May, 2016 ~ Spring Dinners We Sprung!!!

Thanks Beth. Funny but I had put the sourdough starter away for the summer, then a few days ago got it back out and started feeding it, then the email came to give me some ideas for using it. And Yes it is fun when a meal sort of plans itself.

Barb is my inspiration for supper tonight....Barb and her crispy chicken skin, that is!

I pulled 4 thighs out of the freezer (I wrap & freeze separately) and let them thaw. Then poked the skin all over to allow the underlying fat the render and I deboned them.  I dried them well and then salted them heavily and they are on a plate, uncovered in the refrigerator.  Before I cook them I will rinse (to remove the excess salt) and dry and allow them to come to room temperature.  Then I'll either do them on a griddle on the grill or, if it rains, do them in a cold pan on the stovetop ala the Cook's Country method I did a while back for crispy skinned chicken breasts.

(added at edit:) I forgot the step with the chicken to weigh down the cooking chicken pieces with a heavy pan so they have good contact with the skillet....I'm going to use a light-weight Dutch oven with some water added for the weight.....

I also have a good sized sweet potato I'm thinking of slicing thin and baking till crisp for sweet potato chips.....last of the asparagus and supper is all planned. (edit:) The darn slices have been in the oven over an hour at 275° and they are almost crisp....gotta be a quicker (cooler) way to get baked chips......once may be enough for these! LOL

Funny thing is, I just put the thing on my 'Q' closed the lid and left it for 1 hour. I almost forgot it was out there lol....I never know how much fuel I have in the canister either.

Dogs know when chicken is in the house both of them under my feet while I cut it and picked it. bagged a lot and will make something tonight.

My seafood came yesterday so salmon for tomorrow.

I KNEW IT!.......Set it and forget it!

I gave you too much credit for your cooking ability......

Hahahahahahaha ~ JUST KIDDING!

Baked sweet potato chips.....after 25 min. @ 275°...turned and salt sprinkled on 2nd side.



after 45 min. @ 275°.....STILL NOT CRISP....turned off oven and allowed to sit in hopes of crisping without browning too much. Not a whole lot of hope for these ~ too much messin' around to become a standard on menu rotation. Test chip was hard and tough to chew.

Preheat oven 425F.

In a large bowl, toss the sweet potato slices w/ olive oil and kosher salt.

Lay out on 3 heavy baking sheets, making sure they are not overlapping.


Cook 10 minutes, then using tongs, turn over for another 10 minutes until crispy.
Lay on a cooling rack so they stay nice and crisp  ......

Sweet potato Nachos.

Yeah, sure....go ahead.....show me up!

I followed the recipe of the magazine I perused at the grocery store without purchasing.......figures. You don't get good results when you 'steal' the recipe!

Crispy skin chicken thigh pan set-up ~ non-stick (in my case, cast iron pan) cold pan, put in enough oil to coat and add the boneless chicken thighs, skin side down. Top with a foil-protected cast iron skillet AND a water filled pot to weigh down the chicken and give it good contact with the skillet. Turn the skillet on medium and allow to cook for 10 minutes (set a timer).



Remove weights and turn chicken. Put weight pots back on chicken to brown second side, cook for 6 minutes.



Remove weights, turn chicken back to original skin side for another 2 minutes to be sure skin is crispy.



Skin is crispy and all the fat from the thighs is rendered off, leaving you with tender, moist, flavorful chicken between crispy skin!



Supper - Crispy chicken thighs, (Not So) Crispy sweet potato chips and steamed asparagus with a lovely leek cream sauce (cooked leeks & cream run through a hand food mill).

Was not doing that. Just giveing you a recipe. I made these last year.

Barbara101 wrote:Was not doing that. Just giveing you a recipe. I made these last year.

just teasing you, because your stuff is always so tasty looking. Actually, I think they stayed too moist and chewy because they just got a spray of PAM and were baked too slow.

Next time, believe me, I'll follow your lead and do the olive oil and 425° for a whole lot less time in the oven.

These were OK, but just about all of them still had some 'chew'.

Looks great and I bet you didn't like cleaning the grease off the stove.....

Those chicken thighs look really good. I want to try that sometime.

Actually, since the weight CI skillet was the same size as the one I cooked in there really wasn't all that much spatter. It sure did render out a lot of fat from the thighs....they weren't left with much oil in the meat at all, just moist and flavorful from the dry salt brine. I liked it a lot more than when I did the breasts ~ they had much less flavor and were much dryer tasting. I'll definately stick with thighs.

It almost killed me not to make a sauce with the fond in the pan....lots of that golden goo. I just added some water so it'll clean up easily. Not gonna save it, although I probably could stick it in the freezer to toss in with my 'parts' when I make chicken stock.

