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My favorite Thanksgiving stuffing

November 18, 2011 by Mary Frances 14 Comments

Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday. I love the weather, fires in the fireplace, the family is all together and no pressure with gifts. In full disclosure, it is also around my birthday – Nov. 26th – but these days I could do without remembering that!

I have been making this stuffing for more than 20 years now, tweaking it until I think it’s just right. Every once in a while I have veered off and done a chorizo dressing or something with chestnuts and this one is the one we always go back to and is requested by everyone in my family. I forgot that I shared this with some of my friends years ago, only to discover recently that yes, they are still using it too. The basis of it comes from the very first Silver Palate cookbook. I used that cookbook so much in the 80’s, that my cover fell off. I think my good friend, Deb, cooked every recipe in there. We used to tease each other, we were both making our way through it! Good stuff!

Now some people and the government think you shouldn’t stuff the bird. I say nonsense! If your bird is really fresh, you’ve washed and dried it very well, let the dressing cool completely before stuffing, you will be fine. At the table, remove the dressing into a covered casserole before you carve the bird and start passing it. Then when the feast is over, totally clean out the cavity of all the stuffing and carve all of the meat off of the bird (makes it easier for leftovers the next day) and make stock with the carcass or throw it away. This way, you will have no problems and everything will be tastier.

I hope this will become your go-to favorite stuffing recipe as well!

CORNBREAD SAUSAGE STUFFING WITH APPLES & PECANS
Serves 12-14 people or more than enough stuffing for a 20 lb. bird

1 ½ sticks of sweet butter (12 tbs.)
2 3/4 cups of finely chopped yellow onions (use your food processor for this)
3 tart apples, cored and chunked, not peeled (Jonathan are good)
1 lb. lightly seasoned bulk sausage (I use breakfast sausage with sage)
3 cups coarsely crumbled cornbread (bake a Jiffy cornbread mix for this)
3 heaping cups of crustless, cubed, day old whole-wheat bread
3 heaping cups of crustless, cubed, day-old white bread (I prepare and cut my breads the night before so they can dry out a little.)
2 rounded tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp dried sage
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
¾ cup chopped Italian parsley
1 ½ cups shelled pecan halves
1 raw egg
Chicken broth to moisten

Melt half of the butter in a skillet. Add chopped onions and cook over medium – medium/low heat, partially covered, until tender and lightly colored, about 25 minutes. Scrape onions and butter into a very large bowl. The biggest you’ve got!

Melt remaining butter in the same skillet. Add apple chunks and sauté over high heat until lightly colored but not mushy. Transfer the apples and all of the butter to the same mixing bowl with the onions.

Squeeze the sausage out of the casing if necessary. Crumble it into the skillet and sauté over medium heat, continuing to break up the sausage into small pieces, stirring until no pink remains and it’s lightly browned. With a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to the mixing bowl and throw away the fat.

Add all remaining ingredients to your large bowl and fold together with a large spatula, gently combining everything. Beat an egg in a separate small bowl and fold that in as well. Moisten with homemade or low sodium chicken broth. Salt and pepper to taste. Cool completely before stuffing the bird.

With leftover stuffing, or if you choose not to stuff your bird, spoon stuffing into a casserole, cover with a lid or aluminum foil, and set in a large, deeper pan. Pour hot water around the casserole to come halfway up the sides. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes at 325 degrees. You will LOVE it!

The best quick roasted chicken

November 3, 2011 by Mary Frances 3 Comments

Roast chicken in a cast iron skillet just out of the oven.

Finished chicken just out of the oven

They say that many a chef is judged by how good their roast bird is. I have tried many different ways over the years. Debating whether or not to truss the bird with string (Julia) or cut slits in the skin and shove the legs in there. (Anthony Bourdain) Starting with high heat to sear and then lowering it and basting it throughout (I still do like this method – more on that later) or Julia Child’s recipe that involves turning the bird every 15 minutes (more work) or Jen’s method (our long term nanny for the boys) of covering it and roasting it longer. My brother, Mark, thought hers was the best! When he would come to visit in NJ, he would request Jen’s chicken for the first night of dinners. Then there’s Zuni Café’s version of salting the chicken several days ahead of time (really a brining of sorts) and then roasting in a not too dissimilar way from the method I like below. Tell me your favorite! I think this is the best quick roasted chicken.

This is a version adapted from Mark Bittman and my oldest son on the way to cook it, with my added touches. They say great chefs never throw anything away. I believe in that so I always save my parmesan cheese rinds. Shove them into the cavity of a bird or throw into your risotto and you will be amazed at how much flavor they impart. Using them in a roast chicken provides a parmesan flavored sauce, mixed with the chicken juices that is just divine. (That’s the end of the cheese rind sticking out of the cavity – don’t you go thinking of other things!)

