why did i cross the road? to get to the (damn tasty) chicken.

about 5 years ago, i went on a vacation to punta mita, mexico, which is about a half hour northwest of puerto vallarta. now, i have a lot of friends who've gone on vacation to this area, and love it so much that they keep going back. i myself thought it was just...aight.

was it because of the weather? no, the weather was great. was it because the beaches were substandard? nope, the beach i hung out on was pretty nice and the ocean was beautiful. was the service at the hotel bad? no way, the service was top notch. nope it wasn't any of those things. it was the FOOD. the food was just so-so. and yes, i went to all the restaurants you're supposed to go to when you're there. none of it was really all that memorable; some of it was even bleh. (this is around when i started to realize just how important food is to me. if you can believe it, i actually lost a little weight on this vacation.)

i would have lost more than just a couple pounds if i hadn't gotten so desperate on my hunt for tasty food that i stopped by a roadside bbq chicken stand on my way back to the hotel one day. there were these ladies with grills set up all along the sidewalks of the main drag in a town between puerto vallarta and punta mita (i think maybe it was bucerias), and it was here that i discovered the best damn grilled chicken i've ever had in my life.

this chicken - which was covered in some kind of red rub / marinade - was served with several freshly handmade corn tortillas, rice, and your choice of several salsas. my favorite was what i guess had have been made of habanero peppers, because it was just about the freaking hottest (but extremely delicious) salsa i've eaten.

the chicken was so good, that for the remainder of the vacation (a good 4 more days), i would drive out from punta mita to this little town to get lunch. when i would come back to the hotel, all the hotel staff would smile as they recognized the packaging the chicken was wrapped in, and say, "that's great chicken, isn't it?" and damn it was, every single time. twice i also ate it for dinner (yes, that's how good it was; but it's also a sign of how much the other choices sucked)... which didn't exactly thrill the restaurant waitstaff when i brought in my chicken and asked if they minded if i ate it at the table. (they were too nice to say no, and in fact not only brought me plates, but warmed up the tortillas and rice for me. i told you the service there was top notch.)

when i got back home, i dreamt of this chicken day and night for a solid month (seriously, not joking). i nattered on about it to all my friends until they got sick of hearing the story, and then i kept on nattering away anyway (this is why i love my friends so much). i can't say for sure how much of the chicken's tasty goodness was because i had some serious FOOD GOGGLES (kinda like beer goggles, except in this case it's when food that's only so-so seems to taste much better than it is), but i'm convinced this wasn't a case of food goggles. (but then again, i didn't get the er, benefit, of waking up next to it to see it exposed in the potentially cold, harsh light of reality.)

i would seriously go back to punta mita just so i could have that chicken. (a sure sign that food is DEFINITELY important to me.) i've spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it was marinated in; i have one more recipe to try (i have a feeling this is it), but in the meanwhile, here's one that gets pretty close (recipe below). it's a little labor intensive, but i've found most good barbecue recipes are. there's no getting around that.

[btw - one other reason i would go back to puerto vallarta / punta mita is because the baskin robbins in PV happens to carry my favorite flavor - strawberry shortcake - that for whatever reason seems to have been discontinued in the US. go figure. i went a little ape shizzle over that, too, when i was there. great diet, hunh? good thing the ice cream was too far to get every day. otherwise, it would have been: chicken and ice cream, chicken and ice cream. i probably would have come back from vacation not a couple pounds lighter, but a completely different shape...one strongly resembling a circle. :]


Mexican-Style Barbecue Chicken

2 3-lb pastured chickens, each halved

Marinade (Achiote Recado)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsps achiote (annatto) seeds
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 medium white onion, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 tbsp dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp freshly ground allspice
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup ancho chile powder
4 tsps coarse salt
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups fresh orange juice

Preheat oven to 300°F. In a small saucepan bring water and achiote seeds to a boil. Simmer seeds, covered, for 30 minutes and remove from heat. Steep seeds for additional 2 hours.

Roast garlic and onion in oven on a rimmed baking sheet for 45 minutes, turning once, until browned and soft. Discard garlic skins. Drain seeds and using a blender, puree all the ingredients until smooth.

Rinse chicken, then place in large sealable plastic bags and pour in marinade, making sure chicken is completely coated. Marinate chicken overnight.

Preheat oven to 250°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil. Remove chicken from marinade (discard marinade). Bake chicken skin side up until cooked through. Cool completely.

