Roast Chicken

My version:

- rub chicken with salt and pepper inside, out
- let sit in fridge overnight or for at least several hours to let the skin dry out; allow meat to warm to room temp on counter for half an hour before cooking
- preheat oven to 450
- cut lemon in half, squeeze half of lemon over chicken skin, place both halves inside cavity
- dice a few cloves of garlic and stuff under skin of chicken
- stuff additional garlic cloves in the cavity
- do not truss chicken, but tuck the wings under
- bake for about 50 minutes for until done; skin will be crisp, meat juicy

Keller's:

My Favorite Simple Roast Chicken
Epicurious | October 2004
by Thomas Keller
Bouchon

yield: Makes 2 to 4 servings

Ingredients
* One 2- to 3-pound farm-raised chicken
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2 teaspoons minced thyme (optional)
* Unsalted butter
* Dijon mustard

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Rinse the chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. The less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.

Salt and pepper the cavity, then truss the bird. Trussing is not difficult, and if you roast chicken often, it's a good technique to feel comfortable with. When you truss a bird, the wings and legs stay close to the body; the ends of the drumsticks cover the top of the breast and keep it from drying out. Trussing helps the chicken to cook evenly, and it also makes for a more beautiful roasted bird.

Now, salt the chicken—I like to rain the salt over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 tablespoon). When it's cooked, you should still be able to make out the salt baked onto the crisp skin. Season to taste with pepper.

Place the chicken in a sauté pan or roasting pan and, when the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in the oven. I leave it alone—I don't baste it, I don't add butter; you can if you wish, but I feel this creates steam, which I don't want. Roast it until it's done, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove it from the oven and add the thyme, if using, to the pan. Baste the chicken with the juices and thyme and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.

Remove the twine. Separate the middle wing joint and eat that immediately. Remove the legs and thighs. I like to take off the backbone and eat one of the oysters, the two succulent morsels of meat embedded here, and give the other to the person I'm cooking with. But I take the chicken butt for myself. I could never understand why my brothers always fought over that triangular tip—until one day I got the crispy, juicy fat myself. These are the cook's rewards. Cut the breast down the middle and serve it on the bone, with one wing joint still attached to each. The preparation is not meant to be superelegant. Slather the meat with fresh butter. Serve with mustard on the side and, if you wish, a simple green salad. You'll start using a knife and fork, but finish with your fingers, because it's so good.

Crockpot Shortribs Recipe

http://www.recipezaar.com/Slow-Cooker-Beef-Short-Ribs-32147

SERVES 6 (change servings and units)

Ingredients

* 1/3 cup flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 2 1/2 lbs boneless beef short ribs
* 1/4 cup butter
* 1 cup chopped onion
* 1 cup beef broth
* 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 cup chili sauce
* 2 tablespoons catsup
* 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
* 2 tablespoons minced garlic
* 1 teaspoon chili powder

Directions

1. Put flour, salt and pepper in a bag.
2. Add ribs and shake to coat.
3. Brown ribs in butter in a lg skillet.
4. Put in slow cooker.
5. In same skillet, combine remaining ingredients.
6. Bring to a boil, stirring.
7. Pour over ribs.
8. Cover and cook on low for 9 hours.



http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1627,150191-254198,00.html

HOME-STYLE SHORT RIBS

3-4 lbs. lean beef short ribs
4 potatoes, peeled & quartered
4 carrots, peeled & quartered
1 onion, sliced
2 tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. horseradish
1 tbsp. prepared mustard
2 tbsp. catsup
1 c. beef bouillon
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 c. flour

In large skillet brown short ribs; drain off excess fat. Place potatoes, carrots and onion in crock pot or slow-cooking pot. Arrange browned ribs over vegetables. Combine vinegar, sugar, horseradish, mustard, catsup, bouillon, salt and pepper. Pour over meat. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until meat is tender.

Remove short ribs and vegetables. Turn crock pot to high or stove top burner to medium. Dissolve flour in small amount of water. Stir into sauce and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until thickened. Serve with meat and vegetables. Makes 4 to 6 servings. Serve with burgundy or perhaps a lighter merlot.

