First, you start with a chicken...

I do most of the cooking in our house, and have done so ever since I met my wife, so I have a certain amount of sympathy for people who complain about not having the time to cook. I don't think it's ever impossible to find the time, but as my family has grown, I've found that my time has shrunk.
I mean, before we had kids, I had all the time in the world to cook, and I can definitely remember times when we ate pretty late, since I could afford to think about cooking things that were more involved. Even after we had kids, it wasn't really until the kids started having evening activities (gymnastics, horseback riding, the pool...) that I got cramped for time. Add in the natural pickiness of kids, which turns dinner into a crap shoot sometimes (I mean seriously, the things kids won't eat is amazing, and I could easily turn this into a boring post about kids and the mysteries of their dislikes), and I can come around to the idea of quick and easy meals.

So, that's the perfect segue to lead into the subject for this post, chicken. What I want to do is show how I try to make dinner a little easier and faster in our house, and I hope to show this by doing a chicken in 3 stages. The first stage is today, hence the title of this post.

One of the great merits of chicken is its simplicity and versatility. Off the top of my head, I think you can grill it, roast it, cut it up and bake it, fry it, and a bunch of other things. For today, since I'm trying to be fast, I decided to butterfly and grill my chicken.

1. I took the chicken below, and removed the insides:


2. Then, I cut along one side of the backbone...


3. And then down the other to remove the back bone, which goes in the same bag with the "inside stuff" for later.


4. Then I took my chef's knife, and split the breast bone to "butterfly" the chicken:





5. Since I was grilling it, I decided to rub the bird down with some achiote seasoning I got in the Hispanic section of the grocery. (That's why the bird is orange in this pic).


6. Then I went to the pool, because my youngest always wants to go to the pool.

7. After I got back from the pool, I fired up the grill, and seared the breast side over a high heat for about 4 minutes or so, just to brown the skin. Then I turned off two of the burners, moved the chicken so that it would cook indirectly, and covered the grill. 40-45 minutes later, it 's done once a thermometer registers 165deg in the breast (180 in the dark meat).

8. While that was cooking, I made some easy sides, rice and some zucchini.
For the zucchini, I cut it lengthwise into 1/4" slices (or thereabouts), and sliced some onions, and then tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Then I grilled them on the grill for a couple minutes per side, and then mixed it all together, like so:


So there you go. An easy chicken recipe, plus rice and green veg, all in less than hour (roughly), and with not a whole lot of cleanup, since everything except the rice went on the grill.
And this is the remains of the day

Here are the formal recipes:

Grilled butterflied chicken:
3 1/2 - 4 lb whole chicken
achiote seasoning (or coarse salt and freshly ground pepper)

Remove the giblets and neck, and rinse the chicken inside and out under water. Pat dry with paper towels.
Butterfly the chicken by cutting along one side of the backbone, and then the other (to remove the backbone), and then using the tip of your chef's knife (or some other heavy sharp knife), split the breastbone (but do not cut all the way the through). Turn over the chicken and press down on the chicken to flatten. Rub all over with the seasoning of your choice. If using charcoal, build a fire on one side of the grill, and wait until coals are ready (white). If using gas, turn heat to high on all burners until grill is hot, and then clean grill with grill brush, and brush grill with an oily paper towel (using tongs). Sear chicken, breast side down, over hot part of grill until skin is browned. If using gas, turn off two burners, move chicken to that side, and cover grill. If using charcoal, move chicken to the side of the grill without coals, and cover the grill. Temperature should be 375-400deg. The chicken will be done when a thermometer registers 165deg in the breast, 180deg in the thigh.


Rice:
1 cup white rice
2 cups water

Combine water and rice in a saucepan, and heat water to boiling. Reduce heat to lower, cover, and cook for 25 minutes. Season to taste.

Grilled Zucchini and Onions:
2-3 zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/8-1/4" slices
1/2 white onion, sliced into 3/8" slices
olive oil
coarse salt
freshly ground pepper

Using toothpicks (or skewers), skewer onion slices so that they stay together during grilling.
Drizzle zucchini and onions with olive oil in a bowl, and toss gently to cover. Season with salt and pepper. (It's important to be somewhat liberal with the salt, and to use coarse salt, not table salt, or the texture won't be right).
On a hot grill (over all burners on a gas grill set to high, or the hot part of a charcoal grill), lay zucchini slices and onion slices. Grill on each side for 2-4 minutes, or until a good set of grill marks is on both sides, and the zucchini is tender, and the onions are still slightly crunchy.
Remove the vegetables from the grill, and combine onion and zucchini in a bowl, after removing toothpicks from the onions. Using a knife, cut up zucchini and onions into smaller chunks.

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Music Break...

