Watch the Birdie

Everybody likes chicken, don’t they?  I mean, if they didn’t, why would almost everything else, when we don’t really want to know what to compare its taste to, taste “like chicken?”

Ever had frog’s legs? They taste like chicken.  What about ‘gator? Tastes like chicken.  How about rabbit? Well, silly, of course - it tastes like chicken.

Funny thing is, most other birds that we eat don’t taste anything at all like chicken. Seriously, does a duck taste like chicken? No way.  What about a goose or a squab or a pheasant or a partridge?  You gotta be kidding me.  Which brings me to the dinner I prepared the other night, after rummaging through the freezer the day before, figuring with the hurricane coming it might be a good time to use up some of the stuff I’ve had frozen for a while.

What I found in my bottom freezer drawer, all nice and cute in their package, were these little guys…

Setting aside the fact that they are practically pornographic in that pose, those birdies, for those of you who don’t know, are quail. Four of them weigh literally just over a pound, meaning two each would be a nice serving for Significant Eater and me – provided we had some comforting sides to go along.

I didn’t want to do anything fancy/schmancy to the birds, so I figured I’d just roast them. I started, an hour before cooking, by salting them heavily, which works like a brine. While the birdies were brining, I roasted some carrots, potatoes and peppers. After an hour, I dried the birds off and seared them for a few minutes in a hot, cast iron frying pan then stuck them in a hot oven (425° F) till they were done – in this case, about 10 minutes.

Served as is, with those roasted vegetables and you know what?  They didn’t taste at all like chicken; but they were delicious…

Of course, since quail are such tiny birds, I figured a little dessert might be a nice way to finish the meal.  I happened to have a few good peaches on hand so I cut them in half, took the pits out, topped them with some brown sugar and chopped walnuts and roasted them for 30 minutes.  Served on a plate with a scoop of smoked ricotta alongside, a perfect ending to a very tasty pre-hurricane dinner… 

We're No Vegans, but...

A quick peek in my fridge/freezer and you'll find a half dozen quail, 1 smoked ham hock, 4 pounds of lamb shoulder, a coupla pounds of cryo-ed Benton's bacon, a pound or so of La Quercia pancetta (http://www.laquercia.us/), chicken stock, duck confit, duck fat and a big hunk of guanciale (also from La Quercia). To say nothing of 3 year-old parmesan, 2 kinds of pecorino, some goat cheese, and the fixings for a delicious fondue. Yeah, I know - I'm running low.

So what's an unabashed omnivore to do? Well, how about a vegan dinner with home baked sourdough, roasted broccoli and braised fennel, and an entree of potato and leek soup - no, not Vichyssoise (which is cold cream-based leek and potato soup), but hot potato/leek soup, made with nothing but leeks, potatoes, garlic, olive oil, water, salt and pepper. Takes all of about an hour to put together if you're somewhat organized, and here's what you do...

Start with a pound of leeks and clean them really well - but you knew that, otherwise you'll be eating sand. Cut up the leeks and start sweating them in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (sweating means just what it sounds like - let 'em wilt, but without any color). Add a few cloves of thinly sliced garlic. While this is going on, peel and cube (1" cubes are good) a pound of russet or yukon gold potatoes. Throw them in the pot, cover with water, add salt and pepper, and boil gently till the potatoes fall apart. You can help them along with the side of a wooden spoon. Back to the salt - taste and add more - it'll need it. Potatoes absorb salt like that Star Trek villain that sucked the salt out of people in the episode called The Man Trap. So add more. Don't worry - it still won't be as much salt as is in that bag of chips. Ladle into warm soup bowls - (by the way, if you're serving hot soup, warm up the bowls - it's the little things that count). Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and serve with that crusty bread.

And of course, if you're the cook, you can always snack on a hunk of parmesan while all this cooking is going on - what do you think I am, a vegan or something?

Spatchcocked Chicken For Dinner

The Significant Eater and I like chicken. Roast chicken, grilled chicken, sauteed chicken, braised chicken, chicken ala king...wait, no, not chicken ala king.

To my taste, the best chicken at the most reasonable price, is a kosher chicken. It comes pre-brined (due to the salting process it undergoes), and is raised as naturally as a factory farm-raised chicken can be. At my local Whole Foods, they have some very expensive chickens. There's a brand called Pollo Rosso, which I've yet to try, that runs $5 a pound. Even their organic chickens are $4 a pound. In Chinatown, I can get freshly killed birds for a lot less. But, my favorite, as I mentioned above, is a kosher chicken. And my market carries Empire brand for about $2.50 a pound, a veritable bargain in this day and age. Along with an inexpensive and tasty Goya marinade, dinner was just around the corner.



Spatchcocking a chicken is a method of preparation where the backbone is removed, the sternum is removed and the chicken is flattened out and cooked that way.



This bird was cooked under the broiler and was done in 30 minutes. Along with a side dish of gai-lan (Chinese broccoli) in oyster sauce, and brown rice, dinner was on the table in under an hour...hey, I'm no Rachael Ray, I need the extra 30 minutes.