Cook's Country

-Today on "Cook's Country," I'm making green goddess roast chicken.

Toni's diving into the history of green goddess dressing, Jack's telling us all about herbs, and Ashley's making a potato, green bean, and tomato salad.

It's all coming up right here on "Cook's Country."

-Green goddess dressing first hit the scene back in the 1920s out in California, and ever since, cooks have been using it to flavor all sorts of things, including my favorite, roast chicken, which is what I'm going to show you how to make today.

Now, green goddess gets its name from the green of fresh herbs, in particular chives, parsley, and tarragon.

So we're going to use a lot to make this dressing.

In total, it's 1/2 a cup of fresh chives.

We're going to put it in the blender so it all gets nicely mixed together.

It's good to give the herbs a head start on the chopping, so I'm going to chop them coarsely before blending them up.

So there are the chives.

1/2 a cup of parsley leaves.

Now, you want to leave out the parsley stems.

Those have a bit of a bitter flavor and they're pretty thick, so they don't break down so easily.

But I definitely will save them because they taste great when making stock or soup.

So we want 1/2 a cup of parsley leaves.

Obviously, all these herbs have been washed.

So we have chives and parsley, and last, but definitely not least, we're gonna add some tarragon, which has a bold anise/licorice flavor.

It is crucial for a good green goddess dressing, and we're going to use far less than we did of the parsley and the chives.

Just 4 teaspoons is enough to flavor the entire dressing.

And again, much like the parsley, you just want to use the tender leaves and stems.

You want to save that thick stem for something else.

And actually, I like dropping this stem into a soup or risotto or rice because it lends its flavor.

But then you can pluck it out at the end.

You just have a delicate tarragon flavor left over.

Alright, so set those thick stems aside, give this tarragon a little chop.

Into the blender all of this goes.

To flavor this, we're gonna add some buttermilk.

Now, this is just 1/4 of a cup of buttermilk.

And buttermilk's unusual in a green goddess dressing.

Usually you use mayonnaise, but we're going to marinate the chicken with some of this dressing, and when we used mayonnaise, it just overshadowed all the herbs and turned greasy.

Buttermilk gave us a much better flavor for the marinade.

So that was 1/4 cup of buttermilk, 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.

Last two little ingredients that add a big punch, we have to anchovy filets, and I've rinsed these so they're not as salty.

I'm gonna give them a quick chop before we put them into the blender.

Boy, these are nice, meaty anchovies.

I am an anchovy lover.

I eat them straight from the tin.

I have since I was a kid, and I can tell these are good ones.

Into the blender it goes.

And last, some garlic.

Just two cloves of fresh garlic.

And like everything else, I'm going to give it a head start and a quick chop before putting it in the blender.

Just take off the roots in the skins.

Like to smash it out of the skins.

Gets a head start on the chopping and it lets the skins just fall right away.

Quick chop.

That's it for the base of the green goddess dressing.

I'm going to put this on the blender, let it rip for about 30 seconds till it's a nice, fine puree.

Because it's not a lot of things in the blender jar, I often find you have to scrape down the sides to make sure that no parsley or big pieces of herbs get stuck on the sides of the jar.

You can smell that garlic and those fresh herbs.

That's pretty green and that's pretty smooth.

Now, some of this flavorful mixture will be used to marinate the chicken, but 2 tablespoons of it I'm going to use to make a sauce to serve with the chicken.

And much like tradition, I'm going to mix it with some mayonnaise.

So here I have 1/4 cup of mayonnaise and just a tablespoon of buttermilk.

That'll just help loosen the mayonnaise up to make a good sauce.

[ Chuckling ] Oh.

Mm-hmm!

So we'll set this sauce aside for later.

And now let's focus on the chicken.

Now, we're going to marinate the chicken in the rest of this dressing, but I haven't added any salt yet.

Alright, so into the bag I'm going to add a teaspoon and a half of table salt and I'm gonna add all the rest of this beautiful dressing.

Oh, it's like someone put summer inside a blender and just blended it up.

Now I'm going to get in here and scrape it all out because, as I said, this stuff is liquid gold.

I'm just going to stir this mixture a little bit to help incorporate that salt evenly into the green goddess.

[ Chuckles ] Alright, we'll set that aside.

And now it's time for the chicken.

Here I have a whole chicken, about 3 1/2 pounds.

Whenever I buy chicken, I almost always buy it whole and cut it up myself.

That way I know the parts are from the same chicken and will cook at the same rate, but I also love the other parts, the wings and the backbones for stock.

So what you want to have is a boning knife, and the first thing I'm gonna do is hold up the chicken by its wing.

That just exposes this wing joint that you can then just easily cut around.

Get in there with the tip of the knife.

When you find the right spot, the knife will just go right through.

