You’re definitely throwing down the gauntlet when you name something the “World’s Easiest Dinner.” the second my FIL received his Esquire and found it, they had to try it. Actually, they emailed everyone a scanned copy of the recipe, and tried it that night. We’re up next.

The instructions are very easy. Take one air-dried chicken between 3-4 lbs (recipe says between 3-3.5 lbs). Rinse and dry very thoroughly. Make sure it’s dry because that’s the key to roasting rather than steaming the bird. We patted it dry and then left it out a little longer just to make sure. Recipe calls for a cast iron skillet — we used a Le Creuset dish because that’s the closest we could come, and it seems to have worked out pretty well. Season with 1 tbsp kosher salt and some freshly ground pepper. (I would use an even better salt next time… maybe some of that great coarse sea salt I have in the cupboard as well as stuff some rosemary and garlic into the cavity for more flavor.) Place in the oven @ 450°F for about 45 minutes or until the juices at the thigh run clear. You can turn it into a full meal by chopping up some veggies like carrots or potatoes and sticking them in the pan about halfway through the cooking, but we skipped that step and sauteed spinach in the chicken fat and boiled some corn (I’m of the less-is-more school: 4 minutes dunked in boiling water).

It may not be the world’s easiest dinner — I definitely think one could argue the point (a steak on the grill next to a couple of potatoes?). That said though, this is definitely the World’s Easiest Roast Chicken, and it delivered on the tasty factor too. Crispy-esque skin, super juicy interior, even better than anticipated. Yum. Definitely recommended.

A couple of years ago a brown, nutty, slightly chewy grain started appearing in the dishes I’d order at restaurants. It usually came as an accompaniment, a few grains or a small pile amid some fresh vegetables or a flavorful sauce. And maybe once or twice, a bowlful prepared like risotto, rich and cheesy and a bit al dente. I was super curious… what was this curious new grain chefs were sneaking in on the plate?

That grain turned out to be farro. Farro, also known as emmer, is a hulled wheat closely related to (and sometimes mistaken for) spelt. It’s got an ancient history, with evidence of its cultivation as early as 8500-7500 BC. Today it is cultivated particularly in Italy, where it has established itself as a certified crop. Farro is available as the grain itself, as well as in farro pasta and other preparations. It’s available in the US at gourmet grocery stores and pasta shops.

I like farro right now more than any other grain in our pantry – quinoa, rice, amaranth (which we have only cooked once and was definitely not a success). I think it’s the combination of the nuttiness and the slight chewiness that I find really appealing. I cook it up in a pot of boiling water, and then I dress it up lots of different ways — say into a farro salad, or very simply with some olive oil, salt and pepper. My favorite preparation is this one… a little parmaggiano reggiano, a sprinkle of nutmeg or allspice, and a drizzle of olive oil tossed together. It’s luxurious and rich and warmingly satisfying.

Spiced Farro with a Hint of Cheese

• 1 cup semi-pearled farro
• 1/4 cup finely grated parmaggiano reggiano (or more to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or allspice (or more to taste)
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Boil a pot of water and cook the farro for approximately 25-30 minutes. If you do not have the semi-pearled variety, prepare the farro as it reads on the package — it needs to be soaked for a little while prior cooking (semi-pearled is just that much more convenient but we have both). When cooked, the farro should be slightly chewy but still slightly firm as well, not mushy. Drain the farro. Drizzle with olive oil. While still warm, sprinkle the cheese on top. I usually grate the cheese directly onto the farro, give it a stir and then grate more cheese on top. Sprinkle the nutmeg or other spice. Toss together. Taste, and add salt, pepper, and more of the spice to taste. Serves 3-4 as a side dish.

Update: Food Blogga snuck in with this great recipe for Springtime Farro with Baby Artichokes, Mushrooms and Peas. Dying to make it.

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Quail are small, dainty, and give off a “fancy” feel. Maybe that’s because they can be sort of expensive — at 2 per person for a main. But they’re good as an appetizer (one or half per person) too if you’re having a dinner party and want to kick it off with some mini-poultry. And I love them (this is probably the only blog out there with multiple recipes for grilled quail).

This recipe turned out great — I think that getting the garlic, oil, sage and pepper right up in there in the cavity (and under the skin where possible) real helped the flavor penetrate. Loved it.

