Beets are always paired with blue cheese, which is lovely but needed a kick in bum for this dinner party. Cheese provides fat and acid which pair well with beets, so I opted to trade them for chorizo. Spicy, fatty, crisp, they make the perfect accompaniment to luscious beets.
INGREDIENTS
3 medium Beets
2-3 tablespoons Olive Oil
4 small Chorizo (the hard, cured kind, not raw meat)
2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
Salt to taste
GET BUSY
Heat your oven to 375 degrees.
Peel and quarter your beets. Place in a roasting tray and drizzle with oil.
Roast the beets for 75-90 minutes, until they're fork tender.
While the beets are roasting, slice the chorizo into small discs and throw them in a large sauté pan. Cook the chorizo over a medium-low flame, rendering out the fat, for 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until crispy. Scoop the crisped meat out of the rendered fat (save the fat for another recipe).
Remove the beets from the oven, allow them 10 minutes to cool, then slice them into filets.
Toss the beets and chorizo together in a bowl with salt and balsamic vinegar. Plate and serve.
Stop baking chicken breasts and boring your guests. Buy whole legs, learn how to cut them at the joint, and impress your friends with impeccably crisp skin.
INGREDIENTS
6 whole Chicken Legs (thigh and drumstick together)
2 pounds Cremini Mushrooms
Salt and Pepper to taste
6 tablespoons Olive Oil (separated, 2, 2, and 2)
GET BUSY
Pop the stems out of the mushroom caps and slice the caps. Save the stems for making stock.
Sauté the sliced mushrooms with 2 tbs oil and a sprinkling of salt until they're reduced by half and tender.
Heat your oven to 375 degrees.
Using your fingers, separate the chicken skin from the meat, all the way down the drumstick.
Take about 1 tablespoon of the mushrooms and stuff them under the skin of each leg, making sure to get it all the way down the drumstick and across the thigh. Do this with all six legs. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the skin of each leg.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat in two separate oven-safe stainless steel pans. When the oil is rippling in both pans, use tongs to place three chicken legs skin side down in each pan. Sear for 3-5 minutes, or until the skin is golden brown and crisp. Flip the legs so they are facing skin side up and place both pans into the preheated oven. Cook the legs for 25-30 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and let the chicken legs rest a few minutes before serving. Remember, the handles of your skillets will be scalding hot, be careful!
Yogurt adds a tang and spring to this cake that is most welcome, especially as we soldier through the winter. Feel free to substitute oranges or grapefruits for the lemons, the cake is splendid with any variety of citrus. An extra dusting of sugar on top before baking will reward you with a shimmering crust to present at the table. Winter baking need not be entirely cinnamon and cloves and apples and nuts. Lighten your load, bake a bright cake, remind yourself that Spring is on its way
As winter thaws I look through my window and crave a well packed picnic basket. Gingham lining, a nice, dry salami, and a container of lentil salad; this is the picture that soothes my cramped brain. Roast what's left of your winter store of veggies and toss them with lentils for a quick salad.
What sensible person lives without a seasonal cake recipe stashed up their sleeve? Not this gentleman, that's for damn sure. I make this cake no matter the weather, with fruit foraged from the bottom of my refrigerator. Pear and Almond? Divine.
Toast the new year with a charming dinner for two. Elegant and ever so luscious, you'll be happy to stay at home with a friend and a glass of champagne.
Grill some shrimp and throw together this spicy/sweet sauce right now. The new rice noodles from Thai Kitchen cook in a few minutes and you'll have a meal on the table in no time. Get. It. Done.
