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hurry-up-and-wait roast chicken {ffwd}
In Around My French Table (AMFT), Dorie Greenspan includes several different ways to roast a chicken. This week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie, Hurry-up-and-Wait Roast Chicken, offers yet another technique. In this case, you cook the chicken in a very hot oven (the hurry up part) for just under an hour. Then, you allow the chicken to set in a yoga-like pose for about 15 minutes as it reabsorbs the juices (the wait part).
(I forgot to take photos after the initial shot, so I don’t have much visual on offer this week.)
I started with a layer of potato, sliced carrots, and fresh herbs in the bottom of my Le Creuset Dutch oven so the vegetables could roast in the chicken’s juices and provide the dinner’s side. The tricky part of this recipe is flipping the hot chicken from side to side, and later upside down, using various kitchen utensils. I started with the recommended pancake turners on the outside of the bird, switched to a large spoon stuck inside the bird, and finally settled on using paper towels for the best control. If I had silicon mitts, I am sure that would have worked better.
I had some trouble with the timing of cooking the chicken. After the 50 minute roast, the internal temperature was still 20 degrees cooler than the USDA recommended temperature, so I baked it for another 10 minutes. Also, this chicken didn’t seem to have the lovely browned skin that I prefer on roast chicken. Maybe it’s because I used a high-sided Dutch oven rather than a skillet or roasting pan, causing some steaming action. Yet when I make my all-time favorite recipe from AMFT, the Lazy Person’s Chicken, I use the same pot. Not sure what’s up with that.
I will say that the bird was extremely moist, more than most roast chickens I have made. I’ll chalk that up to the cooking technique. However, I still prefer the Lazy Person’s Chicken, which will remain my go-to roast chicken recipe for the foreseeable future.
In addition to the roasted vegetables in the pot, I also roasted dumpling squash slices on a separate pan. All in all, it was the perfect comfort food as fall settles in for a while. It was also the perfect sustenance for watching Game 6 of the World Series, which went way past my bedtime. It was worth staying up. The Red Sox clinched the championship at home, winning the title for the 3rd time in 10 years. Very exciting! (No apologies offered to the Yankee fans among my friends.)
To see what other Doristas thought of this recipe, check out their posts here.
munster cheese soufflés {ffwd}
I LOVE cheese, especially smelly cheeses. One of the things I’ve recently learned is that the smelly cheeses are typically have washed rinds, which means that the outside of the cheese is brushed, or washed, with liquid as it ages. Different cheeses are washed with different liquids, each option providing a unique flavor profile to the cheese. Some cheeses are simply washed in brine. Other cheeses are washed with beer or cider. It depends on where the cheese is from and the local traditions.
This week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie is miniature Munster Cheese Soufflés. Munster cheese is a soft washed-rind cheese made with cow’s milk that comes from the Alsace region of France. Munster, not to be confused with the mild Muenster I grew up with (and still enjoy), is known for its strong aroma and taste. In the Alsace region, the residents typically eat Munster cheese daily, often with rye bread or, to emulate the bread’s flavor, other food seasoned with caraway, cumin, or fennel seeds (which all look the same, though taste quite different).
For the soufflé, you start by making a thick bechamel sauce, seasoned with ground cumin. Then you whisk in egg yolks and stir in diced Munster. Finally, the egg whites are beaten until they are firm, then folded into the cheese mixture. Cheese soufflés have a reputation for being difficult to make, but I found it to be relatively easy.
Dicing the cheese into small cubes was challenging. Even though the cheese was cold, it remained soft and sticky. After removing the rind, I tried freezing the wheel for about 15 minutes, but that didn’t make it any easier.
I bought a cheerful new set of ramekins for the soufflés. The dishes I had were too small. I always love an excuse to add to my dish collection.
The soufflés puffed up perfectly, and we ate them immediately. Good thing, because other two soufflés deflated within minutes. Reheated, they make an acceptable breakfast, though not at all light in texture.
I’ll admit that the taste was disappointing. It tasted like cheese soufflé with a hint of cumin. The strong and unique flavor of the Munster didn’t come through at all. That’s too bad because the cheese was pricy ($12 for a 7 oz wheel). Next time, I’ll save the cheese to enjoy on its own with bread or crackers, not as ingredient in something else.
I can’t find the recipe on-line, but you can find it in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. You can read more about other Doristas’ experiences with these soufflés here.
A Plateful of Happiness 