Chicken, honey? Sure, but it's Honey Chicken.
/One night, a few months ago, just when I started shooting almost every meal I made for this here site, my friend came to dinner.
She is a lovely tiny woman. But she can eat. Which is just the kind of friends I love to have. When she arrived, I realized I hadn't come up with a main dish. There were some chicken thighs in the fridge, so I started there. As I thought about what else I had in the house, I came across some fresh oregano and sherry vinegar. The recipe began to form in my head, all I needed was some lemon and a bit of honey and we were off and cooking.
It's a simple affair, if a little messy. I started by heating a pan to super hot, added some oil and salt and put the chicken thighs in skin side down. The fat splatters, so be ready for a little bit of cleanup. The extra step of searing these on the stove top before baking them makes the skin come out super crisp and delicious.
The key to this dish is the combination of the honey, sherry vinegar and oregano. You add these just before the chicken goes into a hot oven for 15 to 20 minutes. And let me tell you, the chicken comes out moist, a little sweet, and very tender. I served it with some roasted brussels sprouts and a quinoa salad. Most delicious.
This past weekend, I found myself with some chicken thighs and recreated the dish for my daughter. She ate two pieces and asked that I save the others for her dinner the next night. A hit, if I do say so myself, and a dish that is so quick to make, I can do it on a weeknight while helping with homework.
So if you are asked "Chicken, honey?" I hope that you respond "Sure, but it's Honey Chicken."
Honey Chicken with Oregano and Sherry Vinegar
makes 4 portions
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken thighs, skin-on and with bones
- 4 Tbsps Olive Oil
- A pinch of Salt
- 3 sprigs fresh Oregano (or 1 tsp Dried Oregano)
- 3/4 cup Sherry Vinegar (Red Wine Vinegar works here, or just some leftover White Wine is good, too)
- 2 Tbsps Honey (I like the dark amber kind)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Heat up a large non-reactive skillet over high heat.
- Put the olive oil and salt in the pan once it is super hot (technical term).
- Place the chicken thighs in the pan, skin-side down.
- Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the skin starts to curl up on the edges.
- Turn the thighs over. Cook for 1 minute more.
- Turn off the heat. Add the sherry vinegar.
- Turn the heat back on and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the honey, turn off the heat and put the pan in the preheated oven.
- Bake on the top rack of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the chicken juice runs clear.
- Remove from the oven, let rest for 5 minutes, and then dig in.
Simply Baked Potatoes
/Do you love a good baked potato as much as I do?
I noticed that I rarely make them at home these days. Ordering them in a restaurant is out of the question: they always show up soggy and over cooked. But, they are quite easy to make and reheating them is a snap as well.
A good baked potato can really start your day out well. During High School my Dad (Joe, remember him?) used to give me a baked potato for breakfast on occasion. It was a great, warm breakfast with plenty of butter and I recall it keeping me good and full for the morning.
There were some very nice small russet potatoes available at the market this past weekend. I bought a bunch and cooked them up and cooked them in the evening.
The next morning, I reheated them for a few seconds in the microwave and we enjoyed a lovely breakfast. For myself, I put anchovy butter (recipe here) on one and onion and shallot marmalade (recipe here) on the other. For Ms. Iz (my daughter) I just put plain old butter on the baked potato.
The best breakfast ever! Just as I recalled, it lasted all day and I was happy to pass along a nice breakfast memory from my childhood to my daughter.
Baked Potatoes
Ingredients:
- 1 Russet Potato per person
- Toppings of your choice:
- Butter, Anchovy Butter, Onion and Shallot Marmalade, Olive Oil, Sour Cream....the list goes on.
Method:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Scrub potatoes under cool water.
- Cut an X into each potato, not all the way through, to allow the steam to escape as the potatoes cook.
- Place the potatoes in the hot oven.
- Cook for about 1 hour, or until the potatoes are soft enough to give a little when pressed with your thumb.
- Remove from the oven, pop one open, top with your topping of choice and enjoy!
Don't Eat The Unopened Clams!
/I'm on some kind of a fish kick right now. It probably has to do with the amount of meat I consumed over the holidays. I've been craving fish and salads, so I'm going with it.
