Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients:
see below
Instructions:
Ingredients:
3 cups whole milk
4tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup onion diced
1 bay leaf
¼ cup all purpose flour
Pinch grated nutmeg
¼ tsp Tabasco sauce
1 1/3 cups Gruyere coarsely grated –lightly packed
8 ounce blue cheese crumbled to get 2 cups
1 lbs favorite pasta
1 tbsp lemon jest-fine
11 ounce Monterey jack 2 cups
½ cup Italian parsley
2 tbsp thyme leaves
2 ½ ounce Parmesan 1 cup grated
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Use a large pot to cook the pasta with salted water. In another sauce pan heat the milk at medium low heat-don’t scorch it. Remove from heat and cover to keep hot. Melt butter in a sauce pan at med-low heat. Add the onion and bay leaf until the onion is translucent. Add the flour and stir for a few minutes. Whisk in the milk and lower to simmer and cook until it thickens. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Add nutmeg and Tabasco and take out Bay Leaf. Stir in the Gruyere and blue cheeps.
Put the pasta in the boiling water and cook it just under the time it reads on the box. When it is cooked, drain it and return to the pot. Toss in the lemon and ½ the Monterey Jack cheese. Stir in the parsley and thyme.
Transfer ½ the pasta to a casserole dish or lasagna pan and sprinkle remaining Monterey jack cheese and ½ the parmesan cheese. Put the remaining pasta on top of the first layer. Sprinkle bread crumbs over it and bake for 50 minutes. Let it sit for about 5 minutes.
Roasted Marmalade Ham
Ingredients:
8 to 9 lb. middle cut ham with knuckle left on
2 carrots roughly chopped
2 celery sticks roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
2 oranges
16 black peppercorns & bouquet garnie
2 tablespoons of sea salt
3 tablespoons of freshly ground black pepper
1 jar of the best marmalade, thin rind
a handful of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
Instructions:
Place the ham in a large snug fitting pot. Cover with water and add vegetables, bay leaves, peppercorns and bouquet garni. Add zest of orange to water then squeeze in the juice and add the salt. Bring to the boil then turn heat down and simmer for 75 minutes with lid on pot. You might have to skim the surface occasionally. Remove from the heat and let cool for half an hour in the broth to further infuse the flavours. Discard the veggies from the broth.
Preheat oven to 325. Carefully remove the ham to a cutting board and remove the skin and some of the fat layer. You want to leave about half an inch of fat on the ham. Score the fat with a cross hatch pattern and while its still moist season it generously with the ground black pepper. Place the ham in a roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes until the fat renders and becomes slightly crispy. Remove from the oven, stir up your marmalade to loosen it, then rub it all over the roast with the rosemary leaves. Place back in the oven for 1 hour, basting frequently until it is beautiful gold and crisp. Unbelievable.
Chicken to Die For
Ingredients:
2 Chicken breasts de-boned with skin on
1/2 Cup Creme fresh
2 Egg yolks
4 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon fresh tarragon-finely chopped
Instructions:
Take two skillets and set one aside. Heat one on high for about 6 minutes and add avocado or safflower oil (these oils work well at high temperatures where other oils don't) and heat the oil until it's very hot. Place chicken in the skillet and cook about two minutes per side.
Pre-heat oven to 370 degrees while you move the chicken to an oven safe skillet. Once the oven has been pre-heated put the chicken in the oven for about a half an hour.
In a saucepan melt the butter and wisk in the crème fresh, egg yolks and tarragon to warm the sauce but not to boil.
Pour over the chicken and garnish with tarragon.
Enjoy!
Egg Nog
Ingredients:
3 cups whole milk
7 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup rum
1/3 cup brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash of nutmeg per glass
Instructions:
Whisk the eggs and sugar in a saucepan and set aside. Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan and add the milk very slowly (like a drizzle) to the whisked egg/sugar mixture. Constantly stir the mixture over medium-low heat for 6 to 7 minutes of when it registers 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
Take the custard like mixture and pour it through a fine sieve into a big bowl. Stir in the cream, rum and brandy and let it cool on the counter uncovered. Once it has completely cooled cover it and put it in the fridge over night for the best results or three hours as a minimum.
Pour into glasses and sprinkle it with nutmeg and enjoy!
Cornish Hen with Grapes in a Clay Cooker
Ingredients:
2 Raw Cornish game hens
salt
white pepper
6 Tbsp Port Wine
1 Tbsp butter
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup red grapes halved and seeded
1/3 cup whipping cream
Instructions:
Soak clay cooker top and bottom for 15 minutes and then drain and dry. Rinse and pat dry your hens and set aside the neck and giblets for other uses.
Sprinkle the hens inside and out with salt and pepper. Place them breasts side up in the cooker. Heat up the 2 tablespoons of the port, the butter and nutmeg and sprinkle it over the hens.
Cover the cooker and place the hens in a cold oven at 450 degrees. Bake the hens for about an 1 hour to 1 ¼ hours. Brush the hens a couple of times with the juices. Remove the cover until the hens are crisp and browned for 5-10 minutes. Remove the hens to a serving plate and keep the warm.
Pour the juices into a measuring cup and skim off the fat and reserve one tablespoon. Heat the grapes in the reserved juices until they are just hot and place them over and around the hens using slotted spoons. Rinse the cooker with the remaining port scrapping the cooked bits off the bottom and sides and pour into a medium skillet. Add the cream to the liquid and heat stirring constantly until it’s smooth and bubbly and pour it over the hens.
Gingered Roast Chicken with Nectarines-Clay Cooker
Ingredients:
1 frying chicken 3 ½ to 4 lbs
2 nectarines-cut into wedges and pitted
2 Tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
Instructions:
Soak clay cooker top and bottom for 15 minutes and then drain and dry. Rinse and pat dry your chicken and set aside the neck and giblets for other uses.
Place the chicken breast die up in the cooker and surround the chicken with nectarines. Mix the brown sugar, ginger and nutmeg and sprinkle it over the chicken. Dot the chicken and fruit with butter.
Place the covered cooker in a cold oven at 475 degrees and bake for an hour. Remove the cover until the chicken is crisp and browned about 5-10 minutes.
Carve the chicken and spoon the fruit and juices over it and away you go!
Sautéed Spinach Salad with Pin Nuts and Golden Raisins
Ingredients:
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp golden raisins
1 Tbsp pine nuts
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 oz bag of fresh spinach
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/8 tsp of salt
1 Tbsp shaved Parmesan
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions:
Heat oil in large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add raisins, pin nuts and garlic to sauté for about 30 seconds. Add spinach and cook stirring until wilted-not over two minutes. Remove from the heat stir in the vinegar and the salt serving immediately topping with the pepper and the cheese.
Spiced Rubbed Rock Cornish Hens
Ingredients:
1 orange
4 Cornish game hens ½ pounds each
1 Tbsp light brown sugar
1 Tbsp light brown sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp pepper
Instructions:
Serves 8
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Using a vegetable peeler take the orange and peel off a two inch strip of the zest and then cut the orange in half. Take one half and juice it and cut the other half and cut it into four wedges. Place two tablespoon of juice and the zest in a medium saucepan. Set aside and we’ll use it when making the chutney.
Tuck an orange wedge into the cavity of each hen. Sprinkle the rest of the orange juice over the hens and place them breast side up in a roasting pan. Leave plenty of space between the hens.
Stir together 1 Tbsp brown sugar with a ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon, salt and pepper. Rub that mixture over the birds and if you like tie the legs together with kitchen string.
Roast the hens until the juices run clear for about an hour. If you use a thermometer, look for 180 degrees.
The Chutney
1/3 cup cider vinegar
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
¼ ground cinnamon
2 cups fresh rhubarb
½ cup soft pitted dates-chopped
Get the saucepan with the orange juice and the zest in it. Add the vinegar. ¼ cup of brown sugar, ginger and cinnamon to the pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for five minutes. Add the rhubarb and dates increasing the heat to high to bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently until rhubarb is tender. This will take about five minutes. Remove from the heat to cool. Before using remove the orange zest.
To serve, remove the string and cut each bird in half-length wise. Serve each bird with ¼ cup chutney.
Try sautéed spinach salad with pin nuts and golden raisins as a side dish.
Salad Nicoise
Ingredients:
8 cups water
8 oz green beans trimmed and halved
8 small red potatoes / 4 eggs
¼ cup minced shallots (about 2 medium sized)
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard / ¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground pepper
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 cups mixed baby greens
2-6 oz can chunk light tuna, drained & flaked
12 Kalamata Olives
Instructions:
Bring a pot of water to a boil in a saucepan. Place the bean in for about a minute or two at most. They should still be bright green. Take a slotted spoon and place them in a colander and run under cold water to keep them from cooking further.
Place the eggs and potatoes in water. Eggs will be done in 12 minutes. Rinse them and run water on them to cool. Set them aside. The potatoes will take another three minutes or until you can put your fork in the flesh smoothly. Take them out and run them under cold water until they are cool enough to handle.
Combine shallots, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl and slowly whisk in the oil.
Cut the cooled potatoes into quarters and transfer to the bowl with the beans. Add the greens, the tuna and the dressing. Toss it well. Peel the eggs and cut them into wedges. Divide the salad among four plates and top each serving with egg and olives.
TUNA MELT
Ingredients:
4 slices of whole wheat bread
2-6 oz. cans chunk light tuna drained
1 medium shallot minced
2 Tbsp low fat mayonnaise
1 Tbps lemon juice
1 Tbsp minced flat leaf parsley
1/8 tsp salt
A dash of hot sauce (Tabasco)
Fresh ground pepper / 2 tomatoes sliced
½ cup shredded sharp cheese
Instructions:
Pre-heat broiler and toast bread in the toaster. Combine the tuna, shallot, mayonnaise, lemon juice, parsley, salt, hot sauce and pepper in a bowl. Spread a ¼ cup of the tuna mixture on a slice of each piece of toast. Top with tomato slices and 2 tablespoons of cheese. Place the sandwiches on a backing sheet and broil them until they are golden brown and the cheese is bubbling. It will take three to five minutes.
TUNA POMADORO
Ingredients:
8 oz whole-wheat spaghetti
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 anchovies minced
¼ tsp crushed red pepper
1 –28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1-6 oz can chunk light tuna, drained & flaked
2 Tbsp thinly sliced fresh basil
Instructions:
Bring a big pot of water to boil putting the salt in when it boils. Cook the pasta. Meanwhile, heat you oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, add anchovies and crushed red pepper to cook thirty seconds more. Add the tomatoes and turn down the heat to medium, string constantly for about 8 minutes. Stir in the tuna and heat for about two minutes.
Spoon over the pasta and serve.
Serves four
Shish kabob
Ingredients:
Warmed Spiced Parsley Marinade with Ginger
½ cup fresh parsley leaves
1 jalapeno chili-seeded and chopped coarsely
2-inch piece of ginger peeled-chopped coarsely
3 medium garlic cloves peeled
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cardigan
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2-cup olive oil
1 tsp salt & 1/8 tsp ground pepper
Instructions:
Best cut is the shank end of a boneless leg of lamb trimmed. Good for 6 to 8 people. Cut up into 1-inch cubes.
Red Onions and Bell pepper will do for the veggies. Don’t use dried herbs in the marinade. The flame on the BBQ should be a hot fire to cook them in 7-8 minutes.
Mix in a big bowl.
2-¼ pound lamb
3 medium bell pepper red/yellow & orange cut into 24 1-inch pieces
1 large red onion 36 ¾ inch pieces
Marinade
Toss marinade and lamb in a bowl or large plastic bag and leave over night in the fridge or at least two hours. Heat grill on high until it is really hot (10-15 minutes). Start and end with meat, thread the skewers with the meat and veggies. Place on the grill and cook turning every 1 to 1 ½ minutes until it is done which will be 7-8 minutes.
Artichokes
Ingredients:
Artichokes
Onions
Instructions:
Much of the artichoke is inedible. Only the heart, stem and bottom leaves are edible. Spring it the high season for artichokes. They come in small, medium and large. Michael’s preference for taste is the small and medium sizes. It should be bright green in colour and tight and compact without blemishes. When you rub the leaf it should squeak showing off it still has moisture in it. When you tug a leaf it should come off cleanly. If it bends like a bean it is too old. Dried out leaves are a sign that it is too old.
Remove the thorns at the tips of the leaves it looks better. Trim off the tips of all the leaves. Rest the artichoke on a cutting board and cut off the top ¼. Cut the stem flush with the base of the bulb. Drop the trimmed artichoke in water with lemon juice in it to keep it from discolouring. Cut your onion rings and remove the centre rings.
