the SIMMER blog

chicken scarpariello

Time for some more healthy cooking experiments!

So as fairly devout watchers of "Best Thing I Ever Ate", we here Chez Simmer were excited to see a new crop of episodes start appearing on the DVR back in June. And on one hand, you can sort of see how they're starting to stretch themselves thin, but on the other hand, there really are always new places out there, and the nicest thing about being a home cook is that you don't even necessarily have to travel to be inspired by the show. You can take inspiration from what they're doing, and bring it into your own kitchen.

So is this the chicken scarpariello that Anne Burrell raved about having at Rao's in Vegas? Not really. But is there now a chicken scarpariello we rave about having here at home? There sure is.

 
Seriously, I've made it about four times now, and unfortunately I didn't document every little step, so you're left with these pictures of one of the iterations, which was not the absolute final version we loved.

 
But it gives you the basic idea. Now, if you want the official Rao's version, you can find the recipe here, which involves bone-in chicken and a pretty large batch size.

What we ended up with in the final supertasty iteration:

• surprisingly, boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes instead of larger skin-on bone-in chicken pieces. Yes, the bone imparts some flavor, but it means a longer cooking time, less flavor penetration into the meat, and a much messier eating experience. Plus that whole health thing. And as long as the liquid isn't allowed to boil too vehemently, the white meat stayed decently tender.
• regular sweet red peppers were $6.99 a pound at the store. Cubanelle peppers (mild, pale green) were $2.99. I bought cubanelles. They rocked.
• cut up the cherry peppers instead of leaving them whole.
• keep the liquid minimal, and go heavy on the brine.
• actually, add extra brine at the end.
• and then let it sit in the fridge an extra day. Seriously.

The sour tang of the cherry pepper brine really gives this a neat flavor profile, especially when it has that extra day to soak in. As you can tell, I thought serving it with quinoa and green beans was a fine idea, although it was also good served in a deep bowl as more of a stew.

Best thing I ever ate? Maybe not. Best chicken scarpariello I ever ate? Darn tootin'. 

mini bacon and cheddar biscuits

You can imagine what it's like around here when the Williams-Sonoma catalog comes. Outbursts of OOH and WOW and OMG as I flip through it with a glass of wine. Not too much wine. My resistance to high-end kitchenware is low enough as it is.

So when I started going through a recent catalog, I managed to resist the actual cookware, but there was one thing I couldn't resist: a recipe.

Bacon and Cheddar Biscuits.

(okay, WS says Cheddar-Bacon, I say Bacon and Cheddar, bacon is verrrry important around here, not that cheese isn't... anyway, po-tay-to po-tah-to, you can see why I had to make 'em)

Unfortunately I didn't remember to start taking pictures until late in the process, but this will give you a general sense of the biscuiting:

 
I made them extra-tiny, since they were for a party. That's maybe an inch-and-a-half ring cutter.

 
Cute, right? Next time I would probably leave them thicker and just make fewer, but they were great nibbly party food, and the misshapen ones that were too shaggy to take to the party were just perfect the next day crumbled up in a cup of chili.

 

(more after the jump)

a picturecipe

Home. Hungry.

Three things.

One: pasta.

 

Two: cauliflower.

  
 

Three: bacon.

 

Not shown: dinner. Wolfed down. Gratefully. Note to self: go shopping.

you know what really burns my bacon?

(Note: no bacon was burned in the making of this post. And thank goodness for that, right?)

So there is a current TV commercial for a pre-made frozen steam-in-bag food product with a sarcastic faceless female voiceover that goes something like this: "Food Myth Number Six: chopping, peeling, and sauteeing can be kind of relaxing at the end of the day. Relaxing for who??"

DIrect response to sarcastic faceless female voiceover: relaxing for ME, that's who, lady.

It's been a crazy weekend into week into weekend into week and not getting any better anytime soon, but even if I have no time for anything else there is something wonderful and relaxing and whole-new-day-making about taking 45 minutes or so out of the evening to put together a corn and tomato saute like this:

and a smoothish guacamole like this:

with a couple paprika-and-chipotle-rubbed steaks like this:

And yes, that's a little time out of my day, but yes, I also find myself refreshed and appreciative and satisfied afterward in a way that steaming something inside the bag it came in doesn't do.

(especially when my husband does the dishes so I can go right back to work.)

a new spring standby: chorizo soup with ramps

Given endless options, weekend dinner parties are great. Especially on Saturdays. Time to clean, time to cook, time to make sure everything's in order. But since when do we live in a world of endless options? Since never. And so, with a Monday night dinner party on the schedule, I did a little planning, and a little Sunday farmers' market shopping, and improvised my way into a soup I'm now going to make again and again.

The recipe I started with starred chorizo, potatoes, and kale. Chorizo I had on hand, since it keeps forever and is, well, super delicious for all occasions. Potatoes, I knew I could get: they had fingerlings at the farmers' market, so I was set there. The recipe called for russets, but I wanted to take this in a more elegant direction. It was a dinner party, after all. Elegance without fussiness was my aim. 

