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Sweet and Sour Pineapple Pork

Published March 26, 2008 Chinese , Pork , Recipe 4 Comments
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The first Chinese dish (outside of fried rice) that I really decided that I like was sweet and sour chicken. Given my upbringing, this was at one of the ubiquitous “Chinese” fast-food restaurants at a mall. Given I was child at the time, I can’t really blame myself for it.

Sweet and sour chicken has to be one of the least offensive “foreign” foods ever (I’m guessing it’s about as American as apple pie but it’s still somewhat exotic for middle-America). It’s chicken (outside of Peta members, is there anyone who finds chicken objectionable?) which has been deep-fried (which has to be the most all-American way of cooking something) served in a sweet sauce (and where would Americans be without sugar corn syrup). So it’s not particularly surprising that I liked it.

And I’ve actually had good renditions of it. It’s just usually overly thick and overly sweet. And there’s more breading than chicken. And the pieces are too big to be edible with chop sticks. And it just ends up dissappointing.

I’ve even tried to make it myself (with a variety of recipes). And I’ve never come up with something that I can actually say is good. Sure, the chicken is alright but the sauce never works out.

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When I came across this recipe, I was naturally skeptical. How good could any Chinese recipe be that included ketchup? (Of course, the Chinese may have invented ketchup.) And there’s a lot of sugar in it. And given my previous attempts, why won’t the sauce be overly thick or sweet?

I figured I’d give it a shot. And it was good. Very good. The pork actually has flavor as opposed to simply providing a vehicle to eat the sauce. And the sauce wasn’t too thick. It coated the pork well without being too thick. And it was actually sweet and sour. It was much better than any fast food Chinese.

But I still have a place in my heat for sweet and sour chicken.

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Sweet and Sour Pineapple Pork
Adapted from The Key to Chinese Cooking

1 lbs pork tenderloin
4 cups oil
1/4 cup cornstarch mixed 1/4 cup all purpose flour

Marinade:
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp water
1 egg yolk, beaten

Sauce:
5 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp white vinegar
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
3 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp oil
1 garlic clove, crushed and peeled
1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 3 tbsp water
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 cup water
1 cup canned cubed pineapple

  1. Trim the meat of excess fat and any silver skin. Pound the meat with a meat tenderizer to separate the muscle fibers. Cut it lengthwise into 1 inch wide stripes and then crosswise into 1 inch cubes.
  2. Combine the marinade ingredients together and mix well. Place the pork in the marinade, stir well, and allow to marinade for at least 30 minutes.
  3. Mix together the sugar, salt, white vinegar, soy sauce, wine, and ketchup for the sauce.
  4. In a sauce pan, heat 2 tbsp oil over high heat until hot. Add the garlic and cook briefly, turning the garlic several times.
  5. Add the mixed sauce ingredients and stir until it comes to a boil.
  6. Reduce the heat to low and add in the cornstarch mixture stirring until it begins to thicken.
  7. Add the water and stir until the sauce becomes smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and discard the garlic.
  8. Heat the oil in a wok until hot, about 350ºF.
  9. Dredge the pork in the cornstarch-flour mixture and shake off any excess flour.
  10. Place the pork in the oil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove the pork from the oil and drain on paper towels.
  11. Return the oil to 350ºF. Return the pork to the oil and cook for 2 minutes until the pork is crisp and browned.
  12. Return the sauce to a simmer and add the pineapple. Simmer for 30 seconds.
  13. Remove the pork from the oil and place in the sauce after draining briefly.
  14. Place the sauce over high heat and stir until the pork is well coated.
  15. Serve immediately with white rice.

Serves 2-3.

Cooking Lesson 2: Chicken and Potatoes

Published March 23, 2008 Chicken , Cooking Lessons , Potatoes , Recipe , Side Dishes Leave a Comment
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I love chicken. If I want to order a meal with meat, I almost always choose chicken. My favorite is chicken breast. Too bad most restaurants (and home cooks) overcook them. while looking through one of our cookbooks I found a recipe for Parmesan-Dijon Chicken. Chicken breasts are coated in dijon mustard then a Parmesan and breadcrumb mixture then baked. The recipe suggested Twice-Baked Potatoes as an accompaniment. Perfect. I love twice-baked potatoes and they seemed easy enough. Bake potatoes, remove inside, mix with cheese, put back into potato, and heat through.