Just after my salade nicoise evening, I decided to make some clams served over a saffron rice. Just before I began to cook, I realized there was no saffron in the house. Gran Fran is always very innovative when it comes to missing ingredients. I thought for a minute, went through my spice cabinet and pulled out the smoky Spanish paprika I love.
Gran Fran uses anisette or vermouth in her saffron rice preparation, but again, I came up empty. A bottle of nice white wine with lots of fennel seed added to the pot, along with some clam juice and lemon juice, saved the day. My McGyver-type survival skills will do Gran Fran proud.
I've often watched her make clams, but I rarely do so myself. If memory serves, Gran Fran would flip out if more than just one or two of the clams she had steamed didn't open up when cooked. Her take on this, I think, was that all of the clams were tainted and maybe we shouldn't eat them because who knows what kind of disease one might get? Botulism? Salmonella? I'd like to point out right here and now that we all made it through, just by avoiding those unopened clams along the way.
But, her fears did come bubbling up within me when I prepared to cook these clams last night. What if I didn't cook them long enough? What about those diseases, or worse yet some unknown hazard came up? I tried to channel the other side of Gran Fran in the kitchen: the devil-may-care cook who throws ingredients in a pan with reckless abandon and comes up with wonderfully delicious dishes in the end.
It worked. The clams turned out great, it was fast and simple and the broth was really interesting with the extra hit of paprika in the end. The rice turned out well, too, though different in flavor than my beloved saffron rice, it was a hit. No one got sick, and the food was delicious.
Steamed Clams with Fennel and Red Rice
serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 pound clams, cleaned and soaked in cold water
- 1 cup white wine
- 1/2 cup clam juice
- 2 tbsps lemon juice
- 1 tbsp dried fennel seeds
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic chopped roughly
Method:
- Put everything in a large pan and cover with a lid.
- Bring the mixture to a boil.
- Cook for 10 minutes.
- Lift the lid and check to see if all (or almost all) of the clams have opened up.
- If not, cover and cook for another two minutes.
- Serve over rice (see below).
Steamed Red Rice
Ingredients:
- 1 cup white Basmati Rice
- 1 cup Water
- 1/3 cup Clam Juice
- 3 Tbsps Lemon Juice
- 3 Tbsps Butter
- 2 tsps Smoked Spanish Paprika
- 3 cloves Garlic chopped
- 2 tsps Fennel Seeds
- 1 Bay Leaf
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
Method:
- Put all ingredients except for the rice in a large pot that has a lid.
- Boil the mixture,then lower it to a simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the rice.
- Return the pot to the boil.
- Stir once.
- Reduce the heat to low.
- Cover the pan and cook for 12 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and allow to stand for 6 to 8 more minutes until the rice is cooked through.
- Serve with the clams, using some of the broth the further flavor the rice.
Chicken Picatta
/Have you ever had a dish that just makes you smile? This dish does that for me. Gran Fran made this for me and Joe a few weeks back and it reminded me of weeknight meals from my childhood.
My parents were (and still are ) the King and Queen of the multi-task. Both Gran Fran and Joe worked at the same office. They took shifts getting the younger kids (mostly me) to school. Gran Fran would head into the City early (around 7am, I think) and Joe would go in after he dropped me at school (around 8:30am). The afternoon shift would mostly fall to my older brother and sisters, and we did live in a town where we could just go out and play, ride bikes or walk down to the store without too much trouble.
Gran Fran would arrive home around 5pm, in time to get dinner on the table. She did, however, instruct us post-school over the phone on how to prep the dinner and get anything in the oven that we could handle before she got there. This was before cell phones and e-mail, so Gran Fran called us at about 3:30 to get us started.
The only issue was that she was convinced everyone around her could hear everything she said. She spoke at barely above a whisper, which sometimes led us to some odd conclusions on ingredient measurements and cooking temperatures. The best part about her behavior was that for a good number of years, she was in an office with her door closed whilst having these illicit conversations with her children.
Gran Fran and Joe managed to raise another generation of multi-tasking adults in my brother, myself and my sisters. It is both a blessing and a curse. A Claro can get done in half a day what it takes a normal person a full day and half to do. I often get comments when I arrive at work (around 8am) after I've recounted the amount I've accomplished between the hours of 5:45 and 8am. It seems normal to me to finish two loads of laundry, put away the dishes, make breakfast and lunch for myself and my daughter, get the dinner ingredients organized, shower and get out the door. I guess it's a bit much.