Steaming them will cook an artichoke. Set them on top of a thickly sliced onion ring or a steaming rack. Boil slightly salted water to about ½ an inch below the onion ring. Place one artichoke, stem side down on each onion ring. Bring the water to a boil and cook covered for ½ an hour. Check the pot to make sure there is enough water. You will know it is done when an outer leaf pulls off easily. Set them aside and let cool for 15 minutes. They will retain the heat. Make a simple butter and lemon sauce and put in a side dish to dip the artichokes.
Broiled Salmon
Ingredients:
3 slices sandwich bread-cut the crust
1 cup crushed plain potato chips
6 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
3 ½ lbs of salmon (1 side of salmon)
1 tsp olive oil
¾ tsp salt
ground black pepper
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Instructions:
Adjust one oven rack to upper most position and place a rack in the middle. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Pulse the bread in a processor until you get 1 cup of ¼ inch pieces. Spread crumbs on cookie sheet and toast on lower rack until golden taking about 4 minutes. Remove from the oven and put them together with the potato chip and dill in a small bowl and set aside.
Increase oven setting to broil. Make a sling for your salmon out of tin foil to help transfer it to you cutting board after it’s cooked. Place the salmon lengthwise on the tin foil. Rub the fish with olive oil and add salt and pepper. Broil the salmon on the upper rack until it’s surface is spotty brown and the thick end it opaque for about 9-11 minutes if you have a convection oven or not. Remove from the oven and spread the mustard evenly over the fish and press the breadcrumb mixture onto the fish and put back into the oven on the middle rack until it’s deep golden brown. That will take about a minute.
Pan Seared, Oven Roasted Halibut with Butter Sauce
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 full Halibut steaks about 2 ½ lb
Salt and pepper
Instructions:
A full steak means it should have four secitons. Trim cartilage at end of steaks. Gently rinse steaks and pat dry. Salt and pepper steaks and heat oil in 12-inch oven proof skillet. At the same time, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 425 degrees. Back to the stove, wait until the oil just starts to smoke about 2 minutes and add the fish. Let it cook until its spotty brown. Checking the fish at 4 minutes if the steaks are thick (1 /1/2 inches) until it’s spotty brown and flip the steaks over and cook.
Place the skillet in the over and check after it starts to flake and the fish turns opaque checking with the tip of a paring knife at about 9 minutes and the fish should be done at 10 minutes.
Transfer to a platter and add the sauce and serve immediately.
Sauce
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
¼ dry white wine
1 chopped shallot
2 cups fish stock
1 ½ Tbps lemon juice
Melt two tablespoons of butter in a small pan. Sautee the shallots until softened and add the wine for about 1 minute. Begin adding stock ½ cup at a time and let it reduce. Keep adding stock a ½ cup at a time until you’ve used up all the stock. It will become a caramel colour and thicken slightly. Add the remaining butter and lemon juice and keep stirring. Keep the sauce warm while you cook the main dish.
Fish Stock
Ingredients:
2 ¼ lbs white fish bones
2 ½ quarts water
¼ lb chopped onion
¼ lbs celery stocks—no leaves
¼ lb chopped carrots
1/3 cup sliced button mushrooms
1 tsp chopped thyme
Instructions:
**can use fish heads but not oily fish.
Put fish bones and water in stockpot to just barely boiling then turn down and simmer for about 20 minutes. Don’t simmer for longer because it becomes “gluey” and bitter taste into the stock. Strain the stock though a sieve lined with cheesecloth into another pot.
Add your vegetables and thyme and bring the stock back to a boil for 35 more minutes. You will come away with 4-5 cups for stock. Strain again.
The stock is ready for use. You can freeze it for up to 6 weeks in the freezer.
Alternative Stock 2 Tbsp unsalted butter 2 ¼ lbs white fish bones 2 ½ quarts water ¼ lb chopped onion ¼ lbs celery stocks—no leaves ¼ lb chopped carrots 1 tsp chopped thyme Preheat oven to 400 digress. In a large roasting pan melt the butter and add the fish bones, vegetables and thyme and coat them well. Put the pan into the oven and roast them for 30 minutes.
Put the mixture to a large stockpot and add the water. Barely bring it to a boil then turn it down and simmer for about 20 minutes. Don’t simmer for longer because it becomes “gluey” and bitter taste into the stock. Strain the stock though a sieve lined with cheesecloth into another pot.
Bring the stock back to a boil for 35 more minutes. You will come away with 4-5 cups for stock. Strain again.
The stock is ready for use. You can freeze it for up to 6 weeks in the freezer.
Raspberry Balsamic Chicken with Shallots for four
Ingredients:
¾ cup seedless all fruit raspberry jam
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 ½ tsp extra virgin olive oil
½ cup chopped shallots
1 ½ tsp minced fresh thyme
Instructions:
Combine jam and vinegar in a small pan on medium-low heat. Cook until the jam is dissolved stirring frequently for about 3-4 minutes. Remove form heat and add in the salt and pepper. Reserve ½ cup of the sauce and place the chicken and the rest of the sauce in a large seal-able plastic bag. Seal and shack to coat chicken. Marinade for a ½ an hour to an hour.
Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat adding the shallots and thyme stirring often, until they are browned and soft for about a minute. Remove chicken form the marinade and discard the rest. Add the chicken to the pan and brown on each side for about 2 minutes on each side. Add the reserved raspberry sauce. Stir and coat the chicken. Reduce your heat to low and cover chicken. Cook until chicken is done. The timing may take form six to ten minutes.
Turkish Chicken Thighs for four
Ingredients:
3 ½ lbs chicken thighs (8 bone in thighs) remove s
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup low fat plain yogurt
2 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
2 tsp paprika (hot or sweet)
1 ½ tsp dry mint
½ tsp salt
Instructions:
Place chicken thighs in a large bowl and add lemon juice and toss to coat all. In a separate bowl, whisk the yogurt, garlic, ginger, paprika, mint and salt together. Pour the yogurt mixture over the chicken and stir to coat it. Cover with plastic wrap leaving it for an hour to 24 hours.
Move a rack to the upper third of oven and pre-heat the broiler. Remove the chicken from the marinade (discard the left over marinade) and place on a roasting pan, broiling until it’s brown on top (about 15 minutes). Reduce the oven temperate to 400 degrees and cook until it is just cooked through (about 15 minutes). The meat should be a dark pink. Serve immediately.
Arugula and Strawberry Salad
Ingredients:
½ cup chopped walnuts
4 cups of baby arugula
2 cups sliced strawberries
½ cup parmesan
¼ tsp pepper
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbsp aged balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions:
Toast the chopped walnut in small dry skillet over medium-low stirring frequently for 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let them cool for a few minutes. Add the arugula, strawberries, Parmesan and pepper and salt. Sprinkle the vinegar and oil over the salad and serve immediately.
Watercress & Sugar Snap Peas Salad with Warm Sesame & Shallot Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
2 Cups Sugar Snap Peas
2 Large Bunches of Watercress
2 Tbps Peanut Oil
4 Large Shallots
2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
2 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1 Pinch of Salt
2 oz Hard and Aged Goat Cheese
Instructions:
Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add peas and cook until bright green, about 30 seconds. Drain in a colander and add cool water. Drain again and place pea in a large bowl adding the watercress and toss.
Heat a medium non-stick skillet on low heat. Swirl in the peanut oil (or canola) add the shallots and cook slowly for about 15 minutes. Stir frequently until they are sweet and caramelized.
Stir in the rice vinegar, sesame oil and salt to cook until it’s fragrant. That will take about 10 seconds.
Pour the warm dressing over the peas and watercress and crumble the cheese and toss well.
Enjoy!
Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion minced (1 cup)
2 garlic cloves minced (2 tspns)
1 1/4 tspn salt, 1/4 tspn black pepper
2½ lbs of Russett potatoes cut in 1/8 inch slices
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
2 bay leaves
4 oz cheddar cheese shredded (1 cup)
Instructions:
Pre-Heat oven to 425
melt butter, then add onions, stir until lightly browned (4 min)
add garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, and cook for 30"
add potatoes, broth, cream, bay leaves
bring to a simmer.
cover and reduce heat to a medium / low and simmer until the potatoes are cooked (10 min)
remove the bay leaves
sprinkle with grated cheese
bake until cream is bubbling at the edges, and the top is golden brown (15 min)
let the potatoes cool down for about 10 minutes
Grilled Chicken Breasts with Sun Dried and Fresh Tomato Salsa
Ingredients:
8 oz. small red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tblsps chopped sun dried tomatoes
2 teaspoons of drained capers
½ teaspoon of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons of lightly chopped fresh thyme
3 tablsp plus 2 teaspoons of extra virgin oli
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Instructions:
Salsa
In a small bowl, combine the cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, garlic, sherry vinegar, 1 teaspoon of the thyme, 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, a quarter teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Set it aside and give it a few stirs from time to time to combine the flavors.
Now for the cooking. Heat your gas grill to high. While the grill is cranking up, put the chicken in a shallow, non-reactive pan or plate. Rub it all over with salt, a few grinds of pepper, and the remaining teaspoon of thyme. Drizzle ½ teaspoon of olive oil over each side of each piece of chicken and rub it all over.
After that, lay the butterflied breasts on the hot grill grates and cook, with the lid down, for 1 ½ minutes. With tongs, I want you to then rotate the breasts 90 degrees to get a crosshatch of grill marks and cook for another 1 ½ minutes. Then, flip the breasts and do the same thing for the other side, reducing the cooking time to 1 minute in one direction, and 1 minute in the other. Just five minutes to chicken heaven.
Then transfer the breasts to some warm serving plates, stir you salsa mixture, and spoon it over each piece of chicken. There’s lots of it so don’t be shy about ladling it on. If you’ve still got a sprig of thyme lying around, use it to garnish your fabulous grilled chicken breasts with sun-dried and fresh tomato salsa for two.
Home-made Barbecue Sauce 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
5 tabelspoons of molasses
1 teaspoon of Tabasco, or your own favorite hot pepper sauce
¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 medium garlic clove minced, or about 1 teaspoon
1 teaspoon of chili powder
AND ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Put the onion and ¼ cup of water in your food processor and turn it to slush, about 30 seconds. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve until you get about ½ cup of juice.
Whisk the onion juice, ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, molasses, hot pepper sauce, and black pepper into a medium bowl.
Then heat the oil in a large, non-reactive saucepan over medium heat until it shimmers. Add garlic, chili powder and cayenne pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in the ketchup mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer gently, uncovered, until the flavors meld and the sauce thickens – about 25 minutes. Cool the sauce to room temperature before using. You will get 1 ½ cups of great barbecue sauce and you can cover and store it in the fridge for up to a week.
Grilled Hamburgers
Ingredients:
Included in the instructions
Instructions:
In golf they say that a really good player can shape his shots, meaning that they can move the ball left to right or right to left. When it comes to great grilled hamburgers, all good chefs know that shaping the paddy is the key to success. Not to say there aren’t other ways to go wrong. There are. But the big secret is to make depressions in your patties by gently pressing down in their centre with your index and middle fingers. Why? Because when you do this, the burger cooks evenly from the edges to the centre. If you do the normal burger thing, you will find that your end product will puff up in the centre and be hard to hold in the bun and even harder to eat. The reason all burgers puff up is that the connective tissue in the meat, called collagen, shrinks once it is heated above 130 degrees. This happens both on the top and the bottom of your burger first, because they are flat surfaces, and then on the sides. When you do the little finger trick, the burger cooks evenly from the edges to the centre, doesn’t puff up, and is very easy to eat.
It’s no big secret, but the best bet for making great paddies is chuck, the cut of beef that comes from the neck, the shoulder and all the way down to the foreshank or front leg of the animal, up to and including the ribs. Get a chunk of chuck, about one and a half pounds worth, to feed four and get your butcher to grind it for you twice. You’re looking for an 80/20 split between lean and fat. And when making the paddy don’t try to mash it into shape so that the white flecks of fat and red flecks of meat turn to what some chefs call blurry pink. Another thing to resist is making your burgers too thick. The perfect thickness is about ¾ inch per paddy with a circumference of 4 ½ inches. Any thicker and the crust formed on the paddies becomes tough during grilling. And six ounces of beef is plenty for even the hungriest guest, when you factor in all the trimmings.
