Category Archives: Tips

Succulent roast chicken via yogurt with Brussels Sprouts

Yogurt-marinated chicken with brussels sprouts

Roast chicken is something that falls under my list of foods to have the night before execution or Armageddon.  There is nothing that offers as much comfort as a big, juicy, flavorful chicken with roasted sides, such as the brussels sprouts I show in my example.  Cooks know that making foods that seem simple – like a good roast chicken or braised short ribs – prove one’s culinary mettle.

With chicken the main issues are avoiding breast meat dryness and imparting flavor.  Now, I have prepared many, many chickens in my lifetime, and I find that one of the best ways to hit all the right marks is to use a good yogurt marinade – spreading it under the skin as well as all around the outside.  The yogurt is mixed with an acid, such as lemon or lime juice, salt and some spices.  You are also free to wipe the marinade off the outside of the chicken before roasting, but if you leave it on you’ll get a nice char, particularly under convection conditions, which is desirable if you are using, say, a tandoori spice mix.  (Although it is traditional to remove the skin when making chicken tandoori, what you want here is a flavorful whole roast chicken with skin.)

It is important to note that I salt the chicken before the marinading process in addition to adding it to the marinade.  The salt in the yogurt ensures moisture in the final product.

I prepare this dish using a bit of Thai or Indian curry paste, or a spice mix, such as shawarma – whatever I have on hand or can mix in a pinch.

The last thing to mention is to not overcook the bird.  Use a probe or meat thermometer and remove the chicken from the oven when it reaches the USDA-required internal temperature for chicken (at the innermost thigh and wing and thickest part of the breast), which is, at the time of this posting, 165 deg. F.  If you are using an old meat thermometer, be advised that it probably shows a higher temp than currently required for most things, so always check with the USDA.)

If you would like to make the chicken in the photo, here you go:

Roasted chicken with tandoori spices

1 large, whole, roasting or frying chicken, neck and gizzards removed and dried with paper towels
1/2 c. good, thick, full-fat yogurt
1/8 c. lemon juice
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 T. tandoori spice mix (can buy in the spice section of most upscale supermarkets or in Asian/Indian markets
Extra Kosher salt to salt chicken before it goes into marinade – just a little

1)  Whisk yogurt, lemon juice, salt and spice mix.
2)  Salt the inside and outside of the chicken with a little Kosher salt
3)  Loosen skin on chicken, starting from breast end, gently working your fingers down and finally over legs WITHOUT TEARING.
4)  Rub 1/4 of marinade under the skin, making sure to reach all areas.
5)  Rub 1/4 of marinade inside chicken cavities.
6)  Rub remaining marinade over exterior of chicken, getting into all the nooks near the wings and legs.
7)  Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and marinate at least 4 hours.
8)  Place on rack in roasting pan (A rack keeps the bottom of the chicken from boiling in juices, though this is not always a bad thing!)
9)  Roast at 350 deg. F. convection (or 375 deg. F. if you do not have a convection oven) until done.  My 3-pound chicken took about 75 minutes, but you need to go by internal temperature.

If you want to roast a pound of brussels sprouts, do this:

1)  Trim, cut sprouts in half the long way, and wash (one tip, here, which is especially good when dealing with organic produce:  submerge them in water for a few moments, in case there are any little bugs nestled into those tightly-woven leaves).
2)  Place in microwave-safe bowl with a little water, cover with plastic wrap, make one slit in the plastic, and microwave on high for 2 minutes.
3)  Set in high colander to drain until you are ready to roast.
4)  Dry well with a kitchen towel or paper.
5)  Toss onto a sheet pan with some Kosher salt.
6)  Pour 1/4 c. of olive oil onto the pan.
7)  Rub sprouts with oil by hand, leaving them cut side down on the pan.
8)  Roast in the same oven as the chicken for the last 30 or so minutes, or by themselves at 375 deg. F. for 20 – 30 minutes – with convection, if you have it.

You certainly could roast them without the microwave pre-steaming, but they will be less green and less moist.

Yogurt granola dessert

Yogurt & Granola Dessert

When I was in culinary school, we used to make a yogurt parfait out of the following:

1)  Really good, thick, whole milk yogurt, like Nancy’s or Fage

2)  Really good granola

3)  Fresh shredded coconut, or even that packaged, shredded, sweetened stuff.  Note that Bob’s Red Mill puts out an unsweetened dried version that you can use.

