Winner, winner, chicken dinner

Herb butter and lemon roast chicken with garlic roasted potatoes and tomato gratin

Who doesn't like roast chicken? I would venture to say that, unless you're a vegetarian, the answer to that question is no one. And because chicken is, in a way like a blank canvas, one can dress it up or dress it down in any way they wish. Personally, I love to add as much savory flavor as I can to everything I cook so for this particular roast chicken I made a lemon-herb compound butter to flavor the chicken under the skin and used bacon on top of the skin to add even more flavor. Coupled with garlic roasted potatoes and tomato gratin this was one delicious meal!

For the chicken

1 6 lbs chicken

6-8 bacon slices

5 lemon slices

1 lemon, quartered

1 lg bunch fresh basil

6-8 sprigs fresh thyme

1 stick butter, soft

3 lg garlic cloves, grated

1 tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves

2 tbsp minced fresh parsley

1 tbsp lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 large onion, halved and sliced

Chicken entrails (liver, gizzard, neck)

1 C chicken broth

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take the chicken out the refrigerator, remove the entrails, pat dry with paper towels and allow it to sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. Place the entrails and chicken broth in a saucepan and gently simmer together for 5-7 minutes. Set aside. In the meantime prepare the compound butter.

To a bowl add the soft butter, minced fresh parsley and thyme, lemon zest and juice and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well together and set aside. In the meantime start prepping the chicken.

Very carefully lift the skin off the breast from each side and place enough of the compound butter under the skin to cover the breast. Spread the butter all over then place the lemon slices on top of the butter. Press on the skin gently with your hands. Carefully make a slit in the skin above each thigh and gently place some of the compound butter under the skin on the leg and thigh.

Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the quartered lemon, bunch of basil and sprigs of thyme and place the remaining compound butter (should have 1-2 tbsp left) inside the cavity as well.

Bend the tips of the wings backwards   under the chicken then using butcher twine tie the legs of the chicken together. Carefully wrap some more butcher twine around the base of the tail then tie the tail to the legs. Wrap the top side of the chicken with the bacon slices and spread some of the compound butter over the top of the legs and thighs.

Add the onion slices to a shallow roasting pan, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss together. Pour over the broth in which you boiled the entrails then put the chicken on top. Place the chicken in the preheated 400 degree oven and cook for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes remove from the oven and cover the roasting pan tightly with aluminum foil. Cook covered for another 30 minutes. Take the chicken out of the oven again, remove the foil, raise the temperature to 425 and cook for another 20-30 minutes until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and the body of the chicken. Cover with aluminum foil and allow the chicken to rest about 15 minutes.

For the tomato gratin

6 medium roma tomatoes, washed
1 1/2 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1 C shredded parmesan cheese
2 tbsp lemon zest
1/4 C heavy cream
1/4 C julienned fresh basil
1/4 C panko breadcrumbs
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Choose tomatoes that are roughly the same size. Wash and dry them, remove the core ends and slice your tomatoes in about 1/4 inch slices. Set aside.

Add the shredded cheese and lemon zest to a bowl and mix well together.

Spread 2 tbsp of the panko breadcrumbs and some of the cheese lemon zest mixture on the bottom of a 2 QT baking dish and drizzle lightly with some olive oil.

Place some of the tomato slices in a single layer on top of the panko and cheese.

Season with a little salt and pepper then spread some of the julienned basil on top.

Add some of the cheese lemon zest mixture on top then drizzle with some of the heavy cream.

 Continue the process of layering tomatoes, basil, cheese and cream until all of the ingredients are used. Then sprinkle the rest of the panko breadcrumbs on top and drizzle with some olive oil.

Bake in the preheated 400 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown and crispy and the gratin is bubbling gently underneath.







For the garlic roasted potatoes

1 to 1 1/2 lb baby red potatoes
6-8 lg garlic cloves, peeled and halved
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Wash the potatoes and remove any woody ends. Spread them on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil along with the peeled and halved garlic, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil. Toss together well and place in the preheated 400 degree oven.

Cook for about 30 minutes, turning once until the potatoes are golden brown.

Well, there you have it. Succulent and very flavorful chicken, juicy, crunchy and cheesy tomato gratin and garlicky potatoes, crisp on the outside and moist and fluffy on the inside. This was delicious and satisfying, especially at 9 PM when my husband finally got home after a really long work day! Trust me it is worth your time and effort. Pofta buna!

