Butter Chicken from Chrissy Teigen

Please check out Chrissy's site, she really has a lot of amazing recipes out there. Also, her kids are really cute and I love how much she shares all the various moments of her life with her family. The recipe can be found here: Butter Chicken - Chrissy Teigen.

Ingredients:

1 lime

1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt

5 cloves of garlic, minced, divided in half

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter) (I can't always get my hands on ghee so I just used butter)

2 teaspoons salt

1 med onion, diced (I can't digest onions well so I use a shallot cut in to small pieces)

2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger (and fresh really is better than powdered)

1 1/2 tablespoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon cayanne pepper

1 (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 cup cilantro, plus more for garnish

Directions:

Zest the lime into a large bowl, save the zested lime. Add the yogurt, half the garlic, and the turmeric to the bowl and whisk to incorporate. Add the chicken and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours and up to 24.

Heat half the ghee (or 3 tablespoons of butter and a little oil) in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions (or shallots), stirring, until softened and translucent, about 8-9 minutes. Add the rest of the garlic and the ginger, Garam masala, and cayenne pepper and cook, stirring until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add the marinated chicken (discard any remaining marinade) and cook flipping midway through until seared and golden (about 3 min per side). Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring until the liquid is reduced slightly, 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the remaining ghee (or 3 more tablespoons of butter) along with the cream and cook, stirring, until the mixture has thickened, 10-15 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and season with salt to taste. Slice the zested lime into wedges and serve with the chicken. Garnish with more cilantro.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken

This is not my recipe, this is another great one from Chef John over at Food Wishes. Go here for his recipe and video! This is just my take on his recipe.

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 thin slices of prosciutto
Salt and pepper to taste
Kitchen twine

For the stuffing:
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used plain in a can from the store)
1/3 cup craisins, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp fresh oregano, minced
1 glove of garlic, minced (I put mine through the garlic press)
1 rounded tblsp finely grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese
2 tsp olive oil
1 egg yolk
Cayenne, just a pinch
Salt and pepper to taste

For the pan sauce (optional):
3/4 cup chicken stock or broth
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I used 2)
1 tblsp cold butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients for the stuffing, mix gently with a fork. It won't be dry, but it won't be wet. You should be able to make a ball out of it and have it mostly stay together.

Prepare the chicken. For this, I would recommend watching Chef John's video. He had you cut a "flap" (45 degree angle about an inch deep-you don't want to cut all the way through) in the thick side of the chicken to help it lay more flat for when you pound it. I don't know how to describe it. Pound your chicken to about 1/2 inch thick. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Put 1/2 of the stuffing mixture in each flattened breast and gently pat it down to help it stay in place while you roll. Gently, but tightly roll the breast going slowly to keep it tight and not lose any of the yummy stuffing. Chef John used plastic wrap to help this process and it worked well. Next you are going to lay out two pieces of prosciutto pre breast. You want them to be about the same length as your rolled breast. Gently roll this around your chicken (again using plastic wrap helped). Next you will want 4 pieces of kitchen twine per piece of chicken. You are going to tie it up-not too tight, but enough to help hold your roll together. You can either get them in the oven, or you can wrap them back up and put them in the fridge until you are ready to cook.

To cook your chicken, put them in a lightly oiled oven safe pan in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes. You want the internal temperature to be 155 degrees. When they are done, remove from the oven and rest them on a plate lightly covered with foil. If you want to make a pan sauce you can, or you can go with out.

To make a pan sauce: In the pan you cooked the chicken (blot out a little of the oil) pour in the chicken stock and vinegar and reduce by half over high heat. When it has been reduced turn off the heat and add the cold butter. When it's melted and stirred in your pan sauce is done. Spoon over your sliced chicken and enjoy!

Fresh Chicken Stock

Stocks, in general, are pretty easy to make. Sadly, most people don't make them because they think they have to devote a whole day to the task. That's certainly true for beef stock, which takes many hours (two days is best) to extract the maximum amount of flavor from its ingredients. Simple chicken stock, however, only takes about an hour (two at most) and is really simple to put together.

