For whatever reason, it suddenly struck me at Trader Joe’s to buy a whole chicken after we came back from Orlando. Maybe it was all of the commercials for Christmas at the Disney resort, or the fact that the hotel merchandise shop switched from Halloween mouse gear to Christmas over our last night there. It could also be that Hallmark has started airing their new Christmas movies already, and watching Mistletoe Secret is a Mistletoe Secret Indulgence of mine… Whatever the reason, I feel Christmasy, cozy, and in pursuit of comfort food and Bing Crosby music.
Chef Samin Nosrat wrote about a simple buttermilk chicken recipe in her book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Three ingredients–a whole chicken, 2 tablespoons of Kosher salt, and 2 cups of buttermilk. Marinate it overnight in a gallon Ziplock bag, let it sit out for an hour before roasting, then bake it for about an hour in a cast iron skillet. It’s zero fuss and yields a very juicy bird. You can also build off of that and add fresh herbs (courtesy of a friend’s garden!), a quartered onion, an orange, or garlic. By the way, does anyone else hate tiny cloves of garlic? Ugh. So hard to smash and chop!
Anyway, this year for the holidays will be tough–Jim and I have to divide the cheer between our families. As much as I love to cook, we will likely be either traveling or not home for the upcoming holidays. However, upon reflection, this is actually somewhat of a relief! I get to practice making fun holiday menus without the pressure of hosting (and the cleanup that goes with it…) And I still get to indulge myself with dishes that are completely my own. Nothing makes me want to pull my hair out more than hearing someone complain, “Oh, so-and-so would never eat that. Just make it plain.” I don’t, or rather, I can’t, just make anything plain. It pains me. If you can make something better, you have an obligation to!
So I whipped up this grand lunch on Monday–the roasted chicken I’d marinated overnight, sour cream and garlic mashed potatoes, and a buttery wheat and sage stuffing. Later I made the accompanying elote Brussels sprouts and corn (Brussels also courtesy of a friend named Lindsey’s garden!). And I asked Jim if he wanted any of this spread for lunch. He replied, “That’s too fancy for lunch. I can only have something that fancy for dinner,” and he himself made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. More for me, at least.
After taking the meat off of the chicken, I boiled the bones in water to make chicken stock. After soaking lentils in water overnight on Tuesday, I cooked them in the chicken stock for a couple of hours until they were incredibly tender. To it I added a sofrito with rosemary (thank you, Lindsey!!!) cooked in bacon fat and a splash of fresh lemon juice after the lentils had really softened. Pro tip: lentils will never soften if exposed to acid or salt too early on in cooking them. (The same goes for onions, actually, so if you ever try to make something with onions and tomatoes, for example, wait to add the tomatoes until the onions are softened and translucent.)
Finally, we had our Disney Trivia and Halloween party yesterday, also known as Flake Family Fun Night with special guests, Alex and Morgan, who are my old roommates. The BBQ pulled beef was a cinch to make, and it worked perfectly with King’s Hawaiian rolls. Outsourcing the mac and cheese bundt to Jane and the salad to Alex and Morgan was 100% the right thing to do! Don’t you love having reliable people in your life?? They are the best! I also changed the dessert last minute to cream cheese brownies. The night was a success and the costumes were fantastic! I personally loved Morgan’s Disgust from Inside Out costume the most! I also really liked Joe’s Bill Lumbergh! Jim’s older brother, Tom, clinched the award for best costume as Tony Perkis from Disney’s Heavyweights, and now holds the keys to the Hollywood Tower Hotel, while his wife, Angie, led Team Mickey to another victory at Disney trivia! Our home was filled with power couples last night!
It has been a fun and rewarding albeit busy week, and it was such a delightful feeling when I woke up this morning. No honeymoon to plan, no bus to catch to the parks, the trivia game I’d worked on for the last month was finished, and no party to host or improvise apple schnapps for. I slept in and then went to the market for a coffee and croissant while I waited for Jim to finish voting across the street. It was perfectly cozy.
Buttermilk Roasted Chicken by Chef Samin Nosrat (and all the fixings by me!)
Ingredients
1 whole chicken, no giblets
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons kosher salt
Process
Combine salt and buttermilk in a gallon-sized Ziplock bag. Tie the chicken legs together with cooking twine and add the chicken to the bag and seal. Marinate 24 hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Remove from the refrigerator an hour before you plan to cook it. Preheat the oven to 425F. Remove chicken from the bag and shake off excess buttermilk. Sprinkle with additional salt as desired. Place the chicken in a roasting pan on a rack or in a cast iron skillet. Place in the middle of the oven with the legs pointed to the back left. Bake for 25 minutes. You will hear it sizzling very quickly. Turn the skillet so the legs point to the back right and bake an additional 25 minutes. Then lower the heat to 375 and cover the chicken loosely with aluminum foil. Continue to bake for another 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly in the pan before carving.