The chicken picatta featured above makes for a nice easy weeknight meal. Not much fuss, lots of flavor and not too many dishes after cooking. It's the perfect end to an otherwise crazy day.
Chicken Picatta
serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 lbs. thinly sliced chicken breast
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour (I use Rice Flour)
- Salt and freshly ground pepper tp taste
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 12 ounces mushrooms, cleaned, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic quartered
- 1 1/2 cups marsala
- 3 tablespoons Italian parsley, minced
Method:
1. Salt and pepper chicken cutlets; dredge in flour.
2. Pour oil intoheated skillet 3. Saute cutlets on both sides until golden and just about cooked through.
4. Remove cutlets from pan; add mushrooms and saute until golden.
5. Add garlic and marsala; reduce slightly over high heat.
6. Return chicken to pan,stir; cover simmer until the marsala forms a nice gravy.
7. Serve sprinkled with parsley
It's Cold Here: Mashed Potato Time
/Okay, I know, we're in San Francisco, and all of you real-season dwellers are guffawing at my being cold in 45 degree and sunny weather. To be fair, I grew up in NY and know what real weather feels like. But, there is something out here that makes me cold from the inside. I wonder if it's just that I'm so used to the temperature hovering around 65 degrees most of the year, that this shift in temperature seems more sudden than the transition from Summer to Fall to Winter in NY.
So a very simple mashed potato was in order as dinner the other night. There is nothing as satisfying or warms you up as well as mashed potatoes.
I made two versions, one with dairy (for my daughter) and one without (for me). The dairy-free ones are not quite the same, but hey, I have to eat within certain guidelines, so have found a decent work around.
All that's left is for me to find a cashmere jumpsuit to make it through the winter.
Mashed Potatoes
- 6 Russet potatoes, skinned and diced
- 3/4 cup of milk (cow or almond)
- 3 tbsps of butter (or olive oil)
- Salt to taste
Method:
- Boil the potatoes in enough salted water to cover them. They're ready when you can easily put a fork through them.
- Drain the water and return the pan to the stove. Put a high flame under the pan for one to two minutes, to dry out the potatoes.
- Add most of the milk and all of the butter (or oil). Mash with a potato masher.
- Keep adding the milk until the potatoes reach the consistency you'd like.
- Add salt.
Enjoy.
Two Pounds of Best Quality Cheddar
/The title says a lot here, especially in this day and age of eating healthy, not too much fat/carbs/sugars, or whatever people are avoiding right now. I am as much a victim of this behavior as anyone. Just ask A & R who are subjected to my ever-changing food beliefs every lunchtime (at one point, I went so far as to only eat leafy greens, nuts and herbal tea for a week...ah, but I digress).
So, there is not much of an opportunity to feel okay making a dish that calls for "two pounds of best quality cheddar" (BTW, "Best Quality" is another Gran-Franism, that ranks almost as high as non-reactive pan in her lexicon). There is really only one event that continues to allow me to make this dish: Childbirth.
What new parent could refuse a huge batch of Best Quality Mac and Cheese? I certainly couldn't when two of my sisters made enough to fill my freezer when little Iz was born. The joy of pulling out a nicely wrapped (in waxed paper then in aluminum foil, ala Gran Fran) chunk, throwing it in the oven at 375 degrees to reheat and waiting for the cheesy goodness to be ready, cannot be described.
The biggest bonus to new motherhood is that there is a small window where you are licensed to eat just about whatever you want. So I ate with abandon, my lovely gift from my sisters. Since I can no longer eat with abandon (read: cholesterol, age), I have found a very receptive group who do appreciate the greatness that is Gran Fran's Best Quality Cheddar Mac and Cheese: new parents in our friends and family circle.
Ah, let the cheesy goodness prevail!
Gran Fran's Best Quality Cheddar Mac and Cheese Serves 6 (4 if you want to eat huge portions like a maniac!)
