OK, I’ll be honest with you, it only felt like it took 10 minutes when in fact it took about 20 minutes. Or maybe 18 min (20 min – 2 minutes I took to tell/yell at the kids over and over to go wash hands before dinner.)

But it felt like 10…

And it was goooood—my fav kind of mish mash dish.

What’s in it?

a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Heat the oil in a big skillet. Add,

1/2 onion, diced small

2 carrots, peeled and diced small

Fry those two until they soften, over medium heat. Then, add

2 cloves garlic, minced

Cook for 1 minute. Add,

2 cups cooked brown rice (I use the frozen, precooked one)

2 cups frozen corn, cooked in the microwave

1-2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

salt and black pepper

Cook until heated through. Add,

1.5 cup cooked chicken, diced small

1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

2 eggs, scrambled, cooked in a separate skillet

a drizzle of toasted sesame oil

Mix it all up and serve.

If you have any on hand, add some cilantro, or parsley… Scallions?

Any leftovers from this meal, made mostly from leftovers, makes an excellent lunch the next day. Double leftovers!

You might want to add another scrambled egg to top that… and something green…

A glorious blue morning*.

The greyish-blue hue on the white blinds pulled me outside with camera in hand to capture this photo.

Back in the kitchen, still wearing my PJ, I poured myself a cup of coffee and then filled a pot with water, enough to cover some chicken bones, leftovers from last night’s roasted chicken dinner.

Another pot of chicken stock was simmering on the stovetop.

Are you using store-bought stock/broth? Then read this: Invest in stock.

If you’re using a store-bought stock, I really really want you to give this a try, at least once, and make your own stock—invest in the stock! After you try and taste the difference, you’ll understand why I insist. And here are a few tips, just in case…

Time

*This works with the evening’s cup of coffee too. PJ included.

Whether morning or evening, simmer the stock for 1, 2, 3 hours—as much time as you have. We’re not making stock for the Culinary Institute—taking a shortcut is OK. The result would still be far superior to any store-bought brand.

If you work full-time, you can do this during the weekend, while drinking your coffee and flipping through the newspaper. (Who reads a newspaper in the morning these days?)

Chilling

If you’re not going to use the stock right away after it’s done, (Although if you start making stock when you’re drinking your morning coffee, it might be done in time for lunch), cool it and store in the fridge, or freeze it.

To cool the stock quickly, create an ice bath. Do not let it sit for hours outside the fridge to chill! Fill a clean sink with cold water and lots of ice, soak the pot in the ice bath and stir from time to time until the stock gets cold enough to store in the fridge.

Finding Nemo bones and carcasses

Chicken bones are getting hard to find in the stores. (I bet they use them to make pet food.) So when I find some, I buy as many as I can/enough to fill one pot.

If there’s none to be found at the store, what can you do? Roast a whole chicken and/or start a savings account, a.k.a “a collection”, of bones from the roasted chickens you cooked and store in the freezer until you have enough to invest in the stock.

Fat

Roasting the chicken, versus using it raw in the stock, is an added step but in the end it makes concocting a stock easier and just as fast because it saves you the fat skimming step.

See how much fat is accumulated:

(This is after I put the cooked carcasses in the pot and poured the fat into a big jar.)

You’d want to skim the fat or else you’ll have a too fatty stock.

As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing’s wrong with some fat rings twirling at the top of a soup/stock. I remember playing with the little rings of fat floating in my grandma’s chicken soup, trying to create one large circle of fat… Fascinating, really. But, ah, that happened a zillion years ago.

This fat is delicious to use instead of (on in addition to) butter or oil for frying food, in (bacon) mashed potatoes, etc. This is what our grandmas used to do—use the chicken fat. Well, at least mine did. They did not throw away food.

The mesh skimmer

To skim the fat that rises to the surface, use one of these fine mesh skimmers. Get one with really tiny holes. I’ve got one like that with teeny tiny holes that even hold the liquid-y fat! It’s marvelous.

However, if you roast the chicken or use leftover cooked chicken bones and scraps, you won’t have a lot of fat to skim.

… and by the time I finished this post, ta-da!, the stock was done!

What tips do you have up your sleeve?

Some dishes, I think, are just too predictable, too obvious to even be mentioned to others—“Hey! Guess what I cooked today?”—and certainly they are not to be blogged about! Talk about roasted chicken. Or even braised chicken. They just seem to be too… (Fill in the blank), because I/we assume that everyone knows how to make them. Well, we know that this is isn’t so. Some people out there do need exactly those types of recipes.

