Chicken Ballottine

I love chicken and I am always looking for a new and exciting way to prepared it. I was watching Essential Pepin and watch him bone a chicken. It looked pretty easy, so I attempted it. It turned out really well. You can stuff the chicken with what you like. I made a spinach, sausage & dill stuffing. I would suggest serving this dish with yukon gold mashed potatoes. I copied Jacque's sauce recipe. However, I added grated garlic and dry Spanish Sherry to the mix.

Stuffing:

2 garlic cloves minced
1 small package of baby spinach
2 hot Italian sausages casings removed
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup of sour dough bread crumbs
4 cremini mushrooms diced
1 shallot diced
1 lemon zested
2 tablespoons of fresh minced dill weed
juice of one lemon
salt & pepper

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic, shallots and sausage. Cook until the sausage is rendered and add the rest of the ingredients. Set aside to cool.

You will now need to bone out a whole chicken. There is many websites that show you how to do this. You can watch Jacque's show too or ask your butcher to do this.

Lay the chicken skin side down and lightly salt and pepper. Spread the cooled stuffing on top of the chicken and proceed to roll up and tie with kitcken twine. Lightly dust with herbes de Provence and salt, pepper. Place fresh bay leaves on top of the chicken secured underneath the twine.

I think it is very important to do this step, but you can skip it. However the skin will not be as crisp.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat a roasting pan on your stove and add some olive oil. Brown the roast on all sides. Now place the roast into the oven and bake for 45 minutes.


Sauce:

1/2 cup of stock
1/2 cup of dry red wine
1 very small onion diced
1 carrot diced
1 celery stock diced
1 clove of garlic grated
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of dry Spanish Sherry
1 tablespoon of Wondra Flour

Skim off and discard some of the fat from the pan drippings. Add the drippings to a frying pan and heat on medium high. Add the diced vegetables and saute until they are soft. Now add the stock, wine, soy, sherry and grated garlic to the pan. Cook out some of the wine for five minutes. Now add the wondra and you have a really tasty sauce to pass over the roast.






 

Chicken Milanese

 Chicken Milanese is really delicious. But it is only as good as its sauce and breading. Otherwise, it tastes like really bad airline food. Secondly, do not add additional salt to the chicken, breading or sauce. Season bread crumbs, Parmigiano and stock have salt. Additional, Cognac is the best to add to the sauce. But not having this you can add a dry Spanish Sherry. If you do not have either, I would not recommend making the dish. This
dish is best served along side a mix salad made with mesclen.

 

Sauce
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 medium shallots, minced
1 clove of garlic finely minced
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock 

2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs of your choice (sage, chives, tarragon)
2 tablespoons of cognac
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon of Spanish smoked paprika
Freshly ground black pepper

 

Chicken
1 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup panko
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 large eggs
Eight 6-ounce chicken breast cutlets, pounded 1/4 inch thick
Freshly ground black pepper, no salt!
Vegetable oil, for frying
1/4 cup chopped parsley for garnish



In a sauce pan melt one tablespoon of butter. Now add the shallot and minced garlic. Simmer until they are soft. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients with the exception of the remaining butter and lemon juice. Simmer for twenty minutes until the mixture has reduced.

While the sauce is simmering pound out your cutlets until they are 1/4 inch thick. Now mix  the breading ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Beat the two eggs in a bowl and set aside. Now heat a skillet with olive oil on medium high. Proceed to bread the cutlets and saute until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

To finish the sauce add the remaining butter as if it is a Bearnaise. Whisking until the butter thickens the sauce and add the lemon juice.

 A special note for those cooking enthusiast, Saveur has a really great Mexico Issue out now. Even if you are not into cooking it is a really interesting read! Diana Kennedy's a  expat who has influenced the cooking world with many cook books. Really great Oaxacan Enchiladas recipe too.

Amish Peach Slab Pie

Peach Filling:                                                         

6 cups peaches (about 9-10), peeled,
 pitted and cut into thin slices.

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground fresh nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

 1 Recipe of Never Fail Pie Crust (See Earlier Post)

Roll out half the dough on floured work surface....slightly larger than pan.
Spray pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on the long sides. Transfer dough to prepared pan. Trim edges of dough.

For filling, combine sugar, cornstarch, spices and salt. Add sliced peaches and lemon juice and stir. Pour peach filling into prepared baking sheet. Dot with a little butter for richness.
Roll out remaining dough. Place on top of filling. Trim edges of dough to hang over sides slightly.

Optional idea is to cut pretty designs on pastry top. Fold edges under and pinch to seal.
Dust top of pastry with sugar and a little cinnamon.

Bake at 375°F for about 45-50 minutes...or until golden and filling is bubbling.

