The Holy Trinity of Aromatics and a Chicken, Basted

How I wish I had a garden to call my own.  (Actually, I wish I had a mini-farm with a field, an orchard, a creek, some oinking pigs, bakawing chickens, a mooing cow and a baahing goat!  A girl can dream, right?)  

There is no produce like produce pulled straight from the ground, plucked right off the tree, picked from a bush.  Peas that taste better than candy, the creamiest potatoes, carrots fragrant of sweetness and fresh Earth…I could go on and on.  I’ve been lucky enough to try lots of great local products here on the East Coast, but never was I so inspired as I was in August when I visited the SF Ferry Plaza farmer’s market and The French Laundry’s gardens.  It was truly an eye-opening experience, like tasting food for the first time.  Feels like such a long time ago.

Despite the fact that I don’t possess the greenest of thumbs, I would love to be able to grow (at the very least,) a mass of various herbs, shallots and garlic.  (In fact, several different types of garlic would be awesome, and yes they do differ from each other, as this awesome tasting of 7 garlic cultivars from Houseboat Eats shows.)  Those three ingredients form what I refer to as the Holy Trinity of Aromatics.  Talk about Flavor Enhancement.

This trio is my mainstay for marinades, vinaigrettes, compound butters, bastes, soups, etc…  A little goes a very long way, with both butter or oil.  I always, always sauté wild mushrooms with this combination, fingerling potatoes cooked in duck fat and tossed in the aromatics are also requisite.

Generally speaking, I stick to a loose 1:1:1 ratio of the three elements.  The herbs can vary, depending on personal preference.  Mine happens to be a mixture of thyme, flat leaf parsley and chives.  I’ll also add in some tarragon or rosemary (judiciously) depending on what I’m cooking.

What follows is a recipe for one of my favorite preparations: pan-roasted chicken breast basted in butter and aromatics.  The recipe serves more as a guide, because the amounts can vary according to personal taste and also the cooking times will differ with the size of the breasts and the quality of the oven.  Crisping up the skin to a perfect golden brown is not a difficult technique, but requires attention and practice.  A cook must start with the right temperature on the stove, and also check the chicken periodically once the pan enters the oven.  In terms of cooking to doneness, I’ve come to rely on instinct, an internal clock (again, its from experience) and the handy “finger test,” which is wonderfully illustrated over on Simply Recipes.  Of course, a thermometer is always reliable as well, just cook the chicken until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 165˚F. On average, I would say cooking times vary between 9-12 minutes or more, again depending on the oven and the size of the product.

(I hope I didn’t make that sound too complicated, its really not that hard, just give it a go!)

PAN-ROASTED CHICKEN, HERB-BASTED
serves 2

2 ea, chicken breasts, totaling about 1 lb
to taste, salt and fresh ground black pepper
1-2 tbls oil for cooking
3-4 tbls butter for basting
2 tbl minced shallots
2 tbl minced garlic
2 tbl freshly chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, chives)

Pre-heat oven to 475˚ F.  Position one rack on the the bottom, and one in the center.

Over medium high, heat up a skillet.  Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  Add oil to the pan and swirl around to make sure the surface is evenly coated (if its smoking, its too hot).  Place the chicken into the pan, skin side down.  (The pan should have ample space for the chicken to breathe, if the pan is too small, the natural juices won’t evaporate and the skins will not crisp up.)

If the chicken sticks right away, just let it cook.  It should unstick eventually, but you don’t want to rip the skin apart.  Once the skin starts to turn golden brown, about 3-4 minutes, place the pan into the oven on the bottom shelf.  As the meat cooks, check periodically to ensure that the skin isn’t starting to burn.  (If it does, move the pan to the middle shelf, and/or turn it over and allow to cook the rest of the way.)

TIP:  During this process, if a lot of liquid/grease starts to form in the pan, I will pour out the excess as its cooking (this helps crisp up the skin!).

Cook the chicken until done, and place back on a medium-high burner.  Turn the breasts skin side up, and then add butter.  Melt the butter, add in the aromatics and baste away.  The easiest way to do this is by moving the chicken to the side of the pan farthest away from you, and tilting it so that the butter slides to the bottom, which should be in contact with the burner.  As you spoon the butter/aromatics over the chicken, the baste should just run back to the bottom of a pan.  Baste for 2-3 minutes (without burning the aromatics!).  Serve.

Yes, its a lot of butter, don’t worry, you won’t eat most of it (or maybe you will?)

The remaining baste mixture is great to toss cooked potatoes in.  Or dip in some toasted bread.

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