Laura

Easter in Romania

Easter is coming - March 31st this year. I LOVED Easter growing up! In a life that had a lot of turmoil, Easter was always a bright light. For me it meant a host of good things. First of all after a long and usually harsh winter, Easter represented renewal and the coming of spring. Even though many times snow was still strongly clinging to the ground, the spring sun, clear and crisp air and the spring flowers, "ghiocei" symbolized a new beginning. Second, every Easter I usually got a new pair of shiny shoes, most of the time patent leather and red like Dorothy's... This, of course, if we had enough money and my mom was not upset with me for some reason or another. And last but definitely not least, our beautiful Easter tradition. First, the spring-cleaning... NOT a pleasant memory, yet nevertheless important and very much a part of growing up for me. Because of this grueling work, on Easter the house sparkled, the windows were opened to let in the crisp breeze and there was always a good feeling that came with being able to use the floor as your plate if you so chose... But before Easter morning there was the night before Easter vigil.

This beautiful tradition symbolized the light, which engulfed the world's darkness through Jesus' resurrection. It was, as seen above, a candle-light service and it was held at midnight the night before Easter and lasted a couple of hours or so. It also included something I never forgot and to this day I still don't understand. Walking under the table... This was a table set up in the middle of the church, adorned with candles, traditional Easter breads and wine and everyone in the church passed under it. I do not know if this was a national tradition for Romanians but I do know I grew up with it and it was interesting to say the least. The other part of the tradition was what we did on Easter day. We started early morning with someone, usually my mom or dad or a close relative or neighbor (we were a very close community), who had not stayed up the night before for the vigil, woke up very, very early and went to church for the morning Orthodox Easter service which offered the Romanian Easter communion or liturgy as it is known here.

They came back with tiny pieces of bread, blessed by the Orthodox priest which we ate before our lips were touched by anything else, even water. Thus we were blessed and Easter officially began. Now I can't speak for everyone in my country but in my home we started the day with breakfast while what would be the day's later culinary offerings were cooking in the oven filling the house with an amazing aroma.

The eggs had been painted, mostly red but yellow, blue and green also and were adorning our kitchen table while, if we had been blessed enough to have certain things that year, we ate a wonderful, hot breakfast consisting of polenta with soft pan fried eggs, butter, cheese and the Romanian version of sour cream which is much like the American version except a lot less sour. If eggs,  butter, cheese and sour cream were missing, we still ate polenta but with milk only.

Still, whether embellished with those things or not I thoroughly enjoyed my Easter morning breakfast because it was always one of the few, rare times when my parents and I enjoyed each other's company and our time was mercifully void of tension, upset and fighting. All of this was wonderful but now let me skillfully segway into the most flavorful and delicious tradition of them all - the Easter meal!! Although, since I was in communist Romania good food was, as I said, very sparse, Easter was the time when, without fail, one or the other of the people who worked for my father in his department at the chemical plant where he was department manager and lived in the country where they grew their own food and had domesticated animals like cows, pigs, chicken, lambs, etc., brought him a lot of good food including eggs, cheese, butter and, of course, a half of young, spring lamb. And I do mean literally a half of lamb, cut right down the middle and including everything from head to tail. I still remember my mother, a few days before Easter, clearing and cleaning the large kitchen table in happy anticipation of this mouth watering morsel, butchering the lamb herself and making little piles of different cuts of lamb and lamb bones in preparation for the tasty, delicious dishes that were going to emerge from her kitchen. Again, I can't talk for everyone in the country but the Easter feast usually consisted of fairly the same dishes just about for everyone I knew.

There were, of course the Easter eggs! Not everywhere as elaborate as the pic above, nevertheless, beautiful and colorful and a labor of love. The Easter meal was started with them and we had the most beautiful tradition I will never forget! It was called the "hitting of eggs"!

