Malta-Orange Braised Chicken over Sage-Parsnip Puree

What if I were to tell you that the secret ingredient to a deep, sophisticated sauce is a bitter and super-sweet soda than can be found in the Latin American aisle of your local grocery store for $0.50? Unlikely, yes, but sometimes unlikely ingredients used in a way to highlight their positives can bring a certain je ne sais quoi to a dish. The key to this sauce is a soda called malta, and is widely distributed around the US by the brands Goya and Hatuey. When used in cooking, malta imparts a rich, molasses flavor on whatever is braised in it as it reduces, and goes especially well with citrus and herbs. Here, I sear chicken thighs until golden and then braise them in a 50/50 mixture of malta and orange juice with a few generous pinches of sage and rosemary. I served the chicken over a parsnip puree infused with more sage, and together, this resulted in one of the best plates of food I've eaten in a while!

PARSNIP PUREE

Ingredients:
1.5 pounds parnsips
1 large (or 2 small) onion
1 bulb fennel
4 cups chicken stock
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Sage, chopped, to taste
Olive oil
2 tablespoons butter

Procedure:
(1) Chop onion and fennel. Sautee in olive oil for about 15 minutes.
(2) Cut parnsips into small chunks and add to pan along with salt, pepper, and sage.
(3) Sautee parnsips for about 10 minutes before adding chicken stock.
(4) Allow contents of pan to reach a boil, then simmer over low heat for about 10 more minutes.
(5) Add butter and allow to melt, then puree mixture with an immersion blender of standing blender.

MALTA-ORANGE BRAISED CHICKEN THIGHS

Ingredients:
1.5 pounds chicken thighs
6 ounces malta soda
6 ounces orange juice (fresh-squeezed or bottled are both fine)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Sage, a few generous pinches, chopped
Rosemary, a few generous pinches, chopped
Orange zest, for garnish

Procedure:
(1) Liberally season chicken thighs with salt and pepper.
(2) Sear in olive oil until golden brown; flip and repeat on other side.
(3) Add malta and orange juice to pan along with chopped sage and rosemary.
(4) Allow sauce to reach a simmer and spoon it over chicken thighs every few minutes as it reduces. Once you add the liquid, allow meat to braise for about 15-20 minutes total.
(5) Incorporate some of the excess sauce into the parsnip puree. Serve chicken over puree, spoon extra sauce over top if desired, and garnish with orange zest and more chopped sage.

Thai Chili-Basil Chicken with Green Mango Salad

I've had more than a few people ask me when it was that I really started to "get into" food. My general answer is that I really started to take pleasure in eating and cooking around age 19 or 20, but if I had to name a pivotal moment, that would be when I had my first bite of the crispy chicken basil at Nud Pob in Boston on a cold and snowy day in November of 2004. Crispy, succulent bits of chicken blanketed with handfuls of Thai basil and strips of fiery red and green chiles over sweet and nutty pad thai... it was heavenly and I will never forget. I used to go back there once per week during college and though I tried several items on the menu, the crispy chicken basil was by far the most memorable. When I moved to New York in 2007, I searched high and low for something similar, and though the crispy pork belly with chili, garlic, and basil at SriPraPhai gave me my fix to an extent, it just wasn't the same. The next time I returned to Boston on a trip to visit a friend, I made a beeline to Nud Pob and ordered order the crispy chicken basil, and I must say that some combination of the heat of the chiles and my sheer joy of being reunited with a long lost favorite caused my eyes to water. Yes, a dish I had eaten dozens of times in a hole-in-the-wall, bare-bones basement restaurant moved me to tears! Here is my twist on the dish, along with a refreshing green (unripe) mango salad.

