A few weeks ago, the idea for this meal came to mind... I don't even remember why. But it's one of those delicious southern comfort foods. I originally was going to put it over white rice... but the fact is, we really prefer barley over rice. I think I've mentioned that before. And it went real well with this chicken in gravy. It was actually quite fast to make tonight because we'd baked 8 chicken thighs the night before. So I just used the leftover chicken for this. It'd actually double just fine for a potpie filling, too! Or over biscuits if you wanted to get real southern!
Man, I put this song on a comp a few weeks ago for our work commutes... and the song just won't get out of my head! I was a fan of the original... but this version is so, so much better. Down By Law covering "500 Miles". -jen aka zigzag, heheh
In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add barley and stir to coat. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring until the barley smells toasty. Add water, soy sauce, sage, thyme, coriander and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover and turn heat to low. Simmer for 35 minutes. (Do not lift lid or stir!) Remove from heat and let rest 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. You can make the chicken gravy in about the same amount of time it takes the barley to cook.
CHICKEN IN GRAVY Time: 25 minutes Difficulty: Easy-Medium Servings: 4-6
3 tablespoons chicken fat (if your chicken didn't render this much, use butter for remainder)
3 tablespoons butter
3 medium carrots, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1/2 a medium onion, diced
6 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken broth (or 3 cups of water with chicken bouillon cubes or chicken base)
2 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon fresh or dried chives
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt to taste (some chicken broths are saltier than others)
meat of 4 baked chicken thighs, shredded (see below for baking instructions)
In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat chicken fat and butter. Add carrots, celery and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Carrots should be fork-tender, meaning a fork slides easily into them. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and stir until absorbed, cook for 2-3 minutes. Whisk (using an actual whisk!) in chicken broth, sage, thyme, chives, the three peppers and salt, if needed. Continue whisking until gravy has thickened to desired consistency, turn heat to low, add the shredded chicken and cook for a few minutes until chicken is warmed. Serve over herbed barley. (Or use for the inside of a potpie!)
choice of seasoning (salt & pepper if nothing else)
olive oil
Preheat oven to 450 degrees, F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (simply for ease of clean-up) and drizzle foil lightly with olive oil.
Season the bottoms of the chicken thighs, the place face-up on pan. Lift skin from meat and season both under the skin and over the skin. Bake at 450 degrees F for 30 minutes. Chicken should be at 165 degrees, and juices should run clear. If cooking the gravy recipe above, then reserve the chicken fat!
No this is not a reference to Bill Murry's nationality or his movie career. Rather, Jen and I were inspired to whip up this recipe after watching one of our favorite Swedish Chefs. No...not this one:
Though he rocks in the kitchen as well, I'm told. It was another awesome Swede that we were inspired by:
While we have a slightly different cooking style than the gentleman above (his style requires several sedatives and mood levelers to calm him before filming, I've heard) we were still inspired to whip our own version of said dish. It's simple and filling. Meat and gravy. I would suggest adding some greenery to your plate in the form of a salad or vegetables but I'm not here to be your mommy so do whatever you like!
To accompany a Swedish culinary delight, we of course rock out to our favorite Swedish band. But since I couldn't find my Abba cassettes we decided to listen to our second favorite Swedish band and went for Millencolin, a personal favorite since my high school days. And since we had been inspired by Regular Ordinary Swedish Mealtime but didn't copy their recipe exactly, there is no Millencolin song more appropriate than "No Cigar" Somehow "Dancing Queen" didn't exactly fit with this recipe... - justin
(On a side note, we changed the name from Swedish Meatballs to Almost Swedish Meatballs because my good friend, John Andersson, who is from Sweden, had this to say about our recipe: "Oh dear... if only you knew a
swede who could set you straight... OK, these are, possibly, meatballs.
If you want them Swedish style, you must serve the meatballs with
potatoes or mashed potatoes. Any thing else is heresy. Also heresy: not
including THE most important garnish: lingonberry jam. In Swedish homes
or swedish restaurants you will not be able to find meatballs without
potatoes and lingonberries on the same plate. I'm sorry, but on behalf
of the entire Swedish population, I cannot approve of this. Meatballs:
yes. Swedish meatballs: NO. Sorry." Hahah!) -jen
Swedish Meatballs Time: 45 minutes Difficulty: Easy Serves: 4-6
2 slices Rye bread (any bread will do but I like the flavor the Rye bread lends)
1/4 cup whole milk
3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
1 green onion, chopped
2 tsp salt plus 1 pinch (for sweating onions)
1 1/4 lbs ground beef (we used ground chuck cause it tastes good!)
