Honey Jalapeno Chicken

So recently I’ve learned a few things. One, roasting chickens is awesome. It’s cheap, easy, tasty, and impressive. Two, allspice is delicious.

I’ve been trying to save up money because I’m going to Costa Rica in August, so I’ve been eating a little cheaper (hah) but still pretty well. Chicken’s a good way to go with it, especially when you buy whole ones. They also give you a pretty good chance to experiment with flavor. Every time I’ve prepared chicken this way it’s been completely different, and it’s not hard to be creative.

This time honey jalapeno was the start.

Ingredients:
Whole chicken, thawed and innards removed
5 jalapenos
~2/3 cup honey
~3/4 cup water
~1/8 tsp allspice, ground
black pepper

The first thing I did was cut up the jalapenos and push them under the skin of the breasts and thighs. All five didn’t fit in there. The rest I put inside the cavity, save one which I used for the sauce.

Next I made a sauce to baste the chicken with as it was cooking. I combined the jalapeno, honey, water, allspice, and pepper in a saucepan and cooked on medium to start, then kept it on 2 as the chicken was cooking.

To go with the chicken, I scalloped some potatoes and put them in a pan under the chicken, to catch the drippings. Don’t cut them too thin, because they’ll just cook too fast and stick to the bottom if you do.

As for baking, there should be instructions on the packaging. I think it was 350 degrees for 20 minutes/lb. Mine was a five-pounder so it took a while. I started the chicken off with a little sauce, and every 15-20 minutes I brushed on some more. The whole process is very easy to walk away from, so long as there’s a timer going.

When there was only 20 minutes left, I opened up a can of chestnuts I had in the pantry and threw them in with the potatoes. (Chestnuts are amazing. If you’ve never had them, I highly recommend you do. They go really well with chicken and potatoes and drippin’s.)

With the chicken done and the oven on, I decided to make some asparagus to go with it. The timing worked out perfectly because by the time the asparagus was done, the chicken was cool enough to cut.

And wa-bham–cheap, easy, tasty dinner.

Spanish Vanilla Marshmallows

Last Friday we had a marshmallow party. It was fluffy and delicious, thanks for asking. And after the festivities I shared my favorite flavor with my coworkers, some of whom asked for the recipe, so here it is!

I call these “Spanish Vanilla” because it makes sense; there’s honey, vanilla, and almond–just like in Spanish nougat. The name is kind of a contrast with French vanilla, which is vanilla and hazelnut.

We originally got the proportions and the how-to from Cooking for Engineers’ post on marshmallows, but I did tweak some things.

Hardware you’ll need:
Stand mixer (or hand mixer and tall bowl if you’re not afraid of boiling hot sugar)
9 X 13 cake pan–glass or metal
two quart pan (or taller)
candy thermometer
Rubber spatula

Ingredients:
Butter
Powdered sugar

1/2 cup water
3 sachets gelatin (aka 3 tablespoons)

1/4 cup water
2/3 cup honey
2 cups sugar

~1 tbs vanilla extract
~1 tbs almond extract

Making marshmallows involves a lot of anticipation; there’s not much to do but wait for things to happen, and when the moment’s right, there’s a flurry of activity then you wait again.

To start, butter the pan to make sure the fluff doesn’t stick, then generously sift on powdered sugar. Now set the pan aside.

Next, prep the gelatin. That involves pouring the first 1/2 cup of water and the gelatin into the bowl you plan to mix in. If you have the option, use a taller bowl. Not only will that help protect you from fast-moving molten sugar, it will also make fluffier marshmallows. My awesome Kitchenaid works really well for this.

While the gelatin is blooming (absorbing the water), combine the sugar, water, and honey in the pan and heat on the stove just under medium. A problem you’ll face when making candy with honey is that it will puff up. When using corn syrup, I can set it to full-blast medium and walk away, but that’s not something you can do with honey. If it starts to puff up on you, lower the heat and start stirring. If it’s happening very fast, pick it up and move it away from the heat–that should deflate it pretty quickly. This needs to heat until it has reached 250 degrees. Once that’s happened…

Turn the mixer on low, then pour in the sugar-lava slowly, in order to avoid a fiery and painful demise. It will be hot and sloshy for a while, but increase the speed to high as quickly as you safely can. A tall bowl helps with this, but either way you should be there after a minute or two. Oh and be warned, it smells kind of horrible. Gelatin is made of ground up bones, and heating that up isn’t pleasant. But don’t worry–you don’t taste it at all in the final product and the smell goes away after a minute of mixing.

It will start to lighten and fluff up. That’s a good thing. Keep mixing for five minutes or so, and when it seems like it’s not going to get any bigger, add the extracts, then mix a little more and turn it off.

Now quickly pour the liquid marshmallow into the prepared pan. The faster the better, because it starts to set and get really thick and unmanageable. Then sift on some more powdered sugar and let sit for 24 hours. You will then have a slab of marshmallow. Cut it if you want, but the temptation to just bite in will be strong.

Seafood Lasagna

So apparently lasagna is one of those foods I really like because I tend to make it a lot. Every time it’s a little bit different, based on the whims of the day and the one I made most recently was a seafood lasagna. Seafood lasagna is another one of those dishes that reminds me of France because my host mom used to get some really good lasagna from the fisherie(?) on a fairly regular basis. This one was a bit too bright and not as diversely occupied as Sophie’s guy’s, but it’s still pretty nice.