The chicken turned out moist (benefit of cooking to temperature instead of time) though all of the breading sort of fell off. Next time I’ll use a more typical flour then egg then breadcrumbs approach. I’ll also add a bit more dijon as the taste didn’t really permeate the chicken. As for the potatoes, they were just about perfect. Using a food mill to mash the potato and heavy cream (in place of the suggested milk) created a fluffy filling. If you make these, be sure to be certain not to ruin the structural integrity of the potatoes as much as I did.

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Parmesan-Dijon Chicken
Adapted from Cooking Basics: Learning to Cook with Confidence

Ingredients:
1 split chicken breast
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
3/4 cup bread crumbs (make your own if you can)

Steps:

  1. Mix mustard and melted butter into shallow container. Place Parmesan and bread crumbs in another, similar container.
  2. Coat chicken in butter/mustard then Parmesan/bread crumbs.
  3. Place chicken in shallow baking dish and cook for 20-30 minutes at 375 F. If you’ve got an instant-read thermometer, use it to cook chicken to 160 F.

Twice-Baked Potatoes
Adapted from Cooking Basics: Learning to Cook with Confidence

Ingredients:
2 baking potatoes
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup grater cheddar (approx 2 oz by weight)
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Steps: 

  1. Poke holes in potatoes and cook for 1 hour at 375 F.
  2. Scoop meat from potato (leave enough so it doesn’t fall apart).
  3. Mash potato and mix with butter, cream, and cheese.
  4. Put mixture back into potatoes. Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes.

Aristà di maiale alla fiorentina (Florentine Roast Pork Tenderloin)

Published March 17, 2008 Italian , Pork , Recipe 3 Comments
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I regularly run into a bit of a problem: all of the best roast pork recipes call for pork loin. Now, my problem isn’t with pork loin per se but with the fact that there are only two of us. And while I do enjoy leftover pork, I try to keep it to a manageable amount. So I end up either discarding the recipe or adapt it to a smaller piece of pork.

Why such an interest in roast pork? Growing up I didn’t find pork all that tasty. My mom’s pork chops with sauerkraut ended up with pork chops that were more closely related to shoe leather than actual food. And don’t let me talk about how dry they were. It didn’t get particularly better when I started cooking for myself. My pork chops ended up rather dry and flavorless.

My first real introduction to good pork was in college with Dinosaur Barbque’s pulled pork. It was very good but it ended up being more about the sauce than the pork itself. I started making a variation of pulled pork that was good (although it wasn’t authentic; I make mine in a crock pot) but not to die for.

And then I made the Zuni Café House-Cured Pork Tenderloin and I had found nearly the perfect pork. It become the benchmark for all other pork.

And then I managed to successfully adapt this recipe (my first attempt ended up in something edible if not particularly enjoyable). I’m not saying it’s better. The Zuni Café version has a definite porkier taste. This recipe just seems to be in better harmony than the other.

The flavor of the rosemary and garlic are most pronounced but the other seasonings provide pleasant nuances. This may be my new go-to pork recipe.

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Aristà di maiale alla fiorentina (Florentine Roast Pork Tenderloin)
Adapted from Enoteca: Simple, Delicious Recipes in the Italian Wine Bar Tradition

1 lbs. pork tenderloin

Brine:
2 1/2 cups water
6 juniper berries, crushed
3 allspice berries, crushed
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs fresh thyme
6 coriander seeds
1 tsp peppercorns
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 clove of garlic, crushed
3 cloves
2 dried chiles
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp kosher salt

  1. Place all of the brine ingredients except for the salt and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow the herbs to infuse for 10 minutes.
  2. Stir in the sugar and salt until dissolved. Allow to cool.
  3. Pore the brine over the pork and place in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 days.
  4. Remove the pork from the brine and dry with paper towels. Rub the pork with olive oil.
  5. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  6. Place an oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Brown the pork on all sides.
  7. Place the pork in the oven and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 145°F.
  8. Remove the pork from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
  9. Slice the pork and serve with rosemary potatoes and a Sangiovese wine.

Serves 2-3.

