Butterflied Chicken aux herbes de Provence

This recipe is inspired by a Julia Child / Jacques Pepin technique. It employs skills that are worth having anyway -- but you really can make this as a simple roasted whole chicken, as well. I think the butterflied (spatchcock) technique helps, though. It's also much quicker than roasting a whole comparably sized chicken. I have an embarrassment of riches in my herb garden so I decided to do a quick harvest and create fresh, homemade herbes de Provence. It's the blend you see here, commonly used in the south of France. You can use jarred, dried herbes de Provence, as well. Halve the quantities recommended, however.

Butterflied Chicken aux herbes de Provence
Serves 4
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes

• 1 chicken, backbone and breastbone removed (butterflied)
• 1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
• 1 tbsp fresh chopped thyme
• 1 tsp fresh chopped lavender
• 1 tbsp fresh chopped oregano
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste (about 2 tsp salt to 1 tsp pepper)

Pre-heat the broiler to its medium to highest setting. Place the rack at least 6 inches below the broiler element.
Mix the herbs with the garlic and olive oil.
Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.
Slather the bone side of the chicken with half the oil and herb mix.
Broil for 20 minutes.
Remove the chicken, turn to skin side up, and season with the other half of the oil and herb mix. Meanwhile, turn the oven heat to roast at 375 degrees.
Roast for an additional 30 or so minutes, until cooked through, depending on the size of your bird

Recommended - Fante's Kitchen Wares Shop

Philadelphia's historic 9th Street Italian Market is truly one of the city's gems. I'm a sucker for open air markets and authentic specialty stores like Claudio's or DiBruno Brothers. You'll even find my mouth watering at more corporate chains such as Dean and DeLuca and Williams-Sonoma. Nothing compares, however, to Fante's Kitchen Wares Shop at 1009 South 9th Street in Philadelphia. From friendly greetings to fabulous products, I can't wait to return to this wonderful store.
The windows are lined in wonderful Le Creuset and All Clad pots and pans, along with high-end appliances that only someone comfortable in the kitchen would really recognize. I was impressed immediately by the homey atmosphere of the massive store. Well-worn hardwood floors and perfectly dusty shelves made me feel as though I was allowed to touch things, pick them up, and even play a little with some of the more obscure gadgets. Despite the wide array of products (much more expansive than even the most comprehensive Williams-Sonoma), everything was organized in a way that made sense. If I'd been searching for something in particular, I could have instantly found it. Instead, I chose to walk the entire store in a few laps.
I was struck by how, in each room, friendly staff offered assistance but never pressure me to buy anything. Everyone was knowledgeable, particularly a wonderful young associate named Jess at the front of the store. Even as an avid foodie, I found items with which I was previously unfamiliar. It was really quite an experience. For a family-owned shop that's been around more than a hundred years, there's no hint of obsolescence. I can picture the family who runs the place answering customer inquiries one hundred years ago in the same friendly tone that Jess answered my questions.
The best part was yet to be discovered until I sat down to write this post -- they have a wonderfully comprehensive website. They offer their products online to the entire country. From perusing the store for quite a while earlier today, I strongly encourage you to give them a look.
http://www.fantes.com
Fante's
1006 South 9th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
215.922.5557
800.44.FANTE
mail@fantes.com
I offer Fante's my highest possible recommendation and look forward to buying cookware from them for decades to come.

Almost Instant White Bean Dip

My e-mail box is full of questions about light, summery dips. People are fortunately stepping away from the same old (but sometimes good) canned salsas, french onion dips, and cheesy mayonnaise of our parents' generation and looking to fresh or healthy ingredients for parties and barbecues. This dip is very similar to hummus, but not quite as thick.

White Bean Dip

• 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil -- use the good stuff here
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients except the oil in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Turn on and drizzle in the olive oil until desired consistency.

Date Night - Filet of Beef with Mushroom Sauce

One of the best ways to impress a date is preparing a delicious, simple meal. Whether you're cooking for a man, woman, or even a close friend -- no one turns down good food. The key to a successful date night is making something easy. If you're comfortable with something more elaborate than what I'm offering here, by all means, go for it. This is a menu that's been tried and tested, though, and unless your date is averse to beef, you're bound to please.

