Chicken & Risotto

A rich, flavorful chicken dish with leg quarters and wine by guest author, Heather Forsyth.

Like most foodies, I have a place where I keep old menus, hints, ideas, magazine clippings and just random food thoughts.  Over the years the back of a cookbook became a jar, the jar became a box, and now the box is a large basket that fills one of my bookshelves.   While rummaging through this treasure trove recently (of course, there's no order), I ran across a note scribbled on the back of a hotel confirmation -- stew chicken legs in tomatoes, sausage, onion and red wine and serve on risotto made with leeks and white wine.  Now I was looking for a slow cooking chicken recipe, and I happened to have both leftover red and white wine in my fridge (a rare occurence), and on such things happy incidents are born.  This dish is crazy rich and silky, and when we ate it the silence in the room was broken only by much sighing and lip-smacking.  Only for those who don't mind a little grease on their chin-os!

Chicken & Risotto

Ingredients:

• 2 T. veg oil
  
• 4 chicken leg quarters (thighs and drumsticks)
  
• 1/2 pound ground sausage, roughly chopped or crumbled (I used chicken sausage, but whatever you like will do)
  
• 1 c. diced onion
  
• 3 med. fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced
  
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  
• 1c. dry red wine
  
• 2 c. + 3 c. chicken broth
  
• 2 T. butter (for chicken sauce) + 4 T. butter, divided (for risotto)
  
• 1/2 c. diced onion (I didn't have any leeks, but go ahead and use them if you have them)
  
• 1 c. arborio or other white, short-grain rice
  
• 1/2 c. dry white wine
  
• 1/2 c. finely grated parmesan
  
• thyme, bay leaf, pinch of red pepper flakes & salt to taste

Directions:

1. Season and chicken with salt and pepper and brown in the oil, in very large skillet, about 5 minutes per side.  Set aside.
   
2. Add sausage, onion and garlic to the pan and cook until onion is soft and sausage is no longer pink (5-6 minutes).  Stir in red pepper, tomatoes, a generous tsp. of dried thyme, pinch of red pepper and a couple of bay leaves.  Add red wine and simmer until the sauce is very reduced, about 20 minutes.
   
3. Add 2 cups of broth, stir well, then put the chicken back into the sauce, cover the pan and simmer gentely 40-50 minutes until chicken is practically falling off the bones.
   
4. Remove the chicken with tongs and set aside to cool.
   
5. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from bones, cut into bite size pieces and return it to the pan along with 2 T. butter and salt and pepper to taste.  Keep hot over low flame.
   
6. While the chicken is cooking, begin the risotto by sauteeing onions (or leeks) in 2 T. butter for about 3 minutes.
   
7. Add the rice, stir, to coat, then stir around a bit more until it begins to feel and smell toasty.  Add the wine, and stir over medium-high heat until the wine is absorbed.  Add the remaining 3 cups of broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring, until each addition is nearly absorbed before adding the next.  This whole process takes about 25 minutes.  Stir in remaining 2 T. butter and the parmesan.
   
8. Let the risotto rest, covered, for a few minutes while you finish the chicken and sauce.
   
9. Once everything is ready, spoon a generous portion of risotto into large shallow pasta bowls and top with chicken in sauce.
   
10. Eat with lots of napkins and gusto!

Grilled Marlin with Freekeh

Grilled seafood from Dave Utrata.  This dish pairs a meaty, marinated
fish with a unique grain that’s well worth finding.  Freekeh (pronounced free-kuh) is roasted
green wheat, easy to cook and adds a nice dimension.

I’m lucky to live in a college town and
have access to an ethnic grocery.  So I’m
not sure just how readily you may be able to find freekeh, roasted green
wheat.  But it’s worthwhile to find and
simple to cook.  Add enough water to keep it moist; treat it like long
cooking rice.  The marlin?  I just couldn’t pass up a couple of nice, big
steaks of the stuff last time I wanted to show my son the cool things we could
cook up.  I marinated and grilled them.

Grilled Marlin with Freekeh

Ingredients:

• ½ lb. marlin steaks per person


• 3 Tblsp teriyaki sauce


• 1 Tblsp Worcester sauce


• 1 tsp. hot Chinese-style
  mustard


• ½ tsp. lime juice

Directions:

1. Marinate the marlin steaks for
   at least 3 hours; I marinated mine for 6.


2. Get your grill HOT.  The steaks are wonderful if they are
   just seared on both sides for a total of 4-6 minutes.


3. Cook the freekeh according to
   directions on the package.  As I
   noted above, it works like long cooking rice.  I used a 4:1 water to grain ration and
   cooked for about 45 minutes.  Drain
   excess water before serving.


4. When the grilled marlin is
   ready, simply serve with enough freekeh on the side. 

I
served the marlin with pineapple wedges and added fresh chopped cilantro
to the freekeh.  The freekeh has a
wonderful smoky flavor that was perfectly complimented by the cilantro, while the
sweet juiciness of the pineapple nicely accented the marinade used on the
marlin.  Sorry for the blurriness of the
photo; I was too eager to eat to take great pictures!

