After happy-crying through Sara Frost-Glaser’s (!!) stunning wedding, I decided to stick around in upstate New York for a few extra days so that I could pay a visit to my friend (who just so happens to be an extremely cool cookbook author), Alexis. She lives on the most idyllic 100-acre horse farm that somehow feels like the south of France (I’ve never been, but I can imagine) in the middle of the Catskills.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Side Dish, by Alexis DeBoschnek, here and This Shit Rocks, by Sara Tane, here!
I am TOUCHING grass, I am PETTING horses, I am CRAFTING floral arrangements, I am FROLICKING in the mountains, I am HARVESTING vegetables from her garden, and I am PICKING apples from her trees. It doesn’t really get better than this, does it?
One second you’re pounding tequila sodas, wearing a gown with a full face of glam, and clonking around in strappy heels at a wedding, and the next second you’re sipping a cup of coffee while gazing longingly out into a majestic landscape, then hand-picking tomatoes while barefoot in the garden. It was a 180 for the books, and boy, was it lovely.
Alexis cooked homemade meals for me for two days straight and I am so lucky (and well fed). She made me smoked trout toast, fried eggs with chili crisp, a delightfully simple, brothy shrimp and rice dinner, and even some homemade chocolate chip cookies. She nearly had to punt me onto the bus back to NYC.
While I was sad to leave Alexis’ dreamy HQ, it’s feeling GOOD to be back in the city. I’m staying with my high school pal, Courtney, and while she has yet to make me a homemade meal (in fact, her fridge is all but empty), she has welcomed me into her very demure home and kindly allowed me to eat all of her peanut butter pretzels. She also brought me to a class at Orange Theory and intramural volleyball. The girls are moving!
This weekend, I’m heading out to Long Island for wedding number two! Prepare yourselves for another BIG Nuuly slay and some hearty Carvel content.
Coriander-Fennel Rubbed Chicken with Herby Hazelnut-Pepper Salsa
Serves: 4-6
Active time: 25 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 55 minutes
Alexis and I wasted no time to plan a fun little dinner menu with her and her family. After she showed me the freezer full of chickens that her family literally raised on the farm, it seemed like a no-brainer to cook a whole chicken. She also scooped some Jimmy Nardello peppers from the market, which we decided to use in an herby salsa with toasted hazelnuts and sherry vinegar.
The beauty of this herby salsa is that it’s just as delicious over the chicken as it is over some smashed potatoes (or any cooked potato method, really). We reserved about 1 tablespoon of the chicken spice rub to season our smashed potatoes. If you’re not making potatoes with your meal, then use the entire spice rub on the chicken.
If you don’t have a grill, you can roast the chicken in the oven. To do so, preheat the oven to 425˚F. Place the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet (throw the potatoes, tossed in oil, salt and pepper, under the chicken!) and roast until golden brown with an internal temperature of 165˚F, about 1 hour.
Ingredients
Chicken
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, finely ground
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, finely ground
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
One 4-pound chicken
Salsa
½ cup hazelnuts, toasted
8 Jimmy Nardello peppers, stems trimmed (or 2 red bell peppers)
1 bunch scallions (we used Row 7’s garleek), thinly sliced
½ bunch fresh parsley, about 1 cup, finely chopped
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 red or green jalapeno, stem removed, seeded, finely chopped
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 anchovies, minced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
Make the chicken: Add the coriander seeds, fennel seeds, paprika, salt, and pepper to a small bowl and whisk to combine.
Place the chicken breast side down on a cutting board. Using sharp kitchen or garden shears, cut along one side of the backbone from the tail to the neck, all the way through. Then, cut alongside the other side of the backbone. (Save the backbone for stock by placing it in a zip-top bag in the freezer until ready to use.) Flip the chicken so that it’s breast side up and use your hand to press firmly on the breastbone to flatten the chicken. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
Rub the chicken on both sides with the spice rub.
Prepare the grill. If using a charcoal grill, arrange the hot coals on one side of the grill, to give yourself both direct and indirect heat zones. Let the grates get hot for at least 10 minutes before brushing the grates with olive oil. If using a gas grill, set it to medium-high heat.
Place the chicken skin side down on the grill over direct heat and cook until the skin is deeply golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes.
Use grill tongs to flip the chicken over and move it to indirect heat. Place the lid on the grill and continue cooking for 30 minutes. Use tongs to turn the chicken 180° so that every part cooks evenly; continue grilling, with the lid on, until cooked through (when the internal temperature reaches 165°F), about 25 to 30 minutes more.
Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before carving.
While the chicken is cooking, make the salsa: Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Add the hazelnuts to a rimmed baking sheet and bake until toasted and aromatic, about 8 minutes. Let cool for at least 5 minutes, then roughly chop.
Preheat the oven to broil on high. Place the Jimmy Nardello peppers on a rimmed baking sheet. Broil until charred and softened, flipping halfway through, about 8 minutes. Let cool for at least 5 minutes, then roughly chop.
Add the hazelnuts, peppers, scallions, parsley, olive oil, jalapeno, sherry vinegar, anchovies, and salt to a medium bowl and stir to combine.
Brown Sugar Plum Cobbler with Cornmeal Biscuits
Serves 8 to 10
Well, if we’re gonna make a kick ass dinner, we might as well round it out with a lil’ something sweet. Alexis and I are both aligned that the best desserts are the ones that are centered around butter, flour, and sugar. Enter, these brown sugar cornmeal biscuits. We used plums, but this would be tasty with whatever fruit you have hanging around.
Ingredients
Filling
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
⅓ cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
12 plums, pitted, cut into eighths
Biscuit Topping
2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
¾ cup cornmeal
¼ cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick), cold and cubed
1 cup whole milk, plus 1 tablespoon, cold
Flaky salt, for sprinkling
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
Make the filling: Add the brown sugar, flour, salt, lemon zest and juice, and vanilla to a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the plums and stir until well coated. Transfer the plums to a 10-inch cast iron skillet.
Make the biscuits: Add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Add the butter to the flour mixture and use your hands to quickly work it into the dough until the butter is the size of peas. Add 1 cup milk and use a spatula to combine.
Transfer the dough to a generously floured work surface. Form the dough into a 5x7-inch (12 x 17 cm) rectangle, and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough in half, then roll out again. Repeat 4 to 5 more times to build the flaky layers of the biscuits.
Use a 2-inch round cutter or glass to punch out 12 biscuits. Place the biscuits on top of the plums and brush with the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk. Sprinkle biscuits with more sugar and flaky salt.
Transfer the cast iron pan to the oven and bake until the biscuits have puffed and are golden brown and the plums are bubbling, about 50 minutes. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.