November 10th, 2008
This is a very simple recipe for making a delicious roast chicken with little effort required. My sister and I had loads of leftover fresh herbs, so we decided to stuff them into a chicken for dinner a few nights ago. The result is below! Enjoy:
Serves 3-4 People
Ingredients:
Roast Chicken
1 medium sized chicken (4-5 lbs)
2 sprigs each: Rosemary, Tarragon, Oregano
2 tbsp minced rosemary
2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tbsp tarragon vinegar
4 cloves of garlic
1 lemon
Orzo
1 cup of tricolor orzo (or regular)
10 sun dried tomatoes
1 tbsp infused olive oil of your choice (we used porcini, or regular olive oil is fine)
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Peel and coarsely chop the garlic. Quarter the lemon.
Clean the inside of the chicken by removing the liver, neck, and any other unwanted innards left by the butcher. Place the chicken into a large roasting pan. Stuff the chicken with lemon wedges and garlic cloves.
Whisk the olive oil, tarragon vinegar and mustard in a small bowl. Using a brush, generously baste the chicken with the liquid mixture. Save some for gravy for later.
Sprinkle the entire bird with minced rosemary and a lot of salt and pepper.
Cook the chicken for approximately 2 hours, basting a few times with the liquid in the pan or until a meat thermometer reaches 180°F
While the chicken is cooking, bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Cook orzo for approximately 8 minutes or until soft. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Pour the orzo into a bowl to serve. Coarsely chop the sun dried tomatoes and toss with the orzo. Add olive oil and salt to taste to the orzo.
When the chicken is done pour its juices into the bowl with the tarragon vinegar, mustard and olive oil. Combine as a gravy.
Carve the chicken and serve alongside the sundried tomato orzo for a simple, healthy dinner!
Filed under Pasta, Poultry, Recipes | Comment (0)
March 31st, 2008
This is an interesting take on saltimbocca as we use turkey here instead of chicken or veal. It yields a juicy yet lean meat dish that can be served with a myriad pasta dishes or on its own with extra fennel/peas. I made a spinach ricotta gnocchi with it and it was a delightful match.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
6 turkey breasts, pounded thin with a meat mallot, or purchased as scallopine
12 thin slices prosciutto
24 sage leaves
salt and pepper
3 bulbs fennel
2 tablespoons olive oil
flour for coating meat
2/3 cup clarified butter
2 cups frozen shelled peas
3 oz dry marsala
3 oz dry white wine
2 oz cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
squeeze of lemon juice
To make the clarified butter:
Clarified butter is essentially the butter fat exclusively, with the milk fat and water removed from the butter. Because it has a higher smoke point than regular butter, it is less likely to burn. When making dishes that require high heat, like a saute, clarified butter can be useful.
Heat your butter in a sauce pan slowly, until the milk fat rises to the top. Skim the milk fat off with a spoon and then slowly pour the remaining butter through a sieve on top of a liquid measure. Be sure that the sieve is trapping any solids and you just have pure, clarified butter remaining. Set aside for future use. I found a great video that shows you how to make it, it’s quite simple actually, it just requires a bit of care. If you need a bit of clarified butter assistance, check it out.
Season turkey breasts with salt and pepper on both sides. Lay two pieces of prosciutto and a couple of sage leaves on top of each turkey breast and press in so that they stick. Set aside.
Cut each fennel bulb into four thick slices but leave attached at the base. Blanch the bulbs in lightly salted boiling water until just tender. Be careful not to overcook. Drain thoroughly and pat dry. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and saute the fennel slices for 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Transfer to a baking dish.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Take out your frozen peas and pour them into a bowl to thaw. If they become too watery, pat them dry with a paper towel. Place fennel in the oven to keep warm while you prepare the turkey.
Lightly dust each turkey slice with flour. Heat the clarified butter in a pan and quickly add the slices of turkey, prosciutto side down, and allow to cook for 3 minutes on each side. Combine the marsala and wine in a bowl. Turn the heat for your pan to high and pour the marsala/wine mixture into the pan. Remove the turkey slices and add butter and lemon juice to the pan with the marsala/wine. Taste for salt. Warm up the peas in the microwave for about two minutes.
