Simple Roasted Chicken with Dijon Pan Sauce

GLUTEN-FREE

This is one of my favorite meals to make if I'm eating alone.
It's just roasted chicken and a simple pan sauce, but it's seriously delicious.

The quality of the chicken makes a big difference. I buy pasture-raised birds from the farmer's market and roast them low and slow. (The chicken legs from Raghoo Farm in Montgomery, New York are the most flavorful and juicy I've ever tasted.)

Once they're perfectly browned and fall-apart tender, I transfer them to a serving plate and whip up a quick sauce using the pan juices. Pan sauces are great because they're fast and easy - this one takes only 2 minutes and 2 ingredients - and also because they leave you with a mostly clean pan, which makes washing up easy too.

Here I just roasted a leg, but you can roast a whole chicken if you like, either whole or cut up into pieces. Season your bird in advance, 24 to 48 hours ahead if possible. I used red wine vinegar for the sauce, but you could substitute white wine or another kind of vinegar. Use a good Dijon-style mustard without a lot of additives.

(You can make your own mustard by blending up mustard seeds, white wine, vinegar and sea salt, after you've set them aside for a day or two to allow the seeds to soften and soak up some of the liquid.)

Cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil

1 pasture-raised chicken leg per person, pre-seasoned and at room temperature

Sea salt

Ground peppercorn

White wine vinegar

Dijon-style mustard (Maille or other)

Preheat the oven to 300F.  If you haven't already, take the chicken out of the fridge to come to room temperature and season it with sea salt and ground peppercorn.

Drizzle a little bit of olive oil into a cast iron pan and place the seasoned chicken inside.

Once the oven is hot, roast the chicken for about an hour (longer if you're roasting a whole chicken), until the skin is crispy and brown and the meat is fall-apart tender.

















Remove the pan from the oven and place it on the stove top. Lift out the chicken, transfer it to a serving plate, and cover it to keep it warm.

Add a splash of vinegar to the meat juices and rendered fat in the pan. (If the chicken was pasture-raised, the fat is good for you.)
If you like vinegar a lot, add a tablespoon. If you like it a little, add a teaspoon. Use a whisk to scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan.

Add a dollop of Dijon to the sauce and whisk until smooth. If you like mustard a lot, add a tablespoon. If you like it a little, add a teaspoon. Taste the sauce and make any necessary adjustments.

Serve the sauce with the chicken as soon as it's ready and round out the meal with a big green salad.

Reserve the carcass for soup stock.

Dark Chocolate Rum Truffles

GLUTEN-FREE

Packed with antioxidants and full of flavor, these dark chocolate truffles are a healthy dessert when eaten in moderation. Unlike complicated recipes that call for butter, sugar, or even corn syrup, this one has just a few ingredients. These truffles are almost as easy to make as they are to eat.

I infused these truffles with Trois Rivières Rhum Blanc Agricole, an artisinal rum from Martinique that I picked up at the distillery on a recent trip to visit my husband's family. If you can find it, I highly recommend it. It's the most fragrant and floral rum I've ever tasted.

If you can't find it, you can substitute another rum, omit the rum, or substitute an equal amount of espresso or the zest of an organic orange.

8 ounces dark chocolate, 72% or darker

½ cup heavy cream

Pinch sea salt

2 tablespoons floral rum

½ cup cocoa powder, non-alkalinized 

Add the chocolate, cream and sea salt to a glass or stainless steel bowl. Cover the bowl and place it over a saucepan of slowly simmering water until the chocolate has just melted. Keep an eye on it because you don't want the cream to come to a boil.

Once the chocolate has just melted, turn off the heat and remove the bowl from the saucepan. Add the rum and whisk until the mixture becomes homogeneous, dark brown, smooth and shiny. Set it aside to come to room temperature (several hours).

Once the mixture has cooled completely, add a few spoonfuls of cocoa powder to a small bowl or tea cup. Use a small spoon to scoop up a teaspoon or two of the chocolate, and another spoon to scrape it off the first spoon. Roll it in your hands until it forms a ball and work quickly before the chocolate starts to melt. Drop the ball of chocolate into the bowl of cocoa powder.

Swirl the bowl around until the cocoa coats the chocolate ball, then gently lift it out with a fork and transfer it to a serving dish or glass storage container.

(Alternatively, you can roll the truffles in unsweetened shredded coconut or ground nuts.)

Repeat the process until you've used up the chocolate, adding more cocoa powder to the bowl as needed. Arrange the finished truffles in a single layer.

