Bacon Ranch Chicken Skewers – Perfect for Tailgating and/or Vampire Staking

These bacon ranch chicken skewers were intended to star at your next football tailgate cookout, but since these are made with sharp, wooden sticks, they could be used to inflict the true death to smaller, slow-moving vampires at your Halloween party as well.

Regardless of your party’s theme, these tasty chicken skewers are easy, interesting, and incredibly adaptable. As I sometimes do when showing a new technique, I’ve kept this recipe ultra-simple, and only used ranch dressing and hot pepper as my marinade.

I was hoping that as you watched, your mind would be racing with ideas on how to make this already delicious meat-on-a-stick even more amazing. This is the kind of thing you could do a different version for every game of the season, and still not run out of ideas!

The part I hope you follow exactly is how to weave the bacon over the chicken. Using this method, you really get two kind of bacon. The exposed bacon gets beautifully caramelized and crisp, while the meat next to the chicken stays soft and fatty, more like a thin slice of pork belly.

Speaking of thin slices, don’t use extra-thick slab bacon for this. It will not cook before the chicken is overdone. I actually like to use the thinner, extra-lean bacon, as it has just the right about of fat to flavor and moisturize, without starting a raging fire on the grill. Anyway, next time you’re planning a game day tailgate buffet, I hope you give these a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 12 Bacon Ranch Chicken Skewers:

12 bamboo skewers

4 large (8-10 oz) boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/3 cup ranch dressing

1 tsp hot chili paste or any spicy condiment

12 strips bacon

24 pieces of red onion

salt and pepper to taste

extra ranch dressing to dip

I Buffalove me some cupcakes!

I hail from the land of chicken wings, beef on weck, and loganberry pop =Buffalo!!
(and snow)

I've been searching and searching for pictures of cupcakes with buffaloes on them to show my love and I finally found some!

These were made by Fairy Cakes Cupcakery in Buffalo, NY. This is a relatively new bakery and they offer plenty of tasty treats to the Western New York area. They were previously operating as an online company, but just opened up a storefront this past summer. Congrats!

These are Buffalo Wing cupcakes!

They've even created a Buffalo Hot Wing cupcake -- hot, medium or mild -- with a Loganberry Buttercream frosting!
(hmm that sounds like a Cupcake Wars challenge...)

Just another reason to visit Buffalo for the food!!!

Oh, and in case you go to Niagara Falls while in Buffalo, this is for you

"Cupcakes for when you want to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel"
(as stated on their website)

*not recommended!!*

Enjoy! : )

Grilled Calabrian Chicken – A Deliciously Stubborn Hen

When I told Michele I was making a grilled chicken recipe using a jar of chilies from Calabria, she said, “Well, you’ll have to call it stubborn chicken then!” We both laughed. You see, when Michele first met my father, John, he asked her what part of Italy her family was from. When she answered, “Calabria,” he said, “Oh, so you’re really stubborn.”

Michele laughed, and agreed that she was, but asked what that had to do with being Calabrian. My father explained that where he was from, “Calabrese” was jokingly used as a term for a stubborn person, apparently stemming from an inappropriate, yet possibly accurate stereotype.

Far from being insulted, Michele embraced this revelation, and it’s been a source of pride ever since. I know, that’s so Calabrese. Anyway, now that I’ve taken three paragraphs to explain the inside joke with the title, I can finally get to this recipe.

When we first posted our Cornell Chicken recipe, I mentioned wanting to try the same method using different herbs and spices. When I saw a jar of Tutto Calabria chili peppers on a recent shopping trip, I remembered that, and decided to give this a whirl. It was great! Here's a link to their homepage, in case you want more information on this cool hot product (btw, you'll need to be able to read Italian). 

You should be able to find some at your friendly, local gourmet shop, but if not, it's not hard to get online. It’s similar to Sambal, and other crushed chili pastes, so if you can’t get it, don’t worry, and just substitute with whatever you find. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 chicken halves, or 2 spatchcocked game hens

1 -2 tablespoons Calabrian crushed chilies

2 tbsp rosemary leaves

2 tsp orange zest

2 tbsp orange juice

1 anchovy filet

1 cup white wine (or plain) vinegar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 cloves garlic

1 egg

2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (or 1 1/4 tsp fine salt)

Spatchcocked Spatchcock

“Spatchcock” refers to the method of cutting open a whole chicken, so that it sits flat in a pan, or on a grill. However, it wasn’t always the highly amusing verb it is today. 

