Thanks for posting this one–I was intrigued and made it even though I haven’t obtained the book yet. I assume this is a faithful summary, as worked as well as other Dianna Henry recipes. I also liked the vegetable-favoring ratio to the custard and found the custardy parts to be very silky–almost chawanmushi-like in texture.
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CHICKEN with LEMON, CAPERS, and THYME, page 52
I enjoyed this but the flavors are very familiar. I’ve had lots of chicken dishes with this flavor profile.
I made this on a sheetpan. The recipe has you place 1 1/4 lbs potatoes cut in 1” chunks (note: I cut them smaller), 2 onions cut in wedges, 1 head of garlic separated into unpeeled cloves and 10 thyme sprigs on a sheetpan. You sprinkle it with zest of 1 lemon and juice of half a lemon. Toss with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Toss in lemon slices from 1 1/2 lemons. Place 8 chicken thighs on top and brush with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Make sure the lemon slices are under chicken so they don’t burn.
Roast at 400 for 30 minutes and remove from oven. Take some of the lemon slices and put on top of chicken. Scatter over 3 Tbsps rinsed, dried capers. Roast in oven for 10 more minutes.
I also added some green olives during the last 5 minutes of cooking. She suggests this in the headnote of the recipe.
This was a good, simple meal. It is easy to scale down. I had 2 large chicken thighs and I cut the rest of the veg in half. My onions got a bit too charred; I should have cut them thicker.
The garlic was delicious, but a bit difficult to eat since it was unpeeled and scattered among the potatoes. I found myself picking it all out so that I could squeeze out the delicious roasted garlic.
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I’ve made this a couple times and liked it a lot, for something so simple. The fresh thyme gives it a nice sort of floral flavor.
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CHICKEN WITH TORN SOURDOUGH, SHERRY, RAISINS, & BITTER GREENS (p. 56)
I never in a million years would have considered making this if a positive review of it hadn’t popped up in my EYB feed. But I did make it, and it was a big hit with all of us. I subbed boneless skinless thighs for the bone-in skin-on she wants you to use. I could tell this wouldn’t give me crispy skin, and I don’t like it flabby, so why bother? Also subbed turkey bacon for regular, and used dried thyme instead of fresh. I did a quick boil of my potatoes first, and cooked this without the chicken for about 20 minutes before adding the chicken. You put torn sourdough, potato chunks, onion wedges, garlic cloves, crushed pepper, pancetta or bacon, chicken, and thyme into a roasting pan, pour a little sherry vinegar and then sherry over it, season and toss it all together. This is where I left out the chicken and gave it time in the oven to cook the potatoes through (and glad that I did). Roast for a while, tossing things once, and then add a bit more sherry. When the chicken is 15 minutes from being ready add scallions which have been tossed in olive oil. She wants these whole, but I cut them into 2 inch strips. I think it’s easy to deal with them on the plate cut. Back in the oven. Meanwhile put the raisins in more sherry and heat, then add to the chicken in the last 5 minutes. Once out of the oven add bitter greens (I used Belgian endive) and top with pine nuts (I did slivered almonds). This is very tasty and has so many different tastes and textures. I loved the soggy, custardy bread and the endive leaves.
Photos are from before and after adding endive.
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Sounds wonderful. Lots in common with the Zuni chicken (which also includes bittern greens, torn bread, scallions and currants, rather than raisins). Beautiful photos!
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Nominations for February are up now:
SALAD OF ROASTED CARROTS, APPLE & LENTILS WITH CHILI & PRESERVED LEMONS - ebook
Toss carrots in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast them. Cook Puy lentils by whatever means suits you. Make a dressing of white balsamic vinegar, EVOO, garlic, ginger, and honey (vegan honey used by me). The rest of the prep is cutting tart apples into matchsticks (I used Granny Smith here), dicing some chiles and preserved lemon, juicing a lemon, and tearing up some mint and cilantro. You toss the carrots and apples together with 2/3 of the dressing, preserved lemon, chiles, and herbs and all of the lemon juice. The remaining 1/3 of the dressing, etc go in with the cooked lentils. To serve, carrots and apples are piled on top of the lentils.
