Chicken & Poultry « (y)our food choices™

Just across the river Seine on Paris’ Left Bank, we found a place filled with one restaurant after another, each with a carnival barker standing in the front door offering everything from free cocktails to deserts, wine and appetizers. A few even offered their virgin daughters. All were trying to get customers inside to eat. Those few blocks of concentrated restaurants in the Latin Quarter seemed like a traveling circus, luring people in with guarantees of delicious food and lively libations. As we walked around the quarter we come upon one restaurant we knew we needed to try. No one was outside promising us their first born, but we spotted the one thing we couldn’t refuse: inside a glass rotisserie was a small golden brown suckling pig on a spit slowly roasting and just below it, catching the little oinker’s fat and juices, were large plump chickens, also slowly roasting on a rotating spit. Each time the fat and juices of the pig and those chickens hit the bottom of the oven you could hear a sizzle and smell the wonderful combination of pig fat and crispy roasted chickens. We couldn’t resist the allure!

There were two prix fix menu options at this corner eatery. One offered a quarter of roasted chicken while the other an overly generous piece of the suckling pig. Both of the offerings were served with fries (of course), a salad, and an appetizer. Steve’s selection, the roasted pig, also came with a dessert that he was happy to share. We gorged and shared one of the richest meals of our trip. In the end, we couldn’t finish it all, but the flavors and aromas of those rich meaty dishes are permanently seared into our memories.

Upon returning home, we ventured over to Andrionico’s where we found some of the loveliest, plumpest chickens we’ve ever seen in San Francisco lying in the butcher case. They were organic, free range, local, etc. and they were on sale for $1.99 a pound! Jason’s mind immediately flew back to those chickens roasting in pig fat in Paris. How to reproduce the experience without the suckling pig, the rotisserie oven or a spit?

Jason scouted around the refrigerator for inspiration and found a ramekin of bacon fat drippings left over from some other tasty meal. We know most roast chicken recipes call for rubbing butter or olive oil on, and under, the skin of the chicken, but we haven’t heard of anyone using bacon fat in the same way. This seemed like the obvious choice given the wonderful memories of that decadent meal in Paris.

So, here’s our recipe for Parisian-style Roast Chicken, or at least our take on a Parisian roast chicken experience. We don’t think it’s anything new, but we do hope we’re starting a revival of bringing bacon fat back to the art of roasting chickens.

Parisian-style Roasted Chicken

3 large onions
1 head of garlic
4-5 large organic russet potatoes
1 4-6 lb. roasting hen (preferably free-range, organic)
1 bunch of parsley
1 small bunch of thyme
4-6 tablespoons rendered bacon fat drippings, chilled
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel and cut the three large onions into ¼ to 1/8 wedges, depending on the size of the onions. Peel the garlic cloves and cut the very large cloves into half or thirds. Cut the potatoes into quarter or third wedges, depending on the size of the potatoes. Reserve one onion wedge and one clove of garlic for the cavity of the bird. Toss the rest of the vegetables with salt and pepper in a medium sized roasting pan and set aside.

Rinse the chicken under cold water and dry off using paper towels. Cut off any excess fat from the bird. Rub a little bacon fat inside the cavity. Add a little salt and pepper and then the parsley and thyme, cut up the reserved onion wedge and garlic, add them to the cavity. Tie the legs of the bird together. Rub the rest of the bacon fat over the bird and under the skin of the breast. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper and place onto the reserved vegetables in the roasting pan. Grease a piece of aluminum foil, with a little bacon fat and cover the chicken. Place in the oven and roast for 20 minutes. Take the foil off the chicken and continue to roast for about and hour. If the vegetables start to brown too quickly add some white wine or chicken stock to the pan. After about 45 of roasting take the chicken out and check the temperature of the dark meat, between the leg and thigh. The chicken should register at about 180 degrees. Once the chicken is done, place on a plate and cover for 5-10 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the pan on another plate and deglaze the roasting pan with about ¼ cup of white wine or vermouth. Add about ½ to a cup of water or chicken stock and reduce a little further until a nice pan sauce is created, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cut up the chicken and serve with the roasted vegetables and pan drippings.

P.S. We know that chickens don’t fly but we couldn’t think of a catchier title.

Bon Appetit!

We have an upcoming trip planned for London and Paris in April and we can’t wait until we depart. We’ve never been to Europe, and aside from Canada and Mexico we have never left the U.S. We are also big fans of French and European culture even though we have yet to experience them up close and personal. We hope that in the years to come we’ll be able to travel to Italy and Spain to experience their cuisines in person. Whenever we see Lidia Bastianich or Jose Andres cooking up their regional dishes we both wish we had the luxury of being able to travel and eat delicious foods. Some day soon we’ll visit Italy and Spain, but for this first venture to Europe it’s all about Paris and London.

Pate, Cheese, Pear, Cornichon and Olive

Give us a bottle of Champagne (or a nice Cava, or sparkling wine), a baguette, some cheese, pâté, Dijon mustard, olives and cornichon pickles and we’re as happy as we can be. That also happened to be our midnight Valentine’s Day celebration menu from last Sunday. I was working late, serving the masses their Valentine’s Day dinner, while Steve was at home preparing our feast. The most complicated part of the nosh was preparing the Pâté, which is essentially just chicken livers and butter. We found the recipe in the March issue of Martha Stewart’s Living and the only thing we did differently was to pour the Pâté into a jar instead of pouring it into a plastic lined bread pan.

The amount of pâté was too much for both of us to eat in one sitting, so now whenever we need a reminder of what’s to come on our Paris vacation, we can spread a little on some toast or crackers, dreaming of the day when we can truly eat like Parisians. Even if you’re not as lucky enough to get Paris this year, you can still make up a batch of Martha’s pâté to keep on hand for those days you need to be reminded of how good life really is!

Steve’s Note:

When I think of food torture I think of my childhood. I think of sitting at the family table or at a TV tray with a plate of pan-fried beef liver and onions with a side of canned peas and lumpy boiled potatoes. If this meal didn’t make me cry (believe me, it almost always did) or vomit (it happened once), at the very least it meant that I would be tethered to my seat at the table for what felt like an eternity. These standoffs would last until my plate was cold and mom couldn’t take the suffering of her child martyr any longer. After choking down “just one bite,” I’d be dismissed from what was a mercifully rare but memorable ordeal.

Martha’s simple pate recipe is, I suppose, a sort of liver therapy. A rehabilitation of sorts of my attitude toward a lowly food that has much more to offer than poor cooking methods will ever reveal. We hope you’ll give it a try.

Cheers, Steve

Pâté Recipe

3 shallots, diced

12 Tbsp butter, room temperature, cut into pieces

1 lb. chicken livers, cleaned of fat and connective tissue

½ cup dry white wine

1 tbsp fresh thyme

Dash of cayenne

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt 2 tbsp butter in skillet. Sautee shallots over medium heat until softened, approximate 5 minutes. Add chicken livers and sauté for approximately 10 minutes. Add thyme and white wine and simmer until the wine has reduced by half. Pour contents of the pan into a food processor and puree adding the remaining 10 tbsp butter and process until completely smooth. Scoop puree into container and refrigerate for 2 hours. Serve on baguette or your favorite cracker.