Originally, it was a highly amusing noun used to describe a small, young chicken. Since these tender birds were usually butterflied to cook faster and more evenly over the coals, “spatchcock” became the culinary term for this technique. So, if you use a small, young chicken like I did, then you’re actually spatchcocking a spatchcock, which is about the most entertaining answer ever to the question, “What are you doing for dinner?”

Above and beyond how fun it is to use in casual conversation, the technique really does work beautifully for grilling a whole chicken. Once you remove the backbone, and set free the sternum from its covering of cartilage, you'll have a bird that will cook quicker and more evenly. It also looks pretty damn cool.

If you don’t own a sturdy pair of kitchen shears, then I hope this video inspires you to go out and get this must-have piece of equipment. They make this technique incredibly fast and easy, and you can also use them to completely section a whole chicken into serving pieces, as we showed in this video demo.

Anyway, I hope you pick up some spatchcock soon, and give this whole spatchcocking thing a try. I’ll be showing a recipe I did using this technique in a future video, so stay tuned for that, and as always, enjoy!

Chicken Satay Burger 1.0

Hello from beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea, California! Michele and I are here to tour a couple family farms as guests of knowacaliforniafarmer.com. Hopefully, I’ll have some photos and more info to share when I return to San Francisco on Sunday evening, but in the meantime I wanted to post this experimental chicken satay burger video.

I’ve been thinking about how to do a chicken burger using some of the same flavors found in Thai-style chicken satay, and this was my first attempt. I thought it was pretty good, and benefited from some seasoning adjustments, as you’ll hear. I think the concept is solid, but I’ll continue to try and perfect the execution.

This is one of those videos where I especially hope some are inspired to take the idea and run with it. Then, come back and share your incredible success with the rest of us. This is a fun jumping off point in regards to doing burgers inspired by other classic dishes. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Enjoy!

For the burger (4):

1 pound ground chicken

1 1/2 tbsp coconut milk

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp sambal chili sauce

1 tbsp bread crumbs

2 tsp soy sauce

3 cloves minced garlic

pinch of cayenne

For the peanut sauce:

Peanut butter thinned with a squeeze of lime, seasoned with more sambal or hot pepper

For the slaw:

1/2 cup grated or julienne carrot

1/2 cup grated or julienne cucumber

2 tbsp sliced jalapeño

2 tsp Asian fish sauce

1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

4th of July Special: Cherry Bomb Chicken – Because There Are No Grape Bombs

I was playing around with a new brine idea for grilled chicken, and decided that since I was using cherry tomatoes and explosive habanero peppers, I'd do a little 4th of July firecracker-themed word play and call this "Cherry Bomb Chicken."

Unfortunately, the sweetest, ripest cherry tomatoes at the market that day were grape tomatoes, which makes the name somewhat dubious. Never one to worry about letting facts get in the way of a good story, I decided to double down.

Now I'm claiming that not only does "cherry" refer to the tomatoes, it also refers to the old phase, "that's cherry," which is how us old folks used to say something was, "the bomb." As far as a technique for ensuring your holiday chicken is ultra-moist and flavorful, this is both "cherry" and "the bomb."

I had a quail dish once in which the birds where marinated in a tomato-water brine, before being grilled. I remembered it was really good, and that's what inspired this relatively odd treatment. Thanks to the magic of brining, this really will almost guarantee a juicy, tasty piece of chicken – and the method allows for countless customizations.

By the way, don't be tempted to leave it in the brine longer; 4-6 hours is ideal. You want the meat brined, not cured. This will also work for pork chops if that's more your thing. I hope you give this a try soon, and that you all have a fantastic 4th of July weekend! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Brine:

1 quart cold water

1/3 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 pint cherry tomatoes

3 habanero peppers

1/2 teaspoon allspice

4 cloves garlic

Oil Rub:

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 4 lb. quartered chicken plus wings

2 tbsp red pepper jelly (or sub bbq sauce, or teriyaki sauce)

Chicken with Chipotle and Green Onion Gravy - Practice Makes Pan Sauces Perfect

I know it's Easter Sunday, but the show must go on. I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this delicious chicken with chipotle and green onion gravy recipe, but this week is so insanely busy, I wanted to get it up as soon as it was ready.