There are also a few tricks to prepare your grill for your burgers. First of all, build a medium hot fire, testing it with the hand tip; holding your hand five inches above the grill, you will be able to keep it there for 3 to 4 seconds. If you’re using a gas-barbecue rather than charcoal, turn all your burners to high, close the lid, and heat until very hot, 10 to 15 minutes. Then I want you to lightly dip some wadded paper towel in vegetable oil. Holding it with your tongs, wipe your grill rack. What this does is prevent the crust you want from sticking to the grill instead of the burger. Then proceed to grill your patties, uncovered, without pressing down on them until they are well seared on the first side, which will take about 2 ½ minutes. A lot of people think that pressing down on burgers makes them cook faster. The reality? It merely deprives them of the juices that make them tender. After cooking on side, flip them with a metal spatula, and grill to your taste: 2 minutes for rare, 2 ½ minutes for medium rare, and 3 minutes for medium.
I also like to toast the burger buns in the last stages of barbecuing. Simply split them open and lay the halves cut-side down on the grill rack for the last 45 seconds of your burgers cooking time. As fussy as I am prepared to get to produce a great burger, buying one of those hamburger pressers or patty makers is not for me. They might be attractive to people who don’t like handling their ingredients, but I do. For those who don’t, the best mechanical helper I’ve tried is the Acme Hamburger Patty Maker.
If you really want to add an usual blast of flavor to your burgers, try this trick. When making your patties, add in a mixture of cognac, mustard and fresh chives. Simply mix 1 ½ tablespoons of cognac, 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard, and 1 tablespoon of fresh minced chives in a small bowl and then add it to your patties along with salt and pepper.
Next to a hamburger, what could be better on a summer evening than grilled chicken? Personally, I always choose boneless chicken thighs over breasts because they have just enough fat to produce a big chicken flavor. You can still pull off great barbecued chicken with breasts using one of the recipes I regularly make. One of the great attractions of chicken is how quickly it cooks and I’m going to show you a way to cook it even faster, while still yielding a moist, delicious flavor.
If you’re using a gas grill, here’s a few things to remember. First, these types of grills generally cook best with the lids down, even with short cooking times. Make sure your grill is clean and well-oiled. I use a wire bristled brush to clean mine after every use, as I’m sure most of you do. The secret to great grilled chicken again comes down to temperature control. You need a medium-high heat in order to sear the chicken. Get it too low and you get baked chicken, which is hardly why you turn to your grill.
Grilled Vegeatables
Ingredients:
Included in the instructions
Instructions:
First of all, cut your veggies to expose the maximum surface area to the grill. That way zucchinis for example cook quickly and thoroughly. With smaller items, such as cherry tomatos or button mushrooms, simply slip a thin metal skewer through them. That way they don’t fall into your fire and the metal skewers as opposed to wooden ones won’t burn.
I like to make a basting oil for my grilled veggies. The sky is really the limit here, but here’s an easy garlic basting oil to make: I cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 medium garlic clove, minced to a paste. Just combine these ingredients in a small bowl and give it about ten minutes to infuse the flavors. Then brush your veggies with the flavored oil just before grilling. I find if you season them both before and after grilling, the flavors will intensify even further.
Now let’s talk heat. You need your grill to be set to medium-hot to get the best results for most grilled veggies. If you hold your hand five inches above a medium hot grill, you will only be able to leave it there for 3 to 4 seconds unless your favourite author is the Marqis de Sade.
Once you’ve got your barbecue up to heat, it’s just a matter of getting the right cooking times for the veggies you have chosen. Here are some of the ones I use most, with a few tips on preparation and cooking time. Let’s start with the glorious zucchini, sometimes called summer squash: trim off the ends, and then slice lengthwise into ½ inch thick planks. I like to trim off the skin for two reasons: it makes for more attractive grill marks and also cooks more quickly. With zucchini, you are looking to cook the interior without burning the exterior. As a matter of fact, the intense heat of grilling actually concentrates the great taste of this veggie by evaporating away excess moisture. For zucchini, I recommend between 8-10 minutes, turning once.
If you love grilled onions as much as I do, do yourself a favor. Cut thick slices from large onions and then use a metal skewer to hold them together. That way the onion stays together while cooking, and you can easily turn them with your tongs. For onions, I recommend 10 to 12 minutes, turning once.
The barbecue can produce killer corn on the cob, if you just pay attention to what you’re doing. I’ll tell you two ways to prepare this great veggie. First, if you don’t want to use any oil, just remove all but the innermost layer of the husk. You’ll be able to see the kernels through the last husk layer, but they won’t be directly in contact with the grill during cooking. Then take your kitchen scissors and snip off the tassel at the tip end of the ear. Place your husked corn on the grill and cook it for 8 to 10 minutes, turning it every 2 minutes. Because you’ve taken off most of the husk, corn done using this technique does pick up some of the grill’s flavor, as well as delivering perfectly tender kernels. But even at that, you are streaming it rather than barbecuing it.
So if you really want the smokiness of the grill to come through, as well as a slightly roasted exterior, take off all the husk, baste the corn in the oil of your choice, and grill for the same period of time. Again, you should turn the corn every minute and a half to two minutes. To die for.
One of the truly great veggies for the grill is fennel, which is sometimes called anise. Not only does it deliver a great licorice taste, with stunning sear marks, it also carmelizes beautifully on the grill. But you have to prepare it correctly or it will fall to pieces long before it’s done. First of all, cut off the stem and the feathery fronds. I keep the fronds for garnishing because they have everything that fresh dill has and plus a little more. Take a chef’s knife and take off a very thin slice from the base of the vegetable and remove the tough or discoloured outer layers. Then slice the fennel bulb vertically through its base into ¼ inch thick pieces, which will end up looking like miniature fans. Cook this beauty for 7-9 minutes, turning once.
One of my little sidekicks in the barbecue season is the noble mushroom. If you’ve never tried barbecued button or cremini mushrooms you’re in for a treat. All you need to do is clean and dry them thoroughly, snip off any dry ends from the stems, and then just thread them through the cap onto a metal skewer. You want to skewer them through the caps so that they don’t rotate when you turn them on the grill. Cook them for between 8 to 12 minutes, turning them every three minutes.
Finally, my personal favorite from the grill, bell peppers. To prepare them for the grill, cut each pepper in half lengthwise, that is, through the stem-end, making sure to remove the core, seeds, and ribs. Then cut each cleaned half in thirds lengthwise, like steaks. A quick grilling brings out their natural sweetness and also softens that sometimes tough outer skin. Make sure you don’t overcook these delicate creatures or the skin will either fall off or taste like your old baseball glove. They need 7 to 9 minutes on the grill, turning once.
Tuscan Poached Eggs
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can of diced tomatoes
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon of fresh chives
2 tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan
6 slices of crusty bread drizzled oil & toasted
Instructions:
Here’s how it’s done. Set a rack in the upper half of your oven and turn broiler to high.
Meanwhile on the stovetop, heat a 10-inch straight sided ovenproof skillet over medium high heat. Once its hot add the oil and garlic. Cook the garlic, stirring so that it doesn’t burn, until it’s golden brown, 30 seconds at most. Add the tomatos and thyme and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 8 minutes. You’re going to want to stir this a little as it heats. Then discard the thyme springs and season with salt and pepper. The sauce is now done.
Reserve about one-third of the sauce in a bowl and spread the remaining sauce evenly around the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium low and crack the eggs into the sauce and then lightly spoon the sauce over the whites of the egg, but don’t mess up the yokes. Cover the pan and cook for 3 minutes, so that the eggs set slightly.
Now for the final touch. Uncover your skillet and set it under the broiler until the eggs firm up but are still soft to the touch – about 2 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven and sprinkle with your chives and grated parmesan. Tuscan poached eggs with toasted crusty bread. See my friends John and Rocky down at Nicastro’s for the parmesan and proscuitto and this may become one of your favorite ways to greet a lazy Sunday morning.
Finally, a dish for all you traditionalists out there: perfect fried eggs and bacon, with toast and my favorite cherry jam.
Eggs au Gratin
Ingredients:
1 cup of heavy cream
3 ounces of gruyere cheese
2 ounces of cotto (cooked) proscuitto diced
butter for greasing
4 eggs
radish sprouts or tarragon for garnish
Instructions:
Here’s how to chef up eggs gratin. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Get a nice big bowl and combine the cream, proscuitto, and gruyere. When it’s all mixed together season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Distribute your mixture between 4 ramekins, those little baking dishes that are about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Very hand items by the way. Crack one egg on top of the mixture in each ramekin. Arrange the ramekins in a large baking dish. Then pour in enough water to reach halfway up the ramekins and bake until the eggs are set – usually about 10 minutes. Garnish with your radish sprout or tarragon leaves and breakfast is served.
Oven Fries Yopped with Crisp Sage Leaves
Ingredients:
4 medium sized baking potatoes
2 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil
teaspoon of course salt
24 fresh sage leaves
Instructions:
We start this dish by preheating the oven to 400 degrees.
Then I want you cut each of your potatoes lengthwise into six equal slices. Next, take your potato slices and toss them in a large bowl with the olive oil, adding the salt when the spuds are well coated. Arrange the potato slices on a baking sheet in a single layer.
Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until the potato slices are golden brown on the bottom. Just take your spatula and do a little lift and look. Then take the potatoes out of the oven and return to your work surface still on the baking sheet.
Now take your sage leaves and rub them in the bottom of the same bowl you used to toss your potatoes and olive oil. Be sure to coat both sides of the potato with a little of the olive oil and salt. Now here’s the part where you must get it right. Lift a potato slice from your baking sheet, slip one of the sage pieces under it, and then cover with the potato slice. Do that with every one of your potato slices. When there is a sage leaf under all of your potato slices, return to your 400 degree oven and bake for 10 more minutes. Remove from the heat. Now it’s time to use a thin spatula to turn over the potato slices so that the sage leaf is now on top. Then it’s back to the oven for 10 more minutes or until the bottoms of your potato slices begin to brown.
Smoked Salmon Rolls
Ingredients:
¼ pound of cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tsp.s of fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons of freshly chopped chives
¾ cups of shaved fresh fennel
8 ounces of smoked salmon slices
1 tablespoon of finely chopped fennel fronds
Instructions:
I want you to begin by mixing the cream cheese, lemon juice, zest, chopped chives and 1/8th of a teaspoon of salt in a small bowl.
To put this beauty together, you’ll need to lay out the salmon pieces, slightly overlapping, on a 9 inch piece of plastic wrap. What I want you to do is to make a rectangle out of your fish measuring about 4 by 7 inches. Keep the long side of the rectangle parallel to your counter top or work surface. Then cover your rectangle of slightly overlapping salmon pieces with another sheet of plastic wrap. Very carefully press on the top piece of plastic to encourage the salmon to stick together. You can apply the pressure with your hands, or a spatula.
When your salmon is well pressed, remove the top piece of plastic wrap and use a butter knife to spread about 2 tablespoons of your cheese mixture on the salmon. Be careful to leave a border around the sides of your salmon of about half an inch. Next, arrange one third of your fennel shavings lengthwise on the lower half of the salmon and sprinkle with salt.
Now you’re ready to roll if not rock. I want you to gently roll up the salmon to enclose the filling. It’s best to start at the long side facing you as you work. When you’ve finished, use your hands to press the salmon together at the seams. Then transfer your creation to a cutting board and cut the roll into 6 pieces. Simply repeat the same procedure with your remaining pieces of salmon until you’ve made and cut two more rolls.
To serve, turn the salmon rolls cut side up and garnish with the fennel fronds, those delicious dill like sprigs that sprout from the top of the stalks of a fennel bulb. You can stick these guys in the fridge for up to four hours. Leave them out for about half an hour before serving to bring out the full flavor of the salmon and cheese.
The whole process will take you ten minutes start to finish. But for those of you who want an even fast prep time to deal with the sudden arrival of a horde of relatives, you have to try smoked salmon cucumber rolls. You only need three ingredients for this beauty – 12 ounces of smoked salmon, ½ cup of honey mustard, and one English cucumber cut into two-inch julienne strips. In plain English, that just means cut into thin matchstick strips. The way you do it is first cut the cucumber into 1/8 slices, then stack your slices together, and cut them into 1/8 inch strips.
To make this delicious dish, trim your smoked salmon into strips approximately 2inches X4 inches. Then, spread a thin layer of honey mustard on each strip and a bundle of julienned cucumber. Place the cucumber at one end of the salmon strips and then just roll up salmon. Honey mustard and cucumber salmon rolls you can make in 5 minutes.
