Parmesan Crusted Chicken {A Recipe}

I just ate a bite of this straight from the fridge, and it was so good I was prompted to come sit down and write down the recipe right this minute, so I can do it exactly the same way next time - and of course, share it with you.  This has always been one of my favorite dishes to eat, but it took me a few tries to get the formula down for my ideal crust, and even longer to remember to measure everything out!

For some reason, I had a hard time figuring out the right amount of salt.  It takes more than you would think, and it really makes a huge difference.  I use both flour and crumbs to form a nice crisp coating that won't slide off the chicken, and I like to add just enough cayenne or chile powder to wake it up a little.

I made this batch the other night as a special treat for James, who just ran his first half marathon on Sunday!   We ate it with a simple salad of arugula and tomato dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.  It's a little bit of a project, with the assembly line and the frying and all (another reason it's an every-once-in-a-while thing!)  But it's pretty well worth it - especially if you make enough for leftovers.  Which, by the way - did I mention? - are fantastic cold.  :)

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Ingredients:

3-4 pounds of boneless and skinless chicken pieces (I used 2 thighs, 4 breasts + 4 tenderloins)

dry mix:

2 cups fine breadcrumbs

2/3 cup flour

2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt or kosher salt

1 cup (loosely packed) finely shredded fresh parmesan cheese

1 tsp cayenne or hot chile powder

a few grinds of pepper

2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

wet mix:

4-5 eggs

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

a splash of milk

2 cups vegetable oil for frying*

cut lemon for squeezing and more salt for sprinkling

Method:

Place dry ingredients in a medium-sized shallow bowl and toss with a fork to blend.

Crack eggs into a large bowl and add mustard and a splash of milk - blend with a whisk or hand blender to thoroughly incorporate the mustard.

Set up a work area with a plastic cutting board, a 2 foot long piece of saran wrap and whatever you use to pound meat. If you don't have a special tool, a flat bottomed heavy glass or small saucepan will work. (I use this and I absolutely love it, it's also great for cracking spices and smashing garlic cloves, etc.)  Cut your breast meat into halves off center, since they are thicker on one end.  Lay each piece in the middle of the saran wrap and fold the wrap over with a generous overlap (one piece should last you the whole batch.)  Lightly pound each cutlet from the center outward just a couple of times in each direction - until each piece is uniformly just a little less than 1/2 inch thick.  (Be gentle with the tenderloins, they will probably just need one very light tap.)  As you finish pounding the cutlets, put them in the bowl with the egg/mustard mixture to marinate.  They can stay there for an hour or so at room temperature and even longer in the fridge.

When you are ready to fry, pour vegetable oil to about half an inch deep in a large heavy frying pan or cast iron skillet.  Heat frying pan over medium-high heat and line a baking sheet or large platter with a double layer of paper towels.  If you plan to hold the cutlets before serving, turn the oven on to 250 degrees.

Set up your work station like an assembly line - with the bowl of cutlets and egg on one end, the crumb mixture next, then they frying pan, and the paper towel lined tray on the opposite side.  Place your cut lemon and a little dish of salt by the tray.

To fry, pluck your first piece of chicken out of the egg mixture with one hand and lay it in the crumb mixture. Using the OTHER hand, toss crumbs and flour over the chicken to coat, and flip and pat it couple of times to get the coating to stick. (If you use the same hand for both, your fingers will soon have more coating on them than the cutlets.)  Lift the first cutlet by one end and dip a tiny corner into the oil.  If it sizzles, lay it down gently in the oil.  If it doesn't - put it back in the flour and wait a couple more minutes until it does.  Dip and coat two or three more pieces, as many as will comfortably fit, and set them gently in the oil too, making sure it sizzles but isn't burning or smoking.   Let the pieces get nice and brown around the edges before flipping - they should cook quite a bit longer on the first side than the second.  Using tongs, gently flip them once. When they are well browned on all sides, lay them on the paper towels to drain.  Squirt with a little lemon juice and sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt.