Arrange a platter with a bed of peas and place the turkey breasts and warmed fennel on top. Spoon the sauce on top. Enjoy!
This recipe is adapted from my favorite cook book, Coast: Seaside recipes from Australia’s leading chefs.
Filed under Poultry, Recipes | Comments (2)
March 13th, 2007
I bought a new cookbook this weekend that I am pretty pumped about called “Coast” featuring recipes from leading Australian chefs. It has a lot of really creative recipes, one of which I tried out on Sunday. The recipe comes from chef Peter Gilmore who is from Sydney. Though this dish takes quite a long time to prepare, the selling point is that it is not very labor intensive because it requires very little chopping and stirring. I recommend leaving yourself a few hours to prepare it but most of the time is allotted for letting the flavors infuse in the stock and the garlic oil. I never would have imagined that prosciutto would marry well with Chinese ingredients such as mirin and soy sauce. The flavors and textures were actually quite delicious. I went out on a limb as I’ve never made quail before but I was pleased with the results. Next time I may try to make it with veal instead of quail. Read on….
Master-Stock Quail Breast with Slow-Cooked Squid, Prosciutto and Shiitake Mushrooms
Serves 4
4 large quails
1 tablespoon sesame oil
8 oz cleaned cuttlefish or squid (I used squid)
6 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms, stalks removed
6 thin slices prosciutto
2 medium sized scallions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons mirin
2 teaspoons salt-reduced soy sauce
Pinch of sea salt
Master Stock
8 cups chicken stock
100 ml shaohsing Chinese cooking wine
100 ml dark soy sauce
125 g yellow rock sugar (can substitute with regular sugar- I couldn’t find it myself!)
6 star anise
3 strips cassia bark (I couldn’t find this but it is a bark that comes from a tree similar to a banana tree, the dish is fine without it)
4 strips dried orange peel
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
Garlic oil
2 cups olive oil
6 garlic cloves, cut in half
For the master stock, combine all the ingredients in a large stockpot, bring to a boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to infuse for 1 hour. Strain and reserve stock. Make the garlic oil by warming the olive oil in a pan with garlic for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to infuse for 1 hour. Strain.
Bring the master stock back to a boil, then turn down to barely simmering. Remove the legs from the quails. Brush quail breasts with sesame oil and poach in master stock for exactly 2 minutes. Remove quail breasts from stock and allow to cool. Take the meat off the bone, then carefully remove and discard the skin. Set aside the meat.
Place cuttlefish or squid on a board and, with a sharp knife, cut horizontally into paper-thin slivers or rings. Carefully slice the shiitake mushroom caps into paper-thin slivers. Cut the prosciutto into strips. Fry the scallions in a little garlic oil until just caramelized (when they begin to brown); drain on kitchen paper and set aside. Put the master stock back on the stove and heat to just below simmering.
In a large saucepan, warm all except 1 tablespoon of the remaining garlic oil on high heat. Submerge cuttlefish or squid slivers in oil for about 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon as soon as they turn opaque. Set aside, season lightly with sea salt and toss through the prosciutto slices and spring onions. Saute your shiitake mushrooms in the reserved tablespoon of garlic oil until golden brown. Add mirin and salt-reduced soy sauce, simmer until slightly reduced, then add to cuttlefish or squid mixture and gently combine.
Poach quail breasts in master stock for 1 minute. Remove from stock and place two breasts in the middle of each of four warmed plates. Top with the cuttlefish or squid mixture, and serve immediately. You can also simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl if you are having less of a formal dinner, as I did.
*Though the recipe does not say this, I highly recommend pouring some of that stock you worked so hard to create, onto the final dish. It has so many great flavors in it from the anise, orange peel, and peppercorns and will really add a lot to the final result. Bon appetit!
Filed under Poultry, Recipes, Shellfish | Comments (7)
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