Dark Days Lunches (with a little cheating)

It wasn't easy to pick a meal this week to dedicate to the Dark Days Challenge.  For some reason I kept changing my plans at the last minute and adding in an ingredient that made the meal not quite qualify.  So in place of one fully local plate I give you my past two lunches, each with one glaringly not locally sourced ingredient but lots of local flavor.

First we have yesterday's Sunshine Chicken with roasted roots.  I used a whole chicken from Hubbell Farm, which I broke down, the wings are pictured.  I shared this recipe back when I first started blogging and my family and I still love it.  Of course it calls for lemons and my lemon tree croaked right after I got one batch of fruit from it but they are in season and organic.  The root vegetables I roasted this time were turnips, beets, parsnips and onion-- a very good combination.  They came from 9 Bean Rows and vendors of The Saturday Farmers Market at the Village.  I cooked the roots in Hubbell Farm's turkey shmaltz.

And today's lunch was lamb arm chops from Starlight Hill Farms served with a variation on this cherry tomato salad.  I used kale, turnip greens and red onion from my 9 Bean Rows winter CSA share but couldn't resist the totally out of season cherry tomatoes John brought home.  I dressed the salad with verjus from Black Star Farms, lots of dried spearmint from my garden (re-hydrated in the verjus), salt, pepper and Higher Grounds olive oil.  You can see the distinctive oil label glowing in today's fantastic sunshine in the background of the photograph.

*Both of these meals fit the requirements of my January Whole 30

Visit Not Dabbling In Normal on Sundays for the round up of Dark Days meals. You can also visit our coordinator at Unearthing this Life to see some of our Midwest group entres.  

Chicken Livers and Onions

In addition to following the Whole 30 rules for January I also pledged to eat at least one meal a week with organ meats.  Why should you consider eating organ meats?  A big reason for me is wanting to respect the animal that gave its life for you by wasting as little as possible but there are also plenty of health benefits.  While I will eat beef liver occasionally and I liked the beef heart we got with our quarter steer, my favorite and one of the easiest organ meats to find and prepare are chicken livers.

When I was a kid my parents served chicken livers in their spaghetti sauce and I still love them that way, although now on top of sauteed zucchini.  While in college and while dating John I was coming out of my vegetarian years and learned a new way to eat chicken livers. The Metro Detroit area is teaming with good Middle Eastern restaurants and a favorite of ours back in "the dating years" was the Pita Cafe in Oak Park, MI.  At the corner of Greenfield and 696, we passed this restaurant on the way to and from our two homes too many times to count.   Great hummus, good lentil soup (smooth or chunky), juices, and fantastic chicken livers made up our meals there.

They served their chicken livers fried with onions, jalapenos, and lots of olive oil with a side of rice pilaf topped with parsley and toasted almonds.  Lemons were served on the side to squeeze on. You had to be careful to ask for the dish "mild" or they would blow your head off with the jalapenos!   I've updated this to use my Sorta Gremolata from my freezer and keep the dish Whole 30 compatible.  I'm also an even bigger wuss about spicy food now but feel free to overload yours with jalapenos!

Chicken Livers and Onions

Rinse and dry your chicken livers well.  Lately I soak them in a brine for a few hours but I haven't decided if it makes a big enough difference in the taste.  Slice a couple of sweet onions.  Heat up a skillet and add fat of your choice.  I used chicken fat but have used olive oil in the past.  Fry the onions with salt and pepper until caramelized.  Remove the fried onions from the pan and set aside.  Add more fat if needed and fry the chicken livers until done.  Don't forget to season them and don't overcook them!   Toss the onions and livers together and top with defrosted "gremolata" balls.  *If you don't have the "gremolata" you could substitute some chopped parsley with garlic, lemon zest and juice. Finish with some toasted chopped almonds and a squeeze of lemon juice. Wonderful served with a green salad dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

Dark Days Roasted Chicken and Root Vegetables

My entry for this week's Dark Days of Winter Challenge is a basic meal for us: roast chicken with roasted vegetables, in this case roasted root vegetables.  The chicken is from Hubbell Farm.  The vegetables were all bought at this past Saturday's farmer's market at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons.  This batch included turnips, beets, onions, rutabaga and celeriac.  They came from Birch Point Farm, Providence Farm, and Blackbird Gardens.  I seasoned the chicken with dried sage from my garden and rubbed it with molasses (not local but organic) and some more of my saved turkey schmaltz from Thanksgiving.  The vegetables were also roasted with sage, salt and turkey schmaltz.

