Tag Archives: thyme

Roasted Lima Beans with Italian Herbs

Posted on January 23, 2012 by | 4 Comments

Modified from Wholefoods.com

It was not shaping up to be an exciting day for vegetables.  There were slim pickings in the refrigerator, and I didn’t relish the idea of going out to the grocery store in the rain.  However, the ever-dependable lima beans were waiting in the freezer.  Waiting for a chance to be something different, waiting to be the star of the meal.  These lima beans DARED TO DREAM!

Ahem.  This non-stop dreary weather is getting to me….

I was in a lima bean rut.  I don’t cook them very often, but when I do, it was usually with a little bacon, a little onion, and some butter – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Looking for a change, I ran across a recipe for roasted lima beans on the Whole Foods website.  Roasting is by far my favorite way to prepare sweet potatoes, fennel, carrots, eggplant, parsnips, asparagus, cauliflower, and squash of all varieties, but I haven’t tried roasting beans.  The results were exciting – the roasting concentrates the sweet bean flavor, and gives them a “fluffy” texture inside while being a little crispy on the outside.  The herb seasoning, along with finishing touches of roasted red pepper and a drizzle of flavorful extra-virgin olive oil, really did elevate these limas to stardom.

This is an excellent side dish for the winter months, since it works well with frozen lima beans and dried herbs, which are readily available year-round.

Ingredients:

Did you know that lima beans have been cultivated in Lima, Peru since around 5000 BC?

Preheat oven to 400F.  In a medium saucepan, cover lima beans with cold water.  Heat on stove-top until boiling.  Add about a tablespoon of salt, and cook at a low boil, partially covered, for about 8 minutes.  Drain beans well and dry on paper towels.

In a medium bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon of olive oil, garlic, dried herb seasoning, black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes.  Add lima beans and toss well.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or oil the pan lightly). Place the bean mixture in a single layer on the baking sheet, spreading the beans out evenly.  Put the bowl aside for later. Roast until beans are softened and getting crinkly-crispy on the outside, approximately 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When the beans are done, pour them back into the bowl.  Mix in the roasted red peppers and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil; toss well.  Season to taste with aromatic sea salt.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Our first musical “guest” was the great blues and R+B singer Etta James. James died last week, and we’ve found a few selections from her vast career to highlight. First up, R & B Dynamite, which showcases her early singles, including “Roll With Me Henry” and “Good Rockin’ Daddy”. Etta could really sing some R+B!

Next, from 1994, is Mystery Lady, featuring James singing some great Billie Holiday songs, such as “Body and Soul” and “Lover Man (Where Can You Be)”. A great, warm sounding recording, showing that her grand voice never lost a bit of emotion as she grew older. Thanks for all the memories, Etta James.

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Chicken with Mushrooms and Grapes

Posted on December 18, 2011 by | 5 Comments

Chicken in a casserole dish doesn't photograph well, but you get the idea...

Suddenly it is almost dinner time, and I haven’t the faintest idea of what I’m going to cook.  This is an opportunity to take inventory of what is in the refrigerator, then google it and see what you come up with.  It is food roulette  – there are hardly any ingredients that someone hasn’t thought to combine and pass off as a new and exciting dish.  Some of those combinations are misguided. There is also a jungle of recipe sites out there loaded with the “can of cream of mushroom soup” casseroles – they’re not all bad recipes – they just need some updating with fresh ingredients instead of thickeners, preservatives, and artificial flavor enhancers.

I was vaguely looking for chicken baked in a mushroom sauce, with some sort of fruit added to perk it up – and I found a few recipes that had grapes.  Hmmm….I like chicken salad with grapes, so this seemed to be a promising idea.  The recipes I found seemed to be rather bland, however, and one included the unfortunate choice of red wine in the sauce, which reviewers reported caused the color of the chicken to be unnaturally purple.  Yum?  We can fix those problems!

This recipe fit nicely in the tagine, but would work equally well in any baking dish.  We enjoyed the saucy chicken with roasted vegetables; it could be served over noodles or rice as well.  The grapes are only heated until warmed throughout, so they add a fresh burst of clean flavor that contrasts well with the rich mushroom cream sauce.

Ingredients:

  • 8 chicken thighs, skin-on, bone-in
  • Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper or pepper blend
  • 2 tablespoons grass-fed butter
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock
  • 1 cup cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons arrowroot flour (optional, for thickening)
  • 1 cup seedless red grapes, cut in half (I threw in a few green grapes too – they were fine)

Preheat oven to 375F.  Season the chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat butter and olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Brown the chicken thighs, on both sides, in batches, so not to crowd the skillet.  Place the browned chicken in a casserole large enough to hold the chicken in a single layer.