The Menu
Pan Roasted Filet of Beef
Mushroom Sauce
Mashed Potatoes - Recipe here.
Served with Malbec, Pinot Noir, or even a deep, rich Bordeaux

The Plan
Day before the date -- buy all the ingredients, slice the mushrooms, and measure out the ingredients
Day of the date -- an hour before your date is to arrive, make the mashed potatoes and place over a double boiler. While those are staying hot, make the steaks and sauce -- here's how to do it:

Filet of Beef with Mushroom Sauce
Serves 2
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes for medium, 14 for medium rare, plus 10 minutes for sauce

• two 6-8 oz beef tenderloin filets, about 2 inches thick
• 8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 2 cups beef stock or homemade chicken stock
• 1/2 cup red wine, such as pinot noir
• kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp olive oil, for cooking the steak and mushrooms

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle the oil in an oven-safe pan and heat until shimmering. Add the mushrooms and toss to coat. Make a circle of mushrooms around the edge of the pan.
Season the steaks liberally with salt and pepper. Place in the hot pan and sear on one side for 2 minutes. Turn and sear for another 2 minutes. Place in the hot oven for another 7 minutes for medium rare, a few minutes longer for more well-done steaks.
Carefully remove the steaks from the oven with an oven mitt and place on a plate. Cover tightly with foil. Place the mushrooms over medium high heat and immediately add the red wine. Reduce for 3 or 4 minutes until syrupy and thick. Add the beef stock and reduce for another 5-7 minutes, until reduced by half. Stir often. Taste for seasonings. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Uncover the steaks. Pour any juice that has accumulated in the plate into the sauce and stir.
On a clean, warm plate, add a serving of mashed potatoes. Neatly place a steak on top of each mound of potatoes and spoon over the mushroom sauce. Serve hot.

Bonus Reader Question - Broken Sauces

Peter from Washington asks...

"I was making a white sauce and left it on the counter for a few minutes and it broke -- the fat separated and was just floating on top. I just threw it away. Can you rescue a broken sauce?"

Yes! You can absolutely save a broken sauce. It's actually incredibly easy. I've watched this happen dozens of times. Too much fat from a meat in a queso sauce, an oil slick on top of mac 'n cheese sauce, or even a gross, buttery alfredo. This is all avoidable. Here's how to do it.

In 1/2 cup cold water, stock, or milk dissolve 2 tablespoons of flour. Whisk vigorously into the hot, broken, sauce. It should tighten up almost instantly over the heat. Cook for a few minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste and you will have a very even, silky sauce to serve over your food.

Reader Question - Light Pasta Dishes

Katie from Richmond asks...

 

"I love pasta dishes for dinner - usually with a marinara or vodka sauce, and a meat - but since it's summer I would like to lighten up my pasta dishes. What ideas do you have? They can be hot or cold recipes."

Katie, you should definitely check out my Mediterranean pasta salad. From there, take a look at the rest of my pasta dishes. There are 9 or so and they're mostly light and summer appropriate. I'd also suggest you look into some Asian cookbooks. I think that soba (Japanese buckwheat) noodles and Thai-style cellophane noodles are great in cold salads with just some thinly julienned vegetables tossed with peanut sauce or a little sesame oil.

For hot dishes, why not make a big batch of pesto sauce? You can keep it well in the fridge or freezer and enjoy the seasonal basil for months to come. Experiment with different pesto sauces, as well. Throw in some sun-dried tomatoes or roasted red peppers. Use walnuts or almonds instead of pine nuts. Add arugula or parsley to the basil, switch up the hard Italian cheeses that you use. It's a fun way to create something new. Don't forget to tell me if something wonderful comes out of your kitchen experiments!

Finally, you can toss boiled pasta with any wilted green for a light summer supper. I recommend kale, broccoli rabe, or even spinach. A squeeze of lemon juice and drizzle of olive oil finishes the dish with brightness and flavor without filling you up with all that sauce.

Basic Vegetable Stir Fry

Everyone likes a good stir fry. It's not necessarily always made with authentic ingredients, but the technique couldn't get any easier. It's the same principle as a saute, which I know you've tried a couple of times if you're still reading after realizing what this blog is all about. This works better in a wok -- but I don't have one at the moment, so I just use a large non-stick skillet. This is a vegetarian recipe, but you can add meat with the same technique. I'll offer some variations at the end.

