Roast Chicken and Bread Salad

I have ordered this meal before and it was so good that I proclaimed it to be the best chicken I have ever eaten. It could have been all the oysters that my dad and I shared that evening, but it still has a high place in the ranks. If you ever find yourself in the Zuni Cafe and aren't sure what to order, repeat after me:

Chicken for two roasted in the brick oven; warm bread salad with red mustard greens, scallions,
currants, and pine nuts 48.00 (approximately 1 hour)

And be prepared to drop 50$.

After browsing the delicacies of one of our favorite blogs, Dispatches From Whitcomb Street, we discovered an adaptation to the dish. We made our own adaptations and served this for a very satisfying Sunday dinner:


Oh, and we followed it with some drop biscuits, strawberries and cream. Notice the cognac which pairs wonderfully with this dessert. It brings a new meaning to caramel. Unfortunately we discovered this the night before and are in need of a new bottle of Hennessy.



We are now ready to take on the week.

Big Chickens

The chickens are fully grown and major producers now. They are currently providing eggs for 5 homes (including ours). The chickens are voracious eaters and produce nearly 20 eggs per week. While we try, we probably only eat half that.


Economically it is a net loss, but they please us endlessly with their sweet trills, fights with little sparrows, sprints across the lawn, and dust baths. We can watch them for hours.

{Eggs from left to right: Light brown are from the Australorps (Amelia and Tulip); Dark brown with speckles are from the Wellsummer (Heidi); Blue are from the Ameracauna (Paloma); and Australorps again}

We have been free-ranging them for approximately 5 months now and have noticed a marked difference in the egg taste and color as their diet has become more diverse. They come out each morning before work and each afternoon after work and the majority of the weekend as long as we are home or in the neighborhood.

{Heidi and Amelia}

They love dandelions, slugs, worms, grass, swamp daisy and many other things. They will still come running for fresh grain, which we make available to them every day. They seem very happy; and I say that because they let us know whenever they are not. Whether it is a sunny day, the water or feed is low, the rain has caused a puddle in their coop, or they just feel like it they squawk and squawk until the problem is solved. Freeing them to the yard generally solves the problem.

{From front to back: Amelia, Paloma, Heidi, and Tulip}

Now we just need some good egg recipes to catch up on our stash.

Year of Food

We have not posted in a while mostly because of laziness. We looked back on some of the things we have made and eaten in the past year and decided to post the highlights.


January 24, 2010: Grilled chicory salad with apple (inspired by meal at Ned Ludd).

January 24, 2010: Homemade pizza


March 10, 2010: Cheesecake

May 23, 2010: Beet, grapefruit, and lemon salad



May 23, 2010: Halibut, wild rice, and garlic scapes

December 11, 2010: Chocolate cake for Maya's birthday

New Year, Crab Chowder

We made this chowder recently and will be making it again in the new year. It is rich, buttery and filling

DUNGENESS CRAB CHOWDER
recipe from edible Portland



ingredients:
1. crab
2. olive oil
3. bacon
4. leeks
5. onion
6. carrots
7. thyme
8. cumin
9. coriander
10. cayenne
11. white wine
12. red potatoes
13. heavy cream
14. parsley

Anatomy of Sunday Breakfast