Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Buttermilk Marinated Roast Chicken with Tarragon and Dijon Mustard

September 14, 2015 by Mary 37 Comments

This has become my favorite way to roast chicken. Remove the backbone, smash the breast down, add a few strategic cuts, which helps it cook quickly, makes it perfect for a weeknight dinner! I love this new marinade I made up to make this recipe – Buttermilk Marinated Roast Chicken with Tarragon and Dijon Mustard.

This all came to life because of the US Open going on right now. Years ago, when my husband and I were dating, he took me to the Open, my first time. There, we had a drink with a napkin that had a chicken recipe printed on it for Dijon Roasted Chicken. It was sponsored by the Dijon mustard people and I remember the recipe called for making a simple sauce of whisking together melted butter, Dijon mustard and dried tarragon (we didn’t have fresh readily available in those days) and brushed it on chicken pieces to roast in the oven.

I made that recipe over and over again. It was easy and delicious. And it made me feel like I was really cooking something!

So with the Open happening now, I was called back to it and came up with this recipe – truly delicious! And you can marinate this chicken for 1 – 3 days. The buttermilk and other flavors will just sink in more and make the chicken only more creamy and luscious.

But first, it’s important to start with a great chicken! Buy it from a local farm if you can. It may cost a tiny bit more but it’s so worth it.

Up here in Columbia County, NY, I think Charlie and Kim of Second Chance Farm have THE BEST chickens around. Theirs have meaty breasts yet the dark meat is not tough and they have 3.5 lbs. in size, which is what I like.

Now in my younger days, if I didn’t have the exact right ingredients for a recipe, I’d freak – and go get them or send my husband to get them or not make the recipe.

Stupid. Really stupid.

So if you don’t have red peppercorns, don’t fret, just use black peppercorns. Improvise and most importantly, have fun and cook with a positive loving attitude.

Try this recipe, be sure to make it with love to nourish your tummy and your soul. The best part of making recipes to marinate, is that you do the work beforehand and then the night of your dinner, it’s easy-peasy. Nice!!

BUTTERMILK MARINATED ROAST CHICKEN WITH TARRAGON AND DIJON MUSTARD – serves 4

1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
1 Tbs. red peppercorns, crushed (If you don’t have red peppercorns, use black, no worries)
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
11/2 cups buttermilk (I use Kate’s)
2 Tbs. peanut oil
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
1 Tbs. coarse sea salt
1 3.5 lbs. chicken, backbone cut out and butterflied.
1 Tbs. peanut or grapeseed oil
¼ cup dry white wine for deglazing (optional)

Wash and dry your chicken. Using kitchen shears, cut along each side of the chicken backbone and remove it. Turn the chicken breast side up and press on the breastbone to flatten the chicken.

Using a sharp knife, cut partway through both sides of the joint between the thighs and the drumsticks. Cut partway through both sides of the joint between the wings and the breast.

Crush your peppercorns by placing them in a small Ziploc bag and smashing them with a heavy bottle.

Place the dried chicken in a large Ziploc bag and add the remaining ingredients including the smashed peppercorns. Massage everything together to combine and refrigerate for 1 – 3 days. When you open your refrigerator during that time, massage the chicken and flip the bag over.

On the day you’re ready to cook, remove the chicken from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before.

Preheat the oven to 450°.

Set the chicken in a large skillet skin side up; spoon a little marinade on top and then grab the garlic, peppers and tarragon out of the marinade and spread on top of the chicken. Drizzle 1 Tbs. peanut or grapeseed oil all over the top of the chicken.

Set the skillet over high heat and cook the chicken until it starts to brown, 5 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast the chicken for 30 minutes, until the skin is browned and the chicken is cooked through.

Transfer the chicken to a cutting board or platter. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, deglaze your pan with the white wine. Boil for a few minutes on high heat stirring constantly until reduced in half. Pour the juices over the chicken, cut it into 8 pieces and serve.

Dijon Pork Chops with Herbs and Grapes

July 26, 2014 by Mary 62 Comments

“Can you do this again?” That’s what my husband said on finishing this dinner last Sunday night. So I quickly went to work to write all this down so I would remember how to make these Dijon Pork Chops with Herbs and Grapes again! I got this idea from a veal chop recipe I had made years ago. And once again, I get inspired by what’s in my refrigerator and what needs to be used up and how fast can I get something on the table – not really too exciting and all out of necessity. I was making our breakfast fruit salad that I usually make for the week, before making dinner on last Sunday night, and had too many grapes. We had just picked up these beautiful heritage breed pork chops from Second Chance Farm on our way home that night. They have wonderful beef, pork and chickens and sell at the Milan Farmers Market on Fridays, and had invited us to their farm to pick up some fresh chickens. Kim and Charlie are wonderful folks who run a very clean and neat farm in Milan, NY. It was so nice to see their whole operation. All of the animals are happy campers – their pigs love to be petted! Here’s what I did, which was simple, quick, delicious and a little different! This is a riff on the combo of savory and sweet – which I LOVE. I hope you will too!

