LIVEBLOGGING

or you know, blogging in the middle of the meal. WHAT

So tonight is trying out this Foodie label Chardonnay.



It's. really. um. Fruity. Not buttery. Little acidic. Not a lot of character but I imagine that it's supposed to be accessible, cheap and to pair with food? WHATEVER. It keeps me company while I cook.

TONIGHT. Our meal will be Israeli couscous and chicken and whatever the hell was big enough to pick in my garden.



You poor bastards. Made the mistake of growing up big and tall and now I will eat you. It's some chard, oregano, english peas, snap peas and thyme.



Thing is, you're supposed to pick often to encourage fruiting, but at the beginning, there's just not very much. Hence the mishmash of tonight.


,
So, there's defrosted chicken thighs, leftover chicken broth from a previous experiment and the israeli couscous.

First toast the couscous in oil.



It's pearly and kind of weird to see, but I think it's sorta neat.

Then cook the chicken.



This cat thinks she's getting chicken. Um. No.

Chicken cooks with some onion, some garlic and gets deglazed with a little of the wine. Add the couscous back and the chickenstock - two cups to every cup of couscous. And a can of tomatoes.



It looks like a mess but I'm going to let it cook uncovered for a bit. Plans are to let it cook up and add all the green things at the very end. People just called and confirmed they were coming over for dinner so i just threw in more couscous and hoped for the best. MORE SOON

Dinner tonight

OK. Don't really have pictures of this, but I wanted to share:

This is part of the Mark Bittman does Italy article from Men's Health - Bryan first told me about this article and then brought the magazine over which led to a pretty bitter hostage exchange over the holidays - But I make and freeze various variations of the soup for lunches and make the chicken when I need something easy, light tasting and comforting.

Braised Chicken - per Mark Bittman
Chicken parts - I like to use thighs since they are cheap and braise well and are extremely plentiful. But if you're a white meat person that works as well.

1 cup white wine

a few cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped fine

tablespoon of rosemary

a lemon

Personally I skin the chicken parts and let them sit in the pot for a while until all the fat comes out. Then I skim and save the fat save for a couple of tablespoons to fry the chicken in. Otherwise use olive oil.

Brown the chicken parts. Be patient.

Remove the browned chicken parts and set aside. Fry up the garlic and rosemary in the remaining fat, then deglaze the pan with the white wine. (see below. I also deglaze myself) I also like to add lemon and the zest at this stage.

Return the chicken parts to the pan, turn in the juices, cover and turn to low. Leave for 20-30 minutes to whenever you feel like coming back to dinner. if you let it sit for long enough it will fall off the bone. Serve with the braising liquid and whatever vegetables and starches you like.

Seriously, I love braising things. takes very little effort, is pretty much still magic to me and lets me do the dishes or watch The Wire while I wait for dinner to finish.

Leftovers soup

Ok. First of all. It's been one of those days. up at 3 am, work is work and I picked up some things at the store to make dinner.


Yes I needed that ok. Wait.


Ok better.

Incidentally. That's the 28 oz wineglass. We saw it at Crate and Barrel one day and Stephanie loves me enough to buy things for me that she knows are a terrible idea.

Ok. By the way. The bottle is GONE. Granted there was a generous glass in dinner (not documented tonight, but I will eventually because it's delicious and simple as well) and a generous glass to Matt, but the rest of it is a 28 oz wine glass to me.

ANYWAY.

Leftovers soup. This is what happens when it's Sunday and everyone has wilty veggies from the week before and it's time to improvise.


I bought two bundles of kale the week before and steph had some sprouting potatoes and some wilting spinach. I also had some very pathetic carrots and emo celery and onions on the verge of going off. Oh and a quarter pound of bacon that I'm pretty sure we last used in the french toast experiment. TIME TO DIE.

Chunked up the bacon into about thumbsized pieces. Fried those up while peeling and chopping up the carrots, onion and celery. When all the delicious is extracted (there is a puddle of grease and crispy bacon. I took off some of the grease and saved it. because I'm one of those people. leave enough grease to coat the bottom of the pan) let the onion join the party. then the celery after about three minutes. and then the carrots. add a little salt, stir and scrape that awesome fond in, and cover. Before you cover it, it looks like this!

Yeah. Oh baby. hello. How you doin.

Ok if yesterday, if alone, if single and halfway into the bottle of wine the way I am now? This would be my blushing bride and I would teach it the ways of the world. But thats not where we are right now. And there are many things to come.

WHILE you are being very patient and letting that all hang out in the pot at medium heat, you are being productive and peeling and cubing potatoes, about half an inch on each side. And then you toss those in the mess, WHICH, if properly treated, will have let loose all the delicious liquid of flavor. Seriously, this is how you should always make soup.

Then kale. I chop off the ends and cut the leaves into strips and then jam them on top of the craziness in the pot then cover.

It eventually shrinks down. Promise. Threw the spinach in there too.

now that's fairly thick. I added a couple of cups of water, about a quarter cup of chicken broth powder and a small can of tomato paste. And a little cream. cause. you know. It was there. Thicken or thin to taste. I like to thicken either with a slurry of flour and water or if you're really decadent about it, a mash of flour and butter. Which is not only delicious, but keeps your soup from lumping.


SOUP.

And it was delicious. The acidity of the tomatoes cuts that gross sandpaper tooth feeling spinach can give sometimes and the kale was a little wilty and sweet and good even for kale. And it really never fails - no matter what we have on hand,I always wind up with exactly a pot of soup - which feeds 6 and then provides generous leftovers for two for the next day for lunch.