Category Archives: Poultry

Poultry

Spatchcocked Lemon Chicken a la Martha Stewart

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Spatchcocked Lemon Chicken a la Martha Stewart
This is Martha’s recipe but she used one 4-pound chicken instead of two 2-pound  young chickens and shallots where I used red onion.
Spatchcocked chicken is splayed or butterflied. It’s done this way so it cooks faster or can be cooked on a grill. It’s also easier to carve than a whole roasted chicken.

Preparation:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place chicken, breast side down, on a work surface. Starting at thigh end, cut along 1 side of backbone with kitchen shears. Turn chicken around; cut along other side. Discard backbone or save for stock. Flip chicken, and open it like a book. Press firmly on breastbone to flatten.
  2. Rub chicken with 1 tablespoon oil, and season with 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Brush 1 tablespoon oil in the center of a rimmed baking sheet slightly larger than the size of the chicken, and place half the lemon slices in a single layer on top of oil. Place chicken, skin side up, on lemons. Beginning at the neck end of breast, carefully loosen skin from flesh of breast and thighs with your fingers. Slide remaining lemon slices under skin in a single layer.
  3. Roast chicken 20 minutes. Toss onions with remaining teaspoon oil, and scatter around chicken. Continue to roast chicken until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast reaches 165 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes more.
  4. Transfer the chickens to a serving platter, and let it rest 10 minutes. Cut it into halves or serve whole with roasted some lemons, onions, and pan juices.

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Robert Iulo at Yelp

Poultry

Chicken Pilaf

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Chicken Pilaf
Variations of pilaf are served from the Middle East to the steppes of Central Asia. Rice is sautéed in oil and then cooked in seasoned broth or stock. Onions or garlic and other vegetables, dried fruits and spices can be added and it may also contain meat or fish. This version is made with chicken, raisins and pine nuts and can also be done with game birds, rabbit or lamb.

Season chicken pieces with salt and black pepper and bring to room temperature. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and  butter and brown the chicken in a pot.

When done, remove chicken, lower heat and drain fat except for no more than 2 tablespoons and add flour and blend.

Add garlic and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and stir and deglaze pot.

Remove the meat from the 2 breast bones and cut it into bite sized pieces. Return legs, wings, thighs, back and cut up breast pieces, lower heat and simmer on low and covered for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan fry the rice in 1 tbsp. of oil. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn but begins to brown slightly. When done remove it from the hot pan or it will continue to cook.

After the chicken simmers for 15 minutes, add the sautéed rice, pinoles and golden raisins.

Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for another 20 minutes for a total of 35 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is done.

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Poultry

Pan Roasted Chicken with Rosemary

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Pan Roasted Chicken with Rosemary

Pan roasted chicken with rosemary is simple – not too many ingredients and easy to prepare.

 

Pan Roasted Rosemary Chicken

 

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Remove backbone with poultry shears and cut chicken in half. Your butcher can do that for you if you’d like.

Mix rosemary, garlic, ½ of the oil and ½ tsp. each of kosher salt and black pepper. Grind with a mortar and pestle. Rub this mix all over chicken cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

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Heat oven to 400o and put rack in lower 3rd. Heat the pan on the top of the stove with the rest of the oil. Put the room temperature chicken in the pan, skin side down, and brown it for about 5 minutes.

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Move the pan to the pre-heated oven and roast for about 20-25 minutes. When almost done, turn chicken and roast another five minutes to crisp the skin. Remove from oven, cover loosely with foil and let it rest about 10 minutes before serving.

 

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Poultry

Pineapple Glazed Chicken

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Pineapple Glazed Chicken

(adapted from Bon Appetite)

roasted chicken with pineapple ingredients

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Preparation:

Place a rack in upper third of oven; preheat to 425°. Remove the backbone from the chicken and cut it in half (you can have your butcher do this). Season the room temperature chicken with salt and pepper. Mix the spice rub in a small bowl. Sprinkle chicken with spice mixture and rub it in. Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high. Cook chicken, skin side down, until browned and beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes.