However! What if I/we could make three meals out of one predictable, too obvious dish? It sure can save a lot of people a lot of time and get three dinners done!

It starts with chicken thighs roasted in tomatoes and herbs. Simple.

You have that for dinner,

… and you take the leftover sauce the next day and buzz it in the food processor to make the ever-predictable pasta with tomato sauce as a second meal (using 1-2 cups of the sauce). Easy, simple. Everyone can do that.

… and the third time around, you eat any leftover sauce as a soup, ooooor you can make shakshuka! How very simple.

Now, what do you say about that?

I say this is efficiency at its best.

Simple and predictable roasted chicken with tomato sauce and herbs

Serves 4-6

4 whole chicken legs, (split to thigh and leg, optional)
1 can 28 oz. diced/crushed tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1/2 to 1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 handful fresh herbs such as parsley and thyme (or use 1 teaspoon dried herbs)
1/4 cup white wine, optional
A good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper

Put all the ingredients in a 9 * 13-inch baking dish, season well and roast at 375 degrees F for 50-60 minutes.

For pasta sauce, soup, and/or shakshuka:

Put everything that is left in the pan besides chicken in a food processor bowl and pulse till smooth. (I didn’t measure how much sauce was left. Will do next time…)

Use some of the sauce for pasta and some to be eaten as tomato soup or use it to make shakshuka.

When I started writing this blog about 2.5 years ago, I didn’t know what a blog was. I started it only as a way to keep in touch with some parents who had attended a session I gave about kids and food, picky eaters, and planning a weekly dinner menu (something that I have done as a personal chef ) at my son’s day care

My first posts were the handouts I gave to the participants. (Hey, first readers from way back in July 2008, are you still reading my blog?)

Later on, the blog took a life of its own and led me in different directions. From focusing on those 3 topics, with the weekly dinner menu plan as the main focus, I added A cake for the weekend “column” (Because I’m crazy about baking, and eating, a home-made cake—it’s just sooo relaxing!), Cooking with kids, Family friendly restaurants but their kid-friendly menus. I actually named my blog family-friendly food because of my deep dislike for the kids’ menus offered in restaurants. (It’s mostly junk food and low quality.)

Down the road I became aware of the politics of food after watching a movie about genetically modified food—what horror!—and wrote a few Power and Food posts after that. Those led to launching a second blog! called Good Food & Bad Food, but keeping two blogs was way too much work. (There’s good stuff posted there though, that you might want to read.)

Then I started blogging about Weight Loss/Diet, but I lost interest because I never cared that much about diets or the extra roundness on my thighs. When you’re 40, it’s sexy!

For a short while I experimented with Restaurant reviews and Food books & Cookbooks reviews. Then I had a series of Happy posts to lift up my spirit and some of the readers who needed it…

Next, Food Photography. But when my father became seriously ill, I started focusing more on my family relationships in my posts.

So, as you can see, I traveled many roads in the past 2.5 years of blogging but in the end, I lost track and interest.

Then, a few weeks ago, I invited some friends over to dinner. One of them got very excited about the roasted chicken I was preparing. As she stood next to me and peeled some vegs, she made a few enthusiastic comments. At first I thought she was pulling my leg. So I doubled checked: “You’re kidding me, right?” I asked her.

“No!” she said, “I mean it!”

Still not-believing, I asked carefully, afraid not to hurt her feelings or sounding patronizing, “You are that excited about a simple roasted chicken?”

“Yes! If I make this kind of dish for my family, they will go crazy!” she insisted.

And then it hit me.

There are people out there who don’t know how to roast a chicken. (But she says she can stir fry.)

My conclusion #1: invite friends over to dinner more frequently!

My conclusion #2: make your friends work with you in the kitchen! You might hear something interesting and/or get inspired.

Her comment did put me back on track. Re-focused me.

Her excitement about the simple dish of roasted chicken (with a Dijon marinade) and vegetables underneath it—the easiest thing to do, or so I thought—reminded me why I started writing this blog (and before that, why I was cooking as a personal chef), and about other things I wanted to do relating to food. Or, to be more exact, the food & family connection.

And this is exactly what I will be focusing on in this blog from now on.

And if I forget or go astray, please remind me with a whack on my head. But be gentle, please.

I will be refocusing on what drives me the craziest, Dinner! With a capital D.

Family dinner. Dinners.

And cakes.

OK, and cookies too. Because… They are an inseparable part of a family.

So, in a way, after 2.5 years, I’m closing a circle. I’ve taken a road with lots of loop-de-loops and now I’m back to the starting point. Only a bit wiser and more experienced.

