Fire Roasted Cornish Game Hens

Glorious wood fire grilled Cornish game hens. By the way, Frank Costanza was correct; it's just a small chicken. If you have a fire pit you are $20 away from being able to do this yourself. 

This is the $20 I was referring to. It's a tripod grill; 3 legs with a grill grate connected to a chain to make it adjustable. I've seen them at Mill's Fleet Farm and Lowe's, and I would assume you can find them at the other big box home improvement stores for the same price.

This is how it connects on top in case anyone's interested. 

Cooking the game hens:

Step one: procure some poultry and firewood. Cornish game hens are probably available at your local grocery store. If not chicken will suffice. Step two: build yourself a fire. If you cannot accomplish this simple task, find a boy scout because even small children are capable of building fires.

That looks like it'll be just fine. You'll want to start it at least two hours before you want to cook because you want the fire to be mostly smoldering coals and not too heavy on flame. Step three: spatchcock your birds. I swear it only sounds dirty, although you will need to wash your hands after. A spatchcocked chicken is one that has had its spine removed, so that it can sit flat, which makes it perfect for grilling. If you have a kitchen shears that works well otherwise a sharp knife is just as easy. Place the bird breast side down and you should feel a bone right in the center of the back. Cut along each side of that bone and you have the spine leftover. Don't forget to wash your hands. Save the spines for the next time you want to make chicken stock. 

This is what they look like when they're sitting flat. I also put them on a rack on top of a sheet tray so that the skin will dry out, which make it easier to get it nice and crispy. They are seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Step four: cook your birds. Hopefully at this point your fire has died down a bit, so that you only have a couple pieces of solid wood and lots of smoldering coals.

This is a perfect cooking fire. This is what you want. 

Finally, birds over a fire. This fire is HOT. Reeeaally hot. I start the chicken about 12 inches above the coals, skin side down with the legs and thighs towards the center of the fire because dark meat takes longer to cook. There's a lot of fat in chicken skin and it is going to start rendering out immediately once the chicken gets over the coals. Fat burns when it hits fire, so there's going to be some flare ups. If the flames start to get close to the chicken, adjust the height of the grill. The chicken is ready to be flipped when the skin looks golden brown. There's a lot more danger of the chicken burning on the skin side, so the majority of the cooking takes place on the other side. Step five: flip your birds.

This is how you want the chicken to look when you flip it. The skin has rendered out its fat and is golden brown and delicious. Since some of the coals will have burned down to ash and the chicken is harder to burn on this side, you can lower the grill to about 10 inches above the coals. Notice that I've put my digital thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. That's what I'm using to determine if they're done. I keep lowering the grill as the coals grow smaller. As long as you don't see any large flare ups, you should be alright.

Woah, it's a little smokey in this picture. That's one of the reasons this cooking method is so fantastic. It's also great because the hot fire makes the chicken really crispy and delicious as you can see in the picture. I flipped them back onto their skin side and pointed the thick part of the breast toward the center of the fire to finish them. I pull them off when they hit 160 degrees then put aluminum foil over them, and let them rest for 10 minutes. They'll continue cooking and reach 165 degrees, which is the final temp that you want chicken to cook to.

WWWWWHHAATT!!! THAT CHICKEN LOOKS SOOOO GOOOODD!!! Oh, it was. Take my word for it. Or just get off your butt, start a fire, and get grilling. Yeah I agree, that's a way better idea.

Chicken, Shrimp, and Sausage Jambalaya

I didn't bother with a garnish BECAUSE THIS JAMBALAYA DOESN'T EVEN NEED ONE. It already looks delicious with the beautiful brown sausage and plump, juicy shrimp, so why bother with some parsley.

Time to get technical for a second. This is a cross between Cajun and Creole jambalaya. Creole jambalaya gets its color from tomatoes rather than from browned meat. It's sometimes referred to as red jambalaya. Cajun doesn't have tomatoes and requires browning the meat. It's sometimes referred to as brown jambalaya. Since I'm not from Louisiana and don't care about their silly distinctions, I enjoy the best of both worlds by browning the meat and adding tomatoes. 

Ingredients:

3 boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into large chunks
1 ring spicy sausage (andouille is traditional but not available everywhere) cut in large pieces
1 lb fresh shrimp peeled and de-veined with tails removed
1 large onion chopped 
1 red bell pepper chopped 
3 stalks of celery chopped 
5 cloves of garlic minced
1 14.5oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
1 C long-grain rice
3 C chicken stock
1 bay leaf
5 sprigs of thyme
Cajun seasoning

Don't bother buying Cajun seasoning because you probably have everything you need to make it.

Combine equal parts:

dried thyme
onion powder
garlic powder
paprika
cayenne pepper
black pepper
white pepper

You're going to need a large skillet with a teaspoon of olive oil over medium high heat. That skillet is also going to need a lid for later on. Throw the sausage in and let it get nice and brown. As they brown, take the chicken thighs and cut them into two inch chunks. Season them with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning. 

Well this is already looking tasty. Take the sausage out of the pan and try not to eat them all as you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Start browning the chicken. You want it nice and brown because these two steps are going to add tons of flavor to the jambalaya. While the chicken cooks, chop the onion, celery, and red pepper, and mince the garlic. Fun fact: in Louisiana onion, peppers, and celery are known as the holy trinity.