This definitely seems like one of those clean-out the fridge creations. But the salad was quite good. I’m not normally a fan of roast carrots, but the dressing and the pairing with tart apple set them off to advantage. I would happily eat this again, but will I actually make it again? Probably not. Still, a nice light meal for two with no leftovers.
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WHITE BEANS & ROASTED TOMATOES WITH CAPER, MINT & CHILI
OK, so I know LLM loves this, and that’s why it pains me to say I did not. Actually it was unanimous, as Mr. MM didn’t like it either. My expectations were high, as I like every ingredient in the dish. But the flavors just didn’t mesh. The mustard in the dressing in particular bothered me (I love mustard! I almost always include some in my vinaigrettes.). There isn’t much in the dressing, but I would say the ideal amount of mustard for this dish would be zero. Then there are the cherry tomatoes. If there was one thing that I though going in might turn me off, it would have been the cherry tomatoes. I’ve talked about it before. I think they are over-used and inappropriately used by too many authors. The skin-to-flesh ratio is too high for them to be good in most cooked applications, and this dish is no exception. I was too busy being annoyed by the mustard and the white balsamic vinegar (which was just the wrong vinegar for this, imho), but Mr. MM homed in on the cherry tomatoes and their unappealing texture. This should have served two with no leftovers, but neither of us wanted to finish it.
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Shocked and stunned! Kidding, everyone has different tastes. I looked up a picture I’d taken, and it looks like I used grape tomatoes. The vinaigrette is pretty much how I make my own, so to me it tastes just right.
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It’s pretty much how I make it as well. Bog standard vinaigrette. I would have had no complaints about it on, say, a green salad. But for some reason I just hated it on the beans.
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CHILI-ROASTED TOMATOES w/ FETA CHEESE, YOGURT, DILL, MINT, & PISTACHIOS (p. 70)
This is delicious, but I think it is more complicated than it needs to be. You roast a bunch of halved plum tomatoes (I used Campari) in olive oil with crushed fennel seeds, red chili flakes (a lot of them - 3 teaspoons), salt and pepper, and honey. While this is cooking you make a sauce of yogurt, feta, and grated garlic. Serve the tomatoes on the yogurt with herbs (I skipped the mint) and pistachios. I’m glad I tried it this way, we all liked it, but I think it would also be wonderful without all the ruckus of the chilies, fennel, and honey. Didn’t even really need the dill (which I love) or the pistachios. I served this with roasted chicken sausages and pita.
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WHOLE EGGPLANTS WITH SAFFRON, BLACK CARDAMOM & DATE BUTTER
Eggplant with dates? I recall an eggplant and mango noodle dish (Ottolenghi?) that people enjoyed, so sure. I love black cardamom and was interested in how it would taste ground up rather than added whole to infuse a dish.
To make this you mash together 1/4 c butter, 6 dates (she called for Mejool, but I used about 8 barhi), the ground seeds of 6 black cardamom pods, some saffron steeped in a little water, 2 crushed cloves of garlic (I grated it), a little cayenne (which I didn’t have, so used hot paprika), a generous pinch of ginger, and a little salt. I mashed all of this together in a mortar and pestle.
Meanwhile, you roast globe eggplants at 400 degrees until soft (about 40 minutes). I like a smokiness to my eggplants, so I charred two side of each on the stovetop first and then roasted them. Even though they were well-charred, they still took a full 40 minutes to roast to a pleasing texture.
When the eggplants are done, you cut them in half, mix the date butter into the hot eggplant, and top with sesame seeds and yogurt. This would not be enough of a meal for me, so I ate with a rice/quinoa blend.
I’m on day two of eating this, and I think I like it. The saffron doesn’t come through, but that and the general lack of distinct flavors may be due to them conflicting with the smokiness from the char. I made some egg bagels the other day and will try the butter on them to see what it’s like on its own. My main take-away here is that butter is quite good with eggplant, and I can see drizzling a spiced butter over eggplant in the future.
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Diana Henry has a dish with eggplant and dates in her earlier book Simple, as well. I made it when that was COTM on Chowhound, as did several others. As I recall, I liked the flavors (I had some issues with the rice cooking, but concluded that was down to using too deep a pan).
