Spice-rubbed Grilled Chicken

This is the summertime version of Classic Roast Chicken.  This recipe is just as much about lifestyle as it is about flavor.  It’s about sitting out on the front porch with the other moms watching the kids play.  Suddenly, I look at the time and realize, ohmigosh, it’s five o’clock.  I run to the grill and light the coals with my beloved propane starter.  I pour a glass of wine, spatchcock a chicken, cleave the breast, rub it with spices, and before you know it I’ve got my bird on the grill and I’m back out with my girlfriends- breaking up squabbles about who spilled the bubbles and finding out the real reason why the folks on the next block put their house on the market. Read more

Spatchcock This!

Okay, I admit it.  I do kinda like to say “spatchcock.”  It sounds naughty.  I’m like a little kid with a bubblegum cigarette, aren’t I?

I actually used this as the password for a website where I’d posted my book proposal.  I’m always forgetting passwords, so I wanted to make this one memorable.  “Spatchcockthis” was pretty unforgettable.  It felt like a dirty little secret of mine.  It was fun until I decided to show the proposal to some people I didn’t know so well.  This included my friend’s father, who is an Evangelical pastor with an interest in cooking.  I explained what “spatchcocking” actually meant, but the secret was out: Jill Shepherd has a trashy, trouble-making side.  Fair enough. Read more

Classic French Chicken Stock

The odds are high that people will make fun of you for making your own chicken stock.  “Don’t you know you can buy that at the store?” “ You really don’t have anything better to do?”  And so on.  Be confident. You’ll have the last laugh. Read more

Chicken in Creamed Coconut Sauce

Adapted from Classic Indian Cooking, by Julie Sahni

Julie’s recipe stresses the importance of making your own coconut milk for the overall quality of this finished dish.  “Why not?” I thought, “I’ve never tried that before.”  Okay, never mind the difficulty of actually opening the coconut.  The real b*#$h was finding a non-rancid coconut in the middle of winter in the Midwest.   Read more

Classic Roast Chicken with Pan Gravy

In January 1955, I began to experiment with chicken cookery.  It was a subject that encompassed almost all the fundamentals of French cuisine, some of its best sauces, and a few of its true glories. Larousse Gastronomique listed over two hundred different chicken recipes, and I tried most of them… But my favorite remained the basic roast chicken.  What a deceptively simple dish.  I had come to believe that one can judge the quality of a cook by his or her roast chicken.  Above all, it should taste like chicken:  it should be so good that even a perfectly simple, buttery roast should be a delight.

— Julia Child,  excepted from My Life in France

I heartily concur.  Though I have seen a bajillion recipes for all kinds of ways to roast chicken, three times out of four no preparation can hold more appeal to me than this.  This simple preparation showcases the perfectly chickeny flavors of the pastured birds I am so fortunate to be able to get from my farmer’s market buddy, Steve. Read more

Chicken with Pineapple and Mint

Adapted from the San Francisco Chronicle, probably May 15, 2002. I suspect it is a Mark Bittman recipe.

I found a newspaper clipping that included this recipe hidden in plain sight while looking for something in my recipe notebook. I still wonder why it took me six years to actually make it.  This is fantastic.  Simple.  Delicious.  The kids all loved it.  Serve it simply with brown basmati rice and you have an amazing one-dish dinner.  Like anything with a sauce, this would be a great candidate for freezing. Read more

Ultimate Baked Chicken Nuggets

After about 18 months of experimenting, I finally got the baked chicken nuggets of my dreams.  They’re crunchy  and just fantastic.  I integrated the technique I use for Parmesan Grouper with what I had already been doing for these nuggets (which were good but still not perfect).  I now think they’re perfect, and that’s something I’d only say about, maybe 1 in 100 recipes. Read more

Spicy Stir-fried Chicken with Fresh Vegetables

Adapted from A Spoonful of Ginger, by Marie Simonds

To make this recipe is to take a mini-course on Asian stir-frying.  The marinade, seasonings and sauce are so typical and use many Asian pantry staples.  You can play with all elements of this recipe and come up with endless combinations of vegetables and seasonings.   Read more

Cranberry-sauced Chicken with Parsnips and Orange

Adapted from In a Vermont Kitchen by Amy Lyon and Lynne Andreen

I picked up an author-signed copy of In a Vermont Kitchen in a discount bin at a resort in Vermont about 10 years ago.  I had just developed an interest in the idea of cooking and thought the recipes sounded pretty good.  Because I was a culinary idiot at that time, most of the books I bought back then I have since discarded- figuring out that the recipes in them were not so great. This is one of the few cookbooks from that era that has survived in my cookbook library. Read more

Dean & Deluca Roast Chicken

Adapted from The Dean and Deluca Cookbook by David Rosengarten

I’ve been making this dish for almost 10 years now- way before I was an experienced cook.  It is one of very few recipes I make routinely.  The meat is incredibly juicy and full of the flavors of the spices.  The sauce is so simple and beautiful. Read more