in good taste, vol. 90: spring seasoning
color moods, a jet lag rooster, and spring chicken with olives and orange
I find I have significant flavor cravings during transitional seasons. Like clockwork, late February hits and I am ready to snack on Florida strawberries, asparagus and goat cheese, a fresh leek and buttered radishes. (And Girl Scout Cookies.)
There are recipes I enjoy making every spring and fall, but the transition also gives me a bit of a creative itch. Last year’s spring experiment was rhubarb cordial from David Lebovitz’s Drinking French, an exercise in patience (it takes over a month). This spring, as you’ll see in this edition’s recipe, I am hungry for a bit of citrus, a bit of brine, and a bit of zest. The heart wants what it wants! Spring seasoning! Bon appétit!
A SCATTERING OF GOOD TASTES
Offline:
Presently diving into two new-to-me reads: Euphoria by Lily King (I loved her novel Writers & Lovers) and To Fall In Love, Drink This, a memoir by the queen of the natural wine movement, Alice Feiring.
Streaming Daisy Jones & The Six for very fluffy evening entertainment. I didn’t read the book, but doesn’t seem like I missed out on much 🥴
Subscriptions of note: Cook’s Illustrated, Southern Cultures Magazine (UNC Press), last Sunday’s NYT with a full-page Pinterest print ad!
Admiring:
Picasso’s Normandy château, 50 years after his death
The latest on the UK branding beat: Paddington Central’s brand elements that are naturally dynamic, and change throughout the day
Georgia O’Keeffe’s 20-acre Santa Fe home is for sale, asking a cool, crisp $1.5 mil. Allegedly there are 21 bedrooms, surely we can go in as a group?
This 400+-year old restaurant in Kyoto
In absolute love with this maximalist dream of a home
Other items of note:
The Right-Now List is a great way to confront procrastination tendencies
and the “4A Framework” can help you say 1 idea in 1,000 unique ways
Color theory via color stimulation: this little palette generator suggests pairs of colors based on the amount of stimulation
Interesting connections between a home’s interior colors and mental health
Not too proud to admit I got kinda sucked into this incredibly silly browser game called “Car Boot Carnage” (lol) … a game that is seriously just organizing the trunk of a car
Listening to:
Sadly for my husband and cat, this Taylor Swift Eras playlist has been our weekend’s soundtrack, in anticipation of the Tampa show
The Row’s “March 2023” playlist
And a few songs: “I Wish It Was Me” (Obongjayar), “Black Night Woman” (F.J. MacMahon), “Hello Walls” (Willie Nelson), “Wish I Was” (Kim Deal)
SPRING CHICKEN WITH OLIVES & ORANGES
Longtime listeners know we consume quite a bit of roasted chicken in this house, to a point that I am now presenting things like “my favorite chicken scissors” as gifts to other Friends of Poultry.
Lately I have been craving bright, acidic flavors against the softness of a roasted chicken. I made a significant adaptation (in both technique and ingredient) to Melissa Clark’s “Chicken tagine with blood orange” from Dinner in French.
This roasted chicken is a fresh, vibrant one for early spring dinners. There’s some depth to it, thanks to ginger, nutmeg, and turmeric, but it’s made for sunnier days with briny green olives and the addition of a quick-preserved orange.
INGREDIENTS
3 tbsp., olive oil
2 tbsp., butter, cubed
2 tbsp., salt
1 tbsp., pepper
1 tsp., ground coriander
1 tsp., ground ginger
1 tsp., turmeric
1 tbsp., ground fennel seeds
A pinch of saffron, ground with a mortar + pestle
¼ tsp., nutmeg
3-4 lb. whole chicken, patted dry and seasoned with salt + pepper
3 leeks, sliced lengthwise and white parts sliced
1 fennel bulb, fronds removed and chopped
1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
Zest of 1 orange, then ½ of that orange reserved
¼ cup Castelvetrano olives, halved
1 orange, quick-preserved (more below)
3 tbsp., white vinegar
Quick-preserved orange ingredients:
1 orange, cut in rounds and then halves
3 tbsp. sugar
¼ cup lemon juice
1 ½ tbsp. salt
WHAT TO DO
Heat oven to 350. Combine salt, pepper, coriander, ginger, turmeric, fennel seeds, saffron, orange zest, and nutmeg into a bowl. Season the entire outside and inside of the chicken.
Line the bottom of a roasting pan with leeks, fennel, tomatoes, drizzle with the olive oil and any remaining seasoning from the chicken rub. Scatter the butter cubes around the vegetable mix, and add an additional teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Lay the chicken on top of the vegetables (I like to use a roasting rack, but on top of the mix works as well). Stick half the zested orange inside the chicken, and drizzle about a tablespoon more of olive oil all over the chicken. Place bird and vegetables in the oven with an in-oven thermometer - cooking until a thigh registers 160F.
Quick-preserved orange, as the chicken cooks:
Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Add orange pieces, simmer for 5 minutes, then remove, rinse and drain them. In the same saucepan, add water, salt, sugar, and lemon juice, stirring to dissolve, then add orange slices back in and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove and pat dry.
When the chicken is done cooking, remove to a cutting board to let it rest. Add olives, oranges, white vinegar, and a pinch of flaky sea salt to the roasting pan, making sure the remaining vegetables are coated. Stick back in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is ready to carve.
I served the chicken pieces on top of the saucy vegetables with sliced baguette and a bright salad of gem lettuce, cucumber, and chopped chives in strawberry vinegar and lemony olive oil.