toolbox: stock

The foundation for many soups is a broth or stock and is one of the first things you learn as a young chef. Stock is not only easy to make, it’s one of the few things I freeze so as to have the makings of a soup or risotto always at hand. A sufficiently rich and fragrant stock makes a wonderful soup all by itself or can be the base for a wide range of dishes. I use chicken stock in a lot of my cooking and find that the full flavor of a homemade stock cannot compare to a store bought product, especially when you might want to reduce the stock down to intensify the flavor. Some store bought versions when reduced can taste artificial and unpalatable.

At times, I have used a whole chicken to make stock, which may seem extravagant, but it produces a very sweet, fragrant full-bodied stock. After an hour of cooking you can lift the chicken out of the pot and remove the breasts and return the carcass to the pot. The poached breasts are delicately tender and delicious; they make a great meal, especially with a little salsa verde.

But more often than not, I use two free-range organic chickens, in which I take the breast meat as well as the leg and thigh portions off and freeze for later use. I take the remaining carcass with the wings, neck and back and roast for a time until they turn a lovely golden color. I find this brings a wonderful depth of flavor to the stock. I have come across many variations of making stock, some more complex than others. This is one method that I have come to rely upon that results in a beautifully rich, clear and fragrant stock.

Enjoy!
Shannon

Chicken Stock
makes 4 quarts

4-5 lbs. chicken bones, wings, neck and back
3 yellow onions (I leave the skins on)
6 carrots
3 ribs celery
a little olive oil
20 black peppercorns
4 bay leaves
small bunch of thyme
bunch of flat leaf parsley
4 quarts cold water

Preheat the oven to 350°. Lay the chicken pieces on a large baking tray and roast on the top rack of the oven for about 30 minutes until golden brown. Meanwhile, roughly chop the onions, carrots and celery and place in a large stockpot or saucepan. Add the tiniest amount of olive oil and sweat over a low heat until the vegetables soften slightly and start to release their flavors.

When the bones are nicely colored, add them to the vegetables along with the black peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme and parsley. Pour in the water and bring just to the boil. Immediately, turn the heat down to low and cook gently for 1 ½ hours, skimming the foam from the surface every now and then. It is very important that a stock does not boil, as this causes the impurities to be dragged back down into the stock rather than collect on the surface where they can be removed.

At the end of the cooking time, you should have a pure, clean tasting stock. Remove from the heat, and strain through a fine sieve. Use as required. If preparing ahead, cool and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze until needed.

sunday dinner

After reading a recipe for Chicken with Olives by Lidia Bastianich from her cookbook Lidia Cooks From the Heart of Italy, it reminded me of a recipe that I’ve been making for years from the Silver Palate Cookbook called Chicken Marbella. Chicken Marbella not only includes the brine cured green olives like Lidia’s but also has the distinctive flavors of prunes and capers, the combination of which has long been a family favorite. The only draw back on the Silver Palate recipe is that I have to be slightly more organized in my meal planning because the recipe requires overnight marinating.

So for years I have obeyed, not wanting to deviate in the least bit in fear of dry, un-flavorful chicken. Well, I believe I have found a happy medium in following the process in Lidia’s recipe but using the ingredients I’ve come to love from the Silver Palate girls. It must have been skillet simmering that did the trick, turning butter, wine, garlic as well as the capers, olives and prunes into a sauce that tasted, and smelled, as if it had been hours in the making. I served it in shallow bowls, so that every last drop of the flavorful sauce could be sopped up by a crusty french loaf. The result: moist and delicious. Plus, it was a pretty quick throw together for a simple Sunday dinner.

Enjoy!

Shannon

Chicken Marbella My Way

Serves 4

1 3-4 lb. chicken, cut up into 10 pieces

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

5 garlic cloves, peeled and slightly smashed

4 bay leaves, preferably fresh

1 cup brine-cured green olives

1 cup pitted prunes

¼ cup capers with a bit of juice

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup white wine

Rinse the chicken pieces, and pat dry with paper towels. Trim off excess skin and all visible fat. Cut drumsticks off the thighs; cut breast halves into two pieces each. Season chicken all over with salt.