***

Epilogue

So… my friend roasted a chicken and vegetables for dinner and planned to make a chicken stock after from the bones as I have done when she was here.

She reported back that dinner was a failure. Humf.

This means only one thing: I’m on a mission. There is still a lot of work to be done.

There are people out there who need to know how to roast a chicken.

***

Let’s start with some roasted chicken recipes I posted in the past:

Baked Chicken Meatballs

Roasted Delicately-Lemony Chicken

Balsamic and Sweet Roasted Chicken

Thanksgiving-y Chicken Dinner

Whole Roasted Chicken with Chardonnay-Tarragon Sauce, Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

Leftovers: Roasted Chicken

Roasted chicken with orange-mustard marinade, yellow jasmine rice, steamed broccoli

***

Thank you to all the readers who have stuck with me and are still visiting my site and reading my posts!

Thank you to those who comment!

Thank you to those who have tried my recipes!

Thank you to those who came back with feedback about the recipes!

Thank you, people!

Chicken with cream and tarragon… I believe I was a B.A student the last time I made this dish. Pheeeww, that was a long time ago!

How can it be that I let 10-15 years slip by without cooking this divine dish? Jeez.

I was cooking a lot of French and Italian dishes back then, my early years of cooking. I sure roasted and braised a lot of chickens back at that time too. One of the first cookbooks I bought at the university’s book store was dedicated to chicken recipes (no, no chicken desserts). I did not know how to handle any other type of meat or fish and chicken was easy. It also cost less and was pretty hard to screw up, especially the thighs—you can’t go wrong with chicken thighs. (Well, unless you are really, really “talented”, you know, the type that burns water.)

Back then I was living in a rented apartment with two roommates. It was a holiday and they went home to their families but I stayed. Luckily, I had some friends who stayed too so together we planned a potluck dinner party at my place—my apartment had a huge living room. We attached a few tables together, friends brought chairs from their homes, each person/couple (I was boyfriend-less) brought a dish to share and we had a fabulous time with good food and wine. We were all students, singles or married without kids, in our early twenties. We all struggled to work for a living and study after work, but we did find time to party. I remember the feeling I had at the time, at that dinner, I felt so free, and independent, and happy about living on my own, doing whatever I wanted, being responsible for my own choices—the essence of freedom.

These friends are long gone—some are no longer friends, some live far away (I moved!)—our friendships have faded. Some couples split or got divorced. We all moved on with our lives. But the chicken… the chicken will always be on my mind and the memories of those years and those friendships too.

So why have I made this cream and wine-braised chicken now?

I’ve been speaking of inspiration, and searching for it, and my tarragon plant has started growing faster in the past month. It was right there, under my nose, so pretty and fragrant. In my mind, tarragon will always be associated with that holiday dinner shared with friends in my then-rented students’ apartment.

I know that the plant will be dormant in winter (but, hopefully, will come back in summer. I took it back inside the house last winter with other herbs in pots) so I had to use it immediately.

It’s pretty amazing the effect that food and its aromas have; this power they posses to make me travel back in time. The first perfumed scents of the French tarragon—too unique to describe—made me feel… (10-15 years younger? Naaa) It simply reminded me of good times and the feeling of freedom I owned that magical weekend, sitting around a table with friends who appreciate good food, all laughing, smiling… Purely happy.

Chicken braised with cream and tarragon

Serves 6

5 whole chicken legs, separated to legs thighs
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 lb. crimini mushrooms, washed, dried, and sliced
1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream
3-4 sprigs of tarragon

Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Set aside.

Melt butter and olive oil in a big pot over medium-high heat. Sauté the mushrooms, onion, and garlic until they are golden brown. Remove to a plate.

Add more butter and oil to the pot, if needed, and fry the chicken, skin side down, until it browns. Using tongs, turn to the other side and cook to brown the second side.

Add the wine and shake the pot to release the brown bits that got stuck to the bottom. Return the mushroom-onion mix to the pot, add cream and the tarragon, and season with more salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Braise on the stovetop, with the lid on, over low heat for 45-60 minutes, or place in a 350 F degree oven (for the same amount of time).

Serve with a side dish that will absorb and complement the creamy sauce like potatoes, rice, or noodles, and/or leafy greens, like kale.

I must tell you about this stew.

Because even if you believe that you will never ever make it, you must know of its existence!!! And so, you will make a conscious, knowledgeable decision whether you make it or not.

I don’t want the responsibility lying on my shoulders knowing that (some of) you are walking around completely unaware of this stew.