Yes, another non-food, non-beer post. I'm working on a food related post that should be up in a day or two, but for now, my legions of loyal subscribers (all 2 of you) will have to be happy with this.
I've been on a music binge lately, getting a number of new albums in the last couple of weeks. It started when I got the new Arcade Fire album (Neon Bible). Ok, it was new to me. I really liked their previous album, and had enjoyed all the tracks I heard on Sirius, so I figured this was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, I'm really not digging it. I think what's turning me off is that the production completely stinks. Most of the songs sound very muddy, and it's keeping me from getting into it. I listened to it a couple of times after getting it, and then put it on the shelf. Maybe I just need to give it another listen. I dunno.

Then I got the new Raconteurs album (Consolers of the Lonely), which is a pretty darn good album. It's a little less power-poppy than their previous (which is both good and bad), and it's kind of eclectic. It's a good album, but man, I'd hate to be in a band with Jack White. I mean, he's a great musician and everything, but it seems like the Raconteurs are less of a "super group" and more of "Jack White + 3 other guys no one's heard of", and the album definitely seems to reflect his vision.

We all have guilty musical pleasures, and one of mine is metal. I love loud music in general, and sometime the only kind of music that will do is just heavy heavy metal. So, my next purchase was Mastodon's Leviathan. This is one heavy album, and it's basically a musical version of Moby Dick. While that would ordinarily sound like something to poke fun of, in this band's hands it gets carried off pretty well. It doesn't hurt that they have one kick-ass drummer. I mean, the guy just whales on the drums.

Finally, I got the new My Morning Jacket album, Evil Urges . I loved their last album (Z), and I really like this one too (give me a couple of weeks to fall in love with it). It's not quite as "jammy" as Z was, but it's still a great album. Occasionally, I will play music for the kids, and they'll just click on a song (like the time I played "Super Bon Bon" by Soul Coughin; man they loved that song). They definitely "clicked" on "Highly Suspicious", and it is one catchy, weird song. Good stuff.

Finally, I got some music a while ago from a friend of mine, and one of the albums he gave me, which I really didn't give much of a listen to, is Bright Eyes' Cassadaga. I guess the intro to the title track (which was also the first track) left me cold, because I just didn't get it at all. Fortunately, for whatever reason, I decided to give it another listen, and I'm glad I did. I don't know if I'm going to be joining the Conor Oberst fan club or anything, but it's a good album.

That's enough about music. I'm working on a post about chicken, and hopefully I'll have it done tomorrow or the next day, so stay tuned.

Pickles

The NY Times book section this week has a piece on cookbooks, and the first paragraph states, as can be said about a lot of things, most cookbooks are not very good. I think this is a pretty true statement, and while there are some obvious tactics to use (be very careful buying a Food Network star's cookbook, especially if their name rhymes with Schmemeril or Schmachel Shmay; as a rule, try to avoid big coffee table/food porn type cookbook, especially if they're related to a restaurant, etc.), there is one equally obvious way to find good cookbooks for free:
I like to check my cookbooks out from the library. I find that doing this is a good way to check out a cookbook before buying, since if at least a couple recipes don't pan out, then probably the money you'd spend on the book would be better spent on something else (like good cheese at Southern Season, or beer, or...).

Lately, I've read several cookbooks, both good and bad, so here are my quick takes on them:
1. Charcuterie, by Ruhlman, et al. - This is a cookbook I really want to like. The writing is great, the subject fascinating, and the two recipes I tried (cured salmon, and breakfast sausage) were tasty, and taught techniques that are interesting enough that I'd like to make variations. The problem, and it's a big one, is that sausage making is kind of like making beer. You have to buy a bunch of equipment that can be hard to find (like casings, pink salt, etc), and at the end of the day, you end up with an awful lot of the end product. Now, I like beer and sausage as much as the next person (ok, probably more than the next person), but there's something to be said for just buying it sometimes. The whole time I had the book out from the library, I felt a little guilty for not doing more with it. That said, I'll probably end up buying it sometime when I'm really motivated, and when the weather is cool, so that sausage making sounds fun. I'll give it B/B-.
2. Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes...,by Mark Bittman - I love the columns in the Times that Mark Bittman writes as "The Minimalist". I find them to be inspiring in their simplicity, and I love how they bring home how easy it is to make good food, especially when you choose the right ingredients. None of the recipes in this book are complicated, and I think any semi-competent cook could pull any of them together on a weeknight. So in that sense, it's a good book. But on the other hand, none of the recipes stand out as being "wow!" meals. In fact, to be honest, I really wouldn't make any of the recipes that I tried (and I made 3 or 4) again. To be fair, I did make a grilled shrimp for lunch today, and I got the idea for doing it from looking at a different recipe in the book. Regardless, though, it's a C at best.
3. Fresh Every Day, More Great Recipes From Foster's Market by Sara Foster: Apparently, Sara Foster is some lady that runs a market in Durham. It's supposed to be pretty good, but I've never been there, so I can't comment on that. What I can comment on is this cookbook, and I'll say it's a really good cookbook. All the recipes work, they all jibe with the way I like to cook (simply, using ingredients bought from the outside aisles of the grocery), and they're good enough that I got compliments when I served them to others. What more can I say? I liked it a lot, there was plenty of room for improvisation, and the writing just felt right. Definitely an A.