Pour off all but 2-3 tablespoons of the hot oil in the skillet.  Saute shallot, stirring, for 1-2 minutes, then add the mushrooms to the pan.  Continue to saute, until the mushrooms are getting soft and have started to release their liquid.  (You can tell when this happens pretty easily – the mushroom initially adsorb all the oil in the pan, but after a while you will see liquid in the pan again.)  Reduce the heat to medium; stir in the wine and deglaze the pan by scraping up the browned bits from the bottom surface.  Add the broth and simmer for ~ 5 minutes, uncovered, allowing the liquid to reduce by half.  Stir in cream and herbs.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

If you would like to thicken the sauce up a little, use a measuring cup to scoop up a few tablespoons of the sauce.  Whisk the arrowroot flour into the measuring cup with a fork to make a slurry.  Add the slurry back to the skillet, stirring constantly to blend it in.  Cook over medium heat until thickened to desired consistency.  (It will be less thick after baking with the chicken, since the chicken will add more liquid as it is cooked.)

Pour the mushroom sauce over the chicken in the casserole dish.  Cover loosely with foil, and bake for 30 minutes.  Uncover, and cook for 15-20 minutes longer.  Stir in grapes, and bake until grapes are heated throughout (about 5 minutes).  Serve hot!

Two incredible albums today. Little Feat founder Lowell George only made one solo album, Thanks I’ll Eat It Here before his untimely death in 1979, but its a honey. From his take on “I Can’t Stand The Rain” to his “20 Million Things”, this is a romping exercise in soul.

One of the greatest blues albums ever, the late-50s release Two Steps From The Blues from Bobby “Blue” Bland is simply untoppable. Not as guitar oriented as his stuff with BB King, this is mellow soul blues from the master.

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Cauliflower Purée with Goat Cheese

Posted on September 15, 2011 by | 3 Comments

We ran across some MONSTER grass-fed ribeye steaks on-the-bone, perfect for Sunday Steak Night™!  It seemed like a good night for a simple, mashed vegetable side dish.  We have posted another recipe for mashed cauliflower, which I love, but it is really hearty and filling on its own.  We needed something a little less rich to have with the ribeyes. This is a lighter version of mashed cauliflower – creamier in texture, but it still has a lot of flavor from the goat cheese and herbs.

I owe the inspiration for this dish to Emeril Lagasse, after reading his recipe for White Bean and Goat Cheese Purée in From Emeril’s Kitchens.

Ingredients:

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 1/2 vidalia (or other sweet onion), coarsely chopped
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, smashed or coarsely chopped
  • extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
  • chicken or vegetable broth
  • 3 ounces goat cheese
  • ~1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • ~1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cut the cauliflower into medium-sized florets.  Set aside.

In a medium-sized, heavy pot, heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add the onions and cook, stirring, until soft.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for about a minute.  Add the cauliflower to the pot; pour just enough chicken broth into the pot to almost-barely cover the cauliflower.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Drain the cauliflower using a mesh colander.  To remove as much excess moisture as possible, you may want to return the cauliflower/onion mixture to the (dry)pot, and stir briefly over medium-low heat to evaporate some of the moisture.  [I have a "thing" about watery mashed vegetables...sorry!]

Place the drained cauliflower in a food processor with the goat cheese, thyme, and rosemary.  Process until very smooth.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  If you’d like, drizzle with a little olive oil.  Serve warm.

Before Alex Chilton made his groundbreaking rock and roll with Big Star, he was the vocalist for The Box Tops, and they weren’t too shabby either. Everyone knows them for “The Letter” or “Cry Like A Baby”, but their sound, mainly built around the great Memphis songwriters Don Penn and Spooner Oldham, is “Southern Soul” at its finest. This is a good overview of their magic: The Best of the Box Tops: Soul Deep.

Scott Walker and the Walker Brothers brought a refined but dynamic sound to mid-60′s pop, with such hits as “Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” or “Make It Easy On Yourself”. Scott went on to a brilliant and influential solo career- you can see his touch in artists such as David Bowie and Nick Cave, to name a few. You either love him or hate him, but if you let his emotionally charged crooning get under your skin, it’s liable to stay. Try Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine: The Very Best of for a taste.

