Good Food on KCRW.com

I love John Pleshette's recipes.  He's the actor and foodie who shares delicious season recipes with friends and family.  We're so lucky to be in his inner circle:

Chicken with Chanterelles

Serves 4

 

3 to 4 lb chicken cut into 8 pieces

Vegetable oil

Butter

1 lb of fresh chanterelles

6 shallots

White wine

Fresh thyme

Fresh tarragon

Crème fraiche

Lemon

Fresh chives

 

Heat a large steep-sided pan over a high flame.

 

Dry the chicken pieces in paper towels.  Salt and pepper.  Pour 4 tablespoons of oil into the pan. 

 

Brown the chicken pieces skin side down in two batches so they don’t crowd the pan.  Adjust the heat so the skin browns but does not burn.  Cook for 6 minutes, turn, brown the other side 4 minutes more. 

 

Meanwhile, mince the shallots.  Cut the caps off the mushrooms.  Roughly chop the stems.  

 

When the chicken is browned, remove to a warm plate.  Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of fat, lower the heat, add 3 tablespoons of butter.  When the butter has melted, add the chopped shallots and the mushrooms. Cover. 

 

Cook for five minutes.  Uncover.  Raise the heat and cook off most of the liquid.  Pour in 1/2 cup of white wine.  Chop two sprigs of fresh tarragon, strip the leaves off a sprig of thyme and add to the pan. 

 

When the wine has reduced to a few tablespoons, pour in 1 cup of crème fraiche and stir for a couple of minutes to melt into the mushrooms.

 

Lower the heat and arrange the chicken pieces on top of the mushrooms.  Squeeze in 1 tsp of lemon juice.

Cook for about 10 minutes.  Pierce the thickest part of the second joint with a sharp fork.  If the juice runs clear, the chicken is done. 

 

Tilt the pan and nap the chicken with the chanterelles and cream.  Garnish with chopped chives and a few sprigs of tarragon.

 

Serve with rice, orzo or a rice-sized pasta such as chitarra.

 

 

Cellarwise wine pairing

Look for wines with an earthiness to complement 

The chanterelles, enough acid to cut the crème fraiche, and the density to hold up to the dish as a whole. The ’07 michel juillot bourgogne chardonnay (france, $13) has flinty green apple fruit and a bread dough note that would be exquisite here. If you don’t mind spending a little more, the ’07 j. M. Boillot montagny blanc 1er cru (france, $30) defines earthy, edgy green-fruited burgundian chardonnay.  Riesling  works here, such as  one with the stature and backbone of the ’07 peter lehmann riesling eden valley (australia, $15). For reds, the ’07 a to z wineworks pinot noir oregon ($20) is a very pretty, feminine partner to the chanterelles while the ’07 peachy canyon zinfandel paso robles “incredible red” (california, $11) will wrap the entire dish in a soft, red fruit blanket. Enjoy.

Cranberries require a flood of water during harvest.  This week, third-generation cranberry grower Dawn Allen Gates tells us just what happens in a cranberry bog.  Farming is hard work, but it can also be therapeutic.  Michael O'Gorman explains how getting veterans out in the field can help deal with the damages of war.  Food writer Jonathan Gold takes us to a hip new street in Palms for some Indonesian food.  How about a chipa with your yerba mate?  Good Food listener Natalia Goldberg tells us what tea time in Paraguay is like.  Can pie be gender specific?  Barbara Swell shares stories about her pie competition in rural Appalachia where they had a special category for men's pies.  Still looking for WMD?  You just might find them in your fridge.  Arun Gupta explains how bacon is a weapon of mass destruction.  Laura Avery finds fresh macadamia nuts at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.

After my interview with Scott Simon on Weekend Edition, so many people have asked for the recipe.  So, without further ado...

ESPRESSO CHOCOLATE PECAN TART

In this recipe the Cocoa Nibs, coffee extract and bittersweet chocolate cut the sweetness of the traditional filling and add a deeper flavor.

1 (9-inch) unbaked or frozen deep-dish pie crust
6 oz. Bittersweet Chocolate, broken into chunks
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup Karo® Light or Dark Corn Syrup
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 ¼  cups pecans
¼  cup Sharffen Berger Cocoa Nibs*
1 Tablespoon Trablit Coffee Extract *

Can be found at Surfas in Culver City or at www.surfasonline.com

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Scatter the chunks of chocolate over the pie crust.

In medium bowl with fork beat eggs slightly. Add sugar, Karo®, butter and coffee extract and stir until blended. Stir in pecans and Cocoa Nibs. Pour into pie crust.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

A lovely rich and savory side dish for a festive holiday dinner.

Hi Everyone,

If you missed entering the pie contest, please email Harriet Ells (harriet.ells@kcrw.com) to get on the wait list.  We have tons of entries and we just want to make sure we can handle all of them.

Harriet will let you know by Tuesday afternoon if you are in the contest.  If you already entered through the website, you should have received a confirmation email.  If you didn't, please email Harriet.

Can't wait for Saturday!

Evan

For the first time ever honeybees have been allowed to flourish on the White House Lawn.  They've provided the White House with a bumper crop of honey.

Tomorrow on Good Food, check out my conversation with Good Food listener Natalia Goldberg, who lives in Paraguay.  Here she is making bread pudding

Think about getting Dad some bread slippers:

Green skinned sapotes, also known as custard apple, and wrinkly purple passion fruit are found at Coleman Farm.  Sapotes soften and turn yellow, then the skin can be rubbed off and the sweet soft fruit can barely hold its shape while eaten.  Delicious, delicate and rare.  Bumpy passion fruit is full of crunchy seeds and yellow-orange fleshy fibers.  Puree for drinks or eat with a spoon.  Wednesday, Saturday Santa Monica

Frisee and radicchio, bitter greens also found at Coleman Farm go great with sweet persimmons, salty cheese, almonds, walnuts and pecans in salad.

Chestnuts are very scarce this year.  Nicholas Farm has them for about 2 more weeks at $8 per pound.  Pierce with a knife and roast them in the oven or over the fire and eat them out of the shell, or use them in stuffing.  Wednesday, Pico Santa Monica, Sunday Beverly Hills.
 

Savoy cabbage from Flora Bella is sweeter than regular cabbage and the huge outer leaves can be used for wraps.  Wednesday, Saturday Santa Monica; Sunday Hollywood

Bucheret goat cheese from Redwood Hill, a farmstead goat cheese maker from Sebastopol.  Redwood Hill is a small family owned farm that produces prize winning goat cheeses including Camelia, Crottin, Cheddar, Raw Feta and 4 kinds of Chevre.  Wednesday Santa Monica; also Whole Foods, Co-Opportunity and other Health Food Stores.

Walter Hole Avocados from JJ’s Lone Daughter Ranch.  These are a rare winter variety similar to the Mexicola, which is primarily a root stock avocado.  The thin skin is edible.  Wednesday, Saturday Santa Monica; Sunday Hollywood

Sandra sent a picture of this yummy pie:

"Here is a photo of my husband Steve's now-famous rhubarb pineapple pie. I don't know where he found the recipe, but one evening he whipped one up and it was delicious. I froze some rhubarb from the garden, so he can make one to add to our Thanksgiving pie buffet. This year we'll be having pumpkin, apple, pecan and lemon pies, each in a vegan and non-vegan version."