With this recipe we use whatever vegetables we have from our CSA food box in substitution such as fava beans, onions, green garlic, and carrots.

Thomas Keller’s Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables
from Ad Hoc at Home

One 4 to 4 1/2 lb chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
6 thyme sprigs
2 large leeks
3 tennis-ball-sized rutabagas
2 tennis-ball-sized turnips
4 medium carrots, peeled, trimmed, and cut in half
1 small yellow onion, trimmed, leaving root end intact, and cut into quarters
8 small (golf-ball-sized) red-skinned potatoes
1/3 cup canola oil
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until it comes to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 475 F.

Remove the neck and innards if they are still in the cavity of the chicken. Using a paring knife, cut out the wishbone from the chicken. (This will make it easier to carve the chicken.) Generously season the cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper, add 3 of the garlic cloves and 5 sprigs of thyme, and massage the inside of the bird to infuse it with the flavors. Truss the chicken.

Cut off the dark green leaves from the top of the leeks. Trim off and discard the darkened outer layers. Trim the root ends, cutting around them on a 45-degree angle. Slit the leeks lengthwise almost in half, starting 1/2 inch above the root ends. Rinse the leeks well under warm water.

Cut off both ends of the rutabagas. Stand the rutabagas on end and cut away the skin, working from top to bottom and removing any tough outer layers. Cut into 3/4-inch wedges. Repeat with the turnips, cutting the wedges to match the size of the rutabagas.

Combine all the vegetables and remaining garlic cloves and thyme sprig in a large bowl. Toss with 1/4 cup of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread the vegetables in a large cast-iron skillet or a roasting pan.

Rub the remaining oil over the chicken. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Make a nest in the center of the vegetables and nestle the chicken in it.

Cut the butter into 4 or 5 pieces and place over the chicken breast.

Put the chicken in the oven and roast for 25 minutes. Reduce the heat to 400 F and roast for an additional 45 minutes, or until the temperature registers 160 F in the meatiest portions of the bird–the thighs, and under the breast where the thigh meets the breast–and the juices run clear. If necessary, return the bird to the oven for more roasting; check it every 5 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a carving board and let rest for 20 minutes.

Just before serving, set the pan of vegetables over medium heat and reheat the vegetables, turning them and glaazing them with the pan juices.

Cut the chicken into serving pieces, arrange over the vegetables and serve.

Zach and I made Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Quiche last fall (“You Can Quiche Your Day Goodbye!”) and found out that Keller’s recipes are labor intensive but incredible.  We decided to make Fried Chicken for a friends birthday this weekend from Thomas Keller’s new cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home. Once again Thomas Keller wowed us with another one of his labor intensive, incredible recipes.  Colonel Sanders watch out!

TIPS:

• We added a bit more spice to the dredge mixture and it was a great addition with a kick.
• Start 12-14 hours before you want to eat (the night before or first thing in the AM)! You must brine the chicken pieces first!
• Use peanut oil for best tasting results but you can also use vegetable or canoloa oil.
• You will need a deep fry thermometer.

Ad Hoc at Home: Fried Chicken Recipe

2, 2.5-3 lb whole chickens: How to cut up Chicken for Frying (in images)

* In Keller’s cookbook, he also has images on how to cut up the chicken into pieces.

Brine Ingredients

1 gallons cold water

1  cups kosher salt

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey

12 bay leaves

1 head of garlic, cut down the equator

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

3 large rosemary sprigs

1 small bunch of thyme

1 small bunch of parsley

2-3 lemons sliced in half

Directions for Brine:

In a large stock pot, combine  all brine ingredients. Add the lemon zest and juice and the lemon halves and bring to a simmer over moderate heat, stirring until the salt is dissolved. Let cool completely, then stir in the remaining 3 quarts of cold water. Add the chickens, being sure they’re completely submerged, and refrigerate overnight (our do it early in the morning when you wake up if you forgot to do it the night before!).

Drain and rinse the chicken pieces and pat dry. Make sure the chicken is really dry and that you scrape off any herbs or peppercorns stuck to the skin.  Make sure chicken is very dry.

Dredge Ingredients (we addd a bit more spiciness/amounts to the dredge)

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons garlic powder

3 tablespoons onion powder

3 teaspoons cayenne pepper

3 teaspoons paprika

3/4 teaspoon ground pepper

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 cups buttermilk

In a large bowl, combine the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, ground black pepper and the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt. Put the buttermilk in a large, shallow bowl. Working with a few pieces at a time, dip the chicken in the buttermilk, then dredge in the flour mixture, pressing so it adheres all over. Transfer the chicken to a baking sheet lined with wax paper or use a wire rack. Let sit for 20 minutes and then redredge the chicken in buttermilk and flour before frying.

In a very large pot or dutch oven, heat oil to 360F (need a deep fry thermometer). Use enough oil to deep fry the chicken. The chicken should take 12-15 minutes to fry each batch.  When a batch is done you can put it on a cookie sheet and keep it warm in the oven (150-200F).  Fry the chicken in 2 or 3 batches until golden and crunchy and the internal temperature is 160F/60C (about 20 minutes).

