Deconstructed Thanksgiving Turkey

 

I was a twenty-something culinary ingénue living in San Francisco. My BFF- Kyle- in-laws and a few other guests were in town for Thanksgiving. I was absolutely tickled that I was going to make my turkey with a chef as talented as Kyle. I had my first fresh, expensive bird before me- a bird whose provenance was so esteemed that I couldn’t bear to treat it like just another bird. I wanted my guests to fall on the floor and start speaking in tongues when they tried their first bite.

I consulted my America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook, which extolled the virtues of spatchcocking the turkey. This involves cutting out the bird’s backbone and sort of butterflying the whole thing open. That seemed distinctive and sophisticated enough to make my statement of culinary prowess. I’d already brined the bird and had the herbed butter ready to go. 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

Produce Primer: Asparagus

Asparagus is the culinary sentinel of spring.  The fresh asparagus available during April and May is the best argument for eating seasonally.  If you’ve been eating asparagus from South America in February and get a taste of the fresh local stuff from the farmer’s market, they hardly seem like the same vegetable.

Because of its versatility, you can eat it every night of the week, prepared a little differently, so that you never get sick of it.  By the time you start to get a little weary of it, the season will be over.  Below are four different very basic methods for preparing asparagus.  Play with these ideas to suit your own tastes. 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

Oven Fries Three Ways

Oven fries are heaven.  They’re better than the deep-fried version because the roasting process amplifies the potato’s flavor.  I’ve used heirloom variety starchy potatoes for oven fries and have been astonished by how delicious they can be.  You absolutely must use a starchy potato- like a russet- for oven fries.  Low-starch varieties will be too squishy when picked up. Read more

Pan-Roasted Grouper with Provençal Vegetables

Adapted from The Best of Cooking Light

This is my favorite kind of recipe.  Elegant enough for a dinner party but simple enough for a weekday without skimping on nicely developed flavor.  It works equally with grouper, cod or halibut.  Snapper or salmon could be nice too. 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