Now, close your eyes and imagine this:

A Saturday morning (OK, it can be a Sunday too). You wake up in your warm bed with the fluffy down comforter covering you from ears to toes. The minute you wake up and regain your senses, a sweet honey, amber-like aroma amuses your nose. That sweet smell had penetrated every corner of your house, got absorbed in your pillow and your pajamas, and had sweetened your dreams while you were sleeping.

You get out of bed and put on your homey old robe on (You have one of those, right?!), and slip your feet inside your slippers, and then drag yourself to the kitchen to make coffee, or tea.

While you wait for the water to boil, you yawn as you lean against the countertop. You feel so happy and proud of yourself for loading a big pot, the night before, with beans, and potatoes, and meat, and eggs, and all kinds of good food, and putting it in the oven to slowly simmer overnight, letting the 15 hours of low heat take care of the rest…

In a few hours you will be able to enjoy this stew, this Cholent, for lunch. You have invited 14 guests but you don’t have to lift a finger.

You take a deep breath. You smile.

Ding. The button of your water kettle signals your morning coffee water had boiled.

You make coffee. You smile. You’re happy.

Now open your eyes.

And go get dressed! Your guests are arriving SOON.

Have you set the table the night before as well? Go, go go.

Do you really want to open the door when your guests arrive wearing that old robe?

(On second thought, it might be time to buy a new one.)

And, actually, I’m not sure that “stew” does this dish justice. It is plain “stew” if it has been cooking for… let’s see, it was placed in the oven at 10 PM and consumed at 1 PM the following day… That makes it… 15 hours, and it can be cooked even longer. So, I think a better word than “stew” should be applied to it. Any suggestions?

So, what is “Cholent”?

A quote from an article: “Just think of concoctions as the French cassoulet, Boston baked beans, chili con carne.” And I just want to add, “It can be all those combined!” So aren’t you convinced yet that you must try it?

I rest my case.

By the way, the article is fascinating and discusses the history, the tradition, the different ingredients and techniques, and so on of Cholent. Really interesting stuff! So go to this web page to read more about so I won’t have to reinvent the wheel all over again. Thanks.

***

It’s supposedly spring but the weather here is sort of crazy, and indecisive, and cooold, and rainy. Bottom line, it resembles winter more than it does spring. And I made Cholent only once this winter, so I thought, “Hey, why not? Here’s my second chance.” And there you have it.

Due to a full-day of food writing workshop – which I will tell you about in the next post – I had to send Suburban Cowboy to the grocery store the day before the Cholent making day.

Onions, garlic, prunes, potatoes, garbanzo beans, white beans, barley, chicken, beef, and barley.

Instead of barley he came back with… oats! And this is the second time this had happened! To his defense, he claims that the store put a label “Barely” under the oats’ container. But between us, we know, girls, it’s always the guys’ fault, right?! (Wink.) So there was no barley in this Cholent. So sad. It adds sweetness and chewiness to this dish.

And he didn’t soak the beans in the water because I wasn’t home to tell him and he didn’t read the recipe… So Junior and I had to go to the store that night and buy canned beans because a Cholent with no beans at all is just unthinkable.

And it still turned out great.

The guests licked their fingers.

Nah, no they didn’t. They’re too polite.

But I did get lots of compliments.

It also makes a great leftovers lunch the next day.

I packed leftovers for Suburban Cowboy’s lunch at work. My finger unintentionally touched the food and stuck to my finger as I filled the Pyrex container with the good stuff.

I licked it.

Oh, yes, I did.

Yum yum.

***

So, back to the morning after the night that you started the process.

You wake up in the morning, and after you’ve had your coffee, you take a peek to see how’s your Cholent is doing so far.

This is what it looked like at 9 AM (I’ve got lil’ kids, early birds, so I don’t get to sleep until 20 minutes before lunch time/the guests are coming. And I don’t have an old robe either. Just in case you wondered).

3-4 more hours to go.

From a closer look you can see how the potatoes, prunes, chicken, and beef pieces turned all brown. It’s a totally brown food.

But, oh, I wish you could smell it.

You’ll just have to make it if you want to smell it.

At 9 AM I added the canned beans and hard boiled eggs (I must have been really tired. There’s no other way to explain why I put the eggs in a separate pan. They should be placed in the pan with the rest of the ingredients.)

But it turned out just fine.

Finger-licking good.

And the smell… Oh. The neighbors knocked on my door and asked for some.

Nah, they didn’t.

They’re too polite.