One Large Non-Reactive Stockpot (nonstick if you have it) One Large Baking Dish (I usually use a 9x12" Pyrex)
Ingredients
- 1 pound Elbow Macaroni, cooked and drained
- 3 Tbs Butter
- 3 Tbs Flour
- 3 Cups Milk
- 1 and 1/2 pounds Best Quality Cheddar, crumbled or shredded (preferably white, it just looks better!)
- 1 Tsp. Dry Mustard
- 1 Tsp. Cayenne (you can add more it you like it spicier)
- 1/4 cup Bread Crumbs (may need a little more or less here, it's to cover the top)
- Butter for the top, and for greasing the pan
Method: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Make a roux (which is just the butter and flour mixed together over medium heat in the stockpot, until it turns brown).
- When roux has browned, add the milk. Stir well over high heat for 1 minute, then reduce the heat.
- Add the dry spices.
- Simmer 10 minutes on low, stirring occasionally.
- Add crumbled or shredded cheese. Stir until melted
- Add cooked/drained macaroni. Stir until well coated.
- Butter the baking dish well. Pour in the mixture of Mac and Cheese from the stockpot into the baking dish.
- Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top, and butter in small pieces as well.
- Bake at 375 degrees on top of a baking sheet for 35 to 40 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling up at the sides.
Enjoy!
the stronger, the better: my must-have comfort food
/Comfort food makes me happy.Check out this drinks list: apple juice, iced coffee in the blender, Vin Santo, single malt whiskey.
What, pray tell, do these four drinks have in common? I believe only a select few outside of The Family would know this, so I’ll tell you. The list represents key Gran Fran-esque drinks over the span of my childhood into my adulthood. And, there is a food pairing for each, too. All of these make my comfort food list. This is more of a stroll down memory lane, rather than a plethora of Gran Fran recipes. But, it does shed some light on the nice times we had as a family over the past four-plus decades.
Apple Juice: Our friend-after-school-snack consisted of pretzels (either the super salty skinny pretzel sticks, or the traditional pretzel shaped ones) and apple juice. This was offered all the way through high school to our friends, who made snide remarks about the kiddie snacks at our house, but who told me later in life that it was still a favorite snack. I still crave this snack when things get tough and I find myself serving it to my daughter and her friends, too.
The super salty skinny pretzels came in their own individual boxes and were made by Mr. Salty. You know, the sailor pretzel guy? Sadly, I have found that they are not available any longer and I can't even find picture of them. But, any super salty pretzel will work here with your apple juice!
Blender Cappuccino: On very hot summer days, Gran Fran would break out the blender, grab some ice cubes, milk and espresso and blend it all up. I think she also added sugar. It was lovely. Real coffee and milk, none of this modern-day Starbucks blended stuff. Even though we were little, we were allowed to have this treat. A nice side with this was Gran Fran's best-ever pound cake.
I can no longer drink coffee (makes me very angry and too hyped up), but the smell of coffee in the summer always brings me back to the kitchen in Queens with Gran Fran jamming ice cubes into her blender and telling us all to "Stand back!” At least I can still make the pound cake, which is a little consolation for the demise of my coffee drinking days.
Vin Santo: Gran Fran and I went to Italy in 1989 on a college trip (I was in college, she was recently unemployed so she came along with the group). It was the first time we traveled together, and it lasted a month. The evenings were filled with drinking local wines and eating ourselves silly.
Gran Fran hung out with all of us, until one night when we young'uns decided to go to the local Disco. She opted to hang at the Enoteca, the local wine bar. When we came back to get her, she had been drinking Vin Santo, a sweetish wine that is paired with salume and heavier meats. She was in heaven! I have not developed much of a taste for Vin Santo, but whenever I do have it, it brings back Gran Fran's happy smile in Italy, where she enjoyed the summer light.
Single Malt Whiskey: I am a girl who loves me a whiskey. In bars, they are always questioning whether I realize what I'm ordering, when I ask for a very smoky whiskey, neat. I am all of 5'2" and love to wear short dresses with boots. Not the typical looking whiskey woman.
The first time I had a good glass of whiskey was with both Gran Fran and Joe at a jazz club in Manhattan while watching Les Paul play guitar. I think I was about 20 or so at the time and thoroughly enjoyed it. We ate burgers and the pairing was exquisite.
