Pollo Alla Birra - Chicken in Lager

We'd been joking around for some time about Beer Can Chicken, so when I saw this recipe, I decided I had to try it. Same beer and chicken goodness, minus the potential for oozing chemicals into the chicken while it cooks for an hour.

This recipe calls for a bit more than just a chicken and a can of beer, thus moving even further away from the realm of the authentic dish. Then again, this isn't the place to read about authentic American recipes.

The ingredient list is somewhat short, but does involve a fair bit of chopping: one carrot, one onion, one leek and a celery stalk - all finely chopped. That was the hardest part of the recipe.

The next trickiest part was the choice of beer. The recipe called for 4 cups of lager. I'm not much of a lager drinker myself (much more into the more flavourful, Belgian-style beers and other caramelly wonderful brews) so I sent Big E to the corner store with the simple instruction of buying me 4 cups worth of lager.

This is what he got: Red Stripe lager - and then he pointed out that the reason the recipe called for a lager is because Italy isn't really known for its beer*. If you order a beer in an Italian bar, you'd most likely get a lager. He also pointed out that the recipe might be tastier with another type of beer. As the recipe title in English specifies that this is Chicken in Lager, the Italian title merely states that it is Chicken in Beer. Sure, a lager would be more authentic - but wouldn't the Italian cooks using this book prefer a more flavourful beer to cook with if given the option.

This is of course all speculation, and I decided to go ahead with the recipe as translated. I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and placed it in a big pan. I added the chopped veggies and poured in the beer till the bird was almost completely covered. Then I brought it to a boil, lowered the heat and simmered it for about an hour. After that time, I'm supposed to look for a golden brown bird and almost no more beer. I'm not sure the colour of the bird was really anywhere near golden brown, but the beer had reduced and the chicken was almost falling off the bone.

That's the good news: this recipe certainly does provide a very tender chicken. Unfortunately though, it wasn't all that great. I mean, it was fine but the beer didn't really add much. It was almost as though I just boiled it in a weak veggie broth (I think a normal veggie broth might have yielded better results). Ultimately, I'd imagine that the choice of beer would make a substantial difference in the flavour. Perhaps I'll make some Chimay chicken next time or some other flavour.

Tasty Factor: C Ease of Preparation: B+ (small amount of chopping) Modifications: No. Though I probably should have used a different beer.

*I do want to point out that apparently Italy now has a growing microbrewery industry, of very high quality.

Arrosto di Tacchino all'Arancia - Turkey à l'Orange

What with my mysterious turkey craving not gone yet, I found myself poring over the SS turkey recipes, trying yet again to find the one that would satisfy my desire. My desire for turkey, that is. I am fully aware that it would be ridiculous to expect a recipe to fulfill all my desires (glances around nervously).

This recipe seemed to do the trick, especially since we'd just received a bunch of gorgeous oranges and beets in our latest box.

What a tasty and colourful recipe! And it wasn't too complicated, either. There were a few questions that I had, but nothing that seemed to pose a problem to the final outcome. For one thing, the recipe called for a 1 3/4-pound turkey breast. So I headed out to my lovely butcher and asked for just that. And that's what I got - a lovely turkey breast, complete with skin and bones.

Once I got home and read the instructions (I know, I know, I should really do that before I go shopping.), SS told me to tie the turkey breast neatly with kitchen string. Well now. I imagine if my turkey breast were deboned, that would be a lot easier to do, now, wouldn't it? I decided to skip that step.

Next, I heated equal parts butter and olive oil in my large gorgeous Le Creuset pot. A little sidebar here, I love this pot. It may be my most frequently used large pot - I use it for all kinds of braising, in the oven, on the stove top. It makes me happy. Anyway, it's the perfect size for a turkey breast.

When the oily mixture was ready, I tossed in a chapped onion, a chopped celery stalk, and a chopped carrot. In retrospect, the recipe didn't actually call for any beets, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, so I chopped them up as well. I also decided to add some of the gorgeous thyme we'd gotten in the box because A/it smelled divine and B/the recipe seemed to lack any good savory flavours to balance the sweetness of the orange and now beets, and well, thyme goes so well with orange! So I cooked them all over low heat for about 10 minutes. Then, I raised the temperature to medium, added the turkey breast and browned it all over.

