Teriyaki Done Right

Oscar Night and I was cooking during all the red carpet setup (and Mike played video games). But I have a few thoughts on what I saw:
Someone tell Miley Cyrus to stand up straight. And stop acting/singing/speaking. Seriously.
Kate Winslet looked stunning in a silver column, channeling Veronica Lake with frizz-proof hair and great poise. That woman is gorgeous.
Poor Sandra Bullock had under-done eyes and waaaaaaaaaay too dark lipstick. Undecided as to how I feel about her dress, but congrats to her for her accomplishment.
George Clooney needs the back of his hair cut.
John Travolta wore JEANS as a presenter. I really hope there was some kind of accident and someone threw up on his tux pants and it was an emergency change, because otherwise that is NOT cool.
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin randomly changed from bow ties to long ties halfway through the show... I'm sorry boys but that doesn't count as a costume change. Whoopi has your ass beat.

So, Teriyaki Hanger Steak & more roasted potatoes. Luckily, I do not have to fit into a slinky dress, and can instead blog in my pajamas. And eat steak and potatoes.

I admit right off that I use the Fresh Direct brand teriyaki marinade. I think it has fantastic flavor (frankly the Kikkoman blows) but it is still lacking something. So, I grate about an inch of fresh ginger into the bottom of the pan I'm going to marinate the steak in, and then add the liquid. Makes a huge difference.

This disgusting strip of tendon runs down the middle of my hanger steaks, and I always remove it before cooking because it is completely impossible to eat, and I hate dealing with it when I'm trying to scarf down my delicious teriyaki steak.

Because I do this, I end up slicing my steak into smaller serving sizes. If you are following along with this to do it yourself, keep that in mind when you try to cook your steak. I am cooking much smaller pieces, and so you might have to adjust your cooking times.

*I marinate this overnight, turning it once when I get up the next day

I generally brown one side of the meat in a little evoo for about 6-7 minutes, and then flip the meat and toss it into the oven at 400º for another 7 minutes, and my steak usually comes out rare to medium-rare, depending on the size of the hunks. Tonight, they were very small.

Once I move the steak to the pan to cook, I then pour all the marinade into a smaller pan and turn that sucker on high to reduce down. As it starts to boil, give it a stir so nothing burns on the bottom.

I'm serious about cranking the flame to reduce the sauce. Because of how fast cooking the steak is in this form, the sauce will actually take exactly that long, if not longer, to get to the "sludge" consistency that you're aiming for.

I also made roasted potatoes to go with the steak tonight, but this time I did not use duck fat. This was just my usual go-to roasted potatoes. Drizzle evoo, healthy sprinkle of salt, some fresh thyme sprigs, a crushed clove of garlic, and about a tablespoon of butter broken up. 400º until at your level of crispness - usually 30-45 minutes, turning once halfway through.
*Remove the garlic when you flip the potatoes because otherwise it will burn and turn everything bitter.

As everything finishes cooking, hopefully your sauce will have reached "sludge" status. You should be able to move it to the side of the pan without it sliding back as proof that it has reduced enough.

And yes, I nuked peas because the rest of the meal was enough work, and Mike really likes peas, and the Oscars were starting.

Presto! A meal that most of the starved actresses on my TV last night would trample their personal assistants for. And rightly so, because hanger steak is super tender, very flavorful, and actually a really good bargain. Maybe one day I'll finish it with grilled pineapple or some such fancy note, but right now, this version makes us happy.
Enjoy!

Oscar Night

So the Oscars are tonight and we have nothing planned. Mostly because neither Mike nor I really give a crap about award shows. I kinda watch it in the background so I can mock the dresses (and admire the one or two that are actually lovely), and because my mother always emails or calls with a comment on a dress, so I need to know what she's talking about. That's a throwback to when I was little and would sit on her big bed with her and watch the awards and we'd comment on every dress we saw and talk about how we'd change it, or how the actress must have been blind when she picked it out, or just paid to wear it. But that was before I'd gone to a prom or been a bride, so I guess there was more magic in dreaming of myself in fancy dresses then.
*Sweeping fond memory music fade-out...

