marsala overload

Not quite sure how this happened, but I managed to end up with three, count em, three bottles of marsala wine in the liquor cabinet.  A fortified wine that will last for ages in a cabinet, marsala makes a fabulous egg yolk-based dessert sauce, called sabayon by the French and zabaglione by the Italians.  It is delicious served over fresh berries.  But I don't make much in the dessert realm, so I wanted a way to use the stuff in a savory dish.

Enter the simple chicken dish called Chicken Marsala.  I haven't made it in ages, but it is a tasty dish with a light sauce that is good served over pasta or mashed potatoes.  There are both dry and sweet versions of marsala, but in general, for cooking, I prefer the sweet version.  It is not overly sweet, and seems to be more mellow when cooked.  Chicken marsala couldn't be more easy.

some sliced mushrooms, a couple cloves of garlic and some chopped chives

garnish some chicken cutlets with a savory sauce

Chicken cutlets are simply chicken breasts that have been cut lengthwise into thin slices.  For really fast cooking, I like to pound them even thinner, until they are about a quarter-inch thick.  They get seasoned with salt and pepper, then dredged in a bit of flour.  They get cooked in a couple of tablespoons of shimmering hot olive oil until they are a light golden brown.

about three minutes a side does the trick

Once the chicken is brown, it comes out of the pan, and in go the sliced mushrooms.  Once they have cooked down a bit, the garlic gets added (I usually just push it through a garlic press) and sauteed for a couple of minutes.  Then in goes about a half a cup of marsala, and a half a cup of chicken broth for a serving for two.  A couple of tablespoons of butter stirred in at the last minute enriches the sauce.

The sauce simmers until it reduces a bit -- if it is too thin

I add a teaspoon or so of the flour left from dredging the chicken

That's as hard as it gets.  Once the sauce has reduced and thickened a bit, the chicken goes back in for five minutes to warm up, then the whole mess goes over a bit of pasta or mashed potatoes, or can simply be spooned onto a plate.  If you are serving it bare, a slice of good garlic toast is nice for sopping up the extra juices.

In my case, I had that leftover squash pasta dough in the freezer, so I rolled a few noodles and piled the chicken marsala on top, then garnished with the chopped chives and some minced parsley.  Beautiful!

the chicken was tender and moist, one advantage of pounding the breasts thin

the unthinkable

We did, well... the unthinkable... last night.  After seeing it on a Mario Batali show, I coated a rib eye with lard (yes, you read that correctly--unadulterated pig fat), rosemary, and loads of garlic, mixed into a paste.  Mario was visiting a NYC eatery with wonderful steaks, and that is what they did.  I must admit, it gave the steak a marvelous crust and the flavor of both the garlic and the rosemary.

To compliment the steak with some Italian flair, I rethought a Tuscan kale dish I posted here earlier.  The one I made with gnocchi made from squash.  This time I made the squash into pasta.

a kobucha squash, roasted for about an hour, made a nice puree

To the puree, I added a teaspoon or so of freshly grated nutmeg, along with a teaspoon of salt, and an egg.  The squash had a lot of moisture, so the puree took quite a bit of flour.  In fact, enough flour to make pasta for four or so meals for two people.

the dough was very supple, and a pretty, subtle shade of yellow

this tray full of cut pasta was made from just a third of the dough --

I froze the other two thirds

Because it took so much flour, the flavor of the squash was subtle, but it was definitely there, making it the perfect foil for a saute of Tuscan kale, mushrooms, onions,and fresh sage.  I first sauteed the mushrooms and onions in a little olive oil, salt and pepper, then added the kale, 1/2 a cup each of chicken broth and white wine, and cooked it until it just wilted.

I had a fresh sweet onion on hand--look for fresh onion in the spring;

they have a subtle flavor and are very tender

Tuscan kale is my favorite--it cooks in just minutes and has a nutty, not too bitter flavor

The light sauce and tender greens made for an interesting pairing with the crusty steak.  Be sure and try adding sage to greens some time.  Not too much, as it is a strong herb, but the flavor pairing just sings.  

to make up for my sins with the pig fat, I served a modest 

4 ounce portion of well-rested meat

Okay, so here's the kicker.  I will do the lard coating again.  It really did make a nice crust on the meat, and most of it finished its life in the bottom of the grill pan.  I can get fresh local lard from Whole Foods, it is actually lower in saturated fat than butter, and I use it seldom and sparingly.  All self-justification, I know, but the pleasure of a well prepared meal trumps portion size for me every time.  Maybe, to add some smoke flavor to the party, I'll try rendered bacon fat next time...

STUFFFED

Jim really loves big, fat pork chops.  And since I have been working some evenings he has been buying a few.  I had one left in the fridge, which meant just not quite enough for two, and way more than one person needs to consume.  So that lead to a stuffed chop.  I had on hand goat cheese, frozen spinach, and sun dried tomatoes.  Coupled with a little garlic, that made for a classic stuffing.

a quick saute with some olive oil married the ingredients together

Frozen spinach actually has an advantage over fresh in this sort of application.  The spinach can simply be thawed, and wrung dry of all its excess moisture.  Spinach has a lot of excess moisture.  Just wring it out like a dish cloth. 

Once the garlic was light golden and the tomatoes were soft, I added a third of a cup of goat cheese, off the heat, and stuffed it all into a pocket cut in the chop.

a few minutes in a saute pan and 15 minutes in the oven cooked this monster

The stuffing brings moisture and interesting flavors to the chop.  I served it with some baby potatoes sauteed with onions and chipotle peppers.

why are my pics all blurry all of the sudden?  

