Archive for January, 2008
Pan Seared Chicken Braised with Fennel & Beet Salad with Fennel Fronds
Jan 27th
Fennel is amazing. I had eaten it, but never cooked with it until today. What intrigues me the most, anise flavor aside, is how many ways it can be prepared. The whole plant can be put to use: the root can be roasted or eaten raw, fronds for salads or as garnish, and the seeds can be crushed, ground, or used whole. Even the fibrous stalk can be cooked with other foods to impart its flavor.
Here’s what I did with it.
prep time: 10-15 minutes
active cooking time: 6 minutes
passive cooking time: 35-40 minutes
ingredients:
- 1 chicken thigh, with skin (I bought a whole, natural, free-range bird and broke it down myself)
- 1 large fennel plant, rinsed and dried. We’ll only use one stalk, so just chop off a stalk through the root. The root should be about the size of half a medium onion.
- 1 beet, leaves and all, rinsed and dried
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- freshly ground pepper
- white wine – I used a Pinot gris
I first set my oven to 375°F before getting to work. In a medium pan I heated some olive oil in a pan while julienning the stalk of the fennel. I added some strips to the oil to flavor it and added the chicken thigh, searing on some color and rendering off some of the skin fat. I then transferred the chicken to a glass pan. Metal would probably be better. Oh well. I added some of the fennel fronds, bit of wine, and braised for about 35 minutes. When braising, you can use almost anything acidic, as long as the flavors work together. Lemon juice, wine, tomatoes, beer, stock – the main idea is to impart some flavor in a tougher bit of meat and keep it moist, which will also assist in breaking down the tissue.
While the chicken was cooking, I sliced the fennel bulb and fronds as well as the beet root into crescents. I mixed everything together with my hands, drizzled some olive oil and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. Chop the veg as rough or fine as you like. I like big chunks.
I served the chicken with some store bought pasta. That will soon be a thing of the past. Enjoy.
The Perfect Scrambled Eggs
Jan 20th
Eggs are quite possibly the world’s most intriguing and universal food. They are symbolic, nourishing, versatile, and complex. Almost everyone can cook them some way or another – but not many can do so well and with consistency. Let’s try to change that. More >
The Well-Stocked Pantry
Jan 19th
It’s not a pantry without a bunch of key items. I’ve listed mine in rough order of importance, the most used and versatile near the top. Mind you, this isn’t the same for everyone, but I think its a pretty good base (a bit sprawling, even). Also, this is stuff that generally doesn’t need refrigeration. And now, the list: More >
Tagliatelle with Tomatoes, Scallions, Herbs, Lemon, and Marsala
Jan 14th
Its not hard to make pasta. Real, fresh, homemade pasta. All it takes is five simple ingredients and some muscle. This should take about 40-50 minutes total, for the whole dish. It takes a bit of time to get the gluten going, so lets cut the palaver and get to it.
For the pasta, you will need:
- 1/2 cup unbleached flour
- 1/2 cup semolina flour, or superfine semolina
- 2 or so tablespoons olive oil (assume extra virgin, unless otherwise noted)
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- a cup of water
For the sauce:
- two handfuls of cherry tomatoes (I also used some romas that needed to be used)
- 2 or 3 scallions
- some olive oil
- some dried oregano
- a sprig of rosemary
- 1/2 a lemon (use a real fucking lemon, please)
- a cup or so of Marsala
- kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper
You’ll also need:
- a fork
- a sharp knife
- a measuring cup
- a small bowl
- a medium mixing bowl
- sexy muscles
- a rolling pin or pasta machine
- a large (stainless steel) pan
- a large pot and cover
- a colander
Combine the flour into the bowl. Crack the egg into small bowl, breaking the egg with a fork. Mix in the olive oil and a touch of water-about a tablespoon or so. Then combine the liquids with the flour, using the fork to bring everything together. Once most of the clumps have combined, use your hands to get everything together into a singular mass. Add a touch of water if too crumbly; a dash of flour if too sticky. Continue kneading in the bowl till better combined. Then take it out and knead on a flat work surface. Work the dough until the edges don’t break off as much and it stays together. It will firm up and become more elastic and cohesive. Use the pin to flatten it out into a long sheet, about 1mm thick (1/32 of an inch). If you’re using the machine start it at the thickest setting, reducing it each time. This whole process further develops the gluten, so if you’re using a pin, you might want to knead a bit more by hand. Once you’ve got a sheet of dough, cut strips with your knife or set your machine to do it. For tagliatelle, you want about 1cm strips. Don’t worry about extraneous bits, they’ll all go in the pot.