I know she won't, but I kinda hope Meryl Streep wins for her portrayal of Julia Child simply because I really enjoyed that movie (Meryl's half anyway), and, well... it's Meryl Streep. But then I haven't seen most of the movies that are nominated, so I don't know if Sandra Bullock really did make such a fabulous true-life story. (But then, she only went blonde, and usually you have to go Ugly, Fat, Abused, or Prostitute to win a real-life story. See:
Charlize Theron in Monster
Julia Roberts (Push-Up City) in Erin Brockovitch
Halle Berry in Monster's Ball
Adrien Brody in The Pianist
Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby & Boys Don't Cry
that was a very long parenthetical example.)
The aforementioned theory will be proved true once again when "Precious" wins for something... most likely Mo'Nique for playing an abusive mother in a horrifying story, but done very well.

Aaaaaaaaaanyhoo... there are certain actresses I automatically want to win whenever they are nominated just because I love them in general. It's a total knee-jerk reaction. These actresses include, but are not limited to:
Meryl Streep
Judi Dench
Helen Mirren
Maggie Smith
Emma Thompson
Kate Winslet

I just really enjoy them as actresses (and just realized they're all British... ah well. No real surprise there if you know me.) and I will pretty much watch anything they are in. I think I must especially like the first 4 on that list because as they have aged, they have gotten to play strong women, and not really compromised themselves. I don't think the latter two have compromised themselves either... they are just newer to my "I really like them" party.

The only other reason I would want to watch the Oscars would be for the excuse to throw a party, but as I have mentioned in the past, 98% of my friends live in Brooklyn (or other states) and so throwing a party at my place is a haul for everyone and so does not happen very often, much to the chagrin of my innate hostess/den mother leanings.

Aside: this is a picture from the first, and possibly only, Oscar party I have ever attended. I think it was around 1998... we were all so wee! But it was also an excellent excuse to wear our prom dresses & tuxes from the previous year again, so, bonus! And yes, that's totally sparkling cider we are drinking. We were not an after-school special.

On a final movie-musing note: of late I have been wishing for new movies starring just Alan Rickman as Severus Snape, or just Maggie Smith as McGonagall. Seriously. The hell with Harry and his crew. I like the teachers! And Hogwarts. Ignoring the fact that (SPOILERS!!! if you're the last person on earth who hasn't read the books) the place is blown to hell and all, and that Dumbledore is dead (I still miss Richard Harris in this), I want more stories! Go back in time before Harry Potter and talk about normal students who were not destined to fight John Steed's uncle from Hell and pick another 3 kids to follow about. It's not like Harry was that interesting to start with. I'm sure it could be done... sorta.
Boo.

I really do have this problem a lot. I always enjoyed reading books that were in a series because I would get really attached to the characters, and not want to let go of them after only one book. Sometimes I got so attached that it lead to instances of full-on tears when some characters died... but I'll leave that for another post about books and nerd-dom.

 I hope those of you that care about the Oscars are spending it in the fashion that you enjoy. We shall be dining on teriyaki hanger steak and hoping that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin can move the show along so it isn't 6 hrs of commercials.
Which with 10 nominations for Best Picture, you know it's going to be... better go make sure I've got enough Marquis in the fridge!

Pomme Frites and Other Little Belgian Things I Love

It was not a fluke!

Last night I prepared duck breasts for dinner again, using the method I wrote down in a previous post, and it came out perfectly again! Yay! Yay for consistency and not being full of sh*t.

Another thing I learned in the East Village last night:
No matter how interesting and chipotle or sun-dried-tomato filled your mayo is, it REMAINS MAYONNAISE and therefor should not be considered an appropriate dipping sauce for your piping hot Pomme Frites. I must remember this and not break down when I see the giant board full of interesting-sounding sauces and panic trying to decide before it's our turn in line and think the first bite is super yummy and then realize I basically have a plastic cup of mayo in my hand.
Deezguzting.
The fries themselves, however, are delish. And stayed hot all the way to the 8th street R stop on a chilly night, so extra points for that. But I just have to come to terms with the fact that I am now, and always will be, a fries-with-ketchup girl.

What can I say? I'm a Classic.

No other Saturday Fun to report on tho... just sucky grownup stuff like cleaning the humidifiers, and checking out pawn shops in search of my stolen jewelry, and checking our health insurance policy to figure out how the hell to cover the cost of the lab work that essentially said I was a walking coronary... stuff like that.