Grilled Quail with Garlic and Sage

Recipe scales easily – this recipe is for four quail. When you buy the quail, make sure the butcher takes care of the boning (usually already done when you get them). Slice up a couple of cloves of garlic. In a mortar bowl if you have one (and on a cutting board if you don’t), mash up the garlic with about a teaspoon of coarse sea salt and a teaspoon of peppercorns, and about a quarter teaspoon of dried sage. Mix with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Slather the garlicy mixture onto the quail, including inside the body cavity to make sure the flavor gets everywhere possible. Marinate for at least an hour, longer if you want to. I think you’re actually supposed to tie up the quails’ legs somehow but I’m too lazy to do that and it doesn’t seem to hurt anything (maybe the legs splay out a bit and look funny). Grill breast-side down first, flipping half way through, about 6-8 minutes per side (alternate directions: flip every 3-4 minutes).

(also pictured: farro with parmagiano reggiano and olive oil; spinach and dried cranberry salad)

Here’s where I make good on my promise to share not just the good, but also the bad and the ugly with you. Yep, no fooling you. That picture shows a pretty glorious looking apple tart there in the middle, right? And what’s that all over the edge? Could that be horribly charred something-or-other ringing the entire tart? It could be! Ooops!

Last week I churned up a batch of Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream to go with this apple tart. That was optimistic because I really didn’t know whether either had any hope of turning out. The ice cream turned out great, this tart a little bit less so, but it was good enough to eat (at least mostly — after cutting off the charred parts) and it was completely gone within two days.

Here’s the deal: this tart is yummy and easy. And super easy if you take the cheater route, as I must admit I did, and use frozen puff pastry bought at the store rather than homemade. I didn’t plan far enough ahead, either for the ice cream, or for the pastry. So no self-made puff pastry this time, not even the quick type, but next time, I swear! Really!

Crispy Apple Tart

• One recipe of puff pastry dough or quick puff pastry dough (4 turns) or one box of frozen puff pastry
• 4 large apples, Golden Delicious or local tart (but not Granny Smiths, apparently, according to Paterson)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, sliced thinly

See? I said it’s easy, and with such a short list of ingredients, how hard could it be?

Preheat oven to 425°F; sprinkle water on a 13×17″ sheet pan to keep the bottom of the tart from burning. This didn’t precisely work for me, so next time I’m thinking I’d sprinkle a bit more water. Anyway, roll thd dough out into 12×15″ rectangle and transfer to the pan; trim to 11×14″ and dock — poke with a lot of holes — A LOT — to  keep from puffing up.

Prep the apples: peel, halve, core and slice very thinly. Peterson’s got this classy way of doing it that I’m still working on — leave barely attached on the side away from where you’re cutting, and then cut off that strip later and fan out the slices. Yeah, right. I did do this, but still mastering how to stop the blade from going all the way through, at exactly the same depth for each. Arrange the apple slices in 4 rows along the length of the pastry. Sprinkle the sugar on top and then lay the butter slices on top of that.

Instructions say to bake for about 50 minutes or until the edges are a deep brown. Start checking the tart after 20 minutes to make sure it isn’t puffing up. I’m pretty sure this is where I screwed up a little. I opened the oven early and tried desperately to poke the puff parts to get the puffing to go down. I ended up keeping the oven open too much and the heating element turned back on, so I think that’s why the whole tart burned itself up. (Hubby said… hey, there’s smoke coming from your oven!) But it was done in definitely less than 50 minutes, so if you bake this, watch the tart more closely.

Peterson’s directions do say that it always sticks and usually burns a little on the bottom — and that if you notice any burned parts, just scrape them off. So, I’m thinking this worked out ok. At least all the people who ate it thought so. We just left the burnt parts behind.

(from James Peterson’s Baking)

I think I’m in love. Yes, in love with an ice cream. It’s rich and creamy and just a touch bitter… and maybe a little too sweet. And when I eat a spoonful, I think, ooh, that’s enough, it’s too rich and too sweet, that’s all I need. Until I find myself dipping my spoon back into the container for another spoonful. And another. And it’s almost gone. I might have to make another batch soon. Or another one of David Lebovitz’s awesome recipes. Because this one is just a teaser for all the others. Or is it the culmination? Or perhaps it’s that every time I make one of these recipes it tastes so dreamy? (except for the frozen yogurt, which I didn’t really like and is still actually living in my freezer).

