Leftovers 101 – Moroccan Rice pilaf with chicken and dried apricots

So this chicken walks into my house and asks what's for dinner. I say, "I'm not sure, will you be staying for dinner?" The chicken says "sure". So he stays for dinner. And he stays the next day. Then, he's leftovers.

Anyone can be a great culinary artiste if cost is no object and every possible ingredient is at one's fingertips. But that's not where creativity comes from. Our ancestors made more with less, as perusal of almost cookbook printed during The Depression will illustrate. (I have one that even has instructions on how to build a wood or coal fire for your cook stove.)

In the Third World, very little meat is stretched into a very satisfying family meal by adding staples, like rice and beans. This dish is an amalgamation of several recipes and whose construction was based on the ingredients at hand, save a small, $3 dollar packet of Marrakech Moroccan Spice from The Savory Spice Shop. The result is simple and easy. Think of it as 10 ingredients + 1 pan + 50 minutes = dinner.

Ingredients

• 1 cup white rice
  
• 1 quart chicken stock (you probably won't use it all)
  
• ¼ cup dried apricots
  
• 2 tablespoons dried cherries
  
• 1 cup meripoix (dices, onions, carrots, and celery in equal amounts
  
• I left over chicken breast, de-boned and coarsely chopped, about ½ pound
  
• ½ cup dried English peas, soaked overnight
  
• I tablespoon Marrakech Moroccan Spice blend (cinnamon, turmeric, cardamom, ginger, anise, allspice)
  
• Zest of one orange
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  

Technique

Heat olive oil in deep skillet with lid or Dutch oven. Add your meripoix and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add rice and sauté until slightly brown (that makes the rice taste nuttier). Add 2 cups of chicken stock and drop the lid on the pan, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until mostly done. Next, stir in your chicken and your dried fruits and let cook for another 10 minutes or so. Then add the peas, the spice mix and the orange zest, stirring to blend. Remove the dish from the heat and let stand for a few minutes to let the aromatics in the spice blend and the orange zest to release their happiness and give the dish its full flavor.

Bon appétit!




 

Simplify, simplify – Chicken with Leeks and Barley

Food in 21^st Century America has become so complicated that it's now intimidating. I possess hundreds of dollars worth of very ambitious cookbooks that I've only opened once, and then closed as everything in them requires high technique I can't perform and exotic ingredients that I can't find.

The ever more exotic – both in terms or technique or ingredients – makes it's difficult for real people to prepare and eat good food at home. Thoreau's dictum – "simplify, simplify" – should be a clarion call to foodies. And if it's not for you, it is for me. Working with small armies of production assistants in sparkling, high-end kitchen sets, celebrity chefs make it look so easy. And after years of marinating ourselves in untold hours of Food Network programming, it has left all too many viewers with a case of learned helplessness. They can; we can't.

Which is rubbish. As my brother-in-law Enrico once said to me, while I was stirring a pot of something, "you think you are cooking the food? No my friend, you are not cooking the food. The fire is cooking the food."

It was truly an "Aha!" moment. All one really needs to make good, wholesome food is about seven ingredients with the appropriate garnishes. And heat. That's it.

The perfect example of a simple, wholesome dish is one I purloined from a magazine 15 years ago and kicked up a bit since: Chicken with leeks and barley. It features simple, easily found ingredients and a minimum of technique. It's also low in fat and high in flavor.

Software

• I pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
  
• I cup pearled barley (available as bulk foods in any number of local markets)
  
• I cup of chopped leeks, cleaned
  
• 1 cup of Meripoix – diced celery, carrots and onion about, 1/3 cup of each. This is available prepared and pre-packaged in a number of local markets
  
• 1 sprig of thyme, or more if you like (I like)
  
• 1 quart chicken stock – I use fat free
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• Grated Parmesan cheese to finish
  
• Chopped flat leave parsley to garnish (purely optional – makes it look pretty)
  

Technique

• In a 2 quart Dutch oven, heat the olive oil
  
• Add meripoix and thyme sprig and sauté for three minutes
  
• Add leeks and sauté for three minutes
  
• Add barley, sauté for three minutes
  
• Add chicken, sauté for five to seven minutes
  
• Add stock a little at a time. Simmer for 40 to 50 minutes until barley is barely al dente
• Remove thyme sprig
  
• Add Parmesan cheese and stir
  
• Plate and garnish with flat leaf parsley if you're so inclined (I am)
  

The result is simple and tasty. One can even garnish the dish with a bit more chicken stock to make it a bit soupier and less stew-like if so desired. And if you don't count the garnishes, herbs, oil, and chicken stock, its seven ingredients with almost no technique.

And heat.

“If it tastes half as good as it smells, this will be a home run” – Dame’s Chicken and Waffles

It's hard to precisely place the exact time in the last three years that home ownership ceased being an asset and started becoming a liability.

But it did.

In these rather Calvinist times, the ostentatious display of wealth – whether in the form of giant McMansions or over the top bits of high buck, four-wheeled Euro-steel – has transcended mere bad taste; it's an affront to the very dignity of those whose lives and livelihoods have been trampled by fate. These dour economic straits have a lot of Americans by the throat, and the rest of us looking over our shoulders. Whereas once, one could daydream about winning the lottery and buying, say, a 1,000 horsepower, quad turbo V-16 Bugatti Veyron for a cool million, instead, today one might want something a bit more downscale, rightly fearing retaliation from pissed off passersby. America is not yet Cairo, but the same tensions are in place. Better a lower profile than a higher one.

But the belt tightening isn't just limited to "In Your Face" conspicuous consumption; it comes with a metaphysical component. And statistics prove it. Fine dining out; casual dining in.

All of which suits me just fine. The fewer pretenses served with my lunch, the better. Comfort food = soul food = happiness.

And for a weekend breakfast, there is no better place to do the whole comfort food thing than Dame's Chicken and Waffles in Durham.

Chicken? Waffles? Together?

Ah, yes. Like the holy combination of chocolate and peanut butter, fried chicken and waffles (with copious amounts of maple syrup) provide for a beautiful study in contrasts. The light, crispy waffle stands aside as a near perfect partner to crunchy, buttermilk fried chicken.

Her Imperial Majesty and I opted for a Quilted Buttercup, a fried chicken breast sandwiched between two sweet potato waffles and an optional side of wings. The effect was superb. Served with a "shmear" of maple and candied pecan butter, the dish nicely balances both sweet and savory. The light fluffiness of the waffles was a perfect counter balance to the heartiness of the perfectly fried but in no way greasy chicken. With large portions, her Imperial Majesty and I split one order and walked away well sated.

The entrée came with a side of mac and cheese which was okay but not great. But why carp? It didn't say Dame's Mac and Cheese on the door. No, it's all about the chicken and waffles and they are outstanding.

We got there just in time to snag a spot at the bar ('natch). When we left, it was lined out the door, as well it should. It was indeed, a home run.

You know, no less than the New York Times said that there are 41 places in the world that one must simply visit in 2011 and Durham, NC made the list. I wonder if Dame's Chicken and Waffles is the reason. I'd like to think so.

Dame's Chicken and Waffles

317 W. Main Street

Durham, NC 27701

(919) 682-9235

dameschickenwaffles.com

Cuisine: Chicken and Waffles

Rating: *****

Prices: $

Atmosphere: Urban hip

Noise level: moderate

Open: Mon, Sun 11 am - 3 pm; Tue-Thu 11 am - 8 pm; Fri 11 pm - 12 am

Reservations: Of course not.

Other: yes, they take plastic

We rank restaurants in five categories: Extraordinary***** Excellent**** Above average*** Average** Fair*