Chicken Bouillabaisse

Last week I was having a Julia Child moment. Maybe because I saw her in all her quirky cooking glory on the Cooking Channel??? I don't know, but I suddenly had the desire to cook something decidedly French. The other cooking queen, Ina, has a Provencal Chicken Bouillabaisse in her cookbook, Back to Basics. I combined Ina's recipe with another and a few of my own ideas.
I wanted to butcher up my own chicken, so I used a whole one. The only issue was: I had no idea how to butcher a chicken and really crappy knives. The chicken butchering started off with lots of enthusiasm and ended up with a call to my mom in hysterics and eventually, Brian stepping in to cut up the sucker. (Everyone needs a Brian I've decided). So, Brian saved the day or rather the Bouillabaisse.
If I were to do it all over, I would instead use bone-in, skin-on thighs and drumsticks or chicken breasts. So much easier and lots faster. Bouillabaisse is typically made with fish and while I thought this was a great meal, I have made a few adjustments to the recipe I initially used, so that your Bouillabaisse turns out even better. Good luck.
Note: what gives this dish it's unique flavor is partially due to the saffron threads. Don't skimp on them, but please note that they run about $16 to $22 to purchase 2 teaspoons or so.

Chicken Bouillabaisse, Cunningham Style
serves 4-5
Ingredients
1 whole organic chicken, cut into serving pieces OR 2 breasts, 2 drumsticks, and 2 thighs bone-in and skin on
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 fennel bulb, diced
1 large sprig rosemary, leaves removed and chopped
1 head of garlic, cloves peeled
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
1 teaspoon saffron threads
2 pinches cayenne
1 (15 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
About 2 cups organic chicken stock
1 1/4 cup dry white wine
24 oz Yukon Gold potatoes, halved
Kosher Salt and fresh ground pepper

Rouille, Ina Style
4 large garlic cloves,minced
1.5 teaspoons kosher salt
1 egg yolk, at room temp
1.5 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 c olive oil

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Heat olive oil and butter in a dutch oven or another large oven proof pan. Season the chicken on all sides with salt, pepper and rosemary. When pan is hot, add the chicken pieces (in batches) and brown on all sides. Add a splash of white wine while browning. When chicken is brown remove, set aside and cover in foil.
Add the fennel bulb and onion to hot pan and let them turn soft. Add the garlic, saffron, thyme, cayenne,tomatoes, paste, chicken stock and white wine to pot. Season heavily with salt and pepper. Simmer for 25-35 minutes, allowing to reduce a tad.
In batches, pour the sauce into a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Pour puree into pan along with browned chicken and potatoes. Simmer on stove for another 10 minutes. Then, cover and place in oven for about 45 minutes. Season again with salt and pepper and serve with rouille.

For the rouille: combine garlic, salt, egg yolk, lemon juice, saffron and red pepper flakes in food processor. Pulse until smooth. On low speed, slowly pour in olive oil allowing rouille to emulsify. Process until rouille is thick, yellowy and mayo like.
Serve with crusty bread atop Bouillabaisse.
BON APPETIT!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am not much of a cookie baker. I'd rather make a pizza or fry up some breaded chicken or shake up a cocktail. Not that I don't like cookies, I do I do I do. It's just that if I make them, I will eat them. Therein lies the problem.
When I was in elementary school my friend Meghan and I were making cookies at her house one afternoon. I don't remember exactly what happened, but somehow we added a few cups of salt instead of sugar. The cookies had to go in the trash. Those salty things must have, literally, left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to baking cookies.
Over the years of not baking much, I have tried several chocolate chip cookie recipes. Most of which came from the back of a bag or the side of a box. I didn't like any of those recipes what-so-ever. Too crispy and flat. I don't know why I didn't immediately call up my mom for her recipe, I suppose I was determined to create my own with the help of Nestle. Welp, that theory has not worked and last night after realizing I needed cookie help, I called my mom for her recipe, which actually comes from a family friend. The secret is this: butter in your chocolate chip cookies makes them flat and crispy. And if I am going to indulge in a cookie it might as well be fluffy and gooey. (This was a great relief as I was out of butter and didn't want to send Brian to the store!!)
You can also make ice cream sandwiches with them, like Julie does. Sandwich vanilla bean ice cream between two cookies and serve for dessert.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes plenty:)
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 cups flour
About 24 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips. (Ghirardelli are the best for these cookies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In your Kitchen Aide mixer using the paddle attachment, mix oil and sugars until well combined. Add eggs one at a time. Mix. Then add vanilla extract. Turn several times with spatula. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Stir with spatula. Turn mixer back on and slowly mix in dry ingredients. Once the dough has formed a cohesive ball, turn off mixer and remove attachment. Pour in chocolate chips and stir them in by hand. Refrigerate dough for a few hours or overnight. (I overnight-ed it:)
To form perfect cookies, use ice cream scoop and mold by hand, placing directly onto a Sil-Pad or un-greased baking sheet. You usually can fit 9-12 in one batch. Bake for ten minutes. You DON'T want the cookies to be golden brown. They'll be too crunchy. Watch them carefully. Take them out when they look slightly UNDERDONE. Let them cool for a moment before removing from sheet.
You will have enough dough to do at least 4 batches of 9-12 cookies each. I did 4 batches of 9 and rolled the remainder of the dough in a log, wrapped in plastic wrap and froze for later use.