Turn the oven down to 200, and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

Serves about six - or fewer, with leftovers.  :)

* optimally, if you are going to fry more than 3 batches, you should really change your oil - it will get lots of burnt bits in it and start to taste funny after that.  I pushed it and did four, but that was definitely the limit.

Dinner at Andrew and Heidi's

A couple of weeks ago, we were the lucky dinner guests of our friends, Andrew Spurgin, formerly Executive Chef at Waters Catering and now a partner in the new catering company Campine, and his wife Heidi - a graphic designer and all-around super cool chick. I tend to think Heidi is responsible for the super chic decor of their vintage jewel-box home on a Mission Hills canyon, but Andrew clearly has his creative side as well. The food he turned out for us was artful and delicious in equal measure. The meal was influenced by their recent trip to Japan, and our first course was this beautiful and delicious plate of sashimi - sliced raw Mano de Leon scallops, uni and beautiful garnishes of crunchy seaweed, a Japanese spice blend, a salted cherry blossom, vanilla salt, and fruit...

The Uni was melt in your mouth delicious, and the mano de leon scallop was utterly perfect. All of the seafood came from Catalina Offshore Products. This is Andrew's rendering of the dish - I wanted to frame it. (See what I mean about that artistic side??)

The next course - also depicted above - was a four part dish of clams in a bacon "dashi" - with an uni pudding, sticky rice, butter poached spot prawn, deep fried prawn head and roe. The spot prawns also came from Catalina Offshore Products.

With the meal we enjoyed this very lovely cold sake....

Between the courses, Andrew retired to the kitchen to do his work, while we drank more sake.

This course was a rich braised pork belly with udon noodles - and yes - indeed that is a cricket on the plate. A green curry cricket, to be exact. I couldn't detect much green curry flavor - but it was certainly crunchy.

For dessert, Andrew plated up some mochi with strawberries as a refreshing little palate cleanser. We also had some crunchy crabs - and I have to admit, around that time my memory gets a little fuzzy.... lots of sake you see...

It's true that Andrew and Heidi could have served us rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and we still would have had a blast spending the evening with them - but this kind of skill (and their great stylish space) deserves to be shared. So please to enjoy... but don't bother asking me for Andrew's phone number. If you want to eat this food yourself, you'll have to call Campine!

Melted Humboldt Fog with Chanterelles

Wow, where did last week go? That was fast. On Saturday night we had a few people over to watch a movie. This is kind of a new thing - a monthly "Film Club" based on one our friend Tom started in San Francisco. Tom put an ad on Craigslist and invited strangers, and so far we've just stuck to friends, but if our friends keep canceling at the last minute, we may rethink that strategy. Anyhoo, we did it on a Saturday night this month, so I stepped up the food a bit. Normally it's just some "snacky bits" as we call them in this house - popcorn, olives, cheese, crackers, maybe something sweet. This weekend I did some Corned Beef and Cabbage Sliders (made with kimchi), a shaved Cauliflower and Fennel Salad with Caper Vinaigrette and something that is seriously the best and easiest "dish" you'll ever eat. (Provided of course that you like goat cheese!) Humboldt Fog cheese, heated until melted and bubbling.

It's delicious enough cold, but when it's heated, the gooey outer later melts and turns to liquid (and bubbles and browns if you leave it in long enough) and the middle becomes almost soufflé-like. I first tried this when it was on the menu at JRDN, and when the Fresh and Easy down the hill from us carried it, we had it maybe once a month for dinner with a salad and some bread. When they stopped carrying it, I stopped going there. It isn't cheap, but on balance, given it's ease and deliciousness - I say it's worth it.

If you can get your hands on some (I think they're just about to go out of season) - Chanterelles are fabulous with it - but any mushroom will do. Just toss with a little olive oil and arrange in the dish around the cheese. Bake at 400 until hot and bubbly. That's it, that's all!

