What did the Spanish farmer say to his chicken? Oh lay!
Our affectionate, animal-loving son, Trainer, was predisposed to loving chickens. At the age of eight he had already worked with the renowned Chinese artist Huang Yong Ping on an installation at MASS MoCA, where Joe and I have worked for over 20 years, that involved snakes, scorpions, millipedes, and tarantulas. I’ll never forget his excited call from a herpetology store in New Hampshire. He’d been allowed to skip school and fly with his father and Huang Yong Ping to pick up the arachnids before the exhibition opened, and he reported to me breathlessly from his father’s cell phone, “Mom, Dad said I can use my allowance to buy a pet scorpion!”
Terrific.
He did buy a scorpion, and after the exhibition opened at the museum, Trainer took the curator up on her offer to give him the job of feeding the snakes weekly. So, in third grade, every Monday after the museum closed he’d go to MASS MoCA and feed the snakes. Often his five-year-old sister, Isabel, would come along and he’d entertain her. I once walked into the galleries to see a baby boa curling its way up her arm, looking like an exotic bracelet except for the fact that it was actually a snake shinnying its way up under her T-shirt into her cute little armpit. Curator Susan Cross insisted the snake wouldn’t hurt her, but my face must have registered the shock you’re probably experiencing as you read these words, for Trainer gingerly took back the snake and returned it to the cage.
So taking care of the fairest fowl was a natural for Trainer, although, as he’s approached his teenage years, it’s not beyond him to take out the BB gun to stun hawks that hover menacingly around the coop. These girls were his pets from day one; he talked to them, coddled them, fed them, collected their eggs, and named each chick.
Harry Potter was named after both his grandfather, whose name was Harry Potter Trainer, and a favorite book character. There were Buffy and Orpy (our two Buff Orpingtons), and Chicken King, who reminded us of a fast-food joint we like in Vieques, Puerto Rico. My all-time favorite name, though, was Hot Wheels, who was a Rhode Island Red that tore around the yard.
On warm afternoons, Trainer would sit on the front porch with a chick perched on his shoulder, or he would send the hens into an ecstatic trance by turning them on their back and rubbing their feet and chest. I’d often let them run around the yard in the afternoon, and as he came up the driveway after the school bus dropped him off, they’d trot across the hilly yard to greet him.
One night, when the chicks were about a year old, Hot Wheels disappeared. Chickens are homebodies and will naturally return to the coop as dusk approaches (it’s thought that birds lose their color vision at twilight, much earlier than do other animals), but this night Hot Wheels did not return. Our backyard is edged by a wooded slope that turns into the Appalachian Trail, and across the street from us is a river and railroad tracks, so the prospects weren’t good. I had gone to an evening meeting and came home at 10 p.m. to find Joe sitting glumly at the kitchen table. “Hot Wheels is gone,” he said. Trainer had gone to close the coop door when it got dark, counting the hens as he did every night, and came up one short. They hunted for her without luck, and eventually, inconsolable, Trainer had gone to bed. Joe didn’t have the heart to tell him to go to sleep when he heard Trainer, long past his bedtime, calling futilely to the dark night air out his upstairs bedroom window, “Hooooot Wheels. Hoooooooot Wheeeeeels.”
After I got home, Joe went out looking for her in the pouring rain. Later that evening, I pulled on my foul-weather gear and went out searching, combing the railroad tracks with a flashlight and calling out her name. No luck. It poured all night. In the morning, Joe got up early to check the road and tracks, thinking that at least he’d make sure the kids didn’t see a flattened Hot Wheels while they waited for the bus. No sign of her. A half hour later, as we all ate breakfast silently at the kitchen table, who should come trotting up the driveway, head hunkered into her shoulders against the driving rain, but Hot Wheels. She’d made it through the night.
We all wondered what she’d seen.
2 slices bacon, 1 sausage patty, or 1 slice Canadian bacon
1 teaspoon butter
1 egg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 slice cheddar cheese
1 English muffin or bulkie roll
Tabasco sauce or ketchup (optional)
Makes 1 sandwich
4 hard-boiled eggs (see page 39), peeled
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 celery stalk, strings removed, diced
½ small yellow onion, minced
½ red bell pepper, finely diced
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices whole-grain bread
Lettuce
Makes 2 sandwiches
This high-protein, low-carb salad has gotten a bad rap because of gloppy deli versions served on soggy bread. But, oh, how wonderful an egg salad can be when well made, with its bright yellow yolk, flecks of herbs, and a bit of mayonnaise as the tie that binds. This basic salad can be embellished with many flavorings — crumbly bacon, a chopped pickle, diced red bell pepper, capers, olives, chives, dill, or a sprinkling of curry powder. Serve with lettuce, and maybe cheese and tomato, on hearty bread sliced on the thin side. Toasting the bread will help prevent sogginess.