NormM wrote:Those chicken thighs look really good. I want to try that sometime.

Better than the breasts by far!

W O W...Beth,
That looks mighty crispy.
How was the inside?..... Well Done?

Fisherman son is going 'up north' to uncle's place to do two things.............. Check out if the fish are biting, and to help uncle with some yardwork. (Uncle is 83 and needs to sell his place.) So, I made potato salad to go along with hopefully the fish he'll catch. Then I realized that I had bought two heads of cauliflower............. what to do with that? I chopped one head up relatively finely, added some red pepper chunks, some radishes, lots of fresh parsley, and a can of corn. Made a dressing using some EVOO, a really great fig infused balsamic reduction, salt/pepper and some herbes de provence. It is really good, and will probably be made more often. The cauliflower is a nice change as a salad.

Actually, Jimmy, I think even YOU could have eaten this chicken. It was super crispy on both sides - I had cut the bone out of the thighs and removed any excess fat chunks before I poked holes in the skin and salted it well (put in the refrigerator, uncovered, for a couple hours to draw out the moisture and let the skin dry).

So the thighs were crisp on both sides and weighted to keep them really flat. Huge amount of fat rendered for just 4 thighs (probably 8 oz. or more).

The meat wasn't so moist it was mushy, just really flavorful. If nothing more, you could just pick the skin off and tell Tina she can have the meat.......

Let me know how that works out for you.

LOL

bethk wrote:Actually, Jimmy, I think even YOU could have eaten this chicken.  It was super crispy on both sides - I had cut the bone out of the thighs and removed any excess fat chunks before I poked holes in the skin and salted it well (put in the refrigerator, uncovered, for a couple hours to draw out the moisture and let the skin dry).

So the thighs were crisp on both sides and weighted to keep them really flat.  Huge amount of fat rendered for just 4 thighs (probably 8 oz. or more).  

The meat wasn't so moist it was mushy, just really flavorful.  If nothing more, you could just pick the skin off and tell Tina she can have the meat.......

Let me know how that works out for you.

LOL

We have thighs in the freezer, but they are Boneless, but I think they are skinless too! I think?.... But I will let you know.

Have you ever tried microwaving the sweet potato? I think I remember a "As Seen on TV" thing for potato chips so maybe you could try a slab or two and see what happens.

Now I'm wishing for potato chips.I had sweet potato chips once, and I like them.
Even that they were low salt, they were good!
Never tried making them, but it would be something good to try!

Nix to the microwaved kind....tried that once. You can only do a plate full at a time (can't fill up two sheet pans like in the oven). They came out like styrofoam, all dry and icky.

Next time (IF there is a next time) I will definately do Barb's olive oil, hot oven method.

No deep frying for me ~ that's too much mess and a waste of oil to me.

Lore - here is another option for when you have excess cauliflower. Been a family favorite since Grandma made it in the 1960's....

Cauliflower Pea Salad

1 Head Iceberg Lettuce, chopped
1 lb. Bacon, crisp & cut small
1 small head Cauliflower, broken into small pieces
1 sm. Pkg. Frozen Peas, rinsed & drained
½ c. Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 c. Hellmann’s Mayonnaise mixed with 1/3 c. Sugar

Layer in glass bowl alternating with half of everything (except crisp bacon) in given order into 2 sets of layers. Allow to sit in refrigerator overnight.

Beth’s notes: I layer this in a colander placed inside a bowl so all the liquid can drain off overnight. Otherwise, the salad is very loose and the dressing is watered down. Just before serving I toss the salad to distribute the dressing and add the crispy bacon.

bethk wrote:Lore - here is another option for when you have excess cauliflower.  Been a family favorite since Grandma made it in the 1960's....

Cauliflower Pea Salad

1 Head Iceberg Lettuce, chopped
1 lb. Bacon, crisp & cut small
1 small head Cauliflower, broken into small pieces
1 sm. Pkg. Frozen Peas, rinsed & drained
½ c. Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 c. Hellmann’s Mayonnaise mixed with 1/3 c. Sugar

Layer in glass bowl alternating with half of everything (except crisp bacon) in given order into 2 sets of layers.  Allow to sit in refrigerator overnight.  

Beth’s notes:  I layer this in a colander placed inside a bowl so all the liquid can drain off overnight.  Otherwise, the salad is very loose and the dressing is watered down.  Just before serving I toss the salad to distribute the dressing and add the crispy bacon.

Dressing, please.

Niagara Visitor wrote:
Dressing, please.

The dressing is simply the Hellmann's Mayo mixed with the sugar.....and is split between the middle & top of the salad when you layer it. As it sits overnight it 'melts' into the iceburg, etc. and then a simple toss and it's all done.

Easy peasey.