Kick Away Winter Blues with Bright and Sunny Braised Chicken with Charred Orange Sections

It's cold and, depending on where you live, the rain or snow has dampened your spirit. A trip to a sunny beach would cheer you up. But the solution to winter blues might just be in your kitchen.

Easy to make and delicious, braised meats are always a quick way to create a comfort meal. To my usual braised chicken thigh/legs stew with vegetables, I kicked up the flavors several notches by adding charred orange sections and Bibigo's Korean Gochujang (hot & sweet sauce). Acid, heat and sweetness combined to the savory dark meat chicken on the bone made a dish that made me warm and happy!

To the broth I added onions and parsley. The next time I make the dish, I'm preparing in for my wife who is pescatarian so instead of chicken, I'll use thin sliced, charred extra firm tofu as the protein and I will add more vegetables. I'm thinking, shiitake mushrooms (sliced), minced garlic clove and broccolini.

To soak up the sauce, I served Japanese steamed white rice on the side.

The recipe is written for one, so you can easily scale up the dish for as many as you want. You can also happily make more than you need for one meal because you will be rewarded with a lunch a day or two later.

That's what I did for my lunch today, 

Left-Overs Make a Great Lunch

Consider this a second recipe from the same starting point. The next day, I removed the thigh bone from the left over meat, covered it with water, added the orange sections from the night before and simmered for 20 minutes. Strained, I had a cup of deliciously savory broth. After sautéing fresh vegetables (shiitakes, onions and broccolini) in olive oil seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, I added the left over chicken and picked all the meat off the bone and simmered until the liquid was reduced by half. Instead of steamed rice, I added cooked Borella spaghetti and a pat of sweet butter. Stirred together in the broth which I furthered reduced by half on a medium low heat. I sprinkled grated Parmesan cheese and sat down to enjoy a delicious lunch. A second day's gift from the previous night's feast.

I'm hoping you will make the entree and then gift yourself the bonus dish I just described for lunch or dinner. You'll love the second meal and you'll enjoy how easy it is to make affordable cooking. 

Braised Chicken with Charred Orange Sections

To char, I use a Matfer Bourgeat carbon steel pan. The pans tolerate high heat and are very easy to clean. 

Gochujang is available in Korean markets and some Asian sections of a supermarket or online. You will find that Gochujang deepens the flavor of stews and sauces.

For the original braise, you can add the vegetables (above) I used to make the next-day lunch (shiitakes and broccolini) as well as roughly chopped green cabbage, baby bok choy, spinach or carrots (peeled).

Serves 1

Time to prepare: 15 minutes

Time to cook: 60 minutes

Ingredients

1 large chicken thigh on the bone with skin, washed and pat dried

1 medium sized orange, washed, all discolored areas of the skin and the center part pith removed, cut into sections

1/2 cup roughly chopped onion, washed and peeled

1/2 cup finely chopped Italian parsley leaves (no stems) or curly kale (stem removed), washed

1 cup broth, preferably homemade chicken stock or water

2 tablespoons Gochujang

1 tablespoon sweet butter

2 cups cooked Japanese rice

Sea salt to taste

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

(Optional) 1 garlic clove, washed, peeled and finely chopped.

Directions

Heat the carbon steel pan on a medium-low flame. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the pan, being careful that the oil doesn't smoke. 

Add the chicken thigh skin side down and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. When the skin is browned, use tongs to turn over and brown the flesh side, then remove and set aside.

Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and char the orange sections, flesh and skin. Remove when browned.

Add vegetables, stir fry until wilted and browned. 

Return charred chicken thigh and orange sections to the pan with the vegetables and garlic (optional).

Add chicken stock or water and Gochujang, stir well, cover and simmer.

Cook 10 minutes. 

Remove the lid and add the sweet butter. Continue to simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.

Taste the sauce and adjust to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Remove the chicken, vegetables, orange sections and the sauce, plate and serve with freshly steamed Japanese rice or a cooked pasta of your choice.

As an option, a friend tells me he tried this recipe but at the end, he used an immersion blender to combine the sauce with the orange sections. I think that sounds very good. I'll try it next time!

Thanksgiving Appetizers Make a Statement - Deviled Eggs with Crab and Charred Corn Kernels

Say "Thanksgiving" and of course "turkey and sides" pop into your mind. But for me, when I think of the Thanksgiving feast, my brain says "appetizers." Turkey is great. Corn bread stuffing, roasted sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce are all great, but Thanksgiving is the time for lots of great appetizers.

