google gravy
and something like french chicken.
Visiting Chicago always feels something like home. All the trappings are there, but it now lands as some approximation of a present reality.
Today, no place in Chicago tries harder to appear grounded than the West Loop. More money has been pumped into that neighborhood surrounding the Chicago Google Cloud HQ opening in 2016 than tryptophan into a Thanksgiving turkey. If you google Fulton Market, the company has conveniently signaled the vibe to you in the right hand pane usually left for Wikipedia:
The former warehouse district of Fulton Market is now a hip corporate and entertainment area known for creative global and modern American restaurants around West Fulton Market Street. There are also cafes serving house-roasted coffee and buzzing breweries and cocktail bars, some with live music. Venues like House of Vans and the Bottom Lounge stage live music, while boutiques sell indie fashion and furnishings.
Walking down Fulton Market Street you might encounter a cocktail bar that is effectively an office rooftop cafeteria. You may also find yourself in a crowded hotel basement lounge with a live band doing hip hop covers. Their set list may be so demographically bent towards elder millennials that you can’t help but wondering whether Harmony Holiday’s newsletter about “The Club” was written to address this very night you’re dancing your way through the metaverse.
Before those drinks, you might have dinner at a Michelin starred chef’s French restaurant parading itself as a casual fried chicken spot. That might set you on a path to find the best recipe easy enough for home cooks coming out of the neighborhood.
You might land on the recipe that looks most like one you made last year which you probably liked because it shared so much with a dish you ate so often in the most recent place that was an approximation of home. And that’s how you end up in the dark at 4:30pm on a Sunday night with something like French chicken.
fennel and grape roasted chicken
Inspired by fennel and grape chicken recipes in Cooking for Good Times and Dinner which both cite the French roots of the pairing, but also in homage to my Ukrainian friend Halya. The recipe she called French chicken roasted chicken atop sliced onions, topped with mayonnaise, pineapple and cheese. Another variation worth trying!
what you need
1-1/2 pounds chicken thighs ◾ 1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced ◾ 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar, divided ◾ 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided ◾ 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided ◾ 1/3 cup mayonnaise ◾ 1 pound red seedless grapes, on the stem ◾ 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese ◾ ground black pepper to taste
what to do
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Slice fennel bulb and place on a heavily oiled baking tray. Probably 2 tablespoons for a 1/4 sheet pan.
In a medium bowl whisk mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar, 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt until smooth. Add chicken thighs to coat. Place thighs directly on top of fennel bulbs. Bake for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, coat grapes in remaining 1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 3/4 teaspoons of kosher salt.
Remove pan from oven, scatter grapes in between chicken and top chicken with parmesan cheese. Return to the oven for 15-20 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.
Reading
Why James Bond Villains Prefer Post-Soviet Architecture because the JSTOR blog sees me.
What Do Photo-Free Cookbooks Offer 21st-Century Readers? I think it’s a lot, actually.
Watching
First Cow by Kelly Reichardt (2020) is a Western exploring the gravitational pull of capitalism and donuts?
Hocus Pocus (1993) only to find out in 2021 that this was a girls movie.
Listening
Despite my usual angst with the Spotify algorithm, this Montreal Chill playlist that Natalie Cruz put me onto is what’s it.
Yasmin Williams who helped me remember my love of live music.
Smelling - Powder & Cotton by Native Deodorant on my annual autumnal endurance test of how long I can stand my own scent without anti-perspirant.