THAI CHILI-BASIL CHICKEN

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch chunks
Cornmeal, to coat chicken chunks
Fish sauce*, to taste
Black soy sauce, to taste
Lime juice, to taste
Handful of Thai basil*
2 kaffir lime leaves*, torn into small pieces
2-4 red or green bird chiles*, minced, depending on desired spiciness
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2-red onion, minced
Cooking oil - olive, peanut, or vegetable are all fine

Procedure:
(1) Coat chicken chunks with cornmeal and set aside.
(2) Put a large skillet or wok over low heat with a liberal pour of cooking oil.
(3) Add minced garlic, onion, kaffir lime leaves, and bird chiles.
(4) After about a minute, turn up the heat to medium and add chicken chunks. Cook on all sides for a few minutes and add a few liberal dashes of fish sauce, black soy sauce, and lime juice. Stir to thoroughly coat chicken chunks with this pan sauce.
(5) After about another minute of cooking, add Thai basil, and allow to wilt a bit while stirring.
(6) Serve chicken and its sauce over white or jasmine rice. Top with more fresh Thai basil.

GREEN MANGO SALAD

Ingredients:
3 green (completely unripe) mangos*
1 tablespoon palm sugar*
1/2-red onion, cut into thin half-moons
Handful of peanuts
Fish sauce*, to taste
Juice of 2 limes
Handful of fresh mint

Procedure:
(1) Grate mangos into matchstick-size bits. If you don't have a grater, you can cut the mango into small, thin strips. Put into a bowl.
(2) Combine with mango a liberal dash of fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, onion, peanuts, and mint.
(3) Serve at room temperature.

***General note on ingredients***
I understand that many of the ingredients I have mentioned are not available in mainstream grocery stores. If you are in New York, you can find any of the Thai ingredients (except for green mango) in these recipes at Bangkok Center Grocery in Chinatown, just north of City Hall. If you don't have access to a store where these ingredients are sold, here are my suggestions.

-Brown sugar can be substituted for palm sugar.
-Kaffir lime leaves can be left out in favor of slightly more lime juice.
-Jalapeños, serranos, or another type of potent chile can be substituted for bird chiles.
-Though there is no exact substitute for green mango, ripe mango sliced into small pieces combined with grated apple produces a similar flavor and texture. Regarding green mango, this can be very difficult to find. However, if you are in New York, there is an outdoor fruit stand one block to the north of Bangkok Center Grocery that regularly has them.

Salty Sticky Sweet Vinegar Drumsticks

I was browsing Serious Eats last week when I found a recipe for "vinegar-glazed chicken." Since I am a vinegar fan, I just had to try it, but with my own spin. Instead of serving the chicken over polenta, as the recipe suggested, I came to the conclusion that with football season in full swing, why not serve these drumsticks in the style of chicken wings? They are salty, sticky, sweet, and finger-lickin' good, and would be just as well-received at a Super Bowl party as they would at a sit-down dinner party. If you're serving them as finger food, a good blue cheese dressing would pair well with the tartness of the vinegar glaze on the meat.


Ingredients:
Chicken drumsticks (here, I used 8 large ones)
3/4-cup vinegar*
Four cloves garlic
Three teaspoons chopped rosemary
Salt and pepper, to taste
3/4-cup chicken broth
Olive oil

*Here, I used rice vinegar. Red wine vinegar would also work well. However, I would avoid balsamic vinegar for this particular recipe due to how quicky it thickens and hardens as it is heated. If it hardens around the drumsticks and on the sides of the pan, it can cause the drumsticks to taste burnt and bitter.

Procedure:
(1) Combine vinegar with minced garlic and chopped rosemary. Allow flavors to meld as you prepare the chicken.
(2) Season drumsticks with salt and pepper.
(3) Add a splash of olive oil to the pan and put on medium heat. Add drumsticks and brown on all sides.
(4) When chicken is thoroughly browned, remove drumsticks to a plate and remove any excess oil from the plan. Deglaze the plan with chicken broth and return drumsticks to that same pan.
(5) Allow chicken broth to reduce until about 75% of it is gone from the pan. At this point, add the vinegar/garlic/rosemary mixture.
(6) As the vinegar mixture reduces, turn drumsticks so that they are coated on all sides. Remove pan from burner when sauce is thick and syrupy in consistency, and serve chicken soon after.