Icicle Radishes with Chicken Jus

This is our beautiful chicken palace and our lovely hens. Here they are seen frolicking in the open pastures of our farm. Don't they look happy. Such nice birds and with gorgeous eggs. Their was a nasty rooster, though. So I got my killing stone out and made chicken jus out of it for this recipe. An elemental sauce of pure chickeny goodness. I should also note that I ate my first chicken testicles and I have to say quite awesome. Maybe, kind of like sweetbreads, but creamy and I think tastier.

1 bunch icicle radish and the greens

1 bunch purple top Milan turnip

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

2 tbs. honey

3 cups chicken jus

Chicken jus is a very rich, brown chicken stock that has been reduced to a glaze or glace in fancy French cooking terms. You could substitute a rich chicken stock if you didn't want to go to the trouble of making chicken jus, but it's not that hard and is a very versatile sauce.

For the chicken jus

5 lb chicken bones or wings or a combination (the more meat the better, but the bones are less costly)

1 small onion

1 bulb garlic

1. Cut chicken into small pieces with a cleaver
2. Brown the chicken in the oven in a roasting pan at 425° or brown on the stove top in heavy bottomed pot at medium high heat. I prefer to do it on the stove top because you can get the bones more thoroughly browned. But in both methods I am looking for a lot of color which is going to translate to flavor.
3. When you think the bones are about a third done add the garlic and onion to the pan to also brown. The overall color should be getting pretty close to burnt, so don't be afraid to cook the heck out of it.
4. When everything is nice and golden (am I stressing there needs to be a lot of color and your kitchen might get smoky and greasy) if browning in the oven put the bones in a pot and cover with water and make sure to get the fond out of the roasting pan, that is all the browned bits at the bottom. Do this by pouring water into the roasting pan and scraping up all the caked on stuff. If cooking on the stove top just pour water over to cover scraping up the bits in the bottom of the pot.
5. Reduce on high by half. It is OK to boil vigorously. I cover with water and reduce a total of three times to get as much flavor out of the chicken as possible.
6. Strain through a very fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Skim the fat off the top or even better do the stock the day before and chill to remove the fat.
7. OK, now that the chicken jus is ready we can cook the vegetables. First clean the radishes and turnips reserving the greens from the radish. Use a vegetable peeler to get off any root looking parts or dirt, but the skin is OK by me.
8. Put vinegar and honey in a pan and reduce by half then add the chicken jus and bring to a simmer
9. Add the cleaned turnips and radishes and cook until tender and sauce is reduced and coating the veggies
10. Add the greens and wilt slightly and season with salt add cracked pepper
11. Serve on a platter to your very special guests and they will love you for making radishes and turnips taste so good