Appetizer
- Cheese board with seeded honey thins and mostarda - Z & K
Main
- Golden Chicken with Salsa Verde - B and A
- Green Bean Salad with Mustard Seeds and Tarragon - J and K
- Mushroom and Herb Polenta - T and J
Dessert
- Bittersweet Chocolate Pear Cake - L and T
Yields approximately 35 Thins
Preheat the oven to 350°F
Heat a shallow pan to medium, add the sesame seeds. Heat and stir until golden, add the pumpkin and sunflower seeds, stir and remove from the heat. Now add the honey, salt, zest and oil, stir. Spread the mixture with a spatula or palette knife on a parchment lined baking tray as best as you can and as thinly as possible.
Bake 5-10 mins, or until golden. Remove from the oven. As the thins cool, they begin to harden, cut into even size pieces if that’s what you like or cut into shards.
Store in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks. They will soften and become more chewy over time but are still good to eat.
Heat up half the olive oil in a large frying pan. Once hot, add half of the mushrooms and fry for a few minutes, or until just cooked; try not to move them much so you get golden-brown patches on their surface. Remove from the pan, and repeat with the rest of the mushrooms and oil. Off the heat, return all the mushrooms to the pan and add the garlic, tarragon, thyme, optional truffle oil and some salt and pepper. Keep warm.
Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan. Slowly stir in the polenta, then reduce the heat to the minimum and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. The polenta is ready when it leaves the sides of the pan but is still runny. If you are using instant polenta this shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes; with traditional polenta it could take up to 50 minutes (if it seems to dry out, add some more stock or water but just enough to keep it at a thick porridge consistency).
When the polenta is ready, stir in the Parmesan, butter, rosemary and half the chervil. Season with salt and pepper. Spread the polenta over a heatproof dish and top with the Taleggio. Keep warm.
Just before serving, place under the broiler until the cheese bubbles. Remove, top with the mushrooms and their juices, and return to the broiler for a minute to warm up. Serve hot, garnished with the remaining chervil.
Serves 10 as a side
Some information about Nigella Seeds
Source - Nancy Silverton
Serves 10
The salsa verde can be made ahead and refrigerated. The chicken should be seasoned and marinated for 2 to 24 hours.
Prepare the chicken
Run your fingers under the skin of each chicken thigh to create a pocket. Stuff each pocket with 2 sage leaves, 2 slices of garlic and 1 slice of butter. Transfer the stuffed thighs to a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir the lemon zest strips with the smashed garlic, olive oil, chopped herbs and crushed red pepper. Pour the mixture over the chicken and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Meanwhile, make the salsa verde
Preheat the oven to 450°. On a baking sheet, toss the lemon slices with 2 tablespoon of the olive oil. Spread the lemon slices in an even layer and bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until charred on the bottom. Transfer to a cutting board and let cool for 5 minutes. Chop the slices into 1/4 -inch pieces. Leave the oven on.
In a mortar, mash the oregano and mint with the chopped garlic, anchovy, capers and the 1 teaspoon of salt until a smooth paste forms (alternatively use a blender to form a paste). Slowly drizzle in the remaining 1 cup of olive oil, stirring to create a sauce. Stir in the chopped lemon.
Cook the chicken
Heat a very large ovenproof skillet. Season the chicken thighs evenly with 5 teaspoons of salt; reserve the lemon zest and smashed garlic from the marinade. Arrange the chicken thighs skin side down in the skillet and cover with another large skillet or pot weighted down with a few heavy cans. Cook the chicken over moderate heat until the skin is golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes.
Remove the weight and turn the chicken. Scatter the reserved lemon zest and garlic and the bay leaves, if using, among the thighs. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Discard the bay leaves. Transfer the chicken to a platter and serve with the salsa verde.
Make Ahead
The salsa verde can be refrigerated overnight. Serve at room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and dust with breadcrumbs or flour, set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the eggs on high speed until pale and very thick.
While the eggs are whipping, brown the butter. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan (because it will foam a lot) and cook it until the butter browns and smells nutty (about 6 to 8 minutes). It helps to frequently scrape the solids off the bottom of the pan in the last couple minutes to ensure even browning. Remove from the flame but keep in a warm spot (so it stays liquid).
Add the sugar to the eggs and whip a few minutes more.
Just as the egg-sugar mixture is starting to lose volume, turn the mixer down to stir, and alternate adding the flour mixture and brown butter. Add one third of the flour mixture, then half of the butter, a third of the flour, the remaining butter, and the rest of flour. Whisk until just barely combined — no more than a minute from when the flour is first added — and then use a spatula to gently fold the batter until the ingredients are combined. It is very important not to over-whisk or fold the batter or it will lose volume.
Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle the pear and chocolate chunks over the top, and bake until the cake is golden brown and springs back to the touch, about 40 to 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean (wait until it is done - doneness is more important than time).
Serve with softly whipped whipped cream