Sour Cream and Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
4 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1″ cubes
6 tbsp salted butter
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion salt
Sea salt, to taste
Heavy cream, to taste
Process
Boil cubed potatoes in heavily salted water. When pierced easily with a fork, drain and return to the pot. Add butter, sour cream, garlic powder, and onion salt to the cooked potatoes. Mash to desired texture and adjust for salt and cream as needed.
Wheat and Sage Stuffing
Ingredients
Half a loaf of day old wheat bread (Country Hearth is what I had on hand)
1/2 cup of butter, sliced into squares
3 cups chicken broth
1 onion, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
2 tbsp, finely chopped sage
1 tbsp, finely chopped rosemary
4 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil, for the pot
Sea salt, to taste
Process
Cut or tear bread into bite-size pieces and spread on an aluminum foil-lined baking pan. Bake at 275F for 20 minutes, or until bread is dehydrated and stiff. Meanwhile, chop your vegetables and herbs. Coat the bottom of a large Dutch oven with olive oil and turn to medium heat. Sautee the vegetables until tender, then add the herbs and garlic. Make sure to salt the vegetables as they cook. When the bread is done, distribute it over the vegetables and fold them together to integrate. Add the butter, 2 cups of broth, and a bit of salt. Fold but do not mix vigorously. When bread has been slightly moistened by the broth, turn off the heat and cover the pot for five minutes. Remove lid and test for texture and taste. If it needs more broth, return the heat to medium and slowly drizzle in more broth while stirring. Adjust for salt.
Elote-style Deep Fried Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients
Vegetable oil, for frying
1 lb Brussels sprouts, halved if large
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup cojita cheese, crumbled
Juice from 1/2 a lime
Garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder, and salt, to taste
Process
In a large pot, heat oil until you can feel the heat coming off it. Add the Brussels sprouts carefully with a mesh or slotted spoon. Allow to fry for about 20 minutes, occasionally stirring. Remove and set on a paper towel-lined plate.
In a large bowl combine mayo, lime juice, and spices. Add in the Brussels sprouts and sprinkle cheese over. Serve!
Note: This elote recipe also works for boiled or grilled corn!
Herbed Lentil Soup
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups dried green lentils, soaked in water overnight to soften
1/2 lb bacon
1 medium onion, minced*
1 large carrot, minced*
2 stalks of celery, trimmed and minced*
2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
Juice from half a lemon
8 cups chicken stock
Salt, to taste
Process
In a large Dutch oven bring lentils and chicken stock to a boil. Allow to boil for ten minutes, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. This will cook over 2-3 hours. About an hour in to cooking, do the following:
In a large skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Place on a plate lined with a paper towel and set aside. In the same skillet, fry the onion, carrot, and celery in the bacon grease on medium-low heat until the vegetables are brown and soft, about 30 minutes. Then add the sage, rosemary, and garlic, stirring until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and place contents in a food processor. Squeeze in the lemon juice and process on high until a rough paste forms. Add this to the lentils and stock. Continue to cook for an hour and a half, stirring on occasion and adjusting with salt as desired. When lentils are tender (after about three hours of total cooking time in the stock) you can either serve as is or use a hand blender to puree them further into a smooth soup. (Pureeing lentils aids in their digestion, but it’s not necessary.) Ladle into bowls and garnish with grated Romano and crumbled bacon. Serve with warm garlic bread.
Cream Cheese Brownies
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp sea salt
3 eggs
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, such as a baking bar
1/2 cup salted butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
Process. Melt 4 oz bittersweet chocolate with butter in the microwave, about 1 minute, stirring half way through. Then combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla, sea salt, eggs, oil, milk, and melted chocolate with butter in a large bowl. Pour into a greased 9″ x 13″ baking pan.
In a separate bowl combine cream cheese, flour, sugar, vanilla, and egg, beating on high until smooth. Use food coloring if desired. Spoon globs of cream cheese over the brownie batter in the pan. Using a butterknife, drag the knife through both the brownie batter and cream cheese to create swirls.
Bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes on the middle rack. Cool completely before cutting, cleaning the knife between each cut.
Our Costumes...
Yum recipes! I just watched Chef Samin Nosrat on Salt, Fats, Acid, Heat on Netflix – amazing woman! thanks for sharing these recipes and LOVE the costumes!!!
I’ve done the buttermilk soak before for fried chicken, it was delicious but could have done with less salt!