Basic Stir Fry
Serves 4-6 (can be doubled or tripled as much as necessary)
Prep Time: 30 minutes (it takes a while to chop all the vegetables)
Cook Time: 15 minutes

• 4 carrots, peeled and julienned
• 1 onion, julienned
• 1 lb shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps julienned
• 2 portabello mushrooms, gills and stems removed, caps thinly sliced
• 2 cups snow peas
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts 
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp soy sauce

Prepare all of the vegetables first. Keep in separate plates or bowls. Pre-heat the wok or skillet over high heat and add the oil. Allow to shimmer, then add the carrots. Toss for 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and onion. Toss another 5-8 minutes. Add the snow peas, garlic, pepper flakes, and soy sauce. Cook until heated through and the garlic is evenly distributed through the vegetables. Remove from heat and toss with the bean sprouts.

Variations

• Thinly sliced lean beef, such as sirloin or flank steak marinated in soy sauce and mirin for a few hours, add with the onion / mushrooms
• Slices or cubes of chicken thigh or breast meat that has been similarly marinated, or even fresh without a marinade, add before the carrots
• Peeled and de-veined shrimp, add after the mushrooms and onion and cook just a few minutes, depending on the size of the shrimp
• Thinly sliced lean pork, add before the carrots

A Kitchen Inventory

I am often asked, "What sort of gadgets do you have in your kitchen?" It's embarrassing in a way, because I do have a more equipment-heavy kitchen than many, but I use it all quite frequently. There's not much to introduce here, except that this is all of the stuff I could manage to inventory in my kitchen, save dishes and serving ware -- anything used to make meals. You should not feel compelled to purchase much of what you'll find here, but feel free to be in touch about sources or what the best use of this, that, or the other may be.
All my kitchen gadgets -- after the jump!

Some Foods I Do Not Enjoy

Regular readers will know that there are a few foods I just don't like. There are others that I just can't eat. Some are tolerable, but not palatable to me, and other I just can't put in my mouth without it being involuntarily removed by my gag reflex. Graphic, I know. Well here is my list... Feel free to post yours! This post was inspired by a similar video post on the Washington Post website by food critic Tom Sietsema. Please note that these are not foods that I've never tried -- I have eaten them all, numerous times -- and don't like them.

Food I Absolutely Cannot Enjoy

• Cilantro
• It tastes like foul dish soap to me. There is a genetic link that isn't worth explaining, but it's absolutely inedible for me. Tasting the soapy pungency of cilantro immediately ruins my palate.
• Bell Pepper
• The flavor really permeates everything it touches. It is so unpleasant to me that when fajitas come out at Mexican places with sizzling bell peppers crossing in front of me, I get just a tad ill to my stomach.
• Mayonnaise
• This is a flavor / texture combination problem. I know many who swear by mayonnaise and I know it's offensive to most of the food world that I don't enjoy it. I can't help it, though. A schmear of mayonnaise on a sandwich excludes the possibility that I will eat it, unless it's a professional or mannerly requirement. I concede this is the least rational of my aversions, but it's among the most inflexible.
• Licorice
• Anything with a strong anise flavor puckers my mouth -- and not in a good way. Not unlike my cilanto-phobia, this flavor problem isn't voluntary or whimsical. It's actually something I can barely even get down.

Food I Don't Love -- But Can Tolerate

• Cucumber
• It's pretty flavorless to me, but something about it just doesn't appeal to me. I can deal with it in salads and sushi, but I do love pickles!
• Avocado
• This one's growing on me. Again, good in sushi, but still haven't graduated to guac. The texture is just not for me quite yet.
• Canteloupe
• This is more of a texture problem than flavor problem, but I can eat it if I must, but I'd never order it.
• Liver
• It usually tastes metallic to me, but in a decent pate, I will forgive it. Again, can do, but typically don't order on a menu.

What are some of your aversions? I know everyone has them!

Reader Question - Cooking with Citrus

Lauren from Charlotte asks...

"Summer is here! I really love the taste of citrus and would like to cook with citrus more often. What are some ways to incorporate citrus into my dinner menu?"

Citrus certainly does brighten up a summer menu. You're in luck, though. The only limit to incorporating delicious, fresh citrus into your dinner is your imagination. Whether it's oranges, lemons, grapefruits, or limes, the juice and the zest packs a huge flavor punch and partners especially well with summery foods like salads and fish. There's no need to limit your citrus flavors to dinner, by the way. A ruby red grapefruit makes a fantastic breakfast and you can't beat a mandarin orange salad for a light lunch. Citrus also has the added benefit of being very good for you. Here's a great marinade recipe to get started, and I'll share a few technique ideas at the end.