Chili-Pepper Beef

Published March 3, 2008 Beef , Chinese , Recipe 2 Comments
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It’s unusual for me to cook Asian cuisines. It’s not a lack of respect or interest in them. In fact, it’s more the opposite: it’s not part of my culinary culture and I don’t feel I have a good grounding in the techniques.

I’ve been pretty happy with take-out Chinese and it’s Americanized tastes. I actually enjoy most Sweet-and-Sour Chickens with their overly thick, overly sweet sauce (not to say there aren’t bad versions out there). I knew there was more to Chinese food than that but it’s hard for a westerner to know what is “authentic” and what isn’t. Or would I even want to eat something that is authentic?

I decided that it was about time that I actually learn about Chinese cuisine. I’ve made stir fry’s in the past but I was either improvising which yielded mediocre results or I was simply following a recipe without really understanding the underlying techniques.

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The techniques seem to be a bit different but also the same to what I’m used to. Marinating is common in western cuisine as are the making of sauces; however, the ingredients are quite different. The cooking steps are a bit different in Chinese cooking but not radically so. Even in western cooking, multiple cooking steps are common. Most meat is browned and then cooked fully to develop flavor. The same is true in Chinese cooking.

This recipe was, for me, a good place to start, not least for the fact that I had flank steak that I needed to use. It’s also a pretty simple recipe to make. The first cooking of the beef is referred to as “slippery-coating” in the cookbook. Obviously that’s a translation from the Chinese but I’m not entirely sure what it means. The meat does obtain a somewhat liquid texture after the first cooking but I’m still not entirely clear on what this does to the meat.

I did substitute in sugar snap peas because I had them and like them. The original recipe called for bamboo shoots. I’m not sure I’d recommend the sugar snap peas as they didn’t cook completely. They weren’t bad but perhaps not the best choice in this recipe. You may want to revert it back to the original.

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Chili-Pepper Beef
Adapted from The Key to Chinese Cooking

1/2 lbs. flank steak
4 dried red chili peppers
2 quarter-sized slices of peeled ginger, shredded
1 garlic clove, peeled and diced
1 1/2 cups shredded celery, in 1 1/2″ long pieces
1/2 cup sugar snap peas

Marinade:
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tsp water
1 1/2 tsp oil

Sauce:
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp ground Szechuan peppercorns
1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tsp water
2 tsp sesame oil

  1. Cut the steak along the grain into 2″ strips. Cut against the grain into 1/8″ slices. Combine the beef with the marinade ingredients and mix well. Allow to marinade for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Mix the sauce ingredients together.
  3. Heat 1 cup of oil in a wok over high heat until it reaches about 350°F. Add the meat and stir it 5 to 6 times in a circle. Immediately remove from the heat and drain the meat from the oil.
  4. Return 2 tbsp oil to the wok and heat over low heat. Add the chili peppers and cook them until they are black, about 3 minutes.
  5. Increase the heat to medium and add the ginger and garlic to the wok. Stir fry until it begins to brown.
  6. Increase the heat to high and add the sugar snap peas and celery. Stir fry for 1 1/2 minutes to allow the vegetables to soften.
  7. Add the beef and stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes.
  8. Pour the sauce ingredients into the wok and simmer until the sauce has thickened.
  9. Serve with white rice.

Serves 2.

Navarin Printanier (Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables)

Published February 23, 2008 French , Lamb , Recipe 2 Comments
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For those of you who were hoping for news of my demise, I hate to disappoint you. Instead, I spent the last 6 weeks or so working with a high school on our robot. We need to ship it last Tuesday (the 19th) and were working on it until 2:30 AM the night before. Given the amount of time and energy Angela and I put into this project (it’s all for the kids, it has nothing to do with the fact that robots are cool, really), we frequently ended up going out to eat instead of cooking. Even on the few nights that weren’t dedicated to robots (and it became fewer and fewer as time went on), we generally went out simply to save our sanity. And, for any who are curious, we compete March 21st and 22nd.

And, to make matters worse, I promptly got sick on Wednesday afternoon. Which brings us to today where, hopped up on decongestants, I was inspired to write a post because I watched Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie about food bloggers. So that’s why you get to read my incoherent, medicated thoughts.

