In the Hands of a Chef (37 page)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

½ cup Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

½ teaspoon cracked black pepper

2 bay leaves

4 chicken leg-thigh quarters

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 ounces sliced pancetta, cut into ¼-inch pieces

12 garlic cloves, peeled

12 shallots, peeled

¼ cup white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon tomato paste

2 cups Chicken Stock (page 31) or 4 cups highquality canned low-sodium chicken broth, reduced to 2 cups (see page 32)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

¼ pound

DO AHEAD:
Prepare everything through Step 5 (i.e., don’t make the sauce or add the mascarpone) and refrigerate the chicken in the braising juices. Reheat everything on top of the stove the next day and make the sauce just before serving.

1.
To make the marinade, heat the vegetable oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Let cool. Transfer the shallots and garlic to a larger bowl.

2.
Whisk the cooked shallots and garlic, Dijon mustard, thyme, cracked pepper, and bay leaves together in a large bowl. Add the chicken and toss it about so all of the surfaces come in contact with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (it can be left overnight, if that’s more convenient), turning the chicken once or twice.

3.
Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Remove the chicken from the bowl, reserving the marinade, and season all over with salt and pepper. Sear the chicken on both sides until brown. Transfer to a plate. Add the pancetta to the pan and cook just until the fat starts to melt but the pancetta is not yet crispy, about a minute. Remove from the pan and set aside.

4.
Add the whole garlic cloves and shallots to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until lightly browned. Pour off the fat. Add the vinegar to the pan. The vinegar will foam up and reduce almost instantly; scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to dissolve any crispy bits. Continue stirring as the vinegar quickly reduces to a glaze, about 30 seconds. Add the tomato paste and cook 1 minute, then add the reserved marinade and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil.

5.
Return the chicken pieces to the pan. Stir in the pancetta, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the chicken is tender, but not falling off the bone, 40 to 45 minutes. Turn the chicken every 10 minutes so the exposed side doesn’t dry out.

6.
Remove the chicken from the pan and keep warm. Cook the sauce, uncovered, until it thickens slightly, about 10 minutes. To finish the sauce, remove the pan from the heat and add the mascarpone, whisking until smooth.

7.
Place a chicken quarter on each of four warmed plates, top with the sauce, and serve immediately.

T
his recipe came about when
I needed seasoned chicken to go into the paella at our second restaurant, Red Clay. Then the chicken thighs began showing up at the staff family meal more frequently, and in larger portions, than would suggest they were simply leftovers from the paella. When a dish becomes a staff favorite, it’s worth trying to figure out the appeal. The paprika, sausages, and ancho peppers give the chicken a smoky peppery quality usually found with “hotter” dishes. Using skinless thighs allows the flavor of the spices to penetrate the chicken meat instead of remaining on the surface. With a little rice, this makes a comforting supper for cold nights. I can serve it to my four-year-old without fear of rejection.

This dish improves with a day of sitting, so prepare it ahead if possible. Also, if fat is a concern, a day of refrigeration makes it easy to scrape off the layer of fat that rises to the top of the dish. If you’re in a hurry, pour the sauce into a Pyrex measuring cup, put it in the freezer for an hour, and then scrape off the fat.

⅓ cup paprika

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Kosher salt

1½ pounds skinless chicken thighs

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 large white onions (about 1 pound total), cut into 1-inch dice

6 garlic cloves, smashed

2 ancho peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into ½-inch-wide strips

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup canned crushed tomatoes

1 cup Chicken Stock (page 31) or high-quality canned low-sodium chicken broth

½ pound andouille sausage, cut into ½-inch slices

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus 6 sprigs for garnish

1.
Mix the paprika and cayenne pepper in a large bowl. Sprinkle the thighs all over with salt. Add the thighs to the bowl and toss until evenly coated with the pepper mixture.

2.
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the thighs and sear for 5 to 7 minutes. Your aim is to get a good sear on the outside of the thighs, not cook them through. Turn the thighs over and sear the other side for 2 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and keep warm.

3.
Add the onions, garlic, and ancho peppers to the pan and cook until they begin to brown, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and chicken stock and reduce the liquid by a third, about 7 minutes.

4.
Return the chicken to the pan, add the sausage, cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the chicken is almost falling off the bone, about 1 hour. Adjust the heat if the braising juices are boiling. If the dish cooks too fast, the chicken will dry out.

5.
When the chicken is done, the pan juices should be thick enough to serve as a sauce. If they’re too thin, transfer the chicken to a platter, increase the heat to medium-high, and reduce the juices to the desired consistency. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper if necessary. Stir in the chopped cilantro.

6.
Place the thighs on a warm platter. Spoon the sauce over them, garnish with the sprigs of cilantro and serve.

B
rining poultry before roasting produces
an amazingly succulent bird, but brining a 15-pound turkey can present some problems, such as, “What kind of container can hold it for brining?” “Where do I store it?” A nonreactive 16-quart stockpot will work, but since I don’t have one, I simply purchased an inexpensive extra-large plastic bucket from Home Depot, identical in size to a large bucket of joint compound. (Never use a container that ever held any kind of building materials, no matter how seemingly benign—the plastic may contain chemical residues.) Whatever your container, wash it thoroughly beforehand.

