Chix Dig Me

And I dig Chix.  Yes, the ladies, the dames, the birds, of course.   No surprise there.  But tonight I'm talking bout "chix".  Short for chicken...of the noodle soup variety.  Ok, so I've been on a bit of a soup kick lately.  But it ain't easy, and it takes a little time.   And then there's - well, the uhhh. . . alright alright, who'm I foolin'.  It's easy and it's quick, and what the hell - it's complex and limitless and delicious...just like zee womenz.  And but of course, just like zee women, practice makes perfect.

So today was another cool rainy day in Southern California.  It's been this way for a few days, and going to stay that way for a few more days, but I don't mind (yet).  But around lunch today I could feel that damp coolness settling in, and it just felt like chicken soup weather.   I'm not going to go on and on about this tonight - but I'm really digging this method I've "devised" of sauteing a base of vegetables - in this case garlic, onion, celery, mushrooms  - adding half of them to a chicken stock, letting that cook down a little more, then hand blending it all down to a much bolder broth.  Then adding the other half of sauteed vegetable intact, so you have a little something for the spoon.   Some chopped carrots are always a nice addition to the pot.   I also pan seared some chicken breasts, and then cut them into bits to be added to the soup.   Then, I added da noodle.  A nice, thick, fresh, pappardelle.  They cook down so-so-a nize.
Chopped fine some rosemary, tyme, and sage (what a great scent), added to the pot.  Eh, a little water, a little more salt/pepper. Simmer simmer simmer.   I dunno.   Practice makes. . . practice makes a helluva really awesome friggin chicken soup in about 45 minutes.

Also worthy of note:  Paired this with a glass of very affordable, and surprisingly enjoyable (as a neighbor concurred) zin from Trader Joes called Steelhead, from Sonoma, $6.99.  One of those lucky cheap picks from TJ's.  Notes of cherry and chocolate, kinda jammy, very nice with a stewy soup.

The Big Ragu

Ya know these little ads you see on the side of MSN.com or CNN or something for "recipe of the week" or "low calorie 30 minute meals!" ?  Maybe you don't.  I generally don't notice them either.  However,  today... something with Marcus Samuelsson's face referred to flank steak and ragu.   Marcus Samuelsson, ya know, Aquavit.  Celeb chef.  Yeah he's badass.   He's generally more on the Swedish/Scandinavian cuisine, so I don't know why he's pushing steak n potatoes, but ...

I saw him in New York once, at a Japanese restaurant where I was dining post-dinner-shift with two chef friends of mine.   He was sitting at a table with 5 or 6 supermodel types, a little toasted on aquavit(?) or sake or something, but we were all having fun and I'm pretty sure there are pictures/evidence of this floating around somewhere in the universe.  Anyway, I owe tonight's home cooked plate of awesomeness to him.
It was a very simple recipe.   Trader Joe's didn't have any flank steak though, so I opted for a nice, small NY strip.

Started with dicing about 2 cups of potatoes.  This was an exercise in knife skills - me dicing potatoes, trying my best to keep them equal in size.  Respectable job, but slower than a seasoned chef.  All things in due time, friends.  
Anyway - sauteed the buhdaydas for about 4 minutes w/ a little oil, salt, pepper.  Introduced a sliced red onion.  Let that cook down a bit.  Added a small can of diced tomatoes and a can of chick peas.  More salt pepper.   Let it cook down to a stewy ragu.   While this is cooking. . . marinated the steak in oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and chopped rosemary (ohhhhh yessss).   Heated up a pan nice and hot and seared that sucker!!  Nice char on both sides, even seared the big fat-strip on the side for added flaaavor.  Smell this:  Searing NY strip steak, garlic, rosemary, right next to a stewing pan of potatoes, onions, chick peas and tomatoes (and a little garlic in there too).   Friggin ree-diggaluss.

So simple.  So quick - even though I took my time.   Sooooo good.   Very much in part cuz I cooked that steak PERFECT medium rare (pics not showing the true reddish pink), and I let it rest for a good 6 or 7 minutes before slicing it, so them juices stayed put in the meat.   I don't sear steaks that often, so getting this right the first time was part gut, part luck.   But I'm telling ya, if I can cook a six dollar steak this precisely well with no practice - no one should ever accept a $30 steak from a steakhouse that is not cooked exactly how you want it.  Send that sh*t back if they can't do it right - at a steakhouse, that's ALL they do, there is zero tolerance for poor execution.
Well, another Monday - another very fine, very affordable home cooked meal for one.  And a good portion of the ragu leftover for tomorrow.   Thanks again Marcus.

