Food: Chicken Baked on Bread

Chicken. Baked on bread. "Hmmm…," you might say. "That sounds a little bland and boring. Are you talking about plain white bread topped with plain white chicken, baked together in the oven? I don't know about that…it sounds interesting?"

But keep reading…you know I'm not the type to give you soggy, sad, blah recipes (at least I hope you don't view my posts to be such!). Maybe I can convince you that chicken baked on bread is actually a quite wonderful thing - simple yet sophisticated and surprisingly flavorful and savory.

So I probably should give you a little background on the inspiration for the recipe below. Food & Wine's Melissa Perello came up with this (I've modified it slightly from her version) while thinking about Judy Rogers' brick oven chicken. For those of you unfamiliar with Judy or her San Francisco restaurant (the Zuni Café in Hayes Valley), Ms. Rogers is famous for her dry brining technique for poultry (in fact, her turkey recipe is the one I've used the past two Thanksgivings with sublime results). It seems practically everyone has posted the Zuni roast chicken recipe (or a version of it) on their blog. If you do a search, tons and tons of websites show up. So, yes, the chicken is that good -and- that popular. So why settle for an alternative?

A couple of years ago, my friend Christine and I actually visited Zuni and ordered the famed "Chicken for Two." It's a meal that's really an event since you place your order and wait an hour for the chicken to bake…drinking a glass (or two) of wine and conversing over appetizers. In the end, we decided that although brining does make chicken wonderfully juicy and delicious, we were a little disappointed in how salty it was (you definitely wanted to drink a lot of water afterwards) and it was a rather long time to wait for dinner. The experience at home is not much different.

When deciding to brine a chicken for roasting, you have to plan ahead. To brine is a couple-day process requiring dry rubbing salt on a bird, wrapping it up, placing it in a refrigerator, turning it over after a day or so, and so forth. Besides that, to make a perfect roast chicken, you have to find a very small, whole frying chicken - which many grocery stores unfortunately don't like to carry, meaning a trip to your local butcher. Also, the bread salad is made separately…i.e. once you do get around to cooking you're stuck with multiple pans and oven temperatures (not super handy if you don't have two ovens at your disposal). As you can see, although the recipe results are generally wonderful, the prep work is not.

Whew! So after all that, this is where I get to the part about the ingenuity behind chicken baked on bread. First, Melissa's recipe calls for using pieces of chicken (rather than an entire bird), significantly reducing the overall cooking time. Second, there's no brining involved and the chicken is skinless, meaning a lower fat and lower sodium dish. Third, it's a one-dish meal (less mess in the kitchen!). And to top it all off, baking the chicken on top of the cubed bread gives the sourdough a wonderfully crispy, caramelized outer shell with a dense, chewy, savory inside. What could be better?!?

So if you're looking for an elegant, relatively simple, modern take on chicken and stuffing, chicken baked on bread could be for you. It'd be fantastic for a casual dinner shared with friends and is snap to throw together. It's also something that could be served any time of the year - Summer, Winter, Spring, Fall...Just add different ingredients to compliment the seasons. Send out the invitations!

Chicken Baked on Bread
Adapted from Food and Wine (December 2010)


INGREDIENTS

• 1 small loaf day-old sourdough, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup salted capers, rinsed well
• 1/4 cup golden raisins, coarsely chopped
• 1 large bunch of Baby Spinach (about 1 1/2 pounds) torn into pieces
• 3 shallots, thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon minced thyme
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat the oven to 350°.
• In a large bowl, toss the bread cubes with the olive oil, capers, raisins, spinach, shallots, garlic and thyme. Season with salt and black pepper. Spread the bread in a large enameled cast-iron casserole (MM: My enameled cast-iron pot wasn't quite big enough...so I ended up using a tagine - which worked out fine but upped the cooking time slightly).
• Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and arrange them over the bread. Cover the chicken with a piece of parchment paper and close the casserole with a heavy lid. Bake the chicken for 40 minutes.
• Remove the lid and parchment paper and increase the oven temperature to 400°. Bake the chicken for 12-15 minutes longer, or until golden on top and cooked through. Remove the casserole from the oven and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve the chicken with the bread and greens.

Food: Thanksgiving

I figure since Christmas is this upcoming week I need to get organized and finally post my Thanksgiving entry! Where are all of these weeks going?!? Seriously!

This year turkey day was a bit unusual for Jonathan and I because instead of traveling and enjoying a meal at one of our family's houses, we decided to host dinner...not only for our immediate families but for twenty-two people! I was a little bit nervous since I had never cooked a whole turkey before. And with my crazy travel schedule for work I didn't have time to do a trial run. So, after looking at a ton of turkey recipes, I decided to bite the bullet and experiment on our company. I suppose being brave in the kitchen can be a good thing as long as you have a back-up plan (we also prepared a ham just in case...).

