Chicken! Or a short diversion from our Napa experience

We're back, and with work awaiting us tomorrow, we spent Sunday (Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!) tidying up, brunching at a standard issue NYC diner, roaming through the farmer's market, and prepping our Napa Part II blog post (tktktk).  But after all that wine and grilling in CA, I had a hankering for roast chicken.

This chicken brought to you by  Feather Ridge Farm 

I've been putting off this post. The truth is, Mr. Quail is the primary chef de cuisine at home. But I do have a few meals in my repertoire and one "recent" (4 years ago) addition is roast chicken, mainly because it requires an oven, and in the Quail household, the oven is my domain.

A Sunday Supper with 311

Ahh, Sunday.  A relaxing day to do errands, hang out with great friends (at Maialino no less.  Mmm...Carbonara), nap with cats, and spend a delightful evening with 311.

About that last part. The building behind ours has a leaky chimney, and as a result from time to time we get a lovely whiff of heating oil in our apartment. Thus, we spent an entire evening on the phone with the Department of Buildings.  But as a great man once said, little setbacks like these are sometimes just what we need to take a giant step forward*. While still on hold, we managed to eke out Sunday supper at the Quails featuring greenmarket goods and pie (311 compelled us to retaliate with pie).

COURSE ONE: Whiskey sour

Call one: wait time 20 minutes. Result: dropped call as DOB specialist took down my complaint.

The secret to this whiskey sour? Eaaasy on the lemon. It's often too overpowering.

Grist and Grain

Today we have two subjects at hand, and both involve strange manipulations of grain. The first is a product we have come to admire: pasta made from farro by Rustichella d'Abruzzo. Farro is a grain more commonly known as spelt, and one commonly used in Italy. In this case we used their casareccia, which is somewhat like a penne that has been sliced lengthwise and twisted a bit. The second subject today is a tasting of The Bitter Drake, the Belgian-style ale brewed two months ago that (hopefully) is rounding into shape in time for summer. More on that later.

Springtime for Farmers and Ocean Perch

Just the other day we wandered through the Sunday Farmer's Market outside the American Museum of Natural History, and found a few signs of spring, like these geraniums:

Cigrons: Globalized

Since discovering the potential of cigrons (or garbanzos or chickpeas) in the famed Pinotxo bar in the Boqueria in Barcelona, Mr. Quail has invented brilliant ways of incorporating these "peas" into dinnertime. And while I still enjoy them in hummus or (low brow alert) the salad bar at Charlie Brown's Steakhouse, I devour his versions with werewolf-like gusto. Below, Mr. Quail reveals his latest--Globalized Cigrons.

Note: Picture Not Available (alas, meal eaten too fast).

Blue Plate Special: Sand Dabs

What's for dinner?
Sand dabs! These marvelous and oh-so-flat fish were succulent with a panko crust and a lemon caper sauce. Mr. Quail pan-fried them right quick in our new Le Crueset dutch oven. (A marvelous piece of equipment--thank you Tricia and Dan.) An eggwash will help the panko and salt and pepper stick. Make sure your oil is hot, hot, hot.

For the sauce, Mr. Quail heated up a some lemon, olive oil, chopped garlic, the world's greatest condiment (butter), and capers. It worked best using the same pan the dabs had recently vacated.

Fun fact: Our Citarella fishmonger explained that Sand Dabs vary in color according to their skin. All are delicious.

On the Side:

Mr. Quail used a leftover fennel head to make a crunchy salad that perfectly complimented the flaky dabs. For the vinaigrette, he whipped up some mustard, olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. He finished of the salad with some parsley, fennel fronds, and 6 grape tomatoes.
Secret ingredients: toss in some dried sour cherries and really awesome French raisins.

We also had slices of the pugliese from Grandaisy Bakery and, admittedly, olive oil and rosemary roasted potatoes from everyone's favorite organic frozen foods brand: Alexia. A gin and tonic--with diet tonic and Hendricks--rounded out a sumptuous Monday meal.