Air Fryer Whole Chicken

Roasted chicken is an art form, truly. I mean, you do remember the hoopla caused by Meghan Markle mentioning Prince Harry proposed after she made him a roasted chicken and women of all ages (who cook and have at some point read Glamour Magazine or saw versions of it on Martha Steward, the Food Network or such) were quick to shout in glee, “Engagement Chicken works!” Because of course it does. 

Chicken is magic, y'all!

And I have to admit that there are few things I find more offensive, in a culinary sense, than someone ruining a simple roasted chicken. There’s just no excuse for bad chicken.

As I mentioned last year, we received a small Air Fryer as a gift and it is perfect for the two of us. I’ve been playing around and have come up with the perfect combination. It not only yields a great dinner, but there is enough left-over for healthy sandwiches the next day, and the carcass and innards become the base for a bitching chicken soup the day after that.

Air Fryer Whole Chicken

3 ½ lbs chicken fryer

1 Tbsp 21 Seasoning Salute

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp three onion rub

½ Tbsp freeze dried shallots

½ Tbsp poultry seasoning

½ Tbsp garlic and chili flake seasoning

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon

(see notes below for specific information about spices used and alternatives)

In a glass jar, mix all the dry seasonings and stir with a fork to mix well. Add olive oil and stir to mix. Close jar and let stand for a few hours (I let mine sit overnight). You want the garlic, shallots and onions to rehydrate and bloom in the oil.

Remove innards package from chicken cavity and reserve for later use (for stock). Using your finger or the back of a wooden spoon, loosen the breast skin to create a pocket and spoon a couple of teaspoons of seasoning mix under the skin on both breasts. Rub about two or three teaspoons of the seasoning inside the cavity. Using a fork, make punctures on the lemon and stuff inside the cavity**. Rub the remainder of the seasoning all over the chicken.

At this point, you may start cooking, if you wish. I placed the chicken in a container and refrigerated overnight. If you refrigerate, make sure you take the chicken out 15-30 minutes so that the meat is closer to room temperature when you are ready to cook.

Preheat Air Fryer. Place chicken in basket and Air Fry at 360-degrees for 30 minutes, breast down. Air Fry for another 30 minutes breast side up. Let it rest for 10 minutes and carve—the chicken should come right off the bone and the meat will be juice and tender. Remove lemon from cavity and press down with spoon to squeeze out juices, and combine with pan juices to drizzle over chicken. The skin will turn not only golden brown, but extra crispy!

Notes (*some Amazon affiliate links below, if you want to help a girl out with a click or two):

1. I used McCormick’s minced garlic, though if I’d been using fresh garlic, I’d suggest at least three cloves.*

2. Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute is a salt free blend of onion, black pepper, celery seed, cayenne pepper, parsley, basil, marjoram, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, savory, rosemary, cumin, mustard, coriander, garlic, carrot, orange peel, tomato, lemon juice and lemon oil.*

3. I used Pampered Chef’s three onion rub, a gluten free blend of yellow, red and green onions (contains 40 ml sodium).

4. Penzeys offers freeze dried shallots and poultry seasoning (a salt free blend of sage, white pepper, bell peppers, lemon peel, savory, rosemary, dill weed, allspice, thyme, marjoram and ginger).*

5. Brandless has a great, organic garlic and chili flake seasoning blend.

6. The combination of spice blends used makes the addition of salt and pepper unnecessary.

** As the lemon is not exactly “stuffing”, there’s no need to secure it inside the cavity—but I still use two or three toothpicks to close the flap over the top and allow the lemon to steam and also to get an even crisp on the skin all around.

Mélange: Sardinian Cuisine

3. Sardinian Cuisine

Mom has a trace of Sardinian ancestry. Although at this point we’d be guessing, it is a safe bet that this is form her maternal side—specifically her maternal grandfather’s side of the family.

I half expected Corsicans, but Sardinians caught us both by surprise. Admittedly, I know very little about Sardinia. The fact that there is a Catalan connection is news to me, and I found the Wikipedia entry fascinating and a gateway to all sorts of knowledge I did not possess before and now I must have! Every hyperlink lead to another epic page of fascinating facts—including an aside to the page about the giants of Mont’e Prama who reminded me of The Iron Giant.

