Spring Chicken!

I like the seasons to dictate my menus, using fruits and vegetables when at their peak. And rhubarb (from the latter category) is rarin’ to go right now. This recipe tempers the bitterness of rhubarb with a few tablespoons of honey. The resulting vibrant dish is super flavorful, and as easy as it is quick, leaving you more time to leave the kitchen and enjoy the spring!

If you like it sweet, think about adding some hulled, sliced strawberries to the mix in Step 4, when you toss the rhubarb and onions once about halfway through. And although either cilantro or mint is suggested as a garnish, I am team mint all the way. Lots of it.

Rhubarb Chicken with Rhubarb & Red Onion
Adapted from Melissa Clark, NYT Cooking

Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1¾ pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks (see Tip)
1teaspoon ground coriander
1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal), plus more as needed
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
1large red onion, cut into ½-inch-thick wedges
5 thyme sprigs
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
8 ounces rhubarb stalks, sliced into ½-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
3 tablespoons honey, plus more to taste
½ cup cilantro or mint leaves and tender stems, torn 

Preparation
Step 1
Heat oven to 425 degrees and line sheet pan with parchment paper. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season all over with coriander, 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

Step 2
Place onion wedges on the prepared sheet pan and lightly season with more salt and pepper. Add chicken and thyme sprigs to the pan and drizzle 3 tablespoons oil over everything. Toss until well coated, then spread chicken and onions in a single layer. Roast for 10 minutes.

Step 3
While the chicken is in the oven, combine rhubarb and 3 tablespoons honey in a medium bowl. Lightly drizzle with oil, add a pinch of salt and pepper, and toss until rhubarb is well coated.

Step 4
Remove chicken from oven and carefully spoon rhubarb onto the hot pan around the onions and chicken. Continue roasting until the chicken is cooked through, and the rhubarb and onion are tender and caramelized, 25 to 35 minutes longer, tossing the rhubarb and onions (not the chicken) once about halfway through.

Step 5
Stir the rhubarb and onions very well, making sure to incorporate all the browned bits and chicken juices from the bottom of the pan (this is the tastiest part). Then sample a piece of rhubarb. If it’s very tart, drizzle with a little more honey, tossing well. Serve chicken with rhubarb-onion mixture garnished with herbs.

Tip
You can substitute bone-in, skin on-breasts for the thighs and drumsticks. Just start checking 10 minutes earlier since white meat takes less time to cook than dark meat.

“I loved rhubarb... Not everyone was a fan, especially of the bitter, mushy, overcooked version. Yet sometimes a little bitterness could bring out the best in other flavors. Bitter rhubarb made sunny-day strawberry face the realities of life―and taste all the better for it.” ― Judith Fertig, The Memory of Lemon

Photo Credit: David Malosh for The New York Times

BOOK/A TABLE - Baked Lemon Pudding with Blueberry Jam

 

I love it when an author gives a character a memorable “monkey”—a truly great trait or accessory that provides them with an identifiable silhouette and makes an imprint on our hearts: Miss Havisham’s rotted wedding dress, Philip Carey’s club foot in Of Human Bondage, Cyrano’s protuberant proboscis, Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter!

When it came to making this Baked Lemon Pudding with Blueberry Jam I became giddy as a kid, remembering when I was one, picking blueberries with my mother along bristling side roads in Maine. And thanks to Roald Dahl, blueberries will also always remind me of Violet Beauregard, that little brat from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory whose inability to stop chewing gum yielded disastrous results. Here’s what happened to her after eating a stick of Wonka’s gum that wasn’t quite ready yet...

“But there was no saving her now. Her body was swelling up and changing shape at such a rate that within a minute it had turned into nothing less than an enormous round blue ball—a gigantic blueberry, in fact—and all that remained of Violet Beauregard herself was a tiny pair of legs and a tiny pair of arms sticking out of the great round fruit and a little head on top.”

Since the first day of Spring is a week away, I’m pretty sure you should make this pudding in celebration—but it’s not exactly a pudding. Perhaps imagine instead a meet-cute where tart lemon curdy custard and an airy soufflé topping have a fling with blueberry jam. 

Whatever you want to call it, start cracking those eggs and fling yourself into Spring with this luscious dessert. I think it’s best served chilled!

P.S. I would be remiss not to mention Robert McCloskey and Blueberries for Sal, of course.

Baked Lemon Pudding with Blueberry Jam
By Melissa Clark
6 servings

Ingredients
2 tablespoons/28 grams unsalted butter, softened
1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
2 large lemons, zested and juiced (about 2 tablespoons zest and ½ cup juice)
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
3 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
¼ cup/31 grams all-purpose flour
1 cup/236 milliliters whole milk
⅓ cup/about 120 grams blueberry jam
Powdered sugar, for serving

Preparation
Step 1: Heat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center.

Step 2: In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, lemon zest and salt, using a wooden spoon to mash together. Mix in egg yolks, then whisk in flour. Whisk in lemon juice and milk.

Step 3: In a small bowl, stir blueberry jam to loosen.

 
Step 4: Using a whisk, electric mixer or electric beaters, beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold into batter.

Step 5: Pour batter into a glass pie dish or shallow gratin dish and use a spoon to top with small dollops of jam. Bake until golden brown on top and just set (a wiggle in the center is fine), about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then use a spoon to serve warm or room temperature with a dusting of powdered sugar.

BOOK/A TABLE - A Pumpkin Party!

“But it was rather remarkable, seeing so many pumpkins or vegetable marrows, whatever they are. They were everywhere, in the shops, and in people’s houses, with candles or nightlights inside them or strung up.”

