Cilantro Garlic Chicken

Rachel and I used to LOVE to eat at Tabla.  When we lived in the Gramercy area of NYC (and didn't yet have kids of course), this was our favorite fancy dinner.  It was actually the only nice restaurant in town where they knew us as soon as we walked in the door.  Sadly, the restaurant closed, so we can no longer visit.  We were both glad to see that Chef Floyd Cardoz moved on and is on the verge of opening a new place.

As Rachel mentioned before, we have very different styles of cooking.  I like to follow recipes, making minor tweaks, and she basically just wings it.  One of the best decisions we made on one of our Tabla trips was to buy the Chef's book ("One Spice, Two Spice").  In that book is a roast chicken recipe that completely changed our approach to what was always a pretty good but very simple dish.  The general concept is to cut the back out of the whole chicken, break the breast plate, and let it lie flat in a roasting pan.  With a delicious Cilantro Garlic marinade coating, and a bit of water in the pan, the chicken gives you wonderful flavor, and the water/coating turns into an amazing sauce.  So here it goes:

Ingredients:

• 1 Whole Chicken
• 1 Bunch Fresh Cilantro, roughly chopped (including stems)
• Juice from 1 Lime
• 6-7 Cloves Garlic
• 2 Tbs Fresh Peeled Ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 3/4 tsp Black Peppercorns
• 2 Cloves
• 1/4 Stick of Cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

First, the marinade/rub:
Put the Cilantro, Garlic, Ginger and Lime Juice in a food processor, and puree.  Pour into a large bowl.

Grind Cumin Seeds, Pepper, Cloves, and Cinnamon in a spice grinder (we use an old coffee grinder that is dedicated to spices).  Combine ground spices, and Kosher Salt into the large bowl with the Cilantro Garlic paste, and stir thoroughly. 

Second, prep the chicken:
Remove gizzards and set aside if you want to make a chicken stock.  Using a sharp, large knife, cut the back bone out of the chicken.  Set it aside for the stock as well.  Using your hands, break the bone that connects both breasts so that the chicken can lie flat.  Using a small fork, puncture holes all over the chicken going through the skin and into the meat.  Now rub the marinade all over the chicken.  Place the chicken (breasts facing up) in a baking/roasting dish.  Cover the chicken with all remaining marinade.  Pat it down evenly.  Put the chicken in the fridge and let marinate for at least 4 hours, up to 24 hours if you want.

Finally, make the chicken:
Preheat the over to 400 degrees.  We use a setting called "Convection Roast" so that air circulates, but this is not necessary.  Take the chicken out of the fridge and put a small amount of water in the roasting pan (1/4" of water).  Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until done.  When you take the chicken out, don't be alarmed if it looks black and burnt.  It is just the marinade forming a delicious crispy shell.  Let the chicken rest for at least 15 minutes before eating. Trust me, it will taste good.  Carve the chicken, and serve with the sauce that formed in the bottom of the roasting pan.  Enjoy!

Bolognese Sauce

This is my recipe for bolognese sauce. It's been tweaked many times and this is now our family favorite version!

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 6-12 cloves garlic (I use more if mincing, less if microplane grating)
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 medium zucchini, shredded
• 1 cup chicken stock or beef broth
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 Tbsp minced fresh basil
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh oregano
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dried rubbed sage
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder (this is a mild chili powder - don't use 1 1/2 tsp of cayenne!)
• salt & pepper to taste

Cook ground beef in a large stock pot until browned. While cooking, sauté onion and shallot in olive oil in a frying pan, 5 minutes or so until the onion is translucent, but do not brown. When beef is browned, add cooked onion and shallot, and everything else. Simmer for 30 minutes to 2 hours, lower heat if cooking longer, higher if you spaced out and forgot to get started on dinner until everyone's already hungry!

Some day I should make this with fresh tomatoes...

Spectacular Failure: Green Goo!

When I was a kid, I used to play in the kitchen, combining all kinds of random ingredients and hoping it turned out as something edible. It never did. One time, I even started an oven fire with my experiments.

Well, it turns out I didn't really learn anything growing up because I still sometimes end up throwing a bunch of stuff together and hoping for the best. Yesterday, I tried to make a certain food without a certain critical ingredient, and thought that if I just substituted enough other ingredients it would work. Clearly, it didn't. This was the sad, green, blob-like result. And no, I'm not admitting to what this was supposed to be, or to what ingredients went into it, but there were probably a dozen, and the color did not come from food coloring. Be very afraid!