***

Saturday Cholent

I hear you’re supposed to put the ingredients in a big, tall pot – not in a big, wide pan like I did – and then layer the ingredients on top of one another as follows: onions and garlic go in first, then the beans, then the potatoes, next the meat and chicken, and the eggs on top. Then you cover it with boiling water only to the potatoes’ height.

As for the eggs, some people just wash ‘em well before adding to the pot. I like to bring them to a boil, drain and rinse with clean water, and only then add to the pot. (Why? I don’t know… Maybe to be sure they are clean of bacteria, salmonella, and all those words we hear that scare me.)

As for the beans. Use any variety you like, or even better, use a few different kinds. Soak them in water a day ahead or, at the latest, the same morning you will be cooking them. Change the water 2-3 times.

I used to add marrow bones as well… Pre The crazy cow disease years… So sad.

As with old recipes, all possible variations, combinations, adaptations, and compilations develop through the years. Here’s how I usually do it. You can easily cut the amount in half or multiply by as many guests as you have, or the size of your pot.

As a general rule of thumb I estimate, per person: 1 chunk beef, 1 piece chicken, 1 small potato, 1/2 cup mixed beans, 1 egg.

Oh, and don’t forget the Challa…….

Start time: The night before the day you want to eat it
End time: Lunch time
Makes 12 servings + most likely, leftovers

extra virgin olive oil
2-3 onions, chopped large
1-2 tablespoons sugar
2 heads of garlic, cloves separated, left whole and unpeeled
2 lbs. beef chuck, cut into large cubes
12 chicken thighs or 20 chicken drumsticks
12 small potatoes, peeled
1 cup garbanzo beans, that was soaked in water
1 cup white beans, that was soaked in water
1 cup barley, that was soaked in water (unless your husband brought you OATS)
about 12 prunes
12 eggs
salt, black pepper

In a pot, or tea kettle, boil about 2 quarts of water.

In a big, tall pot (or big, wide pan), fry the onions with some oil over medium heat. Sprinkle sugar on top and cook, stirring from time to time, until it starts to soften. Throw in the garlic cloves and fry another 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

If you’re in the mood/have time, brown the meat cubes. If not, just add it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.

Next, add the chicken, potatoes, beans, barley, and prunes. Season with salt and pepper.

Scatter the eggs at the top.

Add boiling water to about 3/4 of the height. Cover with a lid or with aluminum foil (the thick kind works best).

Bring everything to a boil.

Now you have 2 options:

1) Simmer on the stovetop for 45-60 minutes, or
2) Bake in an oven that was preheated to 350 F degrees for 45-60 minutes.

Next, set the oven temperature to 225 F degrees. Place the pot/pan in there, covered, and go to bed.

The next day, in the morning, check the level of liquids. If it’s too dry (which probably won’t happen), add more boiling water. If there’s too much water, makes holes in the foil, or open a crack with the lid, or remove it altogether so some of the water will evaporate and the sauce will thicken.

That’s pretty much it.

A very special dish for a very special day.

And don’t forget the Challa…

***

Other appealing recipes on the web:

Cholent by Claudia Roden

Another recipe to try on Epicurious by Joan Nathan

More about Cholent on Wikipedia

I was behind to join Twitter, behind with setting up a “fan” page on Facebook (mostly because I dislike to use the word “fan”, but do go and visit me there for updates, OK?), and then behind with making matzo balls… Technology-wise, I wonder, is it an age “thing” that I’m so behind? But matzo ball-wise? I have no excuse. In any case, I dismiss it all with a good old-fashioned defense technique for reasoning:“I had no time”. And besides, it might officially be spring, but looking out of my window I see gray sky, gray clouds, and every now and then a drop of rain. So, it’s never too late, right?!

We were invited to a Passover Seder at friends of friends’ house. That happened…… 3 weeks ago. Little Mr. Smarty Pants devoured the soup with soft and fluffy matzo balls floating in it. In fact, I think that besides a few matzos, and dessert (of course), this was the only thing he ate the whole night. I, personally, adopted the chopped chicken liver and wouldn’t let anyone else touch it. But I really liked the matzo balls’ soup too. A lot. With memories lingering and cravings developing, I wanted to make it and eat it and soon. Since I had lousy homemade chicken stock (2nd batch! Yippie! Ruhlman approved on Twitter!) it was a short way to achieving this goal. So, believe it or not, I bought a box, yes, a box, of matzo ball mix!

