Broiled chicken thighs

When a person spends several years perfecting a technique and he then wants to share it, the least he can hope for is to show it off well enough that folks want to take a good look at it. That's the case with these chicken thighs. Details below, but notice that I have cut the meat away from the bone slightly on the non-skin side. According to Jacques Pepin this is a good technique for even cooking. Maybe, but it cost me all of 30 seconds to do it.

Broiled chicken thighs
5 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in
ground Chinese 5-spice powder
garlic powder
black pepper

Brine the thighs for 2 hours, rinse thoroughly and dry with paper towels. Sprinkle them generously with the powders and pepper. Remember you don't need salt after the brining process. If you're not willing to brine, make a different recipe.

Place them skin side down on a greased rack on a baking pan and slide under the broiler (at least 4 inches from heat source). Remember not to close the oven door all the way to avoid the heating element or gas flame from cycling off.

After 10 minutes turn the thighs skin side up and place back under the broiler. Keep an eye on them so that the skin does not burn. If they start to darken too much, turn the broiler off and the oven to 400 degrees. Close the door and cook the cute little devils to 170 degrees internal temp. Let them rest 5 minutes. Eat them, but not too quickly.

Indian-style chicken drumsticks

With leftover chard stems and potato salad in the fridge, the choice of protein was yesterday’s question. Answer: a bag of chicken legs in the freezer. So they got thawed and then brined for about 3 hours. I decided on a way to cook them that was novel for me: on the stovetop grill with Indian spices. The package of garam masala from Savory Spice indicated that it is considered a “finishing” spice. So be it. It went on at the end.

Indian-spiced chicken drumsticks
9 drumsticks, skin on
olive oil
ground cumin
black pepper
garam masala

Brine the chicken for 2-3 hours in 3 cups water in which 3 tbsp kosher salt have been dissolved. Rinse and dry.

Cut a ½” deep slit in each side of each leg through the thickest part of the meat. Brush them with olive oil. Sprinkle a couple pinches cumin in the slits and over the legs.

Heat the stovetop grill. Our front and back burners (electric) are different sizes. So I set the front at 5 and the rear at 6. That seems to give me fairly even heat.

Spray the grill with cooking spray. Cook the chicken, turning often, for 30 minutes (if you’re starting at room temperature – highly recommended), or until juices next to the bone are no longer red or pink. After the legs are browned all over, cover them loosely with foil. Apply garam masala when 5 minutes cooking time remains. Let the legs rest for 5 minutes before serving (tented with foil).

Double Indian Dish

We are fans of “America’s Test Kitchen,” a PBS show produced by “Cooks Illustrated” magazine. Even though the two chief “testers” are women who talk in upspeak (one of them distinctly more than the other), what they teach us has led to some good meals here in chez Stephen and Peter.

We watched an episode the other day in which two Indian curry dishes were prepared. They made us hungry and we decided to try their ideas yesterday. What we did was to combine the two recipes into a one-dish meal. One was a vegetable curry and the other was chicken tikka masala, which made use of garam masala, a spice mixture we’ve had in the pantry for quite some time and rarely have used.

My result was terrific thanks to the test kitchen basic recipe and my own creativity. After the fact, my challenge here will be to remember all the adjustments I made on the fly.

The tikka did not call for curry, but the vegetable dish did – so I used it. I discovered a new way to dice onions. I used a mandoline with the julienne blade attached. Slice the onion in half, leaving the stem end intact. Peel the skin off and, using the mandoline, slice the onion. You can get a very fine dice this way in a hurry.

The main thing the test kitchen crew did was cook the chicken separately from the sauce, a diversion from the traditional cooking method. The aim was to keep the chicken moist. It worked wonderfully well. In most traditional Indian recipes a little extra garam masala is added at the end of cooking, just before serving. On test kitchen the chef said it gave the dish a slightly "harsh" taste. Having added garam masala at the end of preparing pureed eggplant last week, I disagreed and did add a bit more must before serving.

Peter made a yogurt sauce to garnish this. Using a hand-held immersion blender, he mixed together yogurt with mint leaves and cilantro. The only down side was that the amount of moisture in the mint and cilantro rendered the yogurt quite loose. It still tasted really good on the dish.

Even more good news - there was enough for last night's dinner and today's lunch.

Chicken Tikka Masala with curried vegetables
2 chicken breast halves, skinned and boneless
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed
1 tbsp ginger, grated or minced
1 medium red potato, in a ½” dice
1+ cup small cauliflower flowerettes

Masala sauce:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
½ medium onion, diced fine
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed
1 tsp grated ginger
1 fresh Serrano chile, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp garam masala
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, with their juice
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/8 chopped cilantro leaves

Combine cumin, coriander, cayenne, and salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with the spice mixture. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 hours. In another bowl, whisk together yogurt, oil, garlic, and ginger; set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large saute pan or Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until softened and slightly colored. Add garlic, ginger, chile, tomato paste, curry, and garam masala; cook, stirring frequently until fragrant – 1-2 minutes. Clear a space in the middle of the pan and add another tbsp oil. Drop the potato and cauliflower in and stir the whole mixture thoroughly together.

Add tomatoes, sugar, and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender – about 20 minutes, maybe more. Stir in cream, remove pan from heat, and cover to keep warm.

While the sauce simmers, preheat the broiler with the rack in the top position. Thoroughly coat the chicken pieces in the yogurt mixture and arrange on a wire rack set over a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan. Broil chicken until the thickest part registers 155° on an instant-read thermometer. The outside should color in places slightly. Flip the chicken once half way through cooking. Total time will be 12-14 minutes.

Let the chicken rest 5 minutes, then cut into 1 inch chunks and stir into the sauce over medium heat. When hot, but not simmering, stir in cilantro and serve over basmati rice, white or brown.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.