Chicken in Artichoke Sauce with Fettucine

OK, I've had three requests for this recipe from FB friends, and although I gave away the magic ingredient, they are apparently not satisfied! In case you missed it, the base of this dish is William Sonoma's Artichoke Lemon Sauce. But OH NO!! I just went to link it to this post and it no longer exists! I did see some in the store the other day, so I guess I am going to buy up whatever I can! Someone (Marsha probably) had given me a jar as a gift, and I was admittedly hesitant to use it. I like artichokes, but they are not on my list of top twenty favorite ingredients. Then there was the lemon problem. Ray is (theoretically anyway) opposed to strong lemon tastes in dishes to be accompanied by wine. And who has a great pasta dish without wine? Silly, I know. But there it was in my pantry, Dennis was coming to dinner, and I know he likes artichokes so...I thought it would be good with chicken. And something green. Plus we had some niçoise olives in the fridge and some really good parm.

So I went to work. I bought some chicken thighs at Whole Foods. We don't eat that much meat so I am really snobby about the little meat I do buy. I bought some Canadian asparagus and some really good fettucine. Our usual source for dry pasta Tony's Colonial on Federal Hill in Providence, and for fresh pasta is Venda Ravioli, just down the street from Tony's, but although it would certainly not be unlike me or Ray to hop in the car and drive to Providence, it didn't seen like a great idea fort his event, so I stopped by William Sonoma once again, and bought some of their very pricey fettucine. Now, before you give up on me and my insistance on really good ingredients, let me just say that this whole thing--dinner for three but which would easily have fed six, cost less than a lot of people pay for steak. And in my opinion it was better, and really easy!

Ingredients:

1 jar William Sonoma Artichoke Lemon Sauce if you can find it! 

8 chicken thighs (with skin and bones)

1 package fettucine

1 pound asparagus cut into two - three inch lengths

4 T olive oil divided

1/2 cup nicoise olives

Freshly grated parmesan

Freshly snipped herbs

Browning the chicken

1. Toss eight chicken thighs (with skin and bone) in flour and shake off excess.
2. Heat 2 T olive oil in each of two saute pans ( I used my big dutch oven and another cast iron frying skillet) It's important to heat the oil but you have to add the chicken before the oil starts to smoke or you might as well have used Crisco. 
3. Divide the chicken between the pans and brown it on both sides. As tempting as it is, do not turn them for at least a couple of minutes. If you go too fast they will stick. The right temperature is important for that reason too. Patience is a virtue here. The chicken must be well-browned on both sides, not only for the color, but because you will release a lot of fat which you can pour off before adding the sauce. But you don't want it burn them or overcook them either.
4. When they are a beautiful deep golden color, remove them from the pan and pour off the fat.

Assembly

1. Deglaze the larger pan with a little white wine (1/4 cup), scraping the bottom to incorporate all the yummy chicken bits.
2. Add one jar sauce (I will soon find an equivalent of the W & S!)
3. Heat gently and return the chicken to the sauce.
4. Cover and cook gently for about 20-30 minutes. Test the doneness of the chicken by pushing against it lightly. It's done when it springs back.
5. Steam one pound of thin asparagus that has been cut into two-three inch lengths (I use my microwave vegetable steamer) 
6. Cook the fettucine according to the directions. Drain it and place it in a large pasta bowl to which  you have added a few spoonfuls of the sauce.
7. Arrange the chicken on top of the pasta, pour the sauce over. Toss in the asparagus, some olives and top with grated parmesan and some chopped fresh herbs. I used parsley and basil from my garden.

And that's it. Although I really love to make my own sauces, I have used the W&S sauces several times and they are quite good. The Chicken Tagine sauce is another favorite. When you want to make an impressive dinner, but time is short, it's a great solution. I am going to head over there tomorrow and stock up!

Vegetable galette! Yum!!

Silpin Silicon Rolling pin

OK, admittedly, it has been awhile, and I have stored up some great food memories to record. If only I can remember all the pertinent details! So I guess I'll start with the most recent! I have always been intimidated about pastry. My grandmother was a fairly lousy cook--being British and all-- but she made flaky, melt-in-your-mouth pie crusts. I did get her recipe and I tried. Combination of lard and butter.

But the harder I tried, the more leaden my crusts. I just didn't get it. I watched videos and read Julia's bible. But to no avail. Until today. First I got a super-duper rolling pin from Marsha for Christmas. Then, Ray gave me a subscription to Cooks Illustrated. Cooks Illustrated is a text-laden and glossy photo-free magazine for geeky science cooks. Like me! The article on making galettes explained my pastry woes in a comprehensible and fascinating way. And even though I did not (or could not) follow every step perfectly, my leek and mushroom galette was far superior to any pastry I have made.

The recipe called for gorgonzola, but although I am pretty much a fan of the general category of blue cheese, my last experience of spinach and gorgonzola ravioli from my beloved Venda Ravioli in Providence was not great. Bitter, to say the least, and the cheese did not marry well with the spinach or the sauce. So I substituted gruyère. I used far fewer mushrooms than indicated, and I used more leeks. I didn't measure the crème fraiche or the mustard, but other than that I tried to follow the recipe. The key is in leaving big chunks of butter unblended and not over-incorporating the water. Letting the dough rest allows the water to soak in without breaking down the little globs of butter that will eventually make the pastry flaky. At least that's the theory. Probably my globs were a little too big. And I didn't let it rest quite long enough. When Ray breezed through the kitchen I was my typical snarly I-suck-at-making-pastry self. He headed straight to the man cave. Wisely. But although I did struggle with the folding and the rolling again process, the result was amazing. The pastry recipe, which will eventually appear below, has a little whole wheat flour for crunch and body, a little sugar and a little vinegar. The presence of each ingredient was carefully explained. Of course I don't remember much except the butter and water part. But it did hold up the to the vegetable filling and was flaky and crunchy and, oh yes, very pretty when the whole thing came out of the oven. In our younger days, we would have served this as an appetizer, but these days we don't quite have the capacity, so with a glass of Campuget and a nice little salad, we were ready to say. "Bon appétit!"