I did make real, made from scratch, matzo balls once, about…. 4-5 years ago? I assume I had a beginner’s luck because they turned out perfectly (I used an Ina Garten’s recipe). Dizzy by my success – ‘cause it involves beating egg whites and I didn’t have much skills doing that 4-5 years ago – I offered to cook it for a client. That was back in those days when I had a personal chef business. The matzo balls separated to float in bits in the soup. Ha! Luckily, that client was a very sweet person, and at home that day. “It’s Ok, leave it like that”, she said. “We’ll eat it. It’s good. We won’t mind”. If she hadn’t been home and witnessed it as it happened, I would have thrown them away being too embarrassed to charge money for the mess. But she wanted them anyway. And she was right, they are delicious, even when they are falling apart.

However, recalling this episode, I’ve decided to play it safe this time and I used a boxed mix. It was easy and quick to make. I liked the texture, fluffy and tender. Some people like ‘em rock hard. Go figure… And this is another way the world is divided… Which camp do you belong to – soft matzo balls or hard matzo balls? It’s a serious choice.

Regardless of which school you belong to, using a cookie scoop makes the job a lot easier and less messy.

And while the balls were cooking in the stock (it takes 30 minutes) I had a chance to spy on my family; supposedly there were having fun outside in the sun.

I wandered what Suburban Cowboy and the kids were up to…

A-ha!

Busted!

He was…of course… attached to a laptop, so very focused

Instead of doing something more household-oriented like, let’s say, clean the grill… or fix something… change a burnt light bulb, or mow the lawn? But in any case, the kids won’t leave him alone. They want his attention and flock around him,

until they gave up and moved on to mind their on business.

And then it was time for me to yell, “Ki-eeds, lunch is reeeeeadyyyy… Come insa-aide…. Wash your ha-ands….”

I just love these sort of weekends.

Staying at home, doing domestic stuff, having an easy, comforting lunch, watching/spying on my family, running errands… I like it.

***

Matzo ball soup

So, since using a boxed mix, there really isn’t a recipe.

To make the matzo balls, simply follow the instructions on the package.

While the matzo balls paste is resting, heat up your lousy homemade chicken stock.

If you’d like, add any frozen veggies you have or leftovers from previous lunches or dinners that you’d like in a soup.

And, please, don’t wait for summer.

How’s the weather where you live? Still good for soup?

I have already compared my glamorous suburban life to meatballs before. So what else is left to say?

Do you like chicken?

Do you like meatballs?

Do you like cheese in your chicken meatballs?

Oh, oh, I know, do you like a crusty bottom on your meatballs?

‘Cause these little guys have nice crusty bottoms, and they’re well-tanned ones too!

They get it from their mother, ahem, eh, from the pan

What other virtues do they have?

They’re easy-peasy to make, fun to eat, cheesy (I’ve already said so), and bite size (love that). I think they’ll make good appetizers when dressed up in something fancy and their bottoms covered.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a pile of laundry to take care of.

But before I go, to entertain you a bit more, this is the photo I took on December 2008 (with a point and shoot) when I made the meatballs and their soup:

I’m pretty sure that the exact same photo with a DSLR + minus the artificial yellow light would have looked much fancier…

Italian Wedding Soup’s chicken meatballs

The complete recipe plus the soup can be found in Barefoot Contessa “Back to Basics” cookbook or online, click here. This is my adaptation for the meatballs.

*One of my favorite shortcuts is to prepare herb flavored fresh breadcrumbs ahead of time and keep them in the freezer for exactly this sort of recipes. Click here to see.

Makes 6-8 servings, about 40 meatballs

1-1/2 pound ground chicken thighs
2/3 cup fresh bread crumbs*
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley*
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano/Parmesan, or any cheese you have and like
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the chicken, bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, cheese, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with your hands.

With a teaspoon, or cookie scoop (my favorite kitchen tool, it makes less mess (see a photo of one in this cookie post)), drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch meatballs onto a lightly greased sheet pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned.

We need to have a serious talk.

To make it easier, I’ll start with the bottom line:

“Any lousy chicken stock you will make at home will taste far superior to ANY store-bought stock or broth you will buy.”

Now, let me tell you something.

The last time I made chicken stock was about 3-4 years ago. I got busy with the kiddies and stopped making it. I thought I didn’t have time for this.

So, I tried different brands, organic, free-range, sodium free, stocks, broths, in cartons, cans, and even frozen fresh stock for $7 per pint! The frozen fresh became the preferred one. Because I thought I nailed it. I believed I have found the perfect solution: an organic, fresh, make from scratch (by someone else) substitution to real homemade chicken stock. I put my trust in that stock and made a $7 “investment” each time I bought it. Then, one day, when dinner plans have changed and I couldn’t use the stock right away, I left it to thaw in a fridge for 2 days. When I finally wanted to use my thawed stock (in a soup), I poured it into a measuring cup since I only needed 2 cups and, to my absolute surprise and shock, water poured out! Water.

