Sesame-Crusted Roast Chicken

(from Godmommy Jen by way of the NY Times)

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari sauce (or, allergen-friendly, Worcestershire sauce)

2 tbsp. toasted sesame oil

2 tbsp. sesame seeds

1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 3 1/2-to-4 lb. whole chicken

1 lb. new yellow or red potatoes, scrubbed and halved 

1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth (optional)

2 tbsp. coarsely chopped parsley (who cares.)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 425. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, 1 tbsp. sesame oil, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, and 1tsp. freshly cracked black pepper. Set aside. Pat chicken dry, season with 1/4 tsp. salt. Fold legs up over breast and tie legs with 100% cotton kitchen string. Twist wing tips under back. *(I did none of those things ;-p

2. Heat 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until very hot, 3 to 5 minutes. Add remaining sesame oil to skillet, heat 30 seconds. Place chicken breast side down in skillet, sear 3 minutes or until golden and crusty. Turn chicken over and sear 3 minutes more. Remove skillet from heat.

3. Scatter potatoes around chicken. Pour soy sauce mixture over chicken and potatoes. Roast 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes until thermometer inserted in thighs reads 175. STIR POTATOES AND SPOON SKILLET DRIPPINGS OVER CHICKEN ONCE OR TWICE DURING COOKING. (If sauce evaporates during roasting, add broth.) Remove skillet from oven, cover chicken, let rest 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley before serving (if you're fancy).

NOTES: This is my FAVORITE roast chicken recipe now!! The sauce is SO addicting and the chicken completely soaks it in, not to mention how delish the potatoes get from sitting in all the sauce and juice. 

Roast Chicken & Fennel

Another NYT recipe that's very simple but seems at least somewhat refined?

Recipe

2 bulbs fennel, trimmed and sliced
3 lbs chicken drumsticks and/or thighs
olive oil, salt & pepper, lemon, parsley

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Toss the fennel generously with olive oil and some salt and pepper, and roast in a layer about 10 minutes.  Season the chicken and put it skin-side up on top, and drizzle a bit more olive oil.  Roast about 30 minutes, basting about halfway through.  Garnish with lemon wedges and parsley.

Notes

It's really too bad I dropped the ball on a photo.  The chicken looked amazing, with crispy brown skin - forgot to take a good pic before digging in.  The fennel was a little watery anyway, still tasty though!  I ate my whole half or so preparation of the recipe, maybe could use some potatoes or noodles or rice to add some bulk.

Cavatappi with Chorizo & Black Beans

Southwest twist on pasta, with a couple solid ingredients.  Source.

Recipe

1 onion, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 lb cured chorizo, sliced thin
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 c broth/stock
1 c canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 lb cavatappi
oil, salt & pepper, lime juice, parsley

Heat some oil medium low, and saute the onion until it starts to soften, then add the garlic and spices.  Next add the chorizo, tomato paste, and broth.  Let it thicken for a few more minutes, then add the beans and lime juice.  Meanwhile, cook the pasta, and toss with the sauce and parsley.

Notes

I looked up cavatappi, I think from somewhere online claiming it was a superior pasta shape or whatever.  Turns out it's hard to find though, so I used the standard penne I had on hand.  One cup of black beans is a bit of a tricky amount - using a full can overwhelmed the dish a bit.  So maybe use this one when you're scaling up!

Pancakes IV: Ugnspannkaka

Possibly the worst food name ever, but otherwise a somewhat straightforward Swedish baked pancake:

Recipe

2 eggs
2 1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 c flour

Beat eggs with 1 c of the milk, then whisk in the salt, sugar, and flour.  Stir in the rest of the milk until you have a smooth batter.  Let it sit a few minutes (10 if you have the patience of a 50's housewife), then pour into a buttered baking dish.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy.  Serve with jam or fruit puree.

Here's mine, with Ikea-classic lingonberry jam!

Sausage and Cabbage

The title sums it up pretty well, actually...  An unsurprisingly British dish courtesy of The New York Times...