So that's two wings.

Next, it's time to take the legs off, and the legs are really just attached to the breast by skin, and so what you want to do is you want to slice through the skin.

Now, I found over the years that you really want to slice into the skin towards the drumsticks.

That way you have plenty of skin left on the breast meat.

So now when you get in and you can see the joint right there, you just pop out that joint.

You can see it right there.

And that'll tell you where to cut to separate the legs from the body.

There's one leg.

Do this on the other side.

We're going to cut the legs down into thighs and drumsticks.

What you want to do is look for this line of fat that really divides the two, and you want to cheat it to the drumstick side.

That's how you'll slide right through that joint.

And then you have the thigh.

You can trim that up.

Now we're just left with the breast and the backbone.

And to butcher this, I like to use a pair of scissors or really good poultry shears.

So what I'm gonna do is flip this over.

You can see there's this line of fat here separating the back from the breast.

I'm going to cut up that line.

[ Bone crunches ] You can hear it just go right through the bones.

That's one side.

Do it on the other side, right down that line of fat.

And there's the backbone.

Beautiful.

Now we're left with the whole breast.

And first I'm going to cut it down the middle into two split breasts.

Easily done.

And now to make the breast pieces the same size as the drumsticks and the thighs, we're going to cut each breast in half.

Now, I say in half, but I'm really not cutting in half.

If I cut it in half, it would be like that.

You'd have a dinky side and this big fat side.

So really, it's more like 2/3, 1/3.

There's one.

And there's two.

Into the bag all these pieces go.

Scraps go into this bowl for a later batch of stock.

And as I add them, I am going to really make sure they get coated with that gorgeous green sauce.

[ Chuckling ] Oh, it smells so good.

This chicken needs to marinate for at least two hours, but can be done up to 24 hours in advance.

Now, I'm going to put the bag in a nice, clean bowl in the fridge, but first, I'm gonna wash my hands.

This marinated chicken is ready for the oven, and here I have a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, and that's all you need to cook this chicken.

It'll sit right on the foil.

The foil just makes cleanup super easy.

So, I'm going to roll back the edges of this bag and go in with tongs and start pulling out the chicken.

Now, usually when we marinate chicken, we like to wipe off the marinade before roasting.

Not in this case.

This marinade has a ton of flavor.

We want as much of it to stick to the chicken as possible.

So as I put the pieces of chicken on the baking sheet, I'm just going to spread out the skin, make sure it covers all the meat.

That way it'll get good and crisp.

This chicken is going to go into a rippin'-hot oven of 475 degrees.

Now, that's very hot, but it's going to really get the chicken skin nice and brown and cook it through pretty quickly.

It's only going to take about half an hour.

-There is a lot to like about green goddess dressing -- loads of fresh herbs, garlic, and rich mayonnaise.

It's a loud, tangy dressing with just as splashy an origin story.

Although in recent years, a bit of controversy has also been revealed in that story.

Celebrated actor George Arliss stayed at the Palace Hotel while appearing in his play, "The Green Goddess," a play that is now seen as racially insensitive.

Palace chef Philip Roemer created a special salad dressing in honor of Arliss and the play.

Some sources claim that Roemer took his inspiration from a French sauce served to King Louis the XIII.

The dressing remained popular after the touring company moved on, and over the years, cookbook authors and chefs created their own versions.

James Beard included an adaptation in "American Cookery" that featured tarragon, anchovies, chives, and scallions.

Other adaptations included sour cream.

And in the 1970s, avocado was a popular addition.

At "Cook's Country," we saw the potential and the dressing's vibrant flavors as a marinade and a sauce.

-[ Chuckling ] Oh, that smells good.

So, it's been about 30 minutes.

Time to check the chicken.

Now, I know some of you were probably wondering if the skin was actually going to get crisp because it had all that marinade on it.

But you can see the hot heat of the oven really did its thing and it's gorgeous and brown.

Now, the best way to tell if the chicken is done is to use an instant read thermometer, and the breast meat, you really want to register around 160.

Perfect, 162.

And for the thigh meat, it'll be done by the time the breasts are done, but it generally should be a little bit higher than the breast meat, anywhere between 175 and 200.

Perfect.

Alright.

So this chicken needs to rest just for 10 minutes before we can dive in and eat it.

I'm going to cover it with foil just to help keep it warm.

The chicken is rested and it's ready to taste.

[ Chuckling ] Oh!

It is just beautiful, isn't it?

Let me get it off this hot baking sheet.

Mmm, beautiful.

Ooh, this looks like a nice thigh, and maybe also a breast piece.

Mmm.

I like the white meat, but the dark meat, it is my favorite.

Little bit of sauce.

[ Chuckles ] Mmm, now for a taste.