Beef Stew a la chef Mikey
Ingredients:
In the body of the Instructions
Instructions:
One three to three and a half pound blade or chuck roast
Two tablespoons of sunflower oil, more if needed
Two large onions, roughly chopped
4 or 5 average sized yukon gold potatoes
5 large carrots, skin on
1 large parsnip, peeled
half a small turnip, diced
2 cup of frozen peas
8 porcini mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 teaspoons of dried oregano
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup of red wine
6 cups of beef broth, more if needed
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of H-P sauce
½ tablespoon of Worchester sauce
½ tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
fresh parsley to garnish, flat Italian parsley is perfect
baguette to serve with salad
I made this dish yesterday at 5 in the morning. It’s nice to work in the kitchen in the quiet hours before the day begins, watching the birds at the feeder and marveling at how those little balls of feather and down survive the winter. The first thing I do for this stew is prepare and lay out all my ingredients. The most important one is the roast beef. For starters folks, don’t buy stewing meat unless the butcher is ransoming your children. If you do, someone else gets to choose the cut, and for all practical purposes, the size, of your beef cubes. I think of that as the culinary equivalent of an arranged marriage. Decide for yourself. And don’t buy expensive steak to cube. Not enough fat to flavor this braise of glory. For me, I choose one of two cuts; a chuck roast or a blade roast and I’m not afraid of a nice, fatty marble. You can easily get the gunk out, but you need it to flavor your final result.
I prepare the stewing beef as if I were writing the last paragraph of a book. My goal is to produce a bowl-ful of ¾ to one inch cubes – no bigger. The first step is to trim off all the excess fat from the roast. Then I slice the roast into steak-like sections, before cutting them into strips and finally into cubes. It is nice, neat, and systematic work. When I’m done, I dredge the beef cubes in flour. Some chefs do that for browning, but I do it because the flour will help to thicken my stock. Just make sure that you do this in batches and shake off any excess flour before cooking.
You have two choices in the next stage. You can either sear the beef cubes in the casserole or dutch oven in which you will be making the stew, or you can do what I do, pan sear them in a separate, large sauté pan. I like the sauté pan for a couple of reasons. First, there is more cooking surface in a large sauté pan than in your average sized casserole or dutch oven, so I can cook bigger batches, cutting down on the cooking time.
But the more important reason is that I can control the cooking better in the sauté pan and the distribution of the beef cubes. They shouldn’t touch, or heaven forbid be mounded on top of each other, because that will lead to the meat steaming. For a great stew, you need to sear this little suckers at high heat on all sides. The first step is to heat your cooking oil until it’s really hot, sizzling hot. Then place the beef cubes in the pan so that they’re not touching. Sear them until you have nice dark crisp marks, turn carefully and repeat the same effect on all sides. Once they’re done, I use a metal draining spoon to transfer them to a bowl, before starting the next batch. When all the beef cubes are seared and removed, I deglaze the sauté pan with red wine and reserve the liquid for a little extra beefy punch.
The next step is to add another tablespoon of sunflower oil to your dutch oven and sauté your onions. Five minutes does the trick. Then simply add your bay leaf, oregano, thyme, garlic and pan seared beef cubes to the onions and cover with your cooking liquid. I use a combination of beef stock, the liquid I got from deglazing the sauté pan and half a cup of wine. Heat until the cooking liquid begins to simmer, and then reduce heat and simmer for about 50 minutes.
While your house is filling up with the intoxicating fragrance of your beef braise and herbs, you can go to work on the veggies while sipping on a nice cup of mountain blend coffee. Chop your carrots into chunky rounds, do the same with the parsnip, and then chop the turnip into a ¾ to 1 inch dice. That done, chop your porcini mushrooms into thick slices. Stick a couple of cups of frozen peas in the fridge. You want to add these at the very last moment so that they retain their brilliant green color when you plate your stew.
The potatoes I treat with extra tender loving care. You could use a high starch potato like a russet or an Idaho. They can really help to thicken your stew. They do this by releasing starch molecules into the broth while they cook. But the bad news is that the release of all that starch also means that the potatoes fall apart under prolonged cooking. That’s why I prefer a medium starch potato like Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn. After peeling the potatoes, cut them into halves. Placing the cut side down, proceed to quarter the halves. There is nothing worse than trying to balance a huge chuck of beef or potato on your spoon, you have to be the Amazing Kreskin to do that, which is why I prefer cutting both down to size.
The final task is to take a small bowl and mix together a little beef broth, tomato paste, the H-P sauce, Worchester sauce and balsamic vinegar.
Just about now your buzzer should be going off, letting you know that your beef braise, herbs, and onions are ready for some company in the pot. Add the potatoes, carrots, turnip, parsnip, mushrooms, and sauce mixture, and then cover with more beef stock and the other half cup of red wine. Turn the heat up until your liquid begins to jump a little bit, then lower the heat and simmer to finish, usually between 40 or 50 minutes, though some chefs like to give it a full hour. The dish is ready, when either you can’t stand it any more, or the veggies are done to perfection. Mushy veggies are a real no-no. Now just get those two cups of peas out of the fridge and stir them in. Beef stew a la chef Mikey is now ready to go with thick slices of French bread and that spinach and basil salad with tomatoes, candied walnuts, and warm bacon dressing.
Spinach & Basil salad with tomatoes, candied walnuts, & warm bacon dressing
Ingredients:
In the body of the Instructions
Instructions:
Spinach and Basil salad with tomatoes, candied walnuts, and warm bacon dressing. You’re going to have to make your own candied walnuts, but if you can chew gum and watch the news at the same time, which is not a big challenge in the age of the sound-bite, this will not be a challenge.
I got this recipe from Elizabeth Karmel, and she is really the crème Karmel of the breed of new chefs. In fact, she’s got a book coming out called Taming the Flame: Secrets to Hot and Quick Grilling, and Low and Slow Barbecue. This dish is a marvelous renaissance of the noble spinach salad. Here’s the shopping list for Spinach and Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts, and Warm Bacon Dressing
For the candied walnuts:
1/3 cup of granulated sugar
2 ½ tablespoons of brown sugar
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
a pinch of cayenne
1 large egg white at room temperature
½ pound of walnut halves
Now for the shopping list for the main salad ingredients.
5 ½ cups of baby spinach, washed and dried
1 cup of tightly packed fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
6 slices of bacon
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons of olive oil
sea salt and freshly packed black pepper
1 pint of grape tomatoes
1 ½ teaspoons of allspice
½ teaspoon of granulated garlic
Here’s how to make the candied walnuts. Heat your oven to 300 degrees. In a small bowl, mix both sugars, the salt, cinnamon and cayenne.
Meanwhile in a large bowl, whisk the egg white until its nice and frothy and then whisk in 1 tablespoon of water. Then just add the walnuts, (I prefer California walnuts which you can buy fresh at the Byward Fruit Market) and coat them in your mixture. Then sprinkle on the sugar and spice mixture from your other bowl.
Once that’s done, spread the sugared nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes. Then just stir the nuts and continue baking for another 15 minutes. You will know for sure when they’re done because the sugar will have caramelized – which just means it liquefies and turns golden brown. This is also called burnt sugar. Cool the nuts and then put them in an airtight container until you need them. They’ll last in the fridge for two weeks, but I doubt they will survive your snack attack.
Now for the salad . Toss the spinach and basil in a large salad bowl. Cut each slice of bacon in three and cook in a medium skillet at medium high heat. The aim is crisp, not burned to a crisp. Reserve one tablespoon of the bacon fat. When the bacon’s done, drain it on paper towels and cool. When it’s cool enough to work with, crumble - and don’t forget to reserve that 1 tablespoon of bacon fat.
Now we’re ready to make the dressing. Take a medium metal bowl and whisk together the vinegar and the mustard. Slowly whisk in 1/3 of the oil and then whisk in the reserved bacon fat. Set aside and keep warm.
The tomatoes are next. Place an oven rack under the broiler and put a heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet on the rack. Heat the broiler to high. Meanwhile toss the tomatoes with the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil, the allspice, the granulated garlic and kosher salt. Pour the tomatoes onto the hot baking sheet and broil until the skin cracks, about 4 or 5 minutes. Turn off the broiler and, using a slotted spoon, transfer the tomatoes to the bowl with the salad dressing. Coat the tomatoes with the seasonings and dressing. Put the bowl into the oven to keep warm.
Just before you serve this dish, transfer the tomatoes from the dressing to another bowl. Now you can whisk the dressing a final time to recombine all the ingredients. Then just add half of the bacon to the greens. Drizzle the greens with 3 tablespoons of the dressing and toss lightly to coat. Don’t overdo it, too much dressing is the most common way of ruining a great salad. Now divide the dressing onto four plates and garnish with tomatoes, the remaining bacon bits and those gorgeous candied walnuts.
Valentines Day Lobster Thermidor
Ingredients:
2 live 1½ pound lobster; females
1½ tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of plain flower
2 tablespoons of brandy
½ cup of milk
6 tablespoons of whipping cream
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
lemon juice, ¼ cup
grated parmesan cheese
salt and white pepper, parsely and dill sprigs
Instructions:
Here’s what you’ll need to make lobster thermidor:
2 live 1 ½ pound lobster; ask for females so you can use the roe for your sauce.
I want you to begin by bringing a large pot of salted water to the boil. Leave the rubber bands on the lobsters’ claws and when you’ve got a nice, roiling boil on the go, plunge the lobsters headfirst into the pot and immediately cover with a lid. It’s a good idea to keep your hand on the lid for a moment here. Sometimes the lobsters give one last good crack of their tails and it can make a big mess if the lid falls off and the water spills. The lobsters’s shells will turn a shocking orange after a few minutes in the water but they won’t be done for 8 to 10 minutes, so resist the temptation to peek inside.
Before going to the next step it is very important to cool the boiled lobsters. I do this in the sink, by adding cold tap water to the pot. When the lobsters are cool enough to handle I want you to cut them in half, lengthwise. Do this very carefully because you are going to end up serving this great dish on the half-lobster shells you have created. The shells need to be handled carefully because they can be quite delicate.
I want you to discard the dark sac behind the eyes, then pull out the string-like intestine from the tail. Think of it as deveining a big shrimp. Then, very carefully, remove the meat from the shells. Make sure you save the coral and liver because you will use these to flavor your sauce. Cut the lobster meat into bite-size pieces, (I find kitchen shears to be the best tool for this job) Finally, take the empty lobster shells and rinse and dry them very carefully. Remember, they will be the heart of your presentation, so try not to break them.
Now it’s time to make the glorious sauce. I want you to melt your butter in a heavy-based saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, making a roux. Roux is simply a cooked combo of flour and any kind of fat usually used to thicken up a sauce. After you’ve got your roux cooked, pour in the brandy and milk, whisking constantly until you have a smoothie on your hands. The whisk in the cream and the mustard.
Now we’re cooking. Next you take the lobster coral and liver that you carefully preserved from the shell and press it through a sieve into a sauce. Sometimes I take this step and sometimes I just add the whole shooting match. Whatever you decide to do whisk your mixture very well. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce gently for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently until it thickens. Now it’s time to stir in the lemon juice and the seasoning to taste.
The fun part has now arrived. I want you to preheat your oven grill. Arrange the lobster shells in a shallow, flame proof baking dish. Stir the lobster meat into your sauce and divide the mixture evenly between the shells. Sprinkle lightly with parmesan cheese and grill until golden. Garnish with parsley and dill and, just after giving your sweetie a big smooch, serve at once with French bread.
And here is a safety rope for any chefs who try this dish but manage to mangle the lobster shells. You can put the lobster and sauce mixture into small gratin dishes and put them under the broiler. The presentation will not be as sexy but the taste will be virtually the same.
I would suggest a bottle of champagne for this dinner, but you can substitute your favorite white wine. Something like a steely Chablis would work perfectly. On the other hand, so would a cold beer. But guy’s, it’s Valentine’s Day, so don’t even think about it.
Rub Roast Chicken with Llemons and Olives
Ingredients:
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground tumeric
one three and a half pound chicken
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 inch piece of fresh ginger root, grated
2 fresh lemons cut into wedges
½ pitted black olives
1 tablespoon of honey
salt and ground black pepper, cilantro sprigs
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
I want you to mix the ground cinnamon and ground tumeric in a small bowl with a little salt and pepper. It will turn a beautiful mahogany brown when all the ingredients are married. (It will also stain your hands, but not to worry, it washes off) After carefully washing off and patting dry your roasting chicken, (spring the extra few bucks for the free range birds, they’re a lot better) I want you to rub the whole bird with your spice mixture. Again, the bird will now be a beautiful deep brown colour.
Next, heat your olive oil in a large sauté or shallow frying pan and sauté the chicken on all sides until it just turns golden brown. I have to say this is my favorite stage of the process because when the spice combination hits the oil, it produces one of the most wonderful fragrances you will ever smell. Once the whole chicken has turned golden, transfer it to your Dutch Oven or oven proof dish and get back to your sauté pan.
Add the slice onion to the pan and sauté for 3 minutes. Stir in the grated ginger and the chicken stock and bring just to a boil. Next, I want you to pour the hot mixture over the chicken in your dutch oven, cover with a lid, and bake for 30 minutes. Remember, you’ve preheated your oven to 375.
