sharp thin knife (such as a filet
knife or slicer)
Broiler pan
Tongs

This is a very cool dish, not only because it tastes good, but because it scares the heck out of people. On the plate, it looks like it was very difficult to make, which—of course—it’s not.

Chicksicles

Kebob makers tend to squeeze their food-on-a-stick pieces too tightly together. This does nothing but slow the cooking process. It’s okay for these pieces to touch, but just barely.

Application: Broiling or Grilling

Place coriander and cumin in a heavy dry skillet and toast, tossing occasionally, over high heat. When the seeds just start to smoke, remove from the heat and pour onto a plate to cool. Then grind in a mortar with a pestle, or an electric coffee grinder. Combine the cumin and coriander with other spices and sugar in a small bowl.

Another great way to toast whole spices? A hot-air popcorn popper.

Chop the peanuts in a food processor until they’re the size of small crumbs. Add the spices to the processor. While pulsing, add the oils and process to form a paste.

Rub the paste on the chicken pieces. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers.

Heat the broiler and move the rack into position so that the chicken will be within 4 inches of the burner. Or fire up a grill or hibachi. Lay the skewers directly over the heat and cook, turning often until paste is dark and chicken cooked through.

Yield: 4 to 8 kebobs, depending on the size of the skewers

Note:
Metal skewers are best because, unlike bamboo, they don’t have the nasty habit of catching on fire. That said, bamboo brings a certain authenticity to the party. So, to prevent forest fires, you can do one of two things:

• Hit the hibachi. Most hibachi-style grills have grates that stand above the side of the grill. This makes it possible for the meat to lie flat on the grate while the skewers stick straight out to the side.

• Soak the skewers. This is a fine idea as long as you’re going to cook right away, but if you plan on skewering and refrigerating, odds are good the woodworks will again be flammable by the time bird meets burner.

Software:

1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
½ teaspoon curry powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
½ cup peanuts (or more to taste)
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil
2 pounds chicken breast, cut into
1-inch cubes or ½-inch slices

Hardware

Heavy-bottom skillet
Mortar wth pestle, or coffee grinder
Small bowl
Food processor
Metal or bamboo skewers (see
Note
)
Broiler and broiler pan, or gas or
charcoal grill

Scampi V1.0

Application: Broiling