Bonus: it served double duty as an awesome toddler toy. For 5 minutes anyway.

Cranberry Coconut Muffins (Gluten-Free)

This blog is quickly turning into a muffin blog, it seems. Every morning when we get up, Monkey asks to make muffins even though he rarely eats any of them. He just really likes to help bake, and who am I to turn down a child's desire to bake muffins that I then get to hoard mostly to myself? :P

• 1/2 cup coconut milk (the canned kind, not the dairy substitute kind)
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (always use cold-pressed, unrefined coconut oil)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour (we use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking flour)
• 1/3 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup cane sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp xanthan gum (omit if using regular flour)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups cranberries

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk egg and add coconut milk, agave nectar and coconut oil, mix well. Add wet to the dry bowl, combine. Add cranberries, stir to distribute. Divide into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 350° for 24 minutes. SO GOOD.

Bacon-Wrapped Figs with Pomegranate Balsamic Reduction | Red & Green Rice

Bacon-wrapped figs are, in a word, AMAZING. Like whoa. They're a perfect food. And SO easy and simple to make:

Wash and slice fresh figs in half lengthwise, removing the stems. Cut bacon slices in half. Wrap each half piece of bacon around each half fig and place cut side down in a baking dish. Cook on convection bake at 375° for 30 minutes, or until bacon looks done enough. Don't overdo it. (These were the brown turkey variety of figs. We've also made this using black mission figs. Both were amazing.)

While the figs are baking, make a pomegranate balsamic reduction: Put equal parts pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and simmer on medium-medium high until reduced by about half. We use 1/3 cup of each, which, reduced, makes enough to drizzle over the bacon-wrapped figs serving two adults.

The Red & Green Rice was a new experiment, using what we had on hand. It was pretty good, but I think I'll modify it a bit next time. What we did tonight was this:

• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/4 cups rice (we used white basmati)
• 2 shallots, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 small-medium zucchini, shredded (about 1 cup after shredding)
• around 16 sun-dried tomatoes, diced (the kind you buy in a jar of oil)
• 2 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves, minced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2-3 Tbsp butter

In a pot, warm the chicken stock to a simmer. In a bowl, soak the rice in water. While those are busy, saute the shallot and garlic in olive oil a Dutch oven for 5 minutes or so. Turn it to medium, add the chicken stock, zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, and herbs. Rinse the rice, add to the pot, stir, cover, and leave it alone to cook on medium for 20 minutes. At the end of 20, stir, slide the butter into the bottom, cover, and cook another 5 minutes. Stir and serve!

Next time we make this: I'm going to use half the oregano, omit the thyme, and use maybe 1/4 cup fresh basil. I'll also sauté half a diced yellow onion with the shallot and garlic. We were out of onion today. Rookie mistake!

Note: using a different kind of rice may affect the amount of stock you need and the length of time it cooks. White basmati usually cooks in 20 minutes in a 2:1 ratio of liquid:rice. Adjust as needed.

Another note: this would probably be delicious with fresh grated parmesan melted in to make it more of a risotto. Unfortunately, someone in this house *cough* Josh *cough* doesn't like melted cheese (unless it's on pizza). I know. How could I marry the guy? Who doesn't like melted cheese?

Maple Sweet Potato Muffins (Gluten-Free)

November seems like a perfect time of year to bake with sweet potato! This recipe is rich and moist and delicious to eat still warm from the oven. (That's why there's only 11 in the photo! I couldn't wait to taste one.)

• 1/2 can sweet potato purée (or a cup of so of freshly baked sweet potato, puréed in a food processor)
• 2 ounces butter, gently melted (don't burn!)
• 2 eggs
• 3/8 cup real maple syrup, not the fake "breakfast syrup" crap
• 6 ounce container vanilla yogurt, made with whole milk. Don't ruin this recipe with skim or low fat! Boooooo low fat yogurt.
• 1 cup flour (we use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking flour)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp xanthan gum (omit if using regular flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Add to dry bowl. Combine. Divide into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 350° for 22 minutes. Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: this photo was totally posed. Monkey wanted nothing to do with these muffins, although he did help to make them!)

Meatballs!

