Tag: recipes

Cream of Carrot Soup with Cumin and Honey

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With puréed soups, sometimes I use water, not stock for the base. If the vegetables are lovely and in-season, I just want a pure taste with minimal distractions.

Carrots pair well with cumin, and the honey heightens their natural sweetness.

Ingredients:

1 knob of butter

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

Ground cumin

1 bunch of carrots (about a pound), peeled, or well-scrubbed, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1-2 tablespoons of honey

Water

Salt to taste

Special Equipment:

A hand-held immersion blender

How to prepare:

1. In a medium sauce-pan (about 2 quarts), heat the butter and the olive oil together over medium heat until it begins to foam. Add the onions, and sauté them in the butter until they are translucent. When the onions begin to get a twinge of goldenness, sprinkle them lightly with cumin (a little goes a long way). Toss the onions and the cumin together for about 20 to 30 seconds. You want the ground spice to become a little fragrant and toasted, but not burnt. Add the carrots, and toss them with the onions.  Warm everything together for about a minute or two, making sure that the carrots are well-coated with the onion mixture.

2. Cover the carrots with about 1/2-inch of water. Add a few healthy pinches of salt, and simmer everything until the carrots are nice and tender. When the carrots are done, turn off the heat. Using an immersion blender, purée the vegetables in the pan (easier clean-up, no?). You want the texture to be smooth and creamy. If the soup seems a little thick, you can add some more water to thin it. Stir in the honey. Start with one tablespoon, and add another if you feel like the soup needs more sweetness. Adjust the seasoning (I only use salt because I like to keep the vibrant orange smoothness of the soup unmarred by little black flecks of pepper).

3. Top the soup with a dollop of crème fraîche, and serve it hot or cold. If you serve it cold, it will thicken upon standing.

Nigel Slater’s Blueberry-Pear Cake

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One of my favorite books is Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries. Part cookbook, part, well, diary, longtime Observer columnist Slater takes you through a year in his life food-wise. He doesn’t give an entry for every day (and some days he doesn’t even cook at all), but each one is a beautiful little snippet of real life lived well.

I love Slater’s writing voice, which seems to be a reflection of his cooking: honest and personal. He has had some training, but is not a chef per se (neither was Julia). That doesn’t mean that his food suffers; Slater is a good eater who appreciates food, and loves to share generously. Who can’t respect that?

His recipes are dead-simple, but they are made with the assumption that you know your way around the kitchen. Sometimes, they are a little skimpy on details, but they do all work (at least the ones that I have tried).

His tastes are also very, very British, which — forgive me — might be construed as a somewhat dumb statement to make, given that he is British. That being said, there are some things to note:

1. The Brits eat a lot of gooseberries, and drink a lot of things flavo(u)red with elderflower.
2. They like desserts named “fool” and “mess,” and collectively dessert is referred to as “pudding.”
3. There is a lot of smoked fish.
4. Chili is spelled with two l’s.
5. Curry powder is common.
6. Parsley sometimes seems bizarrely interchangeable with cilantro.
7. Cilantro is called “coriander.”
8. “Medium-rare” can infuriatingly mean “medium-done.”

As for Mr. Slater himself, he has:

1. A kick-ass garden.
2. A beautiful wooden-plank farm-house table.
3. A lot of chipped dishes.
4. A kick-ass neighborhood deli.

This recipe adapted from Slater’s is a terrific way to take advantage of the blueberries currently in the market. It comes together quickly, and looks beautiful. Though Slater makes no mention of it in his Diary, my dining companion did suggest that a little jug of crème anglaise on the side would be a nice addition.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups of flour

A pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 cup of good butter, softened

1/2 cup of sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1-2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and cut into small pieces

1 large pint of blueberries

About 2 more tablespoons of sugar

Special equipment:

A spring-form pan

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter the bottom and sides of the spring-form pan. Line just the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.

2. Sift or stir together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

3. In a separate large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs slowly to the butter/sugar mixture. While continuing to beat everything together, add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time until they are fully incorporated. The resulting batter will be a little thick.

4. Pour (or spread) the batter out in an even layer over the lined bottom of the spring-form pan. Scatter the pear pieces and the blueberries evenly across the top of the batter. Sprinkle the fruit with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.

5. Bake for about 55 minutes to an hour. The top should be golden, and a skewer or knife inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean when it is done. Let cool before removing the spring-form pan’s outer ring.