HOW TO MAKE
1 Coarsely chop the eggs or lightly mash them in a medium bowl. Add the mayonnaise and blend. Add the celery, onion, bell pepper, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste.
2 Toast the bread, place some lettuce on two slices, top with the egg salad, and then top with the remaining two slices of bread. Serve immediately.
3 hard-boiled eggs (see page 39), peeled
15 pimiento-stuffed green olives, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon minced onion
Salt and freshly ground black or white pepper
Makes 2 sandwiches
Nom de Plume or Nom de Feather?
Naming our earliest chicks was a treat. The first batch we named with great care, the process being the topic of many dinner conversations. Do you go with quirky old-fashioned names such as Harriet, Gertrude, and Marge or fanciful ones like Moon Pie and Lulu or, as my father suggested, let loose with the puns: Fowler D. Nest, Henrietta, Coquette, Egglesby, Peck and Peck for twins, and Sarah Barnheart? A friend’s mother kept a feisty little bantam rooster on her farm in Maine that she named Voldemort because he had all the appropriate personality traits. A hawk got him in the end, but while he was alive, for well over 5 years, he was a champion cock-a-doodle-doer. He rarely went more than a few minutes without issuing his call. They estimated conservatively that he crowed at least 100 times a day, every day, for his entire life. That’s about 3,000 crows each month … or 36,000 a year … at least 180,000 in all.
The funny thing about naming chickens, however, is that the novelty wears off. Over the years, after we’d lost a few chickens, we became less enthusiastic about naming them. Trainer pinpointed it: It got harder to name them because a name brought focus to our sorrow when we lost one. Our most recent batch is so cute, however, that Isabel named them: Cheddar, Ham, Egg, Mango, and Ovo.
6 cups chicken broth
⅓ cup arborio rice
1 carrot, shredded
1 celery stalk, diced small
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
⅓ cup diced cooked chicken
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
¼ cup lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon slices
Fresh flat-leaf parsley
Serves 4
This chicken and rice soup is a wholesome way to use up leftover roasted chicken. I like to serve it with pita toasts — I’ll cut pita breads open and lay them butterflied on a baking sheet, butter the insides, sprinkle with herbs, and broil until golden brown (just a few minutes).
HOW TO MAKE
1 Combine the broth, rice, carrot, celery, onion, and thyme in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the rice is almost cooked, about 20 minutes. Add the chicken.
2 Beat the eggs, egg yolks, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Ladle 2 cups of the soup broth into a 1-quart measuring cup with a pouring spout. Slowly whisk in the egg mixture and then pour the broth and eggs back into the pot. Simmer, stirring often, until the rice is fully cooked and the chicken is warmed through, 5 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish with the lemon slices and parsley.
6 cups chicken broth
2 carrots, sliced
1 bunch scallions, white part chopped, greens chopped and reserved for garnish
4 tablespoons coarsely chopped black fungus mushrooms
3–4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon minced fresh gingerroot
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1 can (6 oz.) sliced bamboo shoots, drained
1½ cups chopped firm tofu
Serves 4–6
1 (16-ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, julienned
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (7½-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, chopped
1 (7-ounce) can green chiles, chopped
8 eggs
½ cup shredded manchego cheese
⅓ cup sour cream
Serves 4–8
3 tablespoons palm oil (authentic) or extra-virgin olive oil (substitute)
1 large yellow onion, chopped
¼ cup lime juice
2 large tomatoes, peeled (optional) and chopped
1 red serrano chile, seeded and minced
1 garlic clove, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Salt
3 pounds fleshy, firm white fish fillets, cut into 2-inch pieces
½ cup coconut milk
Cooked white or basmati rice
4 hard-boiled eggs (see page 39), peeled and sliced
Lime wedges
Serves 6
Most cultures have a signature coastal fish stew — New England clam chowder, Puerto Rican asopao, bouillabaisse from Marseille — and Brazil, with its moqueca (“fish stew” in Portuguese), is no exception. This dish is traditionally served with white rice.
HOW TO MAKE
1 Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion until soft, about 10 minutes.
2 In a blender, purée the lime juice, tomatoes, chile, onion, garlic, 2 tablespoons of the cilantro, and salt to taste. Put the fish in a bowl, pour the purée over it, and let marinate for 1 hour.
3 Transfer the fish and marinade to a saucepan, add the coconut milk and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, cover, and simmer until the fish is cooked, 7 to 8 minutes. Serve over rice, garnished with egg slices, the remaining cilantro, and lime wedges on the side.
4 slices bacon
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 handfuls frisée lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
1 tablespoon minced shallot
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 poached eggs (see page 41), kept warm
¾ cup fresh croutons made from French bread (see Note)
Serves 2
While this traditional French bistro salad is made with a poached egg on top of a bed of frisée, you can also mix frisée with other bitter greens and a bit of radicchio. It’s a standard at Pastis, a popular French bistro in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.
