These Chicken Thighs Can Go to the Devil!

Plus: Nicole Rucker's Key Lime Pie, A Farmer's Market Cheese Plate, and Craig's Birthday Dinner at Le Rock.

Hey everyone,

Have you ever had a recipe totally knock you out? Like a total TKO?

That’s what happened to me yesterday when I set about making one of the most complicated dishes I’ve ever made because Craig (my better half) requested it for his birthday: Suzanne Goin’s Devil’s Chicken Thighs with Braised Leeks and Dijon.

I first made this for Craig in April 2006 which is the month and year that we met and started dating, which is why he requested it again nineteen years later. He says it’s the first thing that I ever cooked for him and that sounds about right… I was eager to impress.

This recipe is actually an excellent education in what makes a chef a chef vs. just a home cook. All of the details here — especially the use of alliums (raw onions in the chicken marinade, shallots in with the leeks, the leeks themselves, shallots in with the mustard coating) — reveal the genius of Suzanne Goin, one of the country’s best chefs.

Here’s a video I made of the whole process (there are even some flames, for those who like drama!):

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The end result?

The most deeply flavorful chicken, infused with vermouth, seared until golden, coated in a mustard mixture and topped with brown-butter bread crumbs sitting on the most luscious, deep-tasting leeks (especially from the worked up brown bits of chicken). Was it worth all that effort?

Yes! It felt like a true birthday gift, albeit one that’ll take me a week to recover from making. But look at the happy birthday boy and his fellow diners:

He also requested a key lime pie for dessert, so of course I had to make Nicole Rucker’s recipe.

It’s actually a really easy pie to make — just condensed milk, egg yolks, lime zest, and lime juice in a graham cracker crust — though I would like to take a class on pressing the crust in properly so that it’s easier to slice at the end. I had some issues, though it tasted divine.

For an appetizer, we went earlier in the day (despite the freezing weather) to the farmer’s market where Craig picked out some cheeses in the cold.

We had a Tommes already in the fridge so we served that (it’s a raw cow’s milk cheese) with the Morbier and Cheddar (?) we got at the market, all of which were great with these grocery store dried cranberries and crackers.

For Craig’s big birthday restaurant meal, we went out with our pals Diana, Rob, and Kath to the snazziest New York restaurant — perfect for a birthday: Le Rock in Rockefeller Center.

You may recall that I went to Le Rock with my parents and they found it “too noisy” and I found it a little stuffy but on Saturday night it was dreamy: a much younger crowd (apparently SNL people eat there… they even have an SNL 50 cocktail), so chic with the mid-century lighting fixtures etc, and so cozy to come into from the cold.

Craig ordered the scallops because scallops are his favorite:

And I had the duck which was glazed and cooked to perfection:

And for dessert, Craig had a soufflé and we all sang happy birthday. Here’s a video that Rob made (he went to film school with Craig which is why this looks so good):

Happy birthday, Craig!

Mine’s coming up in two weeks so this is a quid pro quo situation: I want the chicken, the restaurant, the works.

Now let’s look at some links:

• How a Dubai Chocolate Took Over the World (this looks amazing; NYT);

• Baz Luhrmann’s New York Bar is as Dramatic as His Films (Eater NY);

• New Square Feature Allows Customers to Tip with Bible Quote (I legit thought this was real; The Onion).

That’s all for today, folks!

See you back here on Thursday….

Your pal,
Adam