I had half a chicken left over from my Sticky Lemon Chicken the other night and I needed to use it or run the risk of my fridge getting a visit from the EPA. Not many things worse in the fridge than an old decaying bird in a bag. My head hurts thinking about it...BUT enough.
I had a very nice day in DC today. I was only in for a couple hours but it was nice to walk around. One of these times I will get into DC when the sky is blue and I can get nice pictures. I am definitely going to go in on a nice day for cherry blossom time. More on that later...this is a food thing.
As I try to do, I got all things together for my mis en plac and as silly as it sounds (it is after all, French), it really helps things move along. In case you wonder why those TV guys get things done so quickly (besides having a staff and tons of money) they have all the software and hardware squared away prior to the start of cooking. Sure, it might take only 30 minutes to make, but often there is at least 15-20 minutes of prep for a 30 minute dinner. Here's how things looked after prep.
Please note that the potatoes are not cubed. I should have done that before getting started. The total dish has several parts to it, but if you have three burners, one small sauce pan and three skillets you can do it all without washing a pan. I used my cast iron skillet for the fowl since it was going into an oven, my non-stick for the potatoes and the small fry pan that came with the apartment for the sauce. The only real hassle I had was lack of decent counter space. {Another rant...I hate cooking on electric. Have I said that yet? You will likely read it again. It's a real pain to get used to after having the luxury of gas for all these years! /rant}
So, away we go with a couple pictures of the bird frying up.
Included with the disassembled chicken are olive oil and a couple sprigs of fresh thyme and after the flip, a couple bits of butter go in. You can see how nice and crispy the skin gets after being on the heat for a little bit. Hint for the skin...pat it quite dry with a towel and it will crisp up nicely and without burning.After about three to five minutes on each side, into a 325 degree oven to finish off.
This takes about 20 minutes. During this time, you start the sauce and while the sauce is building, back and forth between the potatoes and the sauce. The asparagus is last and takes only a few moments, so nothing needs to be done right away.The sauce is built in a couple stages. While the chicken was being prepped and seared, the Morels were re-hydrating in hot water. I wound up having to get those at Whole Foods in Silver Spring because the mega-marts around here are like many others and don't have out of band stuff. Nice store, high $$. Anyway...
The morels will absorb some water and also leech out into the water they are soaking in flavor that you will want to recapture, so don't throw the bathwater out after getting the babies.
Medium high heat in a good pan for the sauce and you heat some olive oil and toss in garlic, shallots and thyme for just long enough to get some color on them. Then you will add the morels with a little more oil and some S/P and cook for about another five and then pour in most of the soaking liquid that you held in reserve as well as some dry white wine.
While this is cooking down to almost totally reduced, you can get a start on the potatoes. They are in a small pan which is brought to a boil and they cook for only about 4-5 minutes and then drained and into a skillet. You will cook these with garlic and thyme. Occasionally toss them about to get them brown on all sides.
Don't forget the sauce. It reduces down and you add some chicken stock, reduce some more and then add heavy cream. 
I screwed up at this part. The cream didn't break, (it was out long enough to warm up to room temp so it didn't freak out at the heat) but I got impatient and didn't let it reduce enough so the sauce wasn't as thick as it should have been. It isn't supposed to be anywhere at gravy consistency, but it should coat the back of a spoon. 
Anyway, it was still good. The whole works goes into a sieve/strainer and you mash on the bits to get all the goodness out and into the sauce.
About now, the chicken is done and out of the hot box it comes to relax for a few while you make the asparagus. When you get the asparagus on you should throw the pancetta into the potatoes to cook in and it crisps up very nicely. A little salt and pepper now on the tubers as well.
The asparagus is quick and if you have a griddle pan use that. If not a regular skillet or fry pan will do. Cook it in olive oil and with some salt and pepper and it doesn't take long.
The recipe calls for all breasts. I used the rest of the other bird as I said before, so there is dark meat in there too. If you are like me and appreciate looking at a nicely plated meal, even if for yourself, you can do this with it, set it up and nom nom nom. It was very good.
This isn't a "walk in the park" since there are a lot of variables. I reduced the recipe in my head to make half and it turned out ok. Gotta remember to let that sauce reduce and keep an eye on all the elements. The recipe calls for fresh morel mushrooms to be sauteed and placed on the chicken, but I had a difficult enough time finding the dried ones that I decided I could fore-go them without seriously compromising the dish. I suspect that makes me a donkey to its creator, but hey - I'll do it right next time if he complains directly to me and gives me a budget!
By the way - I am sorry for how the photos and text are all dorked up. The editor I am using isn't very friendly and I am struggling. Any suggestions for a good blog editor would be nice.
Love this stuff!!!
ReplyDelete