Beef Marrow Dinner

I can't really take credit for the preparation of my dinner tonight, but it was simply too delicious to let it go without a post. I am housesitting, and so forced to prepare meals for one, which I will admit is not very inspiring. Thus, when I was plating an entree dish at work today - slow roasted beef shins - and asked to take the meat off the bones in order to make the portions and dish more presentable; I was happy to oblige as this rendered the beef marrow bones as otherwise unusable. I removed the fatty gelatinous pieces of marrow from their protective shells with the opposite end of a spoon, and reserved for tonight's dinner, which I proceeded to anticipate the rest of my day.

For the preparation I lightly toasted a slice of multigrain bread, and microwaved my portion of marrow for about 30 seconds. I spooned the marrow onto the bread allowing the melted fat to drip onto the bread. I accompanied the marrow toasts with some beat salad atop some arugula that I had also put together at work today. Voila, I truly lavish dinner of marrow toasts and beet salad.

Roast Chicken

I LOVE roasted chicken, but not for the reasons that most people would have. For me the reason for eating a roast chicken lies underneath the chicken itself hidden in two juxtaposed pockets right where the legs meet the remaining carcass. In French each of these tender and most flavorful morsels of dark meat chicken are known as le sot-l'y-laisse - which in loose translation indicates that only an idiot would let this piece go uneaten. In English the term is a much more unoriginal word, the oyster. It is because of the two oysters found on a whole bird that I always end up eating directly from the carcass of the carved bird rather than partaking in the standard pieces of breast, thigh, and leg.
Fortunately I don't only love eating roasted chicken, but I also love preparing it, and the following technique is one that I found to successfully achieve a moist and tender bird with plenty of flavor. The quantities below can serve 3-4 people.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 shallot, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
1/2 tsp dried oregano*
1/2 tsp dried thyme*
1/2 tsp dried basil*
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 lemon, zested and cut into quarters
1 3-4 lb chicken
1 or 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into eighths
3 to 5 baby new potatoes, washed and skin left on
1 onion, peeled and cut in half
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup white wine

* Fresh herbs are obviously preferable, but not as conveniently found in the winter time.

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the first eight ingredients in a small bowl along with the grated zest of the lemon. Stir so that everything is evenly incorporated.

2) Rinse the chicken under cold water and dry thoroughly using paper towels. Place the chicken, breast-side up in a roasting pan or a heavy duty frying pan.

3) Using your fingers or the handle of a wooden spoon separate the skin from the flesh of the bird. Again with your fingers start to rub most of the flavored butter mixture between the skin and the flesh, and over the top of the bird with the remaining quantity. Place two quarters of the lemon in the cavity of the bird, and the remaining two quarters in the pan itself. Tie together the legs of the chicken using cooking string. 

4) Add the potatoes and onion to the pan and season everything with salt and pepper to taste.

 

5) Turn the bird so that it is breast-side down in the pan, and transfer the pan and its contents to the preheated oven.  

6) Allow the bird to roast in the low temperature oven for at least two hours. Note: In the meantime I chose to prepare a glaze to further explore and aim to perfect my roasting method, however I didn't feel that this proved essential to the bird's outcome except to enhance the pan's juices and provide a formidable jus for serving.

7) After the bird has been in the oven for the initial two hours or so - a thermometer inserted into the thigh of the bird should read 160 degrees - remove it, and set the oven to 450 degrees. Turn the bird over so that it is breast-side up, glaze the top if you choose, and return to the oven.

8) Roast the bird for another 30 minutes so that the skin turns brown and crispy. During this time you may continue to glaze the bird as much as you'd like.

9) Remove the bird to a cutting board and allow to rest for 10 minutes or so. Place the vegetables on a serving platter and return to the turned off oven so as to keep them warm

10) Meanwhile place the roasting or frying pan over high heat. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of white wine and reduce the juices until you have the flavor you like. You can add some or all of your leftover glaze at this point too. Strain your jus through a fine-mesh strainer extracting as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids and spoon off the excess fat from the jus.

11) Carve the bird, and add it to the serving platter with the vegetables. Serve the carved bird with jus separately. The accompaniment I chose for the meal was a dish of sauteed onion, apple, and kale.

 

Pearl Barley Salad

Here's to a new year with hopefully many new recipes and postings to accompany it!
I consider myself very fortunate to work in a place where good food is hard to miss, and where the opportunity to learn and have discussions about ingredients, recipes, food trends, and in general all-things food is never lacking. It is with thanks to this inspiration and a certain chef "M" that I have provided the following recipe for a Pearl Barley Salad. A grain I probably might have never endeavored to cook otherwise!

Pearl Barley Salad
3 cups water
1 cup pearl barley
salt
1 tblsp good quality balsamic vinegar
3 tblsp good quality olive oil
1 tblsp lemon juice
1 apple - any favorite variety will do, and I chose Braeburn
1/2 cup walnut pieces
1/4 cup dried currants
1/2 large red onion, finely chopped
2 tblsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

1) Bring the water to a boil and add salt. Meanwhile rinse the barley in a fine mesh sieve to rid the grain of  the excess starch produced when it is harvested. Add the barley to the boiling water, reduce the temperature so that the water is at a simmer, cover the pot, and cook until the water has evaporated - about 45 minutes. Transfer the grain to the sieve once again and run it under cold water so as to stop the cooking of and to cool down the barley. Remove the grain to large a mixing bowl.
3) While the barley is cooking you can prepare the remaining pieces of the salad. Heat a small non-stick skillet over medium high heat, and drizzle in 1 tblsp of olive oil. Add the walnut pieces and toast shaking the pan occasionally for roughly five minutes. Next add the currants to the pan and quickly after add the tblsp of vinegar away from the heat and toss to coat the nuts and currants evenly.
4) Peel, core and chop the apple into a fine dice, and combine the pieces in a bowl with the lemon juice.
5) To the bowl with the barley, add the toasted and coated nuts with the currants, the chopped onion, the remaining 2 tblsps of olive oil, the chopped parsley, and the lemon juice-soaked apple pieces. Using a spoon toss all the ingredients to combine, season to taste, and allow the salad to cool until ready to serve. Fortunately this is a salad that will only get better the longer the grain has to sit and absorb the juices, so feel free to make a larger batch if and when you deem it tasty enough for you.