If you saw the entries on Cooking Lessons and thought I had been replaced (that could probably have a positive effect on the readership here), those entries are being made by my wonderful wife (I need to win some brownie points). I wish I knew how to get the author to show up by each post but I can’t figure it out without changing the theme.

Now, back to the food, I made this lamb stew almost two weeks ago apparently (I had to look at the information on the photos to figure it out). In southern California, we are currently experiencing a semi-spring. It’s still cold enough to be winter (well, as cold as it gets during winter here) but the spring vegetables are showing up at the farmer’s markets.

So, of course, I make a stew that claims to be a spring stew but leave out the green beans (they aren’t in season yet) and use frozen peas (fresh aren’t in season). I’m doing a bang up job of eating seasonally. In any case, frozen peas are almost as good as fresh ones and I’m not entirely sure green beans would’ve worked well in the stew as it turned out.

Stew also is a bit of a misnomer. When I think of stew, I think of something that is primarily liquid with good-sized chunks of meat and vegetables in it. This “stew” consists of good-sized chunks of meat and vegetables with a little bit of liquid covering them. It was good, just not very stewy.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of cutting the lamb into slightly too small pieces. When it cooked, the lamb managed to dry out. So cut your pieces larger than I did.

The vegetables were the real stars of this dish. The root vegetables soaked up a lot of the flavors of the lamb (and stock) and were exquisite.

I should also note that the recipe for frozen peas is very good on its own. Good enough that Angela specifically asked for me to make it again (and we all know how much she loves vegetables).

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Navarin Printanier (Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables)
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

1.5 lbs. stew meat, cut into 2-inch pieces
salt and pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp flour
2 to 3 cups beef stock
2 tbsp tomato paste
a bouquet garni made up of 1 clove of garlic, 3 sprigs of thyme, and 1 bay leaf
6 peeled boiling potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
3 peeled carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
2 peeled parsnips, cut into bite sized pieces
8 peeled white onions
1 cup prepared frozen peas

  1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
  2. Season the lamb with salt and pepper and then dry thoroughly on paper towels. Place a skillet over high heat and add the oil. Brown the lamb a few pieces at a time in the hot oil, then transfer to a dutch oven.
  3. Sprinkle the lamb with the sugar and then place in the oven for 3 to 4 minutes or until the sugar has begun to caramelize.
  4. Toss the meat with the flour and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven for 4 to 5 minutes, toss the meat, and then place in the oven for another 4 to 5 minutes, or until it has a light crust. Turn down the oven temperature to 350°F
  5. Pour out the fat from the skillet and add the stock. Bring the stock to a boil and deglaze the pan. Pour the stock into the dutch oven. Bring to a simmer in the dutch oven, then add the tomato paste and boquet garni. Stir to combine, return to a simmer, and then cover the dutch oven.
  6. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the chunks of lamb. Remove the dutch oven from the oven. Add the potatoes, carrot, parsnips, and onions to the dutch oven and mix well. Bring to a simmer on the stove top, cover, and return to the oven for one hour more.
  7. Remove the dutch oven from the oven. Add the peas. Check the sauce for seasoning. Bring the stew to a simmer for 1 minute.
  8. Serve with good bread.

Serves 3 to 4.


Prepared Frozen Peas
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

1 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp diced shallots
1/4 tsp kosher salt
pinch of pepper
1/4 cup beef stock

  1. Bring the butter, shallots, salt, pepper, and beef stock to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the peas, cover, and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the peas are tender.
  2. Remove the lid and boil off any remaining liquid.

Makes 1 cup of peas.

Cajun Corn

Published February 11, 2008 Recipe , Side Dishes , Vegetables , Vegetarian 2 Comments
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Growing up, we usually had meals which featured a protein, a starch, and a vegetable. I usually liked the protein and starch well enough but, like most kids, I stayed away from the vegetables. At that point, I was what would could only kindly be described as a picky eater. The list of vegetables I’d eat was pretty limited. It didn’t help that about the only vegetable we ever seemed to eat was canned green beans.

I’ve gotten better about vegetables but I’m still significantly vegetable challenged. I like them enough but it’s rather frequent where I’m making dinner and can only muster enough effort for a protein and starch. To compound the problem, I don’t have that many different recipes for vegetables that I like. Vegetables must be cooked well for me to like them.

