Buried alive.
Or nearly. Work is just non-stop. BUT. There is hope on the horizon, as the Caucus is congregating down the ocean this weekend, and I am so excited to have omglawdork, smittywing, and raisintorte all in one place for 48 hours that I just might explode with joy. Which makes the hellaciousness of Monday-Thursday of this coming week totally worth it. There will be nomming and spa-ing and geekery and I cannot wait.
In the interim, I have found How to Steal Like An Artist to be a phenomenal read. There's just a lot that applies to any number of facets of my life, and not just the "creative" parts, either.
Also, wintercompanion folks, I am so sorry for the late post for October's challenge!
I did manage, last night, to grab time to make applesauce (with an almost-overripe peach food-milled in at the end just for kicks and because it was there); TWO CFIU chickens (because I wanted, and now have, the ingredients for amazing stock hiding in my freezer and fridge); and the following bean and spinach... thing (because I had spinach that was going to go to waste otherwise, and now it is residing happily in my fridge and freezer). I'm hoping that if I make enough stuff now, I'll have some good "pull it out of the freezer" meals for when the CSA goes on winter hiatus. I can't actually seem to find my online version of CFIU chicken, so I'm reposting it below as well, for my own record keeping.
Beans with Spinach and Pancetta
This was born of necessity, as I had a huge bag of spinach in the fridge that was this close to going to waste. On the plus side, it's really quick and easy. I like quick and easy.
Chop up some pancetta. I used 1/2 lb, which was a lot, and added a little more salt than I wanted - next time I might dial it down a little. OTOH, there's lots of nice meaty bits. YMMV. Put a high-sided skillet on the burner and toss in the pancetta. When it's started to render, add in 4 cloves of garlic, chopped, and about 1 c of chopped shallots (a chopped onion would be totally fine). Cook until the shallots and garlic are very soft and tender and brown.
Rinse and drain two cans of white beans (I used Great Northern because I had them, but anything would work). Dump them in the skillet with the pancetta/shallots/garlic and mix around to incorporate well. Add a generous squirt of lemon juice and let warm through. While that's happening, rinse a big bag of spinach. Add the spinach to the skillet in handfuls, stirring to incorporate and to let it wilt. Keep going till out of spinach and until spinach is well wilted. Finish off with red pepper flakes to taste (I find a little goes a long way) and a little more lemon juice. The beans break down a little and the moisture from the spinach helps make a sauce, so you're left with a really nice sort-of stew.
CFIU Chicken (with Optional Croutons)
This is my default, never-fail, roast chicken standby. And I mean never fail. I have accidentally tried to screw up this chicken any number of times and it just. keeps. working. It's based off of an Ina Garten recipe, but I like more lemons and onions and stronger flavors - you can find the original here. The carcass from this chicken makes an amazing stock - I throw it in to a pot with my standard stock makings plus any leftover onions - and once the stock's done, you can add in any remaining lemony, herby pan juices for a really fantastic result. I'm not much for croutons right now, but they are so good with this. It would also be great with rice, or any kind of potatoes. The juices are a little thin for pasta, but you could throw in a little cornstarch or flour to fix that. So:
In the bottom of a roasting pan, chop up four to five onions - slices will do, but you don't want big chunks. Add salt and pepper, toss. Add fresh thyme and sage (I have also used rosemary to excellent effect), torn into pieces, toss. Cut four lemons into quarters, squeeze each wedge over the onions, distributing evenly, and then toss the wrung-out wedges in with the onions. Add olive oil and toss. (I don't measure the olive oil, but you want stuff coated well so that as the onions roast and sweeten, the sugar doesn't make them stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
Take a chicken, remove innards, rinse, pat dry, salt and pepper cavity. Cut a lemon and an onion into wedges. Stuff chicken with fresh thyme, fresh sage, lemon, and onion. Tie the legs together, and set into roasting pan directly on top of onions. Rub bird lightly with olive oil and salt and pepper.
Roast chicken at 425 till it's done. You know it's done when the juices run clear - usually around 170 for me on my meat thermometer (if I get it to the actual "poultry" mark, the meat is horribly dry), and about 1.5 hours in my oven. As the bird sits for 15 minutes, it will finish cooking, and I've never had a problem with it being underdone. I usually cook the chicken breast-down, because it's juicier that way.
When chicken's done, let it sit a good 15 minutes, then carve it up. Dump onions and pan juices into a serving bowl, removing the stalks of sage and thyme and the lemon rinds. Serve chicken over croutons or other yummy starch (I bet this would be amazing with spaetzle) and spoon onions over the top.
Optional croutons that you will eat with your face: While the chicken's roasting, take a good loaf of bread - something crusty and fairly dense, I like a good sourdough or country white - and cut it into slices about an inch thick, then cut each slice into cubish, crouton-like pieces. This is not rocket science. If I am not serving another starch, or if my family is coming, I will make more than one loaf-worth of croutons, because they are kind of addictive. Heat olive oil in a pan till water sizzles. Toss in some of the bread crumbs, stir and flip until they've soaked up the oil and are toasted to the color you like (I tend not to get them too dark, just a little golden), dump into a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste. Add more olive oil to the pan and repeat until you're out of bread. Don't forget to add more oil or you will wreck your pan.
