Chicken In Milk & Cinnamon & Garlic & Lemon

OK, so this is a weird recipe. It involves roasting a chicken in milk and some other stuff. The milk sort of curdles.

But y'know what? It also happens to be amazingly delicious. Tender, zingy, zesty, flavorful, moist... and you get some great broth out of it.

Here goes:

1 whole chicken
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
115g/4oz or ½ a pack of butter
Olive oil
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 good handful of fresh sage, leaves picked
Zest of 2 lemons
10 cloves of garlic, skin left on
565ml/1 pint milk

Preheat the oven to 375°, and find a snug-fitting pot for the chicken. Season it generously all over, and fry it in the butter and a little olive oil, turning the chicken to get an even colour all over, until golden. Remove from the heat, put the chicken on a plate, and reserve the oil and butter left in the pot. This will leave you with tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pan which will give you a lovely caramelly flavour later on.

Put your chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients, and cook in the preheated oven for 1½ hours.* Baste with the cooking juice when you remember. The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, making a sauce which is absolutely fantastic.

To serve, pull the meat off the bones and divide it on to your plates. Spoon over plenty of juice and the little curds. Serve with wilted spinach or greens and some mashed potato.

*Note: the recipe doesn't mention whether or not to cover the chicken. We covered it for most of the baking time, to delicious effect.

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Pistachio (and cashew) encrusted chicken

This is my new favorite way to cook chicken - encrusted in delicious, salty-sweet, nutty deliciousness. The recipe calls for only pistachios, but the last time I made this I replaced half of them with cashews, and it was even better. This is very easy and will impress and delight your friends and family, which is very important.

You'll need:

1 cup chopped pistachios (or 1/2 C pistachios, 1/2 C cashews)

1/2 cup bread crumbs (those not into gluten/wheat can just omit these)
2 tablespoons mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
salt and pepper to taste
2 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch strips

Then do this:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray, oil or butter. Mix together pistachios and bread crumbs in a shallow bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together mustard, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper until smooth. Dip chicken into mustard mixture to coat, then coat with bread crumb mixture. Place onto prepared baking sheet.

Place into preheated oven and turn the oven down to 375 degrees. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink and the pistachio coating is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

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A Quick Sort of Oven-Fried Chicken

This is SUPER easy...and yummy!

Get some:
Chicken - Breasts are the best, I think.
Corn Flakes, or even better Trader Joe's Toasted Oatmeal Flakes
Butter
Paper bag
rolling pin
baking sheet
if you use plain corn flakes you might want some seasoning like garlic powder, paprika dried oregano....but if you use the oatmeal flakes its good as is.

Preheat oven to 375
Put enough cereal in the paper bag to cover your chicken, then use the rolling pin to roll the bag and crush the flakes into crumbs.
clean your chicken
put wet chicken in paper bag and give it a good shakin
place covered pieces on baking sheet, there will probably be crumbs left in the bag that you can place on top of your chicken
drizzle some melted butter over pieces
stick it in the oven!

The cook time depends on the type of chicken - breasts: 40-45 min

*its kinda fun to use different types of flaky cereal for this - even some with clusters!

Spanish Rice

This was really easy, and totally delicious. Double or triple the recipe and eat it alllll week long.

1 T veggie oil
2 slices bacon, minced (I didn't use this, but I bet it's good)
1/2 C chopped onion
1/2 C chopped green bell pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 C long-grain white rice
1 3/4 C chicken broth
1 C chopped drained canned tomatoes
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

In a 10-inch ovenproof skillet or casserole dish, cook the oil, bacon, onion, bell pepper, and garlic over medium heat about 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir until well-coated. Add everything else, bring to a boil, then cover and put in the oven. (note - I don't have an ovenproof skillet, so I transferred everything to a bread loaf pan and it worked great). Bake about 25 minutes or until fluffy and awesome.

I added chicken, shrimp, and mushrooms, and it was a full meal. Basically a really great and easy way to make rice more interesting.

Turkey cakes

These cakes are delicious and can be made with chicken, too - but with Thanksgiving around the corner, is a great way to use up leftover turkey. I've also been quite flexible with the recipe, especially with the herbs, so... experiment! One thing I've enjoyed adding is corn.

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1 C onion, diced
1/2 C celery, diced
2 T butter
2 C cooked turkey or chicken
1 1/2 C bread crumbs
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
1 T chopped fresh sage
1 T chopped fresh thyme
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
4 eggs
4 T vegetable oil

Saute the onionjs and celery in butter over medium heat until soft. Transfer to a large bowl, let cool slightly, then add meat, bread crumbs, herbs, salt, and pepper. Fold in the eggs.

To form the cakes, lightly pack the mixture into a 1/3-cup measure, and then press down into 3-inch cakes on a flour-lined baking sheet. Chill at least 15 minutes, and dust the tops of the cakes with flour.

Fry the cakes in two batches in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat using 2 T oil per batch. Cook until golden, about 4 minutes, then flip and fry 1-2 minutes more.

I like to eat these with tomatoes and avocado.

Easy Cast Iron Skillet Chicken

So, for years and years I knew I loved a good roast chicken, but had no idea how to pull off a perfectly cooked bird. I knew it could be oh so simple, but that these secrets were not for me. Until now. The butcher Mike at Star Grocery in Berkeley is systematically leading me through the basics of how to cook meat, and cook it well. All I have to do is show up after work and ask, "what's for dinner?" As a failed vegetarian, I'm a bit of a neophyte when it comes to these things, and am SO happy to have been taken under the wing (the perfectly cooked and tender wing), of a well seasoned pro. This recipe covers how to make an easy and delicious roast chicken, and if you feel like going the extra mile (which is actually only like a couple of yards), you can put together a really lovely "gravy" from the drippings. Chicken is cheap, can be organic, and this recipe will feed you for a couple of days, so for all you busy folks, cook this on Sunday night and have chicken salad sandwiches until Wednesday.

So, you'll need:

- One whole chicken, at room temperature (if it's at all frozen still, or even too cold, the cooking is a bit uneven).
- 2 tablespoons salt, preferably coarse and kosher.
- Pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoons chopped herbs (I think thyme works best, but rosemary or chives also have their appeal).
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Rinse and dry the chicken, and rub it with the salt, inside and out. Put the chicken, breast side up, in an oven proof iron skillet and cook at high heat for about three minutes, until the pan is quite hot (this gives the bottom of the chicken a little head start). Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Take the chicken out of the oven and tip the skillet slightly so the drippings pool on one edge. Put the chopped herbs directly into the drippings which will cook the herbs slightly. Spoon the herb drippings over the chicken, and after it is entirely covered, transfer the chicken to a platter and let it rest.

To make the gravy:

Transfer the skillet with drippings to the stove and over medium low heat, add the flour and pepper, whisking constantly. When fully combined, add the milk and mustard, still whisking, and simmer over medium heat until the gravy has thickened. At this point, it's also great to add sauteed onions and/or mushrooms, if you'd like.

I usually make this with rice or potatoes, and a big salad of some sort. Easy, but feels fancy.

The juiciest chicken you'll ever eat

It sounds crazy, I know. But trust me - you're gonna love it.

Juicy-ass chicken

- Chicken (as much as you're going to want)
- Sprite
- Soy Sauce

Marinate the chicken overnight in a Sprite/Soy Sauce blend (or as long as you can). Use 1 part soy sauce to 1 part sprite, so that the chicken is barely immersed in it. Either bake, grill, or saute the chicken. Add to your favorite dish.

It's fuckin' great.