Preheat grill on low. Oil rack and place chicken, skin sides down and grill chicken, turning once or twice, until skin is crisp, about 45 minutes. Serve chicken with rice, salsa, guacamole, and fresh corn tortillas. If you do serve it with an especially hot salsa, then make sure to provide your diners with a few cold beers to chase away the hot! Ok, who are we kidding - even if the salsa is the pansy kind, serve it with beers anyway. Serves 4.

it's like buttah

so i realized the other day that i never talk about fish. part of the reason is we don't eat it all that often; but a big reason we don't eat it that often is i wasn't all that sure where to get the sustainably-caught kind.

well this most unfortunate situation was effectively brought to an end this past weekend, when as i was buying strawberries from yerena farms (to replace the ones i had - *SOB* - accidentally wasted the night before), i noticed the booth next door was a fish supplier called shogun fish company. [interesting that strawberries and fish are booth neighbors... hmmmm, must speak to farmers' market coordinators... (yeah, sure, i'll get on that right after i pay my PG&E bill on time)] i peeked inside and saw a lot of great fish: sushi-grade ahi, halibut, rock cod, salmon, petrale sole...and, could it be?!? my stars, it was! BLACK COD!!!

i quickly mentally edited my plans for monday night dinner, snatched up two 6-oz-ish fillets, and tremulously handed over some of my wadded up cash to the lady (she wasn't so happy about that. *sigh* oh well.). you'll have to pardon me for going a little nutso over the fish (too bad the fish lady wasn't as understanding), but for the record, fresh black cod isn't available in the places i usually shop for food, or if it is, it isn't fresh - it's frozen.

now those of you who know fish are probably going, "HUNH?! she got excited by BLACK COD? how low brow!" well, for your information, black cod by any other name is called sablefish, or, although not entirely accurate, also known by most fine diners as "butterfish." yup, that's right, you can all lower your haughtily upturned noses and realize your snobbery has no place at the house of froon.

i have to tell you, one time i discovered a "friend" of mine didn't like butterfish, and i believe, coincidentally or not (i do not recall, senator), we fell out of touch soon afterwards. i haven't spoken to him since. i kid, i kid. (about the fact that i had a friend who doesn't like butterfish. but hello, NOT about what i would do if i realized i DID have a friend with such incredibly bad taste. a girl has to have her standards.)

anyway, our favorite way to consume black cod / sablefish / butterfish is when it's miso-glazed (ever had it at nobu? they have the *best* black cod EVERRRRR! they serve it in lettuce cups with crispy noodles. yummy yummy!). below is a great, extremely simple recipe (also works very well with chilean sea bass, just marinate it for a couple hours, although this would obviously entail not subscribing to the "locavore" philosophy) that you could most definitely make for a weeknight dinner. don't skip the mashed potatoes, either - they make this dinner really spectacular!

enjoy!!


Miso-Glazed Butterfish

1/4 cup light yellow miso
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sake
2 tbsps brown sugar
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
dash of hot red pepper paste

4 6-ounce butterfish (black cod) fillets

Preheat oven to broil with rack about 8" from broiler. In a large bowl, whisk first 7 ingredients until well blended and no lumps remain. Place cod fillets in bowl and turn once to coat.

Transfer fish to a rimmed baking sheet and place in oven. Broil until opaque in center, about 8-10 minutes, depending on thickness. Serves 4. Serve with sauteed baby bok choy and wasabi mashed potatoes (recipes follow).


Sauteed Baby Bok Choy

6 baby bok choy, sliced crosswise into 1/2" pieces
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute for about 2 minutes. Add bok choy and saute until wilted, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4


Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
4 tbsps salted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup whole milk
2 tbsps wasabi powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes and cook until fork tender, about 12 minutes. Pass potatoes through a ricer (or mash with masher). Add butter, milk, and wasabi powder and mix until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4.

strawberrygate

this past weekend got off to a somewhat bad start on friday night.

kevin and i were going to dinner the next night with the ventursons and the webellos down in saratoga, and i had volunteered to bring dessert. as we all know, strawberries are in season, and i remembered i had once made a strawberry cheesecake that mikey (venturson) had really liked. mikey is one of those guys who rarely gets effusive about food, so when he went bonkers over this dessert, it burned into my brain, so i decided to make said strawberry cheesecake.

in and of itself, this was not the problem. i went to whole foods on my way home from work, got graham crackers (after spending about 10 minutes reading several different boxes to see which was the least chemically egregious...the crazy part is who knew so many companies make GRAHAM CRACKERS - not that i spent 10 minutes reading the ingredients... ahem), cheeses (cream and mascarpone), and then went on my merry way and began the cheesecake-construction project.

first, the crust came out perfectly - beautifully golden brown, perfectly level. never had i made a crust so perfectly. NEVER.

