Sunday Chicken in a Clay Roaster

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A roast chicken is one of those meals that is super simple to accomplish and just as easy to screw up. I’m sure we’ve all experienced of overcooked, under-seasoned bird that feels like so much sawdust in your mouth, right?

Over the years I’ve found a slow-cooker to be a near foolproof way to “roast” a whole chicken without it drying out. Of course, it’s usually falling off the bone at that point, but I was willing to trade presentation for flavor in those instances. It’s tough to say no to such a simple, one-pot meal sometimes.

I recently had a wonderful oven-roasted chicken experience, thanks to the Romertopf Ovenpot or Clay Roaster* that showed up on my doorstep last month.

Roast Chicken and Peppers in Romertopf Clay Roaster

I’ve used a clay roaster in the past–they look great when brought to the table for serving and it’s fun to use something different now and then–but mine have always been glazed on the inside. The Romertopf is not glazed, and uses the porosity of the clay as part of the cooking process, cutting down the need for additional fat in your recipes.

The Romertopf is made from the finest red clay and works by holding moisture in th epores of the clay which prevents the dish from drying out as it cooks.

Before you load up the clay roaster, you soak (for the first use) or rinse (subsequent uses) both the base and the lid with cold water. The clay absorbs the water and the steam that’s released in the oven contributes to the cooking process as well as retains moisture in the food. According to the inserts, this property also made the roaster non-stick, which was probably the one claim I was most skeptical about.

Since I’d been craving a good roast chicken for a while, I opted to try out the roaster with this included recipe:

Roast Chicken and Peppers

Serves 6

3 1/2 lb oven-ready chicken
7 oz small onions
1 small red pepper, deseeded and sliced
1 small green pepper, deseeded and sliced
1 garlic clove
4 oz baby sweetcorn
4 oz button mushrooms
4 oz mange-tout (or French or runner beans)
1 Tbsp tomato puree
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
6 oz red wine or chicken stock
cornflour

1. Soak the Romertopf.

2. Place the chopped garlic,  sprig of thyme and salt and pepper inside the chicken. Place the chicken in the Romertopf and surround with onions, peppers and more sprigs of thyme and salt and pepper.

3. Mix the tomato puree with the wine/stock and pour over the chicken.

4. Cook in oven at 400 F.

5. Remove the pot from the oven and add sweetcorn, sliced mushrooms and mange-tout and cook for further 30 minutes.

6. Remove the chicken and vegetables and keep warm. Strain off the sauce, reduce if necessary. The amount of sauce can be increased by adding 5 oz of chicken stock to the sauce and thickening with 2/3 tsp cornflour dissolved in 3 Tbsp cold water. Whisk well until the sauce is brought to the boil and thickens.

7. Adjust seasoning and serve with the chicken and vegetables.

Boiled new potatoes sprinkled with chopped parsley are a delicious complement to this meal.

Cal. 660, Protein: Medium, Fat: Low, Carbohydrate: Low

Romertopf is German, so there are some minor translation might be necessary for folks who haven’t cooked with European recipes before (references to Gas Marks, Celsius, and metric measurements have been omitted in deference to my mostly-US readers). I couldn’t find baby sweetcorn in the store, so just skipped that ingredient, and skipped the tomato puree out of personal preference. I took small onions to mean pearl onions, and par-boiled and peels them while the roaster was soaking–pretty good time-management. For mange-tout I used snow peas and, for those who are wondering, cornflour is the same as cornstarch in this instance, not cornmeal.

The one puzzle I had was how long to cook the chicken in step 4 (that wasn’t an omission on my part, it wasn’t in the directions). Thankfully the next recipe, for Spring Chicken in Lemon Sauce, listed the initial cooking time as an hour, so I went with that and it worked fine.

Which reminds me of another cool facet of clay roaster cooking: no waiting for the oven to pre-heat. Because you don’t want to subject this sort of vessel to abrupt temperature changes, you place it in the oven cold and let the oven and the roaster warm up together.

And not a thing stuck. Not the chicken, not the vegetables, the sauce poured right out without trouble, I was pretty impressed by that part. And the meal was excellent, a perfect Sunday supper.

Roast Chicken with Peppers, served with drop biscuits

I opted for drop biscuits over roasted potatoes, just because.

I’m looking forward to using the Romertopf again.

*FTC Disclaimer: I was given a Romertopf to use for the purposes of review. All opinions expressed are my own, based on my experience with the roaster.

Probiotics for Dummies: Health or Hype?

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A couple months ago I was approached by the publicist of Dr. Shekhar Challa, M.D., Board-Certified Gastroenterologist and author of Probiotics for Dummies. Knowing a little bit about probiotics, already, and intrigued by the promise of the recipes included in the book, I accepted a digital copy of the book for purposes of review.

