Adventures in Chicken Pt. Deux

Last week I posted about my chicken roasting adventures. I was inspired to turn my chicken meal into a week full of meals after watching an episode of the Nate Berkus Show about making leftovers stretch. Since I only cook for one to two people (myself and a friend), I figured I would at least get a few wraps and a salad or two out of it, something different each day. What actually transpired was the chicken sitting in the fridge the rest of the week. As I was determined to use it for something, I decided to use a recipe I had saved from Giada De Laurentiis for a California Turkey Chili, only replacing the turkey with chicken. Warm, perfect-for-winter spices, hearty chicken and cannellini beans just seemed too enticing to not try. A simple recipe made for a delicious dish rich with flavor.

After making this dish a couple of times, I realized that hand chopping the fresh ingredients

yields a better result than a food processor (which dices too small and the vegetables get lost).

I also found that (at least for my personal preference) tossing cooked and shredded chicken in the pot with the onions, peppers, garlic and celery as opposed to adding chunks of raw chicken to cook with them makes for a better texture of the overall chili.

The end result was an excellent blend of flavors. The poblano peppers and chili powder added heat, while the cinnamon, cloves, and brown sugar added warmth and slight sweetness to round out the heat and then the creaminess of the beans bringing it all together. I served it over rice pilaf, but this chili can also stand on its own.

Dishes like this are so perfect for the holiday season. With all of the turkey, chicken and other various meats and vegetables, making the items stretch after the family tires of the first couple nights of Thanksgiving or Christmas leftovers is a wonderful option to prolong the enjoyment and reduce waste.

What are some of your favorite leftover transformation meals?

Adventures in Chicken Pt. 1

I have always had an obsession with roast chicken. I don't know if it's the cute, newborn-like appearance of a young chicken or the warm, Americana comfort food appeal of a roast chicken dinner, but it has been on my list of meals to perfect for a while now. This past week I finally embarked on my recent planned attempt at it. At the grocery store that day I gathered up some basic roasting items: lemon, thyme, rosemary, garlic, red potatoes, carrots, and celery and LOTs of butter!

I wasn't actually planning to follow a recipe, as I had basic knowledge of cooking a chicken as well as countless tips and methods gathered from years of watching the Food Network and reading magazines and cookbooks. Plus, I always just cook with my gut and nose! I did, however, stumble upon a recipe from The Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten that was similar to what I had planned on doing, so I used it for reassurance.

After a long day of running errands, I didn't get home until 8, which meant a VERY late dinner. But I was determined. So, off I went chopping vegetables, rinsing and seasoning the chicken. My biggest concern was achieving rich flavor and a crisp, golden skin. I decided to use a trick I picked up a while back of using an herb butter mixture to slather under the skin and on top, to ensure both rich flavor and a buttery crisp skin.

I stuffed the cavity with a half of the lemon, a bunch of thyme and a few sprigs of rosemary, a chunk of onion, a few garlic cloves and ...of course, a hunk of butter (is this starting to sound like a Paula Dean recipe?). I tied up the legs (with some decorative gold floral wire, since I didn't have any kitchen string), placed the cute little bird on top of the seasoned vegetables in my ceramic baking dish, and in the preheated oven it went for about an hour and a half. After letting the chicken rest, dinner was served at about 11:30. A very late dinner indeed!

The results: a moist chicken with good flavor and a gorgeous crisp skin! And the vegetables, soft and buttery and fresh with lemon and herbs yet still retaining some of their crispness and natural flavor.

Stay tuned to TrocTalk to read about how I used the leftover chicken later in the week! Truly a dish that keeps on giving.

Ooh La La! Chocolate Croissants to Die For

Yesterday I decided to make pancakes for breakfast as I had a little extra time in the morning. With baby Annabel starting to try finger foods (in the form of halved Cheerios), it frees me up to work in the kitchen for about 15 minutes before I have to sit down with her and spoon feed her usual oatmeal with pureed fruit. Breakfast was a hit and I went on with my day, later making homemade (and delicious) "Momofuku compost cookies" that afternoon.

Being single for so long...well, I didn't really spend so much time in the kitchen. I certainly didn't make cookies (I wasn't about to eat dozens of cookies myself!) and I never made pancakes for breakfast, that's for sure!

I find cooking and baking really creative and I rarely follow a recipe verbatim. I usually like to use it as a guide and then add my own take on ingredients. I often use Mark Bittman's book How To Cook Everything. It really is the one and only cookbook you need on your shelf. I love cookbooks but I find that I've pretty much stopped looking at any of them and only pull out the Bittman book.

But this morning, I kind of cheated. I love pain au chocolat, otherwise known as chocolate croissants! And the other day I was at Trader Joe's and saw these frozen packaged ones. For $3.99, you got 4 of them (a deal when you think at a bakery they charge anywhere from $2.50 and up). But I wondered how they would taste. I was pretty pleased with most things from Trader Joe's so I wasn't thinking that these would be far off.

I WAS BLOWN AWAY.

First of all, these Trader Joe's pain au chocolats need to be prepared 9 hours in advance. Yes, NINE HOURS. Or basically the night before. They are tiny little dough packages that you place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet that you leave overnight. They expand at room temperature (seriously they get huge!) and by the time you wake up, you see a four times as large dough mass -- times 4!

I decided to put an egg wash on the top of them to give them that authentic, glossy top finish. Then off they went into the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

I've eaten some amazing pain au chocolats in my lifetime and I must say that these Trader Joe FROZEN(!!) ones are some of the best I've ever had. Seriously people, they were flaky, buttery, crispy, chocolatey goodness that a chocolate croissant should be. For a buck each, I won't be getting chocolate croissants anywhere else in Omaha! I just want to have a brunch at my house so I can whip up a bunch of these to serve friends. They'll think they died and went to a patisserie in St. Germain de Prés!

Looks like I'm not alone. One google search of "Trader Joe's chocolate croissants" yielded pages upon pages of people singing these confections' praises, including this one. I'm starting to think I might have to stock up the next time I'm there...which makes me think: Should I really be sharing this information?