The Minimalist Cooks Dinner (23 page)

• 1 cup dried apricots or other dried fruit
  

• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  

• ½ cup fruity red wine
  

• 1 chicken, about 3 pounds, cut into serving pieces
  

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  

• 1 medium onion, chopped
  

1. Put the apricots in a small bowl (or a 2-cup measure) and add the vinegar, wine, and water to cover, about ¼ cup. Let soak while you brown the chicken.
   

2. Turn the heat to medium-high under a 12-inch nonstick skillet and add the chicken, skin side down. Cook, rotating the pieces (not turning them) so they brown evenly. When they are nicely browned—10 to 15 minutes—turn them so they are skin side up, and season with salt and pepper. Make a little space in which you can add the onion and cook, stirring the onion occasionally until it has softened a bit, 1 to 2 minutes.
   

3. Add the apricots and their liquid and bring to a boil. Cook for a minute, then turn the heat to low, and cover. Cook until the chicken is done, 15 to 20 minutes; do not turn while it is cooking. Remove the lid, raise the heat, and season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Boil out any excess liquid; you do not want the sauce to be too watery. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary and serve.
   

TIME:
30 minutes (longer, if grilling)

MAKES:
4 servings

Once in Martinique I ate at a restaurant with a menu so simple almost all of the food—chicken, tuna, quail, pork, and veal kidneys—was grilled. Everything was served with the same thin, powerful sauce, made of lime, scallion, chile, garlic, and loads of allspice. It was the allspice that made the sauce unusual, but there was more to it than that: The garlic and scallions looked uncooked but had lost their harshness and become easily digestible in a water base. With the help of a friend who was born on Martinique, I was able to duplicate the sauce at home. It’s called “sauce au chien,” which means “dog sauce” (a fact I chose not to research too aggressively). And it’s great with almost anything grilled.

• 1 tablespoon slivered or minced garlic
  

• 6 scallions, trimmed and minced
  

• 1 jalapeño, habanero, or Scotch bonnet pepper, stemmed, seeded, and minced, or Asian chili paste or crushed red pepper flakes to taste (start with about ½ teaspoon)
  

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  

• ½ teaspoon ground allspice, or to taste
  

• 1 tablespoon peanut, or grape-seed, corn, or other light oil
  

• 8 chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)
  

• Juice of 1 lime
  

1. Start a charcoal or wood fire, or preheat a gas grill to the maximum, or preheat the broiler. Set the rack about 6 inches from the heat source. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: Combine the garlic, scallions, chile, ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper, allspice, and oil in a small bowl. Add ½ cup boiling water; stir and let sit.
   

2. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and grill or broil it, turning two or three times, until it is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Taste the sauce and add more chile, salt, pepper, or allspice if needed. Stir in the lime juice. Serve the chicken hot or at room temperature, passing the sauce at the table.
   

TIME:
30 minutes (longer, if grilling)

MAKES:
4 servings

Properly grilled chicken is a pleasure, even when you dress it with nothing but lemon juice—or even salt. But if you make this Ligurian-inspired full-flavored dipping sauce based on anchovies, you can turn the simple grilled chicken into something really special. And the sauce can be used for whatever else you’re serving at the same time.

• 3 pounds chicken wings
  

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  

• 3 tablespoons butter (or use 6 tablespoons oil total)
  

• 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  

• 10 oil-packed anchovy fillets, or to taste, plus some of their oil
  

1. Preheat the broiler; or start a charcoal or gas grill; in either case, the fire should not be too hot and the rack should be 4 to 6 inches from the heat source. If you like, cut the chicken wings at each of their two joints to make three pieces and discard the tips (or save for stock); you can also cook the wings whole.
   

2. Grill or broil the wings, turning frequently, until thoroughly cooked and nicely browned. As they are cooking, sprinkle them with a little salt and a lot of pepper.
   

3. Meanwhile, combine the oil and butter in a small saucepan and turn the heat to low. When the butter melts, add the garlic and anchovies. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the anchovies break up and the sauce bubbles. Add salt if necessary and a good sprinkling of black pepper.
   

4. Serve the chicken hot or at room temperature, with the hot sauce for dipping or drizzling.
   

TIME:
45 to 60 minutes

MAKES:
4 servings

Roast chicken is one of the most basic dishes of home cooking, but there are a couple of challenges: You need high heat to brown the skin, but ultra-high heat may burn it. You need to cook the legs through before the more delicate breast dries out. And, if you’re interested in minimalist cooking, you must accomplish these things without a lot of fuss, such as turning the chicken over three times, searing it on top of the stove before roasting, or constantly adjusting the oven temperature. Plus, you want to do it all as fast as possible. Well, here it is: fast, nearly foolproof roast chicken.

• 1 whole chicken (3 to 4 pounds)
  

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Five minutes after turning on the oven, place a cast-iron or other heavy, ovenproof skillet on a rack set low in the oven. (Alternatively, put the skillet over high heat about 3 minutes before the oven is hot.) Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
   

2. When the oven is hot, about 10 minutes later, carefully place the chicken, breast side up, in the hot skillet. Roast, undisturbed, for 30 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh registers 155°F. Remove from the oven, let rest for a minute or two, then carve and serve.