After serving us a whole book on salads, Mindy Fox turns her attention to what's in a bird with The Perfectly Roasted Chicken (Kyle Books, June 2013, paperback edition).

She's not breaking the salad spell completely as salads (with chicken) have their place in the book.

CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD with GOLDEN RAISINS, LIME, and HONEY 

Raisins, lime, and honey create a sweet-tangy chutney flavor that plays nicely with the curry in this Indian-inspired salad. Whether under a tree in the park or around the table in cooler months, I love to serve this dish picnic-style, with good crackers and little gourmet bites from a cheese shop or olive bar. It’s also tasty stuffed into a whole-wheat pita, or rolled up in crisp lettuce leaves.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic

1 tablespoon curry powder

11/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 cups small shreds roast chicken*

41/2 tablespoons mayonnaise

31/2 tablespoons plain yogurt

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons mild floral honey,

like orange blossom

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon golden raisins

1 box good-quality crackers

Gourmet bites (see Box) 

*From 1 (31/2- to 4-pound) bird 

Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger, and garlic, and reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the curry, salt, and cumin; stir to combine and cook 1 minute more. Add the chicken and stir to combine.

Transfer to a large bowl and let cool for a few minutes, then add the mayonnaise, yogurt, lime juice, and honey; stir to thoroughly combine.

Stir in the raisins. Serve with the crackers and gourmet bites.

A simple hunt for gourmet bites 

Good cheese shops and supermarket olive bars are filled with treasures (sold by the pound or jarred) that can be quickly partnered with a simple chicken salad to create an impressive picnic spread. Look for crackers studded with dried olives or flavorful seeds, like fennel or caraway; stuffed grape leaves; roasted red peppers or sweet-hot peppadews; your favorite olives; and a mix of sweet or spicy pickled okra, green beans, carrots, and beets, and a few cornichons, or kosher dills.

(* Recipe from 'The Perfectly Roasted Chicken' by Mindy Fox, published by Kyle Books, June 2013- photography by Ellen Silverman)

This morning we travel through food with this third excerpt from Burma, Rivers of Flavor (Artisan Books, October 2012) by Naomi Duguid.

Kachin Chicken Curry

Serves 4 

This dish can be cooked in a bowl set in a steamer or in a tightly covered pot. The chicken is chopped into small pieces, on the bone. It cooks more quickly than it would in large pieces, and more surface area is exposed to the flavor paste and the broth. 

The chicken is rubbed with a flavor paste of garlic, ginger, ground coriander, turmeric, and dried red chiles. It steams in its own juices, emerging tender and succulent. 

About 1 1/2 pounds chicken parts, chopped into about 15 pieces

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 teaspoon salt

2 to 4 dried red chiles, seeded and minced

Scant 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon water, or as needed

1 tablespoon peanut oil or vegetable oil,
if slow-cooking

2 tablespoons minced scallion greens or chopped coriander (optional)

Rinse the chicken pieces, remove most of the skin, and set aside. Place the chicken in a wide bowl.

Pound together the garlic, ginger, salt, chiles, coriander, and turmeric in a mortar to make a paste. Alternatively, mash the garlic and ginger with the side of a knife. Place in a small bowl, add the salt, chiles, coriander, and turmeric, and use the back of a spoon to blend them. 

Stir the water into the paste, and add it to the chicken. Turn and mix the chicken and paste until the pieces are well coated. Set aside while you organize your cooking method. 

If steaming the chicken: You need a shallow bowl that will fit into your steamer basket when the lid is on and that is large enough to hold all the chicken. You also need a pot that is just about the same diameter as your steamer, so that no steam escapes. 

Pour about 3 inches water into the pot and set the steamer basket in the pot. Transfer the chicken and flavorings and the reserved skin to the wide shallow bowl and place in the steamer. Put on the steamer lid, then heat the water over high heat. When it comes to a strong boil, turn the heat down slightly. Steam the chicken until cooked through, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Check on it after 45 minutes: be careful as you lift off the lid not to burn yourself on the steam, then stir the chicken so that pieces that are underneath will be exposed to the hot steam. Cover again and resume steaming. 