Lemon Pasta Salad with Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes and Feta

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This is another great pasta salad recipe from Epicurious. I didn’t deviate from it too much. I changed some of the proportions for the dressing, and substituted chives for the green onions (sometimes green onions can be really overwhelming).

Also, the recipe calls for red cherry tomatoes and for red bell pepper, but as I prefer more contrasting colors, I opted for the deliciously sugar-sweet Sun Gold.

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

7 tablespoons of good extra-virgin olive oil

The juice of two lemons

The zest of two lemons

1 fat clove of garlic, grated

1 to 1 1/2 heaping tablespoons of coarse-grain Dijon mustard

For the rest:

1 pound of penne

1 pint of Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, quartered (or halved if they are small)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 cup of crumbled French feta (I sometimes find Greek feta too salty)

1 bunch of chives, finely chopped

How to prepare:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the penne and cook it until it is al dente.

2. Meanwhile, whisk the ingredients for the dressing together in a large mixing bowl. A Microplane grater is terrific for both the lemon zest, and for grating the garlic.

3. When the pasta is done, drain it and rinse it with cold water to cool it down quickly. Drain the pasta again and add it to the dressing, along with the tomatoes and the bell pepper. Toss all of the ingredients together, making sure that the pasta is well-coated. Add the crumbled cheese and the chives. Toss again. The cheese, the chives, and the vegetables should be evenly distributed throughout the salad. Adjust the seasoning if needed (depending on how salty the mustard and the feta are, you might not have to).

Pack it up for the party, or eat it immediately.

Pancetta-Wrapped Beef with Mustard Cream Sauce

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When looking for a recipe to try, I find myself repeatedly drawn to certain things. In general, I prefer natural food pairings: peas and mint, asparagus and parmesan, brussels sprouts and bacon. Even though I like flavor combinations to be on the conventional side, I do want food to be inspired, but never forced. I don’t like tortured dishes made from overly complicated recipes — meaning the ones with too many things going on.

I look for balance. I want harmony. The plate has to “work.” Most importantly, it has to let the ingredients shine. The emphasis should be on letting food taste like what it is supposed to taste like. I’m not that keen on hiding the flavors with a bunch of heavy spices, nor do I look fondly on over-worked preparation.

Simplicity is best. Simplicity is not boring, it’s elegant.

That is what I like about this recipe. It’s just enough work to be interesting, but not so much that it is a chore. I have tweaked it a bit from its original, but it makes a terrific little meal when you don’t have a lot of time, but want a lot of style.

Ingredients:

1 pound of tender cut beef, cut into 2-inch cubes (you should have about 12 cubes total)

About 12 thin slices of pancetta or proscuitto, one per beef cube

2 tablespoons of canola oil

1 shallot, finely minced

1/4 cup of Bourbon

1/4 cup of water

1 tablespoon coarse Dijon mustard

1/4 cup of heavy cream

2 tablespoons of parsley, finely chopped

How to prepare:

1. Pat the beef cubes dry with paper towel. Wrap each cube with a slice of pancetta or a slice of proscuitto, making sure to cover as much of the cube as possible. If you have rolled pancetta, you can unroll it and then wrap it around each cube.

2. In a large cast-iron skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it starts to shimmer. Place the wrapped cubes seam-side down in the pan. Sear the cubes evenly on all sides, about a minute or two per side. You want the beef to stay medium rare, but the pancetta to crisp a little bit.

Remove the beef cubes to a paper towel-lined plate while you finish the sauce.

3. Reduce the heat to medium, and add the shallots to the same skillet. Sauté the shallots until they begin to get translucent, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan as you go. Carefully add the bourbon and the water to the pan. Dissolve the browned bits in the added liquid. Once most of the alcohol has cooked away, add the mustard and the heavy cream. Stir everything together. Continue to simmer the sauce until it has thickened. Turn off the heat, and add the parsley to the sauce.

4. To serve, top the beef cubes with the sauce and eat.

Sliced Filet Mignon with Fava Beans and Radishes

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This is another recipe is from Epicurious. It is terrific for spring. I’ve modified the recipe a little bit, but kept the primary components.

I like to do steak in a pan the Tom Colicchio-way, basting the meat in butter as it cooks. Factor in about one steak per person.

I prefer my radishes crunchy, so I wouldn’t recommend letting them sit in the dressing for as long as the original recipe states.

I love fava beans. Get them fresh while you can (now is the season). They are extremely labor intensive to shuck and peel, but it is worth it. Here is a handy video clip to show you how if you have never cooked with fava beans before. Just ignore the cooking times that the cook in the clip recommends.

