Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Maybe even when it's unintentional? The above dish is Rustichella D'Abruzzo pasta abruzzese in a light chicken stock/butter/thyme sauce with shredded chicken, diced carrots and red pepper, and minced parsley. I love Ructichella pasta (this is not a paid endorsement). It costs significantly more than my regular go-to dried pasta (De Cecco), although the difference in price has been less lately, but it's really at a hole notha level. The chicken was picked off of bones used to make stock from the parts of the chicken not used in the last post. After the stock simmered for a few hours the chicken meat was pretty tender, and it was easy to get neck, rib, and all sorts of other tasty tidbits of meat. It was good.

After making this I was looking at Luxe's menu online, only to see that they serve a pasta in a herbed chicken broth. I imagine theirs is prettier. Also, looks like they were ahead of one of my previous posts where I was biting off of a future CLE restaurant's menu. Such is life. I mean, what were the odds of me being ahead of this guy mentioning sunomono? These things happen.As for the second picture, that was more blatant than serendipitous. I haven't been to Tartine (yet), but after seeing the picture in this week's Scene (link will only work for a few more days I think) I had ratatouille on bread on the brain. So while the above may not be classic or photogenic it tasted good (I envy those folks who are eating at home during the early daytime--although to be fair I have it better than many--or have proper lights to take pictures by). It's toasted olive oil brushed bread and a mix of the following: sauteed red onion (Snake Hill Farm), very thinly sliced garlic (garden), peeled and chopped Louisiana long green eggplant (garden), diced carrot (Blissful Acres), roughly chopped peeled tomatoes (garden), and salt and pepper. It's topped with minced basil.

Taking a note from ratatouille experts I sauteed the stuff separately, kind of. First the onions went in a hot pan with a fair amount of olive oil and salt and pepper. Once soft I added the sliced garlic, gave a quick stir, and then removed the mix from the pan. Then I added more olive and sauteed the seasoned eggplant and carrots. Once those were soft I added in the roughly chopped tomatoes, more seasoning, and added back the onions and garlic. I cooked the tomato mixture down until it was somewhat jammy, spooned it onto the toast, added the basil, and enjoyed.

As for the taste, it's enough to mention that I ate spoonful after spoonful straight out of the pot. It was mild, but mild goodness. As for all the plagiarizing, next time I'll try to be a bit more creative. But I can't really say that's likely. I will, however, attribute.

Cooking By Numbers

Roast chicken legs with lemon and thyme. Recipe from Epicurious.

Sides were mashed fingerlings w/ parsley and sauteed/steamed chard w/ garlic.

The rest of the chicken was put to good use, I think. We'll see in a post or two.

Liver (with onions)

Damn Rule #30, this really is liver with onions (see the picture below). It's pretty good stuff. Loosely adapted from The Silver Spoon, here it is:

Ingredients:
- Chicken livers (Here 6 from Plum Creek--they couldn't be fresher, and the farm is idyllic)
- Onion, rough dice (I used the short side of half an onion)
- Sage (a truly hardy perennial around here)
- Port, not too much (scant half cup)
- Vinegar (Red wine)
- Egg yolks (Also from Plum Creek, 2 of them here. An equal amount of cream would have worked too.)
- Sage, torn into pieces
- Lemon juice (Doesn't take much.)
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Baguette (from Zoss the Swiss Baker)
- Fat (For sauteing. I used bacon fat.)