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The Spice Rub

Meanwhile, bring the glaze ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan and cook until thickened and syrupy, 12–15 minutes. Discard garlic.

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The Glaze

Transfer the chicken to a plate and arrange pineapple slices in pan and baste them with the glaze. 20160630_182740

Place chicken, skin side up, on top of the pineapple. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of thigh registers 165°, 40–45 minutes.

When chicken is done, brush it with glaze and roast just until glaze is bubbling, about 2 minutes; repeat with any remaining glaze. Let it rest 10 minutes. Serve chicken and pineapple with any juices from skillet alongside.

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Poultry

Skin-On Chicken Breast

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Skin-On Chicken Breast

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Skin-On Chicken Breast is similar to and simpler than doing the duck breasts from my last post. Have your butcher remove the bone from the breast leaving the skin in place or you can do that yourself.

Put them on a cutting board and cover with Saran. Pound them to an even thickness – about ¾ inch.20160406_171623

Blot them dry and season with salt and pepper and refrigerate uncovered for at least 1 hour. Bring them to room temperature before cooking.

Add a little oil to a cold pan. Put the breasts in skin side down and turn the heat on to medium. Weigh down the breasts so the skin makes full contact and browns evenly – it should take about 6 – 8 minutes.20160413_183019

Turn and brown the other side.20160413_183908

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Poultry

Duck Breast

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Duck Breast

duck 5
DUCK BREAST SHOULD BE SERVED RARE

With a sharp knife, lightly score the fat cover on the duck breast diagonally in a cross hatch pattern, being careful not to cut into the meat.

duck 1

Season on both sides with salt and pepper and allow the breast to sit for 1 hour at room temperature.

duck 2

Place pan over medium heat. Place the breast skin side down and turn up heat to medium-high. Put a weight on it to assure full contact with the pan. I use an old iron. You can use a dish with a soup or tomato can on top. Let it sizzle for about 8 minutes (for a1 lb. breast) until skin is crisp and golden. Take a peek about half way through to see how dark it’s getting and adjust the heat if necessary.

duck 3

Turn breast over and cook 6 to 8 minutes more. If you have one, check temperature with an instant-read thermometer. It should read about 125 degrees when it’s done. It’s not chicken so don’t be afraid to serve it rare.

duck 4

Let the breast rest on a warm platter for about 10 minutes before slicing. 

duck 6
Duck breast with cherry sauce

A properly cooked duck breast can be eaten as-is, but if you’d like a semi-sweet sauce try this one.cherry sauce

“Duck Shooting” print by Chet Reneson

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Meat, Poultry

Cacciatore

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Cacciatore

cacciatore 2

Cacciatore is Italian for “hunter” and alla cacciatora means “hunter-style,” or how my grandmother would pronounce it in her Salernitano dialect, cacciadode. The idea of this recipe is that a hunter could prepare it in one pot on a camp fire in the field. The meat was whatever game that was hunted, mushrooms and rosemary were picked nearby and the other ingredients, wine, garlic ,etc., were easy enough to carry. Alla cacciatora works well with domesticated fowl as well as game birds and rabbit.Doc1

The Cacciatore you get in American Italian restaurants is usually done with a heavy tomato sauce. This version is much more basic and simple.

Chicken or Rabbit Alla Cacciatora

Cacciatore INGREDIENTS

mushrooms and rosemary

  1. Brown seasoned chicken (or rabbit) in oil and remove.
  2. Brown mushrooms (any type available) in the fat and oil in the same pot.
  3. Add garlic, rosemary and tomato. This isn’t a “red” sauce. The tomato is just there for moisture. You can use ½ cup of water instead. Return meat to pot.
  4. Raise heat and add red wine vinegar and cover and steam for 5 minutes.
  5. Add red wine, I use Chianti, and simmer for 15 minutes uncovered.