Check one of the largest pieces of chicken for doneness after an hour or so. Also check that the pot has enough water and is not running dry. When all the chicken is cooked through, remove the steamer from the pot, again taking care not to burn yourself on the steam.

If slow-cooking the chicken: Add 2 tablespoons more water and the oil to the chicken. Place in a wide heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid, add the reserved skin, and stir to mix well. Place over medium-low heat, with the lid on, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 1 hour, or until all the chicken is cooked through. The chicken will be bathed in a light sauce and will be tender and succulent. 

To serve: Remove the skin and discard. Serve hot or at room temperature, topped,
if you like, with a sprinkling of scallion greens or coriander. 

(* Excerpted from Burma: Rivers of Flavor by Naomi Duguid(Artisan Books). Copyright © 2012. Photographs by Richard Jung)

Following Red Cabbage with Cranberries recipe from pages of From a Polish Country House Kitchen, 90 Recipes for the Ultimate Comfort Food (Chronicle Books, November 2012) by Anne Applebaum and Danielle Crittenden, here's a citrus flavored one.

Roast Chicken with Clementines

Kurczak Pieczony z Klementynkami

Serves 4

This is our holiday version of weeknight roast chicken. Back in the days when clementines were a rarity, they were what you got in your Christmas stocking. Nowadays in Poland, as elsewhere, clementines are sold in cartons for the holidays, and Poles buy them in bulk, placing them in enormous bowls on the table and around the house, as an edible decoration and a symbol of seasonal abundance.
Anne often puts them on a platter, sprinkles a handful of walnuts and some dates on top, and serves them with the after-dinner coffee, instead of dessert. That’s all one wants after a heavy winter meal, after all.

Here the clementines are cooked whole, inside the chicken, where their juice sweetens the gravy and their zest gives it bite. This is a very easy dish, perfect for one of those nights around Christmas when you aren’t entertaining hordes of cousins, but aren’t in the mood for leftovers either. To add to the laziness factor, w

To double the recipe, roast two small chickens in the same pan, rather than roasting a larger one.

1 whole chicken (3 to 4 lb/1.4 to 1.8 kg)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 to 3 clementines, depending on the size of the chicken and the clementines (you will be using them as stuffing), peel left on
Baking potatoes, with skin on (optional; 1 per person)
Salt
1 cup/240 ml orange juice, preferably fresh-squeezed
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, or 1. tsp dried
2 small shallots, peeled and minced
Freshly ground pepper
Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/gas 4.

Wash the chicken and pat dry. Rub the outside with olive oil. Stuff the whole, unpeeled clementines into the cavity—as many as will fit without spilling out. Put the chicken in a roasting pan.

Roast the chicken for about 1. hours for a 4-lb/1.8-kg bird, or until the juices run clear when the leg is pierced with the tip of a knife, basting occasionally to brown the skin. For an even easier meal, rub some baking potatoes in salt, and place them in another roasting pan in the oven beneath the chicken—they will be ready when the chicken is. (Midway through roasting, pierce the potatoes with a fork in several places and turn.)
Remove the chicken to a carving board and let rest. Skim off any fat from the pan juices, and set the pan on top of the stove over low heat. Add the orange juice, rosemary, and shallots; raise the heat; and bring to a boil. Lower the heat again and simmer until reduced and thickened. Season with salt and pepper. You will want to have about 1 cup/240 ml of orange gravy.

Remove the clementines from the chicken cavity, cut them in half, and use them as garnish on the serving platter. Carve the chicken and pass the sauce separately. Halve the baking potatoes lengthwise and serve them alongside the chicken.

(* Recipe out of From a Polish Country House Kitchen- Chronicle Books, Fall 2012- by Anne Applebaum and Danielle Crittenden, Reprinted with permission of the publisher)

Did you know that the new and improved pressure cooker is easier, greener, quicker and safer to use than ever before?