As for kale? Well, I could have found some, but once I saw the sign at the market -- "RAMPS! LAST WEEK!" -- it wasn't necessary.

Would the delicate flavor of the ramps be overwhelmed by the spicy chorizo? Would the greens supply enough green? Would the potatoes fall apart in the soup? Would my plan to make foccacia croutons ahead of time end in soggy, sad bread lumps?

Suspense ended: it was delicious. And even though my camera was unexpectedly out of batteries as I served up the soup, I managed to snap a few shots afterward, including this one of my new friend Momentous Crouton:

(I heated up a thin film of olive oil in a nonstick pan, and provided extra insurance by brushing another side of each bread cube with a bit more oil... I am not hardcore enough to brown these things evenly on all six sides, but a good bit of color on two or three sides was plenty for crunch and contrast. Addictive, believe you me.)

And the soup:

 

(Okay, not a fabulous pic, but a) it was delicious, and b) look at that crouton!!) 

So you serve the soup, and the croutons on the side, and everyone drops however many croutons they want in the soup and they soak up the delicious paprika-y broth and are fabulous. According to the recipe, the croutons can be done 4 hours ahead, but my leftovers went 24 hours and were still delicious. They might have lasted longer... but I ate them all. Like I said. Addictive.

Chorizo Soup With Ramps

• olive oil
• 2 bunches ramps
• 1 pound fingerling potatoes
• 1 8-oz package chorizo (I used Palacios)
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 6 to 8 cups of chicken broth
• 1 small loaf onion foccacia, sliced thickly and air-dried, then cubed

After washing the ramps, slice the white parts, reserving the greens. Saute the sliced ramps in olive oil until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Slice or cube chorizo, and quarter potatoes. Add chorizo, potatoes, and paprika to pot, stir, and cook a couple minutes to blend flavors, then add broth. Supplement broth with water if needed to cover. (Extra liquid is good; remember, the croutons will be soaking up some of it.)

When the soup comes to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally. In the meantime, prepare croutons by toasting in olive oil, watching carefully and turning with tongs to brown on at least two sides. Remove to paper towels to drain excess oil, and salt while still warm.

Shortly before serving, snip ramp greens into soup and stir them in. Ta-da!

Serve up soup in individual portions, and deliver bowl of croutons alongside:

Perfect make-ahead. Perfect seasonal soup. And a complete meal when preceded by a substantial salad... for which, check back tomorrow!

tapas week: the snackables

So! Even though serving tapas is great for bad estimators like me because you just bring things out whenever they're ready instead of dividing things into courses, I still like to divide things into a few "waves" for the sake of planning. The first wave of Friday's meal was the stuff I could set out in advance for people to snack on when they arrived. All room temperature, the kind of things you can put out an hour ahead of time along with the glasses and plates instead of trying to time your cooking to the first arrival -- always a tricky proposition. It's not unusual for people to start showing up a half hour after the official party start time, but it also sometimes happens that people arrive early. 15, 20 minutes early, in some cases. And you don't want to be trying to entertain the first arrivals while you're thinking OMG NOTHING IS READY on the inside.

Snackables can be complex or simple. They can be things that require no cooking at all, or things you can make ahead. They should not be things that are only tasty warm.

In this case, I put out a platter of serrano ham, some figs, cheese shortbread, and almonds. The setup looked a little something like this:

(picture courtesy of my awesomely co-hosting husband, who had the presence of mind to take out the camera right around the time where I start to get down in the weeds and forget the camera exists)

The cheese shortbread were the only things that required cooking, and they are definitely do-ahead. Now, when Rose Levy Beranbaum tells you to roll dough into a log, chill it, and slice it if you want circles, you should do as she says. Because rolling out dough with this much butter in it and punching circles with a cookie cutter is very, very frustrating, because the dough goes from too-cold-to-roll to too-warm-to-handle in a snap. But still. I am hard-headed. And when you are sufficiently hardheaded (and willing to put dough into the fridge, take it out, cut it, put it back in the fridge, pull out a couple circles, put it back in the fridge, or try the freezer, take it out, ad nauseum) you can make pretty pretty little uniform circles like these.

You know what also would have been perfectly fine? Store-bought crackers. Never feel pressured to put out only homemade things. 

(But if you ever want to make these -- and again, I suggest you roll into logs and slice instead of rolling 1/2 inch thick and using a cookie cutter -- I use Beranbaum's recipe for cheese dollars from the truly excellent book Rose's Christmas Cookies, making a double batch and using 1/4 tsp of cayenne and 2 tsp of smoked paprika for the spices.)

tapas week: a grain of salt

It's been a while since I've done a theme week, and it seemed like a good time to change that. I put together tapas for 12 last week, so there's plenty to talk about. Let's have at it!

