Tag: partsunknown

Missing Anthony Bourdain (Roast Chicken)

Missing Anthony Bourdain (Roast Chicken)

I admit to being a foodie.  I love to cook, I love to eat out at restaurants, I love to dissect everything I eat.  When I travel I hunt out the local favorites, my philosophy, eat where the locals eat. Hot chicken in Nashville, BBQ in Austin, Tacos in Los Angeles, Lox and Bagels in NYC, my bucket list goes on and on.  I drove four hours for pie for Pete’s sake. My favorite movies include Chef and Tampopo. I binge watch Japanese & Korean dramas on Netflix like Samurai Gourmet and Let’s Eat-Must See Foodie TV, and re-watch episodes of Chef’s Table over and over again.

Parts Known and Loved

Sunday evening CNN’s Parts Unknown is appointment TV for me.  My foodie world was rocked last week when Anthony Bourdain committed suicide.  Parts Unknown was unique. Not content with showing places through rose-colored glasses, the show found the edgy parts, counter-culture, fringe elements or disenfranchised.  He didn’t shy away from talking about politics, injustice, or controversial topics.  But his approach was disarming, ask the hard questions over a shared meal and drinks and be genuinely interested in the answers.  His journeys strove to capture the heart and soul of each place he visited, to tell a story.  My favorite episodes? Hanoi with President Obama, Koreatown and Eastside episodes in Los Angeles, Iran, and Shanghai, I traveled vicariously through his show.

When his book, Appetites came out, I eagerly snatched up a copy.  I loved just flipping through it. I read, laughed and savored his storytelling and irreverence.  His recipes screamed, “this is the stuff I like to eat and share with family and friends, I don’t give a shit if you like it or not”  Now, I felt I had to cook out of it, my own tribute to Mr. Bourdain and personal catharsis.

I made his Roast Chicken, it just seemed like a good starting point.

The recipe is loosely written (is that code for poorly edited? You be the judge).  A 2-1/2 pound chicken?  I used a 4-1/2 pound chicken which worked fine.  I placed the chicken on a bed of chopped carrots, onions, leeks, garlic, and celery to roast just like the photo in his book despite the fact that the recipe does not call for veggies. Does it make a difference?  Don’t know, but I have a sneaking suspicion it would be fine either way.

It was simple, delicious, the perfect comfort food to soothe the soul and mend the heart.

Roast Chicken Anthony Bourdain

Roast Chicken by Anthony Bourdain

Roast chicken by Anthony Bourdain, to soothe the soul and mend your heart.
Course comfort food, dinner
Cuisine American
Keyword anthony bourdain, roast chicken, Soul Food
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 best-quality chicken about 2 1/2 pounds, preferably organic (ok, my chicken was 4-1/2 pounds) where you get a 21/2 pound chicken 🤷🏻‍♀️
  • Sea salt to taste
  • Crushed black peppercorns to taste
  • 4 tablespoons 1/2 stick unsalted butter
  • 10 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 fresh bay leaf
  • 1/2 lemon cut into 4 wedges
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • Juice of 1 lemon about 2 tablespoons
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 450˚F.
  • Rub the bird inside and out with salt and crushed peppercorns.
  • Stuff a 1/2-tablespoon pat of butter under the skin of each side of the breast, and under the skin of each thigh.
  • Stuff the thyme, bay leaf, and lemon wedges into the chicken’s cavity.
  • Use the tip of a paring knife to poke a small hole in the skin just below each of the chicken’s legs, and tuck each leg carefully into that hole. (You may also truss the chicken with butcher’s twine if you know how, but this is much simpler.)
  • Place the chicken in a flame-proof roasting pan* and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan, moving it to different parts of the oven to account for hot spots, and basting the bird two or three times with a bulb-top baster or long-handled metal spoon.
  • *Place chicken on a bed of chopped vegetables including carrots, onions, celery and garlic.
  • Reduce the oven’s heat to 300˚F and continue to roast, basting frequently, for another 30 to 40 minutes or until the bird is done: When you poke the fat part of the thigh with the paring knife, the juices should run clear.
  • Remove the bird from the oven, let it rest 15 minutes, then remove the breasts and legs from the carcass, reserving everything. Use a ladle to skim off and discard as much surface fat from the pan juices as possible.
  • Place the roasting pan on the stovetop over high heat and stir in the wine and lemon juice, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge and dissolve the browned bits. Bring this mixture to a boil and cook until it is reduced by half. Stir in the stock with the wooden spoon, bring to a boil, and reduce again by half. Remove from the heat and strain this sauce through a sieve into a medium, heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, a tablespoon at a time, until the sauce is thick and glossy. Fold in the parsley and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper as necessary.
  • Serve the chicken—half of the breast plus a drumstick or a thigh per person—with the sauce ladled over, and any remaining sauce in a sauceboat on the table.
  • Appetites
Bourdain, Cinco de Mayo and Chicken Chile Verde