Ooh, got a little skin, a little sauce, a little meat.

Mmm.

Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

That chicken is so juicy thanks to that buttermilk brine, and you have the cooked flavor of the herbs, but then that fresh flavor of the herbs from the sauce, the garlic to the tarragon, the chives.

So if you want to make this delicious roast chicken, remember to marinate the chicken in a buttermilk mixture and roast it in a rippin'-hot 475-degree oven.

From "Cook's Country," the ultimate recipe for green goddess roast chicken.

-I can't imagine cooking without fresh herbs.

Not only do they make food taste better, but they also make it look better, and we do eat with our eyes.

So I divide the world of herbs into two categories, tender and hearty.

Now, the tender ones have more tender stems.

They also have more delicate flavor.

So in addition to the chives and the dill and the tarragon here on the table, that includes parsley, cilantro, mint.

They have a sort of more gentle flavor.

Not mild, but gentle.

And these herbs are also interchangeable with each other in terms of quantity.

You know, if a recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of cilantro, you can use 2 tablespoons of parsley.

Flavor's totally different, but the sort of level of intensity's similar.

On this side, we've got the hearty herbs.

They have woodier stems.

It's the sage, the oregano, the thyme, the rosemary.

Much more potent flavors.

In addition to how much you might add to a recipe, this really impacts whether or not it's a candidate for using in dried form.

Now, while I use fresh herbs probably 98% of the time, I do occasionally use dried herbs.

The hearty herbs -- the sage and the oregano and the thyme and the rosemary, they're candidates for drying.

Their essential oils will survive the drying process.

The big thing here is to use them early in a recipe.

So you wouldn't want to sprinkle dried sage over a plate of pasta, but you can add it to a chili, to a sauce, into a soup, to a stew early in the process so that the herb has time to hydrate, soften, and flavor the dish.

Let's turn back to fresh herbs, because honestly, that is really what I'm most passionate about.

And the biggest mistake that people make is the minute they walk in the door from the supermarket.

Most people will just put that cilantro into the plastic bag at the supermarket and throw it in the refrigerator and come back two days later, three days later.

This is what you have.

You have a lot of rot, especially underneath these ties or the rubber bands.

So when I get home, what I do is take a little care.

So this parsley, it's actually been in the fridge for a week and it looks beautiful.

I removed the rubber bands.

I washed and dried it, and then I put it in paper towels like this parsley here and slid it inside a zipper lock bag.

Now, you don't need to seal the zipper lock bag.

I'm actually going to sort of leave it open because of any moisture that's left here will continue to evaporate by leaving the bag open.

Fresh herbs are expensive, so really take the time to protect them when you get home.

And that way, they're going to be ready when you need them.

-Today, I'm making perfect pesto.

To start, add some oil to a skillet, add the pine nuts, and toast them until they're evenly brown.

Pour the pine nuts onto a plate to cool.

Pull the stems from four ounces of basil, and when you're done, you should have about 3 ounces of leaves.

Salt the boiling water then blanch the basil leaves for a few seconds.

This helps to lock in the bright green color once the pesto is pureed.

Quickly transfer the leaves to a salad spinner and spin them dry.

This is going to keep any unwanted water from diluting the flavor of the pesto.

Lay the basil on a dishtowel to wick away any of the excess moisture, grab the food processor and process that Parmesan until finely ground.

Hold the Parmesan to add to the pesto at the end.

Add the blanched basil, toasted pine nuts, the garlic, salt, and the olive oil to the food processor and process until smooth.

Stir the pureed pesto into that bowl of Parmesan.

Holding the Parmesan until the very end helps preserve some of its texture so you get a nice little pops of Parmesan flavor.

I have a pound of freshly cooked pasta here.

I'm going to add the pesto and a little bit of that pasta cooking water and toss to combine.

Green, bright, and flavorful.

Perfect pesto.

-I love potato salad.

I do, I love potato salad, but this potato salad recipe is different because it's packed full of a ton of herbs, some tomatoes, and tender green beans.

And it's not mayo based.

It's actually tossed with a super tangy vinaigrette.

So we're going to focus first on the potatoes.

We're going to be using some Yukon gold potatoes today.

They're super waxy and obviously going to get nice and tender once cooked.

I have 1 1/2 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes, and I'm going to cut them into 3/4-inch chunks, and the potatoes are unpeeled.

So this is as easy as it gets.

Potato salads are definitely an easy recipe, but this one has a bunch of great tricks, and one of them is to stagger the cooking.

So we're going to start the potatoes first before we start the green beans.

Let's add the potatoes to a large saucepan, and then you want to add enough water to the pan so that it covers the potatoes by about 1 inch.

Alright, that looks great.

Just going to give it a stir and then add 2 teaspoons of salt.