We served the fried chicken with greens and homemade fries.

Bouchon Quiche Recipe: The Most Delicious Waste of a Day You’ll Ever Have

For a baby shower this weekend, a friend asked me to make a couple of quiches.  As Northern California food bloggers near the home of Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Restaurant, we just couldn’t do it the simple American way with store-bought pie crusts and the “it’ll be ready in an hour prep, cook, and bake time quiche recipe.” Instead, we pulled out Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Cookbook and spent eight hours over three days assembling a couple of masterpiece quiches from the most labor intensive recipe we’ve ever found.  Even with two people working the entire time in the kitchen it was intense, sweating bullets and hoping for success.  We learned a lot from massive mishaps but in the end we were surprised to get some rave reviews from guests at the shower.

We made the quiche crust dough a day before we needed it and refrigerated it overnight.  The recipe was similar to the way that you make biscuits with flour and pieces of chilled butter.  We rolled the dough out on Friday morning and I got out my three pans with removable sides.  The fact that the pans had 3” high sides instead of a 2” high ring mold didn’t faze me at all considering I thought it was a minor detail.  In the end it made a huge difference in the ultimate success of our standup quiche shells.  We freaked when we opened the oven after fifteen minutes of bake time to find the sides of our crust fallen into the pan (see the oven photograph).  I immediately got online and googled Thomas Keller’s Quiche problems and found a few posts.  Others had the same issue and thought it was because there wasn’t enough dough to go over the sides taller pans.  They made extra dough to try and solve the problem, only to find out that the dough just can’t hold itself at 3” high so YOU HAVE TO USE A 2” RING MOLD PAN FOR BOUCHON QUICHE! We just continued and tried to patch the sides hoping it would all work out, and miraculously, it did!  We had a bit of a filling leak on one of the three quiches, but it still turned out to be pretty decent looking and utterly delicious.

If you ever attempt this, you have to let us know how it turned out!

Recipe information after the jump….

For the Bouchon Quiche Shell & Basic Batter Recipe go to:

• Start here with the Basic Quiche Shell  &  Basic Quiche Batter Recipe then you can alter your fillings like the suggestion below.

Zach’s Quiche Alsacienne Filling (additional filling to Basic Quiche Batter)
-Makes roughly 1 nine-inch quiche filling

2 yellow onions, cut thinly (We use a Mandoline for slicing onion.)
1/8 cup water
Sprig of Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
1 1b. Bacon
1 cup of shredded Jarlsberg (or Swiss)

Place the thinly sliced onion, water, and herbs in a saucepan and cook on medium heat for about 2 hours until soft.   Next, cook the bacon in a frying pan until it is just short of crisp.  After cooking, place the bacon on a paper towel lined plate to drain the grease.  Chop the bacon into pieces and add them back to the drained frying pan.  Then add the onion mixture to the pan over low heat to combine.

Preheat the oven to 325°F and put the rack in the center of the oven.  Put the Quiche Shell on a parchment paper lined baking sheet (we left our shell in the pastry pan) and get ready to add the Basic Quiche Filling and layers of Alsacienne Filling.  After the first layer of Basic Quiche Filling is poured into the crust, put one layer of cheese and one layer of Alsacienne filling. Whip the Basic Quiche Filling again in the blender (or make next portion) and pour another layer of the egg, then repeat a new layer with cheese and then Alsacienne filling.  For the last filling open the oven and pull the rack out a bit.  Place the 3/4-filled quiche shell on the oven rack and get ready to pour the rest of the Basic Quiche Filling into the crust all the way to the top.  Bake for 1 & 1/2 hours to 1 & 3/4 hours until the Filling is cooked through and does not shake or jiggle.  Remove it from the oven and let it cool completely.  Place it in the refrigerator overnight.

To serve, heat the oven to 375°F.  Line a baking sheet with lightly oiled parchment paper. Using a long serrated knife, and supporting the sides of the crust with your opposite hand, carefully cut through the edge of the crust in a sawing motion.  Switch to a long slicing knife and cut through the filling and bottom crust.  Repeat, cutting the quiche into 8 to 10 pieces.  Place the pieces on the baking sheet and reheat for 15 minutes or until hot throughout.  To check, insert a metal skewer into the quiche for several seconds and then touch the skewer to your lip to test the temperature of the quiche.

The quiche is served at all three Bouchon Bakeries:

Bouchon
6534 Washington Street, Yountville CA 94599
707-944-8037

The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino, Venezia Tower
3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Suite 10101, Las Vegas NV 89109
702-414-6200

Time Warner Center
10 Columbus Circle, New York NY 10019 (at 59th Street)
212-823-9366

Bouchon Quiche Featured on Cooking Bouchon Blog:

Quiche Try #1

Quiche Try #2