Crispy Chicken Fricassee

        Andrew Carmellini is a New York chef whom we’ve followed from one restaurant success to another.  First, we encountered Andrew’s take on contemporary Italian cooking at the original A Voce right off Madison Square Park at 41 Madison Avenue at 26^th Street.    How well we remember his incredible ricotta and lamb meatballs.  From there, we followed Andrew to Locanda Verde, in Robert de Niro’s Greenwich Hotel.  We could not get enough of his amazing Porchetta.  So when I read a new Andrew recipe in November’s Food and Wine magazine, I couldn’t wait to try it. 

Lacquered Duck Breasts with a Vegetable Mikado

        As an alumnus of “L’Atelier des Chefs” Cooking School in Paris, I am sent recipes via an email newsletter that arrives once a week. I use the term “alumnus” with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek because I took a course at the school for all of one afternoon.  I’d dearly love to go back and I plan to. But for now, I’ll have to just enjoy the weekly reminder of what I am missing.  What impresses me is how simple their recipes are and what grand titles they give them.  Take this one for example.  Can you wait to tell whoever you cook for that you’re making Lacquered Duck?  And what on earth will they think a Vegetable Mikado is going to be?  Finally, how will they ever believe you can prepare both dishes in under 30 minutes!