It usually went like this: you and the person to your left or your right picked up an egg and turned it pointy side up. Then the two of you hit each other's eggs while saying: "Cristos a inviat!" which means "Christ is risen!". Then, turned the egg rounded side up and hit them again saying "Adevarat a-inviat!" which means "Truly He is risen!" To this day it is amazing to me how even though Romanians were told by their own government that Jesus doesn't really exist and communism was all we needed, even though Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator spent a lot of time literally bulldozing through many thousand of years old Orthodox churches and imprisoned many Orthodox priests, the people never stopped celebrating Easter the right way - by remembering the One that made Easter possible! This tradition of hitting one's eggs will be a life time memory for me and it will always serve to remind me that no one can take away one's convictions and beliefs no matter how hard they try! As long as those beliefs and convictions are in one's heart and one has come to believe them of their own volition, no one will ever be able to take them away! After the devouring of eggs came the rest of the feast. Traditionally, first it was drob.

This is a wonderfully savory and delicious dish, the Romanian version of haggis. But, I have a feeling that since it is made mostly from lamb offal such as heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc. which are then chopped small and placed in the lamb's stomach along with other flavorings and sometimes whole or sliced hard boiled eggs, nor many Americans would be willing to have a slice.

Nevertheless I loved it and always had a lot of it growing up!! I loved this feasting we did. Not just for the obvious reason which was the fact that we usually did not have this kind of abundance through the rest of the year but also because the way we feasted was a little unusual. We started early, usually around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and, along with many family members, neighbors and friends, gathered around a large, usually rectangular table covered with a crisp, white damasc table cloth and filled down the middle with all the Easter offerings, red wine, tuica, a Romanian hard liquor and visinata, a Romanian sweet liquor made of sour cherries. Right next to the drob was pasca.

Pasca is a wonderful, somewhat sweet Romanian bread with cream cheese and raisins in the middle. Since coming to America I've actually only made this once because it is quite involved and quite complicated to make, for me at least. After the drob and pasca came the very savory and ridiculously delicious Ciorba de oase de miel (lamb bone soup), made, obviously from lamb bones and various delicious vegetables and soured with a Romanian liquid souring agent made from fermenting wheat grains for a long time and called bors.

I've always liked soup and my family made a great variety of them when I was growing up but the lamb bone soup was particularly good and specific to the Easter meal. So now that whet our appetites, it's time to bring out the "big guns"!

The wonderfully succulent Pulpa de miel la cuptor (oven roasted leg of lamb, bone in). This particular creation was always the crown jewel of the Easter table. In our ovens it took forever to make but it always came out juicy and delicious. And just in case all of this was not enough, many times we also had Stufat de miel cu ceapa and usturoi verde (lamb stew with green onion and green garlic).

Because spring in my country meant fresh vegetables, we used the "new" and green onion and garlic (which looks exactly like green onion except... it's garlic) and the tough pieces of lamb meat to make a savory stew which cooked for hours and rendered meat that melted in your mouth and made your taste buds sing! The good thing was that our feast lasted for hours, often into the late hours of the night and sometimes even till midnight. We sat, we talked, we laughed, we drank and all this time spent around the table made it easier to ingest this much food. And, naturally, because no meal is complete without desert, we had that too, always made from scratch. The desert was served with coffee and consisted of all kinds of cookies called fursecuri and, of course, without fail, the mother of all deserts, the grand Damme of Romanian sweets - cozonac!

Now this is one amazing concoction. Somewhat similar to the Italian panettone, this is a sweet bread made from east dough, rolled on the inside with a mash of several kinds of nuts and dried fruit. It is one of the best things in existence, one of the best things I have ever eaten and one desert I never attempted to make since coming to the states!

Well my friends, there you have it! Easter in my land... For years I have contemplated continuing this tradition here in America with my own family and now that I have two little girls of my own I might actually do just that! In the end Easter is absolutely about Jesus and His resurrection but these wonderful traditions from my land, culinary and otherwise will always be kept safely in my heart, there to remind me of where I come from and especially of the endless and very strong human ability to make and keep traditions which more often than not speak truth about of life and come from beliefs and convictions that are in the hearts of men and women and are there to stay!! CRISTOS A INVIAT!

DISCLAIMER: I would like to let everyone know that the pictures I used for this article are not mine, nor are the recipes that some of those pictures are depicting. I just made a google search for pictures that represented what I wanted to say and used them. It was not my intention to infringe on anyone's photographic stock.              