Before your pasta is cut, get a pot of water large enough to contain it-generally, 6-8 quarts of water per pound of pasta. Also, per 6-8 quarts, season with about 2-3 tablespoons salt. I use kosher or coarse sea salt. Cover and boil. Toss in the pasta and cook
for several minutes, about 3-5, checking by tasting. Your pasta should be firm, still soft but not soggy.
While the water was boiling, you can make the sauce. Coat a sauté pan with olive oil and set to high heat. Halve the tomatoes and add to the pan once the oil is hot. You’ll know it is hot enough if the oil sizzles. If you’re not certain, try one half first to test the heat. Generally, hot olive oil is as viscous as water, cool oil is much slower to move in a pan. Hot oil also smokes, but avoid this, as it kills all the flavor and nutrients in the oil. Chop and add the scallions. A pinch of salt. Don’t stir or move the pan. Let the heat wrinkle the tomatoes and add some color – the scallions will start to caramelize too. Give the pan a quick forward-and-back jolt to loosen any stuck bits, to keep things from burning. Add some oregano, removing any stalks. I rub it between my palms, over the pan, to release any oils. Rip off the leaves from the rosemary by pinching and pulling the stalk between your thumb and forefinger. Give a good toss to mix everything together.
Drain the pasta in a colander and dump it into the pan, with the tomato party. Coat all the pasta in the sauce and mix in about half of the Marsala. Let it simmer for awhile until the alcohol is burned off and the liquid absorbed or evaporated. Remove from the stove and pour into a serving dish. Use the remainder of the Marsala to deglaze the pan. Deglazing simply removes all the bits of burnt schmootz from the pan – this is where all the flavor is! Reduce till the alcohol has burned off and all the bits of veg and pasta are free. Then, pour over the pasta. Finish by squeezing lemon on top. Jam a fork in there and wiggle to get all the goodness out.
I like it served as is, but you can finish it with a nice hard, aged cheese, coarsely grated, a small pad of butter, or a drizzle of olive oil. Grind some pepper on top, and serve three of your best mates. It should also be noted that this is entirely vegetarian – there’s only one egg keeping it from being vegan. But egg substitutes are an entirely different post altogether!
Mise en Place
Jan 9th
Nobody wants to stand around cooking for hours. The flood of “quick-meal” cookbooks is a response to the ever increasing pace of business-driven society. Less time, better output. One way to eat well and save time is to minimize both preparation and cooking. Using raw, whole foods is a good solution, and a rather trendy one at that. But what if your favorite meal is port-braised duck with chanterelles and pearl onions? Luckily, there is a method that most chefs – and indeed, the kitchens they run – employ to keep food preparation as efficient as possible.
Mise en place [miz ã plas] is a French term meaning “set in place” or “everything in its place”. It refers to the planning and setup necessary to prepare food, both food and equipment alike. This includes cutting vegetables, gathering necessary spices, cleaning pots and pans, preheating the oven, and so on. Often, especially in English, it is simply called mise [miz]. The brackets denote the pronunciation as transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet. It’s worth learning.
Having everything in front of you allows two things things: easy access to all your equipment and ingredients (and that you indeed have all necessary items), and the ability to spot shoddy ingredients or equipment. A great tip for recipes involving eggs, and certainly part of mise en place, is to crack them one at a time into a small bowl or ramekin, inspecting each one before pouring it into the collective bowl. Every once in awhile, a bad one makes it into your fridge. Thankfully, our pal Mise is there to bail us out.
Okay, so lets get to the application. How exactly do you look at a recipe and figure out the mise en place? There are five steps, roughly, to tackling any recipe or set of courses:
- Figure out each step in the recipe.Usually this is done for you, but sometime it isn’t. Break the recipe down into sequential tasks that make sense.
- Assess which steps can be done ahead of time.This includes all your prep-work, preheating, bowl-chilling, vegetable blanching, etc.
- Decide how you will store your ingredients will be stored until you are ready to use them.Some things, like sauces, need to stay hot. Others need the fridge or freezer, while others yet can simply reside in bowls in or near your work area – so consider both the storage location and vessel.
- Determine the time each step will take.This one is pretty straightforward. One note, however. Sometimes you can use downtime later in the cooking process to get some prep out of the way. For example, if you’re making a roast, it needs to rest after being cooked. You can use that time to make the sauce from the juices. This is where you can multi-task by using passive cooking time to do prep work or cooking. This leads into the final step:
- Look for ways to be more efficient.For example, blanching vegetables partially cooks them while allowing you to chill them, and finish cooking them later. Since they are blanched, it won’t take as long and you can do it ahead of time while maintaining their quality. Also, if you are cooking several courses, look for common ingredients or preparation techniques in each dish. Doing all your julienning at the same time allows you to get into a routine, which saves time.