Nothing groundbreaking this time, just a simple exercise in pan gravy perfection. If I only had one day to teach someone how to cook, you better believe this archetypal sauce recipe would be one of the first things I'd demonstrate.

This entire procedure takes about 20 minutes, and the basic technique can be adapted countless ways. I usually avoid those yawn-inspiring, "Easy Weeknight Dinner" recipe lists, but this fits that description perfectly.

It's also a great random chicken recipe generator. You could make this same dish every Thursday night for a year, and by switching up the flavorings and spices, never have the exact same recipe twice. You can also recklessly rotate the starchy, gravy-absorbing side dishes, as this shines with any manner of rice, pasta, or potatoes.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your holiday, don't eat too many leftover Easter eggs, and the next time you're looking for an easy weeknight dinner, give this chicken and gravy recipe a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

3/4 cup chicken broth, or as needed to adjust thickness

1/2 teaspoon chipotle, or to taste

2 tablespoons minced green onions

Prick Your Tongue with Chicken Piccata

As with any old recipe, there are numerous theories as to how the dish came to be named. The one I subscribe to claims it's an Italian adaptation of the French word "piquer," which means to prick or poke with something sharp. This makes absolutely no sense, until you taste it.

The "to prick" is apparently a metaphor for the sharp, intensely flavored sauce. Thanks to lots of lemon, capers, and wine, this sauce is about as subtle as a right hook (apologies to non-boxing fans for the reference).

Here, I've demonstrated a very basic version of a recipe that begs for variation. I'll sometimes add minced shallots, or garlic; sometimes I'll use wine, other times just straight lemon. Italian parsley is wonderful as the finishing herb, but switching that out for tarragon or basil will also bring much pleasure.

One note about the chicken: I like to use larger breasts, pounded to about 1/2-inch thick. If you are using small 6-oz chicken breasts, there's no need to pound out. Most versions I've seen call for the meat to be pounded extremely thin, but I believe this comes from the fact that the original recipe used thin veal medallions, aka scaloppini.

At home we have the luxury of a few extra minutes, and I think the slightly thicker chicken gives you a little nicer bite. Anyway, I hope this post "piques" your interest, and you give this quick and delicious recipe a try!

Chicken Piccata Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness

salt and fresh ground black pepper as needed

cayenne to taste

all-purpose flour for dredging

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon capers, drained (tip: for more intense flavor, mince 1 teaspoon of the capers, leaving the rest whole)

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup water or chicken stock

3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut in 1/4-in slices

2 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Just Chicken and Mushrooms

This chicken and mushrooms recipe video is an experiment in extreme self-control. I wanted to challenge myself to make a chicken and mushrooms recipe using only chicken and mushrooms. By the way, if it was still Fat Tuesday, I would have totally called this recipe, "Almost Naked Breasts," but on Ash Wednesday, that just doesn't seem appropriate.

While chefs are always preaching about keeping things uncomplicated, and letting the natural goodness of the main ingredients shine though, we rarely follow our own advice. There are so many ways to flavor and enhance breasts like these that it's easy to forget simplicity and instead start, "layering the flavors."

As I mention in the video, while this may seem like it was intended as a lesson for novice cooks, it's actually dedicated to the advanced cook who may have forgotten just how wonderful a two-ingredient recipe can be.

Now, before the more anal among you start sending in the, "there are actually five ingredients" comments and emails, I'll tell you right now, I'm not counting salt and black pepper as ingredients, nor am I including the fats. Hey, I have to sear that skin in something.

Anyway, the real point is to get you to try and see how much flavor you can coax out of these two main players by simply using great technique, and the right equipment. Of course, that's easier said than done, and the vast majority of you will be unable to resist the minced garlic and the cayenne shaker. Either way, enjoy!

Speaking of the right equipment, that stainless-steel skillet you'll see in the video is my lovely new All-Clad 12-inch aluminum core frying pan. We're going to be doing some work together, and this recipe was the first real test run. I've used their stuff countless times in pro kitchens, but I've never the pleasure of working with it in my home kitchen until now. It was perfect for this recipe's required techniques.

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts, boneless, skin-on

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoon olive oil

8 oz thickly sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon butter

Loafing with Chris Lilly's Loaf Pan Chicken

We arrived back in San Francisco after a fun, but tiring few days at Kingsford University. I have a great recap planned, but neither the time nor the energy to post it today. 