From its ancient history to its beautiful architecture to the beautiful beaches, Sardinia is immensely interesting. But, of course, it is the food that we wanted to know more about…

It actually turns out that we already have a dish in our repertoire that is very much the ringer for one of Sardinia’s national dishes. According to Sardinia Unlimited, a “typical [S]ardinian pasta” . . . fregola is made of semolina and rolled into balls, and one of the most delicious ways to serve it is with seafood in a saffron broth. To me, the Sardinian delicacy looks very much like my Mom’s seafood medley with pearl couscous. The difference, apparently, is that fregola is toasted—but Mom actually toasts the pearl couscous before cooking it, so I expect we’ve already achieved the taste profile for the dish (toasting the pasta makes it taste a little nutty).

I am toying with making malloreddus (Sardinian gnocchi) with sausage. In one of the recipes I consulted, it was suggested to substitute with cavatelli—though specialty shops will likely have malloreddus. There are two recipe variations that I want to play with, in each you’ll cook the pasta to al dente in salted boiling water to package instructions. Always reserve ½ cup of pasta water to add to the sauce at the end of cooking.

Malloreddus del Pastore (Sardinian Gnocchi with Sausage and Ricotta)

½ lbs whole milk Ricotta

¼ cup freshly grated Pecorino (recipe calls for Sardinian Pecorino, but in a pinch Romano will do)

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

½ lbs spicy pork sausage, casings removed

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 TB extra-virgin olive oil

In a bowl, mix cheeses and pepper, and beat until smooth.

Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat and cook sausage. Crumble with the back of a spoon or spatula, and turn to make sure pork browns and cooks through evenly (between 8-10 minutes). Add garlic and mix in for about a minute. Fold in pasta, the pasta liquid, and the cheese mixture stirring to coat pasta with sauce. Remove from heat and serve.

Note: there is no salt in the sausage mixture because there’s enough salt content in the cheeses and the pasta. To serve drizzle extra virgin olive oil over pasta.

Malloreddus alla Campidanese (Sardinian Gnocchi with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Saffron)

½-1 lbs fresh tomatoes

½ cup of grated Pecorino

½ tsp saffron threads

½ cup water

1 onion

2-3 garlic cloves

1 lbs pork sausage

Extra-virgin olive oil

Basil leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Have a bowl of ice water on the side. Heat up water to a boil. Score the bottom of tomatoes with a knife and add to boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove from pot and immediately add to ice water. Reserve ½ cup of warm water, add saffron, and set aside.

Mince onion, garlic. Peel tomatoes (see note), chop into small pieces and set aside.

Heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium-high heat, sauté garlic and onion until onion is translucent. Add sausage, brown lightly for 4-5 minutes and crumble. Add tomatoes and basil leaves, the saffron water, and salt and pepper to taste (it’s safer to under-season and adjust at the end). Stir and simmer on low heat for 30-45 minutes.

Note: peeling the tomatoes is not absolutely necessary, and if you are skipping that step then do not boil or immerse in iced water. To serve, fold in pasta and Pecorino, stir to coat pasta in sauce and remove from heat. Drizzle with olive oil, garnish with fresh basil leaves and additional cheese and freshly ground pepper.

Mélange: Senegalese Cuisine

2. Senegalese Cuisine

Both my mother and I have a trace of ancestry shared with folks from Senegal. It is difficult to determine whether this is entirely from my maternal side or if I also share a little bit from my paternal DNA. But then, the African ancestry is problematic because all the multicultural mixing means we strayed far from the motherland in many ways.

Senegal is the westernmost point in continental Africa (a nice swim across from Cape Verde). A base of operations used by the Portuguese, Dutch, and British slave traders; Senegal was eventually taken over by the French. Whether any Portuguese and French ancestry is attached to Senegal is unclear—we’ll never know!

Because of its colonial history, Senegalese cuisine is influenced by Northern African, French and Portuguese culinary traditions. And because Senegal is one of the most ethnically diverse nations in the African continent, regional variations of dishes abound.