To begin the feast, appetizers set the stage, whet the appetite and get the party going.

I'll make prosciutto with Hami melon, home-cured salmon on sourdough crisps with cream cheese, home-made tapenade with lavash crisps, hearts of palm rounds topped with a dab of mayo & a splash of Tabasco, an assortment of soft and hard cheeses, Castelvetrano Green olives and the pièce de résistance, deviled eggs with charred corn and Dungeness crab.

Easy to make, visually fun and delicious, deviled eggs get everyone talking because I add crab (or lobster or shrimp) which isn't what most people think of when they say "deviled eggs."

My mom introduced me to deviled eggs when she would take my sister and me to the beach. I didn't like the ocean because the cold dark water in Santa Monica Bay wasn't and still isn't very nice. But I loved the picnic lunch she would pack. Fried chicken, fresh fruit salad and deviled eggs. Hers were classic with the egg yolks mixed with Best Foods mayo, salt, pepper and a bit of paprika. Easy-peasy.

My version borrows the simplicity of her approach but adds fun with the crunch of charred corn and the luxuriousness of shell fish. I love crab if I can find it fresh, otherwise, shrimp is very available and lobster the most extravagant but all are delicious in their own way.

The filling can be made a day ahead and kept in a refrigerated piping or pastry bag. The easiest kind of bag to use is made out of plastic or choose a reusable cloth pastry bag.

DEVILED EGGS PERFECT FOR PICNICS AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS

Serves 4

Time to cook 20 minutes

Time to cool 5 minutes in ice cold water

Time to prepare 15 minutes

Total time 40 minutes

Ingredients

4 large or extra large eggs

1/2 cup cooked crab, shrimp or lobster, washed, finely chopped

1/4 cup mayo, preferably Best Foods 

1/4 cup corn kernels, off the cob, charred, cooled

Sea salt to taste and to salt the water

1/4 teaspoon dried dill (optional)

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pinch of finely ground pepper flakes, Italian or Korean

Directions

Place 4 eggs in a quart saucepan with enough water to cover the eggs. Add 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt to the water and bring to a gentle boil over a medium flame. After 20 minutes, transfer the hardboiled eggs to fresh, cold water. Add ice cubes to cool the water. Allow to rest 15 minutes, Remove from the water and peel. Discard the shells, wash and pat dry the eggs being careful to remove all bits of the shell.

Using a sharp pairing knife, slice each egg the long way so you have 4 quarters. Carefully remove the yolks so the white part doesn't tear. Place the yolks int a bowl and the white "triangles" into a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Using a folk, break up the cooked egg yolks.

Place a frying pan on the stove top. Turn the heat up to medium high. When hot, add the corn kernels. Toss gently until the kernels are toasted/browned. Remove and cool.

In the bowl with the egg yolks, add the toasted corn kernels, season with sea salt, dry dill (optional), freshly ground black pepper and pepper flakes. Using the folk, toss well to combine.

For the shellfish, if available, use raw crab, shrimp or lobster in the shell. Boil a pot of water large enough to hold the shellfish. Cook the crab or lobster 5 minutes. If using shrimp in the shell, boil in water 2 minutes. Remove and cool in cold water. Set aside to cool. Remove the shell and reserve 1/2 cup of cooked meat.

If using already cooked shellfish, all you need do is remove the shells and rinse to get rid of any packaging flavors.

Being careful to remove all shells, roughly chop a 1/2 cup of shellfish meat. Reserve the remainder to make soups, salads or cocktail appetizers.

Add 1/2 cup of shellfish meat to the seasoned egg yolks and stir well to mix.

Add mayo and combine well. Taste and if needed adjust the seasonings or add more mayo. The mixture should be creamy.

Spoon the filling into the pastry bag and reserve until just before serving.

To serve.

Cut 1" off the end of the plastic pastry bag. Line up the egg white quarters on a plate and squeeze out enough filling to make an attractive mound in the middle of each egg white quarter. Serve cold with ice cold beer or a crisp white wine.

Make Lox Your Way In Your Kitchen

I love lox. Who doesn't like lox and bagels for breakfast? Served with a salad and you have a delicious, healthy lunch or light dinner.

Sold in vacuum packed packages, lox is readily available in the refrigerated section of most markets or sold hand-sliced paper thin at specialty deli counters, like New York City's Zabar's or Russ and Daughters.