I don’t remember when I first started making this recipe. It was awhile ago. It’s pretty simple and doesn’t require a whole lot of effort. It’s easy to make along with something else. It also has strong flavors that go well with spicy foods.

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This time I tried something different: I used the Creole Seasoning recipe from the cookbook. In the past, I just used some Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning that I had purchased at some point in time. I suppose it might make me a bad person to use a premixed seasoning but it was easy and it was there.

I figured using a homemade spice blend would clearly be superior to the premixed variety. But I was wrong, sort of. The two different spice blends yield very different results. The Zatarain’s is spicier and saltier. The homemade spice blend has a smoky flavor and has the savory flavor of the herbs. I prefer the homemade spice blend but Angela liked the Zatarain’s. It’s still up in the air which I’ll use in the future. Most likely, I’ll use each at different times depending on what we’re eating it with.

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Cajun Corn
Adapted from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse

4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 cups frozen corn, defrosted
5 tsp Creole Seasoning
salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley

  1. Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. When the butter has stopped foaming, add the garlic and sauté until golden, about 3 minutes.
  2. Add the corn to the sauce pan and mix well.
  3. Add the Creole Seasoning and season with salt to taste. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes to allow the corn to heat through.
  4. Remove the sauce pan from the heat and stir in the parsley.
  5. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.


Creole Seasoning
Adapted from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse

1/2 cup paprika
1/2 cup powdered garlic
1/4 cup powdered onion
3 tbsp ground black pepper
2 tsp ground white pepper
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup dried oregano
1/4 cup dried thyme
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp sugar

  1. Mix together all ingredients and place in a sealable container.

Makes 2 1/2 cups.

Meyer Lemon Sorbet

Published February 1, 2008 Dessert , Fruit 2 Comments
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I realize it’s a bit strange to make sorbet in the middle of winter. But this is southern California and cold is a very relative concept around here (it was actually the recent rain that was bothering me).

However, winter also is lemon season (the fruit schedule from the farmer’s market claims that lemons are year round but I only see them in winter). I actually missed Meyer lemons the first time they appeared at the farmer’s market as I thought I had a bunch of lemons at home that were given to me by a coworker (turned out they were actually limes).

Angela and I were showing a friend of her family’s around and we went to Huntington Beach. It just so happened that they were having a farmer’s market that day and there was a vendor selling Meyer lemons. Given that I had passed them up the first time, I decided to snap them up while they were around.

Neither of us had had Meyer lemons before. They don’t really grow on the east coast (where ultimately we are from). I had, however, heard of their near-mythical flavor which is what drew me to them. It doesn’t hurt that Angela loves lemons.

While there are other lemon vehicles out there, none are quite as pure as sorbet. Plus I had a recipe for Meyer lemon sorbet. The sorbet is almost full proof to make. My only problem was I didn’t have quite enough for a full recipe.

The sorbet was quite good. I find the less bitter flavor of Meyer lemons to be significantly better than Eureka lemons. It was a cleaner flavor.

Angela thought that it could use to be a bit sweeter so you may want to add additional sugar in the future (and you think that’s a recipe note but it’s really a note to myself). I also think I’d replace the vodka with Limoncello next time.

And some kind soul left some home grown Meyer lemons in the kitchen area at work. I may have taken a few more than my fair share but I’ll put them to good use.

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Meyer Lemon Sorbet
Adapted from Room for Dessert
1 2/3 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
zest of 1 Meyer lemon
2/3 cup Meyer lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
1 tbsp vodka

  1. Place the water, sugar, and lemon zest in a small sauce pan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Cool to room temperature.
  2. Stir in the lemon juice and vodka into the water mixture. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. Strain the mixture through a sieve and freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Place in the freezer until ready to serve.

Makes about 3 cups.

Fetuccini with Seared Scallops in a Lemon-Garlic Cream Sauce

Published January 29, 2008 Italian , Pasta , Recipe , Seafood 9 Comments
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Every week at the farmer’s market, I see the fish vendor. I always stop and look at chalkboard list of products and prices. The line almost always stretches around the back of his truck. My usual thought is that I don’t have enough cash to buy anything and, anyway, Angela doesn’t like fish so it’s not really worth it.