I never really measure out my oil or vinegar for the vinaigrette . . . If pressed, I would suggest that 3:1 ratio of oil to vinegar.

Ingredients:

About a 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil

A splash of apple cider vinegar

Dijon mustard to taste (I use about a teaspoon and a half)

About 1/3 cup of fresh fava beans (from about 6-7 pods)

2 radishes, thinly sliced

2 filet mignon steaks, about 5-7 ounces each

Canola oil

Butter

Salt and pepper

About a tablespoon of chopped chives

Crumbled, soft goat cheese, or chèvre

How to prepare:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, and mustard until they form an emulsion. Adjust the seasoning to your taste.

If using fresh favas, you will first need to shuck the beans from the pods. Discard the empty pods, and blanch the beans in boiling water for about 2 minutes — any longer than that, and they will be mushy. Have an ice bath ready to shock the beans. By submerging the beans in ice water after draining them, you will retain their beautiful green color. When the beans are cool, you will need to remove the waxy outer-covering of each one. If you nick the end of a bean with your finger nail, you can easily squeeze the bean out of its peel.

Toss the fava beans and the radishes in the vinaigrette. You want them evenly-coated with the dressing.

2. Pat the steaks dry with paper towels, and season them liberally with kosher salt and pepper. In a heavy pan, heat the canola oil over high heat until it is almost smoking. You’ll be able to see when the oil is up to temperature when its surface begins to shimmer. Sear the meat on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Reduce the heat to medium-low. You must reduce the heat to prevent the butter from burning on contact with the pan. Add a good knob of butter to the pan. Tilt the pan and, using a spoon, baste the steaks continually with the melted butter and oil mixture, flipping them halfway through cooking. Continue to cook the steaks until you have achieved your desired level of doneness.

Transfer the steaks to a cutting board. Let them rest a few minutes before slicing them.
Bear in mind that the steaks will continue to cook a little bit while resting, so you may want to keep this in mind and remove them from the pan when they are a little bit rarer than how you want to eat them.

3. Toss the fava beans and the radishes with the chives. Divide the fava bean and radish mixture between two plates. Top each portion with one of the sliced filet mignons. Drizzle some of the vinaigrette, and sprinkle on some of the crumbled chèvre over each steak. Serve immediately.

Sliced Egg and Black Truffle Mayonnaise on Toast

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My first year of graduate school, I lived down the street from an appallingly awkward airline-themed café. The space was pleasant with floor-to-ceiling windows. It had those lovely columns that fewer and fewer downtown places seem to want to retain. Apart from the odd collection of 1960’s memorabilia (Braniff, Pan-Am, and TWA), there were these nice, fat couches strewn about a lofted area — perfect for passing out after too much coursework.

There was also the food, which thankfully was nothing like what was served on airlines. The coffee was strong, good, and Italian. They never burned my espresso. They served little panini, cut into neat quarters that you could eat while burying your nose in a book. My favorite was simple: sliced egg on toast with truffled mayonnaise.

Laura gifted me with a little tub of black truffle salt a while ago. Admittedly, I have parked myself on it for too long. When I finally decided to put it to some good use, the smell took me back to those early years when my worries were fewer.

As I have expounded on how to hard boil eggs, and how to make mayonnaise on this blog before, I will refrain from further exposition. I will just say that you should use a neutral oil, like grapeseed or canola. Add about half a teaspoon of truffle salt to the mayonnaise at first, and then build up from there. I tend to make a saltier mayonnaise to compensate for the unsalted eggs. Slather each slice with the mayonnaise, and layer the sliced egg on top. Factor in about one egg per slice of toast.

Truffles, mayonnaise, and eggs. I do the sandwich open-faced these days. It is wonderful. I was in such a hurry to eat it that I hastily, and sloppily sliced up the egg. I had crammed half of it greedily down my gullet before it occurred to me that I should take a photo. So please excuse the photographic evidence of my gastronomic enthusiasm!

Penne with Tuna, Basil, and Lemon Zest

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This recipe comes from Epicurious. It is a terrific example of how the fewest number of ingredients, and the simplest preparation, can taste really divine.

For this, you’re going to want to find some really good tuna. Not the water-packed stuff, but the luscious olive oil-packed kind. The tuna belly, line or pole-caught stuff. Preferably from Italy, or Spain. You want the stuff that tapas bars in Spain serve out of a can with a toothpick, and charge you money for.