Everyone has weaknesses and strengths as a cook, right? Here are my weaknesses: I am bad at estimating quantities. I am also not always great at estimating how long things take. And I always overdo, mainly because I'm so worried about underestimating that I overestimate, and that means not only can you not be sure when the next dish will come out, you can never be sure it's the last one.

Anyway, you can fight your strengths or you can work with them. I work with them, and serve tapas.

Here is the menu I had planned for last week's tapas event:

 

• spiced fried almonds
• serrano ham
• cheese shortbread
• bacon-wrapped dates
• endive with goat cheese and oranges
• celery salad with dates and walnuts
• chorizo in red wine
• lamb meatballs
• seared scallops
• garlic toast
• chickpeas and spinach
• dulce de leche ice cream
• cocoa brownies

So what happened? What did I end up serving and when? Tune in this week to find out.

(And the grain of salt in the title is this: I can't tell you I know how to plan things right unless I pull these events off flawlessly, and I never pull these events off flawlessly. There's always something I'd do differently next time. That said, if you wait until you can do a perfect job entertaining, you'll never be ready for guests.)

last minute irish

One more day to prepare for St. Pat's! Me, I'm too busy putting together a tapas menu for 12 (more details to come, but the menu will include those bacon-wrapped dates I'm so fond of) later in the week to prep anything in particular on the Irish-American front.

But, if you're looking around for options... there's always my Guinness-themed menu:

Guinness Guinness and more Guinness

Or this lovely-sounding recipe for Soda Bread Scones over at Smitten Kitchen:

Soda Bread Scones

Have a lovely St. Patty's Day tomorrow. Don't get pinched.

preparing for saint patrick

Everyone's got a favorite holiday. I know people who spend two months gearing up for Halloween, for example. Some of us wait all year for a Cadbury creme egg. And there are, of course, the St. Patrick's Day fanatics.

So if you are one of them, and you need something to serve this year that isn't the usual corned beef and cabbage, this menu's for you.

You can pick and choose from the list below and customize, depending on what you're up for. You can do the pork and the cake a couple days ahead, reheat and slice the night of, and have a nice sit-down dinner that doesn't require you to take the day off work for prep. Or you can just serve the cheese fondue and have your friends go potluck on the rest for an easy, cool, casual gathering. Or you can, as I did with this menu, go completely and unrelentingly (and deliciously) overboard. Mmmm, overboard.

The All-Guinness Menu:

• Guinness cheese and crackers
• Guinness cheese fondue
• Pork Braised With Guinness and Sweet Potatoes
• Guinness cake
• Guinness-Chocolate Ice Cream

It's festive, it's unusual, and you'll save yourself the trouble of thinking about what drink to serve alongside.

 

 

best bites of 2009: other notables

And then we came to the end! Last post of 2009.

Lots of delicious bites I had this year weren't exactly restaurant food, nor were they exactly homemade, so I wanted to include them in some other way. And here they are! Included.

 

1. Red chili Capogiro gelato -- it's almost TOO hot, but that's perfect, because it's also creamy and rich, and you would think it cools itself but it doesn't. Worth trying at least once! 
2. Nduja from Boccalone-- Yes, it's spicy meat paste. Sausage, really, but softer and spreadable. Good for nubbing into a sauce for pasta or just spreading on bread.
3. Apples with goat cheese and honey-- My friend Sara made these for her birthday party and they are really, really delicious. Totally nicking them for my next shindig.
4. Duck wonton with Gary Farrell Pinot Noir -- At the Sonoma Wine Country Weekend, there were about 60 restaurants and over a hundred wineries, so we couldn't get around to them all, but I sure was glad we got to this. I can't remember what table offered the duck wonton (A La Carte catering, maybe?) but it was right next to the Gary Farrell table, and the food with the wine was just a tremendous little burst of awesome. Went back for seconds. And then some.
5. Ricotta, pistachio, and basil crostini at Tria's Fermentation School. Three great tastes I would not have pegged as tasting great together, but... they totally do.
6. Sarcone's Special.
7. The goat cheese sandwich at 'wichcraft. If I had to choose between this one and the Sarcone's Special for the rest of my life, it'd be a really, really tough call. Luckily, I don't have to pick!
8. Mozzarepas. At my first two or three NYC street fairs I made sure to eat these, because I didn't know when I'd see them again. Luckily for my hips, I realized quickly they appear at EVERY SINGLE street fair in the city. Therefore, there'll always be another chance.
9. Russian Teacakes made by my mom for Christmas. In case you wonder where I get the Overdo gene, she made more than a dozen types of cookies for Christmas this year. The fact that I still gravitate toward the Russian Teacakes even though they cannot be discreetly sneaked (powdered sugar! everywhere! and I wear a lot of black) speaks to their irresistibility.

And that's it for 2009. Let's see what wonderful tastes and smells and flavors 2010 brings, shall we?