Chicken Livers with Passion Fruit, Pomegranate and Caramelized Dumpling Squash

Chicken Livers with Passionfruit-1

Winter is coming, and no matter what WHO says about meat, dammit, all of us need an occasional treat to balance the scales with life’s tricks.  Herewith Chicken Livers with with Passion Fruit, Pomegranate and Caramelized Dumpling Squash, exactly the kind of meal that Jody and I cook up at home when things have been crazy and we need to remind ourselves to slow down and savor what’s in front of us.  In the last month we’ve been to Haiti, where Jody cooked and taught up a storm and I photographed it all and much besides.  Right before our departure, one of Jody’s cooks fell and broke her ankle, which will keep her out of the kitchen for several months.  Since out return Jody’s been picking up the the slack (note the state of Jody’s hands in the photos), while I’ve been processing photos for all of the institutions we visited.  When we lift our noses from the grindstone, this is what we eat.

Roxanne’s Balsamic Chicken with Olives

Roxanne's Chicken-2789

Ah, children.  If you append the name of one child to a dish, the other will someday ask, “Why didn’t you ever name anything after me?”  Our son Oliver’s mastery of Oliver’s Chicken Stew made him a culinary hero to his impoverished roommates.  Our daughter turned 18 this week – sob – and reminded us that she needed a dish that she could take with her to college, something within her skill set that might make her a culinary goddess to her future roommates, something with her name on it.  Ergo Roxanne’s Balsamic Chicken with Olives.

Happy Birthday to us – Poached Chicken Breasts with DIY Mayonnaise

We’re on an egg roll these days.  Last week zabaglione, this week Poached Chicken Breasts with DIY Mayonnaise–and next week… well, you’ll just have to check back next week.  One hint, picnic.  And no, I’m not talking about deviled eggs.

As a younger–and thinner–man, I used to make mayonnaise a lot.  I also used to eat chicken breasts.  Then the original “white meat” took over the world as the healthy convenient food of choice and I just walked away in search of tastier pastures.  I can’t explain why I stopped making mayonnaise, except to say that after I got involved in the restaurant biz, we just drifted apart.  So here we were, decades later, bumping up against each other. Can you ever really go home again? I wanted to find out.