Small Plates
I’ve got no recipes to speak of…but here are some snapshots.
Tonight I broiled a butterflied Cornish Game Hen on both sides for about 10 minutes (they’re small, it doesn’t take long). I pulled the bird from the broiler and covered in my tomato sauce I had leftover from making pizza a week ago. I let the bird finish cooking in the sauce at about 250º. Meanwhile I cooked up about 8oz of spinach fettuccine.
I tossed the pasta with olive oil, kosher salt, and a splash of balsamic vinegar, and laid half a game hen and accompanying sauce on top. Nice.
Also:
I roasted up a chicken the other night, and used my newly sharpened (Ninja!) chef’s knife to bisect some potatoes and brussels sprouts. I roasted the potatoes with the chicken. The tiny red potatoes, cut in half, will cook to done with a bird at 375º F in two hours. If you have big fat potatoes, you might want to par boil them, or cut them into smaller portions, and brown them in a pan first.
Anywho. Potatoes cooked in schmaltz are fantastic. I browned the sprouts in butter, and finished them off in vermouth, and had myself a fine, fine dinner.
The bonus tip here, is that the chicken was absolutely crusted with kosher salt. Just caked on.
The salt sticks to the skin of the bird, and melts in while cooking. Makes for excellent seasoning. Additionally, some of the salt falls into the pan, with the schmaltz and meets the potatoes.
Potatoes have this dangerous “Fatal Attraction” thing for salt and fat. Potatoes just act more like potatoes when salt is around. Just one of those things. And the fat? Potatoes like the wet look.