For my money, you can't get better than apple juice, iced coffee in the blender, Vin Santo or single malt whiskey. I hope to bring this list into the next generation with Iz, but for now, we're sticking to apple juice and an occasional iced coffee in the blender.
Blender Cappuccino ala Gran Fran
serves 1 (but easy to make multiples)you will need a blender (ok, seems obvious, but thought I should mention it)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups hot coffee, if it’s winter; cold if it’s summer
- 1 cup whole milk or better yet half-and-half
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 6 ice cubes if it’s summer
- Cinnamon, optional
Method:
- Place all ingredients in blender; adjust amounts to fit capacity of blender.
- Hold down cap of blender with a dish towel.
- Turn blender on high.
- Blend until frothy and creamy.
- Pour into glasses or cups. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired.
- Serve immediately.
Pound Cake ala Gran Fran
serves many!
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks room-temperature butter
- 1 2/3 cups sugar
- 5 eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups flour, unbleached, all purpose
Method:
- Butter and flour a 9-inch loaf or tube pan.
- In an electric mixer, or by hand, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt together for about 10 minutes; longer if by hand.
- Add 4 eggs one at a time. Beat on medium for about 4 minutes, scraping bowl well.
- Add flour all at once. Beat on medium for about 3 minutes.
- On high speed, add final egg and beat for about 15 seconds.
- Place batter in pan. Place pan in cold oven on a lower third shelf.
- Turn oven on to 300 degrees.
- Bake for 2 hours if beaten in mixer. Bake for 90 minutes if beaten buy hand. Let cool on rack in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and continue to cool.
Salume Platter ala Gran Fran
serves 8
(you can increase or reduce the amount of items you get based on how many people you are serving.)
to be served with Vin Santo
This doesn't really count as a recipe, more a serving suggestion for an excellent platter of Italian savory items.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Proscuitto di Parma
- 1 lb Soppresatta Salume, sliced thin
- 1 package Pate (Campagnola, is what I prefer, or Country-Style made with Pork)
- 1/2 cup Caper Berries
- 1 cup Black Oil Cured Olives
- 1 Sweet Baguette (or a nice loaf of Italian Bread), sliced
- 4 ripe Roma Tomatoes, diced
- 5 cloves Garlic, 3 minced, 2 cut in half
- 3 Tbsp. Olive Oil, plus more for brushing on bread
- Salt and Pepper
Method:
- Preheat broiler or get toaster oven ready.
- On a large platter, disply the assortment of meats, with bowls for the caper berries and the olives.
- In a serving bowl, mix together the diced tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. Add salt to taste.
- Place baguette slices on a baking sheet in one layer.
- Rub baguette with the cut garlic halves, and then brush the bread with oil. Add a sprinkling of salt.
- Toast baguette in broiler or toaster oven until brown, turning once after a minute or so.
- Serve baguette alongside the diced tomato mixture to have guests create their own bruschetta.
Hamburgers ala Gran Fran
serves 6 to be served with a nice single malt whiskey
you will need a large non-reactive skillet Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground sirloin, shaped into 4 fairly thin burgers (they retract and get fatter as they cook)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Kosher salt
- 1/4 cup Marsala, Madeira or other semi sweet wine
- 2 shallots minced
- 2 tablespoons butter
Method:
- Prepare burgers. Sprinkle generously with fresh-ground pepper.
- Heat nonstick pan over medium heat until very, very hot.
- Add butter and oil, swirling pan off heat so fats don’t burn
- Return pan to heat; add burgers keeping space around each.
- Cook over high heat for about 4 minutes; reduce heat to medium; continue cooking 4 minutes more. Increase heat to high.
- Turn burgers; cook over high heat for 4 minutes; reduce heat to medium; continue cooking 4 minutes longer.
- Remove burgers from pan. Sprinkle with salt.
- Over medium heat, sauté shallots, sprinkled with salt, until golden. Turn heat to high for 2 minutes.
- Remove pan from heat; add wine, swirl. Return pan to medium heat; simmer until the wine no longer tickles your nose. Swirl cod butter into sauce to make it creamy. Pour sauce over burgers and serve on bread of your choice or on a plate with mashed potatoes