So, if you'll pardon my "loafing," I'd like to share this cool loaf pan chicken recipe from Chris Lilly instead. 

Please forgive the low-res video and poor sound, as it was shot on my cell phone, but stay tuned for my upcoming HD version, which I'll adapt for the oven. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 1/4 pound chicken

3/4 cup apple sauce

3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce to taste

Any dry rub, enough to coat

Valentine's Special: Average Betty and Fabio Sexy-Up Chicken and Rice!

I'm still in West Chester, PA, after a fascinating day of training at QVC. Since I have no new video recipe to share, I'll have to do the next best thing, and use somebody else's. 

Here's my buddy Sara from Average Betty getting all female on international playboy, and Top Chef All-Star, Fabio Viviani, who in return gets all Fabio on her. Together they bring you a rustic Chicken Marsala recipe served with an unusual, but erotically charged Strawberry Champagne Risotto. This menu is so Fabio and Average Betty, it hurts.

I've posted my slightly less steamy version below, and it's one of the recipes I always recommend for Valentines Day, especially for new cooks. It's fast, easy, and always impresses that special someone. I hope you enjoy both videos!

Be sure to check out the full blog post on Average Betty, which includes recipes and lots more information! 

Chef John's Chicken Marsala


See Chef John's original Chicken Marsala post here, and get all the ingredients and more info.

Predicting the Super Bowl Winner with Chicken Wing Bones

I feel kind of guilty. I've been publishing this blog for four years now, and I this is the first time I'm letting you in on my magical method for picking the Super Bowl winner. I can't tell you how or where I learned how to do this (long story short, I'd be killed by a very tall, dreadlocked gypsy if I did), but I can tell you it's a sure thing. 

Normally, I'd never give insane advice like withdraw your children's college funds, and bet everything on the game, but here, it would be crazy not to. ;-) Enjoy!

Speaking of Buffalo Chicken Wings – They're Now Available in Convenient Dip Form

My friend, Stephanie Gallagher, About.com's Guide to Cooking for Kids, just posted this video recipe for an Buffalo Chicken Dip. If you want all the taste of Buffalo wings without the bones, check out this easy appetizer. You can get the ingredient list here.

Honey-Brined, Southern-Fried Chicken Breasts – Boneless, Skinless, Low-Fat, and Delicious?

Is there anything less inspiring than a boneless-skinless chicken breast? There must be, but for the sake of this post, let's say there's not. So, how do we turn this culinary snoozer into something worthwhile? Fry it. Hey, that was easy.

Of course, the problem here is there's no flavorful skin on which to attach a crunchy coating. To add insult to injury, the fatty skin also protects the bland breast from drying out. Despite these obvious issues I decided to attempt Southern-fried boneless-skinless chicken breasts anyway.

As fate would have it, the same day I bought the chicken, Alton Brown was doing a honey-brined pork shoulder on Good Eats. To combat the dreaded dry chicken I decided to use a simplified variation to soak my breasts.

I won't bore you with all the scientific details, but through osmosis, brining raises the internal temperature at which the moisture is forced out of a protein. Even though I only brined my breasts for an hour, it worked like a charm. As you'll see in the recipe video, the meat was very juicy.

As far as the skinless-coating went, I was also pleasantly surprised. Even though it was incredibly thin, it stayed on the meat throughout the frying, and the final result was nothing short of quite good.

And yes, I am calling this low-fat (relative to regular Southern-fried chicken). When you eliminate the skin, you significantly reduce the calorie count, and even though we're cooking this is lots of oil, the coating is too thin to absorb very much of it.

If frying isn't your thing, still I encourage you to give this ultra-simple brine a try anyway. I think you will be impressed with its effect. I plan on using this on a regular basis this summer while rocking the grill. Enjoy!




Ingredients:
2 boneless-skinless chicken breasts
3 cups cold water
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
lots of cayenne
vegetable oil for frying

Next Up: Low-Fat, Honey-Brined, Southern-Fried Chicken Breasts (Yes, I get paid by the hyphen)

Spicy Orange Chicken Wings - It's Not a Party Until the Panda Wings Come Out!

Here they are – easy and delicious, spicy orange chicken wings, cleverly named (according to me anyway) after the spicy orange chicken served at Panda Express. By the way, this recipe has nothing to do with killing, riding, eating, rubbing, growing wings on, or otherwise abusing panda bears.