I looked at the bottom of the container and there I saw some brown bits/residue lying on the bottom. This did not look appealing. I also felt cheated for paying $7 for this stock. The previous times I used it, I reheated it in a small pot and immediately added it to the main dish so I never noticed this “feature”. It always looked brown and homogenous as good stock should be. At that point in time my stock option has changed. That frozen one was the best substitute compared to the others (besides buying real stock at the farmers market) – although it always tasted somewhat pale – or so I thought. To that point, I felt good when I used it, as if my conscious was clear (yeah, just like the stock!), but that incident ruined it for me. I was left with no other choice but to go back to making my own. But how?

It’s not that I didn’t know how to make stock. I made it many times before, using a big fat tall pot. The problems were: 1) finding the time to do it. After all, it’s a process that takes hours, 2) it needs some planning ahead, and 3) you need a lot of bones. In short, it’s not something you can do spontaneously. Or at least this is what I thought…

Then, one evening, I had an insight.

Do you know how seeking perfection in everything you do might cause a person to not do anything at all? Does it ever happen to you? It sure happens to me…

My solution? Forget about perfection! Make small, spontaneous stock investments.

Isn’t it gorgeous?!

In the past, I had a “bone collection” (I know, this doesn’t sound good) from leftovers of roasted chickens we ate, only by the time I had enough (4-5 lbs.), some got lost in the freezer or were too old and freezer burnt. From time to time I bought bones/carcasses of organic chickens to complete the collection but then I felt silly paying for bones. And, still, making a big pot of stock felt like a big project. Like a special occasion.

And, then a few days ago, we had a lovely dinner of simple grilled chicken drummettes, mashed sweet potatoes, and a Caesar salad. As I was watching the bones piling on the plates, I had an“A-ha!” moment – you know I have those from time to time… – and I quickly snatched them from the others plates so I won’t forget later and toss them in the trash. My family was still eating the last drummettes, but I got too excited to sit. I put the bones in a small pot with 1/2 fat carrot, 1/2 onion, 1 celery stalk, 1 smashed garlic clove, and a handful of peppercorns, covered with cold water, and brought it to a boil. 2-1/2 hours later I had a pint and a half of homemade chicken stock.

Now, this might not be how you are supposed to make chicken stock by the book. For more hard core how-to, go see Michael Ruhlman’s blog. So I named it My Lousy Chicken Stock ‘cos it’s not perfectly made, and I can feel better about it, but:

1) it’s homemade and so much better than any store bought or brand you will buy

2) it’s doable for the average bone collector

3) it’s cheaper. With a handful of basic veggies and the bones – free, I’d say I spent less than $1

4) the biggest benefit, you know what’s in there!

So if you ever felt intimidated to make your own chicken stock at home, this lousy one is for you.

I tell you, in this market, you should invest in some stock. The profit? It’s priceless.

And, next time you have a plate that looks like this

or this

you’ll know what to do… Right?!

Oh, one more thing.

I personally know some of you and I can hear you saying “but I don’t have celery”, or “but I don’t have bay leaf” or… so I’ll give you a discount. Use what you have. I didn’t have parsley that night. So what? It didn’t stop me from investing. But, even better, next time you plan to roast or grill a chicken, buy some!

Lousy homemade chicken stock

Makes 1-1/2 quarts

chicken bones, leftovers from 4 servings of roasted or grilled chicken
1 small carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1/2 onion, peeled
1 garlic clove, whole and smashed
1 bay leaf
a few whole black peppercorns (OK, use ground)
a few parsley sprigs
salt, optional

Put all the ingredients in a pot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. When boiling, lower the heat and skim any froth or fat that rose to the surface. Lower the heat to a bare simmer (only a random bubble should appear every now and then) and cook for 2-3 hours.

Strain the stock through a sieve set over a big bowl or another pot (or, if you’re into it, line the sieve with 2 layers of paper towel to catch the little bits and soak some of the fat. Those of you who have cheesecloth at home probably don’t need my lousy version for chicken stock, right?!).

Cool in an ice bath (= put the pot in a clean sink and fill it with cold water and ice to lower the temperature of the hot stock quickly so you can then store in the fridge). Store in containers and chill in the fridge. Optional: when completely cooled, remove any hardened fat that formed on the surface. That’s the classic thing to do although I’m sure my grandma would say that some fat is good for you and it sure taste good.