Maybe for a treat Mike and I will hit the local library and see if I can't find some more old Hercule Poirot mysteries. There is one perk to having a terribly memory. No matter how many times I watch a Hercule Poirot mystery on TV, I (almost) never remember whodunnit. The little villages are all similar, and the actors are frequently recycled, or I know them from other period pieces (say, a Miss Marple), and so I confuse one story with another and so don't remember who the killer is. Or if I do, I don't remember the how, and so I can enjoy Poirot's little ego-trip at the end in which he explains all :) So no matter what book I find at the library, I probably won't remember how it ends because I don't pay attention to the names when watching, just faces. Plus, either way, I enjoy watching (or envisioning) David Suchet as Papa Poirot.

THAT is a point I feel strongly about.
I very much like Peter Ustinov as an actor, and he will always be close to my heart as the voice of the cowardly Prince John in the animated Robin Hood, but he just is not Hercule Poirot. He had the good fortune to portray Poirot in two fantastic, star-studded movies: Evil Under the Sun (my fav) and Death on the Nile (Maggie Smith is in both as well. If you have not seen them, Netflix them. Classics.) and apparently even a few TV mysteries in the 80's... but he is not the exacting little Belgian. Wonderful to watch, yes. Fit Agatha Christie's description of Hercule Poirot, not quite.
And I don't even want to THINK about the growling, hunched-over Albert Finney performance in Murder on the Orient Express... good grief. He looks and acts more like Hitler with a Hernia than Hercule.
(shrugging that off...)

<--- Papa Poirot says "Non"

David Suchet has really mastered the look, persona, and mannerisms of Hercule Poirot, and I delight in watching his performances. (He is also a fabulous actor in general, who pulls off whatever ethnicity is thrown at him. Look him up.)

And I keep hearing whispers of remaking Murder on the Orient Express with David Suchet (not just in video game form, please...) so I REALLY hope that comes off. Hell, they can even re-cast Lauren Bacall and Sean Connery from the Albert Finney one. Probably not as the same characters tho...

Well, IMDB certainly got a workout from me this morning. And now I must attend to the aforementioned sucky grownup stuff.
Tomorrow: Teriyaki Hanger Steak! (And I guess the Oscars)

Note From The Future: They DID remake "Murder On the Orient Express" with David Suchet, and it showed on Masterpiece Mystery in July of 2010, so if you're a fan, I'm sure you can look it up!

Focaccia Fail

Inspired by a fantastic stromboli-type offering in the breadbasket at Scarpetta, I decided I wanted to figure out how to recreate that bread for myself. (Apparently, making a panini just wouldn't cut it.)
So I decided to try to make some focaccia from scratch.

I will only say that, while I was kneading the dough, I knew something was wrong. I knew I had the wrong consistency, and that it wasn't going to come out right. But, I am also stubborn, so I spent the full 4 hrs making the bread, just to see how it would turn out.

I do not have one of those fancy stand mixers with optional dough-hook attachment, so I had to do it all by hand. Extra tricky as I have never made bread before, other than something like banana bread, which isn't made from a dough, but rather a batter, and so harder to screw up.

Well... even though I knew it was going wrong, it starting out giving me faint hope that it wouldn't suck completely.

The dough actually rose during the hour + that it was left to rest. Even if it looks lumpy instead of puffy and smooth. (I told you I knew this wouldn't end well.)

Then I tried to halve it so I could experiment even further, making one regular focaccia, and one stuffed with prosciutto and smoked mozzarella. Good idea, but with crap dough, not a chance of proper execution.

The smaller blob on the right is the folded-over stuffed one. My dough failed to rise the second time, after stretching out, so that's why it looks like a deflated whiffle-ball.
Drizzled w/ evoo and lots of salt, I baked the bastards off anyway.

Crispy, yes. Unfortunately, dense as... well no bread is supposed to be that dense. It's more of a weapon than a food source. But Mike was nice and ate the stuffed one saying he liked it (sometimes I really worry about his palate...)

But the flavor wasn't all bad, so I thought today that I'd try to turn it into a flatbread pizza kinda deal. Fresh mozzarella, garlic, olive oil, salt, basil, etc...

I even pre-roasted the tomato slices.

There is just no saving shitty bread. Turning it into croutons would just be an insult to the unsuspecting salad-eater as they broke a tooth on the extra-hardened nuggets from further toasting.

I did, however, eat all that melted mozzarella and tomato topping. And it was good! So HA!

There is my first attempt at bread. Ending in total failure. See, I will post my failures... just grudgingly. And I may not acknowledge them in the future, no matter what evidence you produce. Just sayin'...