Meatloaf You Will Love

I totally get why people have both a fascination and disgust with meatloaf. It is about as unsexy as any food could get. A meat loaf. Bread should come in a loaf, not ground meat...right?? Yesterday evening I was really craving meatloaf. I know...how embarrassing!! But, I was and it seemed I had all the fix-ins in my second kitchen to whip up a Magnificent Meatloaf.
This is an original Katie recipe, and I am proud to say it is the best meatloaf I have ever had. I even called my mom to tell her about it after Brian and I had finished eating. Give yourself a good twenty minutes to prepare and another hour to bake. (PS...My prayers worked last night and my oven cooperated!YAY! ) Such a great family meal. Your husbands and kids will love it.

Katie's Meatloaf
Serves 6 or 7
1.5 lbs Organic Ground Beef (Verde Farms, available at Costco in 3, 1lb pouches)
1 yellow onion, diced
4 strips thick bacon, diced
plus, 6 slices bacon
1/3 large french baguette(or about 3 slices white bread), torn into pieces, crusty parts removed
1-2 cups milk
1/2 cup jarred roasted red bell peppers, diced
5 small vine tomatoes, diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1.5 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 large egg
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 ish tablespoon ketchup
Kosher Salt
1 hefty sprinkling of Johnny's seasoning salt
Freshly ground pepper

Sauce:
3/4 -1 cup Ketchup
1/3 cup Dijon Mustard
1 tablespoon Chipotle Tabasco
3/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Then, tear up bread or baguette and pour milk over bread, soaking for about ten minutes. Begin by sauteing diced bacon, onion, garlic and thyme. After about 5 minutes add the roasted red peppers and tomatoes. Cook for another 5-8 minutes.
Place the ground beef in a large mixing bowl. Pour onion/bacon mixture over the beef. Add the soaked bread discarding any remaining milk.(DON'T POUR MILK IN BOWL). Add another dash of thyme along with 1 teaspoon salt and a hefty sprinkling of Johnny's seasoning salt. Pour in Parmesan. Crack one egg over beef. Then add Worcestershire and ketchup and freshly ground pepper. Mix with your hands until all ingredients are very well combined. Form the mixture into two loaves and place on lined baking sheet or broiler pan. Cut remaining bacon strips in half and lay them over top the loaves.
Next, combine the sauce ingredients: ketchup, Dijon, chipotle Tabasco, and brown sugar. Mix until well combined and pour over meatloaf. Place in oven for about 1 hour. After the meatloaf is done cooking, tent with foil and allow to rest for ten minutes.