While it browned, I peeled two oranges and blanched a few pieces of rind in boiling water. I juiced one of the oranges and sliced the other (SS said to separate it into segments, but I thought the slices looked much prettier.)


When the turkey was golden brown all over, I poured in the orange juice and a half cup of white wine. I added the blanched rind and seasoned the turkey with salt and pepper. I lowered the heat and simmered the bird for about an hour, then removed it and placed it in a serving dish. I added two tablespoons of hot water to the juices and scraped up the tasty sediment, then thickened the sauce with a pinch of flour. I finished it with about a quarter cup of heavy cream and some black pepper.

I spooned the sauce over the turkey and decorated it with the orange slices. It looked and smelled fantastic and I couldn't wait to taste it!

Well, it was not a disappointment. The turkey was nice and juicy as well as incredibly flavourful. The beets and orange sauce combined beautifully with the thyme. Even better, the leftovers were delicious the next day! I will definitely be making this again soon, maybe with different root vegetables this time. Yum!


Tasty Factor: A+ Ease of Preparation: B- (fair amount of chopping and multiple steps of cooking) Modifications: Yes. Added beets & thyme. Used a whole turkey breast instead of a skinned boned one. I wonder if that helped with the juiciness?

Uova in Cocotte ai Porri - Eggs en Cocotte with Leeks

As I think I've mentioned before, we love eggs with dinner in our household. Loooove them! So when I got my C.S.A. box yesterday, with fresh new half dozen eggs as well as several bunches of leeks, this recipe seemed like the obvious choice.

And oh my god, was it good! This is going to be my new go-to favourite - even more exciting that because I serve it in a little ramekin, it can even look presentable and even elegant to serve to dinner guests. So exciting.

Also so easy: I halved two leeks lengthwise, then thinly sliced them. I've had trouble with the leeks from Eatwell before because they are often packed with mud, but I discovered that if I slice it half lengthwise, then rinse them before doing the slicing, it's quite easy for me to get all of the mud off. I did the same with a couple of garlic greens, since I had a few of them in the box and they looked so yummy. I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter and sautéed the whole lot for about five minutes.

After that, I added a few tablespoons of water, some freshly ground nutmeg, salt and pepper and let it simmer, covered,
till they were all nice and soft (I think it was about 20 minutes). At this point, I tasted it to make sure it was properly seasoned and I promptly got so excited about how tasty this was going to be once there a soft-baked egg on top!

I split the leeks between three ramekins (one for me, two for Big E) and broke an egg onto each. I hoarded a bit more of the leeks for mine, since I was only getting one - It seemed only fair.

I stuck them in a 350º pre-heated oven and cooked for the allotted 4 minutes. At this point, according to SS, it's only supposed to sit for two more minutes, but the whites were still completely translucid. It really took much longer for the eggs to set (I did a little poke test to the whites to make sure they were set, but tried to make sure the yolks were still soft).

It was fantastic! Really fun to eat, because you had to break through the egg to uncover the soft, buttery almost caramelized leeks underneath. And when you broke the yolk, it mixed in with the rest and was just warm and flavourful - I think it is definitely a newly discovered comfort food for me.

I served them with some polenta with mushroom broth and polenta and Butternut Squash with Rosemary (from SS - coming soon!) and the whole dinner was just incredibly satisfying and comforting.

I don't know if the garlic greens made much of a difference - they definitely didn't stand out, though they did blend in nicely. I can imagine different variations where I throw other veggies or even nuts or mushrooms into the mix, but it really was quite perfect as is. And there's a whole Eggs en Cocotte section!!! I can't wait to try another one.

Tasty Factory: A+ Ease of Preparation: A Modifications: Yes. Added some garlic greens and much longer cooking time for the eggs.