The best tuna recommendations can be found here. This is a great little recipe to have in your repertoire. Tuna is a good staple to have in the pantry, and dinner can be on the table in just a few delicious minutes.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of penne

The zest and juice of one lemon

1 clove of garlic, grated

1 big handful of basil leaves, coarsely cut into strips

6 ounces of good quality, olive oil-packed tuna

How to prepare:

1. Set a large pot of heavily salted water to boil. When it starts to boil, add the penne.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, grated garlic, and tuna with the oil from the can or the jar. If you think there might be too much olive oil, pour off some of it into a small bowl or ramekin. You can always add more as needed. As you combine the ingredients together, break up any larger chunks of tuna into smaller one.

3. When the pasta is al dente, drain it and add it to the bowl full of the other ingredients. Toss everything together so that the pasta is well-coated with the sauce. Add the basil, and toss again. Adjust the seasoning if needed, and serve immediately.

Egg Salad with Basil on Toast

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When people say that so-and-so “can’t boil an egg,” they generally mean to say that the person in question can’t cook.

Insofar as idioms go, it’s a pretty silly one; there are a lot of people out there who cook all the time, who cook all kinds of things that people like to eat, who can’t boil an egg at all.

Because boiling an egg is both ridiculously easy, and easy to mess up at the same time. It’s really kind of tricky. I see badly boiled eggs all the time. Overcooked, horrible things with sulfurous dun-colored yolks, ringed with a nasty grayish-green penumbra.

So gross. They taste awful too, chalky and rank. No wonder there are so many people out there who don’t like their eggs hard-boiled: they have only ever had bad ones.

But a good, really good hard-boiled egg is delicious. It has a soft, silky white that cushions a rich and velvety yolk. A egg salad made with properly boiled eggs is creamy, full, and wonderfully fatty. It is very very satisfying.

Here are some ways to properly hard boil an egg:

Technique #1:

1. Carefully prick the bottom of the egg (the widest end) with a needle, or a pin (I use a push pin). You want to pierce the shell, but not the membrane separating the air pocket in the base of the egg from the egg itself. Don’t worry: you won’t “ruin” the egg, it won’t “go everywhere,” it will not leak, it will not explode. It will be okay.

2. Place the eggs in a medium saucepan filled with cold water. The eggs should be covered with about an inch of water. The eggs might bob around, pricked end-up. Don’t worry. If it bothers you, you can just hold them down a little bit until the air in the bottom-end of the egg escapes, and they sink to the bottom of the pan.

3. Bring the water to a boil. When the water starts boiling, turn off the heat and put the lid on the saucepan. Set the timer for 10 minutes. 10 minutes. No more, no less.

4. Meanwhile, set up a nice ice bath. After ten minutes, lift the eggs out of the hot water and plunge them in the ice water. Leave them there for 5 minutes. 5 minutes.

5. Now your eggs are perfectly boiled, and ready to peel.

Why is it important that you prick the bottom of the egg’s shell?

Each egg has a small pocket of air at its base. Hot air expands, and by pricking the bottom of the egg, the small hole allows this air to escape. This will relieve any pressure caused by the expanding air, instead of cracking the egg while it is still cooking and making a mess. You can just boil the egg without doing this (see Technique #2), but why risk being sorry when you can be safe?

Technique #2:

1. Place the eggs in a medium saucepan filled with cold water. The eggs should be covered with about an inch of water.

2. Bring the water to a boil. When the water starts boiling, turn off the heat and put the lid on the saucepan. Set the timer for 10 minutes. 10 minutes. No more, no less.

3. Meanwhile, set up a nice ice bath. After ten minutes, lift the eggs out of the hot water with tongs. Right before submerging them in the ice water, bang the widest end of each egg against the countertop. You want to crack the shell at the base. Leave the eggs in the ice water for 5 minutes. 5 minutes.

4. Now your eggs are perfectly boiled and ready to peel.

Technique #3:

1. Carefully prick the bottom of the egg (the widest end) with a needle, or a pin. You want to pierce the shell, but not the membrane separating the the air pocket in the base of the egg from the egg itself.

2. Place the eggs in a medium saucepan filled with cold water. The eggs should be covered with about an inch of water.

3. Bring the water to a boil. When the water starts boiling, turn off the heat and put the lid on the saucepan. Set the timer for 10 minutes. 10 minutes. No more, no less.