If not using within 1-2 days, label with name and date and freeze.

Sometimes I feel as glamorous as a chicken meatball.

Ehhh, let me explain. Where should I begin?

Maybe from the end. Yes, the end. That’s was when I heard the sweet sound of the word “yummy”. It came out of the mouth of a sweet, but stubborn, and picky, little boy, who mostly likes to eat cheese with carbs. Cheese pizza, pasta with cheese, crackers with cheese, cheese tortillas, cheese panini… and hot dogs.

Yes, that’s a better start. To tell you right away that this story has a good ending. After all, we all love a story with a conflict, problem solving, unconditional love, and a happy ending, no?

Because, you see, lately, I’ve been feeling very unglamorous when it comes to cooking. I’ve got to a point where any of the following can get the creative joyful cooking wind out of me (people with no little kids be warned, there’s poopy involved!):

1. there’s a toddler in my house with a daily afternoon routine of trying-to-poop-for-45-minutes episodes accompanied by crying, whining, screaming, nagging, while trying to hold the poopy in, which makes me want to scream sometime “let it go”.

2. a first grader who turns his nose away from most food that is not of the “cheese & carbs combo”- family as mentioned previously with an occasional smoothie, yogurt stick , and a few types of fruit which makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes

3. an almost daily dinner time with one or both kids whining and/or complaining and/or making constant silly noises and/or keep jumping from their chairs and mainly not leaving my husband and me a chance to complete one sentence or eat peacefully for more then 2 straight minutes which makes me want to poke my eyes out sometimes (Thank god for date nights)

4. and a very rare appearance of re-energizing words like “yummy” or “thank you for dinner” or “dinner was great” or “you’re a wonderful cook, darling”, or even “that cake you made is awesome, mom” and that sort of stuff, you know… which makes me think I’m being taken for granted sometimes

5. before making dinner I need to multi-task like crazy. For example, play chess with my son using the left side of my brain while reading a book to my girl with the right side, or whatever’s left of it, while poopy episodes interrupt in the middle, that basket full of laundry staring at me, and other fun stuff, which makes me dream of a vacation on an isolated island all by myself sometimes

And then, around 6 PM, I get my 20-30 minutes to be a diva in the kitchen and whip up some magic.

Ahhhhhhh, I don’t think so. No can do.

Of course I did not expect to hear “yummy” about something as delicious as the roasted cauliflower with apples and red onion

Not even when I made the chicken and noodles soup my boy has requested. Alas, I missed his emphasis on the “noodles” and i put some veg in there.

Not when I baked Challa bread which everyone loves so much

And not even when I presented the Pumpkin banana cream pie or Apple pie. No “Oooo” or  “Uuu” or “Aaaa” were heard.

I knew it. I had no expectations. Only hopes.

But last night, hallelujah! I finally heard it.

Out of the blue I heard “yummy”. Oh, what a sweet little moment it was. T’was a good thing I was sitting, otherwise I would have fallen off my feet.

I made these meatballs I found on Smitten Kitchens’ blog and my 6 years old liked it and announced it “yummy”.

He only ate one meatball, but that’s different story. Don’t worry, I have leftovers for him for tonight’s dinner, hi hi hi…

Baked Chicken Meatballs

Adapted from Smitten kitchen who had adapted it from Gourmet
Serves 4, or 2 adults + 8 kids, or makes 12-14 meatballs

3 slices white bread, torn into small bits (1 cup)
1/3 cup milk
3 ounces sliced pancetta, finely chopped (or Canadian Bacon)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 large egg
1 pound ground chicken (I used dark meat but next time I’ll try ground breast)
1 tablespoons tomato paste
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons ketchup
oil for greasing the pan

Preheat oven to 400°F with a rack in the middle.

In a small bowl, soak the bread in milk until softened.

Meanwhile, preheat a medium skillet over medium heat and start cooking the pancetta. Add the onion, garlic, salt and pepper and cook until the onion is softened, about 6 minutes. Cool slightly.

Squeeze the bread to remove excess milk, then discard milk.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg, then add the chicken, tomato paste, parsley, pancetta mixture, and the bread. Mix well and form 12 meatballs.

Lightly spray or oil a baking sheet (I used a 9×13 Pyrex dish) and place the meatballs in it. Squeeze a little ketchup on top of each meatball and spread with a teaspoon.

Bake until the meatballs are cooked through, about 20 minutes.

By the way, his sister, 20 months old, is entering the picky eating stage now, so it seems.

Oh, boy.

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