To prove it, British food writer Richard Ehrlich, who you might know for his column in The Guardian, penned 80 Recipes for your Pressure Cooker (Kyle Books, 2012).

I will not serve all 80 of them.

Let's start with 1.

Cuban style Chicken Soup Recipe

The garnish of avocado is a delicious surprise—as long as the avocado is of the Hass variety, and properly ripe. If you can’t get that, just skip the avocado.

serves 4

2–3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 lb free-range chicken

meat, cubed or thickly sliced

1 quart chicken stock (from cubes will be fine)

1 onion, quartered

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 bay leaf

4 small new potatoes, thickly sliced

1/3 cup orzo or another very small pasta shape

8 cherry tomatoes, halved

orange and avocado slices, to serve

chopped fresh cilantro, to garnish (optional)

Pour some oil into the pressure cooker, using just enough to coat the base of the pan generously. Bring up to a brisk heat and put the chicken in, stir-frying just long enough to get a bit of color into it (3–5 minutes). Pour in the stock, and then all the remaining ingredients except the tomatoes. Clamp on the lid. Bring up to full pressure, turn the heat down to medium, and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and vent immediately.

As soon as you can remove the lid, drop in the tomatoes and put the lid back on. Simmer without pressure just long enough to soften the tomatoes. Serve with the orange and avocado slices passed separately so that everyone can help themselves. You can also add chopped fresh cilantro as a garnish, if you wish. 

Chicken stock

Making poultry stock (and meat stock, even more so) takes a very long time. Hours are needed to extract all the flavor from those bones and their accompanying meat. And the cooking must be a gentle simmer, or the stock will become cloudy. My friend John Whiting, who knows more about the pressure cooker than I ever will, doesn’t mind cloudy stock—and that’s why he makes it in the pressure cooker. I am a fetishist for perfectly clear stock, however, so I do the conventional simmering. The exception: boiling up a chicken or duck carcass when the bird has already been cooked. This is not “proper” stock, in my view, and since I always use the stuff for everyday soups, cloudiness doesn’t matter. Method: chop the carcass into four or five pieces, using all the scraps, and chuck it in the pressure cooker with a carrot, a celery rib, some garlic, some dried herbs, and a halved onion. Put in water to cover, then clamp on the lid. Bring up to full pressure, turn the heat down to medium, and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to vent gradually. Strain off the solids and you’re done.

(* Recipe from '80 Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker' by Richard Ehrlich, Kyle Books-May 2012, Photography by Will Heap, shared with permission of publisher)

To mark the Lunar New Year here's a third helping from Ching's Everyday Easy Chinese (William Morrow) by Ching-He Huang, the host of Chinese Food Made Easy on Cooking Channel.

Kung Po chicken

This is a classic dish from Sichuan. It is named after Ding Baochen (1820–86), a governor of Sichuan; “Gong Bao” or “Kung Po” means “palatial guardian,” in reference to his official title. I love this spicy-sweet dish, but can’t stand versions of it made with oyster sauce or cabbage. In my view, it should be numbingly spicy, sweet, and tangy.
There are many variations of the dish and this is my home-style Western version. The tang comes from the Chinkiang black rice vinegar.

Prep time: 10 minutes l Cook in: 10 minutes l Serves: 2–4 to share

2 skinless chicken breasts or 4 thighs, cut into ½-inch slices
Salt and ground white pepper
1 tbsp of potato flour or cornstarch
1 tbsp of peanut oil
2 tbsps of Sichuan peppercorns
4 dried red chilies
1 tbsp of Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
2 scallions, chopped into 1-inch lengths
Handful of dry-roasted cashews

For the Sauce
7 tbsps of cold vegetable stock
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 tbsp of tomato ketchup
1 tbsp of Chinkiang black rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp of hoisin sauce
1 tsp of chili sauce
1 tbsp of cornstarch

 

 

1. Place the chicken in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the potato flour or cornstarch and mix well to coat the chicken pieces. Add all the ingredients for the sauce to another bowl and stir to combine.