Allow to cool completely on wire rack (several hours). Then pull up parchment paper to remove.

Nigel Slater's Sweet & Hot Plum Chutney

I love the red plums at my local farm stand. After reading Nigel's book, I was inspired to try one of his lovely chutney recipes. This is a loose adaptation.

 He says the character of a chutney changes over time. Thus the reason they must be heat sealed after you make them.

 I think they would make a great holiday gift. Chutney is great over cheese and to accompany meat dishes. The following recipe makes a couple of small jelly size jars.

1 1/2 pounds of plums seed removed and quartered
12 ounces of onion diced large
3/4 of a cup of raisins,
I mixed half currants with half golden raisins
1 cup of light muscovado sugar
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
zest of one orange
1 star anise
2/3 cup cider vinegar
2/3 cup of champagne vinegar
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon of candied ginger
2 teaspoons of yellow mustard seeds



Put all the ingredients into a stainless steel pot and bring to a boil. Once it is at a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for one hour. Spoon into sterilized jars and process with a heat seal for 10 minutes.         

Note if your chutney is not very thick, you can add 1 teaspoon of pectin to thicken it up.

Gateau Aux Amandes

This is a very unassuming cake, but let me tell you that this can be placed in any Parisian bakery!


1 1/3 cups sugar
8 ounces almond paste
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup Crisco
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
6 large eggs
1/2 cup 60% cacao chocolate chips-must be 60%!

 Preheat the oven to 325º.  Grease a 9- or 10-inch cake or spring form pan with butter, dust it with flour and tap out any excess. In the bowl of a food processor, grind the sugar, almond paste, and 1/4 cup of flour until the almond paste is finely ground and the mixture resembles sand.

 In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 3/4 cup of flour, baking powder, and salt.
 Once the almond paste is completely broken up, add the cubes of butter, Crisco, nutmeg and the vanilla and almond extracts, then process until the batter is very smooth and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, processing a bit before the next addition.

 Add half the flour mixture and pulse the machine a few times, then add the rest, pulsing the machine until the dry ingredients are just incorporated, but do not over mix.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan. Then sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the cake. Bake the cake for 65 minutes, or until the top is deep brown and feels set when you press in the center. Invert cake to cool on rack and serve.

French Tarragon Chicken Salad

This is a light chicken salad for summer. If you want you can serve it as a main course with cheese and crusty bread. Take a look at one of my earlier posts for a great Italian bread recipe.

2 chicken breasts roasted until they reach 160 degrees
1 1/2 cups of homemade chicken stock
1/3 of a cup of champagne vinegar
3 tablespoons of fresh tarragon minced
1/4 cup of olive oil
3 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon of grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons of fresh orange juice
 1 teaspoon of grated orange peel
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 clove of garlic grated
3 level tablespoons of whole grain mustard
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon of ground fresh nutmeg


1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of green Tabasco
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1/2 a teaspoon of kosher salt
1/2 pound of broccoli in small pieces
1/2 red onion diced
1/4 cup of smoked green olives-see previous post for source
1/2 pound of diced fresh carrots


Reduce homemade chicken stock by half or more. Set aside to cool. Dice chicken in cubes. Then add to the vegetables in a bowl. Now place all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk. The reduced chicken stock is add to the dressing. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and chicken.

St. Germain Potage

Traditionally, St.Germain Potage is made with dried marrow fat peas. Marrow fat peas are green mature peas that have been allowed to dry out in the field, rather than be harvested right away. One of the classic French preparations is the combination of fresh peas, soft lettuce, and onions to make Potage St. Germain, named for a count in the court of Louis XV. Over the past few years potager gardens have become extremely popular in the garden design world.

The potager kitchen garden (pronounced poe-ta-zhay), initially developed by French monks, became popular in the 16th century in France. The potager was quite widespread, from large chateaus to the common farmyard. Strictly speaking, the potager is really just a garden, but it now often means a decorative vegetable garden. The traditional potager garden contains symmetrical, geometrical garden beds, with the vegetables planted in patterns or groups rather than in rows, often with herbs and fruit intermingled.

Here is the recipe for my soup.

1 1/2 pounds of fresh peas
1 leek sliced thin
1 head of butter lettuce, chopped
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
4 oz of potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
4 1/2 cups of homemade chicken stock
1/4 cup of heavy cream
4 small sprigs of fresh mint

Shell the peas and drop them into boiling water for a minute or two. Then drain them and set a few aside to add to the soup later. In a sauce pan add the butter and leeks. Saute until the leeks are clear. Now add the remaining peas. Then add the potatoes, lettuce and stock. Cook for about 15 minutes and then process for a minutes in a blender. Season the soup with salt, pepper and reserved peas. Stir in the cream and ladle into bowls. Garnish with fresh mint.