DIJON PORK CHOPS WITH HERBS AND GRAPES – serves 2

1.5 tsp unsalted butter
1.5 tsp olive oil 1 medium onion, sliced 1/4” thick
2 heritage breed pork chops, 3/4” thick
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
3 tbs. chopped fresh herbs – oregano, rosemary and thyme
3/4 cup dry white wine, divided – I used Sauvignon Blanc
3/4 cup seedless red grapes

In a skillet, melt butter in olive oil on low heat. Add onions and cover to sweat and soften for about 20 minutes.

Wash and dry pork chops. Salt and pepper and smear one side with 1 tsp. Dijon mustard on each chop. Toss together the mixed herbs, take half of them and divide into two equal portions and sprinkle on each chop. Press them down into the mustard. Push onions to the side in the skillet, raise heat to medium high. Add the chops, mustard and herb side down. While they are browning, salt and pepper the top sides of the chops. Turn the chops after 3 minutes and pile the onions on top of the chops. Sprinkle remaining herbs overall. Saute 1 minute to brown the bottom of the chops. Add 1/2 of the wine and all of the grapes and cook for one more minute or so, until chops reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees. (they will cook more while resting) Remove the chops to a platter. Leave the grapes in the skillet and add the rest of the wine and simmer rapidly for 1 -2 minutes, stirring constantly. When sauce has thickened a bit and reduced, and the grapes are softened, remove from heat and pour sauce and grapes over the chops. Make sure the chops have rested for a total time of 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Grilled Farmer’s Market chicken with lemon ginger basting sauce

July 28, 2013 by Mary Frances 18 Comments

Our farmer friends, Ethel and Tom are taking things up a notch! Instead of selling out of their home, they are now at Farmer’s Markets on Fridays and Saturdays. The Friday one is at the Milan, NY Town Hall, complete with other vendors selling wines, cheeses and meats, all local, organic and free range. There’s even entertainment with a guitar player! The Friday night one stays open until 7 pm so if we can get out of the city by 5 pm and assuming there are no delays on the Taconic, we can get there in time.

The meat vendor, called Second Chance Farm (ha!), had fresh killed chickens. He said they were “harvested” Thursday night at 10 pm. (Isn’t that a lovely way to put it?) So we just had to buy one, along with 2 lbs. of ground lamb (one for dinner tonight), breakfast sausage, hot Italian sausage and 2 pork chops. We had the pork chops last night marinated in olive oil, garlic and anchovies and grilled. They were delicious!! So very clean tasting and flavorful.

But let me tell you about the chickens! They were all large and I chose the smallest one they had at 5.2 lbs. I cut the backbone out and broke the breast to “butterfly” it of sorts and therefore have it cook quicker. It cooked so quick – I don’t know if it was because it was so darn fresh or what – but it only took about 35 minutes on the grill at 425 degrees, direct heat. And, the dark meat even cooked quicker than the white meat, perhaps because the breasts were so big. So he just cut the leg and thigh pieces off and kept the whole breast on. Easy to do when it’s butterflied. I stuffed fresh sage and garlic slices under the skin, and topped it with salt and pepper. The basting sauce I made is really a remake of my lemon garlic sauce recipe for the Santorini chicken, changing it up and adding ginger. Here’s what I did:

GRILLED CHICKEN WITH SAGE AND GARLIC AND LEMON GINGER BASTING SAUCE – serves 6

One 5.2 lb chicken, washed, thoroughly dried with backbone cut out and breast flattened with your hand
4 full stems of fresh sage
4 larges cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
Fine sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

Stuff one stem of sage and one clove of garlic, sliced, under the skin in each of the breasts and thigh sections. Salt and pepper your birds all over on both sides. Spray your grill with oil. Grill at 425 degrees basting with the Lemon Ginger sauce, turning twice, until your instant read thermometer registers at 155 degrees. Let it rest for 10 – 15 minutes before carving.

LEMON/GINGER BASTING SAUCE

1.5 tbs. unsalted butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 bay leaf
5 tbs. finely minced onion
4 tbs. minced ginger
6 tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 tbs. Dijon mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. light brown sugar
1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
10 grinds of black pepper
¾ tsp. Sriracha sauce
3 tbs. water

In a small saucepan, melt the butter in olive oil over low heat. Add bay leaf, ginger and onion, cover and sweat for 10 – 15 minutes. Check often, stir and do not let it brown, but you want it to be meltingly soft. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the water, stirring well. Raise heat to medium-high and whisk in water. Stir until mixture boils and then remove from heat. This can be made a couple of hours before you’re going to use it. Keep it at room temperature.

It was so flavorful and toothy – not tough – but not melting tender either. After all, these chickens walk and run. I have to say it was so fresh and clean tasting. This is the way we all should be eating and when you make it with LOVE, there’s no better way!

Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Buttermilk Marinated Roast Chicken with Tarragon and Dijon Mustard

Dijon Pork Chops with Herbs and Grapes

Grilled Farmer’s Market chicken with lemon ginger basting sauce

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