It hasn't taken long for me to get my cooking mojo back now that our kitchen is together enough to make cooking enjoyable. We also have taken possession of a nearly new Kitchen Aid convection cooking range. Our dear neighbors across the street just got a fancy new Wolf range and want us to have their 3 year old Kitchen Aid. WHAT A GIFT! With all of the money we are spending on the remodel, it was going to be a while before a new range was in our cards so we are very lucky indeed.
Here is what has been cooking.........
It is wild mushroom season here in the upper midwest, so that means our friend Sally can be found roaming around in an undisclosed location finding her secret stash of morel mushrooms. This is serious business in these parts an no one, NO ONE ever tells you where their secret place to find these treasures is. Folks will go to the grave with this secret. Just like every year in May, there is that knock at our door and an outstretched had greets us as we open the door. There we see a huge container of morels begging for an immediate trip to a frying pan. YUM!!! This year we chose to make chicken scallopini with the bundle of deliciousness.
After cleaning the bugs out of the morels (remember, they are the fungusamongus and always need some funky poopy moldy soil in order to prosper), we chopped them up with some fresh shiitake mushrooms from the local farmers market, then put them in a saute' pan with shallots, butter, olive oil, salt & pepper and sauted until tender. Remove the shrooms from the pan and set aside (the morels are the dark ones in the front row of the photo).
We then prepared some chicken thighs (you can use breasts too, but we like the dark meat :o)
Make sure to cut away as much fat from the boneless/skinless thighs as possible. Add a pad of butter to the pan and more olive oil, add the chicken and saute' until brown on both sides.
Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Add the shallots and brown. Add 1/3 cup chicken stock and 1/4 cup white wine to the pan and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. Scrape up any brown bits. Simmer until liquid is reduced by 1/2. Stir in 1/2 cup half-and-half.
Add mushrooms and chicken back to pan to reheat. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley.
We made a wonderful fresh greens salad from greens we purchased at our local farmers market. Lettuce, spinach and baby kale are the greens being used. Tomatoes and sliced almonds finish it off. Simple and delicious.
You will see that chicken is a theme in our house in spring. It's light and easy to cook and great with fresh spring greens and root veggies. For our Easter celebration we decided on Herb, Garlic & Lemon Roast Chicken. This will be our first real test of the new convection oven so that is why there are no guests here for this one. Serving a charred football for dinner is a horror I just cannot bare (that would be me naked :o). So here goes...........
Get a whole fresh chicken, and not one of those huge steroid & water filled monsters that look like a small turkey. Nothing bigger than a 4 pounder. I always use the free range organic chickens and they REALLY DO taste better. The first thing you have to do is prepare the herb butter. Take 1/2 stick butter (softened) and put in a small bowl. Add minced zest of a lemon, 2 T minced fresh thyme, 2 T minced fresh rosemary, 2 T minced fresh sage, 5 pressed garlic cloves. Mix herbs & garlic into softened butter with a fork.
Herb butter
Once herb butter is ready, wash and dry the chicken. Use your fingers to get between the skin and flesh around the breast meat and do the same around the legs, etc. then start smearing the herb butter under the skin and onto the meat. Do the same inside the cavity. Use the lemon you grated the zest from and cut it in half and squeeze over the outside of the chicken. Then, put the two lemon halves inside the chicken cavity. Now sprinkle a little dry white wine over the bird and rub the entire outside of the chicken with soy sauce and then sprinkle with salt & pepper. I also sprinkle a few mixed herbs over the top of the chicken too.
Throw this beauty into a 375 degree F oven, uncovered for about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and cook, basting about every 15 minutes. Cook about 1 hour or until juices run clear. Your family will beg you for more!
I serve this with simple roasted vegetables. Use whatever variety is in season. Here I used butternut squash, red potatoes, parsnips and carrots. Simply chop them up into a big bowl, add salt, pepper, herbs, onions if desired and toss to coat the vegies with a combination of olive oil and canola oil.
Pour veggies onto a large baking tray and roast for about 45 minutes in the oven along with the chicken at 350 F. Stir vegies about every 15 minutes. The magic of the convection oven is you are able to stack items in the oven and they all cook evenly. If you don't have a convection oven, you will have to do these dishes in shifts or make room for them side-by-side to cook.
The YUMMY roasted herb chicken as it comes out of the oven.
Our only green veg for this meal is baby kale. It grows like a weed here in early spring and has an amazing green hearty taste. I saute it very briefly in olive oil with kosher salt and pepper. You still want it to be a little crunchy. That's it!
Here is our finished Easter meal. Absolutely delicious served with a nice semi-dry french rose'.
Oh, and I must tell you we love, love, LOVE the new cooking range.
So, those of you who know us know that we can get pretty silly. Well, for the rest of you, here is proof. Oh dear........
You can tell that Lulu is really enjoying this moment. It's OK. I gave her some chicken scraps for being such a good sport.
And there is more..............can you say 'laaaaaaamb shaaaaanks'?
Rowan went away to a conference in Florida the first week of May, so........I always get to eat what I want when she is away :o) The first thing that came to my mind was the bits of lamb we have left from the one we had slaughtered last winter (I know, its cruel..... but delicious!). I dug through the freezer and found a couple of lamb shanks. I couldn't resist, so here they are in all of their garlicky, rosemary, lemon zest, olive oil encrusted wonderfulness just after they were browned and as they went into the oven.
Is it wrong for me to eat this way when I am home alone? I don't think so. It really isn't baaaaaaad! It's good! :o)
More home improvement developments in the next post. Stay tuned......