4. Meanwhile, set up a nice ice bath. After ten minutes, pour off the hot water. With the lid on the pan, shake the eggs enough so that their shells crackle. Submerge them in the ice water. Leave the eggs in the ice water for 5 minutes. 5 minutes.

Why is cracking the shell after cooking important?

You want to crack the shell so that any sulfurous smells inside of the egg can escape and dissipate into the ice water bath. Or so says Jacques Pépin.

Oh no, my eggs are hard to peel! What happened?

Your eggs are hard to peel, my friend, because you have very fresh eggs. The fresher the egg, the harder it is to peel it. The older the egg, the easier it is to peel.

So it’s okay if some of the egg white comes away while you are peeling the egg. Sometimes, peeling them under running water helps.

This all might seem like a fussy way to boil eggs, but believe me, once you do it right, you’ll never want to do it badly again.

Now back to the recipe . . .

Ingredients for Egg Salad with Basil on Toast:

6 hard-boiled eggs, lightly chopped

2/3 cup of mayonnaise*

Salt to taste

One good handful of basil leaves, chopped (but I did a chiffonade, ’cause I’m all fancy like that)

Juice of 1 lemon

4 slices of toasted multigrain bread

How to prepare:

1. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, the mayonnaise, the basil, and a good sprinkling of salt. Add the lemon juice, a little bit at a time, until the salad is nice and creamy. Adjust the seasoning if needed.

2. Heap a large spoonful or two on top of each piece of toast. Serve immediately.

For the mayonnaise:

2 teaspoons of freshly-squeezed lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

1/2 tablespoon of Dijon mustard

1 large egg yolk at room temperature

1/2 cup of olive oil (I like a good, vibrant olive oil with eggs)

How to prepare:

1. Whisk the lemon juice, salt, and Dijon mustard together in a medium-sized bowl.

2. Measure out the olive oil into a cup with a pouring spout.

3. Whisk the egg yolk into the mustard mixture until it is well-incorporated and creamy. Continue whisking while you add a few drops of oil to the mixture. Whisk until completely incorporated before adding a few more drops. Try not to add too much oil, too quickly in the beginning, or the mixture will not emulsify. As the mixture begins to thicken, begin to add the rest of the oil in a thin and steady stream while whisking constantly.

If using a hand-blender, hand-mixer, or food processor, just start slowly adding the oil in the beginning, before adding the rest in a steady stream.

To help you visualize how mayonnaise comes together, here is a really good video clip.

Chicken Salad with Tarragon

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It’s hot out. It’s over 90°. The heat just saps my energy and makes me want to laze around the house until nightfall. I was eating celery sticks all afternoon, thinking that this was a healthy lunch. It probably wasn’t.

Maybe for rabbits, but not for me!

So I decided to do something with the extra roasted chicken that I had in my fridge, and make chicken salad.

You could use store-bought mayonnaise, but I prefer to make my own. It’s really easy once you get the hang of it. I’ve whipped mayonnaise together with a fork, with a whisk, with a hand mixer, with a food processor, and with a blender.

I used a hand-held immersion blender this time. The most important thing is to make sure that your egg yolk is fresh, and it is at a cool-ish room temperature — not ice cold, and not too warm either. Be sure to add the oil very slowly in the beginning. Don’t worry if your sauce separates, or breaks. If this is the first time you are making it (or even if it’s the hundreth time) there are things you can do; you can easily save it multiple ways.

Properly made mayonnaise takes practice, but it’s not rocket science. I’m not Harold McGee, so I won’t expound on why the egg yolk emulsifies. However, I will say that when it does, it feels like magic.

Ingredients:

1 cup of roasted chicken, chopped

1 stalk of celery, chopped

1 small shallot, minced

1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, finely chopped

1/2 cup of mayonnaise*

The juice of one lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

How to prepare:

1. Combine all the ingredients, except for the lemon juice, in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice a little bit at a time until the chicken salad is loose enough to be spread out easily, but not so loose that it is watery.

2. Spoon the salad on top of toasted bread and enjoy.

For the mayonnaise:

2 teaspoons of freshly-squeezed lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

1/2 tablespoon of Dijon mustard

1 large egg yolk at room temperature

1/2 cup of grapeseed oil, or any neutral oil

How to prepare:

1. Whisk the lemon juice, salt, and Dijon mustard together in a medium-sized bowl.

2. Measure out the grapeseed oil into a cup with a pouring spout.

3. Whisk the egg yolk into the mustard mixture until it is well-incorporated and creamy. Continue whisking while you add a few drops of oil to the mixture. Whisk until completely incorporated before adding a few more drops. Try not to add too much oil, too quickly in the beginning, or the mixture will not emulsify. As the mixture begins to thicken, begin to add the rest of the oil in a thin and steady stream while whisking constantly.