The recipe I ended up using is more of a technique than an actual recipe and I discovered it in an old issue of the LA Times. Basically the article describes Judy Rogers' method for roasting turkey which is pretty similar to a trick she uses for her famous Zuni roasted chicken. Since I've made her chicken before and the dry rub technique so far has been pretty fool-proof, I decided this was the safest technique to attempt on my company. And I was not disappointed. The vote's in and the results were awesome - a moist, wonderful turkey and I did it on the first try - on two birds! Thank you Judy Rogers!

Luckily I did have some help over the weekend with Jonathan and my family bringing many of the side dishes - things like fluffy and sinfully delicious cinnamon rolls, sweet, salty and tangy broccoli salad, flaky, buttery crusted pecan and apple pies, creamy mashed potatoes, crisp green beans, steaming sweet potatoes with a crunchy sweet topping and a simple lettuce salad. We definitely had more than enough food to feed twenty-two and then some. So in the end, I felt like what I was responsible for wasn't unreasonable since all I had to do was reheat the ham, brine and cook two turkeys, prepare and bake the stuffing and, of course, make the cranberries.

I talked about the perfect turkey but the other thing that received rave reviews was the cranberry chutney. The recipe I selected is an unusually spiced combination of cranberries, pistachios, golden raisins, dried apricots, mustard, cinnamon and ginger. The surprise ingredient, ginger, gives the entire dish a nice bit of heat to go along with some sweetness and tang. So in other words, it's a true treat for your tastebuds. And, BTW, it's great on toast or pumpkin pancakes the day after.

You'll find the recipes for my turkey and cranberries below. And who knows, maybe you'll find some inspiration from them and want to experiment with these on your next holiday crowd too. Let me know if you do :)

Cranberry Chutney with Ginger

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

• 2, 12-oz bags of cranberries
• 3 c sugar
• 2 whole, medium tangerines, diced (DO NOT PEEL but remove any seeds) (MM tip: If substituting, pick an orange that has a thinner peel to avoid some of the bitter white pith)
• 1/2 c jumbo golden raisins
• 1/2 c toasted, shelled pistachios
• 10 dried apricots, finely chopped
• 2 T freshly grated peeled ginger
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t dry mustard
• 1 t salt

Directions

• Cook all ingredients in a non-reactive pan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves.
• Increase heat to a boil and cook until cranberries pop (takes about 3 minutes)
• Cool and refrigerate - the chutney will keep up to 6 months in fridge if you keep it tightly covered

Dry Salt Brined Turkey

Adapted from Judy Rogers/LA Times

Ingredients

• 12-16 lb turkey (MM Tip: Fresh is best but if buying frozen, look for one that does not have much solution/salt added)
• Smoked Salt (MM Comment: Can also use kosher salt but I think smoked gives the turkey more depth in flavor and a sense that it was cooked in a brick oven instead of a regular stove. You can also experiment with other flavored salts too)

Directions

• DAYS 1 & 2
• Wash the turkey inside and out and pat dry
• Measure out 1 Tb of salt for every 5 lbs of turkey
• Sprinkle the inside of the turkey lightly with salt and then rub the remaining salt all over the outside of the body
• Place the salted turkey in a plastic bag (MM Tip: I used kitchen size garbage bags but you can also use 2 gallon sealable bags if you can find them) and wrap/seal tightly, placing the turkey breast-side up in the in the refrigerator
• Chill the salted bird for 2 days


• DAY 3
• Turn the turkey on to its breast and chill for one more day


• Day 4
• Remove turkey from the bag and place breast-side up on a plate, refrigerating uncovered for at least 8 hours


• Day 5 - THANKSGIVING
• Remove from the refrigerator and leave at room temperature for around 1 hour
• Preheat oven to 425 F
• Place the turkey breast-side down on the roasting rack in a roasting pan and place in the oven (MM Comment: I was able to fit two, 14 lb birds into one large roasting pan. I recommend cooking the turkeys unstuffed to ensure proper temperatures and cooking times)
• After 30 minutes, remove pan from the oven and carefully turn the turkey over so breast is facing up (MM Tip: I recommend using silicone oven mits to do this)
• Reduce oven temperature to 325, return turkey to oven and roast until the temperature in the thigh reads 165 (~2 3/4 hours of total cooking time)
• Let turkey stand for 30 minutes prior to cutting to allow the juices to redistribute

Travel: Late Summer Weekend in San Francisco

As I mentioned in my last posting, my current work assignment is located quite a distance from Detroit (i.e. in Reno, NV). So last weekend I decided to avoid the 7 hours of travel time and take a quick flight over the mountains to visit a friend in my favorite city - San Francisco. Christine, a food lover like myself, had a ton of great places picked out for my visit. Thanks to her planning, we essentially ate our way through the city (with walking and hiking in-between, of course, to work off all those calories).

