| Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up here. Good Saturday morning. How are you doing this weekend? I've got a busy two days ahead of me — a long overdue dinner with my parents, a close friend's 40th birthday party (featuring a local bagel tasting, my kind of bash) and several sports-related commitments for my son. When am I going to cook for the week? Your guess is as good as mine. Still, there's a decent chance I throw together a batch of the Chicken Tikka Kebabs that I shared this week from cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey. For something relatively simple ingredient- and technique-wise, the result is impressive. Bite-size pieces of chicken — thighs or breasts, though I prefer dark meat here — are tossed with salt, lemon juice, spices and cream, then briefly marinated before getting threaded onto skewers. My original intent nearly 20 years ago was to re-create a dish from one of my husband's favorite restaurants. (Do any Northern Virginia readers remember the Food Factory in Arlington?) Little did I know that it would go on to be a reliable standby for our kid, too. While my memory of the eatery is fuzzy at this point, I seem to recall that the flatbreads and skewers were cooked in a tandoor oven. Obviously that was not in the cards for the at-home version, but what Jaffrey's recipe did call for was the broiler. I'm convinced that this standard oven feature, which cooks food by blasting it with intense heat in the form of infrared radiation, is underappreciated compared to how much it can do for you, including perfectly cooking a variety of proteins, whether that's chicken, fish or steak. In these kebabs, you'll get juicy chicken with delicately charred edges in about 12 minutes. As counterintuitive as it sounds, the high-heat, quick-cooking broiler strategy will keep you from overcooking the meat. Below you'll find more ideas for how to get the most out of your broiler. Ellie Krieger doesn't call for broiling her Better Buffalo Chicken Dip, but if you're using a broiler-safe baking dish, you absolutely can. (That's what I recommended in the Buffalo Chicken Dip I shared some years back.) You'll get even more cheese melt and some enticing crispy bits. Regardless of whether you broil it, expect a creamy, pleasantly spicy dip that could serve as a party snack or the centerpiece of a fun, grazing-style dinner. The MVP: Cottage cheese, the trendy (again) protein-rich dairy product that gets pureed into the dip along with a restrained amount of mayo and whipped cream cheese. When I say I could not stop eating it — the contrast of the hot, creamy dip with the cool, crisp celery is irresistible — I'm not lying. Add this one to your plans ASAP. I hosted another lively cooking chat this week, which touched on a wide range of topics, including whether cakes with cream cheese frosting need refrigeration; buttermilk substitutes; and the safety of hot soup in plastic containers. I hope you'll make time to join me for my next one Thursday at 11 a.m. Eastern. Submit your questions now, then plan to come back when I kick things off. Until next week, happy cooking. |
0 comments:
Post a Comment