 

Lox is an easy to enjoy dish. Thin sliced, on a bagel or a slice of toast, with cream cheese, capers, tomato and red onions, lox is a delicious treat in the morning or any time  of the day.

Lox is also surprisingly easy to prepare at home at a fraction of the cost.

The technique I have developed works for any kind of salmon, but my preference is to always use wild caught salmon, not farmed because the flesh has better texture and flavor. 

If you are lucky enough to return from a fishing trip with pounds of salmon that were frozen on board the ship, thaw a piece to make delicious cured salmon.

You can use any part of the salmon, the area close to the tail or the fat mid-section. To ensure even curing, cut the salmon so that the filet is the same thickness through out. If you use the fat mid-section, cut off the thin part of the filet. You can use the thicker part of the mid-section for a sautéed salmon dish and use the thin part to make cured salmon. Or, visa versa

The thicker the filet you use, the longer you will want to leave the salmon to cure. A thin part will cure in a week. The thick part will cure in two-three weeks.

When buying salmon, look for flesh that has a good color. The flesh should be smooth, without fissures. 

Your lox is only as good as the ingredients, so use salt that has not been treated with chemicals. I prefer Diamond Cyrstal Kosher Salt.

Home Cured Lox

You can use any part of the salmon, the area close to the tail or the fat mid-section. To ensure even curing, cut the salmon so that the filet is the same thickness through out. 

If you use the fat mid-section, cut off the thin part of the filet. You can use the thicker part of the mid-section for a sautéed salmon dish and use the thin part to make cured salmon. Or visa versa.

The thicker the filet you use, the longer you will want to cure the salmon. A thin filet will cure in a week. The thicker part will cure in two-three weeks.

Add flavor with dried aromatics. Dill works very well. If you enjoy a bit of heat, use dried pepper flakes or Korean pepper powder.

Ingredients

1/2 pound fresh salmon, washed and pat dried

1/2 cup Diamond Cyrstal Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon dried aromatic like dill weed

1/4 teaspoon dried pepper powder (optional)

Directions

Use tweezers to remove all the pin bones, those very thin bones that are located in the middle of the filet. Discard.

Many people do not like the darker flesh close to the skin. Using a sharp knife, cut the dark parts of the flesh and the skin. Remove and reserve to thinly slice and deep fry for a delicious treat to serve on steamed rice.

On the kitchen counter, lay a sheet of plastic wrap 5" larger than the filet. Sprinkle the kosher salt onto the plastic wrap. Place the deboned filet on top of the kosher salt. Add the dry aromatic flavoring and (optional) pepper powder on top of the filet. Sprinkle the remaining kosher salt on the filet.

Pull up the edges of the plastic wrap and seal the filet. If needed, use a second sheet of plastic wrap so that the filet is completely sealed in the plastic wrap.

Place the sealed and seasoned filet into an air tight container that is larger than the filet so it can lie flat.

Refrigerate.

Every 24 hours, turn the container over so the filet cures evenly.

You will notice that very quickly the dry seasonings become a slurry as the salt pulls moisture out of the salmon. 

Continue turning over the container every 24 hours. One week for thin filets. Two weeks for thicker filets. As you perfect your technique, you may choose to cure the salmon filets longer, depending on your taste.

The filets will not spoil for up to a month.

Serving

Remove the filet from the container and the plastic wrap. Rinse thoroughly in clean, running water. Pat dry. Use a sharp knife and cut the filet into paper thin slices. You don't need to eat all of the filet at one time. Use as much as you want. Rewrap in plastic wrap any unused portions, place into an air tight container and refrigerate for up to a month. 

To make a bento-box style treat, cut bread into 2" square pieces, toast and add cream cheese, capers and a slice of your homemade lox. If desired, sprinkle with sea salt and top with a thin slice of tomato.

Ready, Set, Go: For 4h of July, Go Sweet and Easy-to-Make Beet Salad

 The 4th is a time to celebrate our families and communities, to embrace what is good about our lives and to celebrate our hope for the future. We will join friends for a BBQ and a drone-light show. Definitely no fireworks in Pacific Palisades where we suffered so bitterly in the January 7th blaze that took so many of our homes.

That was then, July 4th is now. We are moving forward and rebuilding what was good in our lives. Our contribution will be chicken wings, potato salad and easy-to-make beets.

