I'm always on the hunt for a simple meal, do you have any suggestions?

There is something, I was just futzing with a recipe this week.  It's very easy.
It's a take on a Middle eastern way to prepare rice and chicken.  The result is a crispy flavorful rice with aromatic chicken to boot.  The method alone should broaden your horizons.  I use chicken thighs, but breasts could be substituted, or even a fat piece of fish. 

Chicken with Crispy Dill Rice

6 chicken thighs, (skin on and bone in)
1 1/2 cups of long grain rice (Basmati, Jasmine, or American long grain)
1 bunch of dill, rinsed well and chopped roughly
2-3 tbsps butter

1. Boil the Rice for ten minutes in 3 qts. of rolling boiling water.  Strain it well, return it to the pot, and mix in the chopped dill. 
2. While the rice in cooking,  brown the chicken thighs well in a ten inch skillet (that has a lid) over medium high heat.  I did this in two batches.

3.  Remove the brown chicken thighs and dump out the excess oil.  Reduce the heat to medium and drop in the butter.
4.  Once completely melted, add the dill and rice mixture to the skillet and spread it out evenly (no packing down) Lay the chicken on skin side up.
5. Using a non-terry cloth tea towel, wrap the lid and place it snugly over the skillet.  Reduce the heat to medium low and set your timer for 25 minutes.

6.  Once the thing is cooked, remove the thighs, and use a skinny edged metal spatula to loosen the rice.   You can turn it out onto a platter and serve the chicken right on top. 

Print this recipe!

Is there a big difference between sea salt and regular salt?

 Sea salt usually comes with a lot more minerals, and sometimes even remnants of seaweed.  (japanese sea salt) and so has a little more character.  This character doesn't come through as much in a longer cooking process like a soup or stew, but is better savored sprinkled over sliced steak or maybe to finish a piece of fish. 
Some people suggest it's saltier, but I don't know if it actually is.  A big part of what can affect salt's "saltiness" is the granule size - If you imagine difference between filling a bulldozer scoop with boulders or with gravel, the difference is considerable. 
This holds true on a smaller scale,  so there is a huge difference between a tablespoon of kosher, table and fine sea salt. For this reason a lot of recipes call for weights of salt, or at least specify the type of salt to be measured. 

Video Sessions This Week

You might have noticed a "video sessions" page I added to my site a couple of weeks back. 
I haven't yet had a spare second to try it out, but I'm going to set up a regular time so those of your who aren't in NYC can ask me questions in person - kind of.
It's going to happen this Wednesday night from 8:30pm to 10:30 Eastern Standard Time.
Stop by and ask me a questions.  All you have to do is come to the site and participate.
This is going to be my trial run, so there might be a few technical kinks to work out, otherwise it should be a gas.
I hope to see you there.

Pig Island Affair

Hey everybody, I've been off the radar for a little while now. 
I was slammed with a few big events and a move, but I'm back now and it's Fall.  As we brace ourselves for months of root vegetables, we should take full advantage of all of the fall brassica (cabbage stuff) while it's still here to make us gassy.  Expect some recipes soon.
In the meantime, Pig Island happened, a benefit for Food Systems NYC.  I was given four whole pigs to do with as I saw fit.  It was a big event for Grill-a-Chef to take on, but I think the whole thing went down pretty well.  I owe big thanks to all of the people that pitched in to help out.  Those that volunteered were amazing and they all went above and beyond.  Here are some pics from the whole shebang.

 (extra special thanks to Deborah- who helped out the day before when I didn't have my camera. so there's no photo of her pretty face)

Jimmy Carbone - the crazy mofo who organized the whole thing.

Thanks to Brooke from Red Table Catering for donating his kitchen and helping cut up pigs.

A cooler full of salted root beer, were the pork soaked over night.

The Grill-a-Chef Kiosk

Special thanks to this guy for like pork so much. (note the tattoo)

Me and the "Carls".  (each shirt had a Carl name tag)

The assembly line.

Some Carl's slinging pig.  (aka Jorge and Megan of the A Mouse Bouche blog)

Some other Carl's, saucing and garnishing. (aka Jeff and Emily)

A by product of all the labor- root beer head cheese.

The final product of all the work - Root Beer Glazed Pig with Crushed Kabocha and Sage Cracklin's

You could make some yourself, here's the recipe.
 
Root Beer Glazed Pork Shoulder

2 bottles good root beer
6 cups of water
1 ½ cups Salt
1 Pork Shoulder 7-9 lbs (bone-in)
3 bottles of good root beer
1 ½ tbsps Chinese Five Spice
2 1/2 tbsps mustard powder

1. For the brine, dissolve the salt in 3 cups of water.  In a storage vessel big enough to hold your pork, mix in the salted water with the remaining three cups of water and the root beer and allow to cool. Completely submerge the pork and soak for at least 12 hours and up to 36. (If you have a small or cramped fridge, this can be done in a cooler by substituting some of the water for ice)
2. For the cooking part, place the pork shoulder in a roasting pan, tent with tin foil, and roast @ 325 degrees until it pulls apart easily.  (Approx. 6 hrs, but it’s not done until it’s soft.) 
3. Set aside the pork to rest. In the meantime reduce the remaining liquids over medium high heat until thick and gooey.  Whisk in the five-spice and mustard and season to taste.  Simmer for 5 more minutes and brush onto the pork. Serve more root beer goo for a sauce.