Buttermilk Roast Chicken with Roasted Parsnips & Carrots with Brown Rice

The chicken was, in a word, delectable. Marinated overnight in a simple brine of buttermilk and spices, it was tender and juicy. Mike went back for a third piece. The parsnips and carrots were a great complement to the chicken. It makes so much chicken I'll definitely make this for company next time.

Buttermilk Roast Chicken

slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen's recipe

2 cups buttermilk

5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed (we used about 8 cloves)

1 tbsp. table salt

1 tbsp. granulated sugar

2 tsp. paprika

Lots of fresh ground pepper

2 1/2 to 3 lbs. chicken parts (we used legs and thighs)

drizzle of olive oil

flaked or coarse sea salt, to finish

Whisk buttermilk with garlic, table salt, sugar, paprika, and lots of freshly ground black pepper in a bowl. We placed the chicken in the bowl, swished it around to make sure all the pieces were good and coated with the brine, and covered it. The original recipe suggests putting everything into a gallon freezer bag, but a) I have very bad luck with leakage and ziploc bags, and b) we were out of them anyway! Refrigerate the chicken for at least two hours or for up to 24 to 48 hours.

When ready to roast, preheat over to 425 degrees. Line a baking dish with foil. Remove chicken from buttermilk brine and arrange in dish (we shoved as much of the chicken as we could into a 9 x 13 in baking pan, and we still have some chicken left over for roasting tomorrow). Drizzle lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with additional paprika and sea salt to taste. We roasted the legs and thighs for 40 minutes, until brown and scorched in spots. The original recipe suggests roasting legs for 30 minutes, or if you're roasting breasts, for 35 to 40 minutes.

Serve immediately.

Roasted Parsnips & Carrots

3 large parsnips, sliced into rounds

4 medium carrots, sliced into rounds

2 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves

1 tbsp. olive oil

coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a large baking dish (with an oven preheated to 425 degrees), combine all ingredients. Give them a quick toss or two to incorporate, and then roast in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until the parsnips are golden brown and blackened in spots.

The roasted veggies were very flavorful - almost crispy on the outside in places, and tender on the inside.

Overall, a very satisfying meal. So satisfying, in fact, that Mike and I sat over our empty plates and chatted for over an hour before we were ready to tackle the dishes. Definitely a meal we'll make again!

Steak with Red Wine Sauce Reduction

If you follow our blog you've probably noticed that Brit and I don't eat much red meat and usually adapt our recipes to use turkey instead of pork or beef when necessary. So, as a treat, we decided we would celebrate Valentine's Day by cooking up some red meat in a special meal. Now, for a special occasion like this, we couldn't just cook any regular dish, but instead we felt obligated to cook ourselves a steak meal. Again, we couldn't just cook any regular steak, but instead we felt obligated (and excited!) to buy some grass-fed beef from our local farmer's market. So, we splurged and bought us both a very tasty looking sirloin and rib-eye steak. I decided I would cook a wine reduction sauce for the steaks and to serve everything over brown rice alongside roast Brussels sprouts and green beans. This is going to be a feast!

The wine reduction sauce was made with onion, Shiitake mushroom, half a bottle of Pinot Noir, balsamic vinegar, and a sprig of rosemary (If I were to cook this again I would also throw in a few sliced shallots). The onion was sliced and sauteed for a few minutes. The Shiitake mushrooms were also sliced and then added to the onions. The mushrooms were cooked for a while until most of the moisture had come out of the mushrooms and evaporated. I then added in the wine, about 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar, and the sprig of rosemary. The sauce was simmered for a while until the sauce had reduced, thickened, and the flavor had intensified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

In the meantime, I cooked the brown rice that had been seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cumin.

Additionally, Brit roasted the Brussels sprouts by slicing them in half and giving them a quick splash of olive oil and then seasoned with salt and pepper. They were then roasted for 25 minutes at 450 F.

As the brown rice and Brussels sprouts came close to finishing, the green beans were steamed and then seasoned with salt, pepper, and white balsamic vinegar.

Prior to starting anything the steaks were brought to room temperature and patted dry. About 10-15 minutes before everything was going to be done I generously seasoned the steaks on both sides with salt and pepper. I also started heating up a cast-iron grill pan on medium heat. Once we knew all the additional components of the meal were complete I sprayed the grill with some non-stick spray and added both sticks to the grill. Each side was cooked for 2 minutes and absolutely no more than 2 minutes.

