Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

I'm back at home, and all I want after over two weeks of eating ungodly amounts of food at restaurants for every meal is a nice homemade dinner. This recipe might not be the healthiest, but it is certainly better than going out. It's hearty and delicious, which makes up for the extra bit of effort required.

Hopefully you aren't in shock from the name of the dish. 40 cloves of garlic does sound like a lot. Honestly, you probably don't want to make this for a first date (even though your special someone will definitely be impressed with your cooking skills). However, the garlic is roasted, which significantly reduces its pungency. The garlic basically caramelizes, making it sweeter and much less sharp. I throw in some shallots, too, for a bit of oniony flavor. Once they are tender and fragrant, I press them through a strainer or food mill to puree them, which gives the sauce a smooth, velvety texture.

As I said earlier, this dish isn't one of my easier ones. You probably won't want to make it after a long day at work or on a busy weeknight. You have to roast the garlic, brine the chicken (whatever parts you want; I strongly recommend anything bone-in and skin-on, especially thighs), sear the chicken, make the sauce, and bake everything together. It takes at least 90 minutes to make, but it's definitely worth it. It's not all active time; brining chicken and roasting garlic doesn't require much hands-on work, but you will also be busy searing the chicken and making the sauce  at the same time.

Personally, I think the sauce is the star of the dish. It makes what would otherwise be plain roasted chicken extremely special, and also I love dunking bread in it or drizzling it over mashed potatoes, my favorite side to serve with the chicken (though roasted potatoes and vegetables would be amazing as well).

It's a pan sauce, so it starts by deglazing the pot you seared the chicken in. That sounds pretty complicated, but really you just add a liquid to the pot to loosen the caramelized brown bits. I use chicken broth, butter, and white wine. Once, I only had red wine and had to use that instead, and it tasted fine but resulted in an oddly purple sauce. If you're into that, go ahead and use whatever wine you have and it will still taste delicious. However, if you want to retain the classic look of the dish, use a good white wine. Sorry to go all Ina Garten on you, but you really should only cook with wine you would drink. If you're going to put all this time and effort into a dish, you want it to taste good, and bad wine won't help. Anyway, after you add the liquids, stir in some fresh herbs and the mashed/pureed garlic-shallot mixture. I've done the dish with dried herbs instead of fresh; it still tastes delicious, but it's worth getting fresh herbs if you can.

Once the sauce is done, stick the chicken back in and roast it all together in the oven. Finishing the chicken in the sauce in the oven keeps it moist and cooks it through without burning the outside. And when it's finally done roasting, the aroma is simply spectacular. The chicken is incredibly moist and juicy, and the sauce is divine. It's full of flavor and is sure to impress anyone you have over for dinner. This is my go-to dish for fancier occasions, and I hope you enjoy it just as much as I do!

3.5-4 lbs Bone-In Chicken Pieces
¼ Cup Salt
½ Cup Flour
3 Heads Garlic
2 Shallots
1 T Olive Oil
2 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
1 Sprig Fresh Rosemary
1 Bay Leaf
¾ Cup Dry White Wine
¾ Cup Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
2 T Butter

Heat oven to 400F.

Separate the cloves of garlic, leaving the skin on. Peel and quarter the shallots. Toss the garlic and shallots with 2 tsp olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and spread around a pie plate. Cover with foil and roast until soft and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes, shaking occasionally. Uncover, stir, and roast until browned and tender, another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and increase to 450F.

Dissolve the salt in 2 quarts cold water. Add the chicken and chill for 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry. Dredge in the flour and season with salt and pepper.

Press the garlic and shallots through a strainer.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown the chicken until deep golden, about 5 minutes. Flip, repeat, and remove the chicken from the pan.

Pour the wine, chicken broth, butter, and herbs into the skillet. Set over medium heat and add the garlic-shallot mixture. Return the chicken to the pan and roast in the oven until cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Serves 6
Recipe Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

S'mores

It's finally somewhat quiet for the first time in days. I've spent the last week in a beachside villa, which sounds relaxing if not for the seven other people bustling around. It's been a little crazy here, but it's finally peaceful because everyone is busy stuffing themselves with homemade s'mores.

How do you make homemade s'mores exactly? It's not like you can make your own chocolate, and homemade marshmallows are too tedious for rental home kitchens. Honestly, I'd rather spend a few extra hours at the beach than in the kitchen dealing with marshmallows. What makes these s'mores special is the graham crackers, which I made last week, froze for travel purposes, and defrosted tonight for the feast.

Graham crackers generally aren't that special. The packaged ones are kind of foamy and bland. They're still good, but s'mores taste so much better when you spend some time making your own graham crackers. The crackers really aren't that hard to make, and they have a sweet, buttery flavor with just a hint of cinnamon. There's a shocking amount of sugar and butter (mostly butter; I think the deliciously rich lowcountry cooking is getting to me) for something generally considered healthy, but that's what makes them so good.

One of the ingredients that makes graham crackers graham crackers is graham flour. If you can find it, use it. If not (like me), plain whole wheat flour will suffice. However, it's a pretty crucial ingredient, so don't substitute anything else like regular flour (beyond what else is called for in the recipe), cake flour, or bread flour. I also make a point of using dark brown sugar for a hint of molasses as well as honey for an extra kick of sweetness. I plan on experimenting with molasses vs honey, and if I find anything noteworthy I'll update the recipe.

Although I normally just scoop and bake or slice and bake cookies, these need to be rolled out and cut or else they won't be square and graham cracker shaped. I find that about an eighth of an inch is a good thickness for baking and for s'mores making. Two inches by two inches works for the length and width.