Also, I have since learned that a dear friend of mine used to make this bread ALL THE TIME growing up. She will soon be imported from Brooklyn and chained to my kitchen to help me not suck at this anymore. Until then, I am going to have to haul my butt down to 74th to buy my focaccia at Salumeria Rosi. And OH NO I guess I'll have to pick up some fresh burrata while I'm there.

However will I survive?
:)

3-Piece Sexy

Why on Earth did the 3-piece suit ever go out of style? Really, we've survived the Zoot Suits, the 70's polyester and Lapels of Death, and the Double-Breasted phenomenon (which comes back on occasion but slightly less Captain & Tennille in form), so can we get back to the good fashion again already?!?!

It is so classy, and solves the problem of looking to casual when you chivalrously lend your coat to a chilly lady, because you have your swanky vest, possibly outfitted w/ a watch-fob-chain piece.

Plus, who would you rather hang out with:

Bachelor # 1

Or Bachelor #2

Bachelor #1

Or Bachelor #2 (minus the pleather-clad chick, obviously...)

It's just such an automatically classy and sexy look. Mike agrees with me and wears vests to work some days, but I'm damned if I don't wish he had a reason to wear a 3-piece suit more often!

Brad Pitt knows what I'm talking about!

See! Smart man (if, possibly, completely destroyed by choice of partner.) But clearly understands fashion, no matter what freaky Man of the Mountain beard he has to sport for a part.

Even this actress from "House" spent a solid season wearing the vest-pantsuit uniform, which was a fabulous choice for her emaciated frame (unlike when she later went blonde... blah.)

Now let us just enjoy some other lovely pictures:

A bit outdated, but it was the 1880's

Oh my.

Did I mention I was excited for this to come out on DVD already?

No matter how I may digress... I think I have a valid point. There is a time for casual dress, and for tuxedos, and for jeans and a t-shirt, but for those other occasions, 

in the immortal words of Barney Stinson:

Re: the first comment below.
I would not use Danzig as your fashion roll-model. A man who wears a net tank as his on stage persona is not one to be admired, fashionably speaking.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Waaaaaay too much Exhibit B

Even if you are implying you are terribly buff, or just looking for a male version of "zaftig" a vest is a good look. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would look great in a 3-piece suit, and we're all happy when Dan Aykroyd contains his paunch within the confines of a vest.

 

I was just going to link to this picture, but then decided I couldn't let that Right Said Fred picture be the last image on this page...

Dan Aykroyd: one time Ghostbuster, ex-Spy, Blues Brother, & Conehead, now brings you vodka in a skull and ice wine.
He doesn't look like he likes it...
But he IS wearing a 3-piece suit, so it's gonna be  alright.
So long as he remembers Winston's advice I keep at the top of my blog...

Meet the Furballs

Really, it was only a matter of time before I blogged about my cats, right?
Besides, dinner tonight is leftovers of the pasta sauce I made last night, so I don't have anything food-wise to impart to you.
So... cats.

If you don't know me, I have two cats. Keats, who is a very smart girl who can solve complex problems, squeaks rather than meows (unless she has found a sock, at which point she yowls with it in her mouth), and was a rescue so took a solid year before she trusted me enough to sit on my lap.

 

Keats, Intent.

Keats, Adorable.

The other one is Byron, and he is very fluffy, looks very regal, loves to curl up with his head in your cleavage, and unfortunately follows that stereotype of beautiful but dumb. And I'm not being mean. He really is just dumb. Like can't-get-out-of-a-push-to-open-closet-door dumb. Instead he just cries until someone lets him out.
(As a comparison, Keats once stared at Mike's closed dresser, jumped on top of it, pushed the door open with her paw, and then jumped down again so she could leap directly into the drawer. Problem: solved.)
But we love him. We just feel badly for Keats sometimes that he's all she has for company.

Byron looking fluffy and majestic.

Byron sleeping upside-down on Mike.

Not. Smart.

So today's Not Smart moment is about Byron learning that Plastic Bags Are Not Toys.  

He stuck his head into a plastic delivery bag, and of course stuck his head through the handle... and panicked. Before I could get to him to remove the bag, he took off like a shot up and down the hall, where it worked its way down his body to his hind legs. Keats started chasing him because he was in such a panic. The noise of the bag, however, scared him so badly I have never seen him run so fast in my life. When I finally cornered him and removed the bag, he slunk in slow motion to the doorway, and spent the next TWO HOURS doing the hunt-crouch all around the apartment. He seemed convinced that the Big Bad Bag was hiding somewhere, just waiting to pounce on him. He didn't even try to sleep on me that night. It wasn't until the next day that he was back to normal.