I had no idea when I decided to make this ice cream yesterday that it would be such an unqualified success. I just wanted to make something nice and caramel-y to go with the crisp apple tart I was also baking up for a dinner we hosted last night for Gus’s graduate students. A trip through A Perfect Scoop didn’t reveal the recipe I was looking for but a quick search of David’s website revealed the secret (and a story about why it didn’t appear in the book): Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream.

It’s a little intimidating, because making caramel can be kind of scary, all those stories about it seizing up, getting grainy, burning… but this method (dry caramel) was actually so easy, I think I am now past all caramel fear. My advice? Don’t use a thermometer for the caramel… learn to follow the color and the smell, just past the smoke point when the color has turned a lovely dark rich brown. I was scared at first, but I was actually able to smell the smoke and pull the caramel off the heat and throw in the butter, right at the right moment. And since the recipe has you do it twice, once for the ice cream and once for the praline crunch, I got practice and the second time was even easier.

I’m going to send you over to David’s site to read the recipe rather than recreate it here. Suffice to say, it’s a dreamy mixture (how many times have I used the word “dreamy” in this post?) of homemade caramel, top-quality salt (make sure it’s a good one), salted butter, cream, and whole milk. Not to mention the five egg yolks that turn the whole thing into a custard. And for the custard phase, just like the caramel stage, I love that no thermometer is necessary… just cook and stir until the mixture thickens enough that a line drawn through the liquid on the back of a spoon stays put. And if you’re like me, lick it off your finger just to “check on the flavors.” Ahem.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the fridge. I recommend making up the mixture the day before so it really has time to chill, otherwise you may be stuck like me trying to figure out how to get it cold enough. I split time between the fridge and the freezer. After chilling, churn the mixture in your ice cream machine.

When it’s done, mix in the crumbled up caramel praline pieces  if you want to. The praline gives it a little more salt and a little crunch and texture in the overall silky richness. It was great. But next time I think I’ll try it without. Either way, yum.

Remove from the machine and put into a storage container and then freeze to set up. Enjoy.

Shhh… I actually made this on Saturday but if you don’t tell anyone, neither will I!

I know brussels sprouts aren’t most people’s favorites, but for some reason in the past couple of years I have fallen in love with them. They can be a little bitter, but if they’re cooked right (especially golden brown… with bacon) that harshness mellows right out and instead they taste a little caramelized and little like green-vegetable popcorn. Or maybe that’s just my imagination. In this case I shredded the brussels sprouts so they cooked through more quickly, and the lively flavor of the butter, lemon and bacon could get to all the surface area of the sprouts rather than just the outsides. Yum.

And, in theory, they’re healthy. What’s not to like about green veggies? Just don’t think about all the bacon and the butter.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Lemon Butter

• Brussels sprouts, say a 1-1 1/2 pounds
• Bacon, 5 slices, but eyeball it, more if you want
• Butter, several tablespoons (I always go overboard because I love butter)
• Lemon, one lemon

Pre-heat the oven to 400°F. Rinse the brussels sprouts. Trim off the bottoms and pull off any old / dirty / icky outer skins. Slice the bulb into 1/4 inch (approximately) thick slices and put aside. Put the bacon in an oven-safe pan on medium-low and render the fat from them. When most of the fat is out of the bacon but before the bacon gets hard and brown, remove the bacon from the pan. If your bacon was super fatty,  you can skip the butter, but I usually throw in a couple of pieces of butter at this stage and let it melt. Squeeze in the lemon juice into the butter being careful not to get the pits into the pan.  Turn up the heat to medium high and throw in the shredded brussels sprouts. Fry until the brussels sprouts begin to get brown. Cut up the bacon into small pieces and add back to the pan and stir in. Move the pan to the oven for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove when the sprouts are nice and brown. The sprouts will be soft and pliable and maybe a little bit dry. Use your own judgment here — because they are shredded they will probably be almost cooked enough even before you put them in the oven, so you’re really just going for what you like. I like ‘em nice and brown and a touch dry. Brussels sprout candy. Yum.