4)  Some kind of fruit, like sliced bananas, peaches or strawberries that were mixed with a very small amount of sugar about 30 minutes before (the sugar is optional)

Layer these things (with a higher ratio of yogurt and fruit) in a tall glass or bowl and top with a little whipped cream.

We used to make these for breakfast, and they are unbelievably good, but I serve them as a dessert.  One thing, though, is that you should use whole-milk yogurt if you are serving them as a dessert, since you want some richness and mouthfeel.  Don’t nickel and dime this recipe with low-fat substitutions unless you really want it that way.  And, for God’s sake, do not use watery yogurt!

Starbucks’ banana walnut bread recipe

Starbucks’ banana walnut bread

My mom came home the other day with a card from Starbucks containing their banana walnut bread recipe.  I thought I’d give it a try since it calls for buttermilk, which is not a common ingredient.  I have to say that we all liked the bread, which was moist and flavorful.

The batter turned out very dry for me, so I added a bit more buttermilk.  However, the bananas I used were a little south of large and not overly ripe, so just know that you, too, may have to make adjustments based on the state of your bananas.  I mean, until I added the extra buttermilk, the stuff would not even move!

The recipe calls for a baking time of 45 – 60 minutes, but my loaf needed a good 20 minutes more before the wooden test skewer came out dry.

One little tip:  keep a container of baker’s buttermilk on hand.  It’s sold dry and you have to reconstitute it with water.  It’s a godsend when you need small quantities of the stuff.

Here’s the recipe:

Starbucks’ Banana Walnut Bread Recipe

Thanksgiving 2008!

Thanksgiving at Chez Akitachow in 2008

Thanksgiving at Chez Akitachow in 2008

Thanksgiving Day!  Prepared the usual suspects and had one of Matt’s friends, Chris, over, which made it a nice time.  Matt has a great group of friends – all bright, creative and inquisitive individuals.  We have fun spending time with them because it’s nice to get fresh perspectives on the same old nonsense. 

Thanksgiving turkey in 2008

The meal was topped off by a castle-shaped 7up cake with lemon glaze and a sprinkling of blue sugar. 

Castle pound cake for dinner

Berry and Steve spent some quality time resting on the futon in a tryptophan haze later in the day.  (Yes, I know this tryptophan thing is made much of, when it’s most likely alcohol or blood sugar swings due to the consumption of so many carbs knocking you out). 

Steve and Berry resting after a Thanksgiving meal

Let me add a final bit about the holiday table:  One thing I always do instead of ironing my cloth napkins (to be honest with you I don’t iron anything) is some sort of decorative fold.  If you have a good quality napkin and fold it flat as soon as it comes out of the dryer and then store it flat you’re in good shape to do this.  Use 15-inch napkins, at the smallest.  Old British cookbooks are good sources of information here since napkin folding was immensely popular in Victorian England and through at least the 1930s.  The origin of napkin folding, or napery, is argued.  Some say it actually started in Victorian England  due to the worship of all things ‘Oriental,” which, in the case of napery, sees its antecedent in origami.  Others say it is hundreds of years older than that.  I prefer to use the old folds, like the cockscomb, just for the hell of it.  The Mrs. Beeton’s series of cooking guides has a number of outrageous folds and there is information on the Web if you can’t find them in hard copy.

Corn muffins

corn muffins on two plates side by side

Corn muffins made today.  That box of Albers yellow cornmeal was staring me in the face so I put together the recipe on the box, adding twice the quantity of sugar called for.  I made two batches — one for the heavy, dark, non-stick muffin pan and the other for the blue silicone pan.  The heavy pan browned better, but both versions were fine.  These silicone pans (even the smooth ones) stick when you make cornbread or pound cake-type recipes, I don’t care what anyone says.  I always rub a little oil in them first.  The last time I made cupcakes in those individual, ridged silicone cupcake pans, fuggedaboutit — they really stuck and were a mess to clean up.  Berry took it upon himself to oversee the corn muffin process and then kept an eye on them, as you can see in the photo.

Find the dog watching corn muffins being made

Find the dog watching corn muffins being made