Chicken in escabeche

Tonight’s dinner left me completely content, which is a rarity. Usually I find something to grumble about, something that should have been done differently. Tonight, though, was really, really good. We did Chicken in escabeche with Sweet potatoes and lime.

Chicken in escabeche
Originally, escabeche was a way for Spanish cooks to essentially pickle food as a way of preserving it. Today, if you eat chicken in escabeche in Spain, you’re eating chicken that has been cooked, then cooled, in its marinade, and served at room temperature. This dish, from Sunset Mexican is not Spanish escabeche; it’s something wildly, wonderfully different.

For the escabeche paste (you will use 2½ tablespoons of this paste)
8 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon each ground allspice, ground cloves, ground cumin, and ground coriander
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dry oregano leaves
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
2 tablespoons each orange juice and white wine vinegar

For the chicken
2½ tablespoons escabeche paste
3½- to 4-pound frying chicken, cut up
1½ cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon salad oil
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1 7-oz. can diced green chiles
1½ tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1½ tablespoons water
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1. Prepare escabeche paste: Mix all ingredients until blended. If made ahead, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Makes ¼ cup.
2. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Using a sharp knife, deeply pierce chicken all over. Rub paste on chicken, pushing some under skin. Place in a 9- by 13-inch baking pan; pour in broth. Cover and bake in a 400 degree oven until chicken is tender when pierced (about 40 minutes).
3. Remove chicken from broth. Drain and strain. Skim and discard fat from broth; reserve broth.
4. Place drained chicken on a preheated broiler pan 4 to 6 inches below heat. Broil, turning once, until well browned (6 to 8 minutes). Or, grill on a lightly greased 4 to 6 inches above a solid bed of medium-hot coals. Cook, turning as needed until well browned (10 to 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat. When oil is hot, add onions and cook, stirring, until soft (about 10 minutes). Stir in chiles, reserved broth, and cornstarch mixture. Continue to cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens, Stir in cilantro. Spoon sauce over individual servings of chicken. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Sweet potatoes with lime

Again, from Sunset Mexican. These sweet potatoes actually call for tequila, but since I had none sitting around, I just left it out, added water, and bumped up the lime a little. I doubt that’s an adequate substitute for tequila, but it turned out great. The only drawback is the vast quantity of butter required, but it helped push the sweet potatoes from ordinary to out of this world.

1 pound sweet potato (or yam)
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
½ tablespoon water
salt and pepper

Peel sweet potatoes; coarsely shred.

In a 12- to 14-inch frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add potatoes and sugar. Cook, turning occasionally, until potatoes begin to caramelize and looks slightly translucent (about 15 minutes). Stir in lime juice and water and continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes about 3-4 servings.

Summer movie rentals I: Vantage Point

Caution: Spoilers

We rented Vantage Point the other day. This is a political thriller in which the same half-hour in an action-filled day is told from different points of view, hence the name, Vantage Point. The plot hinges around a plot to assassinate the president of the United States at an anti-terrorism summit being held in Salamanca, Spain. It’s topical and action-packed and mildly suspenseful.

However, there were some problems, some trivial, some not. Among the trivial: as a fan of all-things Spanish, I can’t for the life of me understand why they would set the movie in Spain, but film it in Mexico. That’s right: all the exterior scenes, including the never-ending chase that occupies the last half hour of the movie, were filmed in Mexico City. They even built a replica of Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor, in Mexico City. If you’re going to take the trouble to run an entire production in Mexico, why not just set it in Mexico? Here’s the thing: the movie gains nothing dramatically from being set in Spain, and therefore would lose nothing dramatically by being set in Mexico.

Quibble 2: the last third of the movie is taken up with a long chase that takes place after the last big reveal. Thus, there are no more surprises and no betrayals, so by the time the chase ends and everything is resolved it all feels anticlimactic. This seriously undermines the film’s central gimmick: that of showing the action from different points of view. This sort of gimmick implicitly promises that the audience will see something new from yet another point of view as part of the film’s resolution; the last reveal, as it were. There is no last reveal, which, in turn, shows the gimmick for what it is: simply a gimmick, and not well thought out, either.

Quibble 3: It seems to me that the whole point of showing different points of view is to examine relative truth; in other words, every change of point of view changes the tone of the film because we are not just seeing what is happening from a new angle, but we are also getting a different interpretation of what we are seeing. The problem with Vantage Point is that this change of tone does not occur. Instead of a new twist on what we are seeing, all that happens is a visual “meanwhile, back at the ranch.”

