Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs

Remember Emeril Lagasse? I don't mean "Bam" Emeril. I mean a quiet, creative Emeril as he appeared on the show "Great Chefs" and, later, "Essence of Emeril." Instead of prancing and dancing in front of a live studio audience, Emeril calmly and collectively shared some of his simple, interesting recipes, along with anecdotes about food history and culture. "Essence of Emeril" was a great show.

This recipe is adapted from one of Emeril's. I think I remember first seeing it on "Essence." We don't eat chicken that often. A drive down the Delmarva peninsula where the Tyson or Purdue factories live put an end to that practice. But when we can find a good organic, free-range supplier, chicken thighs are an excellent, often-overlooked option. The bone-in meat makes them ten times more tasty than the breast. They are super inexpensive. And perhaps most importantly, you have to really TRY to overcook them. Usually, they come out great even if left in the oven too long.

These days, I hear that Emeril is slinging $20 veal parm at the new casino in Bethlehem, PA.

I wish the old Emeril would come back.

Emeril Lagasse's Lemon Garlic Chicken Thighs
 -4 chicken thighs
-3/4 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp pepper
-1/4 cup all purpose flour
-2 tbsp olive oil
-1.5 cups sliced onions
-10 garlic cloves crushed
-1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

-1 bay leaf

-1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon

-3/4 cup chicken broth

-1.5 tbsp parsley

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Season the thighs with salt and freshly ground pepper. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Lightly dredge the chicken in the flour and set aside. In a large wide saute, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the thighs and brown well on both sides, about 6 minutes. 

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add the onions to the oil and cook, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from the chicken until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, crushed red pepper remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the bay leaf and cook 1 minute. Add the lemon juice, broth and browned chicken thighs to the pan. Bring the mixture to a simmer, cover tightly, and place in the oven. 

Bake for 20 minutes, remove the lid and cook an additional 15 minutes, or until cooked through and tender. Serve with parsley and a sliced lemon for garnish.

Emeril suggests serving with pasta. I cooked extra onions and instead served the chicken on a bed of them, with spinach on the side.

Garlicky Pasta Lentil Soup

New Year's Day 2013 was a memorable day indeed :)

KILU.

While some things change; others stay the same. And in our house - wherever that house may be - we strive to eat lentils for New Year's. In the Mediterranean, lentils are the must-eat food on the first day of the year, ensuring good luck for the days, weeks, and months to come.

Coming home to a near-empty pantry and fridge, I had designs on making a Neapolitan recipe of pasta with lentils... But when K made the call for "heavy" garlic, I decided to turn the dish into a hybrid between pasta with lentils and garlic soup.

In retrospect, I should have used green lentils... The red ones tend to break down into nothing (think Indian dal) so the result was more like a puree. But the flavors turned out just fine.

Garlicky Pasta Lentil Soup
-One cup red lentils, rinsed
-Five cups homemade chicken stock.
-1 tbsp EV olive oil
-1 carrot, minced
-1/2 medium onion, minced
-3 cloves garlic, crushed and finely minced
-3 cloves garlic, sliced
-1/2 tsp turmeric
-1 tsp dried oregano
-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
-1 cup small tube shaped pasta (DeCecco's tubetti works well)
-Grated parmigiano reggiano cheese and chopped parsley 

In a medium saucepan, saute onion and carrot over medium high heat in olive oil until nearly soft. Add minced and sliced garlic, oregano, red pepper, and turmeric and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Add lentils and cook 1 minute more. Add chicken stock to lentils and cook, 15-20 minutes, until lentils are soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. Meanwhile, prepare a pot of salted boiling water and cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. To serve, place 2-3 tablespoons of pasta in a bowl and cover with several ladle fulls of the lentil soup. If the soup is too thick, add some reserved pasta water. Top each bowl with cheese and parsley, and drizzle with olive oil just before serving.

Cooking the pasta separately ensures that it stays al dente; if it cooks in the soup, it continues to absorb liquid and will get soggy.

Snapper Fillets en Papillote with Tapenade

Lately, I've been watching way too much Jacques Pepin. It seems like he is ALWAYS on the Create Channel. First, he's doing fast food his way. A half hour later, he's cooking up a storm with Julia Child. And later, looking significantly older, he's crafting recipes in a newer show called "Essential Pepin."

I really don't mind any of this. In general, I revile "celebrity" chefs. Yet Monsieur Pepin, despite his legendary status, seems a very likeable fellow. More importantly, he has the gift for turning simple ingredients and easy-to-learn techniques into tasty dishes that epitomize the essence of the Mediterranean. 

Best of all, he doesn't strike me as a self-aggrandizing sellout mainly interesting in peddling his own line of cookware or hot New York restaurant.

This recipe, inspired from Pepin's common use of parchment paper (papillote) to cook fish, also uses the decidedly-French condiment of tapenade. 

Snapper Fillets en Papillote with Tapenade
-2 sheets parchment paper
-2 red snapper fillets
-Lemon slices
-Thyme sprigs
-Chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place 1 red snapper fillet in the center of each piece of parchment paper. Top each filet with a heaping tablespoon of the tapenade (recipe below), a slice of lemon and a sprig of thyme or 1.2 tsp dried thyme.  Fold edges together, then tightly fold in the edges, crimping around all sides to seal packets completely. Place on baking sheet.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Place each packet on plate, let sit for 2 minutes, open parchment and serve over rice. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Tapenade
-2 anchovy fillets
-4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
-2 tablespoons capers
-3 tablespoons Nicoise or kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
-2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
-Salt and freshly ground pepper

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth, season with salt and pepper.