A Chicken in Every Pot #3

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Though I have never made this before, I was just trying to rip off as many classical flavor combinations as I could to pull this chicken off for a party. I was surprised by how simple it is, and how much people really liked eating it. It only has a few ingredients, but the cooking methodology was complicated and very time consuming.

I would call this the:

Lemon-less Asparagus Stewed Chicken

I took a few organic carrots (which I only mention since they were small, and if you are using normal Globo store carrots, less than one would work) and very finely minced them with the tops of a head of celery. The tops are the parts that you would not normally serve on a party platter, its the weird section with leaves above the stalk. Add a finely sliced shallot to this and sauté.

Dismember a chicken, season well, and slowly render the excess fat from the chicken in the pot with the veggies. I also cooked the neck in this part of the recipe since I was making something up for the first time, and planning on taking it to a party where I told people to expect good chicken. I used the neck as a taste tester. Cook some fresh sage in here too, maybe a hand full. Oh yeah, I'll write something up on rendering here soon for Faith.

For this chicken, I actually fried the pieces with the excess fat still in the pan to save time, and then through the excess fat away later. After cooking all the pieces of chicken for four minutes per side, I added fresh carrots, onion, and celery, cut very small in similar fashion to what you get in concentrated canned Campbell's soup, so small. I cooked those breifly with like 6 bay leaves and a little celery salt. Cook this for five minutes and adjust seasoning so that it tastes perfectly right now.

Now, add about 2-3c of chardoney and simmer for 1/2 an hour, or until you are happy with the taste (should be semi sweat with no alcohol taste). Add 28oz of diced orgamic canned tomatoes. Stew for 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning again until it tastes perfect, until you serve it, this will be the last time you can season easily.

After this step, I planted the chicken into the wine/tomato broth. I cut up a bunch of asparagus, put it in a bag, and I threw like 3T of capers into the pot before covering it up and driving it to the party. Once there, I added about three cups of water to the pot and simmered for 45 minute. Add the asparagus 7 minutes before serving and season to perfection.

Serve every piece individually and with substantial broth.

A Chicken in Every Pot #2

This Thai version was a cinnamon dream

As I gain confidence in this method of cooking, the dishes are becoming more elaborate and more complex in methodology. I'm sure this one was more complicated than most people would want to attempt, but it was so good that I ate the whole thing in one night. It was absolutely amazing.

Step one is to prep your fat for frying the chicken initially. I took a small amount of spicy extra light olive oil and sauted a fairly large minced shallot with the excess fat that I saved from dismembering the chicken into 12 pieces. I cooked the skin pieces until the fat was rendered off. To that fat I added celery salt and lots of black pepper. I took the skins out and through them away.

Step two is to fry the chicken for four minutes per side and then save fat. Step three is the most important: make a pasty roux type thing out of that fat using Thai flavors. Mince up two serranos, 3" of fresh ginger, 3 heaping teaspoons of cinnamon and a small amount of ground cloves, 2T fish sauce, juice of two limes, 1t of ground ginger (the fresh wasn't enough), and of course salt and pepper. Once that tastes the way you want it, add 4c of Brandon's Paleo Broth, and bring to a boil.

Step four is to slow cook the chicken. Submerge the chicken and simmer for about an hour, rotating as needed. Add two more serranos and some coarse cut green onions with 5 minutes left. Garnish with cilantro and lime, and serve with juice. It is amazing.

Seven Ingredient Fajitas

Seven ingredient paleo fajitas

Fajitas, as tasty as they are, are almost only meat, onions, and peppers. Sure my recipe has those, but it is amazing with only, like, 6 more things, two of which are salt and pepper and therefore do not count.

Using extra light olive oil, a huge pinch of oregano, and another huge pinch of cumin powder, cook an onion, sliced in half and then thinly into half rings, a minced habanero pepper, and two similarly cut red bell peppers until almost finished. Place in bowl.

I then cooked rare a thinly sliced (which I sliced myself) grass fed cow's shoulder, known as a Clod Roast in the remnant of the onion/bell pepper juice and it was after prepping those amazing veggies. Season and garnish with cilantro. I used an avocado and tapatio to finish this off. It is so easy, and so amazing. Try it.

A Chicken in Every Pot #1

More satisfying than a one term president

I'm trying to make a new deal with myself: be healthier, try harder, be responsible and reap the rewards. And I used to live four miles away from where Herbert Hoover was born. I realize he wasn't the New Deal president, but whatever.

But seriously, these chicken are remarkably tasty and very easy to make, as they require virtually no exact timing or measurements. [Aside: these are all vaguely similar to Pollo Alla Cacciatora]. To make this version of my pot chicken (*bites knuckles*) I dismembered a chicken into 12 pieces (2 wings with winglet removed, 2 legs, 2 thighs, the back cut in two, and 2 breasts cut into four pieces) and fried them for four minutes a side in olive oil and dehydrated onions, then drained it.

