Tangerine Chicken

There are couple of island traditions particular to Webb cottage, one being a new jigsaw puzzle set up in a nook off the living room that is the exclusive domain of KT and her dad. The rest of us sort of pick at it in passing, but those two go at it with a vengeance, no looking at the box cover for hints allowed. The other is that every year, rain or shine, Natalie insists on watching either Airplane or Blazing Saddles with her grandchildren. Most of them don't really watch the movie anymore, but wait for that moment when the old girl bursts into fits of uncontrolled laughter, usually with the start of the soundtrack and the opening credits. She sits in her high back chair giggling like the feeble. It's most contagious, actually. And that sets up a story on probably the best meal we've all ever sat down to on Chebeague.

With so much good food coming out of our Cottage kitchen, and so much laughter at the table, it's usually hard to single out one favorite meal, but this year will be remembered as the summer the Captain was introduced to the family, and the Blazing Saddle quotes volleyed across the table got the better of us. The only thing missing was water coming out of somebody's nose.

A Saturday Chebeague Family Dinner

Tangerine Chicken Roasted Asparagus Creamy Risotto

Roast Chicken with Tangerines - Food & Wine, December 2009

Two 6-pound roasting chickens For each bird: 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 6 rosemary sprigs 3 tangerines, washed and halved 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil ½ cup dry white wine ¾ cup honey Salt and freshly ground pepper 1¾ cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth

Preheat the oven to 425°. Set the chicken on a rack in a roasting pan and stuff the cavity with the garlic, rosemary and 4 of the tangerine halves. Tie the legs together. Juice the remaining 2 tangerine halves. Rub the oil over the chicken. Pour the wine and tangerine juice over the chicken, drizzle on the honey and season with salt and pepper.

Roast the chicken for 20 minutes. Add 1 cup of the broth to the pan, cover the pan with foil and reduce the oven temperature to 375°. Roast the chicken for 40 minutes. Add the remaining 3/4 cup of broth to the roasting pan. Cover and roast for 50 minutes longer, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in an inner thigh registers 165°.

Transfer the chicken to a carving board and let rest for 15 minutes. Strain the pan juices into a saucepan and skim the fat. Carve the chicken and serve with the pan juices.

While most of the boys were out on the golf course, Miss Muffy and J-Mac were outdoing themselves back home in the kitchen. These birds were unbelievably moist and sweet. All that tangerine juice and honey did a real number on the flesh. Muff and J garnered lots of kudos from around the table that night. I was reminded why I love chicken so much. This is a recipe you'll have to try for a weekend family dinner.

Well, the laughter started at the table and, as predicted, took a crescendo with Natalie's guffaws as Madeline Kahn made her way on stage for "I'm Tired", and petered out as Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder rode drove off into the sunset. But talk of that delicious meal went on for several more days.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

When the World Gives You Lemons...

If you though the weather was bad in NYC those first few weeks of June, I've got news for you, Maine was experiencing rain of biblical proportions. On Chebeague, the ground was completely saturated. I played a round of golf in six inches of mud. God knows why they even opened up the course; it's now ruined for the season. The Webb Cottage kids were about 24 hours away from total bat-shit crazy. There weren't enough DVDs at the library or jigsaw puzzles on the shelves to keep them occupied. The grown ups weren't faring much better themselves. There were only two consolations: booze and food. We cover the latter in this here blog thingy.

Pork Roast – adapted from Atlanta Junior League Cookbook

¼ cup vegetable oil 2 Tbsp unsulphered molasses 1 Tbsp ground ginger 2tsp dry mustard 6 cloves garlic finely chopped ½ cup soy sauce 4-5 lb pork loin roast

Mix first 6 ingredients together and let stand for 15 minutes to combine. Marinate pork in the refrigerator overnight in a large zip-lock bag with marinade, turning several times before going to bed. Remove pork roast from the ice box 1 hour before roasting. Place meat, fat-side up in an oiled shallow backing pan. Reserve the marinade. Roast meat for 2.5 hours in a pre-heated 350° oven, basting with reserved marinade every 20 minutes or so. Roast will be cooked to medium when an internal thermometer registers 140°. Remove roast from oven, loosely tent with aluminum foil, resting for 20 minutes before carving.

And for dessert? Gingerbread cake.

Gingerbread Cake – adapted from the New York Times

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 2 cups all-purpose flour ¼ tsp baking soda 2 tsp baking powder ½ tsp ground ginger 1 tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp salt 2 eggs 1 ½ cups dark molasses Freshly whipped cream, for serving.

Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in spices and salt. In a small pan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Melt ½ cup butter in it, then whisk liquid into flour mixture. Beat eggs and add to flour along with the molasses. Stir until well blended. Pour batter into a buttered, floured 8x8 baking pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a skewer plunged into the center of the bread comes out clean. Serve warm with freshly whipped cream.

By Thursday afternoon, the weather finally broke with streaks of blue sky and the sun poking through clouds. Friday dawned clear, and the fair weather stuck around the entire holiday weekend. Saturday night, watching the mainland fireworks from our vantage point above the Hook, a fattening moon rose brilliantly over Deer Point, its reflection on the cove a white path to the heavens. Magical.

