Dutch Oven Calico Chicken

I was working over the weekend in Las Vegas. It was good, but I missed cooking Sunday dinner. So, when I got sick and stayed home yesterday and today, I thought I’d make dinner. I’d seen this one over at Byron’s site, and I tried it. Of course, I can’t leave it alone, so I modded it a bit for the ingredients I had on hand, and what I thought would taste great.

Dutch Oven Calico Chicken

12” Dutch Oven

8-9 coals below
16-18 coals above

• 2 lbs boneless chicken
• 1-2 cups corn flakes, crushed
• Liberal shakes of seasoning salt
• Liberal shakes of black pepper
• Liberal shakes of chili powder
• 1-2 eggs
• Cheddar cheese, some thinly sliced, some grated
• A can of corn
• A small can of diced green chilis
• A can of beans
• A can of sliced black olives
• More salt, pepper

I started with the chicken, some frozen chicken tenderloins. If you start with full chicken breasts, you’ll want to cut them into slices about as long and wide as chicken fingers you buy at McDonalds. I thawed them in some warm water in the sink, and gathered the ingredients. Then I lit up about 25 or so coals.

I cracked an egg into a bowl. I poured the crushed corn flakes and the seasonings onto a plate and mixed them up. All was ready!

Then, I took each piece of chicken and put it in between two pieces of waxed paper. I gently tapped it flat, to about an eighth to a quarter inch thick. I laid a few thin slices of cheddar over it and rolled it up along the length, then secured it with a toothpick. I took that chicken roll and covered it in egg in the bowl. Then I coated it in the corn flake mixture. You have to be very thorough to make sure that the seasonings don’t settle down to the bottom of the plate. You gotta keep mixing it up.

This went into a greased Dutch Oven, along with all of the other pieces (probably about 10-15 or so). I put that on about 9 coals, with about 16 or so on top. The chicken browned and cooked in about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, I opened each can of the veggies and drained them, then poured them into a bowl. I mixed them all up, and added some salt and pepper to taste.

When the chicken was close to done, I lifted them out of the dutch oven and onto a plate with some wooden spoons. I poured in the veggie mixture, then replaced the chickens on top. I put the lid back on with some refreshed coals and let it bake for about another 30 minutes. After about 15-20 minutes, I opened it up and layered the top with the grated cheddar.

The family were really impressed! I loved it, too. I’m not certain that the chicken has to be cooked first. You might be able to just put in the veggies, then put the uncooked chicken on top of that. But then, the chicken wouldn’t be as crisp, I think. I did like the crispness of it. You try it the other way and let me know what you think!

Dutch Oven Chicken Feast a la India

There are a lot of really good Indian Restaurants here in the Salt Lake Metro.

Sometimes, when you live somewhere, you kinda assume that other, more “exotic” or more “cosmopolitan” cities have better restaurants. That might be true in some cases. But when I’ve been in other cities, like San Diego, and others, I’ve noticed that the Indian I’ve eaten there is about on par with the small, family owned Indian houses here in Utah.

So, that brings me back to there being logs of really good Indian restaurants here in the Salt Lake Metro.

And when I talk about “Indian”, I’m talking, like, from India, not “native American”. Just to clarify, because Salt Lake Metro has some great Native American food, too. We’re clear? Nobody’s gonna turn me in to the PC Police?

So, when I do Indian, I always order two things: Chicken Tikka Masala, and Chicken Saag. Those are my all-time favorites. Sometimes, if I get a third thing, I might get Tandoori Chicken, or I might try something completely new that I haven’t had before.

In my constant quest to find things I’m not supposed to be able to cook in a dutch oven, I’ve now added these dishes. And since I love to combine them onto one rice plate, I had to try it. I dove in and did my net research, and found a number of recipes, which I basically followed.

I gotta tell ya, this is not for the faint-hearted, nor for the beginner. I ran like a madman from pot to pot, from one recipe to the other. I had to chart out in quarter-hour increments so that the Saag, the Tikka Masala, and the rice would end up done at about the same time. This was NOT a relaxing meal to prepare.

Oh, but it was worth it!