Stew Deux

Quick update: Even better the second day!

Chicken Vegetable Stewp

Pictures aren't doing this justice. This was one of the finer tasting things I've made. Lot's of simple ingredients seasoned with nothing more than salt and pepper. It's the first cool, rainy night of autumn. Easy soup night.

Yes, more soup. But THIS time... more flavor. So much flavor and. . .texture(?), that it's kind of a cross between a soup and a stew. I'll call it a Stewp.

At Trader Joes. Picked up some essentials and got some good ideas along the way walking through the produce isle.

Home: diced a whole medium onion, chopped two medium yellow squash, 4 sticks of celery, 3 carrots, minced 5 small cloves of garlic. Sautee.

Took two medium boneless skinless chicken breasts, and cross cut them through the middle (they were a little thick). Salt, peppered, pan seared, put to the side.

Dumped a large can of diced tomatoes in a pot with a pint of chicken broth. Added the sauteed veggies, let them all simmer for 20 mins. Turned off the heat and broke out the immersible. Pureed all this goodness. At this point, by the way, two neighbors had forced their way upstairs and in to my kitchen because they could smell what was emanating from these pots and pans from all the way across the street. Of course they were welcomed to partake.

So now that I've blended everything down to one bold complex flavor, I separately sauteed some more roughly cut vegetables so there'd be some bite to this stew. Yellow squash, crimini mushrooms, carrots. Once they were cooked, I added them to the pot. Shredded three of the chicken breasts and added that to the pot. I also added a can of white kidney beans - it adds a little starch and well, there's a bean for just about any situation.

I let this all simmer down for a while, tasting along the way. Again, I only seasoned with salt and pepper, but I seasoned all of the steps individually, so that all the ingredients were seasoned just right on their own. Ultimately I didn't need to add any salt or pepper to the big pot because of this. However, the ultimate product tasted almost like I added chili powder or some additional heat. Kind of unexplainable.

For me, the test of how good something is, particularly soup, is how hard of a time I have putting it away. If it's good, I'm probably already in 3 bowls deep - but if I can't keep the spoon out of the pot on the way to the fridge, it's probably pretty dang good. So a dark rainy Monday night became a leisurely, soupy, chicken vegetable stew-filled bowl of hearty October. And actually I'm enjoying the rain, which is such a rarity. Of course, I just washed my car two days ago, so now it's spotty and muddy. But. . . ahhh chicken vegetable stewp.

ChowDUH

WOW, it's been a while. I've been working a lot lately. Late, lately. Lately? Ok, well, for quite some time now. Long enough that this is the first real cooking I've done since May. But today was a good day, got a lot done in the office. Worked 11 hours but still had a lot of good energy on my way home. So I stopped off at Trader Joe's for some coffee and milk that I knew I needed. Eh, and the usual salad supplies that I get every week, because lately salad is the only thing I've been motivated to make for myself in the past few months. Anyway, here I stand, suddenly, blankly staring into space in the isles of Trader Joes. . . surrounded.

By potatoes. . . . corn on the cob. . . . tomatoes of different sorts. . . . what do I have in the fridge? Not much at ALL, honestly. Some celery.. . . an onion... fresh garlic, hmmm...don't I have some chicken stock in the cupboard? And what about that new immersion blender that I've been dying to use. Could it be time for. . . SOOOOOOOUUP!

Yes that's right folks. Soup. Mid September soup (Summer? What summer.) How bout a little PoCoCho. Potato Corn Chowder. You say, "Chowder"? No! ChowDERE!! And Tuesday is exciting again.

No real idea how to do this, and for some reason I refused to look up a recipe. But this was the method of madness I devised in the produce isle at Trader Joe's: I'm thinking potatoes, corn, tomatoes - no, roasted tomatoes - stock, a base, a blend...

Roasted three large tomatoes off the vine - boiled for about 5 seconds, peeled off the skins, gutted 'em. They go face down on a roasting pan, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil. 400 degrees for . . until their roasted. (about 25 mins, til there was some good brown roasted drippings around them).