I can tell we’re specializing here in dishes that look really cook and impressive but in fact are easy to through together. In fact Monday’s dinner was simple from top to bottom, from the braised scallops to the blueberry cheesecake ice cream (stay tuned for those recipes).

The roasted baby artichokes were the dish that took the most prep, but even then, the actual making is simple. And with the instructions in my trusty copy of Saveur (which had a great feature on artichokes a while back), it’s a cinch to prep the baby artichokes. Basically for each baby artichoke, you trim about a third off the top and discard, and then you peel away the dark green leaves (they snap off) until you’re left with the pale green inner leaves (see the Saveur article for better pictures than I can take… photography is not yet my strength). For this recipe, you then cut them in half and rub the cut parts with lemon to prevent browning (the browning is unattractive but really it doesn’t make them taste bad, at least if you use them right away).

In this case, I added a “twist” by dressing the artichokes with a couple of squeezes of fresh lemon juice, and enhanced the roasted nutty flavor by substituting hazelnut oil where I normally might have used olive oil. And, after roasting covered with some garlic, I took the top off for about the last 5-10 minutes to give these little babies a little chance to get brown for a little of that “grilled” flavor. I eat the garlic too, and like the way it mellows, although it’s not exactly like roasted garlic.

Roasted Baby Artichokes with a Nutty Twist

• ~12 baby artichokes
• 8-10 peeled cloves of garlic
• lemon juice
• hazelnut oil (use olive oil if unavailable)
• salt
• pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Prep the artichokes as above or following the Saveur instructions. Cut them in half and combine in a bowl with the garlic. Squeeze the lemon a couple of time over the bowl, and drizzle in hazelnut oil (if you must have a measurement, say 1/3 cup). Sprinkle with a couple of pinches of salt and grind the pepper on top; toss together.

Pour into a baking or casserole dish and cover with foil. Heat in the oven about 30 minutes (until the artichokes are tender). Remove the foil and stir up the artichokes. Replace uncovered into the oven for about 5-10 minutes more, till they acquire a little of a brown grilled look.

For Chinese New Year we decided to go with a Chinese soup — of Teo Chew origin, with some Hokkien in there too — so well tied to our heritage. It's essentially a big bowl of pork spare ribs, boiled up in all those spices so they penetrate the meat. And I have been craving it all winter.

And here I will admit to some laziness. Because while I'm sure there are many recipes to be found (and include ingredients such as ginseng, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic according to Wikipedia), I took the total cheater route here.

Yes, I'm sorry to say, I used a packet. Or, more correctly stated, a packaged version of Bah Kut Teh that includes inside it two "tea bag" like packets that boil in water to create the luscious soup. My parents picked up "the best" Bah Kut Teh packet from "the original" place Kee Hiong Klang.

So, it's pretty easy. Get 3-4 lbs of pork spare ribs, cut into small thumb length pieces. Marinate for a couple of hours with a couple of tablespoons each of light and dark soy sauce (skip that step if you're in a hurry). Boil up a little less than three liters of water, and then throw in 6-8 pieces of black garlic (found in packaged food — essentially "rotten" garlic), the spare ribs, and the two spice packets. Boil rapidly for about 15 minutes and then simmer for another 90 minutes or longer.

That's it. Super simple. The pork tastes great with rice, the soup is very flavorful and fragrant. The only thing I think is a little weird is that the soup is just the broth and the pork. Next time, I'll make it with some real chunks of garlic, and maybe some additional things like pieces of garlic and maybe some winter melon and some dried mushrooms.

So, Happy Chinese New Year everyone! May the Year of the Tiger bring us all good things.

Sunchokes may also be known as Jerusalem Artichokes, but they are no artichoke. In fact they are all brown and knobby and look a lot more like overgrown ginger (but don’t taste like ginger) than anything else. I feel like we’ve been seeing sunchokes everywhere (Top Chef anyone?). Lately they’ve been all over restaurant menus too — from fried to pureed — which I really enjoyed — and I was excited to see the sunchoke recipe in the latest issue of Fine Cooking.

