Pho Ga

The confluence of chicken carcasses building up in my freezer and the miserable weather brewing outside led me to thoughts of chicken soup this weekend, and when I consulted my fridge and pantry my thoughts were immediately pulled East to pho. Pho Ga is a lighter, brighter alternative to the delicate yet unctuous (and better known) beef pho, and proved to be just what I was craving. Piquant with fresh chili and sriracha spice, pungent from lime and fish sauce, aromatic wafts of ginger and warm spices rising with the steam... it's already a bowl of absolute comfort before you even get to the tender chicken and toothsome noodles! I can't recommend it enough as a curative to the winter blues 'n greys.

The recipe is an accumulation and synthesis of various tips gleaned from friends and on Chowhound, but the necessary framework came from Andrea Nguyen , whom I always consult first on all matters Vietnamese. Grab your chopsticks and your slurpin' spoon and enjoy!

Pho Ga
Makes 6 servings

*1 small chicken, cut up (whack at the bony pieces with a cleaver to expose more marrow)
*At least one other chicken carcass, chopped into pieces
*2 onions, unpeeled
*Chubby piece of ginger, about 4 inches, unpeeled
*3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
*2 tablespoons coriander seeds, toasted lightly
*2 cloves
*2 star anise
*1 inch piece cinnamon stick
*S&P
*1 heaping teaspoon demerara sugar
*3 tablespoons fish sauce
*Small bunch of cilantro stems
*1 lb dried rice noodles (banh pho)
*Any combination of the following, for garnish: bean sprouts, cilantro leaves, Thai basil, mint, finely sliced hot chilis, lime wedges, thinly sliced scallions, sriracha, hoisin sauce...

Set a toaster oven or regular oven to broil. Place the ginger and onion on a baking sheet and broil, turning occasionally, for 15 minutes or until nicely charred.  Add the garlic in the last couple minutes. After they've cooled to the point where you can play with 'em, remove the charred skin from the onions and ginger, and peel & smash the garlic (you may have to use the back of a spoon with the ginger).

Fill a stockpot with enough water to cover your cut-up chicken and any parts you're using. When the water boils, add all the chicken sections, the carcass, and any other carcass parts and boil on high for a couple minutes. You’ll see lots of foam and gunk roil up to the surface. Drain, rinse your chicken of the scum and quickly rinse the pot. Refill with 3 1/2-4 quarts of clean water. Add the chicken and pieces, onions, ginger, cilantro stems, fish sauce, sugar and all of the spices to the pot. Turn heat to high – let it come to boil, then turn the heat to low. After 15 minutes or so, remove the chicken breasts, shred with your fingers when cooled and set aside. With a large spoon, skim the surface of any impurities in the broth every so often to keep the broth clear. Simmer for about an hour and remove the rest of the chicken pieces, leaving the carcasses in the broth; shred & set aside the chicken meat. Continue simmering the stock for a bit longer, perhaps another 1/2 hour. Taste and adjust seasoning with more fish sauce and/or sugar.

Strain the broth in a colander lined with cheesecloth and discard solids. Pop the broth in containers and store in the fridge for a while, until you can skim the congealed fat off the surface (which I always save because hey, Vietnamese flavored schmaltz!). When ready to serve the pho, reheat the broth. Prepare noodles per directions on package. Ladle broth into bowls, add shredded chicken and soft noodles and have your selected garnishes on hard for each person to add to their bowl.

Sage Chicken & Sausage Bake

When your hands smell of onions and sage, you know you're making something autumnally appropriate! Adapted (barely, if I'm being honest) from Nigella Lawson, this recipe is perfectly simple and delicious late fall comfort food...and hearty enough to ease you into an early hibernation. I usually just opt for thighs when I throw this together but you can use any chicken pieces you desire - just keep track of baking times. When paired with roasted potatoes, a crisp salad and peppery saison, you couldn't ask for a better November weeknight dinner.  

