Chicken with goat cheese and basil

 

{the studio shot vs. the reality}

As I’ve said at least once on this blog, chicken breasts are to my refrigerator what black suit pants are to my closet. Such a versatile staple yet so often I find myself staring at them waiting for inspiration. What the hell do I do with you two?

This Barefoot Contessa recipe is a good one for the chicken breast problem. In the Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook, Ina uses boneless breasts. Online, she’s bone-in all the way. I prefer bone-in and had some left over that I needed to use, so that’s what we did. And it’s SO easy. You just slice rounds from a log of herbed goat cheese and stuff them under the skin of the breast along with a few leaves of fresh basil. Olive oil and lots of salt and pepper on top. Then roast in the oven for a bit. They come out with a surprising lot of flavor.

We were lucky to get this on the table that particular night so forget about side dishes. If I’d had my act together, I would have done asparagus. And I’m pretty sure the guidelines of food photography suggest removing food from its pool of oil on the tin foil-lined baking sheet first–not to mention photographing your dishes in daylight vs. your kitchen at 7:30 p.m. But that’s how good this chicken tastes. Overall, I still considered it a win worth sharing with all of you.

Pecan squares

 

We went to an Amish buffet that specializes in fried chicken for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone got to pick what they like. The kids ate fried chicken and corn without complaint. There were no dishes to clean up. And it was a lot cheaper than last year when we hosted. Still, it was sort of unsatisfying — and not just because we couldn’t have a drink with dinner.

I did make one dish that I consider a Thanksgiving tradition: pecan squares. With a bottom crust like buttery shortbread, and a caramelly pecan top, they’re even better than pecan pie. They last for weeks and make an indulgent breakfast. With two pounds of pecans and two and a quarter pounds of butter, they’re also hella expensive. What do you expect from Barefoot Contessa, queen of the Hamptons?

Click here for the recipe.

 

 

 

Day-off dinner

 

{at left, my plate} {at right, what celery root looks like straight out of the grocery bag}

I had Tuesday off for Veterans Day. It was so nice to play stay-at-home mom for the day. I ran the kids to school, read a little of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl (I’m hooked!), changed the batteries in all the smoke/carbon monoxide/grown-ups-are-sleeping-soundly detectors, picked up the kids, got the car washed, and ta-dah…I made dinner: Barefoot Contessa’s tried-and-true roast chicken (aka Jeffrey’s chicken aka engagement chicken) along with celery root puree and sautéed spinach.

The kids even ate the chicken (small victory). But in the end, I also made spaghetti for them.

This chicken smells INSANE during the hour and 15 minutes it spends in the oven. I wish you could have smelled it. Within minutes, the house was filled with the aroma of caramelizing onion, roasting garlic and sizzling chicken fat. And it’s so easy.

The celery root puree is a nice stand-in for mashed potatoes. More flavor, lighter consistency, still pretty decadent (lots of cream and butter).

Click here for Barefoot Contessa’s roast chicken recipe (I don’t make the gravy).

Click here for Barefoot Contessa’s celery root puree recipe (watch the salt! I followed the recipe and it came out WAY salty).

To make the spinach, I just sautéed it in olive oil, then salt & peppered it. If I’d had onion, shallot or garlic, I would have chopped and sautéed one of them before throwing in the spinach.

It’s one of my favorite dinners. And the perfect bite? A little of that light celery root puree with some roasted onion heavy with chicken drippings. Heaven.

Of course, 10 seconds after finally sitting down to eat, I heard this coming from the bathroom: MOMMY!!!!!!! WILL YOU WIPE ME?!?!?!?

Barefoot’s cookbook How Easy Is That? is such a good cookbook; both of these recipes are from that book. I’ve been thinking about working my way through it page by page, and blogging about it Julia and Julia-style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rugelach

Rugelach are a traditional Jewish pastry. Even though we’re not Jewish, these tender little pastries have become a holiday cookie tradition in our house. I make them every year at Christmastime.

They remind me of the cinnamon-sugary dough piggies my mom would make with leftover pie dough in our orange-walled, brown-linoleum kitchen a million years ago.

This rugelach dough is made with butter, cream cheese and flour. Basically, you make the dough, divide it into four balls, refrigerate them, roll each ball into little pizzas, paint them with pureed apricot preserves and top them with a mixture of brown sugar, white sugar, raisins and chopped walnuts, slice them into 12 wedges, roll each wedge into crescents, refrigerate them again, then paint them with egg wash, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar, and bake ’em. Yeah, they’re a little time-consuming. And this year, it was a two-day process because of Barrak’s ice capades and subsequent trip to the ER on Sunday night.

I use Barefoot Contessa’s recipe.

My helper.

The dough is incredibly soft and tender from the block of cream cheese.

That’s why the dough goes in the fridge for an hour before you roll it out. Or overnight if your husband goes to the ER.

My father in law gave me this 50-pound slab of marble that I heft onto the counter when making pies or pastries.

I rinsed and saved the jar – it’s too pretty to pitch!

The filling: pureed apricot preserves and the mixture of raisins, sugars and nuts.

The dough is pretty fragile. It helps to smush and roll it while it’s still in Saran Wrap. It doesn’t crack and fall apart.

I slice the ‘pizzas’ into 12 wedges with a pizza cutter. It should be called a rugelach cutter.

So pretty and fragile before they go in the oven.

Oy vey, does my hair really look like that?

They’re best straight out of the oven, when they’re still warm. They flatten a little bit but still taste danish-y and figgy and tender.

Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Kiss my ass. Kiss his ass. Merry Christmas.

Thanksgiving menu

This year, we wanted to serve some non-traditional dishes in addition to the classic standards. In fact we considered chucking the turkey entirely in favor of a big roasted salmon. I mulled it over and just couldn’t get comfortable with no bird at Thanksgiving. And Greta has been talking about the wishbone for 11 months.

So here’s the menu my friends:

Shrimp cocktail (courtesy of my father in law) – A great, not too filling appy! Pairs well with any wine I’ll be having.

Roast turkey with truffle butter (courtesy of Barefoot Contessa) – Just a small 10-pounder to satisfy the traditionalist in me, and Greta gets her wishbone. In case you are wondering, yes, it was somewhat difficult to find truffle butter and it’s not cheap. Barrak found it at Whole Foods; $6 per small container.

Salt and pepper salmon (courtesy of Tyler Florence) – This is one of my tried and true salmon recipes – just salt, pepper, butter and a hot saute pan. Little known fact: Costco has really great salmon. You can buy big 2-pounders, cut it up into portions and freeze what you’re not using.

Celery root puree (courtesy of Barefoot Contessa) – Celery root is one of the ugliest vegetables on the planet. It looks like a really shaggy coconut pulled from the dirt — or a faceless muppet, round and craggy with a little green wig on top. Chop off the brown outer layer and it’s all white and potato-like in the middle. You just braise the celery root cubes in chicken stock, butter and heavy cream, and add lots of salt and black pepper. It has a clean, celery-like flavor and gives you an elegant, creamy side without the heaviness of potatoes.

Sausage-stuffed mushrooms (courtesy of Barefoot Contessa) – I’ve never made these but they get rave reviews online. The mushroom caps bathe in marsala wine and olive oil while you put together the sausage stuffing, which is made creamy by mascarpone and a little bit of parmesan. I thought it was a nice way to get stuffing on the table.

Cranberry sauce – I haven’t decided whether to use Tyler Florence’s or Michael Ruhlman’s. Tyler keeps it simple with orange and cinnamon. Ruhlman uses booze. It will be a gametime decision. In case the name sounds familiar, Ruhlman is Anthony Bourdain’s Midwestern buddy and sometimes makes an appearance on the show, especially when Tony is in Ohio. Ruhlman is the guy who took Tony to strip mall sushi joint Kihachi, one of Columbus’s gems.

Brussels sprouts with bacon (courtesy of my mom) – Here’s mom’s recipe:

Take 2 pounds of Brussels sprouts and boil them in a big pot until they’re bright green and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Drain, let cool a bit, then slice into halves or thirds if they’re small. Meanwhile, chop or scissor 8 to 12 slices of bacon and saute it up. When some of the fat has been rendered, throw in a chopped onion. Sometimes I use shallots. When that’s all soft and so good-smelling that people come to the kitchen from other parts of the house to see what smells so good, throw your sliced sprouts into the pot with the onions and bacon and give everybody a good toss. Salt and pepper to taste then dump the whole mess into a buttered casserole dish. Pour half (or more) of a cup of heavy cream all over the veggies. I know! Then top with a 1/3 cup of breadcrumbs — I like to push some of the breadcrumbs down into the mix with a rubber spatula. Now hold on to your pantaloons: slice 4 to 6 quarter-inch thick squares of cold butter and lay them over top. I know, I know! You could probably skip that step but really, with all that bacon, who cares at this point? Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Pecan squares (courtesy of Barefoot Contessa) – Holy Mary mother of God these are good. It’s a sheet pan layer of buttery shortbread – you bake that first — blanketed with a sticky, gooey pecan mixture made with honey, citrus zest and 2 pounds of pecans. It takes two to pour the sticky pecans over the shortbread layer — you need one person to scrape the pot. Then you bake the whole thing again. The pecans around the edges get nice and toasty. I like it better than pecan pie – no weird figgy filler. A single square feels like it might weigh a full pound. So decadent. And an acceptable breakfast in my book.  These are a Thanksgiving tradition two years’ running. The secret is in the citrus. One year, I forgot the orange zest until they were in the oven. I stood in the hot oven door and zested an orange over top. It’s that important.

What are you making for Thanksgiving?

Homemade buttermilk ranch dressing with Bibb lettuce

Barefoot Contessa’s buttermilk ranch dressing — so much better than store-bought.

I’ve been paging through Barefoot Contessa’s cookbook, How Easy Is That?, which I borrowed from my mom, as if it were the fall issue of Vogue magazine. Everything just looks so good. I’ve already made the celery root puree, to go along with braised short ribs – a nice change from mashed potatoes.

One pretty picture I keep eyeing: her green-flecked buttermilk ranch dressing, which Barefoot serves on a wedge of Bibb lettuce, a thick, red slice of tomato and a thick slice of red onion.

So I made it this morning. It’s good! Click here for the recipe.

The dressing is very pale green thanks to half a cup of fresh basil leaves and three green onions. And with half a cup of buttermilk, Greek yogurt, and lemon juice, it’s a tangy, thin ranch. Use less buttermilk if you like a thicker dressing. It’s also a tad salty so maybe lighten up there.

For lunch, I poured it on a salad of Bibb lettuce, avocado scoops, sliced Campari tomatoes and two warm, sliced hard-boiled eggs I’d just made.

I like to store homemade dressing in Mason jars.

A tip on hard-boiled eggs: take them out of the covered pot at the 14-minute mark and submerse them in bowl of cold water and ice cubes. No tell-tale green ring around the yolk!