Method:
- Cook onions with a bit of salt in bacon fat until soft
- While onions are cooking dip cleaned livers (these came pretty clean) in vinegar and pat dry
- Once onions are soft add livers and most of the sage along with the port and salt and pepper
- Cook until livers get some color and port reduces
- Remove livers from pan, keeping the pan on the heat with the onions and port cooking down
- Chop livers (which should be medium rare/rare) and then add them back to the pan until just cooked through
- While chopped livers are finishing cooking, mix egg yolks with lemon juice in a separate bowl
- Once livers are just cooked, place them in a food processor (or mash up if you did a better job than me with the onion dice)
- Puree (or smash) livers, and then add some of the still very warm liver mixture to the egg yolks and lemon juice
- Place the rest of the puree in a bowl, and add the egg yolk/lemon juice/some liver mixture to the rest of the puree and stir well
- Let the mix sit for a short bit while you drizzle slices of baguette with olive oil
- Toast baguette slices (I used the grill side of a cast iron griddle.)
- Scoop some liver mix on a baguette slice, garnish with some sage, and serve

I enjoyed this, and frankly I may have overindulged. It was like returning to Montreal, where livers of all sort seem to fall from the sky.

Just look at the hot mess below:

Gettin' Southern

One of my favorite episodes of Julia Child's In Julia's Kitchen With Master Chefs featured Leah Chase, of New Orleans Dooky Chase restaurant fame. It was a change from other guests like Roberto Donna (whom I believe my sister took a cooking class with--random), Daniel Boulud, and Rick Bayless, but it didn't take long before it was clear that she was as much an expert as any of the others, showing two ways to hack up a chicken (the rich way and the poor way) and being honest about biscuits. It was she who kept talking about "gettin' southern."

If you've read some of the previous posts, you know I love that stuff, and here's my attempt at it, albeit with a local, and Maryland inspired, flavor. Going clockwise from the chicken is chicken frying in shortening (one and half sticks were left over from a long term guest--I couldn't bear to just chuck it), a quick chicken stock (for gravy and cooking the greens), some boiling potatoes, and some kale. The stove reads "425." There were biscuits cooking in there. And to the right is the floured chicken staging area, along with a bunch of less than relevant stuff. Here's a quick rundown of how it went. I was pleased with the results.

Chicken - I hacked up a Plum Creek chicken, killed two days before the meal (Friday slaughter, Sunday meal.). The neck and back bone went for stock. The pieces (legs, thighs, wings, and breasts cut in half) were soaked for about six hours in buttermilk with salt, pepper, adobo seasoning, cayenne, paprika, and a healthy dose of Old Bay. The Old Bay was the key. After the soaking they were dredged in AP flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and a good deal more Old Bay. After being floured the first pieces to be fried were left to sit for about five minutes. The rest of the chicken was also left to sit pre-fry until room opened up in the 10 inch skillet. The pieces took from about 10 to 14 minutes to cook. I pulled them when the internal temp was just shy of 150 and put them in an oven still warm from cooking biscuits. There wasn't even a hint of rawness, and chicken was enjoyably moist. And no problem with no splatter guard.

Biscuits - From an old Sara Moulton recipe, and a great way to use up leftover cream. I followed these directions, except I subbed in half spelt flour and didn't brush with cream. These are great, reliable, and easy. Very nice with butter or honey. And the cream came from happy Ohio cows via Country Gristmill (at the Shaker North Union Markets). Same with the spelt.

Potatoes - Local red potatoes stored from last summer, boiled and mashed with skin, buttermilk, some butter, cream, salt, and pepper. Pleasant, if not standard.

Stock - Just took the leftover chicken parts--back, neck, and wingtips--and simmered them in water for a while. After about two hours I removed the chicken parts and reduced the liquid.

Kale - Same kale as from the last post. This time braised (covered) in a little chicken stock on the stove top for quite some time over med-low heat. Tasted great seasoned with salt and pepper. Even better with Frank's RedHot.

Gravy - After the Chicken was all cooked I drained most of the shortening (I know, shortening, gross. I just couldn't bear to throw it away.) and added some flour, making a quick roux. Then I added the remainder of the chicken stock and some creme fraiche and reduced it all together. It got a little to thick so I loosened it with water--not a problem.

And that was it. The meal took some time, but it was worth it. As an aside, sorry about the dirty stove, but check out these leftovers: