Pasta Salad and a Pool

Yesterday was one of those perfect Sunday afternoons. Kitty was in a "curl up with a book" kind of mood and gave me a yard-pass to hang out by Peter's pool. I packed up a sixer of Abita Turbodog, grabbed my swim trunks and wasted no time high-tailing it over to Rosehill Circle. It was hot and sunny. The beer was so cold that it hurt my teeth and the pool was shimmering wet perfection. After an hour or, the boys started trickling in and we had a genuine all-dude swimfest, complete with cannonball contests and some "throwing of the Zak" for exercise.

To say "thank you" to Rose and Peter for the hospitality (in the only way I know how) I whipped up a big bowl of Pesto Chicken Pasta Salad with fresh basil and wild garlic from my yard. It was good hot, but much better after we let it chill for while.

How could this night get any better you ask? Well...I'll tell you. After dinner and a glass of wine, Peter informed me that he had the DVD of the latest UFC bouts and we watched MMA fighting while we polished off a pottle of Ghost Pines Cabernet.

Thanks Peter! Let's do that again.

A Bit Too Much Rosemary

To quote Britney Spears...DING DANG Y'ALL!*

After the lovely Kitty and I checked out the matinée of Get Him to the Greek (which was a really good movie, by the way), we dropped in on our friends at Colony Wine Market and picked up a few bottles of my new favorite wines made by Chris Ringland and R Wines. This guy does something very special with grapes and I have loved every wine of his that I have tried. Tonight we picked up bottles of Luchador, Strong Arms and Southern Belle. All of these Shiraz beauties have different notes and bite. Kitty loves the jammy and solid Luchador and with the roasted chicken we ate, it was a perfect pairing. My fave is the Southern Belle, a kick-in-the-head, fruity, alcohol bomb that really needs red meat or BBQ to stand up to it.

We got a late start to dinner and I made a compound butter of rosemary, garlic and bacon. It was the first time for this combination and I really overdid it with the rosemary. It gave the breast meat a piny twinge that was overbearing. I want to try this again with about half as much rosemary. I think it will be a winner when I get the mixture figured out. Oh well...you can't win 'em all.

*That is a quote from my favorite Britney, the plump, on drugs, pink wig-wearing, paparazzi car-smashing, Britney who proudly served Doritos to her toddlers and let them wash it down with Dr. Pepper in their bottles. She had the best grocery store feet I've ever seen on a pop star. Man I miss her.

The Lowly Chicken Thigh in a Starring Role

Chicken thighs are the Fred Ward of the culinary world. You've seen 'em in everything but they never get to be the star. If they were in 5th grade P.E. they would be the effeminate, chubby kid with asthma and never get picked first. But why? Dark meat is more flavorful. The thighs have that massive hunk of skin that get crispier than anything else in a Popeye's Bonafide Family Meal and yet...they are passed over for the breast almost universally. What is this obsession with breasts that has grabbed hold of our nation. Has the trend for bigger breasts on everything from models to mommys really gone so far as to skew the popularity of chicken parts? I think so. Turkeys have been bred over time to have such large breasts that they can no longer mate naturally. The physics and the geometry don't work anymore.

To help turn the tide back to thigh-appreciation (and to save some serious money) I love to use chicken thighs in almost every recipe that calls for chicken. I remove the bones and use them as fillets and I love to cook them whole on the grill or in stews, soups and ragouts. Tonight, they went into a big pot of red sauce with some veggie and herb pals and ended up in a bowl over toasted polenta. If you want the recipe, just send me an email (info@ivyanddevine.com)

Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Playing Catch-up

Things have been so busy with the radio and TV stuff that I've neglected my blog. Sorry 'bout that. to help catch up, here are some photos of great food that I shared with great people. If you want recipes, just comment below with your request or shoot me an email at tom@tomramsey.com. Enjoy the photos and captions, I hope to get back in the regular habit of posting daily-ish soon.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

An awesome steak with lobster whipped potatoes and sautéed mushrooms that Kitty and I enjoyed with Mandy and Anders Ferrington.

Strawberries and puffed pastry from the same meal with Mandy and Anders.

A quick Sunday salad for Kitty this past weekend. I stuffed all of this in some focaccia and made a panini for myself. I ate it before I remembered to take a picture. Maybe next time.

Messy, burgery goodness from Lucy and Al Sabin's cookout on Saturday. It was the perfect way for Kitty and I to celebrate her return home from Muncie.

Ham and veggies from Easter Sunday. I got a big kick out of a friend of mine asking me after Easter Sunday church, "So what are you cooking for Easter dinner?" When I replied, "I have no idea, I guess I figure it out when I get to McDade's and see what is on sale." I thought they were going to faint right there in the Nave of St. Andrew's. Can you guess what was on sale?

For no apparent reason, other than I had defrosted two chickens, Kitty and I had a little dinner party last week. I made a lemon and mushroom risotto to go with my standard roasted chickens with compound butter. It was one of those great nights when everyone lingered over the dirty dishes and the conversations were lively long after the dessert was all gone. We had just the right mix of people and the evening will remain a fond memory for quite some time.

It Just Never Gets Old

Our quasi-adopted, full-grown son spent the night with us again last night and surprise, surprise...I roasted a whole chicken. Actually I roasted two since Sanford also brought his Mississippi First co-conspirator, Rachel Hicks with him for dinner and we had all three boys at home. I made a pan sauce by reducing the drippings with some wine, peach preserves, apple cider vinegar and a paw-full of pecans. It was a great meal and we had a fantastic time. The boys were quite entertained listening to all of us growed-folks tell stories about when we were in high school. I don't know what I would eat if they stopped making whole chickens. I just cant get fired up about the whole boneless, skinless thing.
Bon Appetit!

~Tom

Meal Inspired by a Facebook Message

I got a facebook note from my friend Rose Casano (yes, of Rose & Peter Fame). She gave me the huge compliment of rating my food above that of the venerable New Orleans institution, Galatoire's. Although I'm more of an Antoine's guy, I certainly appreciated the sentiment of her post. One of my favorite dishes from Galatoire's (their version is actually better than Antoine's) is Chicken Clemenceau. The dish is très Français and takes its name from Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929), a French statesman who became the French Premier in 1906. It has few ingredients, but is complex to perfect and when done properly is a real delight. The traditional dish is chicken (bone-in) cooked with mushrooms, potatoes and peas. The only chicken I had in the fridge was boneless, skinless chicken breast so I improvised the dish and made a pasta-homage to Monsieur Clemenceau. Everyone was pleased with the dish and I was able to take a brief mind/mouth-vacation to the Crescent City.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Italian Slow Food and an American Movie

Our daughter Katharine returned home from George Washington University yesterday afternoon and our "Other Son" Sanford was also in town for a Mississippi First board meeting. So, even though Whit and Zak were not home, we still had a full table for dinner. I made the most out of our nearly-crowded house and made some chicken thighs in a red sauce and served them over roasted slices of eggplant. It's one of those dishes that has lots of steps and takes all day, but the end result is fantastic. After dinner, we sat around the living room and watched The Hangover. I'm still laughing today. It was a great night of family, friends and laughter. Nights like that are the reason I cook.

Bon Appetit!

~Tom

Another Quick Lunch

I returned home from a delightful interview with Cynthia Walls from Mississippi Digital Daily and a great visit with my friend Josh Hailey (who just returned from eating his way across Argentina) and I found Stuart sprawled out on the sofa, watching Law & Order with his injured leg elevated. He was hungry and looked far too sad to eat take-out so I did the next best thing...I made fast food Tijuana style. 

All across Mexico, you can find little trailers and carts with a flat-top griddle, a tortilla press and a couple of folks slinging out great eats for very little money. What they offer is simple, tasty meals of tortillas, some type of meat cooked with aromatic spices, and perhaps some onions and peppers sautéed alongside the meat.  They take your order, assemble what you asked for and hand it to you, unceremoniously and without a plate. When you eat at a place like this, you don't bother with a table and instead just stand there on the street corner and stuff your face before returning to whatever it was you were doing before you got hungry. 


One red onion, one chicken breast and several tortillas later, Stuart was full and I got to play Matamoros short-order cook for a little while. Everyone was happy.


Bon Appetit!
~Tom

More Roasted Chicken

I just love to cook whole chickens. They are so easy and just taste so good. I think I made this one Saturday night with Yukon gold potatoes and baby lima beans. The recipe is the same one as I used in the chicken video lesson.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Video Lesson 1, Roasted Chicken with Herbed Compound Butter

What's in the Fridge? Soup, that's what!

It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog or has ever taken an Ivy & Devine cooking lesson, I love to make soup when the fridge is full of leftovers. Friday night, Kitty and I had dinner with our friends Sid & Mandy. We had a whole roasted chicken along with some mushroom rice pilaf. That left me with some leftover chicken and some mushrooms. A quick check of the fridge turned up some aromatic vegetables and excess milk (the boys were not here this weekend). A peek in the pantry led me to some brown and wild rice from Rainbow and there you have it...soup. I learned from Kitty that our neighbor, Rachel, was at home taking care of her oldest, Jude, who had recently done a header into a door frame and was sporting some sweet stitches on his noggin. Not to mention the fact that her husband was traveling and she is also a new mom. Tom and his soup to the rescue. This is why I cook. Remember people Food=Love!
Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Smoky Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

1 lb. smoked bacon

½ roasted chicken

32 oz. chicken stock    

32 oz. whole milk

1 cup brown and wild rice mix

2 portabella mushrooms

2 medium yellow onions

4 stalks celery

1 whole garlic pod

1 leek

1 bunch green onions

1 stalk fennel

1 tsp. thyme

2 tsp. oregano

3 whole bay leaves

½ bunch parsley

Black pepper

Sea Salt

Prep

Finely chop parsley, onions, celery, mushrooms, fennel bottom, leek bottom and green onion. Pull chicken from bones and chop into small pieces. Slice bacon into 1” pieces. Slice ¼ though the top of the garlic pod, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and wrap in aluminum foil. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook

Place foil-wrapped garlic in oven and cook for 20 minutes. Heat a large stock pot over medium heat and add bacon. Cook until most of the fat is rendered from the bacon and bacon begins to crisp slightly. Add onions, celery, leek, fennel, green onion, thyme, oregano and bay leaves and cook until onion is translucent. Add rice, chicken and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add chicken stock and mushrooms. Remove roasted garlic from oven and allow to cool. Squeeze the pod over the pot, adding the roasted cloves to the soup. Bring the liquid to a light boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook at a light simmer for 30 minutes. Warm milk in microwave and add to the soup. Cook for an additional ten minutes or until soup is hot.

Plate

Serve hot in a shallow bowl and garnish with parsley.

(Serves 8)

Dinner with Sid & Mandy

Yesterday I was really in a mood to cook a big meal (yes, I know that may shock some of you). I sent an email out to the usual suspects and learned that by going to our friends Sid & Mandy's house to cook dinner I would not only be satisfying my urge to cook but also rescuing Mandy from a dinner of hot dogs. Don't get me wrong, I love hot dogs, but it sounded like Mandy was not at all in a mood for Coneys. I had no idea what I wanted to cook, so I went to the market with an open mind. I stared at the fish counter for a while and didn't see anything that struck my fancy, so I meandered over to the meat section. Pork? Nah, I practiced that MasterChef pork dish for a whole week and got burned out on swine. Beef? Just not feelin' it. Lamb? Interesting, but no. Veal? Again, just not feelin' the love. Chicken? Maybe...I just don't know. 

Feeling a bit lackluster about the proteins (I honestly do think like this. Should I go to some kind of meeting?) I wandered over to the produce section and spotted a mountain of Acorn Squash. Now the wheels started turning! Roasted squash...yes. Chicken roasted with rosemary...yes. Mushroom rice...yes. Brussels Sprouts with Roasted Almonds...yes, yes, yes! With a menu in mind and new shoes on my feet, I tore through the store, grabbing up what I needed and even found that whole chickens were on sale for $0.98/pound. That was a sign of good Karma.


Earlier in the week, one of my lobbying clients brought me a load of great beer and a picked a few monster bottles of Abita Andygator to go with the chicken dinner. Kitty get herself all dolled up and fixed her wig just right and we headed out to the wilds of Northeast Jackson.


When we arrived, Sid had whipped up some kind of yummy tapenade to go with the Calmata Olives and bruschetta he had set out for us. We cracked a bottle of Andygator for us boys and a bottle of Parados Malbec for the girls and whipped up a feast. The only thing better than the food was the company and the entertainment provided by 4-year-old Walker, who demonstrated some pretty amazing skill with a light saber. During dinner, we learned that our good friend Monte had won about twenty or so Addy awards that night and naturally celebrated by popping the cork on more Andygator and Parados. I have a feeling that we'll be doing this again quite soon.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom
Chicken Roasted with Rosemary

1 Whole Chicken

½ Stick Unsalted Butter

2 Tbsp. Fresh Rosemary

2 Cloves Garlic

1 tsp. Sea Salt

½ tsp. Black Pepper

2 tsp. Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning

1 Lemon

½ Bunch Parsley

Prep

Remove giblets from cavity of chicken and pat dry. Finely chop parsley, rosemary, and garlic. Add rosemary, garlic, black pepper and ¼ tsp. salt to butter and mix thoroughly. Take a spoonful of butter and slide it between the skin and the breast of the chicken. Repeat this process until all of the butter is under the chicken skin. Slightly press the chicken skin so that the butter spreads evenly. Truss the chicken tightly with kitchen twine. Rub in remaining sea salt and Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning. Preheat oven to 400°.

Cook

Place the trussed chicken in a roasting dish, preferably with a rack insert. Roast in the oven, uncovered until an instant-read thermometer, inserted into the thigh, reads 160° and the juices run clear (usually 1 ½ hours for a medium sized chicken).

Plate

Allow the chicken to rest for at least 15 minutes. Carve chicken and place on a warm plate. Top with pan sauce and squeeze lemon juice over chicken. Sprinkle with parsley to garnish.

(serves 6)

Pan Sauce

Pan drippings from chicken

Red wine

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pats

Pour the liquids from the roasting pan into a saucepan, along with any of the browned bits you can scrape from the roasting pan. Combine with an equal part of red wine and cook over medium heat until reduced to 1/4 of its original volume. Remove from heat and mount the sauce with cold butter, swirling the sauce until the butter is fully incorporated.

Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Almonds

24 fresh Brussels Sprouts

¼ cup salted toasted almonds

¼ stick butter

Sea salt

½ tsp. black pepper

Paprika

Prep

Trim the bottom of the Brussels Sprouts and remove the first couple of leaves. Slice sprouts in half from top to bottom. Finely chop almonds.

Cook

Blanch the sprouts in boiling water for 2 minutes and immediately shock with cold water to stop the cooking. Drain the sprouts in a colander and pat dry with a towel. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add butter. When the butter melts and begins to brown and foam, add almonds and cook for one minute. Add sprouts and season with black pepper. Cook until just tender and the sprouts are slightly colored. Check for saltiness and add sea salt if necessary.

Plate

Serve hot and garnish with a small amount of paprika.

(Serves 6)

Roasted Acorn Squash

2 whole acorn squash

¼ cup olive oil

1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary

Sea Salt

Black pepper

Prep

Finely chop fresh rosemary. Slice squash in half, through the equator, not from top to bottom. Scoop out seeds and cut into rings. Cut rings in half so that you now have crescent shaped pieces of squash. In a large mixing bowl, toss squash with oil and season with rosemary, salt and pepper. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook

Arrange squash on a sheet pan so that they are all lying flat and not crowding the pan. Roast for 30 minutes or until fork tender.

Plate

Serve hot.

(Serves 6)

Mushroom Rice Pilaf

1 ½  cups basmati rice

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup fresh mushrooms

1 medium shallot

4 cloves garlic

½ tsp. thyme

2 Tbsp. butter

½ bunch parsley

½ tsp.

Sea Salt

Prep

Thinly slice mushrooms and shallot. Finely chop parsley and garlic. Reserve one sliced mushroom for garnish.

Cook

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add butter. When the butter melts and begins to foam, add garlic and shallots and cook until garlic is slightly colored. Add rice and stir until each grain is coated with butter. Add thyme and black pepper and stir until evenly distributed. Add enough chicken stock to cover the rice and stir frequently. Continue adding chicken stock, a small amount at a time until is all absorbed by the rice and the rice is fully cooked. Taste and add salt accordingly.

Plate

Serve hot and garnish with sliced mushroom and parsley.

Frying Without Wheat Flour

Since Kitty and Zak can no longer have any wheat products, I have had to learn some new tricks in the kitchen. My first attempt at home-made, fried chicken tenders turned out pretty good, if I must say so myself. I used a mixture of 2/5 rice flour, 2/5 potato flour and 1/5 chia seed flour (yes, the stuff that makes hair grow on a Chia Pet can be made into flour) as my dry mix. I used a typical dry/wet/dry battering technique and fried the chicken in a black-iron skillet with 350 degree canola oil. The texture of the batter was very crisp and almost like corn meal. As a matter of fact, Kitty asked me if I had used yellow or white corn meal in the recipe. The chicken got devoured before I could get a pretty "plated" shot of it, so here is how it looked on the cooling rack, right out of the skillet. I served it with basmati rice and Hot Pepper Jezebel Sauce.
Bon Appetit!
~Tom
Hot Pepper Jezebel Sauce

1 16 oz. jar hot pepper jelly*

1 16 oz. jar apple jelly

½ cup horseradish

1 Tbsp. dry mustard

2 Tbsp. Creole Mustard

2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

2 Tbsp. honey

Mix all ingredients with a hand or stand mixer until fully blended. Store sauce in a glass jar in refrigerator.

*Tabasco makes a good commercial hot pepper jelly.

Gluten-free Fried Chicken Tenders

2 Tbsp. Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning

2 lbs. boneless chicken breast tenders

½ cup potato flour

½ cup rice flour

¼ cup chia seed flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp. dried tarragon

3 large eggs

¼ cup buttermilk

Prep

In a large mixing bowl, combine all flours, salt, pepper and tarragon. Mix thoroughly. Combine buttermilk and eggs and whip until frothy and completely blended. Pat dry and liberally season chicken tenders with Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees.

Cook

Individually dredge the chicken tenders in flour, then in the egg mixture and again in the flour and set aside on a dry plate or a sheet pan covered in parchment paper. This is known as a dry/wet/dry battering technique.

Heat about 1”-1 ½” inches of canola oil in a heavy black iron skillet until the oil reaches 350 degrees. You may also use a countertop deep fryer set to 350 degrees. Cook six or so tenders at a time, making sure not to crowd the pan. Cooke until golden brown on both sides and until the chicken is completely done in the center. Be careful not to overcook the chicken. I generally cook two tenders at first to gauge the cooking time and then repeat the proper results. As each batch comes out of the grease, place them on a rack, over a roasting pan in the oven to stay warm until all of the tenders are done.

Plate

Serve with Hot Pepper Jezebel Sauce.

(Serves 6)

Practicing What I Preach (sort-of)

Last night I grabbed a $1 cheeseburger at McDonald's on my way home from a speaking engagement in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I won't bore you with the pictures. Suffice it to say that the burger was mediocre at best. I was not however disappointed since it tasted exactly how I expected and provided me with enough energy to get home and go to sleep.
Wednesday night I took my own advice from the day's blog entry and whipped up a chicken breast without any notion of a recipe. I had some chicken in the freezer, some cream in the fridge and some chicken stock in the pantry (didn't feel like thawing out the homemade stuff). I put that together with a pouch of frozen butter beans and some basmati rice. It wasn't haute cuisine, but everyone was happy, the sauce was rich and it went nicely with the leftover bottle of Parados Malbec that was sitting on the dining room table in the cool  chef-thingy I got for Christmas from my in-laws. Despite the fact that I didn't use a recipe to cook the dish, I did remember what went into it and even took the time to write it down. here is my recipe for no-recipe chicken. If you want to get all fussy and go lower-cal, you could substitute milk for cream. It just won't taste as good. Instead, I would recommend just pouring a little less sauce on the chicken and none on the rice. That stuff tastes great without any sauce. Or you could hide your TV remote and chase the kids around the yard for a while to burn off the extra calories from the cream. Or you could just not worry about it and cook something extra light the next night. Or you could eat cream with every meal and just COMPLETELY stop snacking on junk between meals. Wow - I'm preachy tonight. Sorry about that.
Bon Appetit!

~Tom
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts with Cream Pan Sauce

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 Tbsp. olive oil

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 tsp. Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning Blend

¼ cup chicken stock

¼ cup heavy cream 

2 green onions

Prep

Liberally season chicken breasts with Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning Blend. Chop green onions. Set stock out and allow it to come to room temperature while cooking the chicken.

Cook

Heat a large iron skillet over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp. butter and olive oil to skillet. When the butter foams and begins to brown, add chicken smooth side down first and cook until done, turning only once. This should take about 5 minutes for each side. Remove the chicken from the heat and either wrap in foil or place in a bowl, covered with foil. Deglaze the pan with ¼ cup chicken stock, loosening any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When stock is reduced by ½ of its original volume, add cream and reduce by ½. Reduce heat to low and add to the sauce any liquid that has accumulated in the bowl or foil pouch of cooked chicken breasts plus the remaining 2 Tbsp. of butter. Stir with a spoon or whisk until the butter is completely incorporated in the sauce.

Plate

Place the cooked breasts over a starch (rice, potatoes etc.) in the center of the plate and drizzle over the top with the sauce. Garnish with chopped green onions.

(Serves 6)

Cold Weather Cooking

With the temps diving below freezing and into the teens, I start to think about a hot bowl of hearty soup. Tonight, I worked my way through the fridge and came up with this dish to combat the chill. I hope you enjoy it!

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

2 cups jasmine or basmati rice

½ gallon whole milk

2 quarts rich chicken stock

4 Tbsp. olive oil

1 large yellow onion

1 whole pod garlic

1 bunch celery

2 medium zucchini

1 bunch broccoli

1 bunch green onions

2 Tbsp. mushroom base*

3 boneless chicken breasts

2 tsp. Ivy & Devine Poultry Spice Blend

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

Tabasco hot sauce

Prep

Roughly chop onions, celery, zucchini and broccoli. Finely chop green onions. Cube chicken into 1” pieces and season with Ivy & Devine Poultry Spice Blend. Slice ¼ inch from the top of the garlic, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and wrap in foil. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook

Place foil wrapped garlic on center rack of the hot oven. Heat a large stock pot over medium heat. Add 2 Tbsp. olive oil and when the oil is hot, add onions and cook until translucent. Add rice and stir until each grain is coated with oil. Add remaining vegetables (not green onions) and cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Add enough stock to cover rice and vegetables.

While the rice is simmering, in a separate skillet, brown seasoned chicken pieces in 2 Tbsp. of olive oil until colored on both sides. Transfer browned chicken to pot with rice, vegetables and stock. Add more chicken stock and raise temperature to medium-high until the liquid just starts to boil. Reduce heat back to medium.

Remove garlic from oven and squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the stock pot. Add mushroom base.

When the rice is soft, reduce heat to low and add remaining stock and enough milk to fill the pot nearly to the top. Continue cooking until all of the liquid is hot. Season to taste with salt, pepper and hot sauce.

Plate

Ladle soup into a large bowl and sprinkle the top with chopped green onions and paprika.

(Serves 8 to 10)

* I like a brand called Better than Bouillon. 

Back Home Again

We returned home from our trip to Kitty's family's home in Cleveland, Mississippi today and the easiest thing I could think of to cook was a whole roasted chicken. I rubbed the bird down with the new Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning, trussed it up and popped it in a 400 degree oven for about 1.5 hours. I pured off most of the fat and deglazed the pan with some chicken broth and mounted the sauce with a pat of butter. After letting it rest, we served with some Italian Pole Beans and tall glass of diet coke. No fuss cooking that hit the spot.

Bon Appetit!
~Tom

Testing the New Poultry Rub

This week, I received a package in the mail from the company that blends our Ivy & Devine spices. In it was a sample of the new poultry and seafood blends. Last night I tried out the poultry mix on a whole chicken, cooked on the grill (indirect heat) with a pecan limb thrown in for some smokey flavor.

To truly test the blend, I used nothing on the chicken other than a healthy dose of the spice mix, so the recipe is very simple. Enjoy!

Spice Rubbed Chicken

2 Tbsp. Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning Blend
1 Whole chicken

Prep
Remove neck and organs from the cavity of the chicken. Pat dry with a paper towel, inside and out. Thoroughly rub the bird, inside and out, with Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning Blend. Work the seasoning blend under the skin on the breast. Truss the bird to secure wings and legs. Light charcoal grill, gas grill or preheat oven to 400degrees. If cooking on a charcoal grill, make sure to put the hot coals only on one side, opposite the vent hole or stack. If using a gas grill, preheat only one side and leave the other in the off position.

Cook
Place the bird on the grill (indirect method) or in the hot oven. Cook until internal temperature of the thigh reaches 180 degrees and juices run clear. For a medium bird this could be from an hour and a half to an hour and forty five minutes. This may vay greatly depending on the heat of the grill and the size of the bird. I strongly suggest that you don't worry so much about the time and concentrate on the internal temp.

Plate
Carve chicken into quarters and serve on a warm plate.

Tonight's Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 stalks celery
2 green bell peppers
1 large yellow onion
1 bunch green onions
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp. Garam Masala powder
3 Tbsp. Madras curry powder
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1 cup Basmati rice
2 cups water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. butter

Prep
Roughly chop onions, bell peppers and celery. Cut chicken into 1" cubes. Finely chop green onions.

Cook
In a stock pot or large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat until it begins to smoke. Add chicken and brown on all sides. Add onions, celery, and bell peppers. Cook vegetables until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, coconut milk, salt, spices and chicken stock and bring to simmer. Add peanut butter and sugar. Cook for 30 minutes until liquid is reduced by 1/4 of its original volume.

In a medium saucepan, combine rice and two cups of water and bring to a boil. reduce heat, cover and cook for 18 minutes.

Plate
Spoon rice into a shallow bowl and top with curry. Garnish with green onions and raisins (if desired).