An Orgasm of Flavors

"It's wednesday . . . I know what you're trying to say girl. You're trying to say oh yeah, It's business time." --Jemaine, Flight of the Conchords

A couple of years ago, I started cooking really nice meals in celebration of American Idol-watching. That tradition has kind of fallen off with wedding planning, trying to go to the gym more, and just general busy-ness at work, but last night was an exception. I found a recipe I wanted to try from the March 2010 edition of Saveur magazine, and made it this Wednesday night. D said it was "an orgasm of flavors." I think that's a good description.

Moroccan Chicken with Carrot Puree

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
olive oil
2 cups chicken broth
2 lbs carrots
1 large white onion
4 large garlic cloves
1 1/2 cup orange guice
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 peeled and seeded oranges, segmented
3/4 cup harissa*
2 tsp sherry or champagne vinegar
2 cups salad greens
1/2 cup pitted, oil-cured black olives, roughly chopped
2 shallots, thinly sliced

*Harissa is a North African pepper paste. I'm a very lucky person, as my friend S brought a jar of homemade Tunisian harissa over last month. This is the first I've had a chance to use it. (Clicking on "harissa" above will bring you to the Wikipedia page describing it).

Start by boiling roughly chopped carrots until soft in order to make the puree. I started this the night before, and while the carrots were boiling, I placed the chicken breasts in a container with olive oil, salt and pepper to sit overnight. I then sauteed the onions and garlic until carmelized, added the carrots and sauteed until they started to carmelize as well. Then I put the mixture in a food processor and made the puree. I set that aside for the next day.

The next day, I browned the chicken in a pan with olive oil and then placed them in the oven topped with most of the harissa at about 400 degrees F. While the chicken was finishing, I made the orange sauce by reducing 1 1/2 cups of orange juice in a pan, adding 4 tbsp butter, salt and pepper. As the mixture started to thicken, I added the orange segments.

I then tossed the greens with olive oil, vinegar, shallots and chopped olives.

I heated up the carrot puree, and plated the dish by putting a dollop of carrot puree on the side of the plate, and arranging the greens on top. I then placed one chicken breast on the bed of greens and topped the whole thing with orange sauce.

The whole thing was both festive looking and delicious.

Honey Cardamom Chicken

I've never cooked with cardamom before, and I was looking for a way to jazz up the chicken breast I took out of the freezer this morning. I found a bunch of recipes for cardamom chicken online this afternoon, but none of them were quite right. So I used them as inspiration and made my own.

Honey Cardamom Chicken for 2

Ingredients

1 big ole chicken breast (skin or no, I used no skin)
1 medium sized onion
2 lemons
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 cup of white wine (Chardonnay)
1/2 cup of honey
pinch of salt
olive oil

Preparation

Whisk together the wine, honey, cardamom, salt & pepper in a small bowl.

Cut the chicken into 1 x 1 inch chunks, place in a medium-sized bowl, and pour the mixture over the chunks. Cover with plastic and let the marinade sit for about a half an hour.

Saute the onion in the olive oil until tender.

When the chicken is sufficiently marinated, pour about 3 tbsp of oil into a pan and heat it until it starts to smoke. Brown the chicken in the pan.

Cut the lemon into thin, round slices and line a baking dish with them. Sprinkle sauteed onions over the lemons.

Place the browned chicken pieces on top of the lemon and onion. Pour the rest of the marinade mixture over the chicken, sprinkle with salt, and pop into the oven at 390 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Serve with jasmine rice cooked with onion and raisins and spinach sauteed with garlic. And the rest of the chardonnay.

* * * * * * *

It was actually a really good dish; different and with a nice, gentle taste.

What would I have done differently? I would have used sherry instead of white wine; I would have used regular clover honey instead of the honey I brought back with me from Ukraine (the taste was too strong); and I would have served the dish with asparagus (but only if it was in season).

I would also bake some cardamom cookies to have with tea after dinner. : )

What I'm outaged about today? The way that the American Idol judges make fun of trans people.