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Showing posts with label black. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Black Lemon Chicken Salty Sour Bitter Sweet

This very simple, roasted chicken video recipe is an example of how appearances can be very misleading in the kitchen. The sauce is built from the caramelized lemon and chicken juices stuck to the bottom of the roasting pan, which take the form of an unappetizing black tar. If you didnt know any better, your instincts would tell you to discard the darkest bits before making the "jus."

That would be a big mistake. While it looks like it would taste like a charcoal briquette, it actually tastes like….taste. To borrow the catch phrase from a currently running soup commercial, "I like the taste of taste." As many of you already know, there are four primary tastes, salty, sour, bitter, and sweet.

If you take a small bit of the black tar from the bottom of the roasting pan, and pop it in your mouth, instead the one-dimensional burnt flavor you may expect, you should get an intense, very intense, combination of all four tastes.

Im not sure why this is, but when we dissolve this super four-taste-tar with some additional stock, it makes a great dressing/sauce with which to finish the dish. As youll see, I used romaine, but this same recipe works great with watercress, arugula, or spinach. Also, dont be afraid of a little bit of chicken fat. Think of this sauce as a warm dressing - in fact, this probably has less fat than if you just ate the dry chicken on a fully dressed salad. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 big whole chicken
3/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of cayenne
pinch of cumin
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken broth or stock
sliced romaine, or other greens like arugula, spinach, watercress
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

* Please help support free video recipes, and visit my new sponsor, MOZO Shoes. Find out why chefs (like me) are buzzing about their great shoes!

Monday, February 3, 2014

Grille Skirt Steak Roasted Corn and Black Bean Relish and Mango Guacamole

The first pieces of fresh sweet corn have started appearing in the grocery store and, this year, instead of corn on the cob everynight, I am determined to try other ways to incorporate it into dinner. I am hoping the possibilities are endless because, living in Northern Indiana, goodness knows the supply of sweet corn is!

I started by getting a skirt steak marinating earlier in the day. I combined 1 minced clove of garlic with cumin, coriander, a variety of chili powders, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and just enough canola oil to form a paste. After liberally applying the marinade paste, I refrigerated the steak for about 3 hours. I removed the steak from the refrigerator about 1/2 hour before grilling to allow the meat to come to room temperature. I preheated the grill and grilled the steak over high heat for about 4 minutes per side. When the steak had rested for about 15-20 minutes, I sliced it thinly against the grain. Skirt steak, like flank steak should be sliced against the grain, otherwise, it may be tough.

I made my very favorite guacamole recipe which includes 1 avocado, small diced onion, fresh cilantro, 1 finely diced serrano pepper, lime juice and salt. I also had one of the those little miniature mangoes and decided to through that in as well. The sweet mango was an excellent addition to the creamy avocado and the fiery chilis. A great alternative to the standard guacamole.

To make roasted corn and black bean relish, I roasted 1 ear of corn and two jalapeno peppers over an open flame until they were charred and tender. I cut the corn kernels from the corn and added it to a large mixing bowl with the peeled roasted and chopped jalapeno peppers, diced onion, diced and seeded tomato, 1 can of black beans which had been rinsed, fresh chopped cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. After tossing to combine, I let the it sit a room temperature for about an hour to let the flavors mingle. The roasted corn was delightfully sweet and played perfectly against the fiery roasted jalapeno peppers.