The steaks were perfectly medium rare and so incredibly juicy and tender. The brown rice was well cooked, the wine sauce fantastic, and the greens delicious. I especially loved Brit's roasted Brussels sprouts. I can't wait until next Valentine's Day!

Seafood Puttanesca

This recipe was published by one of my favorite food blogs and I'm so glad that I follow them because of dishes like this. They decided to take a classic puttanesca sauce and serve it over fish instead of pasta. I'm always eager to eat more fish and the puttanesca sauce is such a flavorful, and easy, sauce to prepare. The original blog post recommended swordfish, and ended up eating monkfish, but Brit and I chose tilapia as it is a lot cheaper, still very flavorful, and easy for us to get at Trader Joes.

Seafood Puttanesca
(originally published at The Bitten Word blog)

1-1.5 lbs of tilapia fillets
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 anchovies in oil, minced
3 cups diced tomatoes
3/4 cup green olives, roughly chopped
1/4 cup capers, drained
1/2 tsp red chile flakes
3 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped
4 tsp lemon juice


Over high heat, sear the fish fillets in oil for just 3 minutes, split between both sides. You want to quickly brown the outside of the fish without cooking it much inside. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Over medium heat, with a little bit of olive oil added back to the skillet, cook the garlic and anchovies for just 1-2 minutes. Mix in the tomatoes, olives, capers, and chile flakes. Cook for 10 minutes until a lot of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley and place the fish on top of the cooking sauce. Cover the skillet and cook over medium-low heat until the fish is cooked through. This won't take very long and I ended up just breaking the fish into bite sized pieces and let them cook more in the sauce.

We served ours over cous cous along side snow peas. YUM!

Aztec Soup

This is a tortilla soup-esque dish that Brit found and sent my direction. I had recently expressed desire to try our hand again at tortilla soup and this recipe seemed like a great way to start. I actually cooked this dish the day before as the required length of time did not make this a realistic weekday meal. We also felt that giving the soup an extra day to sit would help the flavors meld together and give the soup a significantly improved taste. I definitely enjoyed this soup, and the required garnishes really help make this dish work well, but we could make some improvements in the future. Once I figure them out I'll let you know.

Aztec Soup
(originally printed on the Daily Candy)

2 onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1/2 tbsp black peppercorns
1 whole chicken, quartered
2 dried pasilla chiles (we found these at Whole Foods)
9 Roma tomatoes, chopped in half
Tortilla strips (we used crumbled tortilla chips)
Avocado, sliced
Shredded Mexican blend cheese
Cilantro, chopped
Lime, cut into wedges

In a large pot, place half of the onion and garlic, the carrots, bay leaves, peppercorns, and chicken. Fill the pot with enough water to cover the chicken by two inches. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 45 minutes later. If you can, skin off any fat that collects at the top, or wait until later to do so (I did the latter).

Remove the chicken to a bowl, wait for it to cool, and shred into small pieces. Meanwhile, pour the stock through cheesecloth and discard the vegetables while reserving the liquid. As the stock cools the fat will collect at the top and will make it easier to remove.

On a non-stick sprayed baking sheet, broil the tomatoes and remaining onion and garlic. My tomatoes never charred, but I stopped when I could tell that the onion and garlic were done and the tomato skins were peeling back. When cool enough to handle, remove the skims from the tomatoes.

Also broil the chiles for just a few minutes until toasted, but not burnt. Transfer to warm water for 5-10 minutes, which will prove difficult as the chiles will have inflated under the broiler and will float obnoxiously.

When ready, blend the tomatoes, onion, garlic, and chiles until smooth. In a large pot over medium-high heat, heat some olive oil and fry the tomato puree. Be very careful as this mixture will splatter everywhere and will make you blister when it lands on you but you're too busy stirring to keep the splattering to a minimum and can't wipe the burning mix off of you until 10-15 minutes later. Once the puree has darkened in color and thickened, 5 minutes later, reduce the heat and add back the reserved chicken stock. The original recipe called for 4 quarts, but my stock only had about 3 quarts in it. Oh well. Simmer for 15 minutes.

At this point I placed the soup in the fridge and continued the next day by adding the chicken to the soup and cooking for another 10-15 minutes to heat up and let all the flavors mix together. I also, conveniently, removed a lot of the fat that had collected on the surface of the soup while overnight in the fridge. Serve with the remaining ingredients as a garnish and try to ignore the pain from the burning puree that splattered all over you.