Parties, Herbs and Acid

wow what an incredible weekend.

We went to a rather risque birthday party for a friend of ours Saturday,

One of the added beauties of living in my town is at any time you can usually find fire spinners, fire eaters, erotic dance enthusiasts, Light show geeks, DJs, aspiring show/event producers and a plethora of the Austin wildlife all begging to be part of the scene

this was not one of those parties

This was a low key intimate affair with a 50/50 ratio of known to unknown people and held in a beautiful home that I couldn't even begin to afford. The liquor was piled high on the bar, glasses abandoned nearly everywhere. The dress was casual and became more so as the night continued. The heat was turned up encouraging even more clothing loss but it had troubles competing against the door to the outside cigarette smoking area.

Being the naturally hedonistic individual I am took complete advantage of this opportunity and promptly inspected the industrial stove/oven combo and the butcher block counters in the kitchen.......;-)


The holidays and my foodiness with the assistance of my sedentary job has finally pushed me to do the unthinkable, I joined the gym. I was one of those people who screamed, you don't need a treadmill or an elliptical machine, just go outside and run you elitist, money driven douches. Ladies and gentlemen, I am now by my own definition an elitist, money driven douche. I will no longer push myself to workout at 106F nor will I be miserable running around a red, sodden, muddy trail catching the occasional inconsiderate bicyclists rooster tail.

I have lost a piece of myself, my rant against gyms was one of my favorites. At least I still have golf courses, I have never played and, for now, feel completely justified in my anti-golf stance. If you wish to change my status, feel free to try, but it must be at least as entertaining as my anti-golf rantings.

The Sunday after we were recovering, the multiple hours of imbibing in all sorts of things guaranteed quite hazardous to health, and the traditional after party trip to Whataburger for a double w/ bacon(same category as the former), we signed up for Lifetime Fitness

If I'm going to the gym, I have to cut back on my red meat.

I'm too cheap for that much fish and freshness can be spotty when you need to compromise on price

That means chicken...dry white lifeless under flavored and typically overcooked chicken....fuck that.

Start by de-boning your chicken breast, it requires some practice but I can now do it in 30 seconds for each and you get to keep the skin on, its a major flavor component and moisture assistant. Its also cheaper and bones are left for stock.

3 chicken breasts with rib bones $2.54

Once de-boned (skin intact) we start the brine

DON'T GET CREATIVE WITH THE BRINE

Brine should be about 3 things salt, sugar and water. Flavors should be taken care of with a marinade and that comes later so don't get impatient.

I take 1 quart of water and dissolve 1/4 cup koshier salt and 1/8 cup molasses under heat.

Take 1 gallon baggie and fill with 1.25 quarts of ice

The moment the last bit of salt dissolves pour the hot brine over the cold ice and once the temp is down to fridge levels drop in the breasts and refrigerate for 1 hour

after one hour, remove the chicken and rinse the brine off under running water, and pat them dry

MAKE THE MARINADE

Marinades are all about the herbs and the acid......who doesn't like herbs and acid

There are perhaps hundreds of recipes out there that call for marinating in some kind of branded Italian salad dressing or Italian vinaigrette. Nothing makes instantaneous pain shoot through my spine more than ruining anything home made with something as un-homemade as bottled salad dressing. Blech

But they have a point.

The point is a vinaigrette. Vinaigrettes with a 3:1 oil to acid ratio combine for a near perfect flavor carrier(herbs and oil), browning enhancer (oil and acid) and taste stimulator (acid)

I decided to do a fresh southwest flavor with my marinade

This is what I wound up putting in my Rudy's drinking cup. (remember, it fits my stick blender)

1 fresh jalapeno
1/4 bunch of fresh cilantro
juice of 2 limes
zest of one lime
3 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons of Agave Syrup
pinch of salt
6 tablespoons of olive oil

Stick blend the crap out of it while pouring in the oil

Place this marinade in with the now brined, rinsed and dried chicken breasts and allow to sit for at least 1 hour but no longer then 4

For cooking.

I bake the chicken before grilling, this keeps the chicken juicy and dries the outside promoting better browning later (oven temp 350F)

once the chicken reached 115F internal temperature I move it from the oven to the red hot grill

3 minutes on each side and pull when the temp hits 150F, carryover gets it to 165F easily

I sliced it and put it over rice

It's Monday, back to work

Happy New Year and all that

Yep 2010

not bad, easy to remember, mathematically pleasing.

I should explain that last one

I have a nervous habit of using mathematical operations to reduce numbers and somehow in my twisted mind make them easier to remember. I remember telephone numbers the same way usually using something like the lowest common denominator. example 939-2424 = 313-1212(3,2). I realize this is more information than actually remembering the actual number but this is not about logic.

so 2010 works really well for me

Its been a while since I wrote anything so I will just throw down the highlights

New Years, 4 parties in 36 hours

Varying degrees of interesting

short work party, dropped off a bottle of wine
went to
a more interesting club like party for the count down
went to
a very nice house party in a very nice house (great kitchen)
went to
a total burner party at a dead end in westlake

4 days of recovery

All in all it took several days to get right after all that.

Party like you're 18 then feel like you're 80

4 days spent convalescing in the winter means comfort food galore.

The scale was not kind this holiday season.

Being the good foodie I am I explored how Padma Lakshmi stays fit,

No red meat...ok I think I can handle that

No alcohol...I'm out

OK Padma, I will go halvsies with you on this. I am a dude in a high stress job and I need booze more than you do.

Alright....no red meat...the freezer is red meat central, a veritable cornucopia...nay, alter to the blessed red meat. Costco had a good sale before Christmas.

what did I have? there might be some tuna way back in the fridge but the idea of spelunking through packed frozen cow bricks just to find a 4oz fish brick somewhere in the bottom did not appeal to me. I was already cold and late home due to car trouble so I needed to do something fast.

In the fridge I had some bone in chicken breasts...ok

A quick consultation of the flavor bible lead me to

carrots, yellow onions, scallions, 2 ribs of celery, meyer lemon, lemon zest, garlic and rosemary

I think all this looks like rosemary lemon garlic chicken.

Method, easy.....papillote

I took apart the chicken and discarded the skin...almost a sin really...and no time for brining

julianne the carrot
french the onion
bias slice the scallions
dice the celery small
mince half the garlic

toss with a tiny amount of olive oil salt and pepper

Position it in a pile on top of a large piece of silicon impregnated parchment

salt and pepper the chicken breast
zest a lemon
mince the rest of the garlic
mince the rosemary

combine together and apply it in a paste/rub to the top of the seasoned skinless chicken breast, tap any excess out over the top of the vegetable pile.

preheat oven to 400F

place chicken breast on top of the vegetable pile and place 2 pats of butter on top of the breast.

fold over the parchment and start crimping it, except for the very end bit.

pour in 2 tbs of vermouth and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice into this bit and crimp it tightly.

Insert probe thermometer into the chicken breast and insert package (on a cookie sheet people) into the oven.

Pull the papillote when the chicken hits 150 at the highest, carryover can go as high as 15 degrees.

open and enjoy (stupid warning, steam is hot, don't be stupid)

Have a good 2010