Sage Chicken & Sausage Bake
Serves 3-4

*1 onion, peeled and cut into wedges

*3-4 cloves garlic, smashed
*1 tablespoon EVOO
*1 teaspoon of your favorite mustard - my standard is a wild mushroom mustard

*1 heaping teaspoon dried sage
*1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
*Juice of half a lemon
*4 chicken thighs, extra skin and fat trimmed

*3-4 hot or sweet Italian sausages, your choice
*Handful of fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped

Throw everything but the sausages into a Ziploc bag with a good grinding of fresh pepper and a couple pinches of salt. I cut the spent lemon half in a few pieces and throw that in too.  Toss the bag around, squelching everything together to mix all the ingredients evenly across the chicken. Leave to marinade in the refrigerator a couple of hours (or overnight), squelching and turning the chicken around in the bag every so often.

Take the chicken out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you're going to bake, and toss the sausages and some sage leaves in the bag as well, squelching everything around again. Heat the oven to 425.

Arrange the chicken and sausage as well as some of the onion quarters all in a roasting pan. Sprinkle the rest of the fresh sage leaves over the chicken and sausages (I usually tuck one under each flap of thigh skin, too) and then put into the oven to cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until the thighs are done. Turn the sausages about halfway through to brown on both sides.

Chicken With Coconut-Lime Sauce, Carrot Puree & Jasmine Rice

If you grow carrots, you know the exquisite, vaguely macabre feeling of pulling them up from the soil. Such was my recent experience when I was invited to take some carrots from my friend's garden. It's gross to say, but even though I enjoyed pulling out the carrots, holding them made me think of a painted Salome admiring John The Baptist's head brandished by a grasped hank of hair. It IS October, I guess this is apropos talk. Maybe it was because the tops were so grand and bushy...

Anyway!

I had a bunch of these knobby roots to use and decided to make a puree out of them, on which to lay some chicken, rice, and wee babe carrots. Lime-coconut sauce went over top and around. It was delish and branched the summer-fall divide really well! I took a lot of inspiration from this recipe I found online; I've made it with both chicken and fish and I ultimately prefer it with the chicken - but it is tasty either way.

I realize in retrospect I probably should have added something...not orange...to the plate!

Chicken With Carrots, Coconut-Lime Sauce, Carrot Puree & Jasmine Rice
Makes 2 servings

*EVOO
*2 boneless chicken breasts with skin
*1 bunch organic carrots, ideally with some teensy little carrots included
*1 knob of ginger, about the size of a thumbprint, chopped
*1 small onion, diced
*2 cloves garlic, chopped
*2 cups vegetable broth, divided
*2 tablespoons butter, divided
*Juice of 2 limes
*1/4 cup dry white wine
*1/2 cup coconut milk
*1/2 teaspoon of a citrus-flavored hot sauce (I use a fatalii sauce)
*S&P
*1 cup cooked jasmine rice (cook with some rice vinegar added to the water)

If the rice hasn't been cooked yet, start with that. I highly recommend adding some rice vinegar to the cooking water, gives a nice added dimension of flavor to the starch. Then, in a pot, saute the onion in some evoo until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and saute a few minutes more. Chop 5-6 carrots and add to the pot along with a cup of stock. Season with pinches of S&P and cover. Simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes, then puree with an immersion blender or in a processor (carefully!). Melt a little bit of butter into the puree, check for seasoning and keep warm.

Meanwhile, pick the smallest carrots (or shave some down with the peeler) and put in a small pot with the other cup of stock, plus some excess coconut milk (maybe 1/4 cup), S&P, a tiny nub of ginger and a smashed garlic clove. Simmer until tender. This is an optional step, by the way, but I really like having some extra carrots on the plate!

Season the chicken breasts with S&P and in a skillet over medium high, heat some canola or olive oil, then pan-fry the breasts, starting skin-down and flipping after 5-6 minutes. If you have cutlets (or are using fish) you can fry them entirely on the stovetop; with larger breasts I prefer to pop them in a preheated oven to finish cooking for about 10-15 minutes after crisping the skin.

