Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

(Cook’s Illustrated)

Table salt
1 whole chicken (3.5-4 lbs.), cut into 8 pieces (4 breast pieces, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks)
Ground black pepper
3 large heads garlic (about 8 ounces), outer papery skins removed, cloves separated and unpeeled
2 medium shallots, peeled and quartered pole to pole
1 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
3/4 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 Tbsp butter
Baguette (or bread of some sort)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Dissolve 1/4 cup salt in 2 quarts cold tap water in large container or bowl; submerge chicken pieces in brine and refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 30 minutes. Rinse chicken pieces under running water and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels. Season both sides of chicken pieces with pepper.

Meanwhile, toss garlic and shallots with 2 teaspoons olive oil and salt and pepper to taste in 9-inch pie plate; cover tightly with foil and roast until softened and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes, shaking pan once to toss contents after 15 minutes (foil can be left on during tossing). Uncover, stir, and continue to roast, uncovered, until browned and fully tender, 10 minutes longer, stirring once or twice. Remove from oven and increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.

Using kitchen twine, tie together thyme, rosemary, and bay; set aside. Heat remaining 1-teaspoon oil in 12-inch heavy-bottomed ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke; swirl to coat pan with oil. Brown chicken pieces skin-side down until deep golden, about 5 minutes; turn chicken pieces and brown until golden on second side, about 4 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to large plate and discard fat; off heat, add vermouth, chicken broth, and herbs, scraping bottom of skillet with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Set skillet over medium heat, add garlic/shallot mixture to pan, then return chicken, skin-side up, to pan, nestling pieces on top of and between garlic cloves.

Place skillet in oven and roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers about 160 degrees, 10 to 12 minutes. (If desired, increase heat to broil and broil to crisp skin, 3 to 5 minutes.) Remove skillet from oven and transfer chicken to serving dish. Remove 10 to 12 garlic cloves to mesh sieve and reserve; using slotted spoon, scatter remaining garlic cloves and shallots around chicken. Discard herbs. Force the reserved garlic cloves through sieve and into bowl; discard skins. Add garlic paste to skillet. Bring liquid to simmer over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally to incorporate garlic; adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in butter; pour sauce into sauceboat and serve. Spread leftover roasted garlic on slices of baguette.

Well, that was surprising. Jacob, the TWoP recapper for Doctor Who, got in touch with me about my problems with his D&D reference. Apparently I was overthinking the joke- what a shocker!

At first Jacob explained that he was using the d20 roll to imitate the non-player-character behavior of the TARDIS against the Doctor. I replied, asking if the Doctor has to make a diplomacy check every time he wants to travel somewhere, or whether it was more like a will save that the TARDIS had to make in order to be influenced/controlled by the Doctor. Jacob agreed that it was more like a will save, but that on its simplest level, the joke was merely that there were 20 things that could go wrong with the TARDIS, and that each time the Doctor was making a roll to see which outcome he’d get.

This entry is really just so I can end with this testament to my nerdliness and obsessive nitpickery. “I just didn’t think anybody would catch the reference in the first place, so it bugs me that it didn’t make sense. I should have worded it better.” Yaaaaay.

The Doctor and Rose come running up against a barricade, still miles from ground zero, and converse at length about how amazing it is and how this is First Contact and the doctor is so lucky to…be there, or something. I don’t know — he’s got a time machine. I don’t understand how…so the TARDIS just runs all roughshod and 1d20 over him all the time? That’s how it goes? No wonder he acts like a kid all the time.

This is a bit from the Television Without Pity recap of the Doctor Who episode “The Aliens of London.” Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s referring to the teleport spell, correct? Which even I know is a d% (2d10 is totally different from a d20). I may suck hardcore at playing spellcasters, but I do remember that time Merreck transported us and Scott rolled poorly. Our party landed way off course, in the ocean. We would have drowned, but thankfully Merreck had another teleport left for the day (and this time, the roll was better).

Speaking of which, D&D’s tonight.

Orange Cupcakes

(Adapted from a yellow cake recipe in Cook’s Illustrated)

2 eggs
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/8 cup sifted cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1 stick butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/2 tsp orange extract

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

Beat eggs, milk, and vanilla with fork in small bowl; set aside. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment; mix on lowest speed to blend, about 30 seconds. With mixer still running at lowest speed, add butter one piece at a time; mix until butter and flour begin to clump together and look sandy and pebbly, with pieces about the size of peas, 30 to 40 seconds after all butter is added. Add about 1/2 cup of egg mixture and mix at lowest speed until incorporated, 5 to 10 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add remaining egg mixture in slow steady stream, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and thoroughly scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Beat on medium-high until thoroughly combined and batter looks slightly curdled, about 15 seconds longer. Stir in the orange extract by hand.

Divide the batter equally among the cupcake liners. Bake for 12-18 minutes, or until the tops are light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center cupcakes comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for ten minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan. Cool completely on a rack before icing (say, with leftover Chocolate Satin Frosting).

Dude. I went to an Indian market today (Kumud Grocery in Newark), and they were selling butter for $1.69 a pound. That is ridiculous! And it was a good brand of butter, too (Berkeley Farms, I think). If I didn’t already have four pounds in my freezer, I would have stocked up!

What I did stock up on was yummy spiced breads. They’re in my parents’ freezer, since I’m out of room in mine. I keep trying to clean it out, but it never gets to be less! I have some challah and French bread that are taking up a lot of room. I should eat those. Flatbreads take up less space.