This is probably not the sort of review they were hoping for.

To start, let me explain where I was coming from. Already I knew that:

  • Bacteria are not all bad. Probiotics are the good guys, the ones that help our bodies in a variety of ways. Antibiotics, on the other hand, kill bacteria–sometimes both the good and the bad, which can lead to secondary infections.
  • Some of those secondary infections can be prevented by priobiotics, like the active cultures in yogurts, so it’s not a bad idea to up the intake while on broad-spectrum meds.
  • My aunt, holder of a Ph.D. in microbiology and owner of a DNA lab, recommends taking a particular brand of probiotic that helps her with the “Hoover stomach”–what we call the tummy troubles most of our side of the family seems to have.

I, however, take enough pills for the things I have to, if there’s a way to get my probiotics from food I’m much more interested in that method.

First, though, there were the chapters leading up to the recipes that demanded my attention. Unlike most of the For Dummies books I’ve read (and I’ve got half a dozen or so on my shelf), the writing was dry and repetitive. Perhaps it’s the subject matter, but there has to be a way to make this sort of thing more interesting.

Chapter 3, though, starts the pro-supplement rhetoric that would continue throughout the book.

But today, evolving diets and longer lives (age tends to shift the bacterial balance in our bodies) mean that most people need supplements to get adequate probiotics.

Probiotics for Dummies, page 31

I really thought he’d have encouraged a more varied diet before going straight to supplements (this is the note I attached to the above–by the way, my Kindle is awesome for reading books for review purposes).

But let’s talk prebiotics for a moment. These were new to me. Basically, the good bacteria need the right diet of their own, namely fibers they can break down and ferment to feed themselves and make more good bacteria. This is yet another reason to keep a good level of fiber in your diet, to keep the good bacteria happy and plentiful.

Although you can get your prebiotics through foods, the standard American diet–full of processed foods, high in sugar, and low in fiber–doesn’t typically provide enough prebiotics to help the good bacteria in your digestive system. So look for prebiotics in your probiotic supplement. Common prebiotics are inulin and oligofructose.

Probiotics for Dummies, page 39

And now we’re back to the pills. Highlighted with the familiar For Dummies Tip icon, Dr. Challa points out that Probulin is a “good example of a synbiotic, where the two elements, probiotics and prebiotics to work together as a one-two books to your system”.

This is not the only time Probulin is mentioned, or other products that are not food (probiotic straws and chewing gum, for instance), and the probiotic market is also mentioned more than once, about how it’s booming and expected to be worth $32.6 billion by 2014.

I’m sorry, when did this become a investment prospectus?

Getting back to health, Dr. Challa mentions various ailments from eczema to anxiety to obesity that could be helped through the proper administration of probiotics, but the research is still very much in the early stages. So early, in fact, that these ailment-specific chapters are brief and one wonders why not wait until there’s more information rather than writing a book with a lot of theories, maybes, and mights before getting people’s hopes up.

Oh, wait, I know! It’s because you wouldn’t sell as many pills.

So my bs-meter was pinging pretty solid by the time I was halfway through the book, but I was sticking it out. After all, the facts about each bacteria, good and bad, weren’t showing a bias, it was more the treatment and acquisition that was skewed. Finally I got to the food portions of the book: Chapters 11 & 12. But 5 pages in we’re back to “choosing a probiotic supplement.” That’s not adding probiotics to your diet, that’s adding pills to your regimen.

Cue frustration.

And then came the confusion.

You see, in Chapter 11 the fact that heat kills priobiotics comes up in a very real way: Miso, for instance, is a probiotic-rich food, but you’re supposed to add it to a dish after cooking, since heat kills the probiotics. We’re also instructed not to eat or drink anything hot with or within an hour after consuming probiotics, as this could kill them, too.

And the recipes were not much more help. Where I was expecting to see notations on each about which bacteria would be most likely to appear in a dish, there was nothing. Fermenting foods at home is one of those dicey propositions for those of us who’ve taken food safety & sanitation courses, which is why the first recipe, Fermenting with Whey: Sweet Potato Fly, (contributed by Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation) rang a bell or two when step four reads:

Crush the cleaned eggshell into the mixture. The recipe that inspired me called for folding in stiff beaten egg whites at this point; I don’t eat raw eggs so I didn’t try it, but it sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?

Most folks avoid raw eggs because of the threat of salmonella, right? So it surprises me that the cook would rather use the shell–which is where the boatload of contamination risk is located–rather than the white, and then ferment the thing for 3 days. Yes, cleaning is stipulated, but you’d have to sterilize it for it to truly be safe, and I doubt most folks are going to do that.

