Chicken brining: honey/lemon/dill

The night before you plan to roast your chicken, spatchcock the carcass (cut along spine to remove it, press bird flat to crack breastbone).  Place spine & any giblets in medium saucepan, cover with water, add bay leaf, salt, and pepper to taste. Allow to simmer at least overnight.

Put larger portion of bird in 1-gallon zipper bag or large bowl in refrigerator.

For each bird, you will need at least 3 quarts brine solution.

Brining a Chicken: Honey/Lemon/Dill brine

In a 5-quart (or larger) stock pot, combine:

Ingredients:
2 quarts hot water
3/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoons dill weed
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon minced or crushed garlic
Zest from 1or 2 lemons
Juice from 3 medium lemons (about 1/3 cup)

Directions: 

Over high flame, bring to full boil for one minute, remove from flame, and slowly add in 2 quarts cold water.

When the solution has cooled to about 100°F, pour it over bird carcass. Seal bag or cover bowl. Allow to chill at least 8 hours (overnight is best).

**now is a good time to also roast potatoes and/or other root vegetables, tossed in a nice dill butter (1 1/2 teaspoons dill weed, 2 Tablespoons melted butter, 1/4 cup canola oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and/or granulated chicken bouillon) beneath your chicken where it can catch those tasty,  tasty drippings**

To roast:

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Take chicken out of brine, discard brine, dry the carcass with clean towel (paper ones are fine). Spread chicken across rack for roasting pan (above those 'taters, if you have them).

Place in oven, allow to cook 20 minutes. For extra-crispy skin, you may wish to brush it with a little extra light olive oil at this time. Lower oven temperature to 400°F for 20-30 minutes more, then turn off heat in oven. Remove chicken from oven to cutting board, cover with foil tent, and allow to stand 10 minutes. If you're cooking potatoes, too, leave them in the oven to continue cooking a few minutes longer as the temp slowly drops.

Carve bird. Serve with potatoes and whatever else your heart desires.

Baked Corn Fritters

 It's not so much a fritter as it is an eggy mini-muffin, but labels are beside the point. These are a great way to serve veggies…

Baked Corn Fritters

Ingredients:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons corn starch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Pepper to taste
2 cups fresh corn (or frozen, thawed)
1/4 cup red bell pepper, finely diced
2- 3 Tablespoons minced onion
3 eggs
1/2 cup reduced fat milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Lightly grease the wells of three gem muffin pans (12 muffins each)

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, corn starch, baking powder, salt,& pepper)

Stir in corn, peppers, and onions, coat completely with flour mixture.

In separate small bowl, thoroughly whisk together eggs and milk.

Pour over flour and corn mixture. Stir until just mixed.

Spoon into gem pans to not-quite full (I used the 1/8 cup cookie dough scoop).

Bake 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

Variations:
Add 2-3 ounces crumbled smoked salmon. Bake as directed.

Sprinkle top with sharp cheese (bake until bubbling and beginning to brown).

Rome Wasn't Baked in a Day

Asteroidae is now a member of a club I was in, roughly forty years ago: high school Latin Club (okay, forty years and more). In the same way as with every other closed group, this membership means very little to outsiders, but opens up all manner of conversations for those within the rarefied circles.

This season, as in so many others, the conversation rolled around to food (I know. You are shocked). In my years, the closest we ever came to understanding the foods of ancient Rome was to take a field trip to The Big City, during which we would dine at a Greek restaurant, because... Mediterranean is close enough?

But these days, there is a free electronic edition of Apicius' Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome. ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002RKRT7S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_mJ-1AbQDTYYRW ). There are also several cookbooks built around it, and countless online resources which offer material in that same line of study. So, when Asteroidae asked if I would be interested in helping her prepare a main dish for a Latin Club dinner, I leapt at the chance. We did a little brainstorming, based on what we'd read, and last night, we put our studies to good use.

We can't prove that the dish served to her fellow club members was exactly as served to a nice, merchant class citizens, but the ingredients were there for that level of society, the preparation follows logical paths, and this particular dish has been served in more or less this fashion throughout the Mediterranean for centuries, in varying proportions.