Next time I do it, I’m going to streamline the recipe a bit. I’m going to combine some steps and make it so that I’m not running quite so much. Here’s the recipe and the instructions, not so much as I did it today, but moreso how I’ll do it next time. Here’s another warning, too: There are some unusual/exotic ingredients. You may have to go to an Asian/Indian market to find some of them, so you’ll want to do some shopping first.

Dutch Oven Chicken Feast a la India (a combination of Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Saag)

2x 12” Dutch ovens
1x 10” Dutch oven

Lots of coals, all underneath.

The common ingredients:

• 4 lbs frozen chicken breast, thawed
• 3 tbsp minced garlic
• 3 med onions
• 2 inches fresh ginger
• 1 ½ Cups rice
• 3 Cups water

For the Saag:

• 4 bundles of fresh spinach (16 oz each)
• 1 400g can diced tomatoes
• ½ tsp chili powder (cayenne, if you have it)
• 1 tsp coriander
• ½ tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 4 Tbsp milk
• salt
• pepper

For the Tikka Masala

• 1 (400g) can tomato puree
• 4 Tbsp plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp tikka masala curry past
• 1 Tbsp coriander
• salt
• pepper

First, get some coals on to burn. Lots. You’ll need probably two beds of 20 or so each. We’ll be cooking completely from the bottom, no coals on top, even though I cooked all pots covered. Make sure you have a side stack of burning coals, too, so you can replenish.

Then, cube the thawed chicken. Put a little oil in the bottom of one of the 12”, and set that on the coals to brown. Chop up the leaves of the spinach and put those in another 12” dutch oven, with about a half cup of water. Put that dutch oven on coals to boil.

The Spinach will probably boil down long before the chicken is browned. Pull the spinach out an drain it off, discarding the liquid. Mash up the spinach so that it’s almost a paste. I just kinda chopped at it with the point of a wooden spoon. When the chicken is browned, pull that oven off the coals as well, and remove the chicken. Discard any liquid in that dutch oven, too.

Next, chop up the onions, the garlic, and the ginger. Put those all in any one of the dutch ovens, put it back on the coals, and sautee these ingredients until the onions are clear and a bit brown.

Here’s where we split it up between the Saag and the Masala. Divide the onions and the chicken half and half between the two 12” dutch ovens, and put them both on the coals. Choose which oven is for the Tikka Masala, and which is for the Saag, and add all the remaining ingredients and spices for each one. Add the cooked-down spinach into the Saag oven. Cover them both and let them cook, stirring occasionally. After they get boiling, take some coals off so they simmer.

As the other two dishes are cooking, put the rice and the water into a 10” dutch oven, and put that, covered on some more coals.

I’m betting that the rice, the chicken saag, and the chicken tikka masala will all be done at about the same time. It’s not so critical if the chicken dishes cook a little longer, so just whenever the rice is done, bring it all in.

Put a bed of rice on the plate, and cover half of it with the saag, and half with the tikka masala. The two flavors compliment each other, but I like them also separate. When I eat it, I get a bite of one, with rice, and then the other.

Like I said, this isn’t exactly how I did it this time, but I think it’ll turn out pretty much the same, and with a lot less stress. Even my kids liked this one, though they did like the masala side more than the spinach on the saag. Kids. Go figure…

Yet another Dutch Oven Roast Recipe

Today, I was going to try a great experiment. I had invited a friend and his family over to celebrate his birthday. We’ve known each other for years. He’s also a musican, a drummer, and we’ve worked together a lot of times and played in a few bands together. He helped me with the drums on my first CD. I haven’t seen him in a long time, and I was going to prepare a magnificent roast for him.

So, I looked over the ‘net to find something that would just “wow” to the next level. I found a bunch of great recipes, and after a bit of thinking, I came up with one that would just be amazing. And, I was going to throw in an extra touch that would just throw it over the edge. In addition to all the spices and flavorings, I would drape the roasts in thick sliced bacon!

So, I made the roast according to my mishmashed recipes, and served it up with some dutch oven biscuits, and it was fantastic. Then when I came downstairs to blog about it, I realized I had forgotten the one magical ingredient. The bacon. So, instead of being magical and innovative, it turned out to be just another cool dutch oven roast recipe.

Oh, well. Next time I make it I’ll remember, and I’ll tell you how it turned out.

In the meantime, this was truly a fantastic roast. In fact, my friend, always quick with a quip, sat back and sighed, “Well, that cow sure died with honors!” So, I guess the recipe still passed approval. Here it is in its original form. Maybe YOU can cook it and tell me how it turns out.

Dutch Oven Bacon-Draped Roast

12” deep dutch oven

14-16 coals above
14-16 coals below

Start with slab of roast meat. I actually did two that added up to a little over 5 pounds. I knew we’d be feeding two families. I started the coals, and when they were ready, put some olive oil in the bottom, and set the dutch oven on about 20-25 coals (underneath) to heat up. While that was heating, I prepared the rub.

The Rub

1. Liberal shakes of salt and coarse ground pepper, maybe as much as a Tbsp of each. I used sea salt, but I don’t know if that made a difference or not.
2. 2 Tbsp minced garlic
3. ½ tsp mustard seed
4. ½ tsp marjoram
5. ½ tsp rosemary
6. ½ tsp thyme
7. 1 Tbsp parsley

I stirred it all up and rubbed it all over the meat. That was a bit messy. Then I put the meat in the oven, and let it brown on all sides.

While it was browning, I prepared the liquid. What do you call that, in the roast? The sauce? The baste?

The Baste

1. 1 Cup hot beef broth (I used an Au Jus mix)
2. 3 Tbsp brown Sugar (I was out of brown sugar, so I used honey)
3. A couple of liberal shakes of soy sauce and balsamic vineagar
4. A couple of bay leaves
5. A bit more liberal shakes of black pepper. I like it coarse ground.

Now, had I been thinking, I would have carried the bacon out to the meat when I carried out the baste, but I wasn’t thinking, so I didn’t. If I had, I would have draped a bunch of slices of the bacon over the top of the roast at this point. But I didn’t. Did I mention that I forgot that part? Did I mention that I was upset that I forgot that part? Just checking.

So, I poured in the baste. At that point, I pulled the oven off the coals, put 14 coals on the lid, and put 14 coals below in a circle (I had to pull some from my side fire).

Then, I set about making the biscuits. Just for the record, I used the same recipe I used for the Split Pea Soup a couple of months back. So, interspersed with all the cooking of the roast, I was also cooking the biscuits. Maybe that’s why I forget so much. I’m not so good at multitasking.

While the roast was cooking, I rested for a while. I figured it would take about 3 hours to cook the roast. So, after about half that, I chopped up the veggies, stirred them up, and added them. All the while, I’m maintaining my side fire, and pulling fresh coals to replenish the ones that were burning out on the (now three ovens) that I had cooking (one with the roast, and two shallow 12”-ers with the biscuits).

The Veggies:

1. 2 medium onions, sliced
2. a bunch of small green onions, sliced
3. 2 stalks of celery, sliced
4. a green bell pepper, sliced
5. I took a jalapeno pepper and sliced about 6 very very thin slices off of it. Then I chopped those slices a little
6. 1 large carrot, sliced
7. 4 medium potatoes, quartered and sliced
8. A handful of mushrooms, sliced

At that point, everything that was goin in was in. It was just a matter of keeping the coals hot and waiting for it to get done.

Just before my guests arrived, I got out my 8” dutch oven and a ladle. I carefully pulled about 1 ½-2 cups of broth out of the big dutch oven, and poured it into the small one. By this time, I’d taken the biscuits off, so I had some extra coals. I arranged them packed pretty tight and close on my bricks and set the 8”-er on top. Then I stirred up some flour into some water. I don’t really know how much, maybe a total of 2-3 Tbsp into about a half cup of water, maybe less. I stirred it up to dissolve the flour, and poured it into the broth. I let that sit and boil for a while, stirring it as it got thicker and thicker.

Finally it was ready to serve, and we all ate hearty tonight.

Even without the bacon…