2. Heat a wok over high heat until it starts to smoke and then add the peanut oil. Add the Sichuan
peppercorns and dried chilies and fry for a few seconds, then add the chicken pieces and stir-fry for 2 minutes. As the chicken begins to turn opaque, add the rice wine or dry sherry. Cook for an additional 2 minutes, then pour in the sauce.

3. Bring to a boil, add the red pepper, and cook in the sauce with the chicken for another 2 minutes, or until the meat is cooked through and the sauce has thickened and become slightly sticky in consistency. Add the scallions and cook for 1 minute. Toss in the cashews, then transfer to a serving plate and serve immediately.

CHING’S TIP: For a darker sauce, you could add a small drop of dark soy sauce.

(* Recipe from Ching's Everyday Easy Chinese (William Morrow, October 4, 2011) by Ching-He Huang, Photography by Jamie Cho, reproduced by permission of the publisher)

If your new year's resolutions for 2012 include adding variety to your home cooking without getting too wrapped up in technical and fussy details, you ought to consider Seoultown Kitchen (Kyle Books, Fall 2011) by Debbie Lee as a source.

The book is broken into 12 chapters from Kimchee to Tofu via Noodles and Pork.

To give you a taste of Debbie's recipes I share her Chicken Meatballs with a Magnolia Berry Glaze which looks as tasty as it is short, great on a hurried day.

Chicken Meatballs with a Magnolia
Berry Glaze
I don’t know any cuisine that does not have some version of a meatball. In fact, it is the one item I always look for on the menu when dining out at ethnic restaurants. I love learning about new flavor
profiles as I savor the juiciness of the ground meat. Not to mention, meatballs make amazing appetizers. My take on the Korean meatball incorporates the fruity and floral flavors of the magnolia
berry tree, which grows in Korea. During the harvest, Koreans have omija, a magnolia tea, at the end
of the meal. The first time I tried the drink I thought what a nice sauce it would make for chicken or
fish. Leftover Magnolia Berry Glaze can be refrigerated for 2 weeks and used on grilled fish or a nice
thick pork chop.

Serves: 6
Prep time: 5 Minutes
Cook time: 45 Minutes

1 pound ground chicken
1 small yellow onion, puréed in
a food processor
1 egg
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil, for deep frying

For the Magnolia Berry Glaze:

1 quart Chicken Stock (page 147)
1 cup magnolia berry syrup
(available in Korean markets
or online)
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
½ cup mirin
2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon finely ground chile
powder (gochugaru)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 bunch chives, chopped, for garnish
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds, for garnish
1 tablespoon roasted and salted sesame seeds, for garnish

1 In a large mixing bowl, combine all the meatball ingredients except the breadcrumbs and vegetable oil. Mix to incorporate well. Add the breadcrumbs a little at a time. If the mixture seems too wet, add a little more breadcrumbs to bind it. Place in the refrigerator to chill for about 15 minutes.

2 Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine all the ingredients for the Magnolia Berry Glaze. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the sauce has reduced by a third. Remove from the heat and set aside.

3 Preheat the oven to 400F. Remove the meatball mixture from the fridge and form 18 meatballs. Arrange on a sheet pan and place in the freezer to chill for 10 to 15 minutes.

4 In a large stockpot, pour in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and heat over medium-high heat until it reaches 375F when measured with a candy or deep-fry thermometer. Remove the meatballs from the freezer and deep-fry until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes.

5 Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meatballs to a large mixing bowl and add the glaze. Toss well and arrange the meatballs on a baking pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the ground chicken is cooked through.

6 Transfer to a serving platter, garnish with the chives and both kinds of sesame seeds, and serve hot.

(* Recipe from Seoultown Kitchen by Debbie Lee- published by Kyle Books, Fall 2011- all rights reserved...Photos by Quentin Bacon)

In Poulet (Chronicle Books, December 2011), Cree LeFavour takes us on a world tour of chicken dishes from Chicken-Fennel Mealballs over Angel Hair to Senegalese Chicken with Black-Eyed Peas.