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Poultry, Condiments

Nashville Hot Fried Chicken

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Nashville Hot Fried Chicken

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This is more about the sauce than the chicken so if you have your own Southern fried chicken recipe, feel free to use it. If not, try this:

Start with a 3 ½ to 4 lb. chicken. You can simply quarter it or cut it into the standard 8 pieces (wings, thighs, legs and breasts) then cut each breast in 2 or 3 smaller pieces and cut the left over back into 2 pieces.

Chichen Pieces

If you want to brine it, add ½ cup of salt and  ½ cup of sugar to 2 quarts of water. Add chicken and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Blot the chicken dry and then dredge it in flour mixed with some salt and pepper. Fry it in about ¾ inch of peanut oil, turning as necessary until golden brown – about 20 – 25 minutes or until internal temperature reached 160o. Keep the cooked chicken in a low oven until you’re ready to serve it.Frying Chicken

Now for the sauce –

Nashville Hot Sauce

Sauce IngredientsJust mix this all together and serve it with a pastry brush instead of a spoon. Nashville Hot Fried Chicken is traditionally served on a slice of white bread with pickle slices.20160306_162127nashville name

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Poultry

Paprika Hendl

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Paprika Hendl

If any of you’ve read Dracula by Bram Stoker you might remember that Jonathan Harker, the London real estate broker, had to travel to Transylvania to conclude a deal with the Count who wanted to buy property in England. His first stop in Romania was at the Royal Hotel where he had paprika hendl for dinner. He liked it so much he noted in his journal, 3 May, Hotel Royale, Klausenburgh, Romania, “…must get recipe for Mina.” I don’t know if his wife Mina ever got it, the book takes a different turn in the next few pages, but I found the recipe.

The Continental Hotel, possibly the model used by Bram Stoker for the Royal Hotel
The Continental Hotel, possibly the model used by Bram Stoker for the Royal Hotel

Paprika Hendl ingredients

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Melt lard or heat oil in a 6-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook, flipping once, until browned. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.

Add onion to pan; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft then add paprika and pepper (if you can’t find Hungarian green or wax peppers use fresh Italian green pepperoncini); cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add garlic and stir.

Add tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes. Add stock and mix. Return chicken skin side up and its juices to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, until chicken is fully cooked, about 30 minutes.

Remove chicken and add 2 tbsps flour, ½ cup sour cream, simmer and blend until sauce thickens. Transfer chicken and sauce to a serving platter; spoon some room temperature sour cream over top and garnish with more paprika.

 

chickengoulash4 (2)

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Poultry

Chicken ’Ncip ’Nciape

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Chicken ’Ncip ’Nciape

ci fi chof

My mother’s mother, Nicolina, came from Salerno. The Salernitano pronunciation is chee-fi-choff. My mother’s Uncle Tony lived on Staten Island and had a chicken coop near the back of his property. Every time we visited he offered to kill a chicken for my mother to take home. She always politely refused, preferring the neatly packaged ones from the supermarket.

This is a simple recipe that tastes more complicated than it is to prepare. There are other recipes for ’Ncip ’Nciape with more ingredients and more complicated. But this is the simplest and for me, the best.Inside-the-coop (2)

Chicken 2

Preparation:

Cut a room temperature chicken into 10 pieces, (2 wings, 2 thighs, 2 legs and 2 breasts each cut in half) and season with salt and pepper. Lightly brown in oil and remove (don’t pour out the fat). Lightly brown 5 cloves of garlic cut in half in the remaining chicken fat and oil in the same pot. Add ½ cup of liquid and deglaze the pot. Return chicken with 1/4 cup chopped parsley, cover and simmer on medium low heat covered for 20 minutes turning once. This is very good with a vinegary salad and I also love it left-over and room temperature or even cold. This recipe also works well with rabbit or lamb.predators-at-chicken-coop-460x250 (2)