THE BEST QUICK ROASTED CHICKEN
Serves 4

1 3.5 lb. chicken (I like Bell and Evans, still)
fine grind sea salt
fine grind pepper (I use Tex-Joy brand)
4-5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
10 sprigs of fresh thyme
½ lemon
parmesan cheese rinds
20 – 25 cremini mushrooms, washed, stems trimmed a little bit and left whole

Preheat oven to 450 degrees with a cast iron skillet or heavy ovenproof skillet in the center of the oven. Trim the ends off of your mushrooms, wash, pat dry with a towel and let air dry. Thoroughly wash and dry your bird, inside and out. Distribute and shove sliced garlic, along with the thyme sprigs, under the skin on both sides of the bird – both breasts and legs and both sides on the back. Be careful not to rip the skin. Take the half of lemon and squeeze it inside the cavity to refresh the bird. Salt and pepper the cavity. Place the squeezed lemon half in there, along with more sliced garlic and thyme and shove in the parmesan cheese rind.

Pat dry the outside of the bird again, salt and pepper the outside.

Take the pan out of the oven and leave a hot pad on the handle immediately so you don’t forget and grab it. Quickly put the bird in the pan, breast side up (it will not stick) and shove mushrooms all around. It will be snug and please remember this pan is blazing hot so be careful.

Shove the hot pan with chicken and mushrooms back into the oven and roast for 35 – 40 minutes, undisturbed, until meat thermometer reaches 155 degrees. Remove chicken immediately from the hot pan by grabbing the cavity with long tongs and let rest on a platter, for at least 10 minutes before carving. Pour juices from pan on top and scatter mushrooms around. Please remember again to use a good hot pad on the handle. Too many times I have grabbed one of these, forgetting it had been in that crazy hot oven. (For burns, tea tree oil is the best but is not a good smell around food.)

Now, you tell me if this isn’t the easiest and fastest way to serve a delicious, moist, mouth watering roast chicken?

Delicious and easy roast chicken with mushrooms

Dinner in 30 minutes – REALLY!

October 12, 2011 by Mary Frances 3 Comments

This is no Rachel Ray joke!

We arrive home very late on Columbus Day, having had business meetings upstate in Hudson.

I know I have broccoli rabe at home in Manhattan. I grab a pack of frozen sausage from the country house and do not put in it in a cool pack for the ride home so it will thaw. I will make pasta with broccoli rabe and sausage. However it is a mild Italian chicken sausage, BUT I have just picked a very hot serrano pepper from my garden!

Everyone is starved as we walk in the door at 8:30. I put all the other groceries away and get to work a little before nine. How can I get dinner on the table quick? I ask for help from Zach’s girlfriend, Agata, and she does a beautiful job peeling and slicing the 6 large garlic cloves. And I continue with the neatest thing being using the broccoli rabe near boiling water to bring to a rolling boil to cook the pasta. It also flavored the pasta as well. Dinner was on the table at 9:23, served with a lovely bottle of red wine for the four of us and it was a feast! I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. My husband said this was the very best version of this dish I have ever made! And, it has the magical pancetta in it to give it the big full flavor. Here goes.

Pasta with broccoli rabe and chicken sausage in a bowl.

PASTA WITH BROCCOLI RABE AND CHICKEN SAUSAGE
1/4 cup olive oil
6 large garlic cloves, pealed and sliced
1 serrano chili pepper minced, with seeds (remove seeds if you do not like things hot)
1 3/8” thick slice pf pancetta, cut into small dice
1 bunch broccoli rabe, washed and cut into 2” pieces
1 -11/4 lb. mild Italian chicken sausage, removed from casing and broken up into small chunks
1 lb linguini – No. 6
3 tbs. pasta water
2 oz. grated Pecorino Romano cheese.

Peel and slice the garlic cloves. Mince the pepper. Warm the olive oil with the garlic, hot pepper and pancetta on low heat for 10 – 12 minutes in a large skillet while you’re cleaning the broccoli rabe. Trim the ends of the broccoli rabe and cut into 2” pieces, Wash thoroughly, twice. Put in a large pot, cover with at least 2” of cold water. Salt with coarse sea salt. Put on very high heat. When bubbles start to form on the edges of the pot, lift the broccoli rabe out with a hand mesh strainer or slotted spoon and drain in a colander. This partially cooks the rabe and removes the bitterness. You are saving the water to cook your pasta in. Raise heat on garlic mixture to medium, add your sausage and sauté until all pink is gone. Taste for salt and pepper but remember, the Pecorino is salty and that gets put in at the end. Meanwhile, bring the broccolli rabe water to a rolling boil and cook your pasta. Add drained broccolli rabe to sausage mixture and toss the combination. Save some pasta water and drain the pasta when done. I find it best to combine all in layers. Put 1/3 pasta in a bowl with 1/3 sausage rabe mixture and 1/3 cheese and 1 TBS. pasta water, toss to combine and continue with thirds and toss. Serve with more cheese if you like at the table, but it really isn’t necessary.