After 30 minutes, remove the chicken from the oven and add the lemons, olives, and honey. Bake uncovered for another 45 minutes until the chicken is tender. Stir in the cilantro and season to taste. Garnish with cilantro sprigs and serve immediately. I usually serve this dish with saffron potatoes and fresh artichokes. Out of this world.
Great Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients:
1½ tablespoons of vegetable oil, salt and pepper
12 oz of small white button mushrooms, halved
½ cup of canned low-salt chicken broth
¾ pound of beef tenderloin cut into 1/8 inch strip
½ cup of canned low-salt beef broth
1 tabsp of unsalted butter, 1 tsp of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of all purpose flour
½ cup minced onion, 1 ½ tsp of dark brown sugar
½ cup of dry white wine, 1/3 cup of sour cream
8 oz of noodles cooked in salted water, drained
Instructions:
Start by heating 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 12 inch heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat. Wait until the oil is hot and shimmering, but not smoking – that’s going to take two minutes or so and when that’s done swirl the oil to coat the whole pan. Now add your mushrooms and cook over high heat without stirring for 30 seconds; season with salt and pepper and continue to cook, giving them the occasional stir, until the mushrooms are lightly browned, that will take about four minutes longer. So much for the mushrooms, transfer them to a medium bowl and set aside.
Now return your skillet to high heat and add the remaining ½ tablespoon of oil; once again, swirling to coat the pan. Place your tenderloin strips in the skillet, all in one layer, making sure that the strips don’t touch and cook without turning until well browned on the first side – let’s say 2 minutes. Then turn the strips and cook on the second side, this time for only 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to the bowl holding your browned mushrooms.
Next, add the beef broth to your skillet, scraping up the fond, or those tasty brown bits left on the bottom of your pan from sautéing the tenderloin. Keep the broth to a simmer until it reduces to ¼ of a cup, which is going to take 3 to 4 minutes. Then transfer the broth to the same bowl containing the mushroorms and tenderloin strips. Now we’re ready for the sauce.
With the heat set at medium low, add your butter. When the butter starts foaming, add the onion, tomato paste and brown sugar. Stir that while it cooks until the onion is lightly browned and softened – about six minutes. Then stir in the flour until it is fully absorbed. Now I want you to slowly whisk in your chicken stock and wine; when they are blended, increase the heat to medium high and bring to the boil, whisking occasionally, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened. That is going to take you the same amount of time that a hockey player gets for the sin of tripping – 2 minutes. Whisk the liquid from the mushrooms and the beef into your sauce and simmer until it is fully incorporated. Now I want you to stir about ½ a cup of your hot sauce into your sour cream, then stir that mixture back into the sauce. The reason for adding this extra step is that sour cream can curdle if it’s added directly to a hot liquid. The process that prevents that is called tempering and it saves your from wrecking your sauce with a watery mess of whey, which is produced when casein proteins in the sour cream are jolted with a blast of heat. Raising the temperature of the sour cream gradually, or tempering it, allow you to bring your sauce to a beautiful finish.
And speaking of finishes, that’s where we are now. After you’ve tempered your sour cream and then added it back to your sauce, all you have to do is add your mushrooms and beef to the sauce, heat through and serve. You have two choices here. You can serve the beef stroganoff over a rice pilaf, a delicious way of preparing rice that begins by browning it in butter or oil before cooking it in the stock of your choice. Or, you can do what I do, serve the stro over a bed of egg noodles. I agree with those chefs who believe that wider noodles work better. They just seem to go better with the big pieces of beef and mushrooms in this dish. Just remember when your preparing your noodles to put enough salt in the water that it is obvious to the taste when you test the pasta water and only add the salt after your water has begun to boil. If you can’t taste the salt, your pasta will have less life in it than a bureaucrat on Friday afternoon. And if you use fresh pasta, just remember that it cooks a lot faster, and is done when it floats to the top of your pasta pot.
Pan-Fried Dover Sole
Ingredients:
4 dover sole or lemon sole fillets
¾ cup of milk
¾ cup of plain flour
2 tablespoons of corn oil
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
salt and ground black pepper
lemon wedges to serve
Instructions:
This is the simplest great dish I know. To start, rinse the fillets and pat them dry with paper towel. Pour the milk into a shallow baking dish large enough to hold one of the fillets. In a second dish, spread out the flour and season it lightly with salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, (it should be big enough to hold at least two of the fillets without breaking them) over a moderately high heat. Now it’s time for the old DDS, dip, dredge and shake. Dip each fillet in milk, then dredge it in flour, turning until it’s well coated. Finally, give it a shake to remove any excess flour.
Add two sole fillets to the hot oil in the frying pan. Reduce the heat slightly and cook the fillets for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned. Carefully turn the fish, and cook for another 3-4 minutes. The thinner the fillets, the closer the three minutes per side. Now remove and keep hot, while you cook the remaining two fillets. Serve the fish with chopped parsely and serve with lemon wedges. Simplicity and true elegance itself, pan fired dover sole.
Chicken with Lemon and Olives
Ingredients:
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground tumeric
one three and a half pound chicken
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 inch piece of fresh ginger root, grated
2 fresh lemons cut into wedges
½ pitted black olives
1 tablespoon of honey / salt & pepper
cilantro sprigs to garnish
Instructions:
The only piece of special equipment you’ll need to make chicken with lemon and olives is some kind of oven proof dish. I use my trusty royal blue Dutch Oven I bought down at Ma Cuisine in the market and I can’t see cooking without it.
My cooking method today is a combination of styles. We’re going to start off sautéing chicken, then transfer it to the Dutch Oven for a trip to the main oven, where it will roast and braise for about 75 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
I want you to mix the ground cinnamon and ground tumeric in a small bowl with a little salt and pepper. It will turn a beautiful mahogany brown when all the ingredients are married. (It will also stain your hands, but not to worry, it washes off) After carefully washing off and patting dry your roasting chicken, (spring the extra few bucks for the free range birds, they’re a lot better) I want you to rub the whole bird with your spice mixture. Again, the bird will now be a beautiful deep brown colour.
Next, heat your olive oil in a large sauté or shallow frying pan and sauté the chicken on all sides until it just turns golden brown. I have to say this is my favorite stage of the process because when the spice combination hits the oil, it produces one of the most wonderful fragrances you will ever smell. Once the whole chicken has turned golden, transfer it to your Dutch Oven or oven proof dish and get back to your sauté pan.
Add the slice onion to the pan and sauté for 3 minutes. Stir in the grated ginger and the chicken stock and bring just to a boil. Next, I want you to pour the hot mixture over the chicken in your dutch oven, cover with a lid, and bake for 30 minutes. Remember, you’ve preheated your oven to 375.
After 30 minutes, remove the chicken from the oven and add the lemons, olives, and honey. Bake uncovered for another 45 minutes until the chicken is tender. Stir in the cilantro and season to taste. Garnish with cilantro sprigs and serve immediately.
Chicken Piccata
Ingredients:
2 large lemons
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
½ cup of all purpose flour
4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 small shallot, minced or 1 small garlic clove
1 cup of chicken broth
2 tablespoons of drained capers
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of minced fresh parsely
Instructions:
To feed four, you will need four boneless skinless chicken breasts. I want you to remove the tenderloin from each chicken breast, (they can be used later for a delicious light lunch) then place each breast, smooth side up on your cutting board. Holding one hand on top of the cutlet, carefully slice the cutlet in half horizontally so that you end up with two pieces. Ideally, the pieces should be between 3/8 and ½ an inch thick. Always work from the thick end of the cutlet back.
It is possible to occasionally buy chicken cutlets at your butcher or supermarket, but you have to be very careful that the cutlets are of uniform thickness. The ones at the supermarket often taper off to a paper thin end which overcooks in no time. You can also pound the cutlets to get them down to size but you will increase their surface area so much that you’ll have to cook in three batches to make sure you enough to feed four people. Cooking in three batches takes time and it also increases the chances you will burn the pan drippings you need for your sauce. So I prepare the cutlets myself. If you want to do that too, remember to work from the thick end of the chicken breast with your first cut. It’s a lot easier to get the pieces the thickness you want because you can actually see where your knife blade is – and is going.
Just before we get going, a word on the sauce. A lot of people use white wine in the sauce to deglaze the skillet in which you will cook your chicken. I think that adds way too much acid for a dish that has so much citrus in it already, so my advice would be to drink the white wine and use chicken stock to deglaze your skillet when the time comes. I would also stay away from flour to thicken the sauce and use simple butter. It lets the flavors through and that’s what good cheffing is all about.
Adjust your oven rack to the lower middle position, and set a large, heat-proof plate on the rack. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Halve one of your lemons, pole to pole. Trim the ends from one half of the lemon and then cut it into 1/8 inch slices; if the old eyes can’t manage that, ¼ inch will do. Set your thinly sliced lemon aside. Now take the other lemon half and juice it, you’re looking for ¼ cup of juice. Set that aside as well.
Sprinkle both sides of your cutlets with salt and pepper. Place your flour in a shallow baking dish and coat each cutlet, making sure you give them a little shake at the end to remove any excess.
Now heat your heavy bottomed 12-inch skillet over medium high heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil and swirl it around to coat the pan. Lay half of the chicken pieces in the the skillet. Saute your cutlets, without moving them, until lightly browned on the first side. That’s going to take between 2 and 2 ½ minutes. Flip over the cutlets and cook them for the same amount of time, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes until lightly browned. Remove the cutlets from the pan and transfer them to that warm plate in your oven. Now add 2 more tablespoons of oil to your skillet, heat until the oil shimmers, then cook the second batch of chicken cutlets in exactly the same way and transfer them to the oven as well.
Like your post Christmas wallet, now your skillet is empty, but not for long. Add the shallot or garlic to skillet and turn the heat to medium. Saute until you can smell the perfume of the shallots, about 30 seconds, or if you are using garlic, a mere ten seconds. It’s very important not to be smooching with your sweetie at this point. You have to watch the shallots very carefully because if they brown or burn in the pan drippings your source will do a bellyflop. Now add the chicken stock and lemon slices, increase the heat to high, and scrape the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon to loosen those delicious brown bits that you made while sautéing the chicken. Simmer until the liquid reduces to about 1/3 of a cup which takes about 4 minutes. Add the lemon juice and capers and simmer until0 the sauce reduces again to 1/3 of a cup, which should take about a minute more. Remove the pan from the heat and swirl in the butter until it melts and your sauce is thickened. Finally swirl in the parsley. All you have to do now is spoon the sauce over the chicken and take a bow. I serve this dish with lemon risotto and sautéed asparagus.
Beef Burgundy
Ingredients:
Beef braise ingredients & garnish ingredients
in the body of the instructions
Instructions:
When it comes to the stew itself, beef burgundy has relatively few ingredients – aromatic vegetables, usually onions and carrots, red wine, stock, herbs, mushrooms and pearl onions. It’s the combinations and proportions that make all the difference.
There are a few key ingredients, besides your own patience, that will make or break this dish. The first one is the choice of beef. It has to be matched to the cooking method, which in this case is braising.
Bascially, here is what braising comes down to. You sear your meat first, then partially submerge it in liquid in a sealed pot such as Dutch Oven and cook it for long periods of time until it achieves a stunning fork tenderness.
Braising is the classic way of peparing the tougher cuts of meat. It works its miracle with the meat’s connective tissues, principally a little thing called collagen. At temperatures over 140, collagen breaks down into gelatin and that’s what gives braised dishes their great tenderness and flavor. If it weren’t for the collagen/gelatin reaction, your roast would taste like shoe leather because the muscle part of all meat contracts and coils at 120 degrees and expels its moisture. Dry and tough who wants that?
Back to the cut. Unlike your income taxes, you have some choice here: either a blade roast or a good chuck eye roast is perfect. I choose the chuck roast because its fattier and that higher proportion of fat in this cooking method yields great tenderness and flavor. But you have to prepare your roast for the braising and here’s how. Pull apart the roast with your hands at the major seams in the meat. You can reach those seams simply by following the lines of fat and silver skin. Once you’ve pulled it apart, trim off all the visible fat and silver skin with a paring knife. Finally cut the meat into large chunks, at least 1 ½ to 2 inches square.
One of the indispensable ingredients for this amazing dish is salt pork or at the very least thick slab bacon cut into long strips called lardoons. The pork is used to produce the fat that you will use to brown your meat before braising. It also adds another lovely layer of flavor to the braise and eventually to the sauce. If you do manage to get some salt pork, you’ll need the rind too and here’s what you have to do to get it. Steady the salt pork with one hand, and with the other, slide the blade of a sharp chef’s knife between the rind and the fat. Just keep sawing in a wide motion to cut away the rind in one piece.