Citrus Marinated Chicken

Serves 6

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 8 hours / all day / overnight

Cook Time: 30-40 minutes

• 1 chicken, cut into pieces
• You can also use boneless, skinless breasts or thighs, or even just the wings for an interesting twist on party wings
• Pork tenderloin also works very well here, as does swordfish or halibut. With fish, only marinate about 30 minutes, to avoid an unpleasant "ceviche" effect
• 1 tbsp lemon zest, about 1 large lemon
• juice of the same lemon
• 1 tbsp orange zest, about 1/2 a large orange
• juice of the same orange
• 1 cup sauvignon blanc or other fruit white wine
• if you do not cook with alcohol, use 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar with 3/4 cup of water
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 2 large, 4 medium sprigs oregano
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed but not chopped
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp black pepper

Whisk together the liquid ingredients and zest with the salt and pepper. Add the herbs and garlic. Pour into a gallon-sized plastic zipper bag and add the chicken, pork, or fish. Marinate for 8 hours for chicken and pork, or 30 minutes for swordfish or halibut. Do not use a delicate fish, although this can be adapted into a sauce for a more delicate fish. In such a case, omit the wine and herbs and mince the garlic. Add a touch of mustard and whisk vigorously with the olive oil, like in our vinaigrette recipes. Season with salt and pepper and pour over the cooked fish.


Some Technique Ideas

You can always rely on a good lemon vinaigrette, as noted in our salad dressing post, and incorporate lemon and lime zest into fish and poultry dishes. Everyone knows that lemon juice goes well with fish, but the zest brings a completely different and equally magnificent layer of citrus punch. Lamb also takes lemon zest well with garlic. A lemon compound butter (lemon zest mashed with a few tablespoons of butter, salt, pepper, and parsley) goes well on chicken, fish, or steak.
Don't forget dessert! Lemon bars, orange sherbet, lime sorbet... All delicious homemade or store-bought and packed with summer freshness. I hope this helps! Enjoy.

New Feature - Reader Question of the Week

By demand of a few regular readers, I have decided to establish a weekly column that will answer a reader-submitted question. While most of my posts are somehow related to the feedback I've received from my readers, this is a particularly reader-generated feature. I have a great question this week, so please submit your question(s) to andrew@goodtastedc.com! I look forward to hearing from you and answering your most confounding culinary queries!

My 100th Post! Dedicated to my Inspirations

I think there are two kinds of people in this world, those who consider food an experience to be relished and enjoyed, and those who consider food to be fuel. You don't have to guess that I fall into the first category. Food isn't just a passion for me. It's a way of life. I live to cook, share, and eat. I have had some really interesting experiences in my life not related to food, and I still always found myself planning lunch or dinner in my head. I've briefed governors and members of Congress from a note pad scrawled with recipe ideas. I've tuned out of meetings to plan my next dinner party. My shelves have as many cookbooks as they do law school textbooks (my formal training is more legal than culinary).

As I pondered writing my 100th post on In Good Taste (formerly known as All in Good Taste), I decided to honor my inspirations. That is to say, I wanted to answer the question, "Why am I so obsessed with food?"

We all have to eat. It's not optional. Along with death and taxes, we have to nourish our bodies. I was brought up to believe, if you've got to do something, you may as well do it as well as you know how. That's how I approach the kitchen. I want to make everything special. Even a simple grilled cheese needs to be something to write home about -- not because I'm a food snob (which, in many ways, I am), but because someone I love is going to eat it. After months and years of dinner parties and take-out pizza, I've determined that I feel the way I do about food because it's an intimate experience among friends.

My friends are my inspiration. I moved to Washington, DC nearly five years ago knowing very few people and with no family close by at all. I have built a family here. I learned how to cook from my late mother in the same way I learned how to love from her. You make sure the people you love know you love them -- and there's no better way to show someone you love them than to nourish their bodies with wonderful food. There is no more generous gift than a meal that you create out of affection for your guests. You know what they like and don't like and carefully craft everything according to what you know everyone will enjoy.

Because I love my friends so much, I want to cook well. While a certain part of the art of cooking is talent, I like to think that what drives me is how wonderful my friends are. Even when I'm cooking for people with whom I am not personally close, I like to do my best because of my belief that food is an experience to be savored. It's not like filling your car up with gas -- it's a much more involved relationship. The right ingredients and the right people make every recipe no fail. Even if you burn the bread or overcook the steak, you and your friends can still enjoy each others company and have a good laugh about it.

I raise my glass to the memory of my Mother, Denise, and the many memories made with my loving friends in Charleston, Washington, and throughout the world. I love you all. I hope you're very hungry, because I look forward to making many more memories with you in the years (and posts) to come. Keep cooking!