Boiled about 2 pounds of small potatoes. Once they were cooked, shocked them in cold water bath, until cool enough to peel the skins off after cutting them in half.

Boiled 2-3 ears of corn on the cob. Cut the corn off the cob with a knife, once done.

Sauteed 4 stalks of chopped celery, half an onion, one full (small) bulb of garlic, in a bit of oil in the bottom of the soup pot.

Once sauteed, added about a pint of unsalted chicken stock, some water. Brought to a simmer.

Add the skinned potatoes, the corn and the roasted tomatoes. Simmered for a few minutes.

And now, more fun with kitchen gadgets! IMMERSED the handheld immersion blender in the soup and pureed up and down and all around to a chowdery consistency. Ladled into a bowl....perhaps some sriracha?!?! But of course!

And it was good.

Ok, so the pics look a little bland. I was definitely short on adding any more herbs that one could potentially add. . or any toppings or dressings that would make a picture of chowder look so good. Like bacon. Or ham. Or clams or, jeez five million other things that could make a chowder even more chowDERE-ous. But this was a 9th inning call to the bullpen for something, when I wasn't planning on doing anything, and really haven't had anything in my fridge beyond stale kimchee and 4-month-old parmesan for the past, well, 4 months. But what we ultimately have here is a sweet, savory base for a potato and corn chowder with endless possibilities - right on the cusp of the new Fall season and the new Primetime TV premieres - and like any good reality TV show, totally unscripted. Yet, like General Macarthur predicted (if he were a soup), It Shall Return

Lundi Gras

Fat Monday. Had an educational weekend that included learning about canning and preserves, jams and pickling (free class at Surfas in Culver City, was actually pretty interesting, and it's way easier to make jam and pickle stuff than you'd think). Pretty mellow otherwise, except for getting back on the bike for the first time in months and taking a good 20 mile loop down the PCH from Long Beach to Bolsa Chica Beach, through Seal Beach and Sunset Beach - there's a lot to see and do around those areas that you don't catch whizzing by in a car, and riding a bike down the coast with wetlands preserve on your left and some of California's best surf on your right is just plain spiritual. No less, it left me a with sweet farmer's tan on the arms - summer must be just around the corner.

So tonight, I was feeling kinda religious. Quizzically, I have been jonesin' to get in touch w/ da spirit. The trinity. I said The HOLY trinity! Ok ok, hold your horses ye followers of tasty tabernacle. I'm referring to the holy trinity of flavor. N'awlins style. In the name of the celery, the onion and the green pepper.

I'm calling this my Blind Chicken Mumbo Gumbo. "Blind", because I did not follow any recipe or use any measurements. This was completely winged. "Mumbo", cuz I'm not really sure if this was a true gumbo per se, but gumbo was kinda what I was going for - and I think if I added a few things, say like some ochra or potatoes, it may have been a little more legit. HOWever, it came out pretty dang good.

Started off prepping: four celery sticks, a medium diced onion, one diced green bell pepper. Also prepped two big cloves of chopped garlic, 3 diced carrots, and about 12 small crimini mushrooms quartered.

Chicken: chicken "tenders", about a pound and a half of chicken breast cut into 2x4 inch strips. Good for quick cooking. Seasoned, pan seared, slightly browned, but just enough to keep them maybe slightly undercooked (they're going to cook more in the gumbo, don't wanna overcook). Took em off the heat, let rest for a few minutes, and chopped them into half inch cubes.

Dumped celery, onion, bell peppers, carrots, into a pot w/ a little bit of olive oil and a dribble of chicken broth. Let that cook down, then added 24 oz. of canned diced tomato (unsalted). Brought that to a slow simmer, added the chicken (actually only about half the chicken - saving the rest for maybe some tacos or fajitas tomorrow - gotta use up that giant bag of tortillas!), then added the mushrooms. Added probably 2-3 tablespoons of sliced jalepeno, a tablespoon (?) of red pepper flakes, some cumin, 2 bay leaves, few sprigs worth of thyme, and an additional, let's say 1/2 a cup of chicken broth and another dash of salt. Stirred, let it simmer for about 20 mins.