If using a hand-blender, hand-mixer, or food processor, just start slowly adding the oil in the beginning, before adding the rest in a steady stream.

To help you visualize how mayonnaise comes together, here is a really good video clip.

Anna Boiardi’s Apple Cider-Vinegar Roasted Chicken with Rosemary

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The mercury hit over 80° today. So, of course, I would roast a chicken.

What possessed me? Shouldn’t I be eating sushi? Shouldn’t I be sitting under a tree chewing on raw snow peas? Yes, but I had planned this meal on a cold day, thinking that the chilly spring that we have been having would continue to the end of the week.

I wrong, but I decided to go for it anyway. I had a chicken. I have a surfeit of apple cider vinegar. I have to eat, so why not?

This recipe comes from a new cookbook that recently hit the market by the great-niece Chef Boyardee.

What? Chef Boyardee? The Chef Boyardee? From the can? The ravioli in a can?

Yes, that can. He was a real person.

I couldn’t believe it either.

Ettore “Hector” Boiardi immigrated to America with his family around the turn of the century. They settled in Cleveland and like many immigrants, started a restaurant. In response to demand, Boiardi’s started sending customers home with Italian food kits so they could reproduce what they made in the restaurant at home. It was such a success that Hector, along with his brothers Mario and Paul, began jarring their sauces and selling them under the name Chef Boyardee in 1928.

At the time, they became the largest importer of Parmesan cheese and olive oil in the country.

I know.

They moved their canning factory to Milton, Pennsylvania, where they convinced local farmers to grow the right kind of tomatoes that they needed for their sauces. They also grew and picked their own mushrooms at the plant.

I know.

So what happened?! How did they go from that to Beeferoni?! Well, after the WWII, the family sold their company — which had been supplying the troops during wartime — to a larger conglomerate.

And so it goes that . . .

. . . their descendent would be hot, live in a TriBeCa loft, and run Italian cooking classes for a living.

Of course, she would.

Anna Boiardi cooks real food. Real Italian food. And this recipe for Apple Cider-Roasted Chicken with Rosemary is really good.

Ingredients:

1 chicken (about 2.5 to 3 pounds)

1 cup of apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper

1 clove of garlic, peeled and smashed

1/2 lemon

1 sprigs of rosemary

2 tablespoons of olive oil, plus more for drizzling

4 medium carrots, peeled

4 stalks of celery, peeled

1 onion, peeled and quartered

How to prepare:

1. Preheat your oven to 425°.

2. Place the chicken in a deep pot. The pot should be large enough to hold the chicken comfortably, with enough room on the top to spare. If you don’t have a pot large enough, you can improvise with some Zip-loc bags, doubled up. Add the vinegar and enough water to cover the chicken completely. Let the chicken soak for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the chicken and rinse it well under cold water. Pat it completely dry on the inside and out. At this point, your oven should be at the right temperature.

2. Put the chicken in a large cast-iron pan. Sprinkle the cavity liberally with salt and pepper. Place the garlic, the lemon, and one of the rosemary sprigs in the cavity. Truss your bird tightly. If you haven’t trussed a bird before, here is a handy video to help you.

3. Turn the chicken on its back, and massage about a teaspoon and a half of salt and about a quarter teaspoon of pepper into the skin. Be sure to get all the nooks and crannies. You want to work the salt in until it begins to dissolve. Massage in one of the two tablespoons of olive oil. Flip the chicken breast-side up, and repeat what you did to the back of the chicken. Work in another one and a half teaspoons of salt and quarter teaspoon of pepper. When the salt has dissolved,  massage in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.

4. Arrange the aromatics (the carrots, celery, the remaining rosemary sprig, and onions) around the chicken. Drizzle them with olive oil.

5. Roast the chicken for about until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°. At that point, the juices should run clear when you pierce the deepest part of the thigh with a paring knife or a skewer. About halfway through cooking, you can also drop the temperature to 375°, and continue to roast it until it hits the target temperature. I’ve done it both ways depending on my mood. You can turn the vegetables halfway through the cooking time too so that they don’t dry out, and that they get well-coated by the drippings.

6. Let the chicken rest for about 20 minutes before carving. Serve with some of the juices spooned over the top.