When we recently purchased a new refrigerator, we moved the old one into our basement to call into service for recipes like this. Before I had two refrigerators, I simply made this recipe during cool weather. The bucket fit neatly on the stairs inside the bulkhead leading to my basement, where it was cold, but certainly not freezing. If you don’t live in a part of the country that gets cool, you’ll have to engage in a draconian refrigerator purge, for at least a day, to make this work. The final alternative is simply to try the recipe with a smaller bird, the size of a container that will fit in your refrigerator.

I try to match the size of the turkey to the size of the gathering so I don’t have to worry about too many leftovers. I like to save enough for a few days of sandwiches and maybe a risotto or pasta dish. The rest goes into soup—stuffing and all—and I then freeze the soup. A month or two later, people are actually happy to have some turkey soup.

1 fresh (or defrosted frozen) 15-pound turkey

BRINE

2 gallons water

2 cups kosher salt

½ cup packed brown sugar

10 bay leaves

4 sprigs fresh rosemary, roughly chopped

1 cup chopped fresh sage

STUFFING

4 celery stalks, peeled and chopped into ½-inch dice

2 fennel bulbs, trimmed of stalks and tough outer layers, cut lengthwise in half, cored, and chopped into ½-inch dice

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

8 cups ½-inch cubes rustic white bread, lightly toasted

¼ cup chopped fresh sage 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

About 1½ cups apple cider

BASTING BUTTER

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

6 bay leaves

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Freshly ground black pepper (optional) GRAVY

¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

cup dry Madeira or dry sherry

3 cups Chicken (or turkey) Stock (page 31) or

6 cups high-quality canned low-sodium chicken

broth, reduced to 3 cups (see page 32)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

DO AHEAD:
Brine the turkey for 10 to 12 hours. Before you unwrap the turkey, make sure your brining container is large enough and that 2 gallons of brining solution (the amount in this recipe) will actually cover your bird. To check, place the wrapped turkey in the container and pour 2 gallons of water over it. As long as the turkey is completely submerged, it doesn’t matter if you don’t use all the brining solution. If the turkey fits in the container but isn’t completely covered, adjust the quantities to make 3 (or more) gallons of brine, as necessary.

1.
To prepare the turkey, remove the bag of organs from its cavity. Set aside for another use. Rinse the turkey thoroughly and pat dry.

2.
To make the brine, mix 8 cups of the water with the remaining brine ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to your clean brining bucket, add the remaining 1½ gallons water, and let cool completely.

3.
Immerse the turkey in the brining solution. Cover. Put the bucket into the refrigerator or a cool place for 10 to 12 hours.

4.
To make the suffing, melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the foam subsides, add the onions, celery, and fennel and cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until it just releases its aroma, about a minute. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the cooked vegetables with the remaining stuffing ingredients except the cider in a large bowl. Toss well. Then add only enough cider so the stuffing is moist, but not soggy. Taste and season if necessary. Remember the turkey will be brined, so be careful not to oversalt the stuffing.

5.
To make the basting butter, melt a stick of butter in a small saucepan with the bay leaves and fennel seeds. Remove from the heat and let sit for 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaves, pour into a small container, and chill until firm. (You can do this up to 48 hours ahead and reheat.)

6.
To roast the turkey, preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well. Dry well inside and out. Do not salt, but season with pepper if desired.

7.
Fill the turkey cavity loosely with the stuffing, then sew up the cavity. Do not truss the legs together—although a turkey with its legs tied looks neater, the meat of the inner legs and thighs tends to cook more slowly than the breast if it is trussed. Brush the bird all over with the bay butter. Set breast side down on a buttered rack in a roasting pan.

8.
Roast for 2 hours. After 2 hours, flip the bird so the breast is up. Roast for an additional
hour. Baste with bay butter every 30 minutes throughout the roasting time.

9.
Increase the heat to 400°F and roast until the skin is crisp and brown and the bird is done: the juices should run clear when the thigh is pierced at the thickest point, and an instant-read digital thermometer inserted at that point should register 165°F. Transfer to a platter for 30 minutes before carving.

10.
Meanwhile, make the gravy: Pour off all but ¼ cup of fat from the roasting pan. Be careful not to pour off the caramelized drippings. Put the pan on top of the stove over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour into the pan. Using the back of a slotted spoon, stir the flour about the pan, scraping the crispy bits of drippings loose. Cook until the flour starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the Madeira and continue stirring until it thickens. Add the stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

11.
Scoop the stuffing out of the turkey into a serving bowl. Present the turkey at the table, along with the stuffing and gravy, then carve. I like to return to the kitchen for the business of carving, especially since I prefer removing the breast whole, then cutting it into crosswise slices. I also slice the meat off the drumsticks. Arrange the meat on the platter and serve.