The benefit is, you can prepare it for stovetop, oven, slow-cooker, or even pressure cooker. And it has a very short list of ingredients: chicken, leeks, olives, capers, and lemons.

For us, the hardest part was cleaning out the grit from the leeks. Physically, skinning and cutting apart a chicken was demanding, too. But it was all fun.

And, I am told, it was a hit with the Latin Club.

Roma amat poultry

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (approx 4 or 5 lbs)
1 or 2 leeks (2nd is mostly ornamental)
6 to 8 ounce can ripe olives, with brine
6 ounce jar Mediterranean olives (or your favorite blend), with brine
4 ounce jar capers, drained and rinsed thoroughly
2 whole lemons, washed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325° F.

Clean one leek by removing any tough outer leaves, trim away roots, cut remaining portion in quarters lengthwise, then in thirds (or smaller) crosswise. Rinse sections thoroughly to remove any sand and grit from among the leaves, then lay them in the bottom of your pan.

If you have a whole chicken, cut into serving portions, removing spine (tail, too!), skin, and fat. Place pieces of chicken in a single layer on top of leek bed.

After washing lemons, slice into wedges, remove seeds, and place in a medium mixing bowl. Add olives (in brine) and rinsed capers. Mix well, then pour over chicken.

Optional: Clean second leek carefully, cut away root and tough tops of leaves. You can get fancy and decorate the top with this, or simply set it across the top to brown, for added flavor.

Place in oven, roast for 90 minutes, or until the largest thigh reaches core temperature of 165° F.

Allow to stand at least 5 minutes before serving.

Peach Explosion Cake

During my adjustment phase, after discovering my "little problem" I've learned the virtue of Aldi's gluten-free selection of baking goods.

Let's face it, I love their mixes.

But a simple cake, made straight from the mix, sometimes just isn't enough when you're sharing with friends. In that case, it makes a nice base for something else.

Like peaches, for example.

Lots of peaches. Lots of peachy peachy flavor. And this particular experiment didn't require that I hunt down a crate of out-of-season, outrageously expensive precious gems.

It just so happened, I had a superabundance of dried peaches on hand (Amazon has found my biggest weakness, there. I like dried fruits, I buy them bulk, by subscription. I can't help myself). I also had a can or two of cling peaches "in light syrup." 

Ingredients:

1 cup dried peaches, diced

1 (16-ounce) can (diced or chunk) peaches in light syrup

1 cup boiling water

3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided

 

1 box yellow cake mix, plus as many eggs as the mix calls for (Aldi's GF asks for 2)

1/2 cup oil (I prefer canola for this recipe)

3 Tablespoons buttermilk powder

peach syrup water (reserved from above)

 Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine water and diced dried peaches. Allow to stand at least one hour, until cool. Add canned peaches, syrup and all. Stir well. 

Drain syrup water from peaches, and DO NOT THROW IT AWAY. You will need this. 

Preheat oven according to cake mix instructions. 

In a small bowl, whisk together cinnamon and sugar.

Grease bottom and sides of a 9"x14"x2" cake pan. Sprinkle about half of the cinnamon sugar into the pan, shaking to create a thin layer across bottom and along sides. (Yes, sugar, not flour!)

Mix remaining cinnamon sugar into the peaches, coating completely.

Consult your cake mix box for proportions of egg, oil, and liquid, substituting the peach syrup blend for the liquid called for on the box (Aldi's GF yellow cake mix asks for 3/4 cup milk). In a medium bowl, mix oil, peach syrup, and eggs until completely blended. In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix and buttermilk powder. Create a well in the center, add in the liquids, and beat according to the  instructions on the box of mix.

When your batter is done, scatter 1/2 of the sugared peaches in the bottom of the pan, then gently fold the remaining peaches into the cake batter. Pour into pan, place on rack in middle of oven, bake at least 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pan, serve warm (plain, or with your favorite vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or even drizzled with a little sweet cream).