As for the title, I made these pickles out of the Foster's book:
Fridge Pickles
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
6 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tsp red pepper flakes
4 -5 small kirby cucumbers
1 small onion, sliced.

Combine the vinegar and sugar in a bowl, and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Add the next 5 ingredients, and put in a glass jar (I used a tall plastic container that probably held cole slaw or some other deli item at some point). Wash the cucumbers, and then peel the cucumbers in strips, so that you have alternating strips of green and white. Then slice thinly. Place the cucumbers and onions in alternating layers in the vinegar mixture, packing them in to cover all in the mixture. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours (preferably overnight). They should keep for a couple of weeks.

These pickles are pretty darn good. Like all the recipes in the Foster's book, they strike a nice balance of acid and sweet, and the red pepper flakes lend just the right amount of heat.
Very good pickles.

Me and my immersion blender

Several years ago, on some special occasion (which may or may not have been my wedding), I was given an immersion blender from my aunt.
In the years since, I have discovered how useful this fine piece of machinery is. All those late night commercials about "slicing, dicing, julienning" are pretty true when you talk about an immersion blender.
You can use them to make some very nice salad dressing, since the blender will emulsify your oil and vinegar much more completely than a whisk will (or at least better than my whisk will).
You can make blended soups (like cheese soup, or a single vegetable soup) quite easily, since you're not transferring the soup back and forth between a regular blender.
And, you can make a very fine breakfast smoothie, which is what prompted this post:

Dave's Breakfast Smoothie
2 cups milk (or vanilla soy milk)
1 banana, sliced
1/2c crushed pineapple
3/4c mixed frozen fruit, thawed

combine and blend until smooth.

The fruit amounts are approximate, and you can adjust them to taste or texture preference.

What you get is something like this:



In short, a tasty and light breakfast, that gives you at least a couple servings of fruit..

The Pillsbury Bake-off...

Or, as I like to refer to it, the **********-ing Pillsbury Bake-off.
Clearly, I have a little hostility towards it. Why, you ask?
I present to you the winning recipe for this year's bake-off:
"Double-delight peanut butter cookies"

INGREDIENTS

1/4	cup Fisher® Dry Roasted Peanuts, finely chopped
1/4	cup Domino® or C&H® Granulated Sugar
1/2	teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2	cup JIF® Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2	cup Domino® or C&H® Confectioners Powdered Sugar
1	roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® Create ‘n Bake® refrigerated peanut butter cookies, well chilled

DIRECTIONS

1.	Heat oven to 375°F. In small bowl, mix chopped peanuts, granulated sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
2.	In another small bowl, stir peanut butter and powdered sugar until completely blended. Shape mixture into 24 (1-inch) balls.
3.	Cut roll of cookie dough into 12 slices. Cut each slice in half crosswise to make 24 pieces; flatten slightly. Shape 1 cookie dough piece around 1 peanut butter ball, covering completely. Repeat with remaining dough and balls.
4.	Roll each covered ball in peanut mixture; gently pat mixture completely onto balls. On ungreased large cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart. Spray bottom of drinking glass with CRISCO® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray; press into remaining peanut mixture. Flatten each ball to 1/2-inch thickness with bottom of glass. Sprinkle any remaining peanut mixture evenly on tops of cookies; gently press into dough.
5.	Bake 7 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Store tightly covered.

I'm sorry, but when the winning recipe has prepackaged cookie dough as one of the ingredients, the contest immediately loses all legitimacy and becomes "**********-ing".

Been a long time....

It's getting to be a habit, starting every post with some variant of "gee, it's been a long time".
I promise to blog more frequently in the future.
So what have I been up to? Not much, sad to say. I'm trying to find a motorcycle to buy, I've cooked some good food lately, and other than that, precious little that's exciting to any one but family.

Foodwise, I've checked out "Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman, from the library, and I'm making an honest effort to get a handle on this fascinating subject. If you're not familiar with the term, charcuterie covers a range of meat products. Essentially, anything smoked, ground, cured, or otherwise preserved. Think "ham", "sausage", "pate", etc.
I got the book on Sunday, and I immediately cured some salmon I'd had sitting in the freezer. I'm not sure how well it will turn out, but so far, my salmon looks like you'd expect gravlax or lox to look like. Considering all I did was mix up salt, sugar, brown sugar, coriander, pepper, and 5-spice powder, it could taste like fish sticks and I think I'd be ahead of the game.
I'll post pics tomorrow when it's done curing, and I'll also try and post about my empenada experience.