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WALNUST-MISO SAUCE, a sub-recipe for ROASTED AUTUMN VEGETABLES WITH WALNUT-MISO SAUCE
This is an unusual sauce that I had to try in order to see if it came together into something that is more than the sum of its parts. It does not, but its parts are pretty tasty so that’s okay.
Henry has you warm up 1 1/2 c (!) olive oil, add 5 T (!) of red miso, 3 grated cloves of garlic, and some chile flakes. Once those flavors are combined you stir in 1/2 c (not enough) of walnuts you’ve partially ground.
As I suspected, the miso and the oil stay quite separate. It will take intense stirring each time I want to use a little of this to bring the mixture together. I can’t see using more than a tablespoon of this at a time on my vegetables, eggs, etc., so that’s going to be a lot of stirring.
My instinct was to adjust the amount of olive oil and miso here, but I wanted to follow the recipe in the name of COTM. If anyone else wants to make it, I’d suggest 3/4 c olive oil, 2.5 T red miso paste (or more to taste), double the walnuts, and no change to the amount of garlic and chile.
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February voting is here:
ROASTED INDIAN-SPICED VEGETABLES W/ LIME-CILANTRO BUTTER (p. 122)
You roast a bunch of vegetables (I didn’t stick with her list, I did potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and a big turnip) that you’ve tossed with toasted cumin and coriander seeds, some turmeric, garlic, seasoning, and oil. I boiled my potatoes first, tossing the carrots in during the last minute or so (and glad I did - maybe potatoes are different in England, but potatoes take a lot longer to roast in my oven than those vegetables do). I doubled the spicing and was glad I did - it was just right for us that way. Make a butter with lime zest and juice, a chili, and cilantro. I didn’t have any cilantro so skipped it. You add a dollop of this to the vegetables when they come out. We all loved this, but didn’t think the butter was at all necessary, so I’ve saved the majority of it in case I get a nice piece of fish to add it to. I served this with fried eggs, yogurt, and chutney. The yogurt wasn’t touched, the chutney just a little. LLD (I was worried about his reaction to this dinner) loved it - said it was like having Indian flavored breakfast. No picture - it wasn’t an especially pretty dish, but delicious.
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ROASTED CAULIFLOWER WITH PROSCIUTTO & TALEGGIO CHEESE
This is a “cauliflower steak” dish with a browned cheese and crisped prosciutto topping. My favorite part was the addition of a little creme fraiche, which kept the prosciutto moist and gave just enough tang to complement all the richness.
Henry has you cut a cauliflower into steaks, which I more or less did, and roast them under foil for 12 minutes at 450 degrees. You then lower the heat to 400, remove the foil, and roast for 8 minutes to start some color. Take out of the oven and top each piece with cheese, a slice of prosciutto, a dollop of creme fraiche, and more cheese. Roast until all browned and melty. Rather than the specified cheeses I used a Jersey Sweet Gouda from Trader Joe’s, and it worked perfectly. I also sliced a few basil leaves and had a little with each bite.
This was good and I would make it again, especially since cauliflower, odd bits of cheese and deli meats, and partial tubs of creme fraiche are all things that tend to accumulate in my fridge. This is a nice way to put them all together.
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The day after I made this it occurred to me to balance it out with some orange zest and fresh orange juice, and that’s worked well as I eat my way slowly through all this sauce. I’d seen the red miso - orange combination idea somewhere once before, and I’m glad it came to mind again.
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I have to add that a few days later the flavors of the butter did seem to settle well, and I could indeed taste saffron and all the elements when eating it again.
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CHICKEN w/ FETA, DILL, LEMON, & HARISSA YOGURT (p. 46)
This was delicious, although I screwed up and didn’t cook it enough. Easily fixed though. I cooked the potatoes first (as I’ve learned to do with these recipes), then followed the instructions (except for the yogurt - instead of served the yogurt with a dollop of harissa on top, I stirred it in, with a little salt - next time maybe grate in a garlic clove too). Toss the potatoes, garlic cloves, sliced red onions and seasoning with oil; add chicken thighs on top (I used boneless skinless, which worked fine) and roast. Make your harissa yogurt. Finish with lemon juice and zest, feta, and dill, and serve with the yogurt on the side. I don’t think the zest made that much difference here, and I’m a big citrus fan. This is a tasty dish.
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