Read Saveur: The New Comfort Food Online
Authors: James Oseland
Saveur: The New Comfort Food (16 page)
Halving and grilling is an excellent way to cook a whole lobster; the tender meat cooks inside the cupped shell along with melted butter. In this variation on that theme, the crustacean is seasoned with cilantro, chiles, and lime zest.
4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
3 tbsp. minced cilantro
4 Fresno or Holland chiles, stemmed, seeded, and minced
1 lime, zested and quartered
2 2-lb. live lobsters
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Serves 2–4
1. In a small bowl, stir together the butter, cilantro, chiles, and lime zest; set aside. Using a heavy cleaver, split each lobster in half lengthwise through its head and its tail. Scoop out and discard the gravel sac near the head and the vein running along the back. Twist off the lobster claws. Transfer the lobster halves, flesh side up, to a baking sheet; crack the lobster claws and transfer them to the baking sheet. Drizzle the lobster halves and claws with oil and season them with salt and pepper.
2. Build a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill or heat a gas grill to medium-high. (Alternatively, heat a 12-inch cast-iron grill pan over medium-high heat.) Place lobster halves (flesh side down) and claws on grill and cook for 5 minutes. Turn over lobster halves and claws and spread each with some of the cilantro–chile butter; continue cooking until cooked through, about 3 minutes more. Serve with lime wedges.
With its sweet, succulent meat, the American lobster, Humanus americanus, is the most luxurious delicacy pulled from the cold waters of the North and Mid-Atlantic. It’s also one of the easiest to cook if you follow a few simple guidelines. Figure on 1¼ to 2 lbs. of lobster per person, and buy only feisty live lobsters that feel heavy for their size from a fishmonger who keeps the specimens in aerated tanks. Some cooks elect to humanely kill lobsters before cooking by freezing them for 2 hours or by putting the lobster belly side down on a cutting board and slicing through the middle of the head with a sharp chef’s knife or cleaver. If grilling or broiling, continue slicing all the way down the lobster through the tail, making sure to remove the gravel sac near the head and the vein that runs along the back.
Chef Sara Jenkins, with her son at her side, serves roasted chicken in her New York City home.
These are the dishes that bring us together around the table: the oven-roasted chicken, with crackling herb-rubbed skin and juicy breast meat; the simmering pot of chicken stew rich with paprika and lashed with sour cream; Thai red curry, studded with duck. Across cultures, chicken and poultry are at the heart of the kitchen and are the centerpieces of some of our most soulful meals.
It sounds simple, and it is: nothing more than chicken, olive oil, rosemary, lemon, and garlic. But when chef Evan Kleiman began serving this rustic Italian-style roast chicken at Los Angeles’s Angeli Caffe back in 1984, it turned out to be everything her customers were craving—honest food prepared with minimal fuss. Serve with rice or buttered noodles.
1 3½ -lb. chicken, cut into 8 pieces
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup fresh rosemary leaves
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
10 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 lemon, peel removed, pith and pulp chopped Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Serves 4
1. Toss the chicken pieces with the olive oil, rosemary, lemon juice, garlic, lemon, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Marinate for about 1 hour.
2. Heat the oven to 475°F. Arrange the chicken in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and add the remaining marinade. Roast, turning once, until cooked through, 30–40 minutes.
3. Divide chicken between 4 plates and serve.
Want to get to know your community? Open a neighborhood restaurant, and be lucky enough to have it stick around for a couple of decades. My little place in Los Angeles, Angeli Caffe, has been in business since 1984 on the wacky end of Holly-wood’s Melrose Avenue. The space was a former screen door shop that my partners and I turned into a restaurant with very little money and lots of good will. At the beginning, we were hip, so hip, feeding a generation of partying boomers who were eating out every night. But over the years, I watched our customers go from dancing fools to sleep-deprived new parents to mature stewards of a younger generation of tattooed hipsters. When I was growing up in L.A. in the 1960s, there was nowhere to get food like this; you couldn’t even buy fresh basil at the supermarket. It wasn’t until I went to Italy that I discovered the simple goodness of dishes like lemony roast chicken, dishes that most of us take for granted today. Opening Angeli was my way of bringing that kind of beautiful comfort food home, and connecting with the people I prepare it for.