Before we left for the market, Angela had asked if we could have shrimp for dinner. I had some frozen shrimp in the freezer but they wouldn’t easily defrost in time and I don’t particularly relish force defrosting shrimp (although it can be done). So, when I came to the farmer’s market this week, and saw that not only was the fish vendor selling jumbo shrimp but that also his line was relatively short (and I had extra cash), I had to get in line and buy some.

A patron in line ahead of me ordered some scallops. In fact, he thought he was buying all the scallops: he wanted about 12 and that’s how many the vendor thought were left. Instead, the fish vendor had mis-estimated how many were left. So I decided that this week they were also going to be mine.

When I presented my acquisitions to Angela, she decided that the shrimp would wait until the next day and she wanted them seared in a cream sauce. I had never made such a dish but it sounded good to me so I thought I’d give it a try.

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I usually cook from recipes. Occasionally, I’ll try and improvise. Unfortunately, it’s usually a bit disappointing when I do. So I have an aversion to improvisation. Particularly when it comes to expensive ingredients as I don’t want to waste the money.

With this recipe (I wanted to say today but I made this on Sunday), I may have finally broken the streak. To be fair, this isn’t particularly complicated or difficult recipe. But I am pleased with it.

Neither the garlic nor the lemon are overpowering. It didn’t hurt that we had high quality scallops (better than frozen at least). And the sauce went well with the pasta.

Angela would have liked her scallops a bit more seared but it may require a switch to clarified butter to actually make that happen.

The serving range is a bit large as the two of us ate all of the recipe but it could easily be served to four if they aren’t particularly hungry. But it’s good enough for two to eat the entirety.

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Fetuccini with Seared Scallops in a Lemon-Garlic Cream Sauce

1 lbs. large scallops
salt and pepper
3 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/4 cup dry vermouth or white wine
1 cup heavy cream
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp diced Italian parsley
1 lbs. fresh fettuccini, preferably homemade

  1. Remove the small muscle attached to the scallop and discard. Dry the scallops in paper towels thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper on both sides.
  2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the butter has stopped foaming, add the scallops. Sear the scallops in the butter on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove the scallops to a plate and cover with aluminum foil.
  3. Reduce heat of the skillet to medium and add the garlic. Sauté the garlic until it is golden, about 1 minute.
  4. Deglaze the skillet with the vermouth or wine. Increase heat to high and boil down the vermouth until it is reduced by half.
  5. Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Simmer the heavy cream until it is thickened. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and add the lemon juice. Reduce heat to medium-low.
  6. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted boiling water until it is just undercooked.
  7. Return the scallops to the skillet and add the parsley. Toss the sauce with the scallops until they are well coated.
  8. Remove the pasta from the boiling water and add it to the skillet.
  9. Increase heat to medium-high and cook for 1 minute more.
  10. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-4.

Suprêmes de Volaille aux Champignons (Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream)

Published January 25, 2008 Chicken , French , Recipe 5 Comments
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Ever have a dinner that is surprisingly good? This was one of them. I never have high hopes for anything based around a chicken breast. They’re frequently dry and tasteless. And, while I haven’t tried it, I’m sure that brining helps (yet another thing on my cooking to do list). But, when you get down to it, chicken breasts aren’t particularly exciting. In many ways, they’re the tofu of the meat eating world except they don’t readily take on other flavors as well.

Except, when I made Suprêmes de Volaille aux Champignons (I’ve been avoiding using the proper name as it’s a bit incongruous in a sentence), it was surprisingly good. It wasn’t a burst of flavor in your mouth but it was simple and it was good. The chicken wasn’t dry and had some good flavor but the sauce was very creamy and chickeny. It may not be something to serve to guests but it’s good for a weeknight meal.

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I was particularly fond of the mushrooms (Angela doesn’t like them; and she also complains that I only say she doesn’t like things; she did like the chicken, so there). If you look at the pictures, you’ll think I had only a few but I didn’t ladle the rest of them out of the skillet until after taking the pictures. By the time I was finished, there were more mushrooms than chicken.

I should say, however, if you prepare this recipe realize that I did use a smaller chicken that I got from the farmer’s market. The breasts themselves were pretty small, probably only several ounces each; so the times may be different if you use a larger chicken breast. I’d suggest cooking to temperature instead of time.