Quibble 4: I lied when I said there were no reveals at the end, or that nothing new happens. In fact, the happy ending occurs because the main terrorist—who has spent the entire movie showing himself to be a ruthless killer, not shy about blowing up an entire plaza full of innocent people to get what he wants—swerves to miss an innocent child in the street. He swerves, tips over, and the game’s up. Sorry if I’ve ruined it for you. Does this mean that the terrorist is a complicated guy who can’t be judged as bad because he won’t run over a child? Or does it mean that his character is not well thought-out? I think the filmmakers were aiming for the first, but achieved the second.

So: some good performances, especially by Dennis Quaid. A reasonably entertaining chase through the streets of Mex—er—Salamanca. But in the end, for me, anyway, unsatisfying.

These kids today

So we were at the park having a picnic with some friends and this little girl, about 6 0r 7 years old comes over to our table and says "where are the kids' drinks?"

"There aren't any" we reply, because besides what Gabe was drinking, there weren't. She gets this wide-eyed look and gives a frustrated grunt, then goes back to her own table. Her parents and their friends continued chatting, oblivious.

Then when we're eating our delicious sausages, she's back. "Can I have a hot dog?" she asks.

"No," I say. She gives us another look of disbelief, as if to say "how dare these adults refuse me what I have so rightfully demanded?"

So, my question is, if you're at the park with your kids, and your kids start pestering another group in a not-cute way, shouldn't you intervene and tell your kids to knock it off? This girl's mom did nothing.

I want one of these

This product is no doubt a boon to many people, but I have to wonder at the marketing strategy.

Chicken in Pipián Sauce

I made this once before using a recipe from Rick Bayless. It turned out great, but it was very labor intensive. The version from Sunset Mexican was more manageable. The recipe actually calls for duck, but I used chicken. I adapted the pipián paste to a smaller portion, which is how we end up with only 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro. I tried it with 1 teaspoon of dried cilantro, and it worked out fine.

For the pipián paste:
3 oz. hulled, unsalted pumpkin seeds
¼ cup chicken broth
½ jalapeño, stemmed and seeded
¼ teaspoon each ground cumin, ground pepper, and salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

For the rest:
1 small chicken for roasting (all I could find was a five-pounder)
1 or 2 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded and chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 can (11 oz.) tomatillos, drained
2 large romaine lettuce leaves, torn into pieces
1 recipe pipián paste
2 tablespoons salad oil
1 cup chicken broth

First, make the pipián paste.
Spread the pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet and toast, stirring once or twice, in a 350 degree oven, until seeds begin to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. (Note: I used our toaster oven, and it took about half that amount of time). In a blender, combine pumpkin seeds with chicken broth, jalapeño, cumin, pepper, salt, and cilantro. Whirl until smooth; add a little more liquid if necessary. Sauce will be grainy. Set aside.

To make the chicken:
Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Place breast side up on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Bake, uncovered, in a 375 degree oven until done, about 1 hour and a half (90 minutes).

Meanwhile, in a blender, combine chiles, onion, garlic, cilantro, tomatillos, and romaine; whirl until smooth.

Heat oil in a 2- to 3-quart pan over medium heat. When oil is hot, add chile puree and pipián paste; cook, stirring, until sauce bubbles. Blend in broth and bring to a boil.

Pour sauce into a rimmed serving platter. Cut chicken in quarters and lay over the sauce.

We had this with rice and a sautéed medley of corn, zucchini, and red peppers.

Red Snapper Veracruz

I have declared this the Summer of Mexico (as opposed to last year’s summer of salad). Here’s Red Snapper Veracruz, also adapted from my Sunset Mexico book.

2 tablespoons olive oil
½ small green bell pepper, chopped
½ medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
juice of half a lime
¼ cup sliced pimento-stuffed green olives
2 tablespoons diced green chiles
2 large tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 snapper or rockfish fillets (about 1 pound)
½ tablespoon of capers, rinsed

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add bell pepper, onion, and garlic and cook until soft (about 7 minutes). Add pepper, cinnamon, lime juice, olives, and chiles; cook for 1 more minute. Add tomatoes and bring mixture to a boil; cook until thickened, about 10 minutes. (Note: I added a little water to the mixture. Check the seasoning before adding the sauce to the fish; we found that it needed salt).

Place fillets in a lightly greased baking dish just large enough to hold them. Pour sauce over fish and bake in a 350 degree oven until fish is just slightly translucent or wet inside when cut in thickest part (10 to 15 minutes). Stir in capers just before serving. (Note: I don’t like capers, so I left them out).

We had this with white rice. It got the Gabe stamp of approval.