A word on the stock. A lot of French chefs would die if you used anything but homemade veal stock, the traditional ingredient. I use supermarket chicken stock and it is excellent, fast, and much, much better than commercial canned beef stocks. Of course, there has to be burgundy wine, a whole bottle of it. There are various ways to boost the stock’s flavor, from dropping in a beef bouillon cube to a few dried porcini mushrooms wrapped in cheesecloth. I use the mushroom trick but the cube works well too.
One of the reasons people shy away from beef burgundy is that they think it’s just too much work. It really isn’t. In fact, if you think of this dish as two preparations that are eventually married, a lot of the worry about it disappears. Essentially, there is a preparation for the beef braise, which by the way can be made one or two days in advance, and another preparation for the onion and mushroom garnish that eventually goes into your stew with your beef burgundy.
You will have two workstations for this dish, going back and forth between the two, until the beef burgundy is finished. A lot of the prep work starts on your stovetop. That’s where you are going to crisp your pork and brown your beef. That’s where you’re going to cook your onions and mushrooms before they finally enter the stew. And that’s where you will bring your braise to a boil before sending it to your main oven for slow cooking.
Although a lot of chefs brown their beef in the Dutch Oven, I find the cooking surface too small. So instead of cramming the beef into the Dutch Oven for that first, all important searing, I do it in a 12 inch skillet in two batches. After browning each batch, I add a little bit of water and scrape up the tasty brown bits to add to the braise where it deepened the broth and wine with a delicious beefiness.
Two last points before I tell you how to cook this extraordinary dish, step by step. The issue of wine choice is important because it is such an important part of the braising liquid. I have tried both pricy and cheap wines and the sad news is that there is a difference. The best success I had was with a 30 dollar bottle of burgundy, though I cried all the way to Dutch Oven before pouring it in. the worst experience was with a cheapie California wine that was better suited to putting out fires than embellishing a dish like this. So aim somewhere in the middle using this rule of thumb – not ruinously expensive but at least drinkable.
Finally, the no-tamoto rule. The French say no to the use of any tomato product. They rightly say the high acidity breaks down meat gelatin, which can make for a watery sauce. I use a teaspoon of tomato paste and I like the result.
If you really want to try the genuine article, here’s what you’ll need from the grocery store to make authentic beef burgundy that will serve six:
6 ounces of salt pork, trimmed of its rind, rind reserved, and the salt pork cut into ¼ by ¼ by 1 inch pieces
10 sprigs of fresh parsley
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
1 medium garlic head, cloves separated and crushed but not peeled
2 bay leaves crumbled
½ teaspoon of black peppercorns
½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms
4 to 4 ½ pounds of beef chuck roast prepared according to instructions
salt and ground black pepper
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter cut into 4 pieces
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 ¾ cups of canned chicken broth
1 bottle of red Burgundy wine or Pinot Noir
1 teaspoon of tomato paste
That’s what you’ll need for the beef braise, now for the onion and mushroom garnish
Here’s the shopping list:
36 white pearl onions
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
1 tablespoon of sugar
½ teaspoon of salt
10 ounces of button mushrooms, either white or cremini, cooked whole if small, but quartered if large
2 tablespoons of brandy, make that three, let’s have one for the chef!
3 tablespoons of minced fresh parsley leaves
And remember folks, the garnish for this dish is not a mere decoration, it is a vital part of flavouring the dish.
I want you to start by putting the salt pork - and the reserved salt pork rind - into three cups of water in a medium saucepan. Boil over high heat for about two minutes, and then do what the big shooters in the NBA do, drain well. Why this step? You want to remove the excess salt that will otherwise crystallize in your skillet during frying.
Next I want you to wrap the parsely, thyme, onions, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, porcini mushrooms and blanched salt pork rind in a piece of cheesecloth. Most recipes call for these items to be sautéed, but why do that when they all have to come out of the braising liquid anyway? Now set your aromatics in your Dutch oven, and preheat your main oven to 300 degrees. By the way, your oven rack should be in the lower middle position.
Now set a 12 inch skillet with your salt pork over medium heat. Saute until it’s lightly brown and crisp, which should take about 12 minutes. Remove the salt pork with a slotted spoon and place in the Dutch oven; Pour off all but 2 teaspoons of the fat from your skillet and reserve. Season your beef with salt and pepper.
Now it’s time to put the pedal to the metal. Increase your heat to high and brown half of the beef in that wonderful salt pork fat in a single layer, turning once or twice. Seven minutes should give you a nice carmelized sear. (By the way, a lot of people will tell you to dredge your beef in flour before browning. I don’t do that because you can get a much more dramatic color out of the seared beef without the flour.) Transfer the deeply browned beef to the Dutch oven, which already has you’re herb bouquet wrapped in cheesecloth, right? Pour half a cup of water into the skillet and scrape the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen all the browned bits. Those bits are called fonds and the process is deglazing. But forget the jargon – they’re just delicious bits that really improve the taste of the dish. When the bottom of your skillet is clean, pour the liquid into the Dutch oven.
Okay, now we’re cooking. Return the skillet to high heat and add 2 teaspoons of your reserved pork fat. Swirl to coat the bottom of your pan. When the fat begins to smoke, brown remaining beef in a single layer, turning once or twice, exactly the way you did for the first batch. You want it nice and brown, so about 7 minutes should do the trick. Again, transfer your deeply browned beef to the Dutch oven. Deglaze your skillet again by pouring ½ cup of water into it and scraping the bottom with that wooden spoon. When the bottom of the skillet is clean, pour all the liquid into the Dutch oven.
Are you still with me? Okay, take a swig of that brandy and set your now empty skillet over medium heat; add your butter. When it stops foaming, whisk in the flour until it becomes evenly pasty. Whisk the mixture while still cooking until it has a toasty aroma and looks like pale peanut butter. That will take about five minutes. Gradually whisk in the chicken broth and 1 ½ cups of water. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to simmer, stirring frequently until thickened. When that happens, pour the mixture into your Dutch Oven and then add 3 cups of wine, your tomato paste, and salt and pepper, stirring to make sure the ingredients combine. Now set the Dutch Oven on your stovetop at high heat and bring to the boil. When the bubbles start to pop, cover the Dutch Oven and set it in your main oven which you’ve preheated to 300 degrees. Cook all your wonderful ingredients for 2 ½ to 3 hours.
Now you’ve been abducted by aliens, and three hours have mysteriously past. It’s time to remove the Dutch oven from your main oven. Using tongs, transfer your vegetable and herb bouquet, all that stuff you trussed up in the cheesecloth, to a strainer set over a pot. Press out all the liquid from the herb bouquet into the pot and then discard it. All you want is the liquid, the aromatics have done their job. With a slotted spoon, remove your beef and set it aside in a medium bowl. Allow your braising liquid to settle for about 15 minutes. This is to allow any fats to rise to the surface. Skim it and discard it.
Now we’re nearing the finish line. Bring the liquid in your Dutch oven to boil over medium high heat on your stove top. Simmer briskly, and stir so it doesn’t burn, until sauce is reduced to about 3 cups. You’re done when it’s the consistency of heavy cream – in my experience somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, while your sauce is reducing, it’s time to get to work on your garnish. Bring your pearl onions, butter, sugar, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and ½ cup of water to boil in a medium skillet over high heat; when you’ve got it boiling, cover the skillet and reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover, increase the heat to high, and simmer until all liquid evaporates, about 3 more minutes. Now add your mushrooms and another ¼ teaspoon of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms release their liquids and the vegetables are browned and glazed – about 5 minutes more. Transfer your veggies to a large plate and set aside.
Now add ¼ cup of water to your skillet, scrape up those delicious brown bits, and pour the liquid into your reducing sauce in the Dutch Oven.
And now the final touch. When the sauce in the dutch oven as reduced to the consistency of heavy cream, reduce heat to medium low. Stir in your beef, mushrooms and onions, and all their juices, and the rest of the wine and the brandy. Cover the Dutch Oven and cook until just heated through, about 6 or 7 minutes. Add your salt and pepper, and sprinkle your feast with minced parsley and just watch the faces of your guests.
Beef Burgundy needs a starchy accompaniment. The traditional one is Spaetzle, a ragged looking dumpling that is prepared in a stockpot. It’s great but also time consuming. You can also score a success by serving your beef burgundy over a bed of buttered egg noodles. But if you just want to start eating, a good hunk of French Bread might be the perfect companion to the king of stews.
Next week on Stirring the Pot, I want to talk chicken, sharing some of my favorite dishes, including a great chicken piccata you can cook in a flash. Thanks for spending part of your Sunday with me, and until next time, keep on cooking.
Roast Turkey and Gravy
Ingredients:
Ingredients with instructions
Instructions:
After your bird has been roasting for an hour, start rotating the roasting pan and basting the turkey with pan drippings every 30 minutes or so. That way the bird will brown evenly. If you're short on drippings, just substitute a little more olive oil. The turkey is done when an instant read thermometer registers 170 degrees. But my mother, who didn't have a thermometer, simply stuck a sharp knife in the thickest part of the thigh and when the juices ran clear the big moment had arrived. The total roasting time for a bird of 14 pounds will be about 3 to 3 ½ hours.
Transfer the turkey to a carving board, tent it with tin foil, and let it rest while you make the gravy.
Here's what you'll need to make a stunning mushroom gravy sauce to accompany your splendid turkey.
Half a cup of dried porcini mushrooms
31/2 cups of turkey broth which I will tell you how to make with those
giblets we reserved
6 tablespoons of all purpose flower
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Now for the ingredients you'll need to make the turkey broth for your mushroom gravy.
On centre stage, the turkey neck, tail, gizzard and heart
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 large onion peeled and cut into two inch pieces.
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
1 small carrot peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
1 rib of celery cut into 2 inch pieces
1 bay leaf
2 large sprigs of thyme and parsley
10 black peppercorns
So let's get cracking on the turkey broth. Pretend it's your boss, and chop the neck into three or four pieces with a cleaver. Heat the oil in a large, 3-quart saucepan over medium low heat. Add the neck, tail, heart, gizzard, onion and salt. Give it all a big stir to coat your ingredients, then cover and cook for 20 minutes. Next add four cups of cold water, the carrot, celery, herbs, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, cover and simmer gently for about 45 minutes. That should do the trick. Strain the broth, cool, and if you plan to use it right away remove and discard the fat. Otherwise, put it in the fridge and skim off and discard the hardened fat before using.
Now that we have the main ingredient for your mushroom gravy, here we go. Soak the porcini mushrooms in 1 cup of very hot water for 15 minutes. Then fish out the mushrooms and pour the soaking liquid into your turkey broth, but not the sediment. It should work out to about 4 cups. Chop the porcini mushrooms finely.
After transferring you turkey to a cutting board, pour the drippings from the roasting pan into a heat proof measuring cup. Let the fat rise to the top and then spoon a quarter of a cup of the fat back into the roasting pan. Set the roasting pan over two burners on medium heat. Sprinkle the flour into the pan and use a flat whisk or wooden spoon to combine it with the fat. Cook for 2 minutes.
Slowly pour half a cup of the broth into the pan while whisking to blend in the flour. Soon you should have a liquid that feels like glue. As soon as this happens, whisk in another half cup of the broth. Keep doing that until the gravy looks smooth. Then pour in your remaining broth and simmer. Add the thyme and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain the gravy through a medium sieve and stir in the chopped porcini and lemon juice. Then do your thing with the salt and pepper and put on your napkin.
Sage Butter Rub for Roast Turkey
Ingredients:
Half a cup of unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh sage
¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
¼ teaspoon of Bell's poultry seasoning
Instructions:
Place the ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until well combined. You can make this easy and delicious rub up to two days before you need it. Just stick it in the fridge until T-Day.
Now we're ready to cook. Heat your oven to 350 degrees and place a rack in the lower third of your oven. Remove the turkey from the brine, and as I mentioned before, rinse it thoroughly. Pat it dry with paper towels as carefully as you can. Toss the brine and oven bags and move on to the next step. With your fingers, gently loosen the skin from the turkey breast, and legs, and be careful not to tear it. Use one hand to distribute the sage butter under the skin and use your other hand on the outside of the skin to massage and smooth the butter as evenly as possible over the turkey breast and as much of the drumsticks as you can. Tuck the wings behind the turkey to secure the neck skin and loosely tie the legs together.
Rub the turkey all over with a light coating of olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt to further help crisp that wonderful skin. Put the turkey, breast side up, on a roasting rack in our heavy-duty flameproof roasting pan. Put the pan in the oven with the legs pointing to the back of the oven if you've got room.