Oh, and many of the non-fermented recipes are cooked in some way, shape, or form, so I’m left still wondering, how does this increase the probiotics in our diet? Are these recipes meant to give us prebiotic fiber instead?

I suggest that if the author had any interest in the readers actually benefiting from the recipes, more information would have been provided and the process would have jived more with the previous text. I also suggest that Probiotics for Dummies might as well be subtitled: Why Probulin is Awesome.

Consider the Source

Back when the Internet was still fresh and young and students were beginning to use websites for research papers, a lot of caution was expressed about the ownership of the websites being for facts. For instance, medical research was considered somewhat suspect if the site was owned or sponsored by a pharmaceutical company, compared to one that was not. In other words, monetary support leads to potential bias.

Now, even though Probulin lists only 2 mentions, according to the Index, the pro-supplement vibe is pretty strong here and I was wondering from early on whether Dr. Challa was a spokesperson or in someway affiliated with a particular probiotic supplement.

When I got through the book and was flipping through the last pages, imagine my lack of surprise to see 4 full-page ads, after the usual For Dummies lists. First was a “Why Choose Probulin” ad, followed by Probulin’s New Profresh Mints, then a Coming Soon advertisement for “everything probiotic”, with the Probulin logo at the bottom. Finally, a split-page ad (again, sponsored by Probulin) for the Probiotics video game (Microwarriors: The Battle Within) and a new DVD documentary (Microwarriors: The Power of Probiotics).

Doesn’t take a genius to put 2 and 2 together and come out with Dr Challa is obviously involved with Probulin.

Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that: doctors develop treatment therapies and drugs all the time, and endorsing something is a personal and professional choice. I just want the person presenting themselves as an expert to be upfront about it.

No where in the book does is it disclose the relationship between the author and the advertiser or its product. But I was able to find, with a little searching, that the trademark for Probulin was registered by Challa Enterprises, LLC (per the Trademark Electronic Search System) and that Challa Enterprises is owned, at least in part, by Shekhar Challa (per the Kansas Secretary of State). Now, Probulin, according to the label included with the trademark registration, is “Manufactured Exclusively for NutraCenter Enhanced Nutraceuticals”. I had a tough time finding out any ownership or board information for the sites probulin.com and nutracenter.com, but a WHOIS search gives us the information that both sites are registered to the Kansas Medical Clinic, which Dr. Challa is (finally) stated in the book as being the President of. Going back to the Kansas Secretary of State, we find that Dr. Challa is also the Secretary, sole member of the Board of Directors and sole shareholder for the Kansas Medical Clinic.

Again, none of this is technically wrong, bad, or otherwise nefarious. Unless you want your medical guidance from an unbiased source.

If that’s the case, as it is for me, I’d take everything but the basic facts from Probiotics for Dummies with a grain a salt. In fact, I think looking for another source of probiotic information would be in your best interest.

FTC Disclaimer: I was provided with a digital (pdf) copy of Probiotics for Dummies for the purpose of review. All opinions are entirely my own.

Rich is Relative

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So is difficulty, for that matter.

Crepes are something usually reserved for special occasions, Sunday brunch, or times you want to impress. To the uninitiated, they seem terribly complex when, if anything, they’re a little tedious but not at all difficult. Want to make it even easier on yourself? Buy the crepes pre-made and just whip up this scrumptious Banana Crepe filling.

Banana Crepes

Ingredients for the banana crepe filling4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
2 Bananas, sliced
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Brandy
6-8 Crepes (about 6-8 inches in diameter)
Optional: Creme Anglaise

1. Over medium heat, melt the butter in a small saucepan until slightly foamy.

2. Add in the bananas and stir to coat with the butter.

3. Stir in the brown sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bananas have broken up a bit and the butter and brown sugar have thickened.

4. Stir in the brandy, reduce the heat to low and let sit until needed.

5. Make the crepes according to your favorite recipe or warm purchased crepes to make them pliable.

6. Place a line of the filling in the center of the warm crepe and fold each side over. Transfer to a plate and, if desired, drizzle with the topping of your choice.

Filling is enough for 6-8 crepes.

Row of banana crepes on a plate, drizzled with sauce

Variations: Spread a little Nutella in the middle of the crepe before adding the banana filling. No brandy at hand? Try cognac or even a spiced rum for a similarly delicious finish.

They may be rich, but they were a perfect companion to a light supper we recently shared with friends. Best served with ice-cold milk or hot coffee.