Because who doesn't love ball-shaped food? Speaking of, I've yet to find Schweddy Balls at the store... humph. Anyway. Here's our recipe for meatballs. It's heavily modified from this one, so if you raise your eyebrows at the ketchup and cinnamon, that's where that idea came from. It works!

These meatballs happen to be gluten-free. You could definitely substitute regular bread crumbs, but I would use only 1/4 cup. I used 1/2 cup here because I didn't plan ahead so I just toasted a few pieces of GF bread and crumbled it with my hands, so the crumbs were bigger (see in the pic above).

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, microplane grated
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c gluten-free bread crumbs
• 1/4 c grated zucchini (about half a small-medium zuke)
• 1/4 c ketchup
• 1/4 c fresh oregano leaves (about 2 Tbsp after mincing)
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon

Dump everything in a big bowl. Wash hands thoroughly. Go at it, squishing and mixing with your hands and squeezing it through your fingers. When mixed well, I patted it all into a big ball and stuck it in the fridge for an hour so we could go vote, and the time chilling seemed to help firm it up well for forming into balls.

Pre-heat the oven to 375°, pour some olive oil in a cast iron skillet (or other pan that can transfer into the oven), put a bit more oil on your hands to prevent sticking, and form the meat mixture into balls, ping pong to golf ball sized. Turn the skillet to medium-medium high and when it's hot, put the meatballs on the pan. I got 26 balls from this mix, and they all just barely fit in the pan. Sear for 2-3 minutes, then use tongs to turn over. Sear another 2-3 minutes, then transfer the whole pan into a pre-heated oven for 25 minutes. Pull one out and cut into it to make sure it's done before taking the skillet out of the oven.

Serve over pasta with a tomato-based pasta sauce on top. I completely spaced out about the need for sauce (duh) until the meatballs had already started, so I threw together a super fast tomato basil sauce:

• 28 ounce can organic crushed tomatoes
• a ton of fresh basil leaves, diced (maybe about 2 cups loose leaves?)
• 1/2 large yellow onion, diced (the other half from making the meatballs - convenient!)
• 2-6 cloves of garlic, depending on taste (I used 7!), microplane grated (store-bought crushed garlic is acceptable, but fresh tastes better and it only takes like 10 seconds)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Mix the crushed tomatoes, olive oil and basil in a pot, heat on medium high. In a separate pan, saute the diced onions in olive oil for 5 minutes or so until translucent. Add to the sauce, along with the microplaned garlic and lemon juice. Simmer 15-30 minutes or so. Serve over the meatballs and pasta. NOM! Monkey and Unicorn both loved this dish, which was awesome. Both kids are rather carnivorous, but the great things about meatballs is that they're not JUST meat. Well, mostly, but I can at least pretend that the three shreds of zucchini they probably ate counts as a vegetable. Humor me.

Green Chicken Soup

Every time I make soup, it's different. I can't help it. It's too much fun to experiment, and soup is one of the most forgiving foods to experiment with (as long as you sample often!) This one turned out really well. It has a nice amount of spice without being overpowering, and the cilantro and celery root are fantastic.

• 10 c chicken stock
• 3-4 c cooked chicken, torn into small pieces (saved from making the stock)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, microplane grated
• 1 parsnip, diced
• 1 large celery root, diced
• 5 stalks celery, diced
• 4 carrots, diced
• 1.5 bunches fresh cilantro (a TON of cilantro!), minced
• 1 bunch spinach leaves, torn into pieces
• 1 Tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt & pepper to taste

Combine diced parsnip, celery root, celery, carrot, onion, shallot, garlic in a big pot with the chicken stock. Heat on high until bubbling, turn down to medium or medium-high and simmer for 30 minutes or so. Add spices, cooked chicken, and cilantro. Continue simmering for another 20 minutes or so. Add spinach. Simmer for another 10 minutes or until spinach is soft. Makes about 8-10 bowls, or dinner and lunch for 2 adults plus 2 littles. :)

Apple Muffins (Gluten-Free)

Monkey and I are on an experimental gluten-free diet but I'm unwilling to give up delicious baked goods, so I've been dabbling in gluten-free baking. It's surprisingly awesome! Several times a week, I try a different recipe that I make up or modify from a previous experiment, and about half the time they're decent. Monkey, though, never ate my most common concoctions -banana breads or muffins. Humph. Yesterday, I ran out of bananas so I decided to try apple instead and for once, he ate some! Woohoo! Unicorn loves them too. She saw them on the table while breastfeeding and immediately rejected me for the muffins. Sheesh.

