Tuna Toast

Chicken and Beef............



No no, I didn't make a meal out of both chicken and beef. I just thought I'd post about a couple of things I made last week. Since most of the photos didn't turn out well, I'll combine my roasted chicken and beef carpaccio posts into one.

I made a roast chicken for the first time this year, following the fool-proof Zuni Cafe Roasted Chicken recipe. It is so simple, but comes out perfect every time. I love making roast chicken because it is much cheaper to buy an entire chicken than to buy it all cut up, de-boned and skinned and it makes lots of great leftovers. If you haven't ventured into the wonderful world of roasting a whole bird, by all means try this recipe. Not only will you have a fabulous dinner, but your entire house will be permeated with the smell of sage, rosemary, thyme and lovely roasted poultry.

Cracklin' brown skin with herbs peeking through........

Speaking of leftovers, the chicken was used to make this hunking plate of yummy enchiladas the next day.

Can't say much for the blurry photography but it tasted good!


We had good friends of ours for dinner last Saturday and I wanted to try my hand at one of my favorite restaurant dishes- beef carpaccio. We had gotten six gorgeous filet mignons delivered to us as a gift, so I had plenty of beef. I used Giada De Laurentiis' method- rubbing a frozen filet all over with a generous amount of salt and pepper, searing the frozen chunk on all sides, putting it back in the freezer and then slicing it as thinly as possible while still frozen. The minute each slice hits the plate, it starts to thaw, and in a few minutes, you have beef carpaccio! Although the slices could have been cleaner, I was generally pleased with the outcome and the flavor was perfect. I plated it with a mound of arugula that I had tossed with some lemon juice and fruity olive oil, then drizzled the meat with a bit of homemade basil oil and topped it with capers and shaved parmesan. It ended up being the most popular dish at the dinner! Since I have five, fat filets still in the freezer, I think I will be making it again soon.

I know some people are squeamish about raw meat, but if you're a fan of carpaccio, the technique of freezing, seasoning/searing, freezing and cutting works great.



On a slightly related note (it involves a roast chicken): If you need a good laugh, check out another one of Adam's hilarious posts.