Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Gateway Cocktail: The Sidecar

I believe I've had a Sidecar before, but I don't know that I've ever actually made it myself.  So here she is:

  • 2 oz. Jacques Cardin cognac
  • 1 oz. Cointreau
  • 1/2 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice


A Sidecar cocktail

I was a little afraid to try it, but now I'm happy.  Mmmmm.  Smoooooooth.

And dangerous.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Tips for the BEST Grilled Chicken

I had the longest, nicest talk with my mom after school today, and she asked me if I'd posted anything new recently.  She sounded so excited about my posts that I just had to write something tonight for her.

I'd gotten chicken legs cheap at Ed's Way, so I decided that tonight would be a good night to use the first batch.  Thank God I looked at my Blogosphere last night, because someone had landed on "Archer's First Grill" from last spring, and I had reread it.  In it I described how I poached my chicken legs, like Sean does, before I grilled them, so that's exactly what I did tonight.  I put enough water to cover the legs in a pot, dumped in four cracked green cardamom pods with some salt, garlic powder, and cayenne, then brought the water to a boil before turning it down to just a simmer, partly covering it, and letting it go for 20 minutes while I started laundry.

At the end of 20 minutes I turned the fire off, then sliced around the base of each chicken leg to snap the tendon and release the skin, allowing for an easy removal of the nastiness.  I gave each leg a heavy sprinkle of Martha's spice rub from Everyday Food and let them sit for a few minutes.  In the meantime I heated up the cast iron grill pan and the small cast iron pan, then peeled two small carrots and rubbed them with olive oil. 

Now came the cooking, which was simply tossing the legs in the grill pan and turning them every few minutes, and pan-roasting the carrots with a bit of cumin, turning them every so often so they could caramelize evenly.  During the down moments I quartered and sliced a plum tomato, laid it on a bed of cilantro leaves, and drizzled it with some ranch dressing for my "salad."  And I made a Cosmo.

Here are the final results:


I'm a little nervous about the chicken.  I know that poaching makes meat pink, which parts of it were, but the juices were clear.  So I'm certain (mostly) that the chicken was completely cooked.  It's just that the meat was soooo tender and juicy that those pink parts scared me a little.  But the rub made the meat just delicious, and with the sweetness of the carrots and the creaminess of the dressing with the tartness of the tomatoes—I couldn't stop eating it.  So if I wake up tonight barfing up a lung, I'll know why.

UPDATE: No barfing!

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