French Onion Soup with Fontina

When I was twelve I discovered French Onion Soup. Over the next thirteen years I am sure I have had hundreds of bowls of this cheesy, yummy, delish soup.At bakeries, at breweries, at fancy pants places, at my mom's, and in my second kitchen. What could be better than caramelized onions, vino, crusty bread and gooey cheese all kicking it together in my own little bowl?? Nothing, that's what.
I have been trying to do most of my cooking on the stove lately, seeing as my oven has a bad case of SBS, as mentioned in previous postings. A few weeks ago, after one too many nights of pasta, Brian and I were in need of something different. It was snowing, I didn't feel like driving my little orange car in the snow all the way to Whole Foods. I had onions, leftover fontina and about 1/16th leftover crusty Italian baguette. While the options were not vast, the French Onion Soup with Fontina was born.
Typically, FOS is made with Gruyere. I hope the French Onion Soup police don't arrest me for using Fontina and actually enjoying it immensely!! Such an easy recipe for a cold night.

French Onion Soup with Fontina
Serves 6ish, give or take

5 large onions, sliced into half moons. ( I use yellow)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cube butter
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon brown sugar
about 1/2 bottle red wine...I might have used more:)
2 quarts beef STOCK
2-3 spoonfuls flour for thickening
1 narrow crusty baguette sliced diagonally
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Sliced Fontina, one slice for each toasted baguette
Grated Fontina, enough for sprinkling bowls

Melt the stick of butter in a large pot. Add the onions, along with the whole bay leaves, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Cook over low to medium heat. Add a heaping tablespoon of brown sugar as onions are softening. Caramelize onions until rich in color and really "bendy"... for lack of a better word. You should cook them slow, the better the flavor and texture will be. I usually cook onions for at least 35 minutes and taste test after that mark. Once onions are caramelized, add the red wine and bring to a boil. Allow the wine to reduce for about 5-7 minutes. When wine is a bit reduced add flour, one spoonful at a time, stirring consistently. Add the beef stock and let simmer for a good ten minutes. Season with salt, pepper and fresh thyme during the last few minutes. Sometimes, I add another splash of wine.
While the soup is simmering get your broiler ready. Place baguette slices (if baguette is small, I use about 3 per person) on a baking sheet. Drizzle with a teensy amount of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place sliced fontina directly on bread slices. Bake until bread is crusty and cheese is bubbling.
Pour your soup into bowls and sprinkle in a small amount of fontina. Place fontina croutons in bowls and sprinkle with chopped parsley and additional salt and pepper. Serve immediately, and finish off the rest of that red wine.

Mucho Problemas

Okay. Blogging takes work. Blogging about food takes making dinner, or breakfast or lunch. Taking notes in a notebook. Baking the food, cooking the food. Taking pictures of the food. I mentioned a few weeks ago the probs with my computer and oven and camera. Here is the thing...my computer is still broken in a drawer, un-fixable. And, my oven. My black little rental oven- is in absolute dire straights. It goes like this: I pick up some meat to roast, some fish to fry and say a prayer that the Lord faithfully makes my oven not have SBS (spontaneous broiler syndrome). Sometimes, my incessant prayers work. A lot of times, they don't.
Take last week, for example. SBS occurred within 3 mintues of roasting Turbot. (that's fish for all who were curious)!! Then the disobedient oven shut off. I cooked the rest of the fish in an OFF oven. How, exactly, do I share a recipe for fish cooked in an overheated OFF oven??? Should I have you do the same?? (Heat your oven, the spontaneously kick on your broiler, then turn it off and guess when it's done???:) I don't think so.
Maybe this week I will get my computer fixed, maybe my oven, maybe my camera.
I just wanted to let you know that my ongoing absence is more a phase due to crappy appliances, rather than an absence of neglect.

Arugula Salad

I have a love affair with arugula. I love it's peppery taste and like to put it in pastas, sandwiches, salads...you name it. I often make this "salad" when I don't feel like making a giant, involved salad.

Arugula Salad
for one individual salad

1-2 hand fulls of arugula (rocket)
1.5 tablespoons of olive oil
sprinkle of kosher salt
Pepper
Long shavings from Parmesan cheese
juice from 1-2 small lemon wedges


Place arugula in bowl. Layer on Parmesan shavings. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and squeeze juice from lemon wedges over salad. Toss lightly.