Text 19675, 143 rader
Skriven 2014-11-21 10:15:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JIM WELLER
Ärende: umbelliferae 329
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 ML> shahjeera / means black cumin / or caraway
 JW> I could never understand the confusion as the two spices taste so
 JW> unalike, even though they are somewhat related.

And the term black cumin itself is ambiguous, as
it can mean a member of our carrot family or a
member of the buttercup family - this latter is
known under still more confusing names - black
sesame (not sesame at all), black onion seed
(not onion at all), kalonji, and nigella (not
pretty at all).

 The carrot family
 JW> offers all sorts of vastly different tastes. Off the top of my head,
 JW> the edible ones include angelica, anise, asafoetida, caraway,
 JW> carrot, celery, chervil, cicely, coriander / cilantro, culantro,
 JW> cumin, dill, fennel, lovage, parsley and parsnip.

Wow, that's great from the top of your head - several
more than I'd get unless I thought really, really hard.

 JW> OK there are some that say asafoetida isn't really edible! [g]

It's not, in the same way that a raw garlic clove popped
into your mouth is not going to do you much good. But
diluted and cooked, that's a different story.

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
Categories: main, poultry, stew, celebrity
Yield: 4 to 6 servings

2 Tb regular olive oil
8 chicken thighs (with skin on and bone in)
6 scallions
8 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme
40 cloves garlic (3 to 4 heads), unpeeled
2 Tb dry white vermouth or white wine
1 1/2 ts kosher salt or 3/4 ts table salt
Good grinding pepper

When I was young, this old French classic was still
- though in a quiet way - very much in vogue. I dare
say it was because the novelty of using so many
garlic cloves had not worn off; it seemed somehow
dangerously excessive. Even so, I don't think anyone
would think it quite unremarkable now to put 40
cloves of garlic in a casserole. Certainly, if you
peeled and chopped - let alone minced - the garlic,
it would be inedible, but garlic cloves cooked
encased in their skins grow sweet and caramelly
as they cook, like savory bonbons in their sticky
wrappers, rather than breathing out acrid heat.
This is a cozy supper, not a caustic one.

This dish entered my canon under someone else's
auspices. A few years ago, for the fortieth birthday
of a then-colleague and friend of mine, Nick
Thorogood, his partner asked everyone to contribute
something written expressly for purpose to be
compiled in a fat tribute of a book. Since most of
Nick's and my conversation dwells, with almost
fetid passion, on food, it seemed only proper to
write a recipe for him. And given that it was his
fortieth birthday, this seemed the right recipe.

It is not quite the classic version (not that
there is only one: food is as variable as the
people who cook it) but it sticks to the basic
principles. Maybe because the white meat on
chicken tends towards the utterly tasteless
these days, I prefer to use not a whole chicken,
but thigh portions only. Naturally, this wouldn't
make sense if you were raising your own chickens,
then slaughtering them for the pot, as was the
custom when this recipe came into being (and very
good it would have been, too, for adding oomph to
an old bird) but if you're following the
contemporary shopping model, it works very well.
For some reason, I veer towards recipes that can
easily be cooked in one of my wide and shallow cast-
iron Dutch ovens and this fits the bill perfectly.

By all means, add some steamed or boiled potatoes
alongside if you wish, but I'd prefer, by far, a
baguette or two to be torn up and dunked into the
flavorsome juices; though don't rule out the option
of sourdough toast, which is the perfect vehicle
for spreading the sweet-cooked garlic onto.
Otherwise, some green beans or baby peas or a plain
green salad is all you need for a sure-fire
salivation-inducing supper.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Heat the oil on the stovetop in a wide, shallow
ovenproof and flameproof Dutch oven (that will
ultimately fit all the chicken in one layer, and
that has a lid), and sear the chicken over a high
heat, skin-side down. This may take 2 batches, so
transfer the browned pieces to a bowl as you go.

Once the chicken pieces are seared, transfer them
all to the bowl. Finely slice the scallions, put
them into the Dutch oven and quickly stir-fry them
with the leaves torn from a few sprigs of thyme.

Put 20 of the unpeeled cloves of garlic (papery
excess removed) into the pan, top with the chicken
pieces skin-side up, then cover with the remaining
20 cloves of garlic. Add the vermouth (or wine) to
any oily, chickeny juices left in the bowl. Swish
it around and pour this into the pan too. Sprinkle
with the salt, grind over the pepper, and add a
few more sprigs of thyme. Put on the lid and cook
in the oven for 1 1/2 hr.

Make Ahead Note: Chicken can be browned and
casserole assembled 1 day ahead. Cover tightly and
store in the refrigerator. Season with salt and
pepper and warm the pan gently on the stovetop for
5 min before baking as directed in recipe.

Making Leftovers Right: If I do have any chicken
left over - and I don't think I've ever had more
than 1 thigh portion - I take out the bone then
and there and put the chicken in the refrigerator.
Later (within a day or two), I make a garlicky
soup, by removing the chicken, adding some chicken
broth or water to the cold, jelled juices, placing
it over a high heat and, when that's hot, shredding
the chicken into it and heating it thoroughly, till
everything is piping hot. You can obviously add
rice or pasta. Otherwise, mash any leftover garlic
into the concentrated liquid (which will be solid
when cold), chop up some leftover chicken, and put
it all into a saucepan with some cream. Reheat
gently until everything is piping hot, and use
as a pasta sauce.

Source: Nigella Lawson, Nigella Kitchen
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