Popular ingredients range from chicken and lamb (which make up for plenty of stew recipes). A coastal nation, Atlantic fish is also an important part of their diet. Their biggest crop is peanuts, and certainly there are plenty of peanuts sauce recipes in their repertoire. They also grow couscous, white rice, yams, lentils and peas. I like all of this, which adds to the mystery of why I don’t have more Senegalese dishes in my own catalogue. Because they are predominantly Muslim, though, they have no pork in their diet. Other than that, their food seems pretty tasty.

While it is entirely possible, I don’t specifically recall having any Senegalese food. I have had my eye on a recipe for a few years but it still hasn’t made the rotation: chicken stew (poulet yassa). My interest has not waned but we have encountered a problem: Mom seems to have developed an allergy to mustard and this means rethinking the marinade.

The beauty of Chicken Yassa is that it is such a versatile dish:

1. it can be made with thighs, legs, breasts or a whole cut up chicken,

2. it can be in winter or summer (grilled or in the oven), and

3. there are enough variations that adaptations are easy to conceive.

Chicken Yassa requires four important steps: (1) marinade (for taste as well as tenderizing), (2) brown meat, (3) sauté onions, and (4) simmer. The marinating can be done overnight, and the dish requires light hands-on work. You won’t have to stand watch over the stove while it cooks. So, if you make this for guests, you can enjoy their company—plus it can be made ahead and reheated.

And while the recipe and its taste profile seem familiar enough, what distinguishes this dish is the onion marinade. It gives it a nice kick. The dish is said to have originated in Southern Senegal, but I suspect a Northern African influence because the marinade resembles scabetche (or escabeche for my Latino cousins).

Poulet Yassa (Senegalese Chicken Stew)

For marinade:

4-6 onions thinly sliced

½ cup vegetable or peanut oil (divided)

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced

½ cup lemon juice (approximately 4 lemons)

½ cup red wine vinegar

1 chile pepper (or a jalapeño) chopped* (see notes)

2 tablespoons Sriracha mayonnaise* (see notes)

Salt and pepper to taste* (see notes)

1 whole chicken cut in serving pieces or 3-4 lbs in chicken thighs, legs, and breasts (skin on)

½ cup water (or low sodium chicken stock)

Optional:

One large carrot cut in ¼-inch slices

¼ cup of salad olives

Mix ¼ cup of oil and all ingredients together to create marinade and rub onto chicken. Refrigerate overnight.

Remove chicken from marinade. Grill chicken 10-15 minutes per side (brown but do not fully cook).

Heat ¼ cup of oil in pan on medium and sauté onions until soft and translucent.  Add rest of marinade, carrots and olives (if using), and water (or stock), bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 5-8 minutes.

Add chicken to pan, reduce heat to simmer. Cook until chicken juices run clear (20-30 minutes).

Notes:

1. To make the Sriracha Mayonnaise: mix 1 cup of mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons of powdered garlic, 1 tablespoon of Sriracha, 1 lemon juiced (if you have no lemons, you may use limes for a slightly different tartness, or substitute with a tablespoon or two of vinegar), and a pinch of sea salt (alternatively, you may substitute salt with a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce). This can be made ahead and keeps well refrigerated.

2. If using Dijon mustard (or my Sriracha mayonnaise alternative) you may wish to curtail additional salt—especially if you’ll also add olives at the end. The same can be said for pepper—it depends on how much heat you enjoy. Taste the marinade before adding to chicken, do not over-season.

3. Most yassa recipes include a cube of Maggi or chicken stock, but we omitted and used water instead to keep the sodium content relatively low.

4. You can use bell peppers, if you prepper a milder taste.

You may serve with additional lemon slices (if you like it tart). Serve over rice (white or brown) or couscous. Bon appétit, mon ami!

Mélange: Native American—Andean Cuisine

Those of you who know me, or who read Volume 2 of The Food Goddess cookbook, know that I am the product of several generations of interracial/multicultural marriages. And I have tried to incorporate dishes from all the ethnic groups and national regions that I knew about. I always loved the idea of having a global cultural heritage and making it my own.

After taking Ancestry’s DNA testing, we were surprised about what we each inherited but also what we both lacked that we expected to find in our personal maps. There were some surprises, and what I want to do is combine Mom’s and my results and add recipes for each country of origin we didn’t know about. And we have lots of choices because my people liked to travel and mix it up!