I can only hope he has actually learned not to stick his head in bags anymore.

Chicken Leftovers, Day 3

I may or may not have ruined my dinner by watching some horrible show on fast food, which then made me really crave a chocolate shake... which I then went to my kitchen to create BECAUSE I COULD! And that is yet another thing I can't remember the last time I had. 
So good.

But, there is still leftover chicken, and attention must be paid, and tired hubbies fed.

Night 3 of chicken leftovers, and what can you do that won't overcook your chicken but will make it different from the night before so your husband/wife/spouse/SO/roommate will eat it?

Pasta!
Tonight I shall make a twist on a dish that is usually served with shrimp, but tonight will be leftover chicken, because Mike doesn't really enjoy shrimp, and also, as I mentioned, I still have leftover chicken! Plus I found one stalwart zucchini in my crisper and it deserves a good use.

It's fairly simple, and I'm going to try to walk you through the steps without forgetting any of them... (Janet, I'm trying. Really.)
Chop your zucchini into about 1/2" quarters, and add to a pan w/ evoo on medium-high heat. The objective here is to get some nice browning on your veg. Season with salt.

For the sauce: when the zucchini is just about done browning, mince a shallot (or small onion, but I use the milder shallot whenever I can because I'm not big on onion flavors) and toss into the pan w/ the zucchini and evoo. Once that is translucent, add 2 minced cloves of garlic (I use my Microplane to make that easier.) and sauté another minute or so, until the garlic has sweat out a bit.
Then I throw in a 16oz. can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes, and re-season with salt, dried oregano, and maybe even some dried basil if I have no fresh on hand (really you should have fresh basil to finish this dish properly.) I then throw in about a palm-full of Old Bay seasoning, stir, and let the sauce simmer for about 10 min or so to let the flavors combine.

At this point, put some water on to boil so you can cook your pasta. I use capellini whenever I make this sauce, so I can toss the pasta in at the last minute since it only takes 2 min to cook. If you have a longer cooking pasta (since I'm using chicken, a penne rigate would work well) adjust your prep-time.

*Always heavily salt your pasta water before dropping the noodles in to flavor the pasta itself (Yes it makes a difference!) but if you are using a stainless steel pot, do not drop the salt until the water is boiling. Too early and you can cause scarring/pitting/discoloration on your pot, etc...

At this point I'd dice up my leftover chicken breast meat into bite-sized chunks. When I drop the pasta, I'll toss the chicken into the tomato sauce to heat through. The last touch on the sauce is a splash of cream to turn it pink and make it creamy. (Eyeball this to your desired shade.) Cook another 2-5 minutes.

Check your seasonings again!!!
This sauce should have a healthy kick to it from the Old Bay Seasoning (it contains red pepper and the like), but the cream can absorb a lot of it when you add it at the end, so double check and re-season as necessary. That is a general rule for anything you cook. Season in layers, at each step.

When your pasta is done, toss it in the pot with the sauce and chicken and let them meld another minute or two. And if you're classy, serve the finished dishes with a chiffonade of fresh basil.

*You can also be a classy person but be told by your errand-running hubby that both Gourmet Garage & Gristedes are out of fresh basil. WTF is that about?!?! Way to ruin my dinner presentation, chain food stores. Must get the aerogarden back up and running...

Other possible additions/swaps:
Toss some capers into your sauce at the end for a salty bite. (I really wish I'd had these tonight, as I think it would have been the perfect finishing touch this time around.)
You can substitute eggplant for the zucchini. In fact, when I learned the original version of this dish (from my mom), it was made with eggplant, and I made the switch to zucchini. But either vegetable will essentially melt into the sauce anyway.

And yes, this will leave you with leftover sauce. But I always cook expecting leftovers, because then I have something to eat for lunch the next day.
Mangia!

Dinner, Continued...

I am continuing yesterday's Braised Chicken dinner into tonight's dinner for two reasons: one - just about all braised meals taste even better the second day, and two - I made a HUGE amount of food.

I'm serious. I did 2 bone-in chicken breasts (one which apparently belonged to a pterodactyl-chicken, for size, not age...) and 4 thighs. That's a lot of food for two people. So tonight, leftovers!