The Duke of Lamb Wellington

Lamb loin Wellington with roasted Brussels sprouts

I love to cook decadent, comforting dishes. And in my opinion, Beef Wellington falls very comfortably in those categories. Obviously, I do not make things like this every day or even every week; otherwise we'd all weigh 300 lb around here. But every once in a while, the desire strikes and I'm off on a culinary adventure. But what good is an adventure if you don't add your own spin to it. So, yesterday, when I opened my freezer and discovered a rack of lamb, inspiration struck and I thought "Oh, my... How about individual lamb wellingtons?". And so, with a mischievous smile on my face and a glint in my eyes I set out to create those little babies from scratch. Yes my friends, every little part of the wellington, the pastry, the meat, the mushroom duxelles and the pate, I toiled for a long time to create my masterpiece... And the result was so delicious, my husband literally licked his plate... What better proof of delight can there be? Normally, beef Wellington is made by searing a whole beef tenderloin, covering the top with foie gras and mushroom duxelles, wrapping it in puff pastry and baking it until golden brown. Since foie gras is not exactly in my price range, I opted to make my own chicken liver pate. As for the choice of meat and individual presentation, I just thought it would be a nice change to mix it up and use lamb loin instead of beef and make it in individual portions so that it is easier to eat and store if we had any left overs. Also, I decided to change up a little the way I made my pastry dough as well. I gotta say I am REALLY glad I did. It felt and tasted as if it was actually puff pastry, light, moist and very flaky and it was a delight to eat. Well people, gird up your loins... Cause here comes the recipe.

For the lamb medallions   

1 8 rib rack of lamb

4 med garlic cloves

Zest and juice of one med lemon

1 handful fresh parsley

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

4-6 tbsp olive oil

Butter

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

First things first. With a sharp knife cut away the fat cap from the lamb rack. Do not throw it away as it can be used for a sauce or lamb stock.

Next, start removing the loin from the bones slowly. Cut as close to the bone as you can so that there is not a lot of meat wasted.

Now very gently cut away the loin from the bottom of the bones completely. Keep the bones along with the fat cap for sauces or stock.

Trim the loin of excess fat and skin.

Slice the loin in about one inch pieces. Try using downward direction cuts only, rather then a sawing motion so you don't tear the meat. I ended up with 7 pieces, but you could end up with more or less, depending on the size of the loin.

Set aside your lamb pieces and gather your marinade ingredients.

Cut the garlic cloves in small pieces then add them along with the parsley, thyme, lemon zest and juice and salt and pepper to a small food processor. Pulse a few times to chop.

Add 4-6 tbsp olive oil and pulse until pureed. 

Place your lamb pieces inside a glass plate or baking dish and pour the marinade over them.

Using your hands slather the lamb pieces well with the marinade and set them aside. Allow them to marinade at least 30 minutes.

Set a pan over med-high heat and add 1 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil.

When heated add the lamb pieces and brown for 1-2 minutes.

Turn the lamb and brown on the other side for 1-2 minutes. Remove the lamb pieces from the pan and set them aside to cool.








For the chicken liver pate

1 lb chicken livers
2 tbsp mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tbsp country dijon mustard
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/3 C fresh minced parsley
1/2 C white wine
Butter
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Note: *If you do not like chicken liver pate skip this step and leave the pate out of the finished product. Alternately, if you prefer and can afford foie gras, use that instead of the pate or buy already made pate from the store.

Place the chicken livers in a colander and rinse with cold water.

Set the same pan you used to brown the lamb back over med-high heat. Add 1 tbsp butter and one tbsp olive oil. When heated add the lemon zest.

Drain the livers well and add them to the heated pan. Brown them on one side for about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Turn and brown them on the opposite side for another minute. Add the wine and cook the livers until they are slightly firm to the touch, a blushy-pink color in the middle and the wine has reduced by about half. DO NOT overcook them. Overcooked livers are terrible.

Add the cooked livers and about half of the liquid in the pan to a food processor.

Add the mascarpone cheese, creme fraiche, mustard, fresh parsley and lemon juice.

Pure until smooth, place in a bowl and set aside.

For the mushroom duxelles

1/2 lb king oyster mushrooms
1/2 lb shitake mushrooms
1 lg leek
1 lg shallot  

4 lg garlic cloves
Zest and juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp minced fresh thyme
1/3 C minced fresh parsley
1/3 C white wine
1/4 C cream

While the liver pate is cooling gather your mushroom duxelles ingredients.

Remove the stems from all the mushrooms, gently wipe the tops with a damp paper towel and set them aside in a bowl. Mince your leek, shallot and garlic.

Dice the mushroom caps in small cubes.

