Quick-Roasted Chicken

Last week I promised you something from Sam Sifton, the food editor for The New York Times and a good model for MLKers. As a reviewer, he gathers a lot of recipes from chefs and restauranteurs. What’s more, he includes at least one no-recipe recipe each week in his Times food newsletter. A week ago he published over forty of them and they appeared as a full-size standalone insert in the newspaper. Of course I saved it, and I may be making these for a long time. What I particularly admire is that he encourages a cook not to worry about measurements and finicky details—just make the dish. And use plenty of herbs and spices.

One note: he uses chicken thighs in most of his chicken recipes. I understand why: they cook well and remain moist and they’re a convenient single-serving size. But I’ve never been a fan of chicken thighs, or even chicken legs (not since I was about eight and my mother let me pick up the leg at dinner and gnaw on it). So I have substituted chicken breasts, which I (and my cats) prefer. Just don’t overcook them.

Sam Sifton’s Quick-Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

Fresh chicken breasts (or thighs, if you must)

Mayonnaise

Dijon mustard

A lot of chopped fresh tarragon

Salt and pepper

Bread crumbs (I made my own)

(You’ll notice there are no amounts given. Just mix up enough of the coating to cover however much chicken you’re making.)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (yes, hot).

Mix together a bunch of mayonnaise, some Dijon mustard, and lots of tarragon in a roomy bowl.

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, then add them to the bowl with the mayonnaise mixture and toss them to coat them evenly.

Grease a sheet (flat) pan and put the chicken pieces on the pan. Cover each piece with a healthy handful of bread crumbs, then press the crumbs so they stick to the chicken.

Bake in the hot oven for about half an hour, then test for doneness. If they’re not quite done, cook for another 5-10 minutes. The chicken pieces should be golden brown with a crisp bread-crumb crust.

Serve with whatever you like—rice, potatoes, salad or other veggies.

Doesn’t get much easier than that, does it? Thank you, Sam Sifton.

Shameless self-promotion: The book queue is lining up fast. Next in line is a new Museum Mystery, which will have a title (and a cover!) very soon. It should appear in April, from Beyond the Page Publishing.

In case you're wondering, that's the "real"
Society in Philadelphia, where I worked for
several years.

And then there will be Killer in the Carriage House, the second in the Victorian Village Mysteries in July!

Kate Hamilton is trying to save her struggling home town of Asheboro, Maryland, but there's no money available and nothing there to attract tourists. But Kate is determined to find a way--as soon as she solves the second murder since she arrived.

Malice Omelet with Crab and Brie

Like other MLK members here, I was at Malice Domestic last weekend. It was wonderful to hang out with a few hundred (literally) of my favorite friends, both writers and readers. But by Monday morning, most people had scattered to their homes, or at least to airports.

At the peak of the conference, the hotel’s sole restaurant was packed to bursting. By Monday you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people in the dining room. Breakfast throughout the weekend featured a prix fixe buffet, complete with a working chef to make things to order. The number of choices was kind of overwhelming, but I was feeling daring by Monday, and I’m glad I was because I discovered an omelet new to me that seemed like a perfect combination of ingredients, especially if you’re in Maryland.

Yes, it's blue, at least until you cook it

Maryland is known for its crab (from the nearby Chesapeake Bay), mostly the Blue Crab. But it’s still early in the season for them, so I can’t swear where the hotel’s crab was coming from. (Nor can I get it in Massachusetts!) But whatever it was, it tasted good.

Anyway, at the breafast buffet I spotted the crab omelet on the menu and I was sold. Add Brie and I’m in heaven. It’s simple, easy to make, and tasty. Crab omelet, where have you been all my life?


Ingredients:

Fresh crabmeat (that means you have to take the hard shell off! And pluck out the good stuff. Oh, all right—you could use frozen if you’re desperate, but it will still taste good. Just don’t use the “Imitation Crabmeat”—I don’t want to know what that’s made of.)

How much? Depends on how big an omelet you’re making, how much you like crabmeat, how expensive it is at any particular time, and so on. Put it more than a sprinkling, and less than an ice cream scoop per omelet.

The legs/claws pictured here weighed a pound (including the shell) and yielded enough meat to make two omelets.

What came out of those legs

Brie cheese (It should be ripe enough to be soft at room temperature.) Slice it about 1/4-inch thick. Some people don’t like the velvety white mold on the outside (I’m one of them), but you can trim that off easily if you like. Be generous with it, again depending on how big your omelet will be. You should have a layer about one slice thick, covering half of the unfolded egg part of the omelet.)

Brie, unwrapped

Two or three eggs per omelet
Butter
Salt and pepper (taste the cheese first to see how salty it is)
You could add other herbs or spices, but that’s kind of gilding the lily. Crab and Brie both have delicate flavors, so why hide them?

Instructions:

Pick out the crabmeat from its shells (and check the meat twice to make sure there are no shell shards). Slice the Brie.

Make your egg mixture for your omelet (this can include milk, cream, crème fraiche, or whatever pleases you). Add salt and pepper sparingly to the mixture.

Melt the butter over medium heat in a round-sided non-stick pan. Pour in the egg mixture and gently shake the pan while it cooks to keep it from sticking. It should be round.

Just in

Halfway there

When it looks like the omelet is beginning to cook, distribute about half a cup of shredded crabmeat over the eggs. Continue cooking for a bit longer, then lay the pieces of Brie over one-half of it. 

Carefully fold the omelet in half, covering the cheese, and slide it carefully onto a warmed plate. Let it rest a couple of minutes to allow the cheese to melt, then serve, accompanied by French bread, croissasnts, crumpets, English muffins, or whatever you have handy.

I did it! I got it out of the pan without
making a mess!

The result? Pretty good for a first try. The crabmeat was tender, and the cheese made a nice gooey mess. I may keep it on the menu! 

Books, books . . . Aha! The next Relatively Dead book finally has a name: Revealing the Dead! Coming from Beyond the Page next week. Or maybe the week after. And the cover is almost ready for its big reveal!

Stay tuned for updates!