Structurally, it was very similar to every other lasagna I’ve ever made, the only special thing was how I treated the tilapia. But I’ll go over everything just because I like you so much.

Tilapia Ingredients:
1 tsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon’s worth)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tilapia filets
olive oil
juice of 1 lemon (how convenient!)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Start by combining the zest, thyme, salt, and pepper in a bowl then take roughly half of it and coat both sides of the tilapia filets. In a oiled skilled heated on medium-high, cook the tilapia for about two minutes on each side.

They won’t be cooked, but don’t freak out. You’re going to bake them so it’ll be ok.

Once that’s over with, remove the tilapia and lover the heat to medium. Add the remaining spices and lemon juice, then stir it all around and mingle with the fish juices. Next add the whipping cream and cook for about 2 minutes until slightly thick.

While the sauce was reducing, I chunked/shredded the tilapia. When the sauce was ready, I tossed the tilapia in and took it off the heat. And that’s it for the tilapia.

Lasagna ingredients:
Tilapia and sauce (as prepared above)
About 3/4 lb cooked shrimp
Lasagna pasta sheets
1 jar Pasta sauce (I used 24 oz black olive and capers since lemon and capers are such good friends)
7 oz ricotta
~3 cups mozzarella
2-3 handfuls parmesan

Keep in mind to preheat the oven to 375, then feel free to get on your layering.

I started with a layer of pasta, using 4 sheets.
Then ricotta with parmesan sprinkled on.
More pasta sheets.
The tilapia and sauce, topped with a good amount of mozzarella.
Even more pasta sheets.
All the shrimp, a little less than half the sauce, and more mozzarella.
The penultimate layer: pasta.
And finally, top it off with the last of the sauce and however much cheese you want.

Then cover and bake for 35-40 minutes and enjoy!

The lemon comes through well, but isn’t overpowering and mingled with the sauces nicely. And even though it may seem strange to combine seafood and cheese, it totally works in lasagna. I’ve tried it a fair number of times, with a variety of sauces–even pesto–and it always works.

I ate mine with a side of asparagus, also something that turned out to be one of my favorite things.

Hazelnut oil and lemon cake

So I’ve been in a super cake mood since the other day when Mom told me it was National Chocolate Cake Day. I haven’t checked to see if that’s a real thing, but it did prompt me to make this cake and it was bitchin’ sweet, so last night we made another. Last night’s was totally different though–it was lemon and hazelnut and very fluffy instead of chocolate.

Last night’s cake was super good. Normally when I make cake, I end up giving all but three bites of it away because it’s huge and I’m done with it. But I’m totally hoarding this one. None for you! So now you have to make one and here’s the recipe.

3/4 cup hazelnut oil
1 lemon (for zest and juice)
1 cup cake flour (it totally makes a difference–I used to be a nonbeliever, so believe me now)
5 eggs, separated into 5 yolks and 4 whites
3/4 cup sugar, divided1/2 tsp salt

I baked this in a 9 x 13 pan but I bet it would work in a 9 or 10 inch circular one if you prefer.

The oven needs to preheat to 350, do this when you like.

Hazelnut oil is really cool. It’s got this smoky flavor that probably came from roasting the nuts and is really nice. We’ve used it in salad dressings a couple of times, but this is the first thing we’ve done which requires a lot of it.

Whisk together the 1 cup flour and 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest in a bowl you can easily pour from, then set aside.

In another bowl, beat together the 5 yolks and 1/2 cup sugar on high for about three minutes, until the texture is totally different–thick and pale.

becomes

After that, lower the speed to medium and add the hazlenut oil. Mmm hazlenut oil. As well as 1 1/2 tbs lemon juice. Mix enough to combine. Then add in the flour/lemon zest and mix in gently (ie, not with the mixer, use a wooden spoon or spatula).

In an entirely new bowl, combine the 4 egg whites and 1/2 tsp salt then beat at med or med-high until foamy. Once you’ve achieved this, start adding 1/4 cup sugar a little bit at a time, while still mixing. Once all the sugar is in, continue until you are able to form soft peaks.

Now comes the delicate part. The foamy egg whites will help lighten the cake. Sounds awesome, yeah?! Well the yolks and flour are going to do their best to eff you over, so what you’ve got to do is fold them together. First, take about 1/3 of the egg whites and put them in the same bowl as the yolks and, using a spatula, fold them together. This is different from normal mixing in that you’re trying to maintain the airiness of the whites so you literally fold layers of pre-cake on top of each other until the batter seems homogenous. After the first third is combined, go ahead and fold the rest in.

Once this has been completed, pour the batter into your baking pan of choice and tap it against the counter to remove obstinate, excessive bubbles. This will ensure a uniformly delicious cake, with no dissapointing holey pieces.

Then bake this glory for 30-45 minutes, depending on your pan, until the poke test is successful.

Once this cools, I’m sure you will find yourself in a paradise of refreshing smokey, nutty, lemon and fluff, just like I did. It was quite disorienting. So much so, in fact, that I found myself unable to take a picture of the completed cake without at least a few pieces missing.