One thing I wasn't prepared for in my leftovers, tho, was that the sauce was now basically gelatin. I had reserved all the cooking liquids in a bowl and put them in the fridge for easy fat-skimming and reheating purposes, but once I skimmed the (considerable) layer of fat away, the clear sauce was jiggling at me in a frighteningly aspic-like manner. In fact, it IS aspic. And I am really NOT a fan of aspic. On any level. Or so I thought.

<-- Extra revolting, I know.

I don't like aspic in its traditional serving form, which is to say, cold and jiggling. I find the whole concept revolting. But I guess I didn't really understand that consommé is just warmed aspic. So I guess as long as it's warm and I don't have to think of it possibly turning back into a solid inside my very warm interior, I can deal with it. Because dang is the sauce tasty! My sauce still tastes of concentrated cider and chicken, etc. (and melts the instant it hits a warm pan, as it aught) but the visual unnerved me. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised that by slow-cooking that much bone-in meat, I ended up with aspic. I just hadn't planned to make it, and that would be one thing that All About Braising failed to mention. Unless I glossed over that paragraph, which is entirely possible. I just feel like The Accidental Gourmet, inadvertently creating something delicious (and presumed fancy) that I previously thought was revolting. Whoops!

Anyhoo... continuing on the theme of questionable yet delicious substances:
My refrigerator is not a safe place to blindly search around in at the moment, as there are many little glass bowls filled with various solids. One of these is the leftover duck fat from this fabulous meal I made a few nights ago. So tonight, as promised, I shall reheat the chicken in its cider reduction, and make duck-fat-sautéed potatoes. And they shall be delicious!!
And do you know WHY they shall be so delicious? Because not only am I using the leftover duck-fat in the potatoes, but I also have about a tablespoon and a half of saved BACON drippings from the start of yesterday's braise. (Save. Everything.)
Duck-fat AND Bacon-fat. (Both freeze beautifully by the way.)
Good thing I only cook like this once or twice a year or no one would pity my insane and uncontrollable cholesterol levels.

For the meat, I will ladle some of my Accidental Aspic into a pan and simmer the meat in it, lid on, just to bring it back to a warm temp, keep it juicy, etc..

For the veg, I will do my usual roasted carrot method in the oven as explained here in my previous duck recipe. Although I may throw some more hard cider, or Accidental Aspic, so it follows the flavors of the whole dish more closely.

For the potatoes: Preheat your oven to 375º (I am following a Gordon Ramsay recipe)

I'm using baby red bliss potatoes, so I'm just going to halve them, and throw them in some (cold) water and bring them up to a boil. After five minutes of the water actively boiling, drain the potatoes.
Meanwhile heat some of the duck fat in a stainless pan until "murky" or starting to smoke. CAREFULLY toss the potatoes in and stir to coat them all. Add your seasonings (salt and thyme or rosemary work the best) and place them in the oven for about 30 minutes. Check on them once to stir and make sure all sides are becoming browned.

Can you say, "YUM!"? Say it with me now... Yum.

Everything came out super tasty, as expected. The carrots were actually surprisingly sweet and tender, so the extra cider/aspic worked out great. I'm not sure the potatoes were worth the extra calories from the fat this time, only because I did not think they were any better than my usual crispy potatoes (mix of butter and evoo), but they were still damned tasty.

But that's how to make use of leftovers, people.

Go forth and cook!

I am a Braisin' Hussy

Only without the "hussy" part.

Ok, so I can't rant on my dislike of certain TV Cooks without backing it up with a tasty cooking segment, so here you are.

Chicken Braised in Hard Cider w/ Parsnips, from the amazing All About Braising by Molly Stevens. This book is truly a marvel, because not only is it chock-full of amazing recipes (covering vegetables, fish, poultry, beef, pork, veal, and lamb in their own chapters) but it also is a tell-all about the art of braising. Everything from the many various options in pots and pans, down to why you reduce and deglaze, to describing optimal ingredients, and even where to find them!  If you are a beginner cook, it walks you through everything step-by-step. It is a brilliant book.

Toward the end there is a chapter called, "An Opinionated Pantry" that I am going to quote here, because really, I couldn't say it better myself:

"If I were able to communicate only one lesson to students and aspiring cooks, it would be: Cook. Cook from scratch. Cook often. Cook whenever you can. Cook whatever you can. Cook for your family and your friends. Cook for yourself even when you are alone. Cook when you are going to visit and bring along whatever you made. The act of cooking on a regular basis will make you a better cook and will improve the quality of your life and of those around you. I'm convinced of it."