Getting Your Kitchen Act Together

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If you watch cooking shows or read cooking magazines, you’ve probably seen the term mise en place (meece on plaz) bandied about a fair amount. Just because mise looks a lot like mess, don’t be fooled–it’s the exact opposite!

Mise en place is French for “put in place” and is your basic prep work before any recipe. At it’s highest form, you’re looking like a television chef with myriad little bowls set out all waiting to be tossed into the pot. While it might seem like a lot of extra work (both before and after the meal–look at all those extra dishes!), you’re really making the whole cooking process easier on yourself.

First things first, take a look at your recipe.

Most recipes list ingredients in the order that they are used. Frequently, for meat dishes, the meat is listed first, especially if it’s going to be browned, seared, or marinated early on in the process. Most folks will look at that and cut up the meat, first, then move on to the veggies and other aromatics.

BUT!

Since you’ve got your cutting board, knife, and whatever else you have handy coated with meat juice, you’ve got to go and get another board and knife or wash the one you’ve got out before you can safely move on to dicing your onions. Working smart in the kitchen means minimizing a lot of redundant tasks and being as efficient as possible. To that end, I encourage you to always do any veggie dicing, chopping, or mincing before you bring raw meat anywhere near the recipe, regardless of the order the ingredients fall in your recipe.

And then you’ve got to put the prepped bits somewhere until they’re needed. 

That’s why bowls are your best friend for mise en place. You can use plates, too, but bowls are best, in my not-so-humble opinion, since the sides keep things from spilling more times than not. Because of this I’m of the opinion that there can never be too many bowls in a kitchen.

picture of several sizes, colors, and materials of kitchen bowls

Having a variety of materials and sizes available makes the most of the space on your counter as well as keeps you from hand-washing the massive mixing bowl that won’t fit in the dishwasher just for a pound of diced potatoes. The smallest ones are great for pre-measuring your spices, the next size up for condiments, and so on from there.

Why would you bother taking the time to pre-measure your spices?

Think back to the last time you made a stir-fry or sauce where timing was crucial. Did you have time to search for that bottle of tarragon on your spice rack before the rest of the meal burned? I didn’t think so.

Have you ever gone to put just a dash of parsley flakes into your baked beans only to have opened the pour spout, instead, and have half the jar suddenly in the pot? (Yes, it happened once when I was a teenager, not the best dish of baked beans ever, lemme tell ya!)

Or have you ever wondered why your garlic powder shaker is suddenly clogged and not wanting to shake? That would be the steam coming up from the pot and clogging the holes, by the way.

All good reasons to measure out your spices before you even turn the stove on.

But don’t go overboard!

Thinking back to the number of bowls you need and how much ends up in your sink, combine containers where possible. If you’re onions and peppers go into the pot together, by all means use one larger bowl instead of 2 smaller ones. Sauce ingredients that need to be combined before being added can be done ahead (measuring glasses are good for that sort of thing, with their hand pour-spouts), and the same goes for spices that all go in together.

Mise en place isn’t about making more work for yourself, it’s about making your work easier by getting your prep out of the way.

(And it doesn’t hurt that you feel kinda fancy adding things from little glass bowls like they do on t.v.)

A Summer Soup

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Chowders are usually heavy soups perfect for cold, winter months to warm you up when the weather is frightful.

Corn ChowderThis chowder, though, is light, a little sweet, and full of summer vegetables. I served it as part of my book launch tasting menu this weekend and it was perfect for a rainy, summer day spent in a bookstore. The leftovers were also just as tasty the next day when our friends came over for gaming.

What makes this chowder different is the use of coconut milk for the dairy. And if you use vegetable stock (which we prefer to do, for this), the meal is totally vegan!

Corn Chowder

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced bell pepper
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup flour
5 cups stock
2 cans coconut milk
1 # corn kernels (frozen is easiest, canned also works)
1 cup diced potatoes
1/2 cup roasted red bell pepper, diced
1 tsp thyme

1. Heat olive oil on medium-high in a large pot.

2. Saute onions, cellery, and diced bell pepper until the onions are translucent and the other veggies are tender.

3. Add garlic and saute another 30 seconds.

4. Sprinkle on the flour and stir to mix evenly.

5. Reduce the heat to medium and cook and stir until the flour lightens in color a bit–about 5 minutes should do it but watch it doesn’t brown.

6. Stir in the stock a bit at a time until each addition is absorbed.

7. Stir in the coconut milk, corn, potatoes, and roasted red bell peppers.

8. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cook 10 minutes or so–long enough that the potatoes are cooked through.

9. Season with thyme. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

Serves 8, from What to Feed Your Raiding Party

Calories: 383 per serving

This goes great with corn muffins or buttermilk biscuits.