“Ouch!” It felt like the wrath of God had just rained down on me.

Cooking can be a dangerous sport. There are the occasional little cuts and the accidental burns from searing hot sauce pans. But the most dangerous (and painful) of them all is carelessly working with fresh peppers.

And no matter how often I try to remember to wash my hands after working with jalapenos or scotch bonnets I still sometimes forget.

On those occasions I am usually painfully reminded of this lapse of judgment when I inevitably rub my eyes. It’s a special hell that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemies (well, maybe some of them).

So before I go any further with this recipe, here’s a warning to the wise…the recipe calls for fresh jalapenos. Please don’t forget to wash your hands after you handle them.

That’s the note of caution. Now here’s the good news…the reward of this recipe is totally worth the risk.

As a former Southerner, I love fried foods – especially chicken. And I am always looking for different ways to enjoy this Southern pastime – a recipe that brings something different to the table. I think this recipe for Spiced Lime Fried Chicken just may fit the bill.

It’s not your average fried chicken fare. There are a few twists.

First, there’s no flour. So it’s missing the heavy and thick oil-soaked crust that plagues many traditional fried chicken recipes. Instead, this recipe uses egg whites, corn starch and sesame oil batter to form a beautiful golden “crust” on the chicken. It’s gluten free fried chicken, y’all!

And then there’s the flavor. It’s a nice layering of flavors. Key to this recipe’s uniqueness are the notes of citrus and heat/spice that really help to make this dish come to life on your tongue. None of these elements overpower the chicken. Actually, the hint of lime gives the chicken a nice, bright lift. And the five spice marinade and the toss with jalapenos really give the chicken a slight kick of heat in the end.

I love this recipe. I make it often. Even my mom and aunts, who are Southern/Soul Food aficionados, give this ‘new fangled’ version two thumbs up.

This is no one note snoozer. This fried chicken has a full symphony of flavors that will make you stop and taste the roses. And cut into strips, they are perfect for a cocktail party.

NOTE: You can easily adjust the heat of this dish. For more heat, toss the fried chicken and jalapenos for a longer period of time. You want to the lime and jalapenos almost directly after frying. The heat from the chicken really helps the lime and jalapenos to release their flavors.

SPICED LIME FRIED CHICKEN

Some like their food spicy and then some people like it SPICEY. For those who can’t get enough spice you can try to use unseeded jalapeno slices when tossing the chicken at the end – jut be careful to remove the jalapeno slices so that no one bites into a jalapeno seed. Also, the longer you toss the jalapeno with the chicken the spicier it gets. So adjust this per your taste.

2 egg whites

1½TSP toasted sesame oil

1½TSP Chinese Five-Spice

2TBL corn starch

1½TSP Kosher salt

¼TSP freshly ground pepper

1/2 TSP dried oregano

1/4 TSP red pepper flakes

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2lbs), cut into thin long strips

2 cups canola oil

1 lime, cut into eights

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and thinly sliced cross sections

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites, sesame oil, five-spice, corn starch, salt, grounded pepper, oregano and red pepper flakes until the egg whites have loosened.

Stir in the thinly sliced chicken breast into the bowl until the chicken is completely coated. Let chicken marinade in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

In a large saucepan or wok over medium high heat, heat canola oil until it shimmers (about 325˚).

Being careful not to over crown the pan, cook chicken strips until they are light-golden brown and cooked through, about 5-6 minutes. Let each batch drain on a rack or paper towel.

In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly toss chicken, lime and jalapeno slices in a bowl (keep in mind the longer you toss the jalapeno and chicken, the spicier it gets). Salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Serves 4-5.

Martha would never lie to me…would she?

I can’t say that I’ve always been a fan of turkey burgers. Ever time that I have tried them they have come out dry and as tasteful as cardboard.

So, years ago when I was watching an episode of the Martha Stewart Show and Martha was claiming that her turkey burger recipe was like no other turkey burger, I knew I had to give them a try. I mean, Martha would never lie to us, right (I can already hear you snickering – and no, I don’t include federal prosecutors and grand juries in the ‘never lie to us’ category. That was all a big misunderstanding.).

After watching the show, I downloaded the recipe from the website and filed it away in my “Recipes to Try” folder.

At some point I did give them a try. And I am so glad that I did. I have made a few tweaks to the original recipe over the years and it has become a staple in my cooking repertoire (what a fancy word, right?).

They’re fast and easy to make (perfect weekday meal) and more importantly they are full of flavor and juicy – no cardboard patties here.

The trick to these burgers is simple…do not overcook them. I use an indoor grill and I cook the full-sized burgers (as opposed to the slider sized patties pictured in this post.) for 3 minutes on each side (covered).