PS. While I was surfing the Egg section of SS, I realized that with 2000 recipes to go through, there were certain recipes that I might keep putting off for quite a while, such as Eggs with Ketchup. No really - Eggs with Ketchup. Uova con Ketchup. What's up with that?!

Spaghetti con il Tonno - Spaghetti with Tuna

This was the best ever "I just got back into town and haven't had time to go shopping yet" dish. We'd just gotten back from the holidays, mid-morning on a saturday, and were a bit too exhausted from our trip to head to the supermarket.

These are times when having a well-stocked pantry can really come in handy. The recipe required very few ingredients and most of them dried or canned. Sure, I didn't have spaghetti, but I seem to enjoy to like rotini or other shorter pasta a lot better these days.

I heated a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, added a clove of garlic and cooked it until it browned. I then added a can of tuna (in oil, generally Spanish or Italian - I really like Ortiz), drained and flaked.

I stirred in a can of crushed tomatoes (the recipe only called for 3 tablespoons of table paste, but since this was our entire meal, I was really hoping for some lycopene or other healthful redeeming value). I cooked the sauce for about 15 minutes, stirred in some chopped parsley and seasoned it with salt & pepper.

We scarfed the rotini and sauce down and it was perfect! Very flavourful, very satisfying - exactly what we needed.

Tasty Factor: A Ease of Preparation: A+ Modifications: Yes. Used full can of crushed tomatoes instead of 3 tablespoons of tomato paste.

PS. Clearly by the description, you can tell I made this a while ago (over a month) which means I'm still working my way through old photos. Almost onto the new though! In the meantime, however, if you want to see some newer photography, head on over to my other blog for a meal from another source.

Fesa alle Mandorle - Turkey Breast with Almonds

I've been craving turkey a lot lately. Not sure if it's the Christmas leftover shortage I experienced this year or a greater need for protein with all the working out I've been doing... But anyway, it's been well over a month now that I'm just craving turkey. So I skimmed through the turkey section of SS and sadly nixed the oh-so-enticing Turkey Stuffed with Brussels Sprouts (ooh!) and the Turkey Stuffed with Chestnuts (aah!) and selected the clearly much more low key Turkey Breast with Almonds. (Side note: most full turkey recipes in SS call for a 6 1/2 pound turkey - do turkeys even come that small in the US?! I swear, I've never seen smaller than a 10-pounder).

This recipe won because the ingredient list (minus the turkey breast) was all included in my CSA box that week or already in my pantry and it took around a half hour till eating time. And while it turned out tasty (and somewhat satisfied my turkey needs), it was definitely a stranger recipe and didn't look all that photo (please note the evidence above, not entirely blamed on my sad old camera and lack of photography skills).

The recipe wasn't too complicated: I melted some butter in a deep pan and cooked a chopped onion, a chopped carrot and a chopped celery stalk for around five minutes over low heat. I then placed two turkey breast steaks on top of the vegetables and cooked until it started to colour. The recipe said to cook it until browned, but the steaks didn't ever quite turn brown. I wonder if the low heat was to blame for that?

I seasoned the lot with salt and pepper then turned up the heat to medium, added five tablespoons of white wine and cooked it till it evaporated. I then covered the pot and let it cook over low heat for another ten minutes. Here's where it gets interesting: while the turkey was cooking, I took a half cup of blanched almonds and simmered them with 3/4 cup of milk and a tablespoon of brandy for about 15 minutes then transferred this mixture to the food processor and attempted to purée it. I say attempted because the texture was more mealy than purée like. It's possible the almonds needed to cook longer, but since I only had time as a reference point (and not texture), I don't know for sure if this was the correct texture.

Lastly, I poured the almond sauce over the turkey and let it simmer for a few minutes before serving. The taste was very good, but the presentation and the texture were a bit less than appealing, so it makes it hard to judge the recipe. I might have to try to make the almond sauce again and see if I can come up with a better visual/texture result. Though I don't, those other turkey recipes are sounding awfully tempting now.


Tasty Factor: C+ Ease of Preparation: B- (fair amount of chopping and use of food processor) Modifications: No. Though it seems I should have... I just don't know what would have helped.

