January 6, 2004
Mea Culpa and a recipe
I have been without Internet access for the last week, which is why I have been scarce. However, I am back and will post on food, music, Californian politics, and the lot.
The other day I made a roasted capon, which was really worth describing. Capon is the best form of chicken that I know. It is what turkey would be if turkey had not been so debased by bad breeding. I used the classic French method, although I do not believe in trussing birds, as it is a lot of work that adds nothing to the dish. I do not truss my geese, my ducks, my chickens, nor my capons. I might sew up the cavity if the stuffing is too copious, but as to tying the wings down and all of that, forget it. Waste of time. If anyone is that offended by wings that stick out, they should stick with tofurkey or whatever ungodly creation is on hand as a food substitute.
Anyway, I dried the bird (another secret: washing them is not that essential - most restaurants do not do this, as you are sticking the thing in a hot oven anyway), rubbed it with salt, pepper and a liberal massaging of unsalted, cultured butter, stuffed it with a sliced lemon, half a sliced onion, and a handful of celery or lovage leaves and browned it for 15 minutes in a 425 degree oven. I lowered the heat to 350 and added a couple of chopped carrots and the other half of the onion, chopped (although I should have sliced it).
When it was roasted through, I let it cool on my cutting board, removed the burnt onion pieces from the pan and deglazed with cognac. Then I thickened the sauce with butter, finished it with port and poured it over the carved meat. Yum.
Roast chicken is a traditional Sunday meal in my family's region of Italy. I recommend this tradition highly. I served this one with short braised collard greens (heat olive oil or goose gat, add diced pancetta and a couple of peeled cloves of garlic, then saute the greens, adding fennel seed and diced truffled (or not) anchovies, then pour in some dry vermouth or white wine and finish cooking covered on low heat, finish to taste with salt and pepper) and a salad.
For dessert I braised Bosc pairs in red wine with a touch of sugar and a length of vanilla seed and served them hot with chopped toasted walnuts, crumbled Irish farmhouse blue cheese and a drizzling of creme fraiche.
Posted by erik at January 6, 2004 1:53 AM | TrackBackBTW, Alicia, I think I'll tell my husband about the turmeric--he likes hearing about the "boiling soup for 15 minutes removes all bacteria" concept, too.
Posted by: KTC at January 9, 2004 5:39 AMThank you both. I did a cheap crock pot roast last night, and the veggies cooked way too long, though the potatoes were still recognizable. The carrots held their form, too; but the parnips vanished! Though they look and feel like carrots, they dissolve faster than carrots!
I was surprised: I'd read warnings about the potentiality of "woody core" syndrome, so I thought surely I'd be able to fish out some parsnips from the mash intact--but no.
But the roast and golden brown potatoes were delicious and the mash was popular (after the initial trepidation from family members, who are too old to remember baby food).
I will try both suggestions. Sweet and sour sounds easy, interesting, and attractive, Alicia. I'm getting more into presentation lately, too (which is why I wasn't too thrilled with the mash).
And chicken broth (fresh and boxed) is one of the staples of our house. [An aside: my husband almost died when he saw me putting my first turkey carcass into a pot. I said, "How do you think your mother makes that delicious turkey rice soup every Day-After-Thanksgiving?" After a few times, he got accustomed to it, thanks to hyper-vigilant skimming and a tasty end product].
Tonight I'm frying some leftover bean sprouts and snow peas with some shrimp. Main dish: tilapia with butter and creole seasoning. So easy, and the masses love it. They actually EAT fish in some form!
Plus, the inoffensive tilapia is grown on farms by Seminole Indians, so in buying it I'm helping fellow small businessmen to get a leg up.
Posted by: KTC at January 9, 2004 5:35 AMparsnips are wonderful roasted with carrots and glazed with a sweet and sour (vinegar and brown sugar).
Erik - have you ever added turmeric to your poultry rub? I love the flavor and colour it adds, and it is also antiseptic.
Our capon was six and a half pounds.
Chestnuts are great when candied, or made "drunken", simmered in red wine and sugar and served hot with vanilla ice cream. They are also great in pork stuffings in geese or in braised red cabbage (very traditional Christmas fare in the lands of the Franks and other Teutons). Also, chestnut flour can be used in a variety of cakes and flatbreads. If you do not want to do the work, you can buy good candied chestnuts. The French and the Italians do them differently, and I like both ways. You can also sweeten and puree the nuts (or buy paste) to use as cake filling. It is especially pleasing in a bouche de noel.
My favorite thing to do with parsnips is to use them in roasted mixed root vegetables with turnips, rutabagas, potatoes and celery root. All they need is a little salt, pepper and brown chicken or goose stock. They can be finished with creme fraiche.
It sounds like you would be a good candidate for Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Vegetables book. Great ideas for all sorts of interesting veggies, and mostly with the magnificently simple preparations Waters is known for.
Posted by: Erik Keilholtz at January 6, 2004 11:57 PMGlad you're back.
How big was the capon?
We tried mustard greens over the New Years' break. My husband bought "Glory" brand, in a can for convenience (after Christmas, I let them do the shopping and some of the cooking).
They were a little bitier than spinach, and seasoned with bacon.
I've been trying to widen our horizons in the vegetable department. We have discovered that both my husband and I are ALLERGIC TO ICEBERG LETTUCE! Can you believe that?
Switching to Romaine or Spinach is much more pleasant for me.
Do you have anything interesting to do with parsnips? (Groan--) I'm serious. Whenever my husband and his buddy cleaned their guns after shooting, I always loved the scent of Hoppes Gun Oil. Then one day I bought a parsnip, and when I cut it, WOW! It smelled just like my wildly fragrant Hoppes Gun Oil!
The very idea disgusts my 14-year-old; but I would love to feature this magnificent vegetable somewhere other than as a chopped-and-thoroughly-assimilated member of a soup or deglazing.
I don't think many people actually DINE on parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, or winter squash these days. People prefer easier, less controversial flavors.
I roasted chestnuts for the first time this year; 50% came out fine. "Fine", however, is a relative term; there are about a thousand other things that I'd prefer to eat.
In pondering the fact that chestnuts have such a time-honored Christmas tradition, my daughter and I can only guess that chestnuts (like parsnips) are a vestige of an earlier time: a time when Hostess Pies and Little Debbies were not yet available, so people had to make a big deal about the kind of stuff that they grew in their back yards.
Posted by: KTC at January 6, 2004 4:54 AM