Posts will be recapped starting this Sunday at Not Dabbling In Normal though it won't include my group (the Midwest) until the 18th. Until then you can visit our Midwest coordinator at Unearthing this Life or check out the blogs of the participants.  Here is a list of the other Midwest Dark Days bloggers:

Small Wonder Farm

20 Something Allergies

Happy Home

The Local Cook

Detroit Cooks

The Frugal Homestead

Mother’s Kitchen

Our Happy Acres

Dee Dee managing via comments and email

Stock tip

Fall has officially arrived and that means there is cider in my fridge. The first thought I had when I saw the cider is that I need to make some chicken stock. Whenever I have cider in the house I add some to my stocks, either chicken or vegetable. The touch of sweetness and acid help make the tastiest soup broth. I gathered up all of the old and wilting aromatics in the fridge, picked some herbs and with a whole chicken I had made a big pot of stock. I added a splash of cider at the beginning and then at the end I tasted it for seasoning and added another small splash. It'll make your soup stocks fantastic!

Now, on to my second thought upon seeing the cider...I need caramel apples and donuts!

*Update: I haven't made the trip to either place yet but I called and you can get unpastruized cider at Verellen Orchards in Romeo, as well as Dexter Cider Mill for those closer to Ann Arbor.

Sunshine Chicken Thighs

Top Chef was fairly uninteresting last night. I was really disappointed that the gorilla team the vegetarian animal as their theme didn't even bother to make all vegetarian fare. Why not rise to the occasion? At least it seemed as though the worst dish was voted out: Black Olive Blinis with Mascarpone and Rutabaga?? That just sounds awful and apparently they were cold as well. The only dish that piqued my interest this week was Mark's: MARINATED ANCHOVY ON A QUINOA CROQUETTE The recipe seems incomplete but has a nice picture of the plate. I'll admit to having a fear of small fish. I like them and would like to eat more of them but I have no idea what to do with them at home.
What I have been cooking at home lately is this turmeric-lemon chicken. I always thought of turmeric as just a spice for coloring but it has a pungent-bitter flavor of it's own that I think is wonderful with lemon. The tumeric gives the chicken a vivid yellow color as well. Here's the recipe:

Sunshine Chicken Thighs
This recipe also works with other cut-up chicken on the bone but is best with thighs.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 - 1 1/2 pound of chicken thighs, with skin and bone
1 lemon,
4 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
Directions
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
-Peel the garlic cloves place in a roasting pan with the chicken thighs (chicken should be in one layer). Slice the lemon into 4 slices. Squeeze the lemons on top of the chicken and then place the squeezed lemons into the roasting pan. Sprinkle on the spices and salt and drizzle on the oil. Rub the spices into the chicken.
-Place the roasting pan into the oven and roast for 20 minutes.
-Remove the roasting pan and baste the chicken with the drippings.
-Place the pan back in the oven and increase the heat to 425 degrees. Roast for another 25-30 minutes until tender and golden brown.
-Optional: Smash the roasted garlic cloves into the pan drippings and drizzle over the finished chicken.
http://www.grouprecipes.com/45198/sunshine-chicken-thighs.html

My favorite roast chicken

I've been looking through and trying a lot of recipes on Group Recipes for several months now and I've decided to try and post more recipes of my own. That I've had more ideas that I want to post is the main reason I started this blog. So here's my lastest entry:

I think this is the best way to roast a chicken. The molasses ensures that it will have a deep, rich, caramelized/roasted flavor and awesome skin!


Roast Chicken with Mahogany Skin
by Maggie
This is my favorite way to roast chicken. It's great roasted in the oven or even better on a grill or counter-top rotisserie. The skin is to die for and the meat is always juicy and flavorful.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon blackstrap (dark) molasses
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 whole chicken *see note
Fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, sage, oregano, rosemary)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.



2. Mix together molasses, oil, salt, black pepper, and garlic in a small bowl.



3. Smear the inside of the chicken's cavity with ~1/3 of the mixture.



4. Stuff the cavity with the fresh herbs. Smear the outside of the chicken with the remaining mixture. Truss the chicken, if desired.



5. Roast the chicken until the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reads 165 degrees F. For a small fryer start checking temperature after 45 minutes.



6. Allow chicken to rest 10-15 minutes before carving.



7. Enjoy that mahogany skin!

*I've used roasters (5-7 lb chickens) and broilers/fryers (2-1/2 to 5 pounds) with this recipe. Both work well, but when I want to use my rotisserie I'm stuck with the fryers because nothing else will fit. Of course cooking time will vary depending on the size of your bird.