A spoonful of jarred pesto, curry powder or paste, crushed garlic or ginger, or a shot of Tabasco stirred into the buttermilk will add subtle flavour to your finished chicken. Panko is available at Asian markets and gourmet stores as well as some grocery stores.
8 skinless chicken pieces
1 cup (250 mL) buttermilk or runny plain yogourt
1 to 2 cups (250 to 500 mL) panko (Japanese bread crumbs), corn flake crumbs, dry bread crumbs, or finely crushed crackers
1/4 cup (60 mL) grated Parmesan cheese or ground pecans (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Pat chicken dry with paper towel; put pieces into bowl or plastic bag with buttermilk. Cover or seal and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
Put panko into shallow dish. Add Parmesan cheese or ground pecans, if you like, and season with salt and pepper.
Pull chicken pieces out of buttermilk and let excess drip off; roll pieces in panko to coat. Place on rimmed baking sheet that has been lightly sprayed with canola oil. Cover and refrigerate for
1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 F.
Sprinkle any remaining crumbs over chicken pieces, or gently roll pieces in crumbs again. (If you like, lightly spray entire sheet of chicken pieces with canola oil; this will help them brown.) Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until juices run clear. (Drumsticks tend to cook more quickly than thighs.) Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.
Each serving contains:
295 calories; 30.7 g protein; 8.6 g total fat (3 g sat. fat, 0 g trans fat); 21.4 g carbohydrates; 1.2 g fibre
source: "Nutritious Crispy Chicken Meals", alive #320, June 2009
Tourtière is, for me, the dish that best represents Québec. It can be traced back to the 1600s, and there’s no master recipe; every family has their own twist. Originally, it was made with game birds or game meat, like rabbit, pheasant, or moose; that’s one of the reasons why I prefer it with venison instead of beef or pork. Variation: If you prefer to make single servings, follow our lead at the restaurant, where we make individual tourtières in the form of a dome (pithivier) and fill them with 5 ounces (160 g) of the ground venison mixture. Variation: You can also use a food processor to make the dough. Place the flour, salt, and butter in the food processor and pulse about ten times, until the butter is incorporated—don’t overmix. It should look like wet sand, and a few little pieces of butter here and there is okay. With the motor running, through the feed tube, slowly add ice water until the dough forms a ball—again don’t overmix. Wrap, chill, and roll out as directed above.
My love of artichokes continues with this classic recipe, one of the best ways to eat this interesting, underrated, and strange vegetable. Frozen artichoke hearts are a time-saving substitute, though the flavour and texture of fresh artichokes are, by far, much superior and definitely preferred.
Cervelle de canut is basically the Boursin of France, an herbed fresh farmer’s cheese spread that’s a speciality of Lyon. The name is kind of weird, as it literally means “silk worker’s brain,” named after nineteenth-century Lyonnaise silk workers, who were called canuts. Sadly, the name reflects the low opinion of the people towards these workers. Happily for us, though, it’s delicious—creamy, fragrant, and fresh at the same time. Cervelle de canut is one of my family’s favourite dishes. It’s a great make-ahead appetizer that you can pop out of the fridge once your guests arrive. Use a full-fat cream cheese for the dish, or it will be too runny and less delicious.