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Chicken salad! Tasty, but just not a winter food at all.

I'm braising the Korean influence short ribs off that WaPo article posted the other day . . . it smells great . . .

I'm glad braising came up on the site, 'cause I had two pkgs of grass-fed short ribs sitting in the freezer, and it ain't getting any colder. I'm thinking of the Batali braise w/horseradish gremolata for the other pair of ribs . . . or the Sunday at Lucques version . . .

p.s.
anyone ever cook a guinea hen?
I understand it's better to braise than roast, but that's all I've heard

guido-

Although I'm generally a braising fan, I LOOOVE roasting all poultry. I find guinea hen cook super fast because of their size when roasted, and you can't beat the crunch of that skin. I tend to cook them the same as I would cornish game hen. Gourmet has my favorite old recipe with Sherry wine, honey, cumin, cinnamon and aniseed. I like to omit the aniseed and double up on cumin. I'll bet Epicurious would still have the recipe.

Guido,
Guinea hen is really, really tasty. I would recommend buying one fresh if you can. I worry about frozen stuff that isn't very common because it could have been frozen for a really long time. But that's just me.

Guinea hen is a little more like pheasant than like chicken. So it's a little gamier and can cook up a little drier if overcooked.

But one of the best things about it is that if you are good with a boning knife you can prepare guinea hen two different ways. You can saute and roast the breast and you can braise the legs.

At Zuni Cafe in San Francisco I had a guinea hen saltimbocca which was so good. In that case the legs were probably used for the light sauce. But the legs could have easily been seasoned and seared nicely then braised in red wine and chicken stock until nice and tender. You could chop that little knuckle piece of cartilage off at the end of the drumbstick so when it braises the meat will shrink off the bone a little making a nice presentation

You might want to look into brining the Guinea hen overnight before you cook it. Should make it moister and bring out the nice taste it has.

Guido, I cooked a guinea hen last month and it was awesome. The recipe I used is here:
http://www.lastnightsdinner.net/2007/02/11/guinea-hen-with-red-wine/

Your blog is really cool jenblossom. I've wanted to start one up myself as I am a cook but have absolutely no knowledge in this arena.

I especially like your wine pairings. Oh, and the poach pods.

Thanks, Art! I love the poach pods. One of the coolest ideas ever.

Farmers' market love, this weekend. I'd been coveting my neighbor's daffodils, and picked some up. Also leeks, eggs, and lamb (which, following the week's theme, I will try braising).

The rest of the week's cooking will be of the "use things up" variety: salad, braised cabbage, and a potato-dill soup.

I braised some ribs last night.. not my greatest dish but edible at least.

Today is all about springtime though! I made a baby fennel-pink grapefruit-avocado-calamari salad, with olive oil, fresh pepper and black hawaiian sea salt. It's absolute perfection.

Thanks art/jen/rose/laura for the guinea hen advice!
and
yes I have a fresh one.

you've managed to hit on the two or three ways I've been thinking about . . . when I posted I didn't know I had guinea recipes in cookbooks.
I'm back and forth between Batali (guinea hen in vinegar) and the Zuni braise. And not sure if I'm going to remove the breasts for her saltimboca method. I don't know if I'm good with a boning knife . . . and I have the sage, but not the prosciutto.

And I intend to do the Zuni dry salting.

That Zuni cookbook is indispensable!

Welcome to the new comment system, everyone!

it's lovely! but why does it say "posted anonymously by [name]"? 'cause, like, having the name makes it kinda not anonymous. :)

enough copyediting

Whew! I'm glad I wasn't the only one to ask that question. Here's the link to the explanatory thread

Or not. Let me try that link again:

Huh. How do I post a link? (I guess I should preview a comment before I post it.) Here's what Kelly over in "Home Tech" said:

I think it's how comments from the old system are incorporated into the new comment system. The older comments were posted before we launched the new system last night. We shouldn't be seeing anymore of the "posted anonymously."

just testing the comments . . . the hen is salted and waiting the Batali vinegar treatment . . .

Okay, I'm trying it again:

Click here for link to Home Tech discussion about comments. Whew.

heh, thanks, joan.

I updated the old posts and removed the anonymously line...

Funny that everyone's talking about Zuni Cafe--I made their Roast Chicken and Bread Salad over the weekend. I did the dry salting the morning of, rather than a day or two in advance. It was the best roast chicken I've ever had. And the combination of the flavors in the rest of the salad is incredible--the bread chunks soaked in vinaigrette and the chicken drippings with the arugala, currants, and pine nuts.

It wasn't even as time consuming as I thought it would be. But if I make it again, I'm definitely opening all the windows before I start--I set off the smoke detector about 30 times roasting the chicken.

that's a smokey chicken . . .

I love Zuni! Try the mock porchetta. Or the boiled kale - it's all great.

The guinea hen was delicious (and great for lunch the next day with a big pile of arugula wilted by the hot braising juices.)
I sent the site pictures for the photo bar, but my kitchen is pretty dark . . .