Make the sauce by reducing in a small saucepan the wine and lime juice by half over medium heat, then adding in the coconut milk and hot sauce. Simmer until sauce has thickened, then remove from heat and stir in the butter.

Assemble the dish by putting some puree on the plate, then heap some rice on top and arrange some carrots around. Top with the chicken and spoon over sauce. Finish with some fresh cracked pepper and some sea salt.

Chipotle Chicken Lettuce Wraps

The jar of leftover chipotle chilis in adobo from a $1.69 can beckons my guilty gaze when I open my fridge when I start to make dinner, because much like leftover tomato paste from a .50 cent can or half a tin of evaporated milk, I cannot abide by throwing what I don't use away but I also can't for the life of me remember to use them before they have overstayed their welcome. I caught sight of my chipotle jar loitering near the back of the fridge yesterday and determined to finish the stragglers off once and for all. In noodling around for some new ideas I came across an entry on Bev Cooks for chipotle chicken lettuce wraps, which got the ball rolling. The other household half opted for tortillas instead of lettuce, but I was very pleased with the verdant crunchiness of the lettuce contrasted with the smokey spicy bite of the piquant chipotle sauce. Leftovers successfully and deliciously dispatched! 

  
Chipotle Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Makes 6-8 lettuce wraps

Recipe inspired by Bev Cooks

*2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

*Cooking oil

*1/4 cup chicken broth

*1 cup tomato sauce (I use a can of El Pato Mexican Hot Style Tomato Sauce which I find at my local Walmart)

*2-3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo (remove the seeds, if you want)

*1/4 onion, chopped

*3 cloves garlic          

*Pinches of oregano, thyme, cumin, allspice

*Couple sprigs' worth of of cilantro leaves (or more, depending on how much you like cilantro)

*1 teaspoon lime juice

*S&P

*1/2 small red bell pepper, diced

*Boston or butter lettuce 

*3 scallions, sliced

*Lime wedges for serving

Heat some oil in a skillet over medium and season the chicken breasts. Saute about 5-6 minutes per side or until entirely cooked through. Meanwhile, blend the chicken stock, tomato sauce, chipotles, onion, garlic, spices, cilantro and lime juice in a food processor until smooth. When chicken has cooked, move to a cutting board and pour the chipotle sauce into the pan and cook over medium-low while occasionally stirring for 10 minutes or so, until it's a little darker and thicker. Dice the chicken and in a bowl, combine it with the diced bell pepper - add as much of the sauce as you want and stir until the chicken is well-coated. Spoon portions into the lettuce leaves and garnish with scallions before serving with lime wedges and any additional sauce to drizzle on top.

Jambalaya with Creole Sauce

When my husband called to say he'd be bringing home some Cajun Kate's crawfish mac for dinner, my mind starting spinning twangy strains of a Hank Williams tune and my attention turned to Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen cookbook sitting on my shelf. Because what goes better with cajun food than more cajun food? It just so happened that I had all the fixings for jambalaya, so I consulted PP's section on the delicious rice dish. There were as many different ways to make jambalaya as there were recipes in the section, so after reading each one for guidance I struck off on my own, and am thrilled with the final result. I paired it with Prudhomme's recipe for "creole sauce", although it would be absolutely perfect on its own. Made for a great side with the fried mac (and will be a delicious lunch for the next few days!)

Jambalaya with Creole Sauce
Makes 5 servings

Jambalaya

*3 tablespoons bacon fat or butter
*3 bay leaves
*1 teaspoon salt
*1/2 teaspoon cayenne
*1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
*1 teaspoon black pepper
*1 teaspoon dried oregano
*1 medium yellow onion, diced
*1 1/2 cups diced green bell pepper
*1 cup diced celery
*3 cloves garlic, minced
*1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-size pieces
*1 1/2 cups diced tasso (or other smoked ham)
*1/2 cup tomato puree
*1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
*1 1/3 cup chicken stock
*1 teaspoon chipotle Tabasco
*1 cup medium-size raw shrimp, shelled, de-veined and cut in half