I prefer very large beets that are sweeter than the small ones preferred in restaurants. If you find beets with their greens on, definitely cut off the leaves and stems and sauté them in olive oil with onions and seasoned with sea salt and black pepper. Sautéed beet greens are delicious as a side dish to go with BBQ steaks and chicken and also tossed with pasta.

ROASTED BEETS

Serves 4

Time to prep: 1 minute

Time to cook: 60-90 minutes (depending on the size of the beets and your oven)

Time to prepare: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 large beet or 2 medium sized beets, washed, stems and leaves removed and sautéed as described above

Olive oil, to taste

Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 500 F.

Place beet or beets on a wire rack on a cookie sheet or piece of aluminum foil.

Place in oven and roast until a pairing knife passes easily into the beet

Cool and use a pairing knife to remove the blacked skin and ends.

Serve sliced, julienned or diced as a salad seasoned with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.

Options

Add crumbled feta cheese and toss to mix well.

Add diced roasted beets to green salad with tomatoes, celery leaves, arugula and olives. Season with olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Add pomegranate seeds and season with olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Ready, Set, Prep: Careful Planning Makes Thanksgiving Day a Lot More Fun

Thanksgiving was my mother's favorite holiday. She loved the food, the gathering of friends and family and the positive outlook of a holiday that sought to bring everyone to the table. 

For many years, my wife and I enjoyed having a gathering at our house as a time to celebrate what is good about our life, to see family and friends we don't see often enough and to have a really great feast. This will be the third year that our older son Franklin and his fiance Lauren will host Thanksgiving. We are deeply appreciative of them for taking on the holidays very large effort.

If you are hosting the meal at your house, even before the vegetables are prepped and the turkey is brined, there is a lot you can do that will make the holiday go more smoothly.

Whether you are hosting a dinner of six or twenty-six, with so many dishes part of the celebration, planning is essential. And that means being prepared. Planning ahead ultimately means less stress and more fun on Thanksgiving. 

The First Step - Make a List 

Step 1 - as soon as you decide who will host, invite the guests so you have a head-count and ask who will bring a favorite Thanksgiving dish

Step 2 - for the dishes you will prepare, pull out the recipes you want to make, make an ingredients list and a preparation time line (some dishes like pickles can be made the week before, some like an apple pie and the turkey are best made on Thanksgiving)

Step 3 - clean the house

Step 4 - borrow extra chairs

Step 5 - pull the extra table out of the garage

Step 6 - shop

Step 7 - cook

Step 8 - on Thanksgiving, share the feast and enjoy the food

Step 9 - clean up

Step 10 - lie down

The recipes we use are a mix of the ones we've perfected over the years and a couple that are new to us. We want to have the favorites and also to shake it up a bit, to have some surprises.

Among the favorites are kosher dill pickles, corn bread stuffing with Italian sausage and shiitake mushrooms, cranberry sauce with nuts and orange juice, shiitake mushroom-turkey liver pate and chocolate banana walnut cake.

I'll make the Moroccan style pickles that I learned to make on a trip to Marrakech. The kosher dill pickles only need 2-3 days to cure, so I'll make those on Monday of Thanksgiving week.

10 Delicious Holiday Recipes

To help prepare for Thanksgiving, I published an e-cookbook 10 Delicious Holiday Recipes.

The ten recipes are easy-to-make, festive and fun. With a recipe for roasting a perfect Thanksgiving turkey with stuffing.

Using the Kindle App you can read the recipes on any smart phone, computer or tablet. The app is free and downloads easily.

I hope you'll order my book and let me help you plan your holiday meals with recipes for special cocktails, appetizers, salads, sides, entrees and really delicious desserts.

The Freshest, Coolest Salad You Can Make for Summer or Anytime

Our Fourth of July pot-luck picnic was lovely. Friends gathered in a park opposite the local high school to share a meal and then watch fireworks. Everyone made delicious dishes. One friend liked a chopped salad I made and asked for the recipe. 

Adapted from a classic Persian salad, usually made with roughly chopped tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, Italian parsley and (often) feta, mine is made with a few more ingredients and the bits are cut smaller, so the flavors combine more easily. For a vegan version, omit the feta.

The salad goes well with roast chicken, grilled sausages, charred steak or sautéed tofu or by itself with avocado slices.