So we're going to be seasoning throughout the entire recipe at every stage, because we found that way you didn't have to add a ton of salt and pepper at the end.

It's going to be super well rounded and really, really well seasoned.

So I'm going to bring these potatoes up to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the potatoes are almost tender, which will take about seven minutes.

Now, meanwhile, I know I mentioned the tangy vinaigrette, but this is like one of the best vinaigrettes.

We have 1/2 a cup of extra virgin olive oil here in this large bowl.

And I'm going to add some white wine vinegar.

I've got 1/4 cup, and I'm just going to drizzle that in while I whisk, and then we're going to add some pepper.

We've got 3/4 of a teaspoon of black pepper, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and just whisk this until nice and combined.

I'm going to set aside about a 1/4 cup of this for later because we're going to be tossing it onto the potatoes in a little bit.

Now we're going to add capers.

It's a good amount.

We've got a 1/4 of capers.

I'm a huge caper fan.

It just adds the best salty brininess.

They're so good.

Some shallot.

It's just one shallot sliced thin.

And some tomatoes.

We've got 6 ounces of grape tomatoes that I halved.

Alright, now we've got a couple anchovies.

Now, anchovies are such a great secret weapon because they're full of glutamates.

So they have a ton of umami in them.

You'll know it's in there, but you won't know it's an anchovy.

I'm just going to mince it.

Alright, transfer that to this bowl here.

I'm going to give it one last stir, and I'm going to let the shallots and the tomatoes hang out in this vinaigrette, and the tomatoes are going to soften, the shallots are going to soften, and also, it's going to help to take the bite out of the shallot at this stage.

Okay, almost everything is ready to go except for our green beans.

So we've got 1 pound of green beans that I just need to trim and then cut into 1-inch pieces.

Just slice off the ends there.

And then 1 inch.

1 inch.

Perfect.

So let's put this in the sauce pan, and the green beans are actually going to cook with the potatoes in the same saucepan, which is great because it cuts down on dishes.

So the potatoes, again, they've cooked for seven minutes, and they're going to cook now with the green beans for an additional seven minutes.

Just going to give everything a good toss.

And this is staggered cooking.

So in order for this one-pot recipe to work as well as it does, I needed to jumpstart the potatoes first because they take longer to cook.

And then I added the green beans in the sauce pan once those were just tender, and then they'll be ready at the same time.

Again, about seven minutes.

It's been seven minutes, so I just want to check the green beans and potatoes to see if we are nice and tender.

Best way to do that is just to use a paring knife.

Go into the center of the potato, and if it meets no resistance, we are good to go.

So I'm going to drain these vegetables in a colander.

I'm about to show you one of my favorite tips for potato salad.

Lay everything flat in a single layer.

So now pour the vinaigrette over the potatoes and while the potatoes cool, they're going to absorb all of that dressing and the salt and pepper.

So it's going to season at every stage.

Clearly, that's the name of the game for this recipe.

So just gently toss everything together very carefully on the sheet pan.

And then you're going to put this aside and let it cool for about 15 minutes.

And we're almost done.

So while the potatoes cool, we are going to prepare our herbs.

Here I have a 1/4 cup of dill and 1/2 a cup of fresh parsley leaves.

I'm going to leave the parsley leaves whole, and that's a real great way to serve parsley, I think, especially in a salad, because it's a real substantial bite and it's going to give you that fresh parsley flavor.

For the dill, I'm going to go ahead and mince it.

So I'm going to add the dill and the parsley directly to the bowl that's been hanging out so patiently.

The tomatoes and the shallots and the capers.

Honestly, I could eat this just like this at this point.

So good.

It's time to assemble our salad.

So I'm going to add the green beans and our dressed potatoes into the bowl with the tomatoes and the shallots.

It already smells so good.

Yum, yum, yum.

Now, just give it a good mix.

This is a home run.

Okay, so just transfer it to a pretty platter.

Oh, wow, this looks so good.

And if you're having a party, this is definitely one of those make ahead kind of potato salads, and you can go hang out with everybody.

Now I'm going to get a little bit of everybody in here, and notice the shallot is not firm.

It's totally soft and pliable, which is great because it's not going to have that really strong onion flavor.

I know it's not going to surprise you, but I'm going to go for a potato first.

So tender.

Mmm!

That is so good.

Perfectly seasoned, completely dressed.

Let's do a little green bean action.

So tender.

That grassy, fresh parsley flavor I was telling you about, such a well-balanced potato salad.

This is absolutely delicious.

So, for the best, brightest potato salad, you want to remember these keys.

Stagger the cooking, pour your vinaigrette on the potatoes while they're still hot, and season at every stage.

From "Cook's Country," potato, green bean, and tomato salad.

Mmm.