Put olive oil and butter in the pan, and set over medium-low heat. When the butter is melted and hot, lay in the chicken pieces, skin side down, in a single layer; drop the garlic cloves and bay leaves in the spaces between them.

Cover the pan and let the chicken cook over gentle heat, browning slowly and releasing its fat and juices. After about 10 minutes, uncover the pan, turn the pieces, and move them around the pan to cook evenly, and then replace the cover. Turn again in 10 minutes of so and continue cooking covered.

After the chicken has cooked for 30 minutes, scatter the olives, prunes and capers onto the pan bottom, around the chicken. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top of the chicken pieces and pour wine around each piece. Raise the heat so the liquid is bubbling, cover, and cook, gradually concentrating the juices, for about five minutes.

Remove the lid and cook uncovered, evaporating the pan juices, occasionally turning the chicken pieces gently until the pan juices thicken and coat the meat like a glaze.

Turn off heat and serve the chicken right from the skillet, or heap the pieces on a platter or in a shallow serving bowl. Serve with a loaf of crusty bread for sopping up every last wonderful drop.

In Memoriam

Award-winning cookbook author and chef Sheila Lukins passed away on Sunday in her home in Manhattan. Sheila Lukins and her Silver Palate food shop changed the way Americans ate in the early 1980's.

In 1979, Patricia Wells...called it a "tiny food shop with big ideas," referring to it's handmade zucchini pickles and blueberry preserves, made from local produce whenever possible.

Julia Moskin writes in the New York Times, "From a 156-square-foot shop and kitchen at Columbus Avenue and 73rd Street, the women and their recipes-Mediterranean chicken salad, curried butternut squash soup, spicy carrot cake-intrigued, and then guided, the increasingly adventurous palates of New Yorkers."

I have been in possession of my treasured, dog-eared Silver Palate Cookbook for over ten years and have made many a recipe, most of which have become family favorites. From the ginger candied carrots, the pasta puttanesca, beef carbonnade, to my all time favorite, chicken marbella.

The distinctive colors and flavors of chicken marbella include olives, capers and prunes (yes, prunes). It's good hot or at room temperature. The overnight marination is essential to the moistness of the finished product: the chicken keeps and even improves over several days of refrigeration. The recipe below is directly from the cookbook and gives quantities to serve 10-12, but can be successfully divided to make a smaller amount if you wish.

Julia Moskin ended the article saying "when Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso wrote The Silver Palate Cookbook, they offered home cooks a fresh alternative for entertaining. The book's big, sophisticated flavors were produced from accessible ingredients and modest cooking skills, not from French techniques or canned creamed soups. Editors admonished the authors for their exuberant seasoning style. 'No, girls, no,' a copy editor wrote on one recipe. 'No one puts 25 cloves of garlic in ratatouille!' The authors retested the recipe and kept it."

I love that.

So in honor of Sheila here is her famous chicken marbella.

Enjoy!

Shannon


Chicken Marbella
from the Silver Palate Cookbook

4 chicken, 2 1/2 pounds each, quartered
1 head of garlic, peeled and finely puréed
1/4 cup dried oregano
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
1/2 cup caper with a bit of juice
6 bay leaves
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup wine
1/4 cup Italian parsley or fresh coriander (cilantro), finely chopped


1. In a large bowl combine chicken quarters, garlic, oregano, pepper and coarse salt to taste, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers and juice, and bay leaves. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F.

3. Arrange chicken in a single layer in one or two large, shallow baking pans and spoon marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle chicken pieces with brown sugar and pour white wine around them.

4. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, basting frequently with pan juices. Chicken is done when thigh pieces, pricked with a fork at their thickest, yield clear yellow (rather than pink) juice.

5. With a slotted spoon transfer chicken, prunes, olives and capers to a serving platter. Moisten with a few spoonfuls of pan juices and sprinkle generously with parsley or cilantro. Pass remaining pan juices in a sauce boat.