Finocchi alla Diavolo - Devil's Fennel

Yet again, I find myself drawn to a recipe by its name. Sure, I chose it because I had fennel and was trying to figure out what to do with it. Sure, this recipe made sense because all the other ingredients were in my pantry. But let's face it, I probably wouldn't have made the recipe if it were merely called Fennel with Anchovies. Or Fishy Fennel. (On second thought, it's distinctly possible that I would have decided that Fishy Fennel was just amusing enough to make the cut... Who knows?)

The point is, Devil's Fennel is what I chose to make. I'd like to point out for you fish-haters out there that the anchovies in this recipe are quite mild and completely disintegrate and disappear into a tasty savory sauce. Fishy, it is not... Rather, faintly reminiscent of the sea. I personally was hoping for a bit more of an anchovy pungency, but I'd imagine that could be obtained by simply increasing the quantity of anchovies in the recipe.

The recipe is easy: chop about four anchovies and then sauté them in some olive oil. The recipe calls for a scant half cup, but I used quite a bit less - about a quarter cup. I then mashed the anchovies into the oil until they are uniformly disintegrated and mixed into the oil. Then I added four fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into wedges. I drizzled on top a teaspoon of Dijon mustard mixed with a tablespoon of white wine vinegar and sprinkled with salt and pepper, then covered the lot and cooked over very low heat for about 15 minutes, until the fennel was tender.

I then removed the fennel into a serving dish and added the juice of one lemon to the remaining cooking juices. I cooked the juices, stirring them until they thickened slightly then poured them over the fennel.

The fennel tasted great - I love slow cooking it in this fashion... It becomes tender with a lovely mild flavour. The sauce was very tasty and suited the fennel very well. I didn't miss the extra olive oil - the recipe says to add a little water to the pot if necessary, but it didn't seem to be. I don't know how devilish the dish felt, though I've come to realize that "alla diavola" usually means a bit spicy.

Tasty Factor: A Ease of Preparation: A Modifications: Yes. I halved the olive oil and in the future may double the anchovies.

PS. Sadly, the photo sucks. I'm still working through some dishes that predate my new camera. Can't wait to start improving the photo quality!!

Coniglio in Umido - Stewed Rabbit

Continuing my ongoing love affair with rabbit, I decided to attempt another recipe from that chapter. Actually, that's only partially true. I did enjoy that first rabbit recipe very much and was looking forward to making another one, but what really prompted me to cook another rabbit so soon after the first was the message I received from my friend Robert: "YOU HAD RABBIT WITHOUT ME?!?!!!! I LOVE RABBIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Now, to be honest, I wasn't even sure how he knew that we'd had rabbit several days before, so my first reaction was to ask how he knew, suspecting my husband of spilling the beans. Turns out I actually have friends who read this blog - who knew?! (Hi Robert!)

So I did what any normal easily bullied cook would do: I offered to have him over for rabbit. A mere four days later, I returned to my local butcher and bought a rabbit. This time, I decided to cook up this stewed rabbit. The instructions were really short and simple and now that I had the rabbit sectioning part down*, I knew dinner would fall into place nicely and I even selected a couple of other silver spoon recipes to go with it (such as the tasty artichokes aglio e olio).

I cooked the rabbit pieces in some olive oil until nicely browned, added a chopped garlic clove, some chopped thyme and parsley and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Then I added a cup of white wine (a dry-ish pinot grigio) and cooked it until the liquid was mostly evaporated. I added a can of chopped and peeled tomatoes and cooked the lot over low heat for a bit over an hour.

The result was delicious! The rabbit was a bit juicier than its precedent (the oven roasted one) although the flavours were not quite as exciting, just solidly good. Very tasty recipe though not over-the-top exciting. Sorry the photo isn't the best, but on the plus side, I've got exciting news! I bought a new camera and hope to have lovely new photos to share in the near future...

Tasty Factor: A- Ease of Preparation: A- Modifications: None.
(The preparation gets an A- only because of the rabbit chopping bit, otherwise, it was really easy.)

*Not really, but I am improving dramatically! I just need a few more times to practice.