In the interim, I have found How to Steal Like An Artist to be a phenomenal read. There's just a lot that applies to any number of facets of my life, and not just the "creative" parts, either.
Also, wintercompanion folks, I am so sorry for the late post for October's challenge!
I did manage, last night, to grab time to make applesauce (with an almost-overripe peach food-milled in at the end just for kicks and because it was there); TWO CFIU chickens (because I wanted, and now have, the ingredients for amazing stock hiding in my freezer and fridge); and the following bean and spinach... thing (because I had spinach that was going to go to waste otherwise, and now it is residing happily in my fridge and freezer). I'm hoping that if I make enough stuff now, I'll have some good "pull it out of the freezer" meals for when the CSA goes on winter hiatus. I can't actually seem to find my online version of CFIU chicken, so I'm reposting it below as well, for my own record keeping.
Beans with Spinach and Pancetta
This was born of necessity, as I had a huge bag of spinach in the fridge that was this close to going to waste. On the plus side, it's really quick and easy. I like quick and easy.
Chop up some pancetta. I used 1/2 lb, which was a lot, and added a little more salt than I wanted - next time I might dial it down a little. OTOH, there's lots of nice meaty bits. YMMV. Put a high-sided skillet on the burner and toss in the pancetta. When it's started to render, add in 4 cloves of garlic, chopped, and about 1 c of chopped shallots (a chopped onion would be totally fine). Cook until the shallots and garlic are very soft and tender and brown.
Rinse and drain two cans of white beans (I used Great Northern because I had them, but anything would work). Dump them in the skillet with the pancetta/shallots/garlic and mix around to incorporate well. Add a generous squirt of lemon juice and let warm through. While that's happening, rinse a big bag of spinach. Add the spinach to the skillet in handfuls, stirring to incorporate and to let it wilt. Keep going till out of spinach and until spinach is well wilted. Finish off with red pepper flakes to taste (I find a little goes a long way) and a little more lemon juice. The beans break down a little and the moisture from the spinach helps make a sauce, so you're left with a really nice sort-of stew.
CFIU Chicken (with Optional Croutons)
This is my default, never-fail, roast chicken standby. And I mean never fail. I have accidentally tried to screw up this chicken any number of times and it just. keeps. working. It's based off of an Ina Garten recipe, but I like more lemons and onions and stronger flavors - you can find the original here. The carcass from this chicken makes an amazing stock - I throw it in to a pot with my standard stock makings plus any leftover onions - and once the stock's done, you can add in any remaining lemony, herby pan juices for a really fantastic result. I'm not much for croutons right now, but they are so good with this. It would also be great with rice, or any kind of potatoes. The juices are a little thin for pasta, but you could throw in a little cornstarch or flour to fix that. So:
In the bottom of a roasting pan, chop up four to five onions - slices will do, but you don't want big chunks. Add salt and pepper, toss. Add fresh thyme and sage (I have also used rosemary to excellent effect), torn into pieces, toss. Cut four lemons into quarters, squeeze each wedge over the onions, distributing evenly, and then toss the wrung-out wedges in with the onions. Add olive oil and toss. (I don't measure the olive oil, but you want stuff coated well so that as the onions roast and sweeten, the sugar doesn't make them stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
Take a chicken, remove innards, rinse, pat dry, salt and pepper cavity. Cut a lemon and an onion into wedges. Stuff chicken with fresh thyme, fresh sage, lemon, and onion. Tie the legs together, and set into roasting pan directly on top of onions. Rub bird lightly with olive oil and salt and pepper.
Roast chicken at 425 till it's done. You know it's done when the juices run clear - usually around 170 for me on my meat thermometer (if I get it to the actual "poultry" mark, the meat is horribly dry), and about 1.5 hours in my oven. As the bird sits for 15 minutes, it will finish cooking, and I've never had a problem with it being underdone. I usually cook the chicken breast-down, because it's juicier that way.
When chicken's done, let it sit a good 15 minutes, then carve it up. Dump onions and pan juices into a serving bowl, removing the stalks of sage and thyme and the lemon rinds. Serve chicken over croutons or other yummy starch (I bet this would be amazing with spaetzle) and spoon onions over the top.
Optional croutons that you will eat with your face: While the chicken's roasting, take a good loaf of bread - something crusty and fairly dense, I like a good sourdough or country white - and cut it into slices about an inch thick, then cut each slice into cubish, crouton-like pieces. This is not rocket science. If I am not serving another starch, or if my family is coming, I will make more than one loaf-worth of croutons, because they are kind of addictive. Heat olive oil in a pan till water sizzles. Toss in some of the bread crumbs, stir and flip until they've soaked up the oil and are toasted to the color you like (I tend not to get them too dark, just a little golden), dump into a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste. Add more olive oil to the pan and repeat until you're out of bread. Don't forget to add more oil or you will wreck your pan.