Category: Herbs

October 17, 2016 Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs with Leeks and Mushrooms

Several rows in our garden are always reserved for leeks. It all started years ago with the classic book, Crockett’s Victory Garden, a month by month guide to all things (well most) gardening. It was in those pages Joe set his eyes on them for the first time, leeks that looked like they could almost double as baseball bats, actually they were Crockett’s exact words. It inspired him to give leeks a try. In addition, as cooking enthusiasts in the eighties, finding leeks in the supermarket was often futile, or if they had them, very expensive and not that good.. So growing leeks was a logical conclusion.

Leeks are a cool season vegetable that require 120 to 170 days to harvest. Joe starts them indoors and transplants them in the garden anytime after the last frost. At that point the leeks look like skinny blades of grass. He plants them closer together than they should be, so that we have thinnings that can be used like scallions before the mature leeks are ready. We will harvest most of them in the fall but some will winter over until early spring.

Even though we haven’t had much of a stretch of fall weather and it may get up to 80°F today, I am craving the stews and braises that are a natural in the cooler weather. In this dish versatile chicken thighs are slow cooked on top of a bed of leeks and mushrooms. The mild onion flavor of leeks pairs nicely with the savory earthy flavor of the mushrooms.

If you choose to brown the chicken first as I did, pat the chicken pieces dry with paper towels. This helps keep the chicken from steaming instead of searing. You can also substitute chicken leg quarters for the thighs, that’s the thigh and the leg in one portion. Boneless skinless thighs are another option, add those directly to the slow cooker without browning. I chose bone in and skin on for better flavor. I like the skin on and browned, it protects the chicken during the cooking process and makes for a more attractive presentation. You don’t even have to eat the skin if you don’t want to.

It has been stated countless times but is worth repeating. Do not rinse chicken, it just splashes bacteria all over you, your countertops and any other food that is nearby. The heat from cooking is enough to kill any bacteria that are present on the chicken.

The recipe is very simple, you can serve the chicken with the leeks and mushrooms as-is or after removing the chicken, thicken up the sauce a bit. I ladled out some of the broth and stirred in a little flour to thicken it up and added a little sour cream and half and half to make a more substantial sauce. Serve with white basmati rice to absorb all the juices.

A row of leeks.
Not quite baseball bat size but still fine.

Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs with Leeks and Mushrooms

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs skin on and bone in chicken thighs
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 4 c assorted sliced mushrooms, white, shiitake, cremini
  • 3 c leeks white and pale green parts only, halved lengthwise, washed well to remove any dirt and sliced thinly
  • 1½ T fresh thyme leaves
  • 1½  T minced fresh sage leaves
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
  • 2/3 c dry white wine (Chardonnay or Burgundy)
  • 2/3 c chicken broth (homemade or low sodium canned)
  • 1 T all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 c sour cream
  • 1-2 T half and half or heavy cream

Directions

  1. Heat a large non stick skillet over medium high heat.
  2. Pat dry the chicken thighs well with paper towels. Season with kosher salt.
  3. Add olive oil to skillet and add chicken thighs skin side down. Do not crowd, this  should be done in batches. Cook skin side down for three minutes then flip to other side and cook for an additional two minutes. Remove to a plate.
  4. Place the mushrooms, leeks, thyme and sage to the slow cooker. Season with a  little salt and some fresh ground pepper.
  5. Nestle the chicken pieces on top of the vegetables and pour the wine and broth  around them.
  6. Cover and cook on low for six hours. If desired, at the end of cooking remove the chicken pieces to a platter and keep warm. Ladle out about a cup of the broth into a glass measuring cup. Whisk in a tablespoon of flour to thicken and stir in sour cream and half and half or heavy cream. Stir this back into the slow cooker taste and add more salt and pepper as desired. Serve chicken and sauce over rice.
Leeks, mushrooms and herbs into the slow cooker first.
Place chicken on top.
Serve with rice to sop up the juices.

July 15, 2017 Tomato Salads

This is a space to record Joe’s creative tomato salads throughout the summer. The pictures won’t always be the best since they are taken in the kitchen. Just a way to commemorate these wonderful salads.

July 10 salad – Sun Gold, Gold Nugget and Super Sweet tomatoes, raspberries, purple basil, mozzarella with peach vinegar and blood orange olive oil.

July 12 – Sun Gold tomatoes, ricotta and purple basil with peach vinegar and blood orange olive oil.

July 15 – Super Sweet 100’s, Sun Gold, Gold Nugget, Snow Cherry, Chocolate Cherry, Fourth of July, mozzarella, purple basil, raspberries, blueberries, Cascadian raspberry vinegar, Persian lime oil.