Bourdain, Cinco de Mayo and Chicken Chile Verde

Friday night, its Cinco de Mayo!  Time to make something yummy, kickback, relax and catch up on one of my favorite TV shows, Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown.  This episode features the Los Angeles Mexican community thus making my dinner choice easy, Chile Verde.  I am stoked.

When I was a kid our Friday night ritual was Swanson’s TV dinners (turkey for me, meatloaf for my brother) in front of the tube.  A multi-course meal contained in a cool space age aluminum tray with individual compartments for each course (so cool).   Later Swanson’s added a little square squished between the veggies and potatoes like a tiny jewel box.  It contained a perfect 2-bite apple cobbler or brownie. Since we ate Chinese food most of the time a meal of roast turkey or fried chicken was a special treat.  To top it off we got to watch The Flintstones while we were eating and then Jiffy Pop to finish the evening (kids ask your parents about Jiffy Pop or watch Real Genius).  The best, Friday nights were the bomb.

So there we were on Cinco de Mayo, sitting back on the couch with bowls of steaming hot Chile Verde and warm corn tortillas watching Bourdain gettin’ real with the homeboys in Eastside LA. Traditions should #persist don’t you think?

Still on my Instant Pot jag I searched for a recipe for a Chicken Chile Verde in a pressure cooker.  I found a couple that sounded good so I decided to do a mash-up.  I started with a recipe from Serious Eats by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt.  Really difficult (NOT)-chopped tomatillos, jalapeños, poblanos & Anaheim peppers, add chicken thighs and legs, toasted cumin seeds, salt, bunch of garlic, a white onion also chopped and throw it in your pressure cooker.  Seal, set and dinner…It’s yours (Thank you, Stevie). Yep, thirty minutes later eating Chile Verde.  Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Serious Eats adds a bit of Thai fish sauce at the end for that secret flavor bomb.  Surprisingly it does round out the flavor. I like lots of veggies so I included potatoes and if my kids were home I would have added corn.  I also added a pinch of oregano, fresh ground pepper and some smoked paprika. Delish.

You can substitute pork for the chicken for a classic Chile Verde.  Use 3-3.5 pounds of Pork Shoulder (aka pork butt) cut into 2 inch pieces.  Set Instant Pot for 30 minutes and use quick release.  Also Delish.

The recipe makes a lot of sauce, so save the extra sauce to make some awesome enchiladas.

Chicken Chile Verde

Ingredients

Adapted from Serious Eats and Lemon Lavender Love

  • 3 pounds skinless chicken thighs or legs
  • ¾ pound tomatillos 3-4 large tomatillos, quartered, husks discarded
  • ¾ pound poblano peppers halved with seeds and stem removed
  • ½ pound Anaheim peppers halved with seeds and stem removed
  • 2-3 jalapeño peppers halved with stem removed (you can remove the seeds if you don’t want the heat – make sure you wear gloves or thoroughly wash your hands after cutting, trust me)
  • 1 white or yellow onion quartered
  • 1 russet potato cut into good size chunks 6 pieces
  • 6 medium whole garlic cloves peeled
  • 1 tablespoon cumin seeds toasted and ground
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce

Garnish:

  • Cilantro
  • Sour cream
  • avocado-sliced or cubed
  • red cabbage-shredded
  • Corn tortillas

Instructions

  • Place chicken, vegetables and seasonings except fish sauce in Instant Pot bowl.
  • Cover and seal pot making sure vent knob is set on sealed
  • Select poultry or manual cook mode
  • Adjust cooking time to 30 minutes using the +/- timer
  • When Instant Pot beeps the cooking cycle is complete. Carefully release pressure by moving top knob from sealing to venting.
  • Once pressure is released, uncover.
  • Remove chicken and potato chunks and reserve in bowl.
  • Add fish sauce to pot. If you have an immersion blender, puree vegetables in Instant Pot to desired consistency or spoon vegetables and liquids into a blender to puree.
  • Shred chicken
  • Add potatoes and chicken to pureed sauce.
  • Serve with warm corn or flour tortillas
  • Garnish with cilantro, shredded cabbage, avocado
  • Yum!