I made the sliders with Trader Joes Corned Beef, sliced and piled on their little slider buns with swiss cheese. I ran them under the broiler to melt the cheese, and topped them with well-drained kimchi slaw and a bit of mustard. The salad is shaved cauliflower and fennel, tossed with a mustard vinaigrette with a bit of anchovy paste, lots of lemon juice and a spoonful of capers!

The Chicken Adobo Experiment

Maybe you also saw this piece in the New York Times Magazine this past weekend?  These recipes almost always look intriguing, but it's rare for me to run right out and buy the ingredients for something like I did for this. I don't know what it was about it, but I just had to make this, NOW.  I'm glad I did, too.  It was absolutely delicious, and pretty darned easy.  It was something completely different for me, and I don't run across too many meals I can say that about these days.  It's also a great way to use chicken thighs and legs - which generally cook up a little too rubbery for me in any preparation but a braise, and you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry already - though you may have to buy another bottle of rice vinegar. (It uses a whole one.)

I modified the recipe to use the whole can of coconut milk and - inspired by the article -  added a few ingredients of my own to give it a little zing.  The result was rich, tangy, spicy, complex and strangely addictive. I was inspired enough to run right over here and type this up - both to share it with you fabulous people, and to make sure I don't forget what I did, since I definitely plan to make it again!

Chicken Adobo
adapted from Sam Sifton, who in turn adapted it from Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan of the Purple Yam restaurant in Brooklyn.

1 can coconut milk  (I used regular, but I am pretty sure light would also be fine)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1½ cups rice vinegar (one 12 ounce bottle)
1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar*
1 Tablespoon of good balsamic vinegar*
1/2 tsp ground red pepper*
1/2 tsp turmeric*
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and cut into chunks roughly the size of the garlic cloves*
12 whole garlic cloves, peeled  (you could probably use 4-6 and smash them but leave them whole for the same effect)
2 whole serrano chilis or other hot chilis (original recipe calls for Bird chilis) split open and seeds removed with a paring knife. 
3 bay leaves
several grinds of freshl black pepper

3 to 4 pounds (8-10 pieces) bone-in chicken thighs.

Jasmine rice

1. Combine all ingredients with chicken in a large 5 quart dutch oven or stock pot.  Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight. 

2. Place pot containing chicken and marinade on the stove over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and tender, around 30-40 minutes.

3.  Remove chicken pieces from pot and place on a foil lined sheet pan - set aside.  Skim excess fat from sauce, and use a slotted spoon to remove garlic cloves, ginger, chilis and bay leaves.  Simmer sauce over medium-high heat until it reduces and thickens slightly, about 10-15 minutes.   While the sauce simmers, preheat the broiler and cook the rice according to package directions. 

4. When the sauce is thickened and the rice is ready, broil the chicken pieces for about 5 minutes, until they begin to brown and caramelize.  To serve, spoon rice into shallow bowls, top with chicken, and pour sauce over. 

* = my additions
photo credit - NY Times

What We Did on New Year's Eve

I'm having one of those moments/weeks/days where I'm paralyzed by all I have to say.  I realize I have to start somewhere though, and it feels like something time and date specific should be at least a little timely, so before the week completely passes me by - here goes.  On New Year's Eve, we hosted a dinner party for fourteen friends, and served lobster, caviar, and champagne. Here is the menu:   

New Year's Eve

December 31, 2010

Farm House Cafe Chicken Liver Moussse
with Pickled Onions and Toasted Acme Bakery Baguette