Brining A Bird
Ingredients:
Ingredients with instructions
Instructions:
First of all, here's how to make a basic brine. In a pot that holds at least 6 quarts of water, combine one cup of kosher salt, ¼ cup of sugar, and 2 quarts of cool water. Put the pot over high heat and stir occasionally until the salt and sugar dissolve. Remove from the heat and let cool. Stir in another 2 quarts of water and chill in the refrigerator.
There is a neat way to soak your turkey in the brine you've just made. Remove the neck, giblets, and tail from the bird; I save these items for making turkey broth. The only piece not wanted on the voyage is the liver. Toss it. Rinse the turkey well. Then I want you to double up two turkey-size oven bags and then roll down the edges of the bags to help keep them open. Next, put the bags in your heavy duty roasting pan and put the turkey, breast side down, in the inner bag. Pour the brine over the turkey and get hubby or boyfriend to smooth this operation by holding the bags open for you. Once you've poured in all your brine, gather the inner bag tightly around the turkey. That way the brine will be forced to cover most of the bird. Secure the bag with a twist tie and refrigerate for 12 to 18 hours. I suggest leaving the bird in the roasting pan to catch any leaks that may occur. - And note this. If you buy a kosher turkey, don't do any of the above because your bird has already been treated with salt.
A couple more tips about brining. You can jazz up your brine with other flavors. The sky is the limit. It could be herbs and spices, a sweetener such as maple syrup or honey, and I've even heard of people adding a little coffee, yes, coffee to their brine. If you go for the sweeter ingredients, keep in mind that foods tend to brown baster. Another to remember is that once your turkey is brined, make sure you rinse it well to remove excess salt. And speaking of salt, brining provides just about all the seasoning you'll need, so be careful about adding more salt before cooking. The same holds true of any sauces you make from the pan drippings, which are already quite salty.
Provencal chicken with vegetables and pesto soup
Ingredients:
Included with Instructions
Instructions:
Here’s what you’ll need for light chicken stock:
6 chicken wings
3 chicken backs
3 chicken legs
2 chicken thighs
10 quarts of cold water
2 large carrots cut into 1-inch pieces
4 stalks of celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large onions, cut into eighths
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon of whole black peppercorns.
Place the chicken wings, backs, and thighs in a 12-quart stockpot. Add 8 quarts of cold water, Bring to a boil over high heat. Using a large slotted spoon, skim the frothy foam from the surface and discard. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 1 hour, skimming like a double dipping politician when the froth builds up. Then add the carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, and black peppercorns and return to the boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for another one and a half hours, stirring once or twice.
Add the remaining 2 quarts of cold water. Return to the boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer for one and a half to two hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature. Skim the fat from the surface and discard. Then strain the mixture through a colander, the same way you did with the strongly flavored stock. Separate the meat from the bones, and make sure you get rid of any bits of cartilage and skin. Save the meat for your soup and discard the bones and the vegetables. Again, transfer the strained stock to a nonreactive container with a tightly fitting lid.
Provencal Chicken and Vegetable soup with Pesto
3 large leeks, trimmed, halved and cut into one-quarter inch wide half moons.
2 minced garlic cloves
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 teaspoons each of minced fresh thyme and oregano
10 cups of light chicken stock
18 small baby artichokes, either fresh or canned.
If you use fresh baby artichokes that you have trimmed, here’s a good trick to keep them from turning brown while you prepare the rest of the soup. Submerge the sliced baby artichokes in a bowl of 3 cups of water and half a cup of lemon juice or white wine vinegar. Make sure you drain the artichokes well before using in the soup and they’ll not only taste great, they’ll look great too.
1 large red bell pepper, roasted, stemmed, seeded and cut into a small dice
1 large yellow bell pepper, roasted, stemmed, seeded and cut into a small dice
(A word on roasting chili or bell peppers. If you have a gas stove, you can use a pair of kitchen tongs and just roast the sucker in the open flame until it blackens. You can get the same effect under the grill in your oven. After you have thoroughly blackened the pepper, place it in a tightly sealed plastic bag for 10 or 15 minutes. Then you can take it out and rinse it under cool water until the blackened outer skin falls away. We’re working with bell peppers today, but if you’re working with chili peppers, you might want to wear rubber gloves. The last thing you want to do after handling hot peppers is touch any sensitive skin or mucous areas, unless of course you happen to be a masochist.
3 large tomatoes, cored and cut into a small dice
2 cups of diced white chicken meat
salt and pepper to taste
That takes of our soup ingredients, now for the pesto that makes this soup roar: It’s as easy to make as promises at election time. Here’s what you need:
1 large bunch of basil, leaves only.
3 garlic cloves chopped.
1 ounce of parmesan cheese, grated
one quarter cup of pine nuts
three quarter cups of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.
To make the pesto, just place the basil, garlic, cheese, pine nuts and olive oil in a blender of food processor. Puree all the ingredients until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper and you’re done. Now to make the Provencal Chicken soup with veggies.
In a heavy-bottomed 6-quart saucepan, cook the leeks and garlic in the olive oil over moderately high heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the herbs and chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the artichokes, bell peppers, tomatoes and chicken. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. And it’s as simple as that. Just add the salt and pepper and add 2 or 3 teaspoons of pesto to each bowl of soup before serving.
New England Chicken and Bacon Soup
Ingredients:
1 pound of thick sliced bacon, coarsely chopped
1 large onion cut into a medium dice
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 cup of light ale or beer
1 1/2 tsps paprika, celery seeds, & mustard seeds
3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
9 cups of strong chicken stock
4 medium new potatoes
1 cup of heavy cream
2/3 of a pound of aged cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions:
Include these ingredients too 2 1/2 cups of cooked, white chicken meat, salt & pepper to taste and 1/2 cup minced parsley to garnish.
In a 6-quart heavy bottomed saucepan, I want you to cook the bacon over moderate heat until it’s crispy. When it’s done, remove it with a slotted spoon, except for the pieces you nibble, and drain on paper towels. When the bacon cools, coarsely chop it and set it aside.
Remove all but one-quarter cup of the bacon fat from the saucepan. Cook the onion and garlic in the bacon fat over moderately low heat for 10 minutes, and keep stirring that pot. Next, add the beer and spices and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated. Now add the flour and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. This is going to thicken up your soup. Add the chicken stock a little at a time, whisking constantly with a wire whisk to form a smooth mixture. Like everything in cooking, this mixture has a fancy name, roux. When all the stock has been added, bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Don’t forget to scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any bits of food. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Then add your potatoes, cream and reserved bacon. Reduce the meat to medium and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Finally, add the cheese and chicken and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the chicken is heated through and all the cheese has melted. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley and as they say in New England, soup’s on.
Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
Bones from two, whole, uncooked chickens
10 quarts of cold water
One large carrot cut into 1-inch pieces
2 celery stalks cut into 1 inch pieces
2 large onions cut into eighths
Bring to a boil over high heat
Bring to a boil over high heat
Instructions:
Place the chicken bones in a 12-quart stockpot; (If you don’t have one of these go get one; nothing will improve the quality of your cooking like homemade stocks.)
Bring to a boil over high heat;
Using a large slotted spoon, skim the frothy surface and discard.
Next add the carrot, celery and onions and return to the boil over high heat;
If that froth reappears get out your slotted spoon and skim it off, the way our politicians treat your taxes;
Knock down the heat to medium low and simmer for one and a half hours, skimming the surface throughout the process.
Now you’re ready to add the remaining 2 quarts of cold water and return to the boil over high heat.
When the pot is bubbling, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 2 hours.
After that, remove the stockpot from the heat and cool to room temperature.
Skim off any fat that rises to the surface and don’t throw it away. Save it for cooking another dish later. I can hear the health nuts cringing. But remember; because chicken produces a saturated fat very little of it goes a long way. You can use it for sautéing root vegetables, onion or garlic and a dab in mashed potatoes adds a fabulous layer of flavor. It stores very well in a plastic container with a tight lid, but if you’re going to store it, make sure it’s free of tiny bits of chicken or liquid. If you do that, you can store and use it for several months.
Finally, strain your stock through a colander set over a large part or bowl. Discard the bones and vegetables.
Now you can transfer your strained homemade chicken stock to a nonreactive container with a tight fitting lid and either store it in your fridge for up to five days or your freezer for four months.
Chilled Asparagus Soup
Ingredients:
2 Leeks
4 Tbsp Butter
2 Bundles Asparagus
½ cup Plain Yoghurt or Heavy Cream
6 ½ cup Chicken Stock
Pinch Nutmeg
Instructions:
Clean and chop off ends of the leeks. Slice and dice then sauté the leeks in 2 tablespoons butter until they are soft but not brown then set aside. Clean the asparagus then cut off the tips. Blanch them and set in cold water to stop them from over cooking then set them aside. Take the rest of the asparagus stocks and trim off the wooden end bits. Cut the useable asparagus into ½ inch pieces and sauté them in 2 tablespoons of butter. When soft add the leeks and asparagus into a pot with 6 ½ cups of chicken stock and bring to a boil. Turn down the temperature to simmer and let that go for 30 minutes. Puree the soup using the appliance of your choice: a blender, puree wand or food processor. Add in ½ cup plain yoghurt or heavy cream and set aside in fridge to cool. Before serving the soup place in bowls, add a dollop (2 to 3 table spoons) of yoghurt into the centre of the soup. Garnish with asparagus tips and a pinch of nutmeg.
Enjoy!
Osso Buco
Ingredients:
8 whole “Cipollini” or wild onions
2 ounces of pancetta cut
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup of diced onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
3 cloves garlic minced
half a pound of cremini mushrooms, quartered
4 (12 ounce to 1 pound) veal shanks
half a teaspoon of fennel seeds, crushed
Instructions:
Ingredients continued:
11. half a teaspoon of fleur de sel or salt if unavailable
12. half a teaspoon of cracked black pepper
13. half a teaspoon flour
14. 1 tablespoon butter
15. 1 cup of dry white wine
16. 1 tablespoon tomato paste
17. 3 cups veal stock (some chefs would recommend substituting red wine for the veal stock. If you decide to try red wine as the braising liquid, fill your casserole until the wine almost covers the veal shanks.)
18. 1 sprig of thyme
19. 1 bay leaf
How to do it:
I know this looks like an awful lot of ingredients and fuss, but believe me it is so very well worth it. Let’s start by opening that wine and having a sip. Here’s what next.
1) Saute the pancetta in 1 tablespoon of live oil over medium low heat in a braising pan or heavy bottomed oven proof pan, until the pancetta is crispy and the fat is rendered, about 15 minutes. Remove the crisp pancetta from the pan and set aside.
2) Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the same pan and add the cipollini. Cook until browned on all sides, about five minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
3) Add the diced onion, carrots, and celery, (called a mirepoix) to the pan and cook until tender, about ten minutes. Add the garlic and mushroom and cook until tender, about five minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl and set aside.
4) Pat the veal shanks dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle both sides fo the meat with fennel seeds, salt and cracked pepper and rub the spices in. Roll the meat in the flour to coat.
5) Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in the same pot. Add the veal and cook until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.
6) When the veal is well browned return the reserved pancetta, cooked vegetables and cipollini to the pot. Pour in the wine. Blend the tomato paste with a little of the stock and pour in along with the remaining stock. Add the the thyme sprig and bay leaf. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
7) Remove the pot from the heat, cover and put it on the middle rack of a 325 degree oven. Cook until the veal is fork-tender, about 2 hours.
8) To serve, carefully transfer the meat from the pot to a serving platter. Skim off any excess fat from the top of the sauce. Place the pot back on the burner and, over medium heat, bring the sauce and vegetables to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Spoon the sauce over the meat and arrange the vegetables alongside. Pour any additional sauce into a gravy boat. A final touch you might want to try is gremolata, chopped parsely, garlic and lemon zest, as the garnish.
9) I like to serve this dish with lemon risotto, but you can also place the veal on polenta, or even mashed potatoes.
Enjoy.
Mikey’s Mediterranean Chicken with Veggies
Ingredients:
Roasting chicken 31/2 -4 lbs.
Half a cup of virgin olive oil
Half a lemon
One pound of small, new potatoes
One egg plant
One red pepper
One fennel bulb. (also known as anise)
8 large garlic cloves
Coarse salt and ground black pepper
Instructions:
First of all, food fans, it’s all in one pot. No muss no fuss. Secondly, the fragrance of this dish cooking will have the neighbors coming down the chimney.
One roasting chicken, three and a half to four and a half pounds. (no bigger, no smaller)
Half a cup of virgin olive oil. (Most versions call for two-thirds of a cup, but I think that is over the top.)