New Potatoes with Indian Spices and Yogurt

A rich, one-dish vegetarian meal by Heather Forsyth.

This dish was inspired by the new potatoes and onions I bought at the Farmers Market yesterday.  The first of the season's small, slim cucumbers went into homemade yogurt along with fresh slivered basil for a cool contrast.  This dish is complex in flavors and texture, so it's perfectly suited as a one-dish meal, but who wouldn't mind a grilled lamb chop on the side?

New Potatoes with Indian Spices and Yogurt

Ingredients for the Potatoes

• 4 T. butter
  
• 1/2 tsp. each cumin seeds, ground cumin, ground ginger and turmeric
  
• 1/4 tsp. each ground coriander, ground cloves and crushed red pepper
  
• 1 small bay leaf
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 1/2 t. salt
  
• 2 small onions, quartered then sliced
  
• a dozen or so small new potatoes (I used combination of red and blue potatoes)
  
• 1 c. water
  
• 1/3 c. heavy cream/or cream and plain yogurt combination

Ingredients for the Yogurt Topping

• 1/2 c. plain yogurt
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 4 green onions, tops only, sliced
  
• 10 or so small fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
  
• 1/2 small cucumber, peeled and diced
  
• squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional)
  
• a pinch each of salt, cayenne and sugar

Directions

1. Melt butter in large heavy skillet over medium heat and add the spices.  Stir this around for a bit until spices just begin to color and smell toasty -- be careful not to burn!
   
2. Add sliced onions, garlic and salt, and stir for a few minutes until onions begin to relax.
   
3. Add potatoes, stir to coat with butter and spices, then add bay leaf, water and salt.
   
4. Cover and simmer gently until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes or so
   
5. Add the cream or a combination of cream and yogurt.  Keep heat very low.
   
6. Smash a few of the potatoes with the back of a large fork to thicken the sauce a bit.
   
7. Potoes should have a stew-like consistency -- not as thin as soup, but thin enough that you'd want to serve them in a shallow bowl rather than on a plate

While the potatoes are simmering in Step 4:

1. Combine yogurt with remaining ingredients, and a little lemon juice depending on the thickness and tartness of your yogurt, and set aside.

When potatoes are done, ladle into shallow bowls and top each serving with a generous dollop of cucumber yogurt.  This made 4 servings at our house.

Grilled Zucchini Salad

Summer Salad with Grilled Zukes and Goat Cheese by Heather Forsyth

Zucchini are at the Farmers Market, as are onions, basil and potatoes.  With flank steak from our local farmer, and lavender goat cheese from the CSA, we were set for dinner tonight.  This dinner practically made itself!  Choose small zukes for tender skins.

Grilled Zuchini Salad

Ingredients:

• Zuchini and/or yellow squash, sliced lengthwise into generous 1/4" pieces
  
• 2 smallish onions, peeled and cut in half 
  
• Olive Oil
  
• Lemon Juice
  
• Soft, fresh goat cheese
  
• Handful of fresh basil
  
• Coarse sea salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Toss sliced zukes and onions with a generous amount of olive oil and a little coarse sea salt
   
2. Grill 15-20 minutes over low-medium heat, brushing ocassionally with olive oil, until zukes are limp and golden brown (ours got a little more than golden, but I blame that on my husband) and onions are charred and mostly soft
   
3. Remove to bowl or platter and cool to room temperature
   
4. Sprinkle with lemon juice
   
5. Scatter with fresh basil and goat cheese
   
6. Grind a litle fresh black pepper over all

Delicious with grilled flank steak (marinated with olive oil, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger and pepper) and potato salad (steamed red potatoes tossed hot with olive oil, dijon, chives, salt and pepper) -- stir the sauce into the potatoes while they're hot so they absorb the sauce fully instead of just laying on top -- then serve at room temp.

A Tip for Better Tasting Coffee

A sneaky little trick for making cheap homemade coffee taste better, from Trevy Thomas.

For years, I managed to wean myself from coffee, smugly sipping herbal tea while those around me battled coffee breath.  But, as addictions have a way of doing, the habit snuck back up on me.  The lure of the morning ritual, the excuse for a big spoonful of sugar and real cream, the bad coffee breath right back in my husband’s face.  Oh, the joys of coffee.  The temptation is all too much for me, and I am feeling a bit jittery and cross-eyed from it at this very moment. 

But there’s a lot of bad coffee.  Office coffee, for one, is generally horrible.  So is that stuff that sits on a warmer at Wawa.  Of course, any place that sells gasoline is probably not the best place for a cup of coffee. 

My mother had a secret for making better tasting coffee.  This was pre-Starbucks days, and all she used was Maxwell House.  But she brewed in an electric percolator, and sprinkled in a tiny bit of cinnamon on top of the coffee before perking.  You couldn’t tell it was cinnamon, but something was definitely better.  So as long as you’re a coffee addict, try an old-school tip for making everyday coffee a little better.  I promise not to lecture on the evils of coffee addiction until I’m in recovery from my own.