(^30) LEISURE
Food & Drink
“The taste of crispy-skinned, pan-roasted
chicken with pan gravy will never, ever get
old to me,” said chef Sean Brock in South:
Essential Recipes and New Explorations
(Artisan). The key is to salt the chicken and
refrigerate it overnight so that excess mois-
ture dissipates.
Here, the chicken is served with a peanut
butter gravy made with green peanut oil
and green peanuts—which in the South are
easy to find this time of year.
Recipe of the week
Chicken breasts with peanut butter gravy
Four 10-oz skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts
Kosher salt
1 tbsp canola oil, or as needed
Freshly ground black pepper
5 thyme sprigs
¼ cup very finely diced sweet onion
1½ tbsp all-purpose flour
½ cup whole milk
½ cup chicken stock
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp green peanut oil
(such as Oliver Farm)
2 tsp fresh lime juice
¾ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
½ cup mint leaves
¼ cup shelled green peanuts, roughly
chopped
Coarse finishing salt
Chicken with peanut butter gravy: Peppery Southern comfort
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Liberally season chicken breasts with salt.
Place on a rack set over nonreactive baking
dish. Refrigerate, uncovered, for 24 hours.
Remove chicken from refrigerator and
leave out at room temperature for 30 min-
utes. Preheat oven to 350. Heat canola oil
in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-
high heat until oil shimmers. Pat chicken
breasts with paper towels. Season liberally
with pepper. Place chicken breasts in skil-
let, skin side down. Sear until skin is crispy,
about 4 minutes. Add thyme to skillet,
turn breasts over, and transfer skillet to
oven. Roast for about 10 minutes (until
thermometer inserted in breast reads 140).
Transfer chicken to a cutting board. Lightly
cover with foil.
For the gravy: About 1½ tbsp of fat from
the chicken should be left in skillet (add
oil if needed). Remove thyme from skillet
and place skillet over medium heat. Add
onion and cook until it starts to soften. Stir
in flour and cook, stirring constantly, until
flour begins to turn a light golden color,
about 2 minutes. Slowly stir in milk and
chicken stock. Bring to simmer, stirring
constantly. Reduce heat to low; stir in pea-
nut butter, 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp green peanut
oil, 1 tsp lime juice, and ¾ tsp pepper, and
return gravy to simmer. Season lightly with
salt; remove from stove.
To complete: Combine parsley, mint, pea-
nuts, 2 tsp green peanut oil, and 1 tsp lime
juice in a bowl. Season lightly with salt
and pepper. Toss to combine; set aside.
Keeping skin on, carve chicken away from
bones. Slice each breast crosswise into
¾-inch-thick slices. Using pastry brush,
lightly brush slices with 2 tsp green peanut
oil and sprinkle with finishing salt. Spoon
some gravy into center of four warm plates
and place a sliced chicken breast on each.
Garnish with herb salad. Serves 4.
Have some biscuits on hand for dredging.
You know the times are changing when your
waitress announces, “Last call for cannabis,”
said Mary Jane Gibson in RollingStone.com.
But that’s just part of the nightly routine at
Lowell Cafe in West Hollywood, Calif., which
on Oct. 1 opened its doors to become the fi rst
restaurant in America where marijuana can be
smoked legally. An offshoot of Lowell Farms,
one of California’s leading weed growers, the
240-seat establishment secured one of eight
licenses that the city created to make respon-
sible cannabis consumption part of the local
nightlife scene. State regulations still present
obstacles, but Lowell developed “a creative workaround”: Customers’ cannabis and food
tabs are kept separate, and every cannabis product is prepared off-site.
The food, mostly farm-to-table fare created by chef Andrea Drummer, is “better than
it has a right to be,” said Elina Shatkin in LAist.com. The space, too, is lovely, with a
“gorgeous” patio and a large main room “decorated in that eminently Instagrammable
modern-rustic style.” It’s so “aggressively normal,” in fact, that “the weirdest thing is just
seeing people smoking anything in a restaurant.” Besides prerolled joints, the cannabis
menu offers edibles, cannabis-infused sodas, and loose weed that you can smoke by
renting a bong. So-called fl ower hosts, the equivalent of sommeliers, circulate among the
diners to help with selections. You can’t take any leftovers with you, though, and “mod-
eration is crucial.” Though no customer is supposed to linger more than 90 minutes, our
photographer spotted one patron who had passed out and was carried to the door.
America’s fi rst cannabis café: Some indica with your fries?
A customer lights up in the lounge.
The tariffs newly imposed on wines
from France, Spain, and Germany this
week will “hit a lot of people hard,”
said Eric Asimov in The New York
Times. Be thankful if your only concern
is as a consumer, though prices on
many wines—as well as on Scotch,
Irish whiskey, Italian aperitifs, and
certain food imports—will rise as a
result of the 25 percent tax sched-
uled to begin Oct. 18. The tariffs,
announced this month, could
be lifted if the U.S. and Europe
resolve a long-running dispute
over aircraft subsidies. In the
meantime, don’t be surprised by
an increase in retail prices of 5
to 30 percent on wines from the
targeted countries, but only on
wines with an alcohol content
under 14 percent. Apart from
this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau
shipments, the bump is likely to
be seen mostly post-Christmas,
after current stocks run out.
Wine: Fall’s price scare
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