1 1/4 lbs ground pork
2 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 cup flour
3 cups beef broth
1/4 cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. It will be used to keep meatballs warmed after browning.
Tear the bread into pieces and place in a small bowl with the milk and set aside to soak.
In a skillet, melt 1 tbsp of butter over medium high heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sweat until the onions are translucent. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl combine the bread and milk mixture, ground beef, pork, egg yolks, 2 tsp salt, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and onions. Make sure the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Roll portions into golf ball sized balls, about an ounce if you want to get all nerdy and weigh stuff out. Heat the last 2 tbsp of butter in your onion skillet over medium-low heat and saute meatballs until they have browned on all sides, about 8-10 minutes. Remove the meatballs from the heat and place on a sheet pan in the heated oven while we make the gravy.
Decrease the heat on the skillet to low and add the flour. Whisk until the flour is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the beef stock and keep whisking until it thickens. Add the cream and cook until the gravy reaches the desires consistency. Remove meatballs from oven, smother with gravy, and serve with some rice, potatoes, barley or what have you and enjoy!
My grandma and your grandma we're sitting by the fire... So, lately, I've been wanting to do some southern-style cooking and the other day something reminded me of a commercial that was running on TV right after hurricane Katrina. Jen and I always loved it because the one we had seen locally actually used the words, "All up in your etouffeé." The video I found online is a bit shorter and says, "Right there in your etoufeé" instead but the point is that it inspired me to do some Cajun cookin and I decided on shrimp etouffeé. I used a pearled barley in place of the rice, as Jen and I prefer it, but you could use anything you want since etouffeé is just a French word that means "smothered". Smother whatever you wish!
Since the dish was inspired by wild American shrimpers, I figured it would only be apropos to accompany the dish with some Dead Kennedy's "Holiday in Cambodia". Why, you might ask? Because of some connective process by which one has to be aware that the biggest competition for wild American shrimpers is Southeast Asian shrimpers. And Holiday in Cambodia seemed fitting. If you read the next recipe post, I'll show you how to get from The Dead Kennedy's to Kevin Bacon in under three moves. - justin
Shrimp Etouffee
3 cups water
3 tbsp salt
2 cups pearled barley
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried sweet basil leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped fresh pepper (Bell, Anaheim, Poblano) - I used poblano
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup flour
3 cups seafood stock
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 lbs peeled, de-veined shrimp
1 cup finely chopped scallions
Bring the water and 3 tbsp of salt to a boil over high heat in a saucepan and add the pearled barley. When it returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and let cook for 30 minutes. No lifting the lid! After 30 minutes, set aside to cool. This can be made far in advance if desired.
Thoroughly mix the salt, cayenne, white and black peppers, sweet basil and thyme and set aside. In a separate bowl combine the onion, celery, and fresh peppers.
In a large skillet (preferably cast iron), heat the oil over high heat until it just stars to smoke, around 4 minutes or so. Mix in the flour gradually, stirring with a whisk until the mixture is smooth and continue cooking over high heat, whisking constantly, until the roux is a dark reddish-brown color, about 3-5 minutes.
Remove from heat as soon as you are at the desired color and immediately add the chopped vegetables and 1 tbsp of the seasoning mix. Stir in with a wooden spoon and continue stirring until the roux has cooled, approximately 5 minutes or so. The idea is to stop it from cooking or the residual heat will carry it far beyond where you intend, even burning your roux after it's been removed from the heat.
In a 3 quart saucepan bring 2 cups of the seafood stock to a boil over high heat. Add the roux in increments, making sure to completely dissolve it before adding the next bit. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes while continuing to whisk. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large saucepan or stockpot, melt 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), over medium heat. Stir in the shrimp and green onions. Sauté for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Add the remaining stick of butter, the last cup of seafood stock, and the stock/roux mixture. Cook until the butter melts into the sauce, about 5 minutes, constantly shaking the pan in a circular motion over the heat, rather than stirring*. Add at least 1 tbsp of the remaining seasoning mix and stir it in. There should be 3 tbsp left and I used 2 for some spicy zip!
Serve over rice, or barley, and enjoy with a tall glass of iced tea or a cold, dark beer.
*A note on shaking the pot as opposed to stirring. There are scientific reasons as to why this is a better way to combine butter in a sauce over medium heat instead of stirring but I don't know them. What I do know is that it helps the oils released from the melting butter to better incorporate in the sauce than stirring does. It works. It just does. If your sauce comes out looking oily or separated, add 2 more tbsp of stock or water and shake the pot for a couple minutes and the sauce will blend.
Time: 40 minutes