Melt the fat in a large dutch oven over medium heat and stir the seasonings together; set aside. Combine the diced vegetables in a bowl and mix well; add two cups of the "trinity" to the pot and saute for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and the spice mixture in the last couple of minutes. Add the chicken, and saute for a few minutes before throwing in the tasso. Cook for another few minutes and then add the tomato puree, rice, stock and Tabasco. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a low simmer, cover and cook for about 25, 30 minutes. Uncover partially and continue to cook for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Take the lid off altogether and bury the raw shrimp pieces in the mixture; cook another 6, 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the shrimp are done. At this point you can serve immediately, or leave it on the stove over very low heat for a while longer. Remember to take the bay leaves out before serving!

Creole Sauce

*3 tablespoons bacon fat or butter
*2 bay leaves
*1/2 teaspoon oregano
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1 teaspoon black pepper
*1/2 teaspoon cayenne
*1/2 teaspoon paprika
*1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
*The rest of your chopped veg trinity (about 1 1/2 cups)
*3 cloves garlic, minced
*1 1/4 cups chicken stock
*1 cup tomato sauce (or puree)
*1 teaspoon Tabasco, or to taste

Melt the fat in a medium saucepan and mix the seasonings together. Add the vegetables and saute for 10 minutes, adding in the garlic and seasonings towards the end. Stir in the stock, tomato sauce, and Tabasco. Bring to a boil and then simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Remove bay leaves and then blend partially with an immersion blender to thicken the sauce. Simmer until jambalaya is ready to serve. To assemble, ladle creole sauce into a shallow dish and then top with a portion of jambalaya. Dust with chopped parsley, if you wish.

Chicken Salad Wraps

I have to admit, I'm not too familiar with the quintessential "chicken salad". I may or may not have had chicken salad at some point in my life, but if so, it never made an impression on me. It certainly wasn't anything I thought about making myself! That is, until a number of months ago when I was browsing a really beautiful food blog, What Katie Ate, and came across her recipe for chicken salad. It sounded so tasty that I made it almost immediately after reading the recipe - and it was just as good as it sounded. Over time I've tweaked and prodded at the recipe, and this is my final draft - without knowing the ins and outs of your traditional deli-style chicken salad, I still think I can say with certainty that this is damn good chicken salad. If you have a secret ingredient that goes into your batch though, do share! There's always room for further perfection.

Chicken Salad Wraps
No. of servings vary - I usually get one big wrap's worth plus another sandwich/half sandwich out of this recipe

*1 chicken breast, butterflied or cut into a few strips
*1 tablespoon black peppercorns
*1/2 lemon
*1/2 stalk celery, very finely sliced
*1 heaping tablespoon golden raisins
*1/4 cup walnuts, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
*Leaves from one branch of tarragon, roughly chopped
*1 1/2 teaspoons cream cheese
*2 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise
*S&P
*A couple passes over the microplane with a hunk of good Parm-Reg
*1 wrap skin or large tortilla, OR a couple slices of your preferred bread.

Fill a wide pan with a couple inches of water, enough to cover your chicken breast. Add the peppercorns and a sprinkle of salt along with the juice of half a lemon, and then cut the spent lemon half into a few pieces and throw them in too. Bring to a boil and continue boiling rapidly for a few minutes before adding the chicken. Turn the heat down to low, cover and poach the chicken for about 10 minutes or until just cooked through. Remove the chicken and shred when cool enough to touch.

Combine the celery, tarragon, raisins, toasted walnuts, mayonnaise, cream cheese, and chicken, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Grate in just a touch of Parm-Reg, stir, and then pop into a container and chill for a while. When ready to eat, assemble your wrap/sandwich, and enjoy!

