Jonathan LaCour

Earlier this week, I had a strong craving for Thai red curry. Because I am currently on the Keto diet, I have to be extra careful about ordering from restaurants, who often use added sugars, or cabohydrate-laden thickeners when preparing their meals. That meant preparing something on my own. I was short on time, so I wanted something that could be prepared quickly, which inspired me to use my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. I found a good starter recipe on Nom Nom Paleo, and revised it a bit to end up with this recipe.

Set the Instant Pot to sauté and add the ghee. Season the chicken thighs with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, then brown them thoroughly on both sides in batches. Don't overcrowd the pot, or the thighs will steam.

Remove the chicken, and add the onions to the pot, along with additional salt. Sauce until onions are translucent, and then add the coconut aminos and fish sauce, using the liquid to help scrape up the fond from the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic, ginger, and lemon grass, and cook for 1 minute. At this point, add the curry paste, and stir to coat the vegetables. Things should smell quite nice at this point!

Add the kabocha squash and cononut milk, and stir to combine. Then, nestle the browned chicken into the liquid, seal the Instant Pot, and set to 15 minutes on high pressure. When finished cooking, quick release the Instant Pot, remove the chicken, and chop it into large bite sized pieces. Add the chicken (and juices) back to the pot, stirring to combine. Serve over lightly steamed cauliflower rice.

This is an all-time favorite in the LaCour household. I believe that the original recipe came from America's Test Kitchen, years ago, but it may have been an Alton Brown creation. 

1. Pat chicken dry. Cut out backbone and keel bone to spatchcock the chicken.
2. Make a compound butter with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, the minced herbs, garlic, and dijon mustard.
3. With your fingers, loosen skin across breast and as far down drumsticks and thighs as you can, being careful not to tear the skin. Spoon butter under skin and work across as much of the chicken as possible.
4. Apply additional salt and pepper to the top and bottom of the chicken.
5. Toss the potatoes and onions with olive oil and salt and pepper. Add additional herbs and garlic, if you want.
6. Line bottom of broiler pan with heavy-duty aluminium foil. Spread potato and onion mixture across pan evenly. Place grilling rack on top, and arrange the spatchcocked chicken on top, folding drumsticks inward so they cover part of the breast.
7. Roast at 500 degrees for 20 minutes, turn pan around, roast for another 20 minutes or until internal temperature in breast is 150. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.
8. Part out the chicken into portions, and serve with the potatoes and onions.

Enjoy!

Last night, I was introduced to this lovely cocktail by a talented bartender at a speakeasy in Long Beach. It was conceived in New York's Little Branch bar in 2007, and is a riff on the classic Old Fashioned cocktail.

Start by dropping four dashes of orange bitters on top of the brown sugar cube, and muddle with orange peel. Then, add one ounce each of Rye Whiskey and Apple Brandy, stir with ice and serve with an orange peel garnish.

Pressure cookers are a great way to make incredible risotto in a fraction of the time of the traditional method. This recipe describes a base method to make a plain risotto in your pressure cooker, and can be used as the foundation for any number of delicious risottos. The key is the 1:2 ratio of arborio rice to liquid, and a 6 minute, high pressure cook. In this recipe, I use an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker, but you can use a different pressure cooker.

1. Turn your pressure cooker to "sauté," and add fat to the cooker.
2. Once fat comes to temperature, add the onions, salt, and pepper, and cook until translucent.
3. Add your rice and stir to coat the rice with the fat.
4. Add your liquid and seal your pressure cooker, setting for 6 minutes on high pressure.
5. Once cook is complete, quick release your pressure cooker, stir, and serve!

Interesting variations on the base include:

• Mushroom risotto – use three cups of mushroom broth and one cup of dry white wine for your liquid. Add minced garlic to the onions during the sauté, and add dried mushrooms before you seal the pressure cooker. Finish with white truffle oil and tons of grated parmesan cheese.
• Carbonara risotto – this is what you see in the above photo that I recently prepared. Start the sauté with diced pancetta or thick cut bacon sliced into lardons, until the meat is nicely browned and the fat has rendered. Use three cups of chicken broth and one cup of white wine for your liquid and add lots of pamesan to the pot before the seal. Finish with more parmesan and lots of black pepper. I like to stir in frozen english peas at the end and serve with an egg that has been cooked sous-vide for one hour at 145°F.
• Add a dollop of mascarpone cheese at the end for an extra creamy risotto.
• Try using salted, diced ham and english peas, with ham stock as the liquid.

The possibilities are endless!

The Kentucky Maid has quickly become one of my all time favorite cocktails. Its a refreshing, strong, and declicius libation well-suited for derby parties, picnics, and summer porch-front drinking.

Directions:

1. Combine ingredients in a shaker tin and muddle.
2. Shake with ice and dump entire mixture (with ice) into a large rocks glass.
3. Garnish with a mint, cucumber, and add straw.

Enjoy!

Combine the whiskey, lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice and syrup. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice and pour in the drink mix 2/3 full. Shake for 15 seconds and pour into glasses.

Note: To make the sugar syrup, bring 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar to a boil, and simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved. Chill before using.