Then, in the juice left over, I added 2t celery salt, 30 grinds from the pepper mill, a diced onion, two huge pinches of dried rosemary and one huge pinch of dried basil. Add a minced habanero pepper. Add 10oz oz mushrooms, sliced. Add lemon juice and white vinegar (both very sort of inexact squeezes and pours). *Important* Adjust seasoning right now until it tastes perfect. Add a 28oz can of petite diced tomatoes. Simmer and re-season. Add chicken back to pot, covering all pieces. Cover with steam hole open and allow to simmer off as much liquid as possible in an hour. The meat should fall off the bone.

Vince and I can't get enough of this stuff.

Now where is that car in my garage?

Rory's Blended Chicken

Ecto Cooler marinade

This is a classic of mine, refined and adapted. The story behind it is that when I was living in Iowa City with my brother Dustan, we went to the store with Rory (Dustan's friend) and he said he would buy dinner, if only I would cook something amazing. He got a habanero/ cilantro/ lemon/ garlic Rory's Special Chicken, consisting of only thighs, bone in and skinless (my personal favorite chicken piece). After a few iterations of this dish I had to start calling it Rory's Famous Chicken, as its number of followers grew. But since I was cutting it all by hand before, and it never looked anything like this, I have adapted the name: Rory's Blended Chicken. Pre-Presented to the world: Rory's Blended Chicken.

Blend:

• 1 bunch cilantro
• 3 habaneros
• 3 serranos
• 1/2 onion
• 6 garlic cloves
• lots of olive oil, as required (good luck)
• white vinegar, as required (also)
• Salt

Dismember two chickens and marinate over night in two bags. Barbecue over coals. Serve raw dog: meat only, it needs nothing else. (Notice: no lemon?)

Will we miss the lemon? Let's see what happens. My taster said that the up front taste is amazing and the back end heat is too hot. Let's see what happens when we cook it...

Clash Events - Four of 'em

Should I tape my hands? WWRDD?

WOD #1
"The Laundromat"

For time:
35 Box Jumps (Males - 24", Females - 20")
Pull-ups (Males - 25 CTB Pull-ups, Females - 25 Pull-ups)
20 Ground-to-Overheads (Males - 95lbs, Females - 65lbs)
15 Forward Rolls
20 Ground-to-Overheads (Males - 95lbs, Females - 65lbs)
Pull-ups (Males - 25 CTB Pull-ups, Females - 25 Pull-ups)
35 Box Jumps (Males - 24", Females - 20")

WOD #2
"The Triple Crown"

PART A:
Athlete has 8 minutes to establish a 7-Rep Max Front Squat

* If the athlete gets the weight locked out overhead after their 7th Rep (no thrusters), 20lbs/15lbs will be added to that score for men/women respectively.

**If the bar drops to the ground at any point, the athlete must find a way by him or herself (either by stripping off the weight or by cleaning the bar) to get it back onto the racks if they wish to go for another attempt.

Rest 2 Minutes (walk to start of Part B)

PART B:
In 5 Minutes:
Run 600m, then
AMRAP Burpees

*Athlete will be scored by how many burpees they complete within the time frame.

**Burpees will be done with a lateral jump over a parallette.

Rest 4 minutes (get set up for Part C)

PART C:
In 90 Seconds:
(RAMMAP) Row As Many Meters As Possible

* Athletes may use whatever damper setting/footpad setting as desired.

Score all events individually. 1 point for 1st, 3 for 2nd, 5 for 3rd, 6 for 4th, 7 for 5th.

Low score wins.

WWRDD?

If I Was Programming The Clash 2010

The Clash 2009 Final Event, Men's Heat

If I were programming The Clash 2010, my WODs would be:

WOD #1

21-15-9

One arm KB hang squat snatch (1.5p/1p)

Power Cleans (95#/65#)

C2B Pull Ups

WOD #2

5 Burpee Bar Up-and-overs (like the wall burpees at the Games, but over pull up bars)

+

3 Rounds

10 Dead Lift (295#/195#)

30 Unbroken WBs to 11'

200m run

+

5 Burpee Bar Up-and-overs

Thoughts? Strategy? Estimated winning times? I'm going to try these some day.

Red Snapper Ceviche (There should be some food talk...)