Add 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp olive oil to a large sauté pan set on med-high heat and when heated add the minced leek and shallot.

Season with salt and pepper, sauté a few minutes until translucent then add the minced garlic and sauté for another minute.

Add the diced mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and sauté for a few minutes until the mushrooms are softened.

Add the fresh thyme and lemon zest, mix in and sauté another minute.

Add the wine, cream and cayenne pepper and cook until the liquid is evaporated.

Add the lemon juice and fresh parsley, mix in and cook another minute until all the liquid is absorbed. Set aside to cool. While all the components are cooling, start making the pastry dough.







For the pastry dough

2 C + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tbsp)
1/4 C (4 tbsp) mascarpone cheese
4-6 ice water
1 egg + 1/2 tbsp lemon juice + 1/2 tbsp water (egg wash)
2 tbsp water

Usually, the secret to a really flaky pastry dough is cold ingredients. But as I found out this time, another secret is mascarpone cheese. My pastry dough has always been flaky and good but this time it came out exceptional and as close to puff pastry as home made pastry dough can get.

Start by cutting your butter in cubes and placing your cheese in a measuring cup and placing them both in the freezer. Also separate the yolks and put them in the refrigerator.

Add flour and salt to a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add the lemon zest and pulse to incorporate.

Add the cold yolks and pulse to incorporate.

Add the very cold butter and mascarpone cheese and pulse a few times.

The mixture should look like coarse sand.

Slowly start adding the ice water a tbsp at the time until the mixture becomes thick and sticks together when squeezed between your fingers like wet sand.

Note: *The amount of water you need to use will vary depending on how humid the day is.

Turn the dough unto a floured board and pull it together.

Knead the dough very quickly a few times until it comes together. Do not overwork. Form the dough in a ball.

Wrap the dough ball in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

After that time place the dough ball on a floured surface and allow it to sit at room temperature a few minutes. Then flour your rolling pin and the top of the dough and start rolling it from the middle out  in all directions, making sure to move the dough from time to time so that it does not stick to the board.

When the dough is rolled to about 1/4 inch thickness, use a cookie cutter or the top of a ramekin or coffee cup to cut out rounds of dough. Wrap the rounds individually in plastic and refrigerate for a few minutes.

Note: *I used the top of a coffee cup which was exactly 3 3/4 inches in diameter.

Taking two dough rounds out of the refrigerator at the time start assembling your wellingtons. First, roll out the rounds a little more until they are about 4 1/4 inches in diameter. Then place the seared lamb on top in the middle.

With a dinner knife, spread about 1-2 tbsp of the liver pate on top.

Note: *If you do not like liver pate, obviously skip this step.

Then add 1-2 tbsp of the cooled mushroom duxelles on top of the pate.

Dip your finger in water and brush the side of the bottom dough round all around. This will ensure that the top dough round sticks. Add a dough round over the lamb then press down the side of it with your fingers all around, making sure the two dough rounds stick together.

For extra insurance and to make the wellington look good, take a small fork and press the tines all around the pastry.

Repeat with the rest of the wellingtons. When assembled, place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Beat together one egg, 1/2 tbsp water and 1/2 tbsp lemon juice to make an egg wash. Brush each pastry generously with the egg wash, place them in a 400 degree oven and bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes to 1 hour.


For the roasted brussels sprouts

1 bag (about 2 lbs) brussels sprouts
Olive oil
Lemon juice
1 C grated Manchego cheese (you can also use parmesan, pecorino or even a combination)
Salt and pepper

Cut the woody ends from the sprouts and peel off the outer leaves. Half them, put them in a bowl and toss with salt and pepper, 2-3 tbsp olive oil and 2-3 tbsp lemon juice. Place them cut side down on a sheet pan and bake at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Half way through the cooking time, turn them and add about 1/2 cup of the grated cheese.

Well, there it is! This was one awesome and satisfying meal, if I may say so myself. The pastry was really tender and flaky, the lamb moist and pillowy soft and the pate and duxelles added a rich and very savory depth of flavor. I admit it is a little work but you can make all the components of this meal ahead of time and refrigerate them. If you choose to do that, allow everything to come to room temperature before you start the assembly of the wellingtons. Either way, whether all at once or ahead of time, this meal will make you look like a kitchen maven and your family will love you for it! Pofta buna!

Laura