Often when I make these burgers I pair them with a side of caramelized onions. It’s a perfect match. The spicy burgers serve as a nice counter to the sweetness of the onions.

Yum! Enjoy.

TURKEY BURGER/SLIDERS WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS

Caramelized Sweet Onions:

2 TBL unsalted butter

1 large Vidalia onion

1/3 TSP dried thyme

dash red pepper flakes

1 TBL granulated sugar

.

Turkey Burger:

1 1/3 lb ground turkey meat

½ cup minced scallion, including green parts (about 6 scallions)

1 medium shallot, peeled and finely minced

1 ¼ TSP Tabasco Sauce

½ TSP freshly ground black pepper

1 TSP Worcestershire

1 ½ TSP salt

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Hamburger Buns (4 regular sized or 5-6 slider sized buns)

Toppings of you choice: ketchup, mustard, tomatoes,

To make the caramelized onions, melt butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onions, thyme, pepper flakes and sugar and stir until mixed. Cover and cook until onions are soften and browned – making sure to stir occasionally to prevent onions from burning. About 25 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, combine turkey, shallot, scallions, Tabasco, Worcestershire, the 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and the Parmesan cheese in a large bowl; mix very lightly to combine.

Heat a grill or grill pan to medium high. Form equal patties (4 full sized patties or 5-6 sliders), and cook them through, about 3 minutes per side on the grill, or 8 minutes on the grill pan.

Top burgers with the caramelized onions, and garnish with toppings of your choice (tomato, lettuce, condiments). Serve.

I am not a big fan of overly written writing – writing that is packed with lofty or misplaced adjectives in an attempt at being artful. For instance, sentences like, “The heirloom tomato was so ripe that it tasted of the summer.”

Admittedly, I am not a meteorologist but I bet if you walked outside in the middle of July and stuck your tongue out into the air that you would taste absolutely nothing….because summer has no taste.

With all of that said, there are always exceptions to the rule. And this recipe for Wilted Tomato-Basil Salad with Grilled Chicken could be the exception – cause, it tastes just like summer, yall! What? I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s bright, flavorful and has the ease of a lazy summer day.

It’s not a complicated dish. There’s tomatoes, basil, garlic, onion and chicken. That’s it. The trick to the salad is in mixing the ingredients in the proper order. The garlic, onion and basil go in the bowl first, followed by a little salt, followed by the salted tomatoes. And then you just let the whole thing hangout on the countertop.

Here’s the theory behind my madness. The salt breaks down the onion and garlic – which in turn helps them release their juices. The salt on the tomatoes pulls out their moisture. As it drips on the onion and garlic, the acid of the tomato juice continues breaking down the garlic and onion. At the bottom of the bowl your left with this delicious mixture of garlicky tomato juice – just stir in some olive oil and you got yourself a beautiful vinaigrette.

At the heart of this dish are the fresh, ripe tomatoes – which makes it the perfect dish for closing out the first week of the Westchester Farmers’ Market Blog-a-Thon. If you are new to the blog, here’s the scoop on the ‘Blog-a-Thon.”

Some of Westchester County’s coolest food bloggers are banding together to launch this week-long effort. Throughout the week, participating bloggers will publish delish recipes that are made primarily with ingredients purchased at one of Westchester’s many farmers’ markets. (Westchester is a suburb of New York City).

In addition to recipes, each blog will spotlight a local market by providing photographs of the market and the available produce, as well as provide details on the market’s location and hours of operation. The objective is twofold – first, enjoy and share delicious recipes with fresh and healthy ingredients; and secondly, to support local sustainable farmers.

The following Westchester bloggers are participating in the week-long effort (click the links and check them out):

Chick in the Kitchen

Cooking in Westchester

Culinary Comments by Cinnamon Girl

Small Bites

Somebody’s Mom

Sweet Paprika

On Sunday, I checked out the Rye New York farmer’s market.

It’s a great market with a mix of farmers/vendors: produce, breads, meats and diary among other things. The tomatoes in today’s salad come from Newgate Farm. If you get a chance to go to the Rye market, check them out. They have an amazing variety of fresh fruits, veggies and herbs. The address and hours of operation for the market is listed below.