the strawberries from the farmers' market were also perfect. they roasted perfectly. i actually managed to wait until the cheeses and eggs were actually at room temperature (usually i'm too impatient and just use the ingredients even though they're still a little cold) and they blended incredibly smoothly and perfectly; i leveled the different layers of cheesecake, well "perfectly" is a word that comes to mind.

i got an unusually good, tight seal with the tinfoil around the springform pan. i used my relatively new (smaller, manageable) roasting pan, perfectly timed the water coming to a boil, and when the hour was up, found a perfectly set, lightly golden, not-a-single-lump-in-sight cheesecake.

now comes the bad part.

i got out the roasting pan from the oven and set it by the sink. i then got two oven mitts and carefully raised the perfect cheesecake. i then carefully set the cheesecake on the built-in rack we have in the sink. and then less than 1 second later, my weekend got shot to shizzle.

somehow...i don't know how... [unsteady, wobbly voice] but the cheesecake tipped over into the (TINY!) area that isn't covered by the rack and...and... ...and the whole, perfect cheesecake upended into the drain. *sniffles* *hiccup* kevin heard me shout in dismay and anger "oh FUDGY FUDGE!!!!!!!" (except, puh-leeease, i didn't say "fudgy" OR "fudge") and ran to the kitchen to see me standing extremely still and staring at the sink drain. (some random thoughts that ran through my head as i stood there, perfectly still: "it's midnight. no stores open that have good strawberries."; "oh fudge, that was like $40 worth of ingredients LITERALLY FUDGING DOWN THE DRAIN!!!!!!"; "hmmm, i wonder if the flyers are going to be able to pull if off tomorrow." [haha, yeah RIGHT! i totally wasn't thinking that. but i bet kevin was.]; "this isn't really happening, is it? is it?!?!")

i then literally threw in the towel (kitchen ones) and declared, "i can't deal with this," and stomped off to the living room, sat down, and stared blankly at the tv (not even sure it was on... hmmmm). this is when i'm reminded how good i have it: kevin just started to clean up. i managed to mutter a "thank you."

poor kevin. he tiptoed over to me a few minute later and asked if anything was salvageable. i bit out a "no" and then in an attempt at making it clear i wasn't upset with him: "thank you for taking care of it." he then tiptoed away and finished cleaning. he tried to ask me what happened, but i was having none of it. i bluntly told him i didn't want to talk about it, and sulked my face off for the rest of the night.

i wasn't really even ready to talk about until we were actually at dinner the next night. i pretended it was a funny story, but lemme tell you something: there ain't nothin' funny about what happened on friday night. my perfect cheesecake got perfectly ruined by a very imperfect mwah. what's that dumb saying: "waiting for the other shoe to drop"? well, i WASN'T WAITING for the other shoe to drop, so why did it have to... and into the SINK?! why? WHYYYYYY?!?!?!

anyway, below is my beloved strawberry cheesecake recipe. i adapted it from a martha stewart recipe from a couple years ago - my version is much more "strawberry-er" and lighter yet creamier (yes, it's possible). i really love this cheesecake. and if i can get over what happened friday night, i'll be making this soon, because strawberries are going to go away soon and not come back for a whole year! :( don't be intimidated by the multiple parts to the recipe - it's actually really easy to make.


Strawberry Cheesecake

Crust
1 1/2 cups finely ground graham crackers
2 tbsps sugar
4 tbsps unsalted butter, melted

Filling
2 lbs strawberries, hulled
2 tbsps raw honey
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb, 3 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 lb, 3 oz mascarpone chese, room temperature
2 medium eggs, room temperature
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

Crust
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and the melted butter in a small bowl. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan to make an even layer. Bake until crust is firm to the touch and has just darkened, about 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack, and let crust cool completely.

Cheesecake
Lower oven to 300 degrees. Put strawberries in a medium bowl and drizzle with honey. Toss to coat. Place strawberries in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until strawberries turn deep red, about 1 1/2 hours. Transfer strawberries and honey syrup to medium bowl and mash. Let cool completely.

Raise oven to 325 degrees. Place cheeses into bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar and salt. Scrape bowl and then add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each. Scrape bowl and then beat in vanilla bean seeds until no cheese lumps remain, about 5 minutes.

Mix in 5 cups of cheese mixture to mashed strawberries and stir well. Pour strawberry mixture into crust and smooth with an offset spatula. Carefully pour plain cheese mixture on top of strawberry layer, also smoothing with an offset spatula.

Wrap outside of springform pan in 2 layers of foil and set in roasting pan. Fill roasting pan with boiling water until water reaches halfway up the sides of the springform pan and bake cheesecake until set, about 1 hour. Carefully remove pan from water bath and set on a wire rack to cool. Chill cake at least 4 hours, up to overnight. Serves 10-12.