Store the truffles in the fridge. Take them out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving to allow them to come to room temperature and soften.

After School Snack

GLUTEN-FREE

This simple snack satisfies afterschool appetites. I used dried peaches (find them at Fairway in New York City) and almond butter, but you could use dried apricots and cashew butter or tahini (sesame seed paste).

You can also get creative with the topping. I used coconut flakes, but you could use pumpkin seeds, black sesame seeds, or even shaved dark chocolate.

Dried peach halves

Raw almond butter

Unsweetened coconut flakes

Stir the almond butter until smooth. Spread a spoonful on the peach half and top with coconut flakes. Eat immediately.

Braised Lamb Shank with Red Wine and Rosemary

GLUTEN-FREE | DAIRY-FREE

Lamb shanks are an inexpensive cut of meat best cooked low and slow. This recipe doesn't require much active preparation, but it does take a few hours to cook. It's a perfect pick for chilly days spent at home.

Instead of serving it over rice or couscous, I served it on  a bed of  finely chopped, sautéed cauliflower. It's a great alternative to grains.

Sea salt 

Ground peppercorn
2 lamb shanks, pre-seasoned and at room temperature
1 tbsp olive oil
6 small onions (like red cipollinis)
1 bunch carrots, cut into chunks

1 bunch purple plum radishes, cleaned, roots and stems removed

3 cloves garlic, grated or minced
2 cups Cabernet Sauvignon or other dry, fruity red wine

14 oz whole tomatoes

2 tsp fresh dried ground rosemary
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

1 head cauliflower to serve

With sea salt and ground peppercorn, season the lamb shanks ahead, 24 to 48 hours before you cook them if possible.

Take the seasoned lamb shanks out of the fridge an hour or two before you cook them to be sure that they will be at room temperature when you start.

When you're ready to cook the lamb shanks, preheat the oven to 300F.

Warm the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the lamb shanks and brown them on all sides. Once they have browned, transfer them to a plate and set them aside.

Add the onions, carrots, and radishes to the Dutch oven. Cook the vegetables until they have browned, then remove them and set them aside as well.

Add the garlic and stir until aromatic, 30 seconds or more, then add the red wine, tomatoes, rosemary, cayenne, and a pinch each of ground peppercorn and sea salt. Increase the heat to medium-high and stir any brown bits on the bottom of the pan into the sauce. Once the mixture begins to simmer, replace the lamb shanks in the Dutch oven and arrange the vegetables around them.

Cover the Dutch oven and transfer it to the oven. Bake for an hour and a half at 300F, then reduce the heat to 250F and bake for another hour and a half. Turn off the oven, remove the Dutch oven, and cool it for 30 minutes or more.

You can serve the lamb shanks whole or pull them apart into large, tender chunks (the meat will fall easily away from the bone). Spoon some sauce over the top or serve it on the side with the roasted vegetables.

I served the lamb and roasted vegetables on a bed of finely chopped sautéed cauliflower. You can serve it with brown rice or chick pea purée if you prefer.

To make the cauliflower, pulse florets, tender leaves, and tender stems in a food processor until finely chopped. Sauté the chopped cauliflower and a pinch of sea salt in extra virgin olive oil until soft and starting to brown.

To make chick pea purée, soak dry chick peas overnight, then cook them until tender. Add a pinch of sea salt and cool them in the cooking water. Once cool, strain and reserve the cooking liquid. Add the cooked chick peas to a food processor with a splash of extra virgin olive oil and enough of the cooking liquid to make a nice consistency. Reserve any leftover cooking liquid for soup.

Dark Chocolate Sformato

GLUTEN-FREE | VEGETARIAN

Looking for a special Valentine's dessert?  This one is a winner.

Sformato is an Italian dish that resembles a baked custard. It can be sweet or savory. I've made mine bittersweet by using dark chocolate and replacing a large amount of sugar with a small amount of honey.

Because it's flourless, this sformato is almost free of refined carbohydrates. The dark chocolate contains a small amount of sugar but it also adds compounds shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke and cancer.

You can serve it 30 minutes out of the oven or make it ahead and serve it at room temperature. Either way, you'll have no complaints.

12 oz, dark chocolate 72% or darker
2 cups organic whole milk
1 packet gelatin
Pinch sea salt
4 eggs 
1/4 cup honey
Organic butter to grease the baking dish

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Coat a 9" by 7" baking dish with butter and set it aside. 

Prepare a saucepan with a couple inches of slowly simmering water. 

Add the dark chocolate to a large stainless steel or glass bowl and place it over the saucepan. Cover the bowl and warm it over low heat just until melted.