Gnocchi

From "ThanksVille" on Chowhound:

My grandmother's recipe with loads of practice uses a 2 to 1 mix of old russet potatoes to sweet potatoes (makes for a wonderful 'surprise' in the flavor). Boiled with skin on until just barely tender (check each one individually and don't let them overcook or become sodden)....the sweet potatoes come out way earlier than the russets.

Remove, dry and start peeling them as soon as you can get them into a towel (to help with the handling). Remove skin but also remove any parts that are soaked or soggy. Rice them immediately with a fine potatoe ricer and spread out on a cookie sheet to dry and cool for 15 minutes. Lightly rotate them to help continue drying about halfway through. Season with salt, very fine ground pepper, lightest hint of nutmeg.

Typically for about 5 lbs of potatoes, I use three large egg yolks to help bind together with all purpose flour. The goal is to touch the mixture as little as possible and minimize the amount of flour incorporated therein. Mix with your fingers adding the flour in tablespoon increments (I start with about 1 full cup of flour and add by tablespoons) to reach the right consistency. Once you achieve a dough that is just barely sticky, I begin to work on a floured board to roll the dough out into finger thick strands, cut them to length and go into production shaping them on the backside of a clean dinner fork. After the first couple, you can tell by the quality of the dough curling and taking on the ridged impressions from the tines if you got the texture right.

Each gnocchi is rolled onto a floured cookie pan, making sure they don't touch each other. If freezing them, will dust lightly with flour, quick freeze each tray and after 1/2 hour put them into ziplock bags. But who in their right mind goes to the trouble to make homemade gnocchi and doesn't make a fresh platter for dinner? So one tray or more gets added into a huge kettle (12 quart) of boiling salted water.

Keep them from touching each other and get into the boiling water; stir gently and reduce water to just a simmer. Usually they are light enough to rise to the top within 2 minutes. I cook for about 1 more minute, taste one to make sure there is no raw flour flavor and immediately lift out with a big chinese wire spider strainer and place each batch onto a clean, cotton bar towel to dry the surface water (fold up the ends into one hand and lightly roll them around inside for 15 seconds. (I end up using 4 or 5 towels for a 2 tray batch)

Immediately dump from the towel into the baking dish that has (my nonna's pink sauce; 1 part bechamel with cheese melted into it with 2 parts homemade 'Sunday' red sauce) spread across the bottom. Lightly mix in the gnocchi, cover with grated parmignano and repeat by cooking and adding a second cookie pan portion of gnocchi. That fills up a family size 9 x 12 baking casserole; add more sauce to cover, cheese and a mix in a heavy chiffonade of fresh basil but get most of that inside under the top layer. I bake the dish at 375 for 20 minutes covered with foil (a few steam vent slots) and then 10 minutes uncovered. Serve immediately. Light, delicate, fragrant, transports me back to her kitchen every single time. A perfect gnocchi has no weight, just the slightest texture and dissolves without really chewing.

Brasato Al Barolo (Braised Short Ribs) -- Mario Batali

Makes 4 Servings | Region: Piemonte | Book: Babbo Cookbook (Clarkson Potter 2002)

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 16-ounce beef short ribs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 cups Barolo, or other full-bodied red wine
1 16-ounce can of peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand with their juices
1 cup brown chicken stock
½ bunch thyme
½ bunch rosemary
½ bunch oregano

Gremolata
Leaves from 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley Zest of two lemons, cut into julienne strips ¼ pound fresh horseradish, grated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over high heat until smoking. Season the ribs with salt and pepper and cook them over high heat until deep brown all on sides, about 15 minutes total.
Remove the short ribs to a plate and set aside. Add the carrots, onion, celery and garlic to the pan and cook over high heat until browned and softened, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the red wine, tomatoes and juices, chicken stock and herbs, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge the brown bits. Bring the mixture to a boil and return the short ribs to the pan. Cover with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Cook for 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender and literally falling off the bones.

To make the gremolata:
In a small bowl, combine the parsley, lemon zest and horseradish and toss loosely by hand.

Place one short rib in each bowl, top with a little of the pan juices and a handful of the gremolata, and serve immediately.