Ladeled the final product into a bowl, topped with some cilantro and squeeze o' lime... and there's your Blind Chicken Mumbo Gumbo. This was very good, the lime actually kicked up and kinda cleaned up the flavor in the end. The second bowl was even better, after it had stewed with the lid on the pot for a while longer, and I also added some shaved grana padano parm to that bowl. So I'm willing to bet it's just gonna taste better over the next day or two.

The fun thing about this is that it's my first foray into this kind of cooking and I know I am just barely scratching the surface here. Sooo many rivers to cross to find gumbo Zen. Ideas abound while cooking this stuff, like a giant pot o' dancing skeletons, tossing voodoo flavor profiles at your spoon, taunting you to dare try this again.

And during this proceess, jammin a little of New Orleans' own Stanton Moore (one of my favorite drummers), ain't just dumpster dish funk-o-phonic, it's straight up N'awlins inspiration. Eh, La Bas!

May fourth and prosper

Did I just say I was getting tired of chicken? I was wrong. . .

Wandering around Trader Joe's, I had no idea what I was going to make tonight. To be honest, I didn't even feel much like cooking; I was thinking of picking up a few necessities and maybe ordering out. Wellll. . I picked up a little of this and a little of that, still nothing really in mind... although this baby sweet corn for 59 cents a piece was inspiring. Hmmm. . .

Hey! Chicken legs! Let's give them a try. I know I had a few things already in the fridge, what could I do with chicken legs. Alright, I must admit I did have one thing on my mind: Mark Bittman's recipe for a simple chicken pot pie. I caught a video of Mr. Bittman making, basically a chicken pot pop tart - more of a biscuit baked on top of pot pie ingredients - he made it look very easy to make and very good to eat. So I guess I'm subliminally gathering pot pie ingredients at Trader Joe's...

Anyway, when I get home I realize I'm missing a few key ingredients to make a biscuit pot pie topping, and a few other things too. So I just started gathering things that might be good together. Boiled the corn on the cob. Cut the corn off the cob. Cut up some carrots, some celery, diced a medium sized onion. Sliced some crimini mushrooms. I'm literally just winging it at this point.

Cut to the chase: I ended up making really awesome roasted chicken legs and deeeep roasted vegetables, with a light corn tomato salad. As such:

Chicken drumsticks - 6 pieces, seasoned w/ salt/pepper/garlic. Pan seared. Added chopped carrots, celery, onion, garlic. Seared both sides of the chicken. Once the chicken was browned, jammed everything in the oven at 425 with some rosemary and thyme sprigs tossed throughout.

Corn salad: Cut corn off the cob (2 small cobs), diced 2 vine ripe tomatoes, diced avocado, half a small onion - diced, chopped garlic, chopped cilantro, diced cucumber, salt, pepper, few dashes of rice vinegar, one squeezed lime. Stir, let it marinade in itself.

Chicken cooks for 25 mins, then it's out of the oven. Pulled the chicken out of the pan (meat temp about 170), let it rest for 8-10 mins. Added 1/4 cup of chicken broth to the very cooked down, very roastedly awesome pan vegetables and herbs... scraping the bottom goodies of the pan, cooking this all down - kicking myself that I don't have some white wine around to add to this, but the broth did the trick in it's own way. This cooked down into roasted vegetable magic. See pics, and imagine deep roasted flavor.

I plated everything separately, more for the visual appreciation, but if I had guests, I would've put the vegetables on top of the chicken and eaten it all together w/ a fork and knife. But when I'm home alone, I tend to eat like a viking. I'll eventually get to taste everything together, but not in the most refined manner.

Overall, this had that autumn-y, Ye-Waverly-Inn-reminiscent, intense, roasted, browned, chicken/vegetable stewyness - just awesome. In major CONTRAST to all of that was the fresh, clean, summery corn salad. This was definitely a Clash of the Titans. But a clash in the same way of going from the jacuzzi, to the pool, to the jacuzzi, to the pool. . . you're loving the alternation, and how one makes you feel after being steeped in the other for a minute. Undecidedly indulgent. Freedom from the constraints of the seasons. Like wearing white after Labor Day and corduroy in July. Or eating heirloom tomatoes in . . . well you can pretty much get them all year round now, but that don't make it right!!

Zut Alors, c'est le appetit d'une homme content.