There are a few key ideas necessary that are beyond the scope of this post. They are knife use (and other tools, in general), and cleanliness. I will dedicate at least one post to each of these topics in the future. I must note this disclaimer, however. I am not responsible for your mistakes in the kitchen. I have badly cut myself, as I am sure most chefs have. It wasn’t fun, but I take full responsibility for it. If your knife doesn’t feel right, set it down. If your blade is dull, get it sharpened. This is what mise is for – getting out all the kinks and working efficiently and responsibly. You are entirely responsible for your own safety. That being said, here are some tips:
- Keep your fingertips tucked under your knuckles, using them to hold the food to your cutting board.
- When chopping, keep the edge of the tip on the board. It never leaves. Simply rock the blade to cut-you can steady it by carefully pinching it with the thumb and forefingers of your non-dominant hand. Let the knife do the cutting-bad things happen when you apply too much force. If you can’t cut something without exerting undue pressure, then its time to sharpen or true your blade, or get a new one entirely.
- Keep your workspace sanitary and free of clutter, cleaning as you go. The only thing worse than not having space in which to work is hurting yourself because of a mess that you left. Keep it clean, keep it safe.
- Make sure all the equipment and food you are using is thoroughly cleaned, dried, and prepared properly.
It should be noted that mise en place also refers to your individual setup-how your workspace is arranged regularly. Everyone does things differently, but there are certain commonalities (salt, pepper, cutting board, etc).
Till next time! Stay safe!
Getting on the Grid, in a Major way
Jan 1st
Over the past year I have dedicated a lot of time to making sure that the important things in my life are safe and organized, within reason. I’ve been using the book Getting Things Done as a guide, supplemented with other online recommendations.
Here’s a brief and somewhat complete description of my paper system. Important documents are stored in plastic folders in my plastic file box. Each folder has a label printed with my Brother P-2700, which I connect to my computer for more efficient label-tape use. I got it new, with free shipping for $40. Expect to pay far more – I lucked out. A simpler machine will do the same task, but I really enjoy using it, which means I actually file things. The labels make the folders far more uniform than if they were handwritten. I also avoid hanging folders at all costs. Instead, I use plain manila folders, unless the document needs to be water-safe, as previously mentioned. If I need to make a “group” folder, I simply make a list on a sheet of paper (printed from my computer) of folders that would normally be filed inside. This way, I can still maintain a hierarchy while avoiding the clutter of nested folders. Someday (soon, I hope) I will scan some of the stuff and get a safety deposit box. Finally, everything is filed alphabetically.
On to digital/electronic things. Important files are backed up somewhat regularly on my external hard drive. I’m still looking for a program to do this well and automatically. I don’t have Leopard yet, but I will soon enough – I’d like to give time machine a spin. Right now I simply drag and drop directories that I know have changed since the last backup. Much of my work in progress, especially things that I’m working on for others, is emailed to them and myself – and thus also stored online. I will eventually acquire more permanent online storage, other than my web host. I regularly synch my phone with OS X’s Address Book via Bluetooth, then export all contacts as a group vCard that I upload to Grand Central, which I use to manage my numbers and to log messages and conversations, mostly to note how much time I waste. Then I take a breath. I route my email accounts to Gmail. Replies appear as though sent from the same address the original message was sent to. I bi-directionally synch gCal with iCal using GCALDaemon, a server which I manage using Lingon. Lingon is a GUI for OS X launchd configuration files. It makes managing processes prettier and easier. I also use Jott to update/check my gCal via my cell phone. Jott sends me an email and an SMS confirmation/transcription of added calendar events. Also, gCal sends me emails and SMS texts at specific intervals prior to calendar events, depending on which calendar the event stored in. I use this setup to keep track of everything from class times to birthdays to TO-DOs to celestial happenings, like the Southern Solstice. This mobility and flexibility enables easy task capture and review – read/write access to my calendar whether I’m at my desk or on a bus.
I think I’ve lassoed the bucking steer, caged the paper tiger. Now I just have to keep it that way, forever 
. One further improvement, however, would be to print hard copies of all my contacts – a proper address book or rolodex seems in order. I figure tertiary storage is good, but a hard copy doesn’t need to be powered on to use. I will update this in the future, and also write more in depth articles, especially regarding gCal, workflow, organization, and staying mobile. I’d like to hear what others are doing!