This is easy, FIY

Red Snapper Ceviche

A1. Acid Poach Red Snapper for Flavor

3.5p Red Sanpper diced

8 limes juiced

2 lemons juiced

1 huge pinch of shredded red onion

Lots of salt

Pepper TT

(Cover and rest 4+ hours)

A2. Make Ceviche

Drain A1

Add over 1.75 shredded red onion

1.25p diced heir loom tomatoes

7-8 diced magic pepper

1 bunch of minced cilantro

10+ limes, juiced

2+ lemons, juiced

Salt and Pepper TT

Rest 30 minutes

Orange Paprika Guacamole (Part 4 of 4 Amazing Shit for You to Put on Ceviche)

It looks normal, but it blows people away

Orange Paprika Guacamole (Amazing)

3 perfectly ripe avocados

5 mini heirloom tomatoes, diced

1/32 bunch of cilantro, finely minced

1t ground paprika

1 big pinch of shredded red onion

2 serranos, diced

The juice of 1 orange

Stir that shit up. Try to minimize the number seeds in the end product.

This simple guac stomps peoples taste buds. Most people hit up Tapatio; paprika bitches, paprika.

Ruben's Tweaked Salsa (Part 3 of 4 Toppings for Ceviche)

Left most red one that looks like earlier posts

Ruben's Tweaked Salsa

1/2 Portion of my now famous Ruben's salsa

1/4 of a large yellow onion

Here is the thing: in a stand-up showdown with Ruben's Salsa, my recipe won the taste competition, but I personally lost the 'match the salsa' competition. Our intern, upon hearing of the massive missive, said something like 'onions are watery.' and I was like, 'You're right.' So add the onion, right? Its good, but I can't tell the difference; but that's what the competition taught us, right?

Chipotle White Sauce (Part 2 of 4 Salsas for Ceviche)

To the right this time, not really white

Chipotle White Sauce (Jury's Out)

You know that funky sauce they have at some fish taco stands? This is like that.

3.5oz canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

Juice of 2 limes pressed

Salt and pepper to taste

16oz Sour Cream

Blend the peppers and everything except sour cream first. Then slowly blend sour cream in. Use a squeeze bottle with a large hole since the skins have trouble when blended at slower speeds.

I thought it was too creamy, but chicks were digging it for some reason. My jury was out, but the verdict is in: Guilty of being delicious. Success.

Mango Pineapple Salsa (Part 1 of 4 Sauces for Ceviche)

Its the one in the middle this time

Mango Pineapple Salsa (Amazing)

3/2 of sweet sweet mango flesh

3/2c of canned pineapple with juice

1/4 red onion

4 serranos

1/16 bunch of cilantro

Salt TT

Blend the fruit, peppers and onions and shit smooth. Slow your blender and add the cilantro so it stays visible. The serranos turn it green, so if you want yellow salsa, just don't blend the green stuff. Actually, you dont need to blend this at all, but it just works amazingly well for serving ceviche with 4 different salsas.

This is a work breakfast dish. I liked this salsa the most, but there were people that liked all of the them.

Thai Green Bean and Pork Red Curry

I thought to myself: you have green beans, you have pork...

What is fun about this dish: no trips to the grocery. I've got some inflammation, so I'm going for the anti-inflammatory foods when I can. If you avid readers remember, green beans are highly anti-inflammatory. The basics of any red curry are easy (red curry + coconut milk), making anything stand out through those two flavors is fairly ridiculous, you have to chose something bold, and then use a lot of it. Here is what I tried.

Okay so here is what we need:

• 1p green beans, snipped
• 1p quartered cremini mushrooms
• 1 thinly sliced onion, halved
• 1 minced magic hot pepper (something at the farmers market that said: CAUTION HOT HOT HOT)
• 3p sliced pork loin (Into thin strips)
• 2 limes *bold*
• 1T ground ginger *bold*
• 3-5T coconut oil?
• 3T dried basil *bold*
• 3 bay leaves
• 2t celery salt
• 2T fish sauce
• 1/2t dried thyme

You need a massive pan to cook this much food, so be aware ahead of time. Pre-cook the snipped green beans in a cup of water and 1t of celery salt for 4 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Save in a bowl.

Sauté the quartered mushrooms in some coconut oil (which is called oil, but is more like congealed wax in a jar that needs to be slowly scraped out and not refrigerated (somehow)) with salt and pepper. Add the thinly slice onion when nearly tender. Finish cook the mushrooms and drain if necessary.

So then use some more coconut oil to meld together the ginger, 1T of the basil leaves, magic hot pepper, and pepper. Once heated, raise heat a little and throw in the pork. Then, zest both limes until they look like little soccer balls. Add can of red curry paste. Add two cups of Paleo Broth (2c water, 1t celery salt, 1/2t thyme, 3 bay leaves, boiled briefly). Boil. Add green beans, mushrooms, and onions. Re-boil. Add fish sauce and stir. Add remaining basil. Add coconut milk. Heat until satisfied with consistency. Squeeze the juice of both limes, saving a little for when you dish it out.

Enjoy.

PS -

"I've never tasted anything like this. It's awesome" - V. Wainwright

"You've never had Thai curry before?" - B. Brooks

It took us 1.425 days to eat the 6+ pounds of food in this dish (dinners and breakfasts only)