Monday:                  Basil Fried Rice with Rotisserie Chicken

Tuesday:                  Peach, Cucumber ,Mozzarella, Basil with Gochujang Dressing

Wednesday:          Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

Thursday:                Ruhlman’s Escarole and Sausage Soup

Friday:                      Sweet and Sour Shrimp with Rice

Saturday:                Broccoli, Charred Onion Cream and Chile Pizza

Sunday:                   Barbecued Ribs and Chicken Chemuin / Cucumber, Peach and Burrata Caprese / Klondikes and Cookies

Note:  I am two weeks late in getting this out and I have no excuse.  On the other hand, this blog comes to you for the mere cost of your attention, so what are you complaining about?

Argentina is More Than Soccer

Well, of course it is – more than soccer, I mean Argentina.  There’s Tierra del Fuego, the pampas, runaway inflation and the new, tonsorially challenged President. 

But there is also Francis Mallman a man who, give him fire in any form, can transform meats, fruits, vegetables and grains into spectacular food.  He is, in many ways, a show-off.  Here he is cooking on a plancha set over a roaring wood fire:

And here is his method for cooking a whole cow, hoisted on a spit planted in the ground in front of a bonfire:

  SWMBO, when I showed her this picture, without my saying anything else, said, “No – you are not buying that bovine crucifix, nor are you building any fires in the back yard.”  There are times when I feel that when she’s near I must be careful about what I think.  But that’s my problem, not yours. 

If yours is to find a unique dish to cook over charcoal or wood or on a gas grill, then Francis Mallman is your man.  The recipe below is based on a favorite dish that one of his friends used to cook when they were boating and camping on the Chemuin (pronounced “she-may-win”) River in Argentina.  Hence, the dish is called Chicken Chemuin.

It is simple to make, takes a little attention to internal temperature to cook correctly, and a little practice carving the chicken.  But it elicited a “That’s the best chicken I’ve ever tasted,” from a brother-in-law of mine who has travelled the world and eaten at the best restaurants.  And if you, like me, have the need of or craving for a bit of encouragement from time to time, for all the grunt work involved in putting good food on the table, you’ll want to schedule a dinner party right away and cook this dish for your family/guests.

You can also dazzle them with your conversation, your appetizers and side dishes and desserts but, trust me, what they’ll remember is the chicken and the parsley sauce that goes with it.

Chicken Chemuin

(adapted from Seven Fires by Francis Mallman)

Timinng:                                            About 70 Minutes Active

                                         2 hours to overnight to marinate the chicken

Ingredients:                                              Serves 4

1 chicken – about 4 lbs. (Mallman uses 2 ¾ lb. chickens, but you won’t find any under about 3 ½ lbs. except in specialty shops.  You can use larger chickens, but extend the cooking time and be sure to use an instant read thermometer to check the internal temperature.

¼ cup rosemary leaves, minced.

1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled – I used about 2 cloves, grated and that’s plenty for one chicken.

Minced Lemon Confit – we don’t use.  It simply isn’t worth the trouble to make it, which I have done.  A few lemon wedges on the side and the parsley sauce (recipe below) adds plenty of extra flavor to the chicken.  You can find lemon confit recipes online, if you insist on martyrdom.

Zest and juice of one lemon (Mallman uses lemon confit instead of zest)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Parsley Sauce (see recipe below) – Mallman uses a very garlicky parsley sauce, and you’re welcome to add garlic to my recipe.

Kosher Salt

Prep Chicken and Marinate

Mince the rosemary, grate the garlic and juice the lemon.

Spatchcock the chicken.  With kitchen shears, this is an easy task.  With a heavy chef’s knife or a boning knife, it’s more difficult, but doable.

Pat the chicken dry – take out the packet of giblets if they’re in the cavity.  I always remove the extra knob of fat that’s often attached to the skin near the stuffing cavity.

Now turn the chicken on its breast and cut down the backbone from head to tail with kitchen shears or a sharp knife.  Remove the backbone, turn the chicken over and press it flat – you’ll hear the breastbone crack.  Now work your fingers under the breast skin from the head of the chicken – do this slowly and loosen the skin over the breast and the thigh and the top part of the drumstick.

Put the chicken breast side down in a vessel that you can fit into your refrigerator and season the inside with salt, rosemary and lemon juice and rub the bone with some of the grated garlic.

Now turn the chicken over and push some of the rosemary, salt, garlic and lemon juice under the skin and over the breast and thigh and drumstick.  Now season the breast thighs and drumsticks liberally with the lemon juice, salt and rosemary and the last of the garlic.

Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to overnight.

Cook the Chicken:

Build a medium hot fire in a grill and place the chicken, skin side up directly over the flames and cook until it browns and crisps – about 20 minutes.  Turn the chicken over and cook it to the side of the flame for 30 minutes, moving it after 15 minutes to make sure that the part of the chicken furthest from the flame is now next to the flame.  Use an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh to make sure the temperature is 172 – or the thickest part of the breast (165).

Remove chicken from grill, place on cutting board and tent with foil and let rest for 1 -15 minutes.

Pull off the wings, and then carve the chicken into 6 pieces – halve the breasts – and serve with parsley sauce and lemon wedges on the side.

My Parsley Sauce

1 large bunch of parsley – might require two bunches depending on how your market bundles its parsley

Zest and juice of one lemon

Kosher Salt

Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

I don’t give exact measurements here, because it’s a matter of experimentation and taste.  Keep working on the sauce until it tastes really good – you want a bright, briny tang to enhance the chicken.

Put the parsley, including tender stems, along with the salt, lemon zest and juice in a food processor.  Now add a bit of olive oil and blitz.  You may need more oil or lemon juice – you’re looking for a very thick sauce.  Taste and add salt, if needed.  When it tastes good and tangy, put into a serving bowl.