Recipe

1 large cabbage (about 4 lbs, green or Savoy), cored and shredded
2 lbs Italian sausage
butter, salt & pepper

Boil the cabbage in salted water for about 3 minutes; drain and run under cold water.  Butter a baking dish (they recommend 9x13x2) and layer a third of the cabbage, then half the sausage.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dot with butter.  Repeat with another layer, then top with the rest of the cabbage (and more butter dots).  Cover the dish with parchment paper and tin foil and cook at 300 degrees for 2 hours.  If there's still a lot of liquid, uncover.  Cook another 30 minutes.

Notes

Easy enough!  The cabbage step got a little messy - that's a lot of ruffage to cut and boil (even at about half size)!  Could use a bigger baking dish too, but the old reliable one did the trick:

They recommend serving with crusty bread and mustard, but I found it goes really well over mashed potatoes!

Roedspaette og Spinat

...Or, more intelligibly/less authentically, Danish flounder and spinach casserole!  Courtesy of gramma's Scandinavian cookbook.  (Although, Google Translate confirms that they mistakenly swapped the labels with "roedspaette med loegsovs," flounder with onion sauce.)

Recipe

1 lb flounder fillets
1 9 oz package frozen creamed spinach
3 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c bread crumbs
butter
salt & pepper

Dust the fillets with flour and sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Dip in the beaten egg and dredge through the flour; brown on both sides in a couple tbsps of butter.  Meanwhile cook the spinach as per directions.  Make it the first layer in a casserole dish, followed by the fish, then the shrooms on top.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Notes

Authentic Danish cuisine meets the modern 1950's kitchen!  Really, this could be a super easy dish, using nothing but fish sticks, frozen creamed spinach, and canned mushrooms...  Thought about going that route, but King Soopers is apparently too classy for frozen creamed spinach.  Found a simple enough preparation here, bought some fresh sole in place (plaice, heh) of flounder.  Took a bit more effort and cooking utensils, but turned out very tasty!

Two pics: I like the fresh out of the oven one, but you can't see the delicious creamy (and oniony/garlicky) spinach!

Pork & Tomatillo Stew

I'd had this recipe saved for a while.  Seriously, it's been number 2 in my Gmail draft (I need a better system) for years (long enough for the host of number 1 to go out of business?).  Why did it take so long?  There's nothing too out there about it, but it takes the right combination of ingredients (tomatillos may not be easy to find), equipment (dutch oven), time (2+ hours), and appetite (doesn't scale down too well).

What are tomatillos, you may ask?  I kind of assumed the full name was "tomatillo pepper," but apparently it's a Mexican tomato wrapped in a cool husk.  Easy to find at your local Colorado Whole Foods.  Onward!

Recipe

2 lbs pork shoulder (or loin if it's way cheaper...), chopped into big-ish chunks
1 lb tomatillos, de-husked and quartered
1 bottle dark beer
12 oz orange juice
28 oz diced tomatoes
10 cloves garlic, peeled
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped
1 can black beans
oil, salt & pepper
sour cream, lime (optional)

Boil your tomatillos and tomatoes in the beer and OJ, then simmer while other stuff goes on.  Season your pork chunks with salt & pepper.  Heat about a quarter cup of oil in a sturdy dutch oven, toss in your garlic, and brown the pork in batches.  Once that's out, in go the onions, cilantro, and jalapeno, then the pork and tomatillo mixture.  Simmer for 2 hours (or pop in the oven at 300).  Last, add in your black beans until heated (and mash up your garlic cloves if you can find them).  Serve with your fixings of choice.

Notes

Really interesting combination of flavors!  To be honest, I was not hopeful smelling the initial tomatillo mixture - all OJ, didn't seem to get much other than foam from the beer.  Meanwhile, I didn't handle the pork quite right - probably should have been bigger chunks, and gotten the oil much, much hotter and crowded the pan less to really let it brown.  (Also added a can of corn with the beans, why not?)  In the end it came together nicely!  Thanks to King Sooper's almost suspiciously-good pork deal, I got like 4 meals-worth of meat- and veggie-rich food for like $10!