I very much feel this way, and if I had my druthers  I would be cooking for friends much more often as well. Of course, then I'd need a table and chairs for them to sit at... but that's a separate NYC apartment issue.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
4 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2 inch strips
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
Coarse salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 large shallot, minced
2 1/2 cups hard cider (still or bubbly)
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 pound parsnips, peeled & woody core removed, cut into 3" sticks

Right off I am starting this recipe differently because I made this once before and discovered that while Mike very much likes the chicken breasts from it, I much prefer the thigh meat which get much sweeter. So that's a simple variation. I am also throwing in carrots along with the parsnips (tho I LOVE the slightly spicy smell parsnips give off when peeled, I just happen to have a number of carrots on hand right now.) Last time I used Woodchuck Granny Smith Hard Cider. This time I am trying using Doc's Draft Hard Cider. We shall see if there is a difference. Finally, I only have dried rosemary, as we do not enjoy rosemary over much. But sometimes a dish calls for it (like today...) so I keep dried on hand.

(A last warning... this is not a "toss everything in a pot and walk away" kind of recipe. The first few steps are very time-consuming and require your attention.)

Preheat your oven to 325º (Tho you SO don't have to do this until you're done browning the chicken.)

First: crisp the bacon so it renders its fat for all-around tastiness. (Because this is thick-cut slab bacon, it takes quite a while. 15 min or so. Keep an eye on it.) Remove and reserve bacon for later.

(You must try very hard from this point on to NOT eat all the reserved bacon while waiting for other things to cook... you can do it! Or just make extra...)

Next you want to brown your chicken in about 2 tablespoons of the drippings, about 4-5 minutes.  (Usual chicken prep: rinse under cool water, pat completely dry, and season both sides with salt and pepper.) Then flip them to brown the other side (or the thick end of the chicken breast) another 2 minutes. Remove to a plate.

<-- browning the thick end of the breast


*Do not crowd your pot. If your pot is too small to fit all the chicken at once to brown, do it in batches. The only thing that happens from crowding a pan is boiled/steamed food. It will not brown because there is nowhere for the trapped moisture to go.

Now sauté your shallot in the leftover drippings. Just as it is beginning to brown (not burn) pour in 2 cups of hard cider to deglaze the pan. With a wooden spoon, scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan (these are flavor nuggets. You want these!).
Let the cider boil and reduce down to about 1/2 a cup, 10-15 minutes. Add your rosemary and another 1/2 cup of cider and reduce down to about 3/4 of a cup total (6-8 min.) Your sauce will not become thick (there is no thickening agent or starch) but the flavor will have intensified and concentrated from the repeated reductions.

Next add your parsnips & season w/ a pinch of salt and black pepper. **Sprinkle the bacon back over the parsnips, and arrange the chicken pieces on top, skin side down. Add any juices that escaped your chicken while it was resting on the plate. Cover with parchment paper, pressing down to just touch the chicken and the top hangs out of the pan, and place the lid on top. Slide the pot (carefully as it has gotten very hot all this time) into the lower third of the preheated oven.

** I only put half back in, as we prefer our bacon to be crunchy, and it has done its job rendering its fat in the first step. We sprinkle the other half on the finished product.

After 25 minutes, carefully rotate the chicken skin-up and replace parchment/lid. Cook another 20-25 minutes.  If your parsnips have not cooked thru at this point, you can remove the chicken and simmer the sauce & veg on the stovetop another 5-8 minutes. Then distribute your veg w/ your chicken and top with your sauce (and bacon!) after skimming any obvious fat off the top of the sauce.

 I have not mastered the "final photo presentation" element.
Whatever. So long as it tastes good!

Now for reality: cook this dish for a friend, and HAVE THEM THERE to talk to you in the kitchen while you're making this, because it took me over an hour and a half before I even got to the "place everything in the pot and braise it in the oven" part. I just remembered why I haven't made this since last winter.
Braising is not a quick-cooking art. However, all the individual steps ARE the reason a braised dish tastes 100x better than anything you just dumped in a slow-cooker and came home to 4 hrs later. So in the end, it's worth it.
Just start cooking at 5PM...