I’m a bit surprised by this recipe as it doesn’t involving browning the chicken. Normally, browning meat is important for the development of flavor but not in this recipe. And I can’t say I missed it. Given that the chicken breast is small, a greater proportion of the flavor comes from the sauce and from the chicken stock in the sauce.

Serve with Gratin Dauphinois Madame Cartet (Madame Cartet’s Potato Gratin).

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Suprêmes de Volaille aux Champignons (Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream)
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp minced shallots
1/4 lbs. mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
2 tbsp chicken stock
2 tbsp white vermouth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp parsley

  1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
  2. Rub the chicken breasts with a small amount of the lemon juice and season with salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium heat until it is foaming. Add the shallots and sauté for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes more. Season with salt.
  4. Add the chicken breasts to the skillet and roll them in the butter. Cover the skillet and place it in the oven. Cook for about 7 minutes or until the chicken breasts reach an internal temperature of 165ºF.
  5. Remove the skillet from the oven and remove the chicken breasts from the skillet. Add the stock and vermouth to the skillet and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil until the liquid is syrupy.
  6. Add the cream and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until the cream is thickened. Remove from the heat.
  7. Season with salt and lemon juice as needed. Stir in the parsley.
  8. Serve the chicken covered with the sauce and mushrooms.

Serves 2.

Tortellini Panna e Prosciutto (Tortellini with Cream and Prosciutto)

Published January 23, 2008 Italian , Pasta , Pork , Recipe 9 Comments
Tags: , , , , ,

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In Italy, this was one of my favorite dishes to order. While I had never been to Italy before and I’m not of Italian decent, this was instantly comfort food, even though it was foreign to me. It didn’t hurt that it almost universally good.

The first time I tried my own hand at tortellini panna e prosciutto the tortellini were my undoing. I decided to be a perfectionist and measure the size of each tortellini. It would’ve helped to keep them all the same size if I could cut straight. It ended up taking an inordinate amount of time: I think it took about 2 hours just to form them.

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I would’ve been hesitant to make them again but they’re really good. I’ve managed to get my tortellini making time to about 1 hour but that’s still a significant investment of time and energy.

This is also probably not particularly good for you. The tortellini are filled with cheese. The sauce is similar to alfredo sauce but with prosciutto added. However, I probably burned enough calories making the tortellini.

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I’ve posted instructions for making pasta before. The tortellini recipe I use is basically the same that I use for cheese ravioli but in a different shape. You could also use fresh fettucini in place of the tortellini if you don’t want to invest as much time. It’s also sometimes served with peas (becoming tortellini panna, prosciutto e piselli) if you’d like it with a green vegetable.

I always try and make enough so that I’ll have left-overs for lunch the next day but for some reason we always manage to eat them all.

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Tortellini Panna e Prosciutto (Tortellini with Cream and Prosciutto)

Tortellini:
1/2 cup ricotta
1/4 cup grated parmesan
2 tbsp diced Italian parsley
3 eggs
salt and pepper
2 cups all purpose flour

Sauce:
4 tbsp butter
4 oz. prosciutto
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup parmesan

  1. In a bowl, stir together the ricotta, parmesan, and parsley, attempting to break the ricotta into as small pieces as possible. Stir in one egg and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
  2. Using the well method, mix the flour with the remaining 2 eggs to form a dough. Knead the dough briefly and then divide it into 4 pieces.
  3. Roll out 1 piece of dough to the thinest setting on a pasta machine. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into approximately 1 1/2″ squares. Discard any dough that is not approximately square. On each square, place about 1/4 tsp of the filling made previously. Fold each square in half by having two opposite corners meet, forming a isosceles triangle. Make sure that the dough forms a good seal. Pull the two corners of the triangle which form the longest side together to form the tortellini. Repeat with the remaining dough.
  4. Cook the tortellini in boiling salted water about 3 minutes or 1 minute after it floats.
  5. Melt the butter for the sauce in a large sauce pan over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the prosciutto and sauté for about 4 minutes.
  6. Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer and allow the cream to reduce. Stir in the parmesan cheese.
  7. When the pasta is done cooking, add the pasta to the sauce and cook for 1 minute more.
  8. Serve with additional grated parmesan.

Serves 2-3.

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