Recipe Notes: Grilled Chicken Thighs

22 July 2018

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, July 2018

Last summer I tried a recipe for grilled chicken drumsticks that worked very well. This year, Cook's Illustrated featured a version of the recipe customized for chicken thighs. We probably eat thighs more often than any other part of the chicken and having an easy recipe for grilling chicken thighs would be a good thing to add to our repertoire.

The chicken is coated with a flavorful paste before it is grilled. The magazine included recipes for a mustard-tarragon paste and a gochujang (Korean red chili) paste; the web site had a Garam Masala paste. I chose the mustard-tarragon paste which is made by mixing together Dijon mustard, garlic, lemon zest, minced fresh tarragon, salt, water, and pepper. The bone-in chicken thighs were trimmed of excess fat and skin, then smeared with the mustard-tarragon paste, more on the flesh side than the skin side. It was refrigerated while the grill was heated and cleaned. The chicken was cooked on the cool side of the grill (only some of the burners were left on) to an internal temperature of 185°. Instead of the 40 minutes indicated by the recipe, this took 60-70 minutes on our grill.  The chicken was then moved to the hot side of the grill to brown the exterior. Total time was a little over 2 hours.

The chicken was tender and moist, though not juicy, and held up well as a leftover. It may have been a little overdone. I didn't have anything in my notes about the flavor from the paste so it must not have been a highlight for us. While this is a simple method for preparing grilled chicken, I think last year's recipe for drumsticks provided a better chicken. Thus when we have a hankering for grilled chicken, I think that is the recipe that we will be more likely to use. It was faster, the portion size was fine, and the meat was more evenly cooked.

Recipe Notes: Moroccan Lentil and Chickpea Soup

25 June 2018

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2018

Soup is an odd thing to make for summer. I was a little surprised to see it in the Spring edition ofCook's Illustrated. However, I really like homemade soup and I made another North African lentil soup recently that we enjoyed very much. So even though soup is more comforting in the cooler months, I made this soup for a summer meal. Many summer meals, as it turned out,  as the recipe makes a lot of soup.

I made a few changes to the recipe. I didn't have quite as much fresh cilantro as the recipe called for so I increased the amount of fresh parsley to compensate. I couldn't find brown lentils in the supermarket so I used green. Finally, I omitted the grated fresh ginger; several recipes with ginger that we tried recently were too spicy for our taste. Making the soup involves a fair amount of prep work, the ingredient list is pretty long but with nothing exotic. Once the prep work is done it all comes together quickly and easily. Diced onion and celery were cooked in oil. Minced garlic was added followed by the spices: coriander, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and pepper flakes. This mixture was cooked for a minute to bloom the spices, then minced fresh cilantro and parsley were added. Chicken broth, water, chickpeas, and lentils were added and the mixture simmered for 20 minutes. Canned crushed tomatoes and orzo were stirred in to the soup. After a short period of simmering, chopped Swiss chard was added and cooked briefly. The soup was finished, off heat, with lemon juice, cilantro, and parsley. Total time to make the soup was just 90 minutes, much of which is hands off.

The verdict: another really good soup! It is very hearty from the lentils, chickpeas, and pasta. The spices provide warmth while the tomatoes add some acidity and fruity notes. The soup keeps very well and is just as good, if not better, as a leftover. It thickens and almost has the consistency of a stew. It was not spicy so it should be OK to include the grated ginger. As a bonus the soup is easily made vegan by substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth. I look forward to making this soup again as a comforting Winter meal.

Recipe Notes: Chocolate Semifreddo

19 June 2018

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2018

What a tempting recipe for a hot summer! A frozen chocolate dessert that is made without the churn used to make ice cream, indeed no special equipment at all is needed. Semifreddo translates from Italian roughly as "half frozen" and it is expected to be lighter than ice cream. 

Bittersweet chocolate was chopped fine and set aside, as was a mixture of vanilla extract with instant espresso powder. Eggs, sugar, and salt were whisked together. In a sauce pan, heavy cream and water were heated to simmering then whisked into the egg mixture. The resulting mixture was then heated to 160° then poured through a strainer over the chopped chocolate. After the chocolate had melted it was whisked until smooth and the vanilla espresso mixture was whisked in. Heavy cream was beaten to soft peaks, one-third of this was mixed into the cooled chocolate mixture to temper it  before the remaining whipped cream was gently folded into the chocolate. The mixture was transferred to a loaf pan and frozen. Total preparation time was about one hour.

Like chocolate mousse, which you might view as a lighter version of chocolate pudding, whipped cream is folded into a chocolate mixture to lighten it. The chocolate semifreddo was easily imagined by us to be a frozen mousse. It was creamy, easily eaten while frozen, but not as rich as ice cream or gelato. It was a nice dessert, easily made, that we enjoyed eating, but in the future we will probably stick to ice cream when craving a frozen, chocolate dessert for a hot summer day.

Recipe Notes: Boogaloo Wonderland Sandwiches

18 June 2018

Recipe from Cook's Country, April 2018

No, I had never heard of these sandwiches, either, and I am pretty sure I would have at least remembered their fun name. To me they seem similar to sloppy joes: ground beef is seasoned, fried, and served on a bun. What's different about these is the use of different seasonings, using sub rolls instead of buns, and adding a layer of melted American cheese to the sandwich a la cheeseburgers. I have tried several variations on this sort of sandwich over the years but I always go back to my family recipe. Will this sandwich be different?

I made only a few changes to the Cook's Country recipe: I used 80% lean ground beef instead of 85% because it was available at the supermarket. I also used potato slider buns instead of sub rolls, because we have those in the freezer and they are the right size for us. First, the sauce was made by combining ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, dried thyme, dry mustard, garlic powder, chili powder, and pepper in a sauce pan and bringing it to a boil. For the sandwich filling, ground beef, onion (sliced thin), pepper, and salt were fried in a skillet. The sauce was added and the mixture simmered. The finished mixture was placed on the rolls with a slice of American cheese (split between the two slider-sized sandwiches) which was then melted in a 350° oven. Total time was about 45 minutes.

The boogaloo wonderland sandwich is OK. It was a little spicy and a little sweet but the level of heat was OK for us. The sliced onions were too big for our slider buns, the onion should have been cut into halves or quarters before slicing. I don't think the sandwich was good enough to take the place of my Aunt Peggy's sloppy joe recipe. It is a good sandwich but I will probably continue to use the old family favorite.