There are three goals here:

1. To expand our culinary repertoire,

2. To learn a little more about our ancestors and honor them in doing so, and

3. To inspire me to blog more regularly.

So this is the first in a series which I’ll call “mélange”—mostly because that’s just a medley and often a delicious one, so it seems appropriate. I’ll be exploring cultural entries from our collective DNA map and coming up with the most interesting recipes I find (and there may be some rumor, speculation and innuendo thrown in, maybe a fact or two, but mostly an excuse to cook!).

Countries and cultures will be chosen at random and will not appear in any preset order, except whatever whim drives me that week… To start us off, I will try to choose cultures and regional cuisines I haven’t covered yet, and then revisit those I am well versed in (and that I’ve shared with you already).

1. Native American—Andean Cuisine

Both Mom and I inherited a trace of Andean heritage, which in my mind translates to New World Highlander! And while I am not aware of whether this is a trace of my mother’s paternal grandmother or an older ancestor, modern day relatives appear to be spread out around the western coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile (see map).

And while I will certainly revisit each of these countries' cuisines, I wanted to start with Andean food in general. I love the idea of starting with something pre-Columbian. We could easily to lump it into some sort of Incan ancestor, the truth is that there are several cultures in the area--including the Atamaca, Aymara, Kichwa, Quechua and Uru people (not including the Colombian indigenous folks along the Andes).

The gifts Andean culture bestowed on civilization include the domestication of squash around 8000 BCE by the Las Vegas culture from present-day Ecuador. These mountain folks, through the centuries, mastered agriculture and had consumable crops that still exist today, and some of which I have indulged in with careless abandon—some even led me to criminal behavior and it is not the obvious one!—from potatoes to tomatoes, chile peppers, pineapples, peanuts, several varieties of beans, cotton and coca.

Andean cuisine is replete with vegetables, especially tubers, so the vegetarians and vegans will find great options here (just steer clear of anything that says cuy and ask no questions about it).

When we make a large batch soup--as opposed to a quickie wonton soup--on one of its leftover iterations, it is likely to get an infusion of cornmeal to thicken it (especially nice with a chicken asopao). And while soup and stew season is about to end here, we do have several rainy days coming our way so that cornmeal soup sounds awesome. The word chochoca is Quechua for a type of maize flour (cornmeal). The soup is generally made with beef or pork (spare ribs), but it works as a filling and satisfying vegetarian dish as well. Here’s an easy version to get you started.

Caldo de Chochoca (Cornmeal Soup)

½ cup of cornmeal

1 cups of water

2 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil

1 ½ lbs of beef (for stew, in bite sized pieces)

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 leek, chopped

1 medium to large onion, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon of aji colorado* paste

6-8 cups of water

2 or 3 medium potatoes, cut in pieces

½ cup of shredded white cabbage

1/8 cup chopped mint

Salt to taste

Lightly season meat with salt and set aside. Heat oil in a Dutch oven under medium low flame. Sautee garlic and onion (until translucent but not so long that garlic browns). Add the aji colorado (see note below), and stir until well mixed.

Add meat, celery, leek, until meat is browned on all sides. Add water and bring to a boil.  Add potatoes, cabbage and half the mint leaves. Cover and cook until the potatoes are tender (at least 20 minutes).

Add the cornmeal and stir until fully incorporated (the broth will thicken and gain a velvety finish). Add salt, if needed, and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve hot and garnish with remaining mint leaves.

Notes:

1. You may make your own aji colorado paste (panca pepper paste). If you want to make your own, there is a recipe here. If you have a good international section in your market, you may purchase any of these: Inca Food’s Aji Panca, Doña Isabel’s Panca Pepper Paste.

2. I saw a recipe that includes daikon, though I don’t know that this is a traditional ingredient. I saw another recipe that included corn on the cob, cut in one-inch pieces, added at the end as you add the chochoca.

3. You may use spare ribs, though this is best left for a lazy Sunday when you have time to let the broth simmer for an hour or more.

4. You may also make your own cornmeal, and there is a great piece about it here.