July 16 – Brandywine, Sun Gold, Super Sweet, Gold Nugget, Snow Cherry, Chocolate Cherry, purple basil, mozzarella, ricotta, Parmesan, purple basil, Cascadian raspberry vinegar, Persian lime oil.

July 17 – Fourth of July, Gold Nugget, Snow Cherry, Super Sweet, burrata, Persian cucumbers, purple basil, Cascadian raspberry vinegar, Persian lime oil.

August 14

August 16

August 17

June 13, 2017 Green Harissa

Harissa is a spicy and aromatic chili sauce, commonly found in the cooking of the North African countries of Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. The basic recipe calls for hot peppers, garlic, salt, olive oil and spices. This version from Vedge , a vegetarian restaurant in Philadelphia, uses green jalapenos, onions, garlic, a generous amount of fresh cilantro, along with dried coriander and cumin. Cilantro haters can substitute parsley or half parsley and half fresh spinach. Some mint might be interesting in the mix.

The original recipe called for 2 jalapenos, one was enough for my palate, remember you can always add more heat, it’s harder to take it away. It’s a good idea to wear gloves when handling chilies. Chili oil on sensitive parts of your body (hands, lips, eyes etc.) will burn for a long time. Chili oil is not water soluble, it’s fat soluble. So if you get some on your hands, rub some cooking oil into your hands before washing with soap and water.

Serve green harissa as a sauce for grilled vegetables and fish, lamb burgers, an unconventional taco topping, the possibilities are endless.

Green Harissa

Makes 1 cup

Ingredients

  • 2 c loosely packed cilantro leaves
  • 1 c finely chopped onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 jalapeno peppers, stems and seeds removed
  • 2 T or more olive oil
  • 2 T rice wine vinegar
  • 1 t ground coriander
  • 1 t ground cumin
  • 1 t salt
  • 1 t freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 t sugar
Cilantro in the greenhouse.

 

Directions

  1. Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth

May 7, 2017 Fines Herbes

Fines herbes (feen ZERB) translates from the French to, as you may have guessed, fine herbs. Its origins are found in classic French cuisine and often attributed to “the king of chefs and the chef of kings” Escoffier.  Fine herbes is a blend of equal parts chervil, tarragon, chives and parsley. Thyme is the next most typical inclusion and occasionally marjoram, savory and watercress. Three of the four, chervil, tarragon and chives, are spring herbs that are flourishing in the garden now, parsley won’t be planted until June. By then the warm days of summer will send the chervil to seed, the chives will be past their blossom but will still be fine to use and the tarragon will start to flower. There are dried versions of fines herbes sold by every major herb supplier, but dried chervil and parsley lose much of their flavor in comparison to when they are fresh.

Chervil is a shade loving annual with feathery leaves and lacy white flowers, like a pale dainty parsley. It doesn’t last long once it is cut. I have never seen it a market, farmers or otherwise so growing it is your best option. The good news is even though it is an annual, it easily self seeds. Our crop of chervil migrated on its own from the garden to a shady spot in the back of the house and shows up every spring.

Chives love the sun and are one of the first herbs to pop up in the garden. The beautiful lavender blossoms are a welcome addition of color to the early spring garden. Chinese chives, also called garlic chives, bloom in the fall with white flowers. Garlic chives self seed very easily and if you don’t want them to take over your garden, don’t let them go to seed.  For fines herbes I would recommend regular chives, their delicate onion flavor harmonizes well with the other herbs.

Parsley has a warm gentle flavor, green and piny, with just a touch of camphor. Parsley mellows the assertiveness of its partners in flavor while adding its own intensity. Our parsley plants are still in flats, waiting another month or so for the warmer days of summer. We grow both curly and flat leaved or Italian parsley. I prefer flat leaved parsley for this mix.

Tarragon has a robust anisey camphor flavor, the counterpoint to the milder parsley licorice flavor of chervil. Tarragon is an herb that usually stands alone  with the exception of this blend. The chervil, parsley and chives are not assertive enough to challenge the tarragon.

Fines herbes are always used as a finishing element to a dish, sprinkled in an omelet or scrambled eggs, in a simple vinaigrette, over some freshly steamed mussels, topping a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon. Make fine herbes in small quantities since it is best fresh.

Fines Herbes

Makes about a quarter cup

Ingredients

  • 1 T finely chopped tarragon
  • 1 T finely chopped chervil
  • 1 T finely chopped chives
  • 1 T finely chopped flat leaved parsley

Directions

  1. With a sharp chef’s knife, chop each of the herbs separately.
  2. Measure out a tablespoon of each and combine in a small bowl.
  3. Add fines herbes at the end of the cooking process to preserve the flavor of the herbs.