We are right smack in the middle of chicken wing eating season, and with the Super Bowl just around the corner (Go Jets!), I figured it was high time for a new wing fling. The recipe could not be simpler to make, and if you can somehow manage to whip up a batch of these oven-fried chicken wings to glaze, you'll be in sticky-finger-heaven.

Since this was my first time trying this, I went very basic, and was extremely happy with the results. It was very similar in taste and texture to the Panda orange glaze, and done so with no gloppy cornstarch, which is not very nice cold.

Next time I will try the additions of ginger and garlic, and maybe some toasted sesame seeds. In the meantime, I really hope you give these a try, and please let me know how your particular variations come out. Enjoy!

Spicy Orange Chicken Wings Ingredients (enough for about 5 lbs of wings):

2 big tablespoons Sambal, or other Asian-style chili paste to taste, or may sub red pepper flakes to taste

1 cup orange jam or marmalade, (strain if contains an excess of orange rind pieces)

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

"oven-fried" Buffalo chicken wings

Suggestions for optional additions:

finely minced garlic cloves

finely grated fresh ginger, optional

minced green onions

toasted sesame seeds

In a Fowl Mood: A Fabulous Last Supper 2010

Just wanted to say Happy New Year to you all, and share what Michele and I enjoyed for our final meal of 2010. The first course was a superb Moroccan-style chicken crépinette seasoned with preserved lemon from Fatted Calf. I served it over a salad of raw, shaved asparagus, and garnished with kumquats candied in a chili syrup. 

For our main course I continued my exploration into equipment-less sous vide, which produced the finest duck breast I've ever eaten. I served it with a huckleberry gastric, and green lentils, The meat was perfect beyond description. I can't wait to show you how amazing and simple doing sous vide cooking at home actually is. Stay tuned!

Thanks to J. Kenji Lopez-Alt over at Serious Eats for his "Sous-Vide 101: Duck Breast" post, which served as the guide for the duck technique.

Green Coconut Chicken – This Could Be a Curry Recipe

I was calling this green coconut chicken recipe a curry all the way up until I started writing the post. The problem with calling something a curry is that people expect it to taste like a curry, and that could mean a whole bunch of things, not all of them good. So, I decided to call it something that wouldn’t necessarily recall a strong taste memory.

While there is a nice dose of red curry powder in the braise, it's certainly not the dominate flavor. For something that may seem quite exotic and boldly spiced, this a surprisingly mellow dish. If you've never cooked with coconut milk, this would be a nice recipe to change that.

The coconut milk adds a subtle sweetness and richness that makes it a great vehicle for moving around all kinds of tastes and textures. I've used this same exact procedure for countless versions using beef, pork, lamb, duck, and seafood, with great results. It's not low in fat, but my sources deep inside the coconut industry tell me the fat is quite unique and healthful.

Regarding the red curry powder: I decided to use a standard supermarket brand as to make this as accessible as possible. I went with the McCormick Gourmet Collection Red Curry Powder, which contains coriander, cumin, chili pepper, red pepper, and cardamom.

This blend does have some heat to it, but if you like your green coconut chicken on the spicy side I suggest a little extra blast of sambal or sriracha. Enjoy!

UPDATE: We have a report that using regular limes, and leaving them in the stew, made the recipe too biter. I used those small key limes, which are very mild, so mine was fine. So, if using regular limes, maybe best to just use the juice and leave them out. Thanks, Qin.




Green Coconut Chicken Ingredients:
4 full leg sections (thigh and drumstick)
salt
vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced
6 thick slices of fresh ginger
1 tablespoon red curry powder
3 green jalapeño
6 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch green onions, light parts
1 bunch cilantro
1 can coconut milk
2 tablespoons fish sauce or to taste, or soy sauce to taste
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 lime, juiced
eggplant or zucchini, cut in 1-inch chucks
2 cups sweet potatoes or butternut squash, large cubes
thai basil

Homemade Chicken Stock – Buy Low, Sell High

With over 400 video recipes produced thus far, it probably seems odd that I'd never done a proper chicken stock recipe. In the early days of the blog, I decided that I wouldn’t do video recipes that would eventually appear in the online culinary academy curriculum.