Today's recipe:

• 2 apples, cored, peeled, shredded
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c agave nectar
• 1/4 c ghee
• 1/4 c heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking flour
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix wet ingredients and the shredded apple in one bowl, dry ingredients in another. Combine, mix until blended. Divide into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 350̊ for 22 minutes.

This recipe turned out great, very moist but not dense. I tend to prefer less sweetness in my muffins (cupcakes are another story!) so these have a subtle sweetness from the agave and apple. To make it not gluten-free, just use regular wheat flour and omit the xanthan gum. And, I haven't tried it, but I'm guessing that substituting softened butter for the ghee would work about the same. Next time, I'll add 1/4 c applesauce for extra moisture. I meant to, but we were out. Dang.

Steak and Potatoes, Baby!

Who doesn't love a big, juicy porterhouse steak? Okay, vegetarians, vegans, raw foodists, etc. Never mind. WE love a big, juicy porterhouse steak. We REALLY love the porterhouse at Peter Luger Steakhouse, legendary den of incredible meat and gruff waiters in Brooklyn. But, that's a 45 minute drive and $150 (cash only!) while child wrangling, so we make do at home. This 2+ pound, 2" thick beauty was rubbed with only olive oil, salt and pepper, and seared 6 minutes a side in a cast iron skillet. It then popped into the preheated oven for another 2 minutes. Perfect medium rare. Served with dutch oven potatoes and sauteed baby spinach with garlic, and a delicious red wine shallot butter, this meal is luscious and hearty. Unfortunately for us, Monkey and Unicorn LOVE steak. Soon we'll have to buy two! Monkey couldn't get enough and I've never seen Unicorn eat so much in one sitting. She dropped a record low number of pieces on the floor (sorry, kitty). Even a 7.5 month old knows good steak!

Dutch Oven Potatoes

• 1 onion, diced
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 small potatoes, cut into chunks
• 4 Tbsp butter
• salt & pepper to taste

Melt 1 T butter in the dutch oven. Cook onions 5 minutes or so until translucent. Add potatoes, garlic and remaining butter. Mix together, press down, cover, cook on medium-high for 15-20 minutes, stirring and mashing down every few minutes, then turn heat down to medium and cook covered another 20 minutes or so.

Chicken Stock

One of the easiest and most nutritious things we make is chicken stock. About once a week, we'll roast a whole organic chicken and afterward, use the carcass (and additional pieces) to make a rich stock overnight. I love the simplicity and ease of throwing a ton of stuff in a big pot and waking up the next morning with a delicious base for soup. There are a zillion things you could throw in for a stock, but this is what we do:

• 4 quarts of water
• ALL scrap pieces of chicken leftover from the roasted bird, including the (raw) gizzards
• about 2 pounds of small, bony raw pieces - wings and drumsticks are our favorite
• 4-5 stalks of celery, chopped into large pieces
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, diced, plus the peel
• 1/2 bunch parsley (save for the last 20 minutes)
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar

After eating our roast chicken dinner, we toss all of this in a big stock pot, bring it to a boil, then turn it to about medium, cover, and leave it overnight. Whenever I get around to it in the morning, I uncover, turn up to medium-high, add the parsley, and let it simmer for around 20 minutes. Then I turn it off, pick out the chicken and set aside in a bowl, strain out and discard the rest of the solid pieces, then pour the stock through a mesh strainer into a glass bowl, sometimes with some separated into mason jars to store in the freezer. Cover the bowl and stick in the fridge until the next day. Then I go through the chicken and pick off the meat, discarding the bones, skin, and other gunky bits. The meat also goes in the fridge for the next day's chicken soup. So easy!

Welcome!

Hello! This is a food blog. We are Rachel and Josh. We like to eat. Food is awesome, right? Back when we were childless yuppies, we ate out a lot in NYC. We were very spoiled. Now we have two small kids and live in the suburbs outside NYC. Small children and nice restaurants are like oil and water, so, by necessity, we have had to learn to cook. (cue sad violin) But! We still love fantastic food and we want our kids to grow up in a home with a warm, happy, active kitchen. So, this is our space to document the cooking efforts that worked well, tasted great, and hopefully were appreciated by the little ones.