Posts Tagged ‘favorite’

I love it when recipes almost go completely against everything you thought you knew. Growing up, roasted birds were to be slathered in butter, stuffed with herbs and spices and all sorts of vegetables, cooked for hours on end and fussed around with endlessly. True, my own Thanksgiving turkey follows these guidelines quite a bit (except I brine instead of butter) and there is great merit to everything I just said, but this method throws all of that out the window, and it is still my favorite way to cook a bird.

All you do is take a whole chicken, clean it, dry it really well, season with salt and bake at a screaming hot temperature for very little time, and you’re done. That’s it. Seriously.

The method comes from Thomas Keller of French Laundry and Per Se fame, restaurants known for froufrou and ultra-complicated recipes so it only seems ironically fitting that the chef who authors the recipe would be the last person I would imagine making a bird this way. But I suppose that’s the point. It’s all about the best ingredients, the best method, and the best results. That’s what true A1 cooking is about, in the end.

Since the method is so simple, makes enough for 4 servings and chicken is so versatile, this is the one of the best things for a single cook, in my opinion.  Knowing I would be in Denver all week for the photo shoot of our upcoming cookbook (exciting times!), I made this to have around so dinners would be extra easy since I would be pulling long hours all week. The things you can do with leftover chicken meat (especially meat this good) is endless, and you could easily feed off it all week.  Not to mention saving the carcass to make stock with, but that’s for another time.

Also, huge thanks to Red Wagon Farm’s stand for supplying the veg.  Not only is their produce to die for, they’re the sweetest ladies around and have extra long hours on Sundays.  Thanks girls!

Special thanks to Connie from work who sent me the salmon while she works remotely from Alaska. It was (obviously) much appreciated!

Sandwiches. Quite possibly the most versatile of all dishes, and one of my favorite things in the entire world (notice I seem to say that a lot on here?). I know, I know, I’ve said breakfast is my favorite thing in the world (breakfast sandwiches being my favorite brekkie item, though!) but seriously, sandwiches are one of my biggest passions.  They can be dirt cheap, ridiculously expensive, cold, hot, room temp, sweet (Nutella and PB, drool), savory, and everything in between. I simply love sandwiches, and one of my many far-fetched dreams is to eventually open a small sandwich shop that seats a a few dozen people and is known for our awesome in-house made everything and great flavor profiles.  So coming up with sandwiches is not only something my stomach adores, but my heart is also very attached to it as well.

And that’s another reason why I love sandwiches – they’re really almost recipe-less.  Sure, you can cook ingredients that go inside them, but in the end it’s mostly just assembly and if you want to, grilling or pressing it.  Anyone can make a sandwich and what’s even better, anyone can make a sandwich exactly how they want, regardless of how weird the flavor combination may seem to someone else.  I’ve heard and seen some truly bizarre sandwich preferences in my life (my favorite being my sister’s penchant for mixing shredded colby jack cheese with A1 steaksauce and putting it between two pieces of white Wonder bread when she was young) but the sandwich I whipped up last night was a little more along the ordinary lines.

Most of the time when I come up with sandwich ideas it’s trying to incorporate multiple things I’m craving.  I used to work at Quizno’s Subs many, many moons ago and quickly became addicted to their red pepper sauce, which was simply mayo blended with roasted red peppers.  I’ve recreated it many times since, and the idea of it with some smokey chicken breast and tangy goat cheese was making my mind wander and mouth water all day yesterday.  So in the midst of packing and getting ready to fly to Charleston for a mini vacation with my best friend from Cornell, I threw this together with things I had in my fridge and pantry and welcome you to do the same, but with whatever you may have lying around.

With payday still taunting me in the distance, I’m going to my archives until I can restock my baking supplies and bake some hopefully awesome cookies (ooh sneak peek!) in the next few days.

I made this dish a multitude of times last summer and it was always a winner with everyone who tried it, even those afraid of its Betsey Johnson day-glo colors and hard-sell of it being a cold soup.  But that’s one of the things I love most about this borscht.  It’s one of those peasant dishes with a million varieties making it adaptable to whatever you have around the house (meat, no meat) and whatever season it is, and this recipe really showcases that.  Although Ina Garten is about the furthest thing from a peasant you can get, her version is still killer and the book it comes from (Barefoot Contessa at Home) is one of my most dog-eared, smudged cookbooks I own (and that’s a good thing).

I change the recipe quite a bit here, playing with the ratio of dill and sour cream to yogurt because despite being a refreshing summer soup, it’s also incredibly rich and depending on how strong and in-season your ingredients are, the dill can be extremely overpowering, especially as it sits.  Also, if the color isn’t as vibrant when you first make it as you see in my pictures – don’t worry.  It turns that shade after you let it chill for a good 5-6 hours or even better, overnight.  And apologies for the lack of pictures but last summer I didn’t often take photos of my cooking – this was a total random happenstance since I was so enamored with the colors!