I had planned on having a selection of videos featuring key techniques that people would pay to watch, but with all the various projects going on, I've never quite been able to get that together. Anyway, this chicken stock video recipe would have been included in that collection.

While I can often be seen using my carton of all-natural chicken broth, there's nothing like homemade. It does take a long time to simmer, but the actual work is minimal, and the procedure quite simple. It's also a very frugal undertaking, with the bones I used costing 80-cents a pound. That's three quarts of chicken stock for about $3 in costs!

Please note that you can use this exact same recipe/procedure with roasted chicken bones. In fact, most of the homemade chicken stocks I make are the result of a roast chicken dinner, but for this video I decided to go classical. Unlike beef and veal, chicken stock is not traditionally made from roasted bones.

You should try both ways, and see which you like, and for what dishes. By the way, even though I didn't roast the chicken bones, I still got quite a nice, richly colored stock, which comes in large part to leaving the skins on the onions. I don't remember exactly why that is, which is fine since I really I don't care that much. Enjoy!




Ingredients:
3 pounds chicken bones, backs and necks
1 large onion, skin on
2 carrots, peeled, cut in large chunks
1 large or 2 small ribs celery cut in large chunks
1 bay leaf
9 black peppercorns
4 springs thyme
2 cloves garlic, peeled
3 quarts cold water

Rochester's Famous "Chicken French" - Spoiler Alert: Only Half the Name is Correct!

Chicken French has everything I love in a recipe. It's delicious and easy, frugal, yet fancy, and everyone loves it. Better yet, it has a vague, confusing history and completely preposterous name.

This not-French recipe hails from the Rochester area of New York State, where it's a staple on virtually every Italian-American restaurant menu. It's something of a mystery why this recipe would have exploded in popularity in this one city in particular, but that's exactly what happened.

The origins of the recipe go something like this. Italian cooks in northern Italy have a sautéed veal dish called vitello francese, which uses a wine/lemon/butter pan sauce similar to ones used in France. The recipe comes to New York City with the first wave of Italian-American immigrants, where it becomes known by the locals as "Veal French."

Eventually, the recipe migrates to Rochester's large Italian-American community, where chicken is substituted for the more expensive and harder to find veal. The rest, as they say, is history – delicious, tender, moist, buttery history.

Since I'm from the Rochester, NY area, it's a little surprising I haven’t done this one already. Thankfully, a wonderful dinner at my Aunt Joyce's on a recent trip home caused me to realize I hadn’t yet immortalized this hometown favorite. I really hope you give it a try. Enjoy!




Ingredients for about 4-6 portions:
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
4 eggs, plus 2 tablespoon milk, beaten
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
cayenne to taste
2 tablespoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon butter for sautéing

For the sauce:
Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup good white wine or dry sherry
1 cup vegetable broth or chicken stock
4 tablespoon cold butter, cut in cubes
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

A Cure for the Common Quail

Hopefully you’ve been playing along at home, and now have a nice batch of cured lemons to start experimenting with. If not, you can catch-up in no time – just check out this video recipe for Thomas Keller’s cured lemons posted last week.

I ended up using these lovely lemons in a super-simple, but really gorgeous roast quail recipe. This would make a great special occasion first course, and really shows off the unique flavor of the preserved lemons. The recipe is stark, because I really wanted to taste what the lemons could do.

I usually don't tell you how to eat, but here I'm going to. You want to make sure each bite of quail has at least a tiny piece of the preserved lemon mashed on to it.

You can gauge your own personal tolerance for how much of the condiment to use, but it totally makes the bite. The way just a little bit draws out the flavors of the meat is a lot of fun.

I know many of you will ask, so I'll tell you right up front, you can find quail. Higher-end stores like Whole Foods will carry them frozen, and any decent poultry purveyor can find some for you. If all else fails, you can simply order them online.

If you can’t find quail, you can easily adjust this for game hens, or even chicken breasts (using the slice of cured lemon under the skin). By the way, I was thrilled with how my lemons turned out, especially in this recipe, and would love to hear what your experiences are. Enjoy!

Bonus Coverage: If you're as big a Thomas Keller fan as I am, check out this great post by YumSugar about the chef's demo, "The World's Best Preserves," from the 2010 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. That's where this whole cured lemons obsession started for me.




Ingredients:
4 whole quail
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon coriander
pinch cayenne, optional
1 cup chicken broth
1 slice cured lemon, minced fine