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Perp-Walk Chicken

Posted on May 23, 2011 by | Leave a comment

aka Grill-Roasted Chicken with Lemon, Garlic, and Fresh Herbs

Saturday, May 21, 2011.  This date stands out for many reasons.  First, as I’m sure you heard, it was purported to be Judgment Day.  As 6 pm slid past uneventfully while we sipped Pinot Noir on our peaceful patio, with this chicken roasting away in the Big Green Egg (BGE), we had other reasons to celebrate.  The thorn-in-our-side neighbor, who I will call “Hugo”, was finally picked up by the fine officers of the Dekalb County Police Department.  Not to go into too much detail, let’s just say Hugo is your basic loudmouth who at his best was merely annoying, but at his worst was evidently mentally unstable and prone to violent and profane outbursts and other disturbing behaviors.  No one should have to live next door to this….and apparently the complaints and repeated calls to 9-1-1 from the neighborhood finally paid off.  Hugo had his Judgment Day…or it will be coming up in court soon!

So, with the joyful memory of seeing Hugo led off in handcuffs, we present to you the Perp-Walk Chicken!  Oh, Happy Day!

We like to roast our chicken standing up, which yields delicious crispy skin all around.  It also helps to brine the chicken for a few hours ahead of time, then dry it off and let it stand up in the refrigerator for about an hour so the skin is completely dry.  For additional flavor, I rubbed a mixture of fresh herbs, lemon zest, and garlic under the skin.  Mmmm…delicious!

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken, preferably certified humanely raised and organic
  • zest from one lemon
  • ~3 tablespoons of fresh herbs, chopped fine (I used rosemary, thyme, and oregano)
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • several dashes of black pepper or a pepper blend (I used Back of the Yards Garlic Pepper Butcher’s Rub and Pepper-Lemon Seasoning from The Spice House.)

Brine:  1/4 cup kosher salt, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 quart of water.  Mix together in a resealable gallon bag, shaking until dissolved.  Rinse chicken with cold water, removing internal parts.  Place chicken in brine, seal bag.  Keep in refrigerator for 2-6 hours.  Remove chicken from brine and dry with paper towels.

Prepare the grill for an indirect cook at 375-400F.  With the BGE, we placed a trivet on the inverted plate setter so the roasting pan can sit directly on the plate setter.  (The chicken is too tall to set on the grill top.)  With other grills, bank coals on either side for indirect cooking.  This recipe will also work in the oven if grilling is impractical.

In a small bowl, mix the lemon zest, fresh herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Add enough olive oil to form a paste.

Gently loosen the skin from the breast and thighs by running your fingers underneath the skin, being careful not to cause any tears.  Scoop up some of the herb mixture with your fingers and place it under the skin, using your other hand over the skin to help spread it around over as much chicken meat as possible.  Repeat until all of the herb mixture is under the skin, with some rubbed on the outside of the chicken as well.  Liberally salt and pepper the outside of the chicken, all over.

Prepare a small metal baking pan by lining with foil.  Sit the chicken down on a vertical chicken roasting stand and place in the pan. I like to take half of a squeezed lemon and place it on top of the roasting rack before putting the chicken on the rack.  It keeps the chicken from sliding down too far on the rack, and adds more lemon flavor.  Using butcher’s twine, tie the wings down to the body of the chicken so they do not overcook.

(Note: If you don’t have a vertical roaster, a regular roasting pan with a rack can also be used.)

Put the roasting pan with chicken on the grill and close the lid.  Roast undisturbed for 30 minutes, then turn the chicken to “face” the opposite direction.  Roast for 25-35 more minutes, or until the chicken is browned all over, the temperature in the thigh reaches 170F and the juices run clear.  Remove the chicken from the grill and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Gotcha!

A joyous day indeed, you have no idea! And great chicken to boot! Soundtrack this time around are a pair of old favorites, out with new music.

wronglersFirst up is the laconic Texas songwriter, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, this time with a group from San Francisco, The Wronglers with Heirloom Music- and that’s precisely what it is. Old string band and country songs such as “Deep Ellum Blues”, “Uncle Pen” and others. While you miss Gilmore’s songwriting, he fits in so well with this type of tune, you won’t miss it long.

Tracy Nelson has been singing the blues a helluva long time, and she keeps getting better and better. Her latest, Victim Of The Blues has the former Mother Earth leader growling out Howlin’ Wolf, Joe Tex, Muddy Waters and more. A great, great record!

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