This dish is so creamy and delicious – even for people who say they don’t like broccoli rabe! It almost tastes like it has butter in it but it doesn’t. You will love it!

Too rich

September 28, 2011 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

Last night I made April Bloomfield’s recipe of Lyon-Style Chicken with Vinegar Sauce and her suggested Herbed Steamed Rice recipe that’s in the October edition of Food & Wine magazine. It was scrumptious……. but boy was it rich and fattening! I just don’t usually cook like this. Actually, at The Breslin, one of April’s restaurants here in NYC, I can only eat a half of her lamb burger. And don’t let me fool you, I can eat. So I took a look at these recipes. Six tablespoons of butter for both, plus 3 tablespoons of olive oil and no draining of the chicken fat plus a quarter cup of creme fraiche. Well I was originally going to cut back on everything and then I thought, no. I’ll make it this one time her way. Well my husband and Zach loved it and I did too but it was just way too rich in the end. I felt the fat cells expanding on my hips as I was eating, and believe me, they do not need to do that.

This is the thing. My cooking is full of flavor, clean and relatively low fat – meaning I really don’t use much butter. My big flavors come from lots of garlic, onions and all kinds of fresh herbs. I hope I can convince you that cooking this fresh way is not hard, gives you beautiful colors to play with and spreads your love to everyone around you, even in a healthy way!

Weeknight entertaining chicken

September 21, 2011 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

This is my son Zach’s favorite chicken. We make this over and over as you can get two recipes out of a quart of buttermilk and what else are you going to use that for? And buttermilk lasts a long time so you can do it 3 weeks apart. It is a take on a Nigella Lawson recipe as I have fiddled and changed it. Great for weeknight entertaining as you do the most work two days ahead of time. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do – and it’s super easy – with an easy clean-up to boot!

BUTTERMILK ROAST CHICKEN – serves 4
1 3.5-pound chicken
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon crushed black peppercorns, or 1 1/2 tsp. coarse ground pepper
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
2 heaping tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
10 juniper berries, smashed
1 tablespoons honey

Butterfly chicken by placing breast side down and using heavy-duty kitchen or poultry shears to cut along both sides of backbone. Discard backbone, turn chicken over and press gently on the breastbone to flatten.

Place chicken in a large freezer bag. Add buttermilk, 1/4 cup oil, garlic, peppercorns, salt, rosemary, juniper berries and honey. Seal bag securely, massage all ingredients together and refrigerate for two days. Turn over and massage more during the two days, when you think about it.

Take chicken out of the refrigerator 30 – 45 minutes before roasting. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a roasting pan with foil and use a rack. Remove chicken from marinade and place on a rack in the roasting pan. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Roast for 40 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 degrees. Continue roasting until well browned and your meat thermometer measures 155 – 160 degrees in thigh meat, about another 10 -15 minutes.

Remove chicken to a platter or carving board and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting into serving pieces.

Weeknight entertaining

September 20, 2011 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

Weeknight entertaining is easy to do if you plan a little bit ahead. We enjoy seeing our friends in the city during the week as we are usually in the country on the weekends. So on the weekend, I knew my good friend MB was coming for dinner on Monday night. On Saturday, I started marinating my chicken, I roasted and peeled my golden beets for the salad and toasted the walnuts. Easy. Here’s my menu:

APPETIZERS
A platter of sliced soprasetta, thin breadsticks, fresh fennel sticks, a little bowl of basil olive oil with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice, pistachio nuts, Siracha peas and a large square of Spanakopita from the Greek store, warmed and cut into four.

DINNER
Baby spinach salad with roasted golden beets, toasted walnuts, goat cheese and a sherry vinaigrette (wash and chill spinach, cut beets, arrange all, make vinaigrette & drizzle)
Buttermilk roasted chicken (all your work was done on Saturday)
Corn on the cob (easy to roast in their husks, 350 degree oven for 25 – 30 minutes)
Tomato, mozzerella and basil with olive oil, salt and pepper (easy – just wash, slice and arrange)

DESSERT
Baklava with fresh strawberries (wash and dry berries, cut store-bought Baklava)

I wanted this dinner to be casual, easy and serve some of the freshness that is left from the farms upstate. I’d say I succeeded! All 4 of us were content and happy. You may think why salad/salad with the beets and tomatoes but the beet salad was served as a first course and the tomatoes and mozzerella were served with the meal and it didn’t feet that way. Both were delicious. Besides, I didn’t want a plate with just corn and chicken on it for the main meal. This chicken is my son Zach’s favorite. Try it and you’ll know why. Those of you that have young teenagers at home can even put this in the oven for you when you’re on your way home from work. I used to instruct Zach to do this over the phone when we still lived in Jersey.