Day 44: Crisp Brick-Fried Chicken With Rosemary and Whole Garlic Cloves, Garlic-Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes"

In every cookbook there exists one or two recipes that look incredibly technical, or just plain intimidating, is inevitably avoided at all costs, and this is one of them.

Crisp Brick-Fried Chicken with Rosemary and Whole Garlic Cloves
Garlic-Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes"

I have avoided this recipe from the beginning. If I wasn't committed to cooking everything in the book, I probably wouldn't ever have made it. Anything involving a garden variety brick placed on top of a chicken was enough to send me into shock without the idea of butterflying the chicken as well.

In truth, this recipe probably has the fewest ingredients of any of the other recipes and requires dirtying only one, maybe two pans at most.

First, you need a nice organic chicken, butterflied. The annoying thing is that while there are instructions on how to butterfly, there are no diagrams or photos. So you have to wing it and be confident that it will turn out exactly as it should.

I made the butterflying part easy. After picking out my chicken, I had the butcher at the grocery store butterfly it for me. He had a nice big cutting board and it took him less than 15 seconds. Problem one, down.

Problem two, find a brick. Or two bricks if you have a large chicken. So run out into the garden find your least mucky brick and then cover it in foil. The weight of the brick helps press the chicken down on the pan so it will brown and cook faster.
Next, you need to rub salt and pepper all over the chicken and press four sprigs of rosemary into it as well. The authors tell you to tuck the wings back, flat against the breasts, but I could never get the wings to stay put.Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat in the largest, heaviest, non-stick skillet that you have. Place chicken, skin up in the skillet and place your brick on top of your bird. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the underside of your bird is brown.Turn over with tongs and tuck 8+ cloves of unpeeled garlic, lightly smashed around the bird. If you peel the garlic, they will burn. Replace the brick and make sure the chicken is making good contact with the pan. Cook for 12 more minutes until the skin is crisp and brown. The temperature in the thighs should be 170 F. After 12 minutes, my chicken was nowhere near done . The oven was already on to cook garlic bread, so I actually transferred the chicken to a baking sheet and popped it in the oven for another 10 minutes(sans brick) and it came out perfect. The rosemary is really the secret ingredient here. The chicken ends up with a delightful rosemary essence, not over-powering at all.

While the chicken was cooking, I made the Garlic-Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes". Basically, chop up a head of cauliflower, along with the core and leaves. Layer into a steamer basket, the leaves and core, then half the cauliflower florets, sliced garlic, salt, and the rest of the cauliflower. Steam, covered for 8 minutes. Once soft, puree in a food processor with 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil, and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.

Surprisingly, this was a little more high maintenance than it really needs to be. I make mashed-cauliflower all the time and instead of steaming it and messing up another pan and the food processor, I throw all the ingredients in a pot with 1/2 cup of chicken broth. (add more broth if nec. as it cooks.) Cover, and once everything is nice and soft, add your butter or oil or whatever, and use an immersion blender to mash it all up.

Either way, mashed cauliflower is delicious. I used orange cauliflower and that is its natural color. I also made a green tomato/tomatillo sauce that I served over the cauliflower. And I served our favorite garlic bread on the side as well. Don't forget a bottle of cabernet and you have a feast!71 recipes down in How To Eat Supper.