Avgolemono

I'm not about chilled soup. Keep your vichys and gazpachos. Can't do it. However, sometimes even in the heat of summer I get a hankering for a nice cuppa soup, and I've found that avgolemono satisfies the summertime soup craving quite well. It's velvety without being heavy, and the lemon gives it a sunny tang. It's just pleasant, the kind of soup that would smile warmly and shake your hand, but not overstay it's welcome. So if you get a summertime soup craving too, but find the idea of cold soups preposterous, whip up some warm, lemony avgolemono.

Avgolemono
Makes 3-4 servings

Recipe pieced together from a number of member contributions on Chowhound and further tweaked to my tastes.

*Olive oil
*2 cloves garlic
*3 1/2 cups chicken broth
*1 bay leaf
*A bushy sprig of fresh dill, finely chopped (a teaspoon or two)
*1/3 cup long grain rice 
*2 large organic eggs
*1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
*2 small carrots, small dice
*1 stalk celery, small dice
*S&P
*About a cup of leftover chicken meat, say, from Thomas Keller's Simple Roast Chicken, or one large chicken breast, poached and shredded.

Drizzle a small slick of oil into a pot and lightly saute the vegetables for about 6 minutes, and then add the broth. Bring to a boil, add the rice and bay leaf. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 18-20 minutes or until rice is becoming tender, and then add the chicken. Meanwhile, place the eggs and juice in a blender; process until smooth. Ladle some broth from the pot, making sure to leave out the rice and chicken, and with the blender on, slowly add it to the egg mixture to temper it. Slowly stir the tempered egg mixture into the pot, add the dill, and then serve.

Thomas Keller's Simple Roast Chicken

Roast chickens go down either one of two ways in my oven - Thomas Keller's beautifully simple, high heat route, or low & slow. Keller's method perfectly crisps up the chicken skin and produces moist meat and pure roast chickeny flavor; my low & slow method is used whenever I want to slather the bird with a thick, tasty marinade that would otherwise burn at high temps. Although I keep meaning to try the Zuni method, I'm perfectly satisfied with roasting chickens by either of these ways 'til the end of time.

(If I'm being honest though, I ultimately prefer Keller's method. The skin. The skin!!!)

Here's a great video of Keller walking through the preparation, although I have added some detail below that I think is necessary for those not working with fancypants Viking ranges, say. Still not sure how he's able to plop the chicken directly onto the root veggies and not get a sad, soggy bottom. However, the vegetables are a necessity - don't skip 'em - because the drippings will smoke you out of your kitchen if there isn't something sponging them up.  I say this from personal (cough) experience.

Thomas Keller's Simple Roast Chicken
Makes about 3 servings

*1 3-4 lb chicken (preferably organic)
*Good amounts of S&P
*A couple sprigs of thyme, leaves minced
*4ish cups of cubed root vegetables, tossed with a little olive oil (perennial favorites are parsnips, carrots & potatoes)

Rinse the chicken, cut off excess fat around the cavity region if necessary, and then dry the bird very, very well, inside and out. I go through tons of paper towels in an effort to get it as dry as possible, much to my chagrin, but it's worth it. Let it sit out of the fridge for about an hour while it continues to dry, to temper the meat. Sprinkle salt and pepper into the cavity and then truss it up (see the video for Keller's little trussin' lesson). Liberally sprinkle kosher salt and pepper over the chicken. Do note, I use a liberal amount by my salt-sensitive-palate-standards, which is substantially less than Keller puts on his, so if your eyes widened while watching all that sodium rain down in the video, feel free to ease up just a touch, too. Sprinkle the thyme over the bird as well.

Line a roasting pan (use one with a rack) with nonstick foil if you don't want to be scraping blackened bits at the sink all night, and then add the cubed root veggies in an even layer in the bottom. Place the chicken on the rack and pop it in the oven for 60-65 minutes, approximately. When the chicken is done, cut the taut skin between the legs and tilt the bird over the pan to let the accumulated juices stream out, and then rest it on a cutting board while spooning the juicy, caramelized vegetables onto plates. Carve that sucker up after about 10 minutes of resting time (I admit, I never make it quite that long) and then arrange chicken pieces over the vegetables.