Aimee got me a great cookbook for Christmas – Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc At Home and I immediately really began to enjoy  the organic, seasonal recipe that were featured in the book.  This is one of the first recipes that caught my eye, so I wanted to make it.  Braised chicken perhaps doesn’t do as well in the braising pot as beef or pork, but when you can keep the skin crispy and have a delicious piece of dark meat, it’s awesome.

This dish combines some excellent flavors that aren’t typically found in your typical braise – the first of which has to be one of my favorite vegetables – Fennel.  There’s also some good olives and the infusion of some lemon zest which adds a great kick.

Plus, there’s just something wholly comforting about a braise in the winter.  It makes you whole house or apartment smell awesome, yet is easy to make and even better to eat.  I served this over some simply cooked egg noodles and topped it with the chicken and braising liquid which I cooked down a bit after the chicken was done. I also added bacon to the equation (how can you go wrong, right?) which added a certain richness.  This version of the dish serves 2, so double or triple it if you’re cooking for a larger group.  Here’s how it’s done:

Serves 2

• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 2 slices good quality bacon – cut into lardons
• 1/4 cup good dry white wine
• 1/2 – 1 cup good quality (low sodium) chicken stock (homemade preferred)
• 1 medium head fennel – stalks and end removed – layers separated and sliced lengthwise into 1/2″ spears
• 1 medium carrot – peeled and diced
• 1/2 a large yellow onion – diced
• 3 cloves garlic – diced
• 1/2 cup pitted green Spanish olives
• 2 peels of lemon zest (cut with a vegetable peeler)
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 tbsp. thyme leaves – off the stalks and chopped
• Splash of canola oil
• Salt to taste

Season the chicken with a little salt and preheat the oven to 375 F.  Prep the vegetables and heat a heavy bottomed braising pot or dutch oven over medium heat and add the canola oil.  When the oil is almost smoking, add the chicken, skin side down and cook for 5 minutes or so, until the skin nicely browned and crispy.  Flip and sear the skin on the other side for a minute or two.  Remove from the pot and place on a cooling wire rack or parchment paper.

Turn the heat down to medium/low and add the bacon.  Brown it for a few minutes and then add the onions and carrot. Cook the onion mixture for 5 minutes until they become soft and sticky.  Next add the fennel and garlic and cook for a solid 10 minutes until it becomes tender.

Turn up the heat a little bit and add in the wine and let the alcohol cook off for a couple minutes.  Next add in the olives, red pepper, lemon zest, bay leaf and thyme and stir to combine.  Taste the broth and season with salt as needs be.  Add in the chicken stock, then return the chicken to the pot skin side up and place into the oven.

Cook for around 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove the pot from the oven and turn on the broiler.  Place the chicken pot back into the oven under the broiler and crisp up the skin (making sure it’s out of the liquid) for a couple minutes being careful not to burn it.  Serve with the braising liquid over cooked egg noodles or rice or whatever you like.  Enjoy!

A good olive tapenade recipe is great ammunition to have in your culinary cannon, especially during the holidays.  Not only is tapenade a crowd-pleaser, it looks great and is super easy to make, especially if you have a food processor.  It is also easy to make ahead of time as it will keep in the fridge for up to a week, but it will impress your friends when you tell them it is homemade.   It also makes a great sauce for chicken, pork, or fish!  One of my favorite sandwiches pairs tapenade with tuna salad on a crusty baguette.  Perfecto!

This recipe is easy and only has a handful of ingredients, but the flavor was awesome!  It is so much better when you make it yourself, I promise.  Olives and capers are pretty standard ingredients, but the remaining ingredients all play a critical role.  The fresh garlic gives it a nice zing (make sure your prospective make out buddy has some too!), and the anchovies add a nice nuttiness without tasting fishy.  The lemon and fresh herbs add freshness and acidity to cut the saltiness.  Just right!

This year, I put together a few extra batches and jarred them up as gifts.  The leftovers are going with me to my sister-in-law’s house as a contribution to our Christmas Eve meal.  And there is a huge financial incentive to making this yourself:  the last time I checked at the grocery store, a small container of tapenade was $5.99.  Yikes!  I need to get into that business!  For that amount  you could make three full jars on your own!  The recipe below makes about two cups.

Ingredients

• 1 cup pitted kalamata olives
• 1 cup pitted green olives
• 1/4 cup of capers
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
• 1/4 cup of roughly chopped parley

• 1 teaspoon of chopped thyme
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 3-4 anchovy fillets
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• Crushed red pepper to taste (I used 1/2 teaspoon)

Double check to make sure the olives are pitted; they could seriously damage your blade.  Put all of the ingredients above in a food processor (I guess you could use a blender, too!).   Pulse the ingredients until they are still chunky but well incorporated.  Serve with sliced fresh baguette or crackers. You’re all done!

During the holiday season, we are treated with many decadent culinary delights.  It is the time of year when calories don’t count (because, clearly, it is important for your health to develop a “winter layer”) and heavy cream and cartons of butter are staples in your refrigerator.  After our fourth holiday party, having never missed out on the bacon-wrapped appetizers, gravy coated roasts, festively sweet cocktails, or cream-cheese filled desserts, I was ready for a meal that was a little less…indulgent.

Adrian and I love to host dinners, though, especially during the holidays, and when his parents were in town for a night, my first instinct was to go with seafood.  Not only is fish a very lean source of protein, I love it because it still feels “special” enough to serve to your mother-in law during the holidays.  I went with monkfish, because it is local to the Atlantic and it was really fresh.

Monkfish is probably the most bizarre looking fish in the world, at least on the outside.  We are talking prehistoric, extraterrestrial kind of ugliness.  I’ll be honest, if I were a fisherman, and I reeled one of these creatures in, I probably would have tried to throw it back as quickly as a home run ball hit by Alex Rodriguez in Fenway Park.  But the fillet you get from the seafood counter is quite lovely.  It is almost snow white and has a wonderful firm texture many people equate with lobster.  In fact, it has the nickname “the poor man’s lobster”; that is, of course, when people are not referring to it as the “sea-devil”.

Monkfish is a great selection for this recipe because its meaty texture holds up well to such a flavorful sauce.  If you can find it, skate wing would be delicious as well.  The rich flavor of the wine and the saltiness of the olives give this  dish an almost “puttanesca”-like flavor.  Try it out!  Your family and guests will be impressed with the diversity of your ingredients and you will have given everyone a decadent meal that is a nice break from the usual weightiness of holiday cuisine!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. of fresh Monkfish fillets
• 1/2 cup of roughly chopped green olives
• 2 tbs. of freshly chopped basil
• 2 cups of hearty red wine
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon of red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Begin by seasoning your monkfish fillets with salt and pepper dusting them generously with the flour.  Melt the butter in the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium high heat.  Add the dusted monkfish fillet to the pan, and cook for about three to five minutes on each side, depending on the size of your fillets, or until it becomes a nice golden brown color.  Remove the monkfish from the pan and place in a very low temperature oven (200 degrees) while you prepare the sauce.

De-glaze the pan by adding the wine and stirring up the little bits stuck to bottom of the pan.  Add the tomato paste, olives, and chili flakes.  Let the sauce thicken and reduce by about half. Taste the sauce to see if you need to add salt.  Pour the sauce over the fish, garnish with the chopped basil and serve immediately.  Serves four.

It is excellent served with rice or over egg noodles.  I also served steamed artichokes with a curry aioli  along side, which was absolutely delicious (that post will come soon!).  Enjoy!