Half a lemon
One pound of small, new potatoes
One egg plant sliced into I inch cubes
One red pepper seeded and quartered
One fennel bulb. (also known as anise) trimmed and quartered
8 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
coarse salt and ground black pepper
Here’s how to do it.
Very simple, with a few little details that make a big difference.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub the chicken all over with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. (don’t forget the bird’s cavity) Place the half lemon in the bird’s cavity along with two sprigs of thyme. Put the chicken BREAST SIDE DOWN in a large roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the oven and season with salt. Turn the chicken right side up and baste with the drippings. Surround the bird with the potatoes, roll them in the pan drippings and return to oven for another 30 minutes.
Again, remove the chicken from the oven, add the eggplant, red pepper, fennel, and garlic cloves to the pan. Drizzle with the remaining oil and season with salt and pepper. Add any remaining thyme to the vegetables. Return to the oven and cook for between 30 and 50 minutes, basting occasionally. (Cooking times will vary between ovens, especially convection ovens).
To find out if the chicken is done, insert the tip of a knife between the thigh and breast. If juices run clear, it’s done. The vegetables should be tender and just beginning to brown. Serve the chicken and the vegetables from the pan. Use the skimmed juices over the meal served from a gravy bowl. And remember to lock the back door to keep the neighbors out.
Enjoy. Chef Mikey
Veal Liver with Wine Sauce for 4
Ingredients:
4 slices of calf's liver, flour for coating
1 tbls of olive oil; 2 tbls of butter
1 garlic clove crushed
4 ounces lean bacon rashers rinded
1 onion chopped, 1 celery stick thinly sliced
2/3 cup of red wine; 2/3 cup of beefstock
pinch of ground allspice; 1 tsp of Worcestershire
1 tsp of chpd fresh sage or 1/2 tsp of dried sage
3-4 tomatos; salt and pepper
fresh sage leaves to garnish
Instructions:
Wipe the liver, season with salt and pepper and coat lightly in flour, shakinig off the surplus.
Heat the oil and butter in a pan and fry the liver until well sealed on both sides and just cooked through - take care not to overcook. remove the liver from the pan, cover and keep warm, but do not allow to dry out.
Cut the bacon into narrow strips and add the fat left in the pan with the onion and celery. fry gently until soft. Add the wine and stock, allspice, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings, bring to the boil and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.
Quarter the tomatoes, discard the seeds and cut each piece in half. add to the sauce and continue to cook for a couple of minutes until heated through. Serve the liver on a little of the sauce, with the remainder spooned over. garnish with fresh sage leaves and serve with small new pototoes or saute potatoes.
Deli Ham and Sauce Breakfast Eggs
Ingredients:
A muffin tray, with each cup lightly oiled with ol
Several pieces of deli ham, WITHOUT holes in it
White button mushrooms
fresh tarragon
a shallot
Two tablespoons of sour cream
Instructions:
Here's what you need. A muffin tray, with each cup lightly oiled with olive oil. Several pieces of deli ham, WITHOUT holes in it. White button mushrooms; fresh tarragon; a shallot. Two tablespoons of sour cream.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Chop the mushrooms and shallot very finely.
Mix together and sauté in butter or olive oil along with salt, fresh tarragon, and pepper. When the mushrooms give up their juices and the shallot is softened but not browned, remove from heat. Stir in the sour cream.
Take a single piece of the deli ham and insert it into one of the spaces in your muffin tray. (If you are cooking 6 eggs, for example, you will need six pieces.) The edges of the ham will hang out over the top of the muffin space but that is just what you want. With the ham in place, add a dollop of your sauté to each piece of ham. Then crack an egg over the mixture and transfer to the oven. The dish cooks in 13 minutes in a convection overn, slightly longer, 14-15 minutes in a standard oven.
Remove from oven, then remove each piece of ham, and its combination of egg and filling from the muffin tray. Garnish with a sprig of fresh tarragon and wait for the applause.
Beer Can Chicken
Ingredients:
One cup of kosher salt
one whole broiler chicken about 3 1/2 pounds
3 tablespoons of spice rub
(I use 1 tablespoon of cumin, 1 of coriander
one and a half teaspoons of allspice
and half a teaspoon of ground cloves)
and one 12-ounce can of beer
Instructions:
Recipe for beer can chicken.
Here's what you need. One cup of kosher salt, one whole broiler chicken about 3 and a half pounds, 3 tablespoons of spice rub, (I use 1 tablespoon of cumin, 1 tablespoon of coriander, one and a half teaspoons of allspice, and half a teaspoon of ground cloves) and one 12-ounce can of beer.
Why beer? No one really knows. The beer in the open can creates steam as the chicken roasts, and that keeps the meat wondrously juicy. Any beer will do. I suggest using the one you drink.
Brine the chicken in a solution of kosher salt and one-third of a cup of sugar. Two hours will do, but if you really want to shoot the lights out, brine for four hours, then thoroughly wash off under cold water. After patting dry, leave the bird in the refrigerator overnight and allow it to air dry. If you take the additional trouble, your reward will be a beautiful crispy skin reminiscent of Peking Duck. But trust me, the two hour method is no slouch either. Light up one side of your barbecue and if you are using the dry spice rub, apply it to your bird.
Open the beer can and pour out, or guzzle, one-quarter cup. Punch two more large holes in the top of the beer can so that you have a total of three. Slide the chicken over the can so that the drumsticks reach down to the bottom of the can and the bird "stands" upright.
Place the chicken and the beer can on the cool part of the grill, using the ends of the drumsticks to steady the bird. Cover, and grill-roast, rotating the bird and can 180 degrees at the halfway point to ensure even cooking. Total cooking time takes from 70 to 90 minutes. The best way to check the state of the bird is to insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. The bird is done when the thermometer registers 170 to 175 degrees.
Using oven mits or large wads of paper towels, transfer the chicken and can to a platter or tray, making sure to keep the can upright. Let rest for 15 minutes. Then carefully lift the chicken off the beer can and onto your cutting board. Discard the remaining beer and can. Carve chicken and serve. Remember to get the right size bird. Less than 3 and a half pounds won't accommodate the beer can, and larger birds won't fit upright in your grill.
An Amazing Treat!
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons of virgin olive oil
3 large cloves of garlic cut in very thin
8 ounces medium shrimp peeled and deveined
Half a teaspoon of grated orange zest
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Half a cup dry white wine
14 and a half ounce tin of whole tomatoes, drained
8 oz. fetuccine or spag.
3 tbs. of chopped fresh flat leaf parsely or coria
Instructions:
This dish is simply fantastic, whether you're eating alone, or cooking for
the family. I call it main-dish pasta where you toss your pasta right into
the fabulous saute I will tell you how to make below.
One important note: The dish I am about to describe requires dried, and not
fresh, pasta. That's because it has to maintain its shape after it is
tossed with sauce and left to simmer. Fresh pasta tends to fall apart, so
keep to the dried stuff and remember to reserve a cup of your pasta water
for the sauce.
Get your pasta going in a large pot of boiling water. Remember, no olive oil in the water. It may keep the pasta from sticking together but it also keeps your sauce from being absorbed by the pasta. Stick to salt in the water.
For the saute sauce, get your biggest skillet under low heat, add the olive oil and garlic and cook gently for about 4 minutes. Don't let it get brown. Add the shrimp and orange zest, seasoning with salt and pepper. Raise to medium heat and sear the shrimp quickly on both sides, roughly a minute a side. Add the white wine and simmer for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes and cook until heated through. Set aside your saute until your pasta is finished. Wen your pasta is done, (it should be just tender but with a little bite left) reserve half a cup of the pasta water for your sauce. Aer straining the pasta, add the pasta and half of the reserved cooking liquid to the skillet. Simmer for a minute to let the pasta drink up the sauce and the flavours to meld. When you plate your pasta, sprinkle with parsley and add a drizzle of ollive oil to finish. If you like this one folks, let me know. I have variations of it using linguine and leeks and procuitto, penne with Italian sausage, Swiss chards and pine nuts, and pasta shells with chicken, mushrooms and capers. Such great food, so little preparation time. You will be amazed.
Quick 'n' Easy!
Ingredients:
Proscuitto
Fresh Sage Leaves
1 Chicken
Instructions:
Sometimes you just don't feel like getting all the pots and pans out. Try
this for a delicious snack that takes 10 minutes to make, all in one
skillet!
Take the chicken breast, cube it into 20 one inch cubes. Wrap each cube in a half-slice of proscuitto, and then enclose each bundle in a leaf of fresh sage, securing the bundle with a toothpick.
Place three tablespoons of olive oil and one tablespoon of unsalted butter in your skillet and fry the bundles for five minutes over medium heat, turning them while they cook until golden brown on all sides. Remove the bundles with a slotted spoon, blot them dry with paper towel, and your ready to taste a very unusual tasty treat and it only takes minutes. I like to serve these bundles on a plate garnished with rosemary.
Easy Gourmet Pasta
Ingredients:
2 cans chicken stock(sauce)
1 tsp minced garlic(sauce)
2 tbsp olive oil(sauce)
Fresh pasta
1 Green, Red, Yellow Pepper
Calmari olives
2 garlic cloves, Shataki Mushrooms
Small package smoked salmon
Parmasean Cheese
Basil or corriander
Instructions:
Sauce: Simply combine the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and reduce by three-quarters
and set aside.
Put your pasta into a large stock pot with plenty of water. Never add olive oil to the water. Although lots of people do this to keep the pasta from sticking together, the oil will also prevent your sauce from adhering to, and therefore flavoring your pasta! A little salt in the water is all that's needed. Remember, if your using fresh pasta your cooking times will be greatly reduced - 3- 5 minutes for fresh depending on how you like your pasta. To approximately 10 minutes for dried pasta.
While the pasta is cooking, saute the shitaki mushrooms in butter. At the end of the cooking process, add a dash of cooking sherry to your mushrooms. Remove from pan and set aside and keep your fingers out of the mushrooms.
Next, saute your tri-coloured peppers, once again adding a dash of cooking sherry at the end.
Final Preparation:
After you have strained your pasta, reheat your sauce. When the sauce is ready, (a minute or two will do) pour the sauce over your pasta and fold in. Also fold in your chopped fresh garlic, (just watch your guests faces register their pleasant surprise when they bite into this unexpected secret treat.) Then add your mushrooms, peppers, olives, and smoked salmon. After adding salt and freshly ground pepper, take your potato peeler and peel off thin curls of parmesan from a block of this great cheese. Garnish the dish with your favorite herb. Personally, I think fresh basil is outstanding, but coriander is also a winner. In the absence of both, plain old parsely will do just fine.
A final note on presentation: Some people prefer the above ingredients folded into the pasta. Others, though, prefer sprinkling the ingredients on top of the dish, a method that keeps the salmon strips from actually cooking in the hot pasta. An interesting variation of this dish is to fold one raw egg into your hot pasta. The egg actually coats the pasta, imparting a wonderful taste to the dish. Me, I prefer the straight pasta, but when it comes down to food, it's all a matter of taste. Enjoy!
Perfect Fried Eggs
Ingredients:
Eggs
Salt & Pepper
1 1/2 tsb butter
Instructions:
Just a quick morning dish you munch on with bacon, righ?. Not! Fried eggs
can be a gourmet treat, if you get them right. Here's a recipe to help you
chef up perfect fried eggs every time.
First trick; use a non-stick frying pan. Put your dry skillet on the stove on your lowest setting for five minutes. You will have to do a little experimenting since every stove is different, but the tolerances will be fairly close. The butter test will tell you if you have it right. After five minutes of low level heating, add 1 and a half teaspoons of butter. It must melt, foam, and subside before adding the eggs. This process takes one minute if you have your pan at the right temperature. If you've got your pan too hot, your butter will brown before the minute is up. If you add your egg to a pan that is too hot, the white of the egg will sputter into huge bubbles.
If you've got the temperature right, your eggs will tell you when they hit the frying pan. Eggs going into a skillet at the right temperature will neither run all over the place or sputter, bubble, and sizzle. It just settles into a thick oval and gently whispers back at you! To get cooking times synchronized, crack open your eggs into separate cups and pour into skillet, one egg on one side, the other on the other side. Here's another secret; season your eggs with salt and pepper immediately when they hit the pan. Last secret; cover your gourmet fried eggs. That is what gives the whites a perfect firmness without the slightest rubbery texture or that unpleasant brownish spider web that appears on eggs cooked at too high a temperature. Cooking times: 2 minutes for runny yokes, 2 and a half minutes for soft but set yokes, and 3 minutes for firmly set yokes. Trust me, eggs and bacon will never be the same!
