This breezy seasonal dinner from David Tanis features a soup, braised chicken and a gelato you can make in advance.
Here's a menu for a fine cool-weather spring meal. Nearly every part of it can be prepared in advance, which is always a huge advantage for the host when entertaining at home. The soup and its garnish suffer not a bit cooked a day in advance; a chicken braise only improves in flavor; and the gelato tastes fine after several days in the freezer. This gives a cook the option of preparing each dish separately, when time permits, rather than attempting to produce the meal all in one go.
Recipe: Ceci Bean Soup With Red Pepper Pesto
Ceci beans, a.k.a. chickpeas, are wonderful for a flavorful and warming soup. This recipe works as a first course, but it can also be satisfying as a meal on its own.
Though canned chickpeas are convenient, preparing dried chickpeas could not be easier. The peas are soaked overnight before cooking, but they only take an hour of unattended gentle simmering after that. The big reward is the delicious broth that's part of the process. In fact, once you acquire the habit of cooking a pot of well-seasoned beans, you'll find you rarely resort to the bland canned variety.
For this soup, the chickpeas and their broth are simmered with onion and carrot chunks. Part of the soup is puréed to add body, but it is still a fairly rustic affair. (If desired, the soup can be puréed completely to a silky smoothness for a more elegant version.) A quickly made roasted red pepper pesto with a touch of ground cayenne, stirred into each bowl, adds a welcome brightness.
Recipe: Braised Chicken With Rosemary and Crispy Artichokes
Whole bone-in chicken legs make an impressive presentation for a savory, saucy main-course braise.
First, assemble the sauce on the stovetop, with white wine, chicken stock, garlic, onion, a dab of tomato paste and spoonful of flour. Arrange the chicken legs in a roasting pan with a few sprigs of rosemary, then pour the sauce over them, leaving the legs partially exposed. Pop the pan into the oven uncovered and roast until the chicken skin has turned a deep burnished mahogany and the meat is nearly falling off the bone. In the process, the pan juices reduce and thicken to a dark gravy-like glaze, which practically begs to be served with a soft spoonful of polenta.
But it is baby artichokes, truly a springtime delicacy, that are the star of the show. In California they can be found at farmers' markets; elsewhere they are stocked in the produce department of many supermarkets.
Yes, they are a little fiddly to prep, but not as difficult as larger artichokes. Egg-size baby artichokes, you see, have no hairy choke to remove. All that is necessary is to peel away a layer of dark petals to reveal the tender pale green part.
Then tops and bottoms are trimmed and the little artichokes can be halved or quartered. They can be kept in acidulated lemon water to keep them from oxidizing until you are ready to cook them. Once drained and patted dry, they are sautéed in olive oil in a wide skillet, where they turn golden and crisp. Serve them scattered over the chicken or on the side.
The last crucial step is to sprinkle a mixture of chopped parsley, mint, capers, lemon zest and a pinch of crushed red pepper over everything.
Recipe: Blood Orange Gelato
A hearty meal like this calls for a refreshing dessert. Blood oranges arrive in late winter and are usually available through April. Their ruby-red juice tastes profoundly of orange, but with hints of berry and an elusive somewhat tropical flavor.
Blood orange juice and sweet cream turns this gelato a pretty pale pink. Made without eggs (a tiny amount of cornstarch is added for the best texture), it freezes easily and quickly in a home ice cream machine.
If made in advance, the gelato should be removed from the freezer and allowed to soften slightly before serving. I suggest offering almond biscotti or other almond cookies alongside. This gelato has a delicate subtlety that invariably has guests asking for more.