I've been frustrated lately with my photography.  Time for a new camera, and some lessons on using it....

reviving a classic

I had thought that working at making creative, desirable food presentations in my new job would juice my creativity for cooking at home.  Oddly enough, it has had the opposite effect.  Part of it may be the hours.  Working until six or seven o'clock makes coming home and pulling out all the stops on dinner a little difficult, and hard on my already tired feet.  Jim is usually hungry and ready to eat by six or six thirty.  So dinner on those nights has become a bit more utilitarian than what is typical for me.  As a result, I have resolved to make creativity a priority on nights I am not working.  And last night was one of those nights.  I was stumped for something new to do with what I already had in the freezer -- the typical steak and chicken assortment.

So, I decided to do something old, instead.  Steak Diane used to be very popular in the seventies, but as with most dishes that are just a bit too popular, had gone the way of cherries jubilee and baked Alaska.  I dusted off an old recipe, and discovered the preparation to be fairly ingredient-heavy, but with an intriguing set of aromatics.

for the most part steak Diane is the basics --

garlic, shallot, mushrooms, parsley, and a garnish of chopped green onion

The intriguing  ingredients were brandy, mustard, and Worcestershire.  I hadn't used Worcestershire in anything in ages.  I will be bringing it out more often in the future.  It brought a wonderful, spiced fragrance to the sauce.  To update the recipe a bit, I decided to grill the steak rather than saute it, and to use a grainy mustard rather than the more staid Dijon.  The dish starts with sliced mushrooms sauteed in just a tablespoon of butter, along with salt and pepper.  Once they began to brown, in goes the shallots and garlic, which cooked for another couple of minutes.  Then the fun began.  I added a quarter cup of brandy and lit it on fire.

flambe is fun, used often in restaurant kitchens, and 

relatively little at home

Once the flame had burned down, I added a couple of teaspoons each of cream, grainy mustard, and Worcestershire, along with a quarter cup of beef stock I had on hand, though I think water would have worked just fine to thin the sauce a bit.  It smelled heavenly.  I took it off the heat, and stirred in the green onions and a bit of parsley.

While Jim grilled the rib-eye, I simmered a cup of peas in a little water, salt and pepper, just until they were warmed through, and most of the water was evaporated.  Then I added some chopped chives and parsley, along with a tablespoon of butter, and pureed the whole thing right in the pan with an immersion blender, but a food processor or blender would work too.   It is officially my favorite way to eat peas now.  The color is gorgeous, it makes a bright addition to the plate, and it is much easier to eat than a pile of orbs skittering around the plate.  It also opens up a bunch of ways to flavor peas.  I may try lemon and fresh mint, or green onions and thyme, or maybe tarragon and champagne vinegar.

the creamy, spiced sauce was a great foil for the meat,

and the peas balanced out the meal

Maybe there are some other old classics worth dusting off down the road.  I may have to pull out some older cookbooks and do a little reading...

turning tidbits into treasure

I don't know about you, but I seem to end up with odd assortments of food left in the fridge and the freezer.  A single chicken breast half.  A bit of ham -- not enough for a sandwich even.  Three or four mushrooms begging to be used.  A knob or two of cheese...

A meal fails to suggest itself to me until the idea of a unifying element suggests itself.  Enter the simple, but oh so delicious crepe.  Crepes are simplicity themselves.  They whip up in seconds in a blender.  The batter can rest for an hour or a couple of days.  Leftovers freeze perfectly.  They are thin little wonders of ingredient-unifying simplicity.  A couple of eggs, a cup of flour, a bit of milk and water, and a pinch of salt is all it takes.  A non-stick pan with a thin smear of butter will cook up a dozen in a matter of minutes.

the thin batter is just a quick whir away with a blender

a pile of crepes, ready for filling

Feeling experimental, I decided to cook my lone chicken breast half "sous vide".  The technique, long popular in European restaurants, involves sealing the ingredients in a vacuum sealer, and maintaining the water temperature at the exact temperature you want the food to cook to.  Using a candy thermometer, I brought the water up to 160 degrees.  It wasn't very difficult to maintain it there.  I sealed the breast in a bag with some salt, pepper, thyme sprigs, and lemon slices.  The idea behind the sous vide temp is that food will not overcook, because it will never exceed the temperature of the water.

the chicken cooked up tender and flavorful -- 

once the temp came up to 160, it was easy to maintain

From there, the filling was a snap.  I was going for a Chicken Cordon Bleu flavor profile, because I had the ingredients on hand, and I used to adore a Cordon Bleu crepe at a little French bistro in Erie.  I sliced the ham into little batons, and sauteed that with some mushrooms.  I added the sliced chicken, some salt, pepper, and a little thyme and chopped chives, and the grated gruyere cheese.  I bound that all together with a few tablespoons of the cream I had leftover in the fridge.

The filling was simple and tasty

I made a simple salad of arugula with a parmesan peppercorn dressing, filled the crepes, put a little of the sauce on top, and ran them under the broiler.  They made a delicious and pretty presentation from a few odds and ends in the refrigerator and freezer.  I will make a point of thinking about crepes more often, and I will certainly be trying my hand at other sous vide applications.

who would know that this is a plate full of leftovers?