Butterflied Grilled Brined Chicken

Posted on May 7, 2012 by SlowDownAndCook with Meals not So Fast

This is simple and excellent.

  • Prepare a brine of half cup sugar, half cup salt, in 2 quarts of water;
  • Submerge a whole chicken, cover and refrigerate for an hour;

Prepare a very hot barbecue – over 500°f; you will be putting the chicken in the barby on top of foil, lid closed. We have a barbecue that lends itself well to high heat – the length allows fires on either side of that which is to be cooked.

 

  • Remove the bird from brine and rinse well; pat dry and sprinkle Kosher salt over the skin;
  • Cut the spine out of the bird; push the bird flat;
  • Rub an herbed butter under the skin; rub olive oil on the outside of the bird.
  • Place a sheet of foil on the grill away from the coals, and cover with a touch of olive oil.
  • Place the flattened bird on the foil, skin side up; close the lid and cook for 15-20 mins; rotate the bird 180 degrees, and cook for another 10-15 mins; until the breast is 165.

Let the bird rest for about ten minutes. It is fantastic.

Posted in Barbecue, Chicken/Turkey | 1 Comment

Monday Night Meat and Potatoes

Posted on April 17, 2012 by SlowDownAndCook with Meals not So Fast

Made a simple Monday  night dinner:

Market steak was on sale; I bought one large steak and prepped it with Hawaiian salt and ground pepper; seared it three minutes each side in a very hot cast-iron pan, and put it in the oven at 425fº for about 12 minutes;

Potatoes: Par boiled two russet potatoes, skin on, scrubbed clean, for about thirteen minutes; placed them in the freezer for a couple of minutes to firm them; sliced them, and browned them in olive oil and butter;

Pan sauce: one shallot in the steak pan, softened, a little red wine, some stock, a handful of sliced mushrooms, salt and pepper;

Green: frozen peas, steamed.

Was a very simple dinner, not expensive, and excellent.

Posted in Beef, Steak, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Edible Garden 2012

Posted on April 7, 2012 by SlowDownAndCook with Meals not So Fast

We will update this page throughout the season.

It is April 7 and we just made our first garden purchase of the year: parsley – flat leaf Italian and curly. Last year we had moderate success with the parsley in a wine barrel; we will repeat the same with fresh soil added from our compost bin.

4/29

Today, the edible garden begins in earnest.  We are planting the first five tomato plants, pickling cucumbers, and cantaloupe melons. So far, we have not purchased any soil; we found free worm castings on craigslist, we have compost from a couple of years of build-up (and decay), and one bag of fill sand left over from a project (horseshoe pit; UPDATE: fill sand is not good for aeration; Olympia sand or play sand are much better) that I will mix into the main bed for aeration.  On top of the parley, oregano, basil, and peppers, we have the beginnings of a good year.

7/7

We have our first red tomatoes – from the Roma plant, not the early girl. The basil is coming back after a difficult period. Both forms of parsley are doing very well, and, finally, I am having some success with cilantro – not a forest, but harvestable.

8/19

We have started harvesting tomatoes – for about two weeks now. It is the early, sparse production, and the deep sweetness has not set in yet; that said, we have pulled out seven pounds of tomatoes; we are eating the basil, the cilantro, the parsley, the oregano, and, surprisingly, last years pepper plant is producing jalepenos at a good clip.

The cucumber plant has kicking in nicely, so we are planning to make pickles in the fall.

Once again, we have volunteer tomatoes – this year, we culled four volunteers, and they are doing nicely, if a bit behind the purchased plants.

I am planning to pick-up some bat guano this week for the tomatoes; I will post the results.

8/26

Finally added the bat guano today. We have harvested about eight pounds of tomatoes so far.

11/5

Tomatoes are petering out; we have harvested about 24 lbs, and not optomistic about the late season harvest. Many friends, even quite close by, have done very well this year; not sure what happened, but have ideas…

The cucumbers are going nuts; the parsley is excellent; the basil – more than we can eat.

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Pork Roast Dutch Oven Roasted

Posted on April 2, 2012 by SlowDownAndCook with Meals not So Fast

I started with a 2 1/4 lb boneless pork roast. I rubbed it with Hawaiian salt, and rolled the roast in a mix of rosemary and fennel. I let the roast sit in the fridge, wrapped tightly, for two days. I let the roast return to room temperature as I prepped.

  • In a Dutch oven, in very hot olive oil, I browned the roast on all sides. Removed the roast;
  • In the Dutch oven, I added:
    • one onion, sliced
    • two carrots, sliced
    • two cloves of garlic
    • bouquet garni (thyme, parsley, bay leaves)
    • and a touch of white wine
      • soften – ten minutes
  • Returned the roast to the Dutch oven, heated ’till sizzling, added a 1/4 cup more white wine, and put it in a 325°f oven for 1 hour and twenty minutes.
  • Removed the roast; added another 1/4 cup white wine; boiled down, pressed the vegetables and liquids through a strainer; poured the gravy over the pork, sliced, with Rigatoni pasta, and roasted broccoli.
Posted in Roast | Leave a comment