You'll need:

1 fresh, whole chicken
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 leek cut in half lengthwise and then into 1 inch pieces
1 large (fat) carrot cut into half lengthwise and then into 1 inch pieces
2 celery ribs cut into 1 inch pieces
1 handful of fresh parsley and stems
10 (or so) sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 whole head of garlic cut in half
1 1/2 tsp. peppercorns, crushed
1 Tbsp. sea salt (if desired; not necessary)

Begin by butchering your chicken. Separate the legs/thighs and wings from the carcass. Then (carefully) cut the breasts from the carcass. Cut any excess fat off and make sure to pull the back skin off. Put the carcass in the pot.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and the cover with cold water until the carcass is submerged by one or two inches. The water must be cold!

Bring to a boil as quickly as possible and then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for about an hour. As soon as the stock begins to boil, you'll have to skim the insoluble particulate (grey scum) from the top of the pot a few times, so keep an eye on it. Add hot water if the volume drops to much. One hour is sufficient to make a clear and beautifully fragrant stock. If you want a darker stock, then that's another process which I'll blog about in the future.

Once cooked, cool the stock as quickly as possible (I put the pot into an ice bath to about 1/4 from the top to cool it quickly. Then strain and use or freeze in quart-sized containers for future use. The batch will yield 4 - 6 quarts, but YMMV.

You can get more volume by simply doubling (or even tripling) the ingredients, but you'll need a bigger pot and the stock will take more time. Rule of thumb is about an hour per chicken carcass.

~David

Buttermilk Brined Turkey

1 1/2 cups turkey brine
1 quart water
4 quarts buttermilk
1 fresh turkey, 16-18 lbs with heart and gizzard removed
4 tblsps unsalted butter, room temperature
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In a small sauce pan over high heat, combine the turkey brine and water and bring to a boil  Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring often, until the brine dissolves (about 5-10 minutes).  Let the brine mixture cool to room temperature.

Rinse/clean the turkey and place in a large brining bag.  Carefully pour buttermilk and brine mix over turkey.  Seal the bag and refrigerate for 24-36 hours, turning occasionally.

Remove the turkey from the bag and discard the brine.  Rinse the turkey inside and out and pat dry.  Place the turkey breast side up in a large roasting pan.  Rub the skin evenly with the butter.  Truss the turkey as desired.  Let the turkey stand at room temperature for 1 hour before baking.

Put your rack at the lower third of the oven and head the oven to 400.  Roast the turkey for 30 minutes, then  reduce temperature to 300 and continue roasting.  Baste every 30 minutes with the pan juice.  If the breast begins to cook to quickly, ten it loosely with aluminum foil.  After 2 hours of total roasting begin testing for doneness by inserting the thermometer into the thickest part of the breast and thigh away from the bone.  The breast should be about 165 and the thigh about 175.  Total roasting time should be 3-4 hours.

Transfer the turkey to a cutting board and cover loosely with foil.  Let rest for 20-30 minutes before carving.

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary

1 whole chicken (3-3 1/2 pounds)
1 onion
1 lemon
1 head of garlic
1 sprig of fresh rosemary (you can use dried)
1/2 cup chicken broth
soft butter or extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
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Preheat oven to 425

Cut the onion into quarters.  Put 1 quarter in the chicken and the rest in the pot.

Cut the lemon into quarters.  Put 1 quarter in the chicken and the rest in the pot.

Cut the head of garlic in half.  Put half in the chicken and half in the pot.

Cut the sprig of rosemary into thirds.  Put 1 third in the chicken and the rest in the pot.

Salt and pepper the chicken.

Massage the chicken with the soft butter to coat.

With kitchen twine, tie the chicken legs together (to keep the good stuff from escaping).  Put the buttered, trussed bird into the pot.  Add chicken broth.

Roast, uncovered, in oven for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Enjoy!