The chicken is nice and brown as promised. Don't snack on the chicken; it's probably not fully cooked yet. Time to cook the veg, so add the holy trinity to the same pan along with a pinch of salt.

Beautiful colors here, but those vegetables are still very raw.

Much better. They've cooked a little and they soaked up some the fond from the chicken and sausage. At this point I'd added the garlic and let that cook for a minute as well. Now the broth that the rice cooks in gets made. Take a can of whole tomatoes and drain the liquid into the pan. Then crush the tomatoes with your hands and add them to the pan as well. Warning: the tomatoes will shoot juice all over your kitchen if you're not careful. Make sure to gently puncture them and squeeze out the juice before you get too crazy with your crushing. You can use a can of crushed tomatoes if you want, but you actually get chunks of tomato if you crush them yourself. Once the tomatoes are crushed add three cups of chicken stock, the bay leaf, and the thyme sprigs, which you should wrap with butcher's twine. Taste the broth and if it needs it add salt and pepper. If you'd like it spicier add cajun seasoning.

Ooooh now we're getting somewhere. When you've added the liquid make sure to scrape up any fond left on the pan after you've cooked your vegetables. Now I just let this simmer for about 30 minutes. If you're rushed, skip that, but it will help your broth develop. Then you bring the mixture to a boil, add the rice, and take it back down to low. Cover the pan. Now here's where things get a little wacky. The rice is regular long-grain rice, but it doesn't cook the same way that regular white rice does. This is actually going to cook for about an hour, which is like 40 minutes longer than traditional white rice. There's also more liquid here than regular white rice. Good news though, you're actually supposed to stir it very minimally, so you can mostly forget it at this point. Stir it every 15 minutes or close to it.

This is after an hour. Yum. Now the shrimp are already cooked in this picture, but this about the level of liquid you should have after an hour, which is why I wanted to show it now. There should be a little visible liquid bubbling in the center, but when you stir it should disappear. If the jambalaya starts to look like there isn't enough liquid while it cooks, just add some more chicken stock. If after an hour you have a whole lot of liquid still, just let it simmer for a while longer. Anyway, when you have about this level of liquid throw some salt and pepper on the shrimp, and put them in the pan to cook for about 5 minutes. 

Soooo delicious. Since everything is cooking together in the same pan all of the flavors meld into every ingredient. And that is a good thing. The starch in the rice also makes it weirdly creamy, and I mean that in a positive way. It makes the jambalaya have a wonderful texture. I just realized today is Mardi Gras. What a completely random and totally genuine coincidence! Well I guess that gives you a reason to try this! 

The Cure for the Common Cold

I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure that this will in fact cure colds and probably other diseases. I do know for sure that this soup is better than your mother's, or at least as good as hers. I know it's true because my mom trusted me to make it and she even liked it. The secret to extremely simple, intensely flavorful chicken noodle soup is your oven. Yes, you will need your stove as well, but roasting is the most important part as I've mentioned before.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken plus 4  drumsticks
3 onions
6 carrots
6 celery stalks
1/2 bag of dumpling egg noodles

This is the color of the stock. This is what you want. Light stock will make you an extremely okay soup. This dark stock will make you the best chicken noodle soup you've ever tasted, and it couldn't be easier to make. Step one: preheat your oven to 425 degrees. I'm confident there will be no problems with that. Add the whole chicken and the drumsticks to a large stockpot (the extra drumsticks are optional, but they'll help boost the chicken flavor). Next quarter two onions, cut three carrots and three stocks of celery into thirds, and add that to the stockpot. Place all of that goodness in the oven, and let it get deliciously golden brown. It will take awhile, but you want to make sure the chicken, and all of the vegetables are golden. The onions may turn  black in some spots; don't worry about that. Also here's a free tip I just learned: if you leave the onion skins on your stock will be even darker.

When that happens, be smart. Don't be like me. Take the chicken out and cut off both breasts. If you leave them on, they will get completely dried out while simmer in the stock, which, I know, sounds weird. How does something become dry while sitting in liquid? I don't know, but that's what happens. Whether you use the meat in the soup is completely up to you. With the added drumsticks, I had plenty of meat, so I used the breast meat for other things. I'm talking to you, Chicken Salad. After the breasts have been removed, fill the pot with water and let it simmer for around four hours. 

After four hours, we have pure gold. Strain everything and keep only the chicken. Aromatics are cheap and we don't want mushy vegetables in our soup. Do not try to pick the chicken from the bones. You'll burn your fingers. Trust me. I've made that mistake once or twice or way too many, so that you don't have to. Put the chicken somewhere cold, and while you wait for it to cool chop an onion, three carrots, and three stalks of celery.

Let the vegetables simmer in the stock for an hour, or until they're nice and tender but not mushy. At that point you can cook your pasta. Cook it separately. That way everyone can have as many noodles as they want, and the stock and vegetable mixture can be used for something else if you get tired of leftover soup. When the noodles are done, put them in a bowl and add the liquid to get THIS!!

Okay that looks like a big bowl of broth with noodles in it. I SWEAR I put vegetables in. If you look at the picture up top there's even evidence of vegetables.

Make this. There's like a whole series of books about why you should. Or maybe that's not what they're about. I don't actually know. I mentioned leftovers. Do you like pot pies? Because I made a pot pie with the leftovers. You can add roux, peas, corn, and potatoes and have perfect pot pie filling. I've just given you two meal suggestions, so I think we're done here.