Bon Appétit has just turned 50. To celebrate the occasion, editor in chief
Barbara Fairchild, who has been at the magazine for 28 years, is publishing its first cookbook, The Bon Appétit Cookbook (Wiley). The book contains
1,200 recipes, all culled from the staff’s favorite recipes over the past halfcentury. Two of Fairchild’s personal favorites, she tells Leslie Brenner in the Los Angeles Times, are the spicy roast chicken breasts and the giant chocolate-toffee cookies. The cookies “combine my two favorite flavors,” Fairchild says, “chocolate and caramel. And they’re big, so you can eat half one day and the other the next—if you have the willpower.”
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Recipes of the week
Spicy Roast Chicken
With Tomatoes and Marjoram
Note: For a variation, use a mixture of golden and red cherry tomatoes. Serve with crusty bread to soak up the sauce.
24 oz whole cherry tomatoes (about 4 cups), stemmed
1/4 cup olive oil
5 garlic cloves, pressed
1-1/4 tsp dried crushed red pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh marjoram, divided
4 bone-in chicken breasts (10 oz to 12 oz each)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper, 1 tbsp marjoram in large bowl. Place chicken on rimmed baking sheet. Pour tomato mixture over chicken, arranging tomatoes in single layer on sheet around chicken. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast until chicken is cooked through and tomatoes are blistered, about 35 minutes. Transfer chicken to plates. Spoon tomatoes and juices over chicken. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tbsp marjoram and serve. Serves 4.
Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies
Note: You can refrigerate the batter overnight.
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1-3/4 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
5 (1.4-oz) chocolate-covered English toffee candy bars (such as Heath or
Skor), coarsely chopped
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped
Combine flour, baking powder, salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove mixture from heat and cool to lukewarm. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in large bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, at least 45 minutes and up to one day.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop batter by 1/4-cupfuls onto baking sheets, spacing them about 2-1/2 inches apart. Bake cookies just until dry and cracked on top but still soft to touch in center, about 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheets. (The cookies can be prepared two days ahead; store in an airtight container at room temperature.) Makes about 18 cookies.