—Evan Kleiman
In southern New Mexico and neighboring El Paso, Texas, brick-red chile colorado salsa is the sauce of choice for enchiladas. We learned to make these from Malú Gonzales, a home cook in Las Cruces, New Mexico, who garnishes her enchiladas with a drizzle of cool crema and crumbled cotija cheese, a refreshing contrast to the gentle sting of the red chiles in the sauce.
Kosher salt, to taste
2 bone-in, skinless chicken legs
20 dried New Mexico chiles, stemmed and seeded
3 tbsp. canola oil, plus more for frying
10 cloves garlic, smashed
¼ cup fresh lime juice
1 tbsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. sugar
12 6-inch corn tortillas
2 cups shredded mozzarella
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
¾ cup minced red onion
¼ cup finely crumbled cotija cheese
2 tbsp. minced fresh cilantro for garnish
3 tbsp. crema or sour cream
Serves 4–6
1. Bring 6 cups of lightly salted water to a boil in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken legs and reduce the heat to medium-low; simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 35 minutes. Set a fine sieve over a bowl. Strain the chicken, reserving the cooking liquid. Let the chicken cool, then shred the meat, discarding the bones; set aside.
2. Meanwhile, soak the chiles in the reserved cooking liquid until softened, 20 minutes. Transfer the chiles and 2 cups of soaking liquid to a blender; set aside.
3. Heat the oven to 450°F. Heat 3 tbsp. oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic cloves and cook, stirring often, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic, reserving the oil in the skillet, to the blender with the chiles. Purée the chile–garlic mixture and then add the lime juice, cumin, and sugar and season with salt. Set a fine sieve over a bowl; strain the sauce, discarding the solids. Transfer the chile sauce to the reserved skillet and keep warm over medium-low heat.
4. Meanwhile, pour oil into a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat to a depth of ½ inch. When the oil is hot, using tongs and working with 1 tortilla at a time, dip a tortilla in oil and cook until slightly crisp, about 15 seconds. Transfer the tortilla to a rack set over a rimmed baking sheet to drain. Dip the tortilla in the warm chile sauce to coat, and transfer to a plate. Sprinkle some of the shredded chicken, mozzarella, cheddar, and onions along the center of the tortilla and roll the tortilla to make an enchilada. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and chicken, reserving some of the cheese and onions.
5. Arrange the rolled enchiladas seam side down in a large casserole dish or on a rimmed baking sheet, pour over the remaining sauce, and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and cheddar. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Garnish the enchiladas with the remaining onions, cotija cheese, and cilantro, drizzle with crema, and serve.
Three generations of the Enriquez family—esteemed for their cooking—prepare dinner at their home in El Paso, Texas.
Thick tomato gravy makes a rich, creamy complement to juicy chicken with a hint of smoky flavor from the broiler; keeping the meat separate from the sauce until just before serving preserves its firm, succulent texture.
1 tbsp. ground turmeric
4 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. red food coloring (optional)
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 2½ -inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped, plus julienned strips for garnish
1 jalapeño, stemmed and chopped
1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into
1½ -inch cubes
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt Kosher salt, to taste
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. coriander seeds
½ tsp. cumin seeds
1 tbsp. paprika
2 small yellow onions, minced
1 cup heavy cream Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish
6 cups cooked basmati rice, for serving
Serves 6
1. In a blender, purée the turmeric, 2 tsp. garam masala, food coloring, garlic, ginger, jalapeños, and ½ cup water. Transfer the paste to a bowl. In the same blender, purée the tomatoes and strain through a sieve into a separate bowl; set aside.
2. In a bowl, mix 2 tbsp. of the reserved paste, along with the chicken cubes, yogurt, and salt; marinate for about 30 minutes. Place an oven rack 4 inches from the heating element; heat to broil. Transfer the chicken to a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil until cooked through, about 5 minutes; set aside.
3. Heat the butter in 6-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the coriander and cumin and toast for 4–6 minutes. Add the paprika and onions and cook until the onions are soft, 6–8 minutes. Add the remaining paste and brown for about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 2 minutes. Stir in the cream and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened, 6–8 minutes. Stir in the remaining garam masala and the broiled chicken; season with salt. Garnish with the julienned ginger and cilantro and serve over rice.