Blini with Osetra Caviar and Creme Fraiche
and

 Smoked Salmon, Creme Fraiche and Trout Roe

 Castelvetrano Olives

Marcona Almonds
***

Billecart Salmon NV Brut Rose Champagne

Endive and Frisee Salad with Shallot and Mustard Vinaigrette

Fuji Apples, Toasted Hazelnuts and Goat Cheese Crostini

Locke Ober "JFK" Lobster Stew
Acme Epi Bread

***

Simi Sauvignon Blanc

Lindsay Shere's Chez Panisse Almond Tart

Mignardises
***

Tokaji

coffee

The blini with caviar, smoked salmon, creme fraiche and trout roe were stellar - a complete and total delight. I ordered the smoked salmon from Barney Greengrass, and Andrew helped procure the caviar and trout roe through a wholesale connection.  I used the Barefoot Contessa's blini recipe (with whole wheat instead of buckwheat flour and a little more liquid than called for.)  Standing at the stove flipping blini, tossing back  Billecart Salmon and popping these little lovelies into my mouth is surely going to go down as one of the high points of 2010 - no doubt about it. Never mind the blistering burn I gave myself on my pinky during the process. I drank another glass of champagne, shoved it in a glass of ice water, and presto!  It didn't hurt at all anymore.

The chicken liver mousse, procured from one of my favorite restaurants in town - Farm House Cafe - was stellar as always.  It's on the menu every night, and it's one of my favorite things to eat in this town.  The salad was also pretty great - curly endive with mustard vinaigrette is one of my all time favorite flavor combination, and Jora helped me plate these individually with a couple of leaves of belgian endive, some matchsticks of fuji apple, toasted hazelnuts and a goat cheese smeared Acme baguette crostini. 

For the lobster stew, I used this recipe, with the addition of some finely chopped shallots, onions and garlic sauteed in a little onion and sherry.   I bought the lobsters - nice, big, healthy ones - for $13.95 a pound at Point Loma Seafoods.  I researched the best way to kill/cook them extensively, and what I saw seemed to indicate there was really no benefit to stabbing them in the head with a knife.  I couldn't bring myself to do what Andrew suggested though, and skewer them through the tails before cooking.  They were pissed off enough as it was.  Instead, I brought about five inches of water to a boil in a massive pot (from a turkey fryer) so that the water wouldn't cool down when I added them, and cooked them two at a time, dropping them into a sink full of ice water straight out of the pot. I put the lobster meat into the fridge, and the shells in a large pan with lots of cream, milk and butter. That mixture simmered for quite a while, and then went into the fridge overnight to steep.  Just before the party, I sauteed the lobster meat in butter and more sherry, and added it to the cream mixture to reheat.  The only problem was that by the time I was done ladeling it into all of the bowls and sprinkling them with chopped chives, it had cooled a bit too much.  I could have kicked myself, but I was so afraid of overheating it and making the lobster tough.

For dessert, I made Lindsay Shere's legendary almond tart - served after the first dinner at Chez Panisse. It's actually a little underbaked here - I slipped it back in the oven to toast a bit more until it was nice and brown. This was a  hit with the guests, and fairly simple to make.  It's made with a cookie crust, filled with sugar and cream cooked to a caramel and baked until thickened and browned.  The only tricky thing is that you have to continuously poke the sliced almonds down into the caramel as the tart bakes, since they have a tendency to float to the top.  I also did little trays with Italian nougats and chocolates from Mast Brothers and L.A. Burdick. 
 
I've said before that you can never have too much champagne, but I think we actually might have had a little too much this time.   We went through twenty four bottles (including a few bottles of wine) for fourteen guests.  The plan had been for everyone to either sleep over or come back the next morning for brunch - but not everyone made it.  Let's just leave it at that.  :)

I was glad at least a few people were there to share in the smoked salmon and bagels.  There were also  cinnamon rolls from Con Pane and fresh squeezed tangerine juice. We've done this before and I can vouch that it is a great way to spend the first day of the new year, or any day for that matter.  Russ and Daughters wasn't taking mail orders the week before New Years, but Barney Greengrass came through in spades, snowstorm or no.  If the shipping didn't cost as much as the goods, we'd eat this a whole lot more often!