I've looked over my posts from Chebeague, and in my humble opinion, they are some of the finest musings I've come up with so far on You Gonna Finish That?. I can draw only one conclusion: food, for me, is a social experiment. Breaking bread fulfills me and that pleasure pours out in my writing. It has been a sheer delight sharing stories of loved ones and our good times together, almost as much fun as the experiences themselves. It's been almost a year, and this blogger is finding his voice. I wondered for a time what this effort would ultimately be about. Seems I have my answer.

Now back to work!

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

We Now Return...

...To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

I'll bet you thought I'd forgotten you, gentle reader. Never ever, however, underestimate a blogger's unquenchable thirst for an audience. I can assure you I did cook this weekend, it's just that I forgot the digital camera at work (it's Championship Week), and had no means of documenting my culinary acumen. And while I have been complimented on my flowery prose once or twice, a pretty picture always breaks up text agreeably, don't you think? So, I swiped a bunch of pictures off the Web, and while my own photos are only of the remnants, I have proof that I didn't fritter away my days on the couch, the remote fused to my hand.

I had the entire weekend in the kitchen all planned out. I'd made a shopping list Thursday night, and skipped out of the office an hour early on Friday so I could go to the market with plenty of time to shop and get some prep work out of the way:

Yukon potatoes leeks heavy cream sour cream Parmigiano Reggiano cheese whole roasting chicken baby carrots button mushrooms broccoli rabe cherry tomatoes dry sherry fresh ciabatta loaf

Any takers on what was on the menu? You get three guesses. The original opening sentence for this post was going to be along the lines of, "I've Had Just About Enough of This Cold Weather," and the menus were gonna revolve around beating those lingering winter blues. Here's a hint: when you're under the weather, or feeling a bit low, what does every mother prescribe? No, not cleaning your room: soup of course. I'd been hankering for soup for weeks and hadn't even realized it until the Top Chef finale jarred me out of my wintry stupor. I love soup and really must have been an old Jewish grandmother in a previous life, cause my soups cure whatever ails you.

Friday's Potato Leek soup

2 lbs Yukon potatoes, peeled and cubed 3 leeks, cleaned of all sand and roughly chopped ¼ cup olive oil 5 cups chicken stock ½ cup white wine ¼ cup heavy cream 1 cup sour cream ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a small roasting pan, toss potatoes and leeks with olive oil to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in a pre-heated 400° oven for 40-45 minutes until tender. Move the vegetables to the stovetop and de-glaze the pan with the wine and 1 cup of the chicken stock. In batches if necessary, purée the vegetables and their liquid in a food processor and move to a large stock pot. Stir in the remaining chicken stock to make a thick soup. Add the heavy and sour creams and season to taste with salt and pepper. When the soup reaches a temperature warm enough to serve (do not boil sour cream), whisk in the Parmesan cheese and another splash of white wine to brighten the dish.

Ina made this soup on one of her shows, and anything she can do, I can do just as well, if not better. Say what you will about Ms. Garten, she (or her minions) have a firm grip on basic, good home cooking. She's not an ingredient slave. Everything she calls for can be found readily in most local markets and her results are always satisfying. The potato leek soup was no exception. With that splash of wine, the leeks were bright and oniony. The potatoes added substance, and all that cream and cheese brought out such a richness that I really should have eaten this soup on the couch wrapped up in a Snuggie. Thank goodness I made a big batch. With our March 2 snow storm, I have plenty left over to get me through the next couple days as a shut in.

Saturday: Let's roast a chicken

I know, I know; more roasting. It's still winter here. You try grilling in 20° temperatures. Roasting a whole chicken is so easy and requires very little in the way of preparation. The most effort you have to exert is remembering to season the whole bird with plenty of salt and a little pepper at least one day before roasting. The salt penetrates the flesh and makes all the difference for a more tender, juicier finished product. Salt the inside and outside of the bird and wrap in butcher paper. Stow the chicken in the refrigerator overnight. Another failsafe tip is to bring the bird to room temperature before cooking. Give the chicken an hour or two on the kitchen counter before roasting. Roast in a pre-heated 400° oven, 15 minutes per pound. Start the bird breast-side up. About ⅓ of the way through roasting, flip the chicken breast-side down. Return to breast-side up the last ⅓ of the cooking time.

Just before roasting I stuffed the entire cavity of my bird with lemon slices and a thick wad of fresh thyme, stems and all. Those herbs and citrus lightly perfumed the chicken but in no way overpowered it, so really get in there and fill the whole void. Remember Whogus and his chicken gizzard treats? Well I was a very good boy Saturday afternoon and whipped myself up a little chicken hearts & liver snack while the bird roasted away. A pat of butter, a dash of soy, Worcestershire, and Tabasco sauces, some dry sherry in a small sauté pan,  salt & freshly ground pepper and 10 minutes later I had a rich and creamy appetizer. Technically, you don't really have to be a good little boy or girl to have the organs this way, but it sure tastes like a reward in a small way.

In a separate pan I roasted carrots, mushroom, greens and cherry tomatoes with some olive oil, salt & pepper along side the chicken. With the drippings from the bird, I made a thick gravy with some flour, chicken stock and a splash of heavy cream. The vegetables didn't make it to the second day, but you can see for yourself the creamy gravy below.

So rest assured, my loyal followers, I have not abandoned you for the latest fad or a new diversion. You can continue to count on me for honest home-style cooking and the occasional bon mot to swap at the next office party.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food