For the tomatoes, I prefer cherry tomatoes, but any kind of ripe tomato will do. Only use Persian cucumbers ("cukes"). To build out the flavors and textures, I add cooked corn kernels, chopped green olives and ripe avocado. For the dressing, I prefer Japanese rice wine because it is less harsh than other salad vinegars mixed with extra virgin olive oil.

For seasoning, I keep it simple. Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. For a hint of heat, I sprinkle a small amount of Korean pepper flakes but Italian pepper flakes will be as good. And, with a nod to the time I spent in Morocco where I learned to make pickles, I sprinkle on a few flakes of dried oregano.

Chopped Cherry Tomato-Italian Parsley-Persian Cukes and Feta Salad

Serves 4

Time to prepare: 10 minutes

Ingredients 

1 large basket cherry tomatoes, washed, dried, stems removed, quartered

2 medium sized Persian cukes, washed, peeled, cut into small pieces, the size of the quartered cherry tomatoes 

1 bunch Italian parsley, washed, dried, leaves only finely chopped, stems discarded or saved to make vegetable stock

1-2 tablespoons feta, crumbled, preferably Bulgarian which is creamy and less salty than other fetas

1/4 cup olives, pitted, roughly chopped

1/4 cup charred or boiled corn kernels

1/2-1 ripe avocado, washed, peeled, pit removed, cut into pieces the size of the quartered cherry tomatoes (if serving with slices of avocado, omit in the salad)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (possibly more, to taste)

1 teaspoon Japanese rice vinegar (not seasoned)

Sea salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

Korean pepper powder or Italian pepper flakes, sprinkled, to taste

Directions

Combine all of the above in a salad bowl. Toss well to coat ingredients with the dressing and seasonings. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve cold with a protein or sliced avocado and ice-cold beers or glasses of chilled white wine.

Pickle Me Up! It's Thanksgiving!

Pickles are delicious anytime of the year. For Thanksgiving they are especially good. Their crunch and acidity counterbalances the deliciousness of gravy, mashed potatoes and roast turkey. 

                            

For years I used cukes, the choice of traditional kosher pickles. One year when cukes weren't available, I "made due" with Persian cucumbers. Longer, more dense and thiner than Jewish style cukes, I discovered that Persian cucumbers kept their crispy crunch longer than the cukes I was used to. Ever since then, I use Persian cucumbers when I make kosher pickles.

In the 1920s, my great-grandfather made pickles on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Grandmother Caroline used to tell stories about working in their little grocery store as a child. When customers would want pickles, she would hop off the counter and go out front to the pickle barrels and fish out the ones they wanted.

I never knew my great-grandparents. I never ate their pickles, but I must have brine in my veins because wherever I shop or travel, I am always on the look out for pickles.

Lower East Side Kosher Dill Pickles

When making kosher dill pickles keep in mind four very important steps:

1. Select Persian cakes or pickling cukes, not salad cucumbers, and pick ones without blemishes or soft spots.

2. Use only Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt with no additives. Taste the brine to confirm you like the balance of salt-to-vinegar. The flavor of the brine will approximate the flavor of the pickles.

3. Once the cukes are in the brine, they must be kept submerged in a refrigerated, sealed container.

4. Store the pickles submerged in the brine, seal and keep in a refrigerator where they will last for several weeks.

Ingredients

8 cups water

1-2 tablespoons kosher salt (to taste) only use Diamond Crystal Kosher 

1 cup white wine vinegar or yellow Iranian vinegar (my preference)

5 dried bay leaves

10 whole black peppercorns

10 whole mustard seeds

¼ teaspoon pepper flakes or 1 dried Sichuan pepper, split open

5 sprigs of fresh dill

5 pounds cakes or small pickling cucumbers, washed, stems removed, dried

1 medium sized carrot, ends removed, peeled, washed, cut into thin rounds

Directions

1. In a sterilized glass jar(s) or plastic container(s), add the salt, water and vinegar and stir to dissolve. 

2. Dip your finger in the brine, taste and adjust the flavor with a bit more salt, water or vinegar.

3. Place the aromatics in the bottom of the container. Arrange the cucumbers and carrot rounds inside.

4. Pour in the brine being careful to cover the cucumbers. Reserve 1 cup of brine.

5. To keep the cucumbers submerged in the brine, cut out the bottom of a plastic cup the size of the opening and lay on top of the cucumbers.

6. The cucumbers have become pickles within 24 hours and will keep refrigerated for several weeks. If you like your pickles crisp, enjoy them within a week of pickling.