WILTED TOMATO-BASIL SALAD WITH GRILLED CHICKEN

1 garlic clove, thinly cut

¼ cup red onion, sliced paper thin

10 basil leaves

6 small yellow tomatoes, halved

8 grape tomatoes, halved

1 medium tomato cut into wedges

2 TBL extra virgin olive oil

1 split, chicken breast, pounded 1/2” thick

Place the garlic, sliced onion, half of the basil leaves in the bottom of a medium sized bowl. Sprinkle with a dash of salt. Without stirring the onion mixture, add the tomatoes to the bowl. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Let stand for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, grilled flattened chicken breast on a hot and oil grill (or on stovetop with a grilled pan). Grill until chicken is cooked through – about 4 minutes per side. Once cooked, set chicken aside and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, add extra virgin olive oil to the bowl of sliced tomatoes and stir. Salt and pepper to taste.

Slice breast into 1” strips.

Plate chicken strips and tomatoes on two plates and serve.

Serves 2

Boy, I am tired. I’m embarrassed to say it isn’t because I spent the weekend tackling the long list of unfinished projects around the house – like the crown moulding missing from ONE wall in the study or the foyer that has been half painted for over THREE YEARS. These would be valid reasons, boys and girls. So what’s the cause for my sorry state?  I visited friends in Atlanta this weekend and it was a stream of late nights and wine (lots of wine – including one unfortunate night of ‘wine in a box’ which considering my repeated trashing of White Zinfandel on this blog’s About Page, this pretty much makes me a hypocrite). Anyway, I’m dragging and paying the price.

Before I move on, one last thing about Atlanta. If you ever find yourself there you should definitely check out the aquarium. It’s amazing. I see why the city is so proud of it. Now, on to food. I bet everybody has a go to recipe for roasted chicken.

It’s the perfect comfort food – inexpensive, easy, universally loved and versatile. And I do mean versatile. Coat it with a dry rub of paprika, cinnamon, cumin and coriander for a bird with a Mediterranean flair. Cook it with a simple herb marinade over a bed of root veggies and you have a one pot wonder. Or how about a Hawaiian inspired version with pineapples, citrus and tarragon (Note to self: you gotta explore that one day). The possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

As beautiful as roasted chicken can be it is often overcooked and dry. It can be a fine line between a chicken that is juicy and tasty and one that is poultry flavored sandpaper. And I’ll admit to having crossed that line before. But that was before I discovered (drum roll)…

…the magic of brining.

Brining is a technique of submerging meat in a liquid with a high concentration of salt. What’s the point in brining? As meat cooks it tightens and squeezes out its moisture. The brining process pulls more water into the bird, which means more moisture is left after it is cooked. The guys at Cooking for Engineers explain it best, “…when water flows out of the meat, salt flows in and begins to break down some of the proteins in the cells. In the broken down state, the molecules become more concentrated and the solute levels rise within the meat. This causes additional water to flow into the meat.”

As a matter of fact, every year for Thanksgiving I cook the same brined turkey. If I forget a basting or if the turkey needs to hang out in the over longer than I had planned…maybe because I’ve realized at the last minute that I forgot to bake the dinner rolls…the turkey will be waiting for me in the oven as juicy as if I had taken it out 40 minutes ago.

Below is a fairly simple recipe. But again, it’s SO succulent and juicy that you really don’t need a ton of bells and whistle to distract from the natural flavor of the bird. As you will note from the photographs, this time I served it with the Micro-Diced Asparagus Salad that I posted a few days ago. 

Enjoy! If you try it, let me know how it goes. Oh yeah, sorry about the bad photgraphs in this post. They really don’t do the chicken justice

JUICIEST ROASTED CHICKEN

This recipe calls for splitting the chicken by removing the backbone. I find that the chicken cooks faster and the exposure of the thighs and legs makes for a more evenly browned bird.

4-5lb whole chicken

1¼ cup kosher salt

¼ cup honey

3 tbl rosemary, chopped

3 tbl fresh oregano, chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 onion, unpeeled and quartered

1 tbl peppercorns, roughly cracked plus 1 tsp of finely cracked peppercorns

3 bay leaves

2 tbl butter, melted

In a stockpot large enough to hold the chicken, dissolve salt and honey in 5 cups of barely warm water. Add rosemary, garlic, onion, peppercorns and bay leaf. Add 3 cups of cold water and set aside.   

Meanwhile, rinse chicken and remove its backbone using a pair of poultry shears. Place chicken in stockpot, adding more cold water if needed to completely cover the chicken. If necessary, cover the chicken with a plate to keep it submerged. Refrigerate for 5 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Thoroughly rinse chicken under cold water and pat dry. Place chicken skin side up in a large cast iron skillet or sauté pan. Baste with melted butter and sprinkle with finely cracked pepper.

Cook chicken in bottom rack of oven for about 40 minutes or until the meat between the thigh and leg registers 165 degrees F.

Allow chicken to rest 10 minutes before carving and serving.