HOW TO MAKE
1 Fry the bacon in a skillet until crisp, then remove and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tablespoon of bacon fat in the skillet. Add the olive oil to the pan and heat, then whisk in the vinegar and mustard. When the bacon is cool, crumble it and leave on the paper towel.
2 Combine the frisée and shallot in a medium salad bowl, spoon in the warm dressing, and toss. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the greens between two plates. Top with an egg, some bacon, and the croutons.
4 eggs
1 cup 2% milk
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 links Italian turkey sausage (casings removed)
½ cup chopped red bell pepper
½ cup chopped shiitake mushrooms
½ cup chopped yellow onion
4 cups Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 8 ounces or 4–6 slices)
2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Serves 4
Hens are consummate recyclers and help you create an extremely satisfying mini recycling program: you feed them your leftover pizza crusts, pasta, and eggshells, and in return they give you breakfast … lunch … and dinner. After we started raising chickens, we spent a week at a beach house and were appalled by the amount of household food waste we were throwing into the garbage. A chicken will eat its weight in food every month, up to 9 pounds, so at home we keep a pot on the stove and toss most of our scraps into it, which, along with chicken feed, we feed to them daily to ensure a balanced diet. The fact that much of our scraps are organic is an added benefit to both them and us when they “recycle” it into eggs.
Even a half-dozen hens will take care of most of your biodegradable trash, helping to reduce landfills. Indeed, the city of Diest, Belgium, gave 2,000 households three hens each in an effort to recycle more biodegradable garbage and reduce the city’s waste management expenses. Chickens will also eat pesky bugs, including ticks, and their waste provides nutritious compost for the soil in your garden.
One note on the scraps: Don’t feed them anything fibrous, like artichokes or celery. Some people also contend that giving them fruit will stop egg production, which we’ve never experienced. When you feed your hens eggshells, which are a good source of calcium, be sure to crush them up to sufficiently disguise them; if they realize what they are eating and how good it tastes, you may never see an egg in the coop again.
Butter
8 slices bread (thicker is better)
8 slices Emmantaler cheese plus ¼ cup shredded
4 slices top-quality ham
4 eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Makes 4 sandwiches
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces thickly sliced pancetta or bacon, cut into small cubes
4 eggs
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese, plus extra for sprinkling
12 ounces spaghetti
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Serves 6
1½ pounds fresh poblano chiles (or substitute Anaheim or New Mexico chiles)
1¾ cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
3 eggs
⅔ cup whole milk
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Serves 6–8
3–4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4–5 ramps or scallions (white and green parts), sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 cups fresh wild mushrooms, using whatever is best available (morels, chanterelles, and hen of the woods are excellent, but you can also use shiitakes and oyster mushrooms), cleaned, stems discarded, and sliced
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
Crunchy sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon white vinegar
6 eggs
Truffle oil
Finely chopped fresh chives
Serves 6
10 ounces fresh spinach
1 egg
1¼ cups heavy cream (see Note)
Freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black or white pepper
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup shredded gruyère cheese (2 ounces)
1 tablespoon butter
Serves 6–8
Oh Gratin
A classic gratin consists of a previously cooked vegetable that is chopped, sliced, or puréed; mixed with a light custard base of eggs and milk or cream; well seasoned; and topped with grated cheese or breadcrumbs, or both. It is then baked until the custard is set and the top a beautiful golden brown, and it is served directly from the baking dish. Neither creamed nor souffléd, it is really a quiche baked in a dish instead of a pastry case. Somewhat heavier than a quiche, it characteristically uses a larger amount of vegetables, less milk or cream, and fewer eggs.
Broccoli, cauliflower, onions, potatoes, spinach, and zucchini make a delicious gratin in any combination, and all can be prepared the day before and refrigerated in a bowl. Just give them a final stir to blend well before baking. These dishes require little attention while baking and go straight to the table. All are excellent with grilled or roasted meats of any kind, and with lightly sauced veal or chicken, or served as a luncheon entrée with a salad.
2 packages active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (105–115°F)
1¼ cups vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
4 teaspoons salt
3 eggs, beaten
7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Makes 3 loaves
Chickens in the New World
Over the years, some historians assumed that Christopher Columbus introduced chickens to the New World on his second expedition, in 1493. Unlike his first exploratory trek, the purpose of his second expedition was to colonize, and in Columbus’s flotilla of 17 ships that landed first in Puerto Rico and then Hispaniola, he brought almost 1,500 settlers and livestock, including horses, sheep, cattle, and chickens.
Many people believe that the Araucana chicken, a desirable heirloom breed that lays bluish green eggs, is a direct descendent of hens that the Spanish conquistadores brought to South America, but recent findings suggest that chickens may have beaten Columbus to the New World. Radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA sequencing from a chicken bone found at an archaeological site on the Arauco Peninsula in Chile indicated the chicken not only dated back to 1321–1407, but also had a shared DNA sequencing with Polynesian chickens, which have been in the Pacific for 3,000 years. That ruffled some feathers.
