Zuni Chicken

A few weeks ago I dug out an old Saveur magazine looking for an article on Camembert and came across a whole feature on Zuni Cafe.

I used to have a subscription to Saveur -- I was seduced by the sexy food photography and the cachet of making traditional Vietnamese dishes. But every time I tried to actually attempt something, I'd be stymied by the deficiency of my larder -- by my inability to supply, say, fresh "tu'o'ng ot toi," or 12 sheets of round "banh trang."

The Zuni chicken, though, has nice local ingredients like a "chicken. " Some "currants" and "pine nuts," some "bread," some "scallions." Those, I could find ya.

Zuni's Roast Chicken with Bread Salad

• 1 3-3.5 lb Fryer chicken with lump of fat inside discarded
• 4 sprigs thyme, rosemary, marjoram or sage
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 1/2 to 3/4 lb of day old country bread (not sourdough) cut into large chunks and crusts removed
• 8 Tbsp. olive oil
  
• 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. dried currants
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp toasted pine nuts
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced, white and pale green parts only
• 2 tsp lightly chicken broth
• 4 handfuls arugula or frisee
  

Start a day or two ahead.

Rinse the chicken out and pat dry inside and out. Loosen the skin from the breast and thighs, without tearing, and tuck a sprig of herbs into each pocket. Liberally season all over with salt and pepper and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, and up to three days.

Place the bread on a baking sheet, brush with 3 tbsp of olive oil (on both sides) and broil 2-3 minutes on each side, til browned. Trim off any charred tips and then tear into 2" chunks and put into a large bowl.

Preheat the oven to 475 F.

Mix together the white wine vinegar and 4 Tbsp. olive oil with salt and pepper in a small bowl. Then toss the bread with 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette.

Soak the currants with the red wine vinegar and 1 Tbsp of warm water in a small bowl.

Heat a 10" ovenproof skillet over a medium heat for 5 minutes to warm it. Then wipe the chicken dry and place it in the skillet breast side up. Roast for 30 minutes in the oven. Turn the bird over and roast 10-20 minutes more, then flip it back over to recrisp the skin 5-10 minutes more.

Meanwhile, warm the pine nuts for a minute in the oven and then add to the bread. Sweat the garlic and scallions in a small skillet in 1 Tbsp of olive oil over a medium low heat for 5-6 minutes. Add that to the bread also. Drain the currants and add to the bread, add chicken stock and toss well.

Put the bread salad in a small baking dish, cover with foil and put it in the oven when the chicken gets its last turn.

Remove the chicken from the oven and turn off the heat. Leave the bread in for another 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and pour off the fat fromt he skillet. Swirl one Tbsp of water in the skillet. Slash the skin between the thigh and breast of the chicken and then tilt the bird and the plate over the skillet to drain the juices into the drippings. Allow the chicken to rest and then carve into 8 pieces.

Simmer the pan drippings over a medium heat, scraping up the browned bits. Toss the hot bread salad with a spoonful of pan drippings in a bowl. Add the greens and remaining vinaigrette and toss well.

To serve, put the bread salad onto a plate and arrange chicken on top.

Mmmmm..... Kitty feels that he has not had sufficient samplings.



Oh, and a gratuitous picture of some Tomme de Savoie we bought yesterday. Mmmmmm....

Warming up the winter nights

Snow. We had snow here in the Bay Area. People drive badly, freak out -- walk around without proper winter coats. As one who grew up on the East Coast, it never ceases to amaze me how ill-equipped we are for the cold weather out here in sunny California.

At home we created a little oasis by making some French Onion Soup along with a couple of Cilantro-Red Bell Pepper sausages, and finishing up with chunks of Venezuelan El Rey 70% cacao chocolate (El MEJOR chocolate del mundo...), shaved over Straus Family ice cream.

Oh yes, and that little block of cheese is St. Blaise, a grassy not too sweet, washed rind sheep's milk cheese from the Perigord region, this one affined by Herve Mons. St. Blaise... maybe we should have crossed two candlesticks and blessed Eric's throat like they used to do in Catholic school, because now he's got a cold.

Wandering around the store, we also stumbled upon a block of AOC butter from France. AOC? Butter? Well, I'm in. Call me extravagant, call me silly, just don't call me late for dinner.




At the very least, kitty heartily approves of the AOC label.

And the Oscar goes to.... Sally Jackson

So what better way to kick back on a rainy day than cracking open some buttery and sweet Sally Jackson sheep milk cheese and watching the Oscars?

We're such pushovers when it comes to cheese. Our local cheesepusher is fully aware of this. We already had a slice of Le Fougeru and needed to get mozzarella and fontina. We were walking away from the counter when he asks incredulously, "You're not even going to ASK about this?" This was a chestnut leaf wrapped Sally Jackson sheep cheese.

"Well, okay. Consider that we've asked..."

"Should I crack it open? Would you be interested?"

"Well... we've got a lot of other cheeses to pick up and so much to get... Maybe you better not -- not just for us."

He pauses and then with a "what the hell?" look starts sawing away the strings. "You know what, I'm just gong to do it. You know, I think people find it intimidating when it's all wrapped up like it's not supposed to get cut... I'm opening it."

He slices off a generous chunk and takes a nice bit to try himself, "You know she's really hard to get a hold of. If you're not one of her regulars, she won't send you the cheese, because they don't make that much. We haven't always carried a lot of her cheeses in the past. BUT I found out that if you get her husband Roger on the phone, well ... he'll send it to you."

Thank you, Roger.

Yeah, go ahead. Give us a wedge of butter-bomb bliss.

Oh, and um... some of the Comte too.

We got the update from him too on why there hasn't been any Andante goat cheese lately. Apparently Soyoung Scanlan has recently had a kid -- no, not a goat kid, her own kid! -- and has been ... a little busy. Here's hoping her success means she can get a nanny (not a nanny-goat) soon and get back to the cheese!

By the way, you can see lurking in the background, the evidence that it is Spargel Season again! White asparagus is something I fell in love with one year travelling through Germany. Spargelcremesuppe -- the most glorious cream of asparagus soup you could imagine. Spargel. Peel it. Eat it. Love it. Mmmmm.