I whipped up a bunch of the roasted sunchokes with artichoke hearts today during the Super Bowl — although “whipped up” is probably a little bit of an exaggeration because it took longer than I expected. I sliced up the sunchokes and placed them into lemon water so they wouldn’t get brown / oxidized, but then they were too wet when I put them in the pan to brown them, so it took a long time to get the nice brown color. The second batch (I did extra) I drained and patted dry first, and they browned up nicely. Next time, I’d make sure they were a little drier before frying, and get a nice brown crustiness on all of them.

[aside: Oh, and the big deal with the oven-safe skillet I used? I did get it out of the oven safely, obviously using an oven mitt, but then once I put it down on the stove, I kept forgetting it was still hot and trying to grab the handle. Ouch. Luckily no big burns. And next time I am just going to put a sheath (if I can find it - it's been missing for a while) or an oven mitt on it so I don't grab it.]

Overall — liked the dish, and the lemony-tangy-ness of the sauce. Liked the crispy-chewy mix of textures in the sunchokes themselves, and the artichokes also made a nice complement. But, I’m not in love with it. Still like sunchokes though and am still determined to find a go-to recipe for them that really pops. Next time I’ll try another approach, maybe chopping the sunchokes into smaller pieces and tossing them in some olive oil and garlic.

Pan-Roasted Sunchokes and Artichoke Hearts with Lemon-Herb Butter

• 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 lb. medium sunchokes, scrubbed and cut (original recipe says 3/4″ wedges, I like a little thinner and smaller, say 1/4-1/2″)
• Kosher salt
• 8 oz. frozen quartered artichoke hearts, thawed (surprised but these are actually pretty good)
• 2 Tbs. finely chopped shallot (used my Cuisinart mini-prep for this – super quick)
• 3 Tbs. dry vermouth
• 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (of course I used extra butter. we are talking about me here – but I also had extra sunchoke so I used that as my excuse)
• 1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tsp. chopped fresh tarragon (I amped up the tarragon a bit from this to almost a 1:1 ratio with the parsley)
• Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to
400°F with a rack in the top-third of the oven.

Use an ovenproof skillet. Heat the oil until shimmering hot and fry the sunchokes (scatter a pinch of salt over) until well-browned on each side. The original recipe says 2-3 minutes each side but your mileage may vary (mine were longer because my sunchokes were wet). Toss the artichoke hearts in and another pinch of salt and continue frying and stirring occasionally till the artichoke hearts are a little brown, probably another 2-3 minutes (that was about right for me).

Place the skillet in the oven for about 20 minutes. We’re aiming for the sunchokes to be tender and if you cut them a little smaller they will cook faster. Remove from the oven and turn them out of the pan into a bowl, cover with foil. Put the skillet back on the stove (medium heat) and cook the shallot till soft and brown. Deglaze the pan with the vermouth — and keep going until the vermouth is almost gone. At this point, ower the heat, add the lemon juice (a healthy squeeze if you’re eyeballing it), and then add the butter a little at a time to let it melt and incorporate into the sauce. After all the butter is in — stir in the herbs, and pour the sunchokes and artichokes back into the pan to coat the veggies with the sauce and to heat through.

(adapted from Fine Cooking magazine)

I haven’t made pie very many times in my life. But today we had some of Gus’s students over for a mini-holiday party — putting up the Xmas tree — so I thought I’d go out on a limb and whip up a pie. I was intrigued by the Brown Butter Pecan Pie from “I Made That” because I love pecan pie — and I love brown butter even more.

It was my first attempt at following Ruhlman’s Ratio: 3-2-1 flour-fat-liquid crust recipe. It was easy to follow, and the dough came out well, even if it doesn’t look that attractive in the photo. And due to failure to butter the pie pan, most of the crust stubbornly refused to be served with the rest of the pie. I have the other half of the dough left to make something else tomorrow or Tuesday and give it another shot.

As for the filling — the filling was a huge hit. Easy to make, wonderful caramel pecan flavor, rich, sticky and decadent. Definitely will make it again, in fact I might consider this to be a trial run for Christmas.

Next time: (1) I’ll remember to butter the pie pan; (2) I’ll probably bake the crust a little less than I did this time during the blank-baking phase. The filled pie could probably have stood a little more time in the oven to hit the “cracked” phase, but the crust was already getting really dark. (3) Some bourbon in the whipped cream, I think, for that finishing touch.

(Rest of dinner: bison chili; roasted brussels sprouts; potato latkes and condiments)