With 'more than 50 remarkable meals that exalt the honest chicken', it gives us the opportunity to cook a different chicken dish for each week of the year.

I could have kept the recipe i will share today for Tokyo Thursdays .

Sumo Wrestler Stew (Chankonabe):

Serves 4

This is a very soothing, and very Japanese, way to load up on the carbohydrates: buckwheat udon next
to potatoes over rice—but with plenty of chicken and vegetables thrown in for essential touches of
protein and earthy flavor. If it’s one of those nights when what you really want is comfort food—or
you’re planning on running a marathon the next day—here it is, in a single bowl. The ingredient list is
long and a little weird. Look for burdock, kombu, udon, and miso paste in any well-stocked Asian
grocery or health-food store. Your reward will be a stunning, complex soup and an outstanding night’s
rest.

2 burdock roots, about 40 g total weight, peeled and thinly sliced (optional)
8 oz/230 g udon noodles
2 tbsp peanut/groundnut oil
1 leek, white and light green parts only, cut into thin rounds
3 oz/85 g shiitake mushrooms, brushed clean, stemmed and sliced
4 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
8 cups/2 l chicken stock
1 sheet kombu seaweed
One 6-in/15-cm piece daikon or 6 Cherry Belle radishes, thinly sliced
1 tbsp white miso paste
1 tbsp red miso paste
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp soy sauce, plus more if needed
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-in/12-mm rounds
6 small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2-in/12-mm rounds
2 cups/170 g coarsely chopped napa cabbage
2 heads baby bok choy, trimmed and cut lengthwise into ribbons
1/2 red bell pepper/capsicum, cut lengthwise into pinkie-width strips
1/2 orange bell pepper, cut lengthwise into pinkie-width strips
4 eggs
Jasmine Rice
7 oz/200 g firm tofu, cut into 1-in/ 2.5-cm cubes
1/4 cup/10 g chopped fresh chives

If using the burdock, rinse under cold water. Put in a large bowl, cover with cold water, and soak for 20
minutes, changing the water once about halfway through. Cook the noodles according to the package
directions, rinse, and set aside. They need not be kept hot.

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a 12-in/30-cm or larger cast-iron sauté pan or 5-qt/5-l or larger Dutch oven
over medium heat. Add the leek and cook until soft and just beginning to color on the edges, about 5
minutes. Transfer to a plate and add the mushrooms to the same pan. This time, turn the heat up high to get some of the moisture out of the mushrooms. After 5 minutes or so, when you can really smell them cooking, transfer the mushrooms to the plate with the leek.

Heat the remaining 1 tbsp oil to the pan over medium heat. Working in batches, lay the chicken pieces
skin-side down in the hot oil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is browned on both sides, turning the pieces frequently to prevent sticking. Set the chicken aside on a plate.

In a large saucepan or stockpot over medium heat, combine the stock, kombu, and daikon. Bring to a
gentle simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the kombu. Add the red
and white miso paste along with the mirin and soy sauce, stirring to thoroughly dissolve the miso pastes. Taste the broth. It should be potent and a little salty. If you think it might need salt, it probably does. Add more soy sauce a little at a time until it tastes just the way you like it.

Add the browned chicken thighs, the carrots, the potatoes, and the cabbage to the pan. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Add the bok choy and bell peppers. Keeping the heat low, cook for 5 more minutes, then carefully crack the eggs onto the surface
of the barely-simmering broth. Poach the eggs for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the whites set.

Divide the rice among 4 large bowls. Add a handful of udon noodles to each and arrange the noodles to
make a nest. Using a slotted spoon, place a poached egg carefully in each nest. Scatter one-fourth of the tofu cubes into each bowl. Next, ladle the simmering broth, along with plenty of vegetables and a
chicken thigh, around the egg in each bowl. Finish by sprinkling on the chives. The bowls should be
beautiful, plentiful, and memorable.

(* Recipe from Poulet by Cree LeFavour-Photographs by France Ruffenach-Published by Chronicle Books, December 2011-all rights reserved-reproduced with permission)