I use either a knife and ruler or a tool I like to call my spinny wheels of death, a.k.a. one of these. It's basically a bunch of pizza cutters attached to an accordion-like frame; you can expand or contract the frame and cut a bunch of strips of the same width. Prices can range from $15 to upwards of $100, but I highly recommend investing in one for times like these. They are also great for cutting strips of pie crust for lattices or marking any sort of bar that you want to cut. Aside from thin doughs, they aren't great for actually cutting things, so I generally just use it to mark where I want to cut with a knife.

But that's enough about the graham crackers. It's time for the marshmallows. As I said, you can make your own; I'm currently perfecting my recipe, and I'm sure there are plenty of recipes and tips available online. However, they generally take a few hours to prepare, and those hours would probably be better spent elsewhere. As long as you can find regular or jumbo marshmallows, you'll be ok.

Cooking the marshmallows is harder than getting them. Sure, you can eat them straight out of the bag at room temperature, but then you miss out on gooey marshmallows and melty chocolate. You could also build a bonfire--or just a small fire--and roast them traditionally. But the weather can disagree and you might not find sticks and the fire might just not cooperate. I'm not an outdoorswoman or girl scout or anything, but fires are hard.

That's why I spent years developing the ideal marshmallow cooking method for indoorsy people like me. It's highly scientific and methodical and should only be used if you are truly a s'mores enthusiast. It's called a broiler, and all it takes is a watchful eye--no fire building skills necessary. Simply line a cookie tray with foil or parchment, plop on a few marshmallows, and stick them under a broiler (I like to use my toaster oven) for a few seconds until toasty and brown. It happens pretty quickly, so you absolutely have to watch the marshmallows until they are done.

Once your graham crackers are baked and your marshmallows are toasted, all you have to do is assemble. I'm sure you know how, but you can always make your s'mores a bit more gourmet. Try drizzling (or dousing) them with caramel sauce or sticking a few slices of strawberries or some raspberries under the chocolate. Or both. Once you perfect the art of indoor (and homemade) s'mores, the possibilities are endless.

1 ½ Cups Flour
1 ⅓ Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Salt
Pinch Cinnamon
2 Sticks Butter, Softened
⅔ Cup Dark Brown Sugar
3 T Honey

Sift the flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Beat the butter, brown sugar, and honey together until fluffy. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Wrap the dough in plastic and chill until firm, about 1 hour.

Dust a cutting board with flour and roll some of the dough out to ⅛" thick. Cut into 2" squares. Repeat with the remaining dough. Chill the squares until firm, about 20 minutes.

Heat oven to 350ºF and line cookie trays with parchment. Place the squares on the prepared trays and prick with a fork. Bake for 8 minutes or until just starting to brown on the edges.

Makes 50-55 Cookies
Recipe Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

For S'mores:
Line a cookie tray with parchment or foil. Place marshmallows on the prepared tray and broil until golden brown. Sandwich a marshmallow or two with a piece of chocolate between to graham crackers.

Peach Pecan Muffins

After spending the weekend in Chicago for the national academic team tournament, I'm back in the south. The lowcountry, to be exact. Hilton Head has been an annual vacation for as long as I can remember, and the contrast between Chicago and the beach has made me appreciate the south. Not that Chicago wasn't nice; I absolutely loved it and I had some amazing food (I'll be updating the travel guide soon), but there's nothing like the slow peacefulness of Hilton Head. Minus the hyperactive screaming children, of course. So to celebrate, I decided to cram everything southern into one dish, and what resulted were these muffins.

Muffins typically have some combination of butter and a moistening agent, like sour cream. These, however, could use a southern kick, so I used a combination of oil and buttermilk instead. Theoretically, you could use regular milk instead (anything but skim, but preferably whole milk), but the buttermilk keeps it just a bit more moist. Furthermore, the buttermilk's natural acidity improves the texture. Although muffins generally aren't extremely sweet, I use a decent amount of sugar. We are celebrating the south, after all, and southern cooking is notoriously heavy on sinful ingredients like sugar, fat, etc. Anyway, I use a 50-50 mixture of regular sugar and brown sugar. The brown sugar adds a hint of caramel flavor, which goes perfectly with the peaches.

The rest of the muffin base is pretty typical. You need your eggs, flour, leavening, a pinch of salt, and some vanilla. I also add a sprinkle of cinnamon for a little extra flavor, since it seems like no breakfast would be complete without it. As for the mix ins, I use chopped peaches and chopped pecans. The peaches can be fresh or frozen, but it is peach season, so I highly recommend using fresh peaches while you can. For the pecans, it is imperative that you toast them. Simply baking them at 375F for about 5 minutes or until fragrant makes them crunchy and flavorful and prevents them from being soggy bits that serve absolutely no purpose.

I may not be able to cook much in Hilton Head since the condo kitchens suck and there's so many good restaurants to eat at instead, but I can still appreciate some good southern cooking. So why drive all the way down to Savannah to wait in line at Paula Deen's restaurant if I can make myself some of these muffins instead? Even if you don't live here, you can still get a taste of the south. Just serve them up with some fried catfish and maple pecan sweet potatoes and it's like you've crossed the Mason-Dixon line already.

3 Cups Flour
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
3 Eggs
1 Cup Oil
⅔ Cup Buttermilk
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
2 Cups Chopped Peaches
1 Cup Chopped Pecans, Toasted

Heat oven to 400ºF and line a muffin tin with paper cups.

Whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together. Whisk the eggs, oil, buttermilk, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla together. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just combined. Fold in the peaches and pecans.

Scoop the dough into the prepared cups and bake for 16-18 minutes or until cooked through.

Makes 24
Recipe Adapted from www.allrecipes.com