Thursday: When I arrived on Thursday evening, Christine picked me up from the airport and took me to Circa on Chestnut Street. There, I had a nicely prepared, flat iron steak with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a delicious, smoky asparagus (the asparagus was the highlight of the dish). The steak was plated with a red wine demi-glace and topped with horseradish foam (Christine and I had a discussion about foam - we're not really sure we'd categorize it as a food). We shared the Truffle-Parmesan Fries for an appetizer, which were good, but I prefer metro-Detroit's Town Tavern's version. By the way, I've already decided I want to check out Laiola the next time I'm in San Francisco. It's next door to Circa and the menu (and atmosphere) looked excellent.

Friday: After wrapping up the work day on Friday, we took a long walk from the Presidio area to Union Street. While doing some window shopping, we passed by a sweet shop (Miette) and decided a small, pre-dinner treat was in order. I tried an old fashioned cupcake (a very tasty chocolate cupcake with french meringue frosting and a candied peanut on top) while Christine had a delicious, pistachio macaroon. Then, after browsing in a couple of cute stores, we decided to eat dinner at Mamacita. Mamacita was jam packed and everything they brought out of the kitchen looked delish. We waited for our meal and snacked on "guacamole al don" - i.e. guacamole with fresh tortilla chips and crushed tomato salsa. I had the pan-roasted halibut with poblano chile-polenta and roasted chile-tomato salsita and Christine tried braised meyer ranch tri-tip beef enchiladas baked with oaxacan mole coloradito, leeks and goat cheese. Both dishes were savory, filling and very good. We were so full when we left the place, we decided it was a good thing we had a couple mile walk home -and- that next time we should probably skip the guacamole and chips and wait for the main event.

Saturday: Saturday we started the day with crepes (I love the fact SF has a ton of creperies!) at Crepevine. Both of us selected savory crepes (I had the Greek since I love spinach, feta and kalamata olives). We then took some time out to visit the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building (I'll blog about that experience later). After the Farmer's Market we visited J-Town for a festival and then went to Rose's Cafe for lunch. The brunch menu was still in effect so I ordered the Crescenza-Stuffed Focaccia with white truffle oil. It was very good, but I think what they served me was the pizza crust with crescenza and truffle oil instead of a stuffed foccacia bread. Christine opted for the roasted Turkey Breast, Avocado, Provolone & Dijon on Brioche. It seemed to be lacking tomatoes, so when she ordered some on the side you can imagine our surprise when they showed up with a gorgeous plate of heirloom slices (I stole a few as well as some arugula from her side salad to add to my "pizza"). The highlight of the meal were Italian sodas - I had peppermint, Christine had curant. After lunch, we joined one of Christine's roommies for a hike near Muir Beach and after effectively working off both breakfast and dinner on our 4+ mile hike, we cleaned up and had a late dinner at Nopa. We started the evening with flatbread of house smoked bacon, grape tomatoes, goat cheese. It was excellent and better than any sort of BLT you can imagine. Christine ordered their famous, grass fed hamburger with pickled onions and french fries, and I tried a roasted chicken dish served with a salad of purple heirloom tomatoes, purslane, croutons. Although it was fun to eat the purslane (purslane is pretty much a weed you can find in your own yard if you'd like...and the flavor is fresh and lemony) and the tomatoes were super-fresh and flavorful, my chicken was a little dry. Next visit I would definitely have the hamburger or the pork chop...the two dishes for which they are famous.

Sunday: My last day in town, Sunday, we started the day intending to go to brunch at a funky little place called Liverpool Lil's. However, since they weren't yet open when we arrived (why do so many places in San Fransicso open super late for breakfast?!?), we opted for Judy's Cafe. My favorite thing I ordered was the delicious, fresh-squeezed OJ (although it was quite pricey at $5 a glass). I had a farmhand omelet that had a little too much spice on the potatoes, but was good. If you visit Judy's (and many small restaurants in SF) by the way, be sure to bring cash - they are a cash-only venue. If I visited Judy's again, I'd try the huge plate of Sourdough French Toast (sharing with a friend is probably a good bet). After breakfast, we wandered around the fabulous new Academy of Sciences, checked out the Sutro Bath Ruins, relaxed on Crissy Field for a couple of hours and saved up our appetites for dinner at Zuni Cafe where we feasted on their famous "Chicken for two" (which takes an hour upon placing your order) and shoestring fries. The bloody mary we had for a pre-dinner drink was excellent with balsalmic, finely diced onion, and plenty of spice. And the chicken was perfectly, perfectly, perfectly cooked and served with a warm, chewy, flavorful bread salad. We did notice it the dish was very salty though (between the brine from the chicken skin and the cooking juices poured over the bread salad). So you may want to take that into consideration when placing appetizer and drink orders. For those of you who are unable to visit this San Francisco institution, Zuni has a cookbook (or rather the awesome Judy Rodgers has a cookbook)...with fantastic descriptions and instructions (it may change the way you cook). You can find it at several retailers including Amazon and Overstock. You can also find their recipe for their famous chicken and bread salad here.

Click on the image below for a better view of what we ate.