WHOLE ANIMAL, WHOLE FOOD....BUTCHER YOUR OWN CHICKEN

The idea of butchering my own chicken is appealing to me for a few reasons...one, I don't really trust the pinwheels you can find in the store.  I realize that it's minor details, but do you really want the legs from one chicken and the breasts from another and the wings from yet another?  It might not matter, but why not have it all from the same animal.  Another reason I like it is because when you butcher your own chicken, I feel like there is a connection created between you and the animal, the care you are taking to carve it up to suit your needs...try it, maybe you will agree, maybe you'll agree that I'm nuts...



Sit Mr. Chicken on his booty with the back bone facing you.  Get a nice sharp, sturdy knife and make sure your cutting board is secure.

Slide your knife along one side of the back bone, making sure to stay close to the bone so that you don't mess up the breast or thigh meat.

Then the other side, being careful again not to cut your fingers off

Finish off the back bone and separate it from the body

The bird won't lie flat until you remove the breast bone

Go in from one side then the other and break through the breast bone with your knife.  Once you get through the bone, make sure to keep the knife along the bone so that you don't remove any more meat than you have to...

 Slide your finger along the bone to separate the meat from the cartilage

Now you can be sure to have nothing but meat in your breast pieces

Flat bird...now start separating, first the breast

 Then the thigh skin from the breast...there will be some residual rib bones in there, just carve them out

Find the joint between the wing and the breast by moving it around and slide the knife right in there to separate the wing

Separate the legs the same way, feel the joint, then slice into it

Side bar:  when you are removing wings and legs,

if you really have to press very hard with the knife,

 your are not in the joint, it should separte pretty easily

, if it's not, your in the wrong spot,

 just move the joint and your knife until you find the sweet spot.

PRETTY MUCH HEALTHY COOKIES

Ok, so these aren't healthy, but they are from scratch which is a plus because there are no preservatives, AND they are oatmeal, raisin and pecans!  (and two sticks of butter, 2 cups of sugar and two eggs...YIKES!

Very good cookies from Ina Garten, our Barefoot Contessa love...easy easy easy and delicious

1 1/2 cups pecans
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 cup granulated sugar (3/4 cup nest time)
2 extra-large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 1/2 cups raisins

Toast the pecans in the oven, chop put in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes...leave the oven on 350 to bake the cookies

White sugar, brown sugar and yes...two sticks of butter to cream in the mixer until....well until it gets creamy

after it gets creamy add two eggs and the vanilla

Ina side bar:  ALWAYS crack your eggs into a bowl before

 adding them to your cookies, because you

 never know when your going to get a bad egg.

  Also you can avoid getting shells into your cookies...

Sift all of your dry ingredients into a separate bowl and add to your wet mixture until just integrated...don't over mix!

Put together the oats, raisins and pecans and now REALLY just barely mix until things are all together

Very important awesome step again thank you Ina...line a sheet with parchment paper, THEN plop your cookies down using a little scooper, about a tablespoon each.  The parchment paper releases the cookies every time and there is virtually no clean up on the pan

Thomas Keller says:  Place the oven racks at the top and bottome and place the pans in the oven.  Half way through baking, swap spaces so that the cookies bake evenly. 

Take the cookies out and let them set on the pan for a couple of minutes...if you try to take them off the pan right away, that when they get squished up and ruined...good news is that you can't serve those really so squish away I guess and destroy the evidence.

We liked these on thier own, but very much with a little bit of Julie's frozen yogurt...

A MI ME GUSTA TACOS CON POLLO

With all the tomatoes, peppers, garlic and onions in the farm box how could we not make our chicken tacos.  We changed them up a bit this time and added some ancho chili powder and some smoked paprika.  It was a great success (say with Borat accent). We've made this in the past but it was so much better this time with the local fresh produce.  Seriously!

The tomatoes might look ugly but they taste pretty. 

Ingredients:

Disclaimer:  I made up this recipe and I don't measure my spices so I have no clue how much you should use. Sorry!

Oil (I used Canola)

4-5 Tomatoes, diced

1 Onion, diced

2-3 Jalepenos, finely diced

3-4 Cloves of Garlic, minced

4 Chicken breasts (we buy bone-on and then remove the bone)

5 limes

Cumin

Smoked Paprika

Ancho Chili Powder (chili powder if you want, but your missing out)

Salt

Freshly Ground Pepper

Cilantro

Lettuce

Asiago Cheese (shredded, but do it yourself)

Manchengo Cheese (shredded, but do it yourself)

Okay, let's get started.  Heat up a couple of Tbls of oil in a dutch oven.  I used Big Blue!  She's a real beauty. 

Throw in the onions, garlic, jalepenos and tomatoes and let the tomatoes stew.  About. 6-8 minutes.  Stiring occasionally. 

Now that the tomatoes have released their juices we can start adding some flavor.  Now it's time to add the salt, pepper, cumin, ancho chili powder, and smoked paprika.  Give it a taste, if it tastes like tacos BRAVO!  If it doesn't then add some more cumin.  Be generous with your spices as this makes a lot of tacos.  Simmer for a couple of minutes. 

Bring on the citrus.  Squeeze the juices of 5 limes into the mixture.

 

Place the chicken in the pot.  Cover it and put it in the oven at 375 degrees for an hour and 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and shred the chicken in the pot using two forks. 

Put it back in the oven for 10 minutes and let the shredded chicken soak up the juices.  Remove from the oven , let cool for 10 minutes and assemble your tacos as you wish.

WAIT IT'S NOT OVER YET.  MAKE A TACO SALAD USING YOUR LEFTOVERS!  The only thing better than these chicken tacos is leftover chicken tacos. 

Muy Bien!

THE SIMPLE THINGS

Tonight we were going to start the weekend with a glass of champagne and some homemade Parmesan crackers.  Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.  First of all, I got caught up in all of the beautiful cheeses at Whole Foods and ended up grabbing Pecorino Romano instead of Parmesan.  Ah well, at least they were similar.  Right as the crackers were about to come out of the oven Johnny got called into work.  Friday night trauma surgeries only mean one thing to me...I won't see Johnny until the sun comes up tomorrow.  I am still going to enjoy a glass of Champagne and my Parmesan, I mean Pecorino, crackers. 

Parmesan (or not) & Thyme Crackers

Ingredients:
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 ounces grated Parmesan
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter for 1 minute.

With the mixer on low speed, add the Parmesan, thyme, salt and pepper and combine.

With mixer still on low, add the flour and combine until the mixture is in large crumbles, about 1 minute.

Dump the dough on a lightly floured board and roll into a 9-inch long log. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or for up to 4 days. 

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the log crosswise into 3/8-inch thick slices with a small, sharp knife and place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 22 minutes until lightly browned.  Rotate the pan once during baking. 

Cool and serve at room temerature.

Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics

They were delicious, but would have been better with my hubby at home!  Next time, I think I will add some fresh rosemary to the mix and cut them a little bit thinner than Ina suggests.