While the chocolate melts, add the cold milk to a saucepan and whisk in the gelatin and sea salt. Warm the mixture over low heat. Do not boil the milk mixture.

Once the milk mixture is hot, mix up the eggs in a blender. Continue blending while you add the warm milk mixture, slowly so you don't scramble the eggs. Add the honey and blend until thoroughly combined.

(You can do this step without a blender, but if you whisk it by hand, strain it through a fine mesh sieve afterward to ensure a smooth final product.)

Once the chocolate has just melted, turn off the heat. Transfer the bowl to a heat-proof surface (a folded kitchen towel on the counter top works well and the moisture on the bottom of the bowl prevents it from slipping). Whisk the melted chocolate while you pour in the milk and egg mixture until it is smooth and consistent.

Transfer the chocolate mixture to the prepared baking dish. Bake for about 50 minutes, until the center is just set. Take it out of the oven and cool for at least 30 minutes or to room temperature.

To serve, spoon the sformato onto individual plates.

(If you want picture-perfect squares, chill it before you cut it. Freshly out of the fridge, cut the sformato into squares and transfer them to plates while cold. Allow them to come to room temperature before serving. If you plate the sformato before the meal, it will be ready to eat by the time you're ready for dessert.)

If desired, garnish with one of the following:

• A spoonful of freshly whipped unsweetened organic cream
• Sliced raw almonds 
• Unsweetened shredded coconut
• Fresh berries

Blood Orange Sea Salt

GLUTEN-FREE

Citrus sea salt adds fantastic flavor to special dishes. You can stir it in during cooking or save it for a finishing touch. Either way, even simple dishes become extraordinary.

(Last night I did both. I used Blood Orange Sea Salt to season a chicken before I roasted it, then I sprinkled a bit over sautéed Brussels sprouts just before I brought them to the table.)

I choose blood oranges for this citrus salt because I wanted to extend their short season. You can use any citrus fruit, just be sure to avoid fruits that have been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals.

Most of the citrus flavor is in the peel, thanks to the essential oils found there. It also contains antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer compounds.

My citrus salt recipe differs from others. I use more zest because I like a stronger citrus flavor. It enables me to use less salt and I can always adjust the seasoning later with regular sea salt if need be.

Also, I don't dry my citrus salt in the oven. Instead I set it aside to cure for a day or two before I grind it. Salt is a natural drying agent and preservative, so the heat is unnecessary. Heat can also make citrus zest bitter, it causes the flavorful essential oils to evaporate, and it can destroy the healthful compounds.

You'll need:

1 organic blood orange, zested, about 1½ to 2 tbsp, or substitute limes or lemons

½ cup sea salt

Rinse the oranges well and allow them to dry completely before you zest them.

When you remove the zest from the oranges, take only the colorful layer, leaving the bitter white layer underneath. Zest the fruit over a glass bowl. Add the sea salt and stir to break up any clumps, distributing the zest as evenly as possible.

Cover and set aside for 24 to 48 hours.

Once the zest has been allowed to cure, transfer it to a clean electric grinder and grind until smooth.

(Alternatively you can use a mortar and pestle.)

Taste for seasoning and add more sea salt if the citrus flavor is too strong.

Transfer the finely ground citrus salt to glass containers.

Cover tightly and label the jars with the contents and date.

Simple Salmon Spread

GLUTEN-FREE

This simple salmon spread is an easy make-ahead appetizer. And it's full of healthy the omega-3 fats that support good brain and heart health.

I used gravlox made from wild Alaskan salmon but you can substitute smoked wild salmon if you like, or even canned wild salmon, but be sure to avoid farm-raised salmon. Also use strained or Greek yogurt and organic lemon zest. If you use regular yogurt or add lemon juice, the finished product will turn out too runny.

I served this spread with cucumber slices, to keep it grain-free and gluten-free, but it can also be slathered onto toast triangles or a crusty baguette. 

You can also serve it as a dip with celery sticks and bell pepper strips. Or use it to fill up the center of avocado halves, so you'll get a small bite of the salmon spread with each spoonful of avocado.

4 ounces gravlox

1 cup organic whole milk Greek yogurt

Zest of 1 organic lemon, about 2 tablespoons loosely packed

1/4 cup loosely packed dill fronds

1 cucumber to serve

Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Transfer the mixture to a serving dish, cover and chill for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Thinly slice a cucumber. Serve the chilled spread with the cucumber slices. Garnish with fresh dill fronds.

Yield: 1⅓ cups