Culinary School: Poultry (Dry Heat)

Poultry is so important we're spending two weeks on it. We learned all about chickens and hens and roosters and ducks and geese and quails and squabs and turkeys and capons and poussins (and I'm sure I'm leaving something out). It was confirmed that the treatment of chickens in this country is nothing short of a horror show, not to mention foie gras (poor ducks dragging around massive livers, never tried it, never will).

We each got our own chicken that we trussed, untrussed and cut in the way of the French. For some reason, I found the little raw chickens totally adorable. I think my baby fever has reached new, disturbing heights.

The picture above is lemon and rosemary roasted chicken.



These were turkey cutlets wrapped in prosciutto and topped with fried sage and a tomato sauce (not pictured). Delish! This is the way to cook a cutlet that is not dry!




Seared duck breast with oven roasted root veggies and a simple watercress salad. I really enjoyed this duck. I've only had it a few times, and although I know it's normally prepared a bit more on the rare side, I liked the flavor a lot.


Poussin (baby chicken) with an onion and apple sherry cream sauce. Awesome! The poussin had a really nice, chickeny flavor and the sauce was killer. What's not to love?


This was my favorite (yay Mattias!). Split, stuffed chicken. It was a whole chicken that was butterflied so it lay flat on a sheet pan, breast side up. It was stuffed under the skin with a zucchini and ricotta mixture with Parmesan, an egg, breadcrumbs and lots of herbs. More herbs and oil rubbed on the outside and roasted in a super hot convection oven. Shut up. I could have eaten the entire thing.

I think I was too hungry because I forgot to take pictures of the barbecued chicken and the fried chicken (which I made and was my first deep fry experience-loved it).

Workout: 90 minute power yoga class