So says Ariadne Oliver, ranting in Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party. But good gourd! She didn’t say a word about all the many other ways to feature pumpkins—such as chicken pot pie or cheese fondue in a pumpkin, outrageous cheesey-choco-pumpkin bars, pumpkin pie of course, or its modest sister—pumpkin bread.

The recipe I found in the New York Times turned out to be a pretty good roadmap, but not quite the fall flavor-burst I’d hoped for. Pumpkin on its own tends to be bland and the flavor really needs to be teased out, so next time I would double up on the cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger before digging in. Don’t over bake, but do slather with apple or pumpkin butter. 

Pumpkin Bread With Brown Butter and Bourbon
By Melissa Clark
Yield:Two 8-inch loaves

Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
¼ cup bourbon (or use water or apple cider)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 ¾ cups pumpkin purée, homemade or canned (1 15-ounce can)
4 eggs
½ cup olive or other oil (such as canola)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1¾ cups light brown sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cardamom

Preparation
Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees and arrange a rack in the center. Grease the insides of two 8-inch loaf pans with butter or line with parchment paper.

Step 2
In a large skillet, melt ½ cup (1 stick) butter over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook until the frothy white milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan and turn a fragrant, nutty brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Brown butter can burn quickly, so watch it carefully. (A tip: You will know your brown butter is almost ready when the frantic sound of bubbling begins to die down, so use your ears as well as your eyes and nose.)

Step 3
In a glass liquid measuring cup, combine bourbon and vanilla. Add water until you reach the ⅔ cup mark. In a large bowl, whisk together bourbon mixture, pumpkin purée, eggs and oil. With a spatula, scrape all the brown butter from the skillet into the pumpkin mixture and stir to combine.

Step 4
In another large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Step 5
Divide batter between the two greased loaf pans. Place them on a rimmed baking sheet and transfer to oven. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow bread to cool completely before removing from pan.

Keep the party going! Karen Pierce features Devilled Eggs also inspired by Hallowe’en Party in her fabulous cookbook Recipes for Murder—66 Dishes that Celebrate the Mysteries of Agatha Christie. Read about another Agatha Christie celebration here. 

                                                       

I hope you enjoy some of these fanciful, seasonally spot-on dishes—and if your guests ask who made them, you can certainly take satisfaction in telling them YOU dunnit. 

Happy Hallowe’en!

A Plucky Pot Pie

This isn't your typical chicken pot pie. As scribed by Melissa Clark with In Praise of Pale Food, this White Chicken Pot Pie diversion is just great and had my guests swooning. The recipe may be found here and below, with my comments in italics. I made a few adjustments over and about, adding in canned potatoes, an assortment of wild mushrooms and substituting canned green beans for suggested frozen peas. Just add these before the dish goes into the oven to bake so nothing is overly mushy.

As any adventure begins when trying out an unfamiliar recipe or creating something new, I was simultaneously unsure and curious how this biscuit topping would turn out as we left the traditional pastry crust behind. In a word: MARVELOUSLY! Added in dollops, the biscuits cooked perfectly in the oven while the filling underneath bubbled merrily.

I was only serving three of us, so this potpie with a simple salad was dinner, lunch the next day and also leftovers. Do enjoy!

White Chicken Potpie

TOTAL TIME

1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 1/2 pounds) Nope, an already cooked rotisserie chicken

Kosher salt

Black pepper

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup white wine

2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

1 bay leaf

1 thyme sprig

1 rosemary sprig

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (18 tablespoons), chilled, additional for greasing pan

2 leeks, thinly sliced, white and light green parts

1 shallot, thinly sliced

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup heavy cream, more as needed

1 small celery root or 2 small carrots, peeled and diced (1 1/4 cups) I included 1 1/4 cups mirepoix, the celery, carrot and onion mixture, already chopped

Package of sliced wild mushrooms

1 medium potato, peeled and diced (1 1/4 cups) Sliced up peeled potatoes from a can

1 cup frozen peas, optional Indeed! I used a can of Del Monte French cut green beans that we had instead

1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (from 1 1/2 lemons)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

3 tablespoons sliced blanched almonds I didn't use almonds, I didn't think the recipe warranted any

Preparation

I skipped this step entirely by using the rotisserie chicken that I later hacked apart and shredded before adding it into the mix.

1. Season chicken lightly with salt and pepper. Let rest 15 minutes. In a medium pot over medium heat, combine chicken, stock, wine, garlic, bay leaf, thyme and rosemary. Bring to a simmer and cook chicken gently until no longer pink, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer meat to a plate to cool completely. Strain and reserve cooking liquid (you should have about 2 3/4 cups). Once chicken is cool, shred into bite-size pieces.

2. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with butter.

The beautiful pale leeks!

 

3. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add leeks and shallot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. 

Add in mushrooms and cook for a little longer until they release their juices. 

 

  

Melt in 4 more tablespoons butter. Stir in 1/2 cup flour and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the strained stock (I used vegetable stock but chicken stock of course would work) and the cream. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Bring mixture to a simmer. Slice your can of potatoes during the simmer. Stir in celery root or carrot, and potato; simmer over low heat, stirring frequently, 10 minutes (This is where the mirepoix comes into play). Stir in chicken, peas if using and lemon zest. Scrape mixture into prepared pan.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together 3 cups flour, the baking powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Cut the remaining 10 tablespoons butter into cubes; using a pastry cutter or two forks, mix into flour until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk. Dollop mixture on top of potpie filling (it’s O.K. if there are spaces between biscuits). Brush tops with cream and sprinkle with almonds.

5. Transfer casserole to oven; bake until top is golden brown and filling is bubbling, 35 to 45 minutes. Somewhere around 15 minutes into it, I thought to pour in a little dry-ish white wine.

Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

YIELD

8 to 10 servings