Fried Chicken, Risotto and Gingerbread

Well, it was another weekend full of cooking.

Actually, I packed in most of my cooking last Thursday night when I hosted the boys--Lou, Jesse and Joey--for dinner and for bridge. I finally made the celery root soup I was supposed to make on Thanksgiving Day (they loved it). I also served a simple salad of arugala, toasted walnuts and pears. For the main dish, I made porcini mushroom risotto, from an excellent recipe I got out of Bon Appetit a few years ago:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/108603

I made it without using the pressure cooker, so it took about twenty minutes to reach that perfect state of moist creaminess. The only problem was that I failed to put in the full amount of salt, so we each had to add some salt at the table. I forgot to take pictures.

For dessert, I served gingerbread men and boys (close up of the men above), using the recipe from my Aunt Nancy's cookbook, Emory Seasons.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
2/3 cup light corn syrup
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon each baking soda and salt
1 teaspoon each ground ginger and cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
red cinnamon candies and raisins for decoration

• Cream butter and sugars until light.
• Add molasses and corn syrup. Mix well.
• Stir in dry ingridients with heavy spoon. Work until smooth. Use hands to knead if necessary.
• Cover dough and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Remove portion of dough and roll on lightly floured board. Cut with desired cutters.
• Bake until lightly browned at edge. Cool 30 seconds before tranferring to rack.

That's it. Here are some pictures of me and the boys with the cookies:

On Saturday night, I reached back to my Southern roots and made friend chicken for the San Francisco Tsunami Swim Team holiday party. I love this recipe both because it's so simple and easy and because I love the cinnamon flavoring.

I got it out of The New York Times a few years ago, and it's unbeatable:

Lard and butter combined, or vegetable oil (I used the oil)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 good chicken, cut into serving pieces, or use 8 to 10 leg pieces (drumsticks and thighs), trimmed of excess fat.

• Choose a skillet or casserole at least 12 inches in diameter that can be covered. Add enough fat to come to a depth of about 1/2 inch, and turn heat to medium-high. If you are using butter, skim any foam as it rises to the surface.
• While fat heats, mix together the flour and seasonings in a plastic bag. Toss chicken in bag, 2 or 3 pieces at a time, until well coated. Put pieces on a rack as you finish.
• When oil is hot (a pinch of flour will sizzle) raise heat to high. Slowly add chicken pieces to skillet (if you add them all at once, temperature will plummet). Cover skillet, reduce heat to medium-high, and cook for 7 minutes.
• Uncover skillet, turn chicken and continue to cook, uncovered for another 7 minutes. Turn chicken again and cook for about 5 minutes more, testing as necessary to ensure that both sides are golden brown.
• Remove chicken from skillet and drain on paper towels. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 4 servings

I actually made 24 thighs, and I had plenty of the cinnamon and flour mixture left over. I cooked the tighs in three skillets on top of the stove at once.

Here's a picture of the resulting mountain of chicken:

St. Nicholas Day Cookies

My friend, Liz, gave me my first St. Nicholas Day cookie on Sunday.

St. Nicholas Day is actually today--Tuesday--but she had baked a batch of cookies over the weekend for her grandchildren, one of whom is named Nicholas, and for a few special friends like me. When she saw that I've recently launched Foodphiles, she wrote me to tell me about the cookies. Then she brought me a cookie at church on Sunday.

Liz said that she first baked the cookies twenty five years ago when her daughter was in high school. She explained that you make St. Nicholas cookies, which closely resemble soft gingerbread cookies, by pressing the dough into a mold of St. Nicholas. She told me that her first mold was made of wood and did not give enough shape to the cookies to make it through baking in the oven. She said they used to come out looking like a warped St. Nick.

Then she got a glass mold that allowed her to pack in more dough to hold their shape in the oven. The cookie Liz gave me was beautiful.



St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children, sailors and unmarried women (hmmm, what do those things have in common?), so I was going to give the cookie to two of Lou's friend who have just had a baby, but because he's been sick and we weren't able to see them tonight, I'll probably eat the cookie myself. I'll do so, however, in honor of some of the important little kids in my life: Gretchen Riffe, Nicholas Brouwer, and Emma and Kate Spencer.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Patty Green

One quick wine recommendation from my wine tasting trip to Oregon this past July:

http://www.patriciagreencellars.com/

After tasting almost all the 2005 Pinot Noirs from the barrel, I'd definitely recommend the Notorious and the Goldschmidt.

Her 2004 Sauvignon Blanc was excellent too, but it's sold out.

Thanksgiving Recipes

My new work friend, Rhian (pronounced like LeAnne), who happens to be a food maniac (a blogiac?), has encouraged me to post my recipes from the Thanksgiving Dinner I made for Lou.

As I have told her many times now, this blog is not intended to be about the things I cook, but since I'm just starting I will--just this once--post my recipes:

Turkey Breast

Straight from the Joy of Cooking (page 617):

I patted the breast dry, covered it with salt and pepper and generously buttered the whole thing before cooking it. My only variation was to add some celery stalks and pearl onions (at Lou's request) to the roasting pan. I learned to add celery and onions from following Julia Child's directions for roasting a chicken, and I have to admit that I love the smell of celery and onion roasting in the oven. I cooked the breast for about an hour and twenty minutes, and that was it. I couldn't have dreamed for a more moist turkey.

Easy as can be.

Cranberry Sauce

I also used the basic recipe for "Whole Cranberry Relish" from the Joy of Cooking (page 64), but I spiced it up by adding two tablespoons or so of Triple Sec instead of orange juice (I would have used Grand Marnier and orange zest instead, but I didn't have any). Consider it a poor man's cranberry sauce. It was delicious, and easy. I can't believe people buy cranberry sauce.

Mashed Potatoes with Garlic, Mascarpone and Caramelized Leeks

I got the recipe from the 2005 Thanksgiving issue of Bon Appetit. Here (I hope) is a link to the recipe on epicurious.com (search for it yourself if the link doesn't work):

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/233164

Broccoli Rabe

I more or less made it up: heat some olive oil in a skillet, add the broccoli, add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and toss until the broccoli turns bright green. Let the broccoli cook no longer than about a minute and a half, or two minutes tops.

Okay, long ago, I saw Giada de Laurentiis do something like this to Broccoli Rabe on the Food Network, and I think her suggestions stuck with me.

Here's her bio:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/giada_delaurentiis/0,1974,FOOD_10968,00.html .

She's fabulous.

Celery Root Soup with Spiced Maple Vinegar

I still haven't made the soup (it's on the menu for this weekend), but I'm planning to use a recipe I saw in The New York Times. You'll only be able to see this if you subscribe to TimesSelect, but here's a link: http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F50A1EFB3B5A0C758DDDA80994DD404482 .

Email me if you don't get the Times.

Oh, and for wine:

I drank a 2003 Tribach Riesling with the dinner, and I opened a S. Niccolo 1996 Vin Santo for the biscotti!

Actually, instead of Riesling, Lou drank from a bottle of Delas 2003 Cote-du-Rhone.

Here's to you, Rhian!