What Alaina had in her Kitchen...

Here's the scene: It's 4pm and Alaina doesn't know where the day has gone.  Or worse, it's 5pm and she KNOWS she's been stalling.  But dinner still has to be made.  Something must be put on the table.  But what?!  I have no inspiration...I know there's some chicken breast or pork chops, frozen italian sausage, tomatoes, a bit of parsley, 2 or 3 carrots, chicken broth.........can I make something from that?  What's in the pantry?  Do I have potatoes?  Shrimp? Panko?  Maybe I should just call for takeout....NO! You graduated from the Culinary Institute of America goshdarnit!  But still, no inspiration!  To the food magazines and cookbooks I go....dear goodness, please let there be an appealing recipe that incorporates things I already have..............................................

And so it goes.  I imagine for you, too!  And how many times do you find the perfect less-than-30-minute recipe with exactly the ingredients you possess?!?!  Well, never.  Mostly because no recipe takes less than 30 minutes except for peanut butter and jelly.  But timing aside, even if you keep a well-stocked pantry (which, I believe, I do), you still never have EXACTLY the right ingredients.  So that's where "What Alaina had in her Kitchen..." was born.  I have found through trial and error and a lot of cooking that sometimes you have to make it up as you go along, so I figured I'd share a story about that with you.   Surprisingly, the result was not a disaster!  It actually was incredibly delicious...rave reviews from the family!  My point is, once you get comfortable in your own kitchen, have a few tricks up your sleeve, and get confident you too can make any recipe work for you and what you have...essentially, recipes just become inspiration.

I love Fine Cooking magazine, and it's very inspiring to me.  I worked there for a while as a recipe tester.  Not only was the work environment great and I was doing something that I loved, but the folks who run that magazine really care about food.  They don't take it TOO seriously, but they know their stuff and take it seriously enough.  I also know that each and every recipe is tested at least three times and put through some rigourous trials, so I can generally trust what they take to print.  Tonight I turned to Fine Cooking for my inspiration, and this is what I found: Chicken Cutlets with Cacciatore Farro Salad and Red Pepper Aioli.  But I had no red peppers.  No farro.  No oregano, arugula, NOR did I have time to bread my chicken breast cutlets in panko....but no fear, I was about to use "what Alaina had in her kitchen"...!  Here's what I came up with:

The Finished Dish

Parmesan Chicken Breasts with Warm Quinoa Salad
and Sundried Tomato Aioli

For the Aїoli:
6 sundried tomatoes, jarred
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 C mayonnaise
2 large cloves garlic
Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper
In a food processor, blend all the ingredients with 2 Tbsp water.  Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl for serving.

For the Quinoa:
2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 large onion, small dice

1 celery stalk, small dice
1/4 lb cremini mushrooms, quartered
4 medium cloves garlic
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 C white wine
Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 1/2 C quinoa
2 1/2 C chicken broth
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 C grated Grana Padano cheese
In an 11-inch straight sided sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion and celery and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook 2 minutes more.  Add garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds.  Add wine and simmer until reduced by at least half, about 5 minutes more.  Add tomatoes and stir to combine.  Add quinoa and stir to coat.  Pour in chicken broth, bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and cook, covered, for about 12 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed and the quinoa is tender.  Take pan off heat, then stire in balsamic vinegar and cheese.  Garnish with herbs, if you have them in your kitchen!

For the Chicken (Reference my blog post on Sautéing):
2 large or 4 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp canola oil
Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1/2 C grated Grana Padano cheese
Preheat oven to 350°F.  If using large chicken breasts, split them in half horizontally (or just butterfly them if you want larger portions).  Season with salt and pepper.  Heat canola oil in a grill pan or cast iron skillet over medium high heat until smoking.  Place breasts presentation side down and cook for about 4 minutes, then rotate 90° if using a grill pan to make grill marks.  After 6 minutes total, flip chicken breasts.  Top with Grana Padano and place in oven until thickest part of chicken breast registers 160°F internally.  Move to cutting board to rest for 2 minutes.

"Mercado" Adventures

As I wrote in my very first column for The Aztec newsletter (and in my blog post titled "Vegetables!"), one of the many things I love about living in Mexico City is the plentiful and inexpensive produce, particularly that found at the open-air markets, or "mercados". They are all over the place, and you can find one any day of the week. I live in Santa Fe (a "suburb" of Mexico City for those of you who don't live in the area) and the mercado I go to on a weekly basis is open all day on Saturday. It's always filled with great looking (and tasting!) fruits and vegetables, huge bunches of beautiful herbs, dried goods like nuts and grains, mole, taco stands, cute stands with things like hair bows and jewelry, pottery, and even meat and fish, among much much more. Now, I haven't ventured so far as to buy fresh meat or fish at the mercado yet (although I have bought some of their cured meats, which were great!), but I've tried pretty much everything else.

Mole Stand at Santa Fe Mercado

Three of my recent purchases were especially exciting as I bought a couple of things with which I wasn’t familiar, being new to Mexico.  I have always been intrigued by mole.  I have, of course, had it in restaurants here and I am looking forward in the near future to making it from scratch.  I know there are a million opinions on it and just as many recipes, so I thought I would start out buying the pre-made, concentrated mole at the market.  There are so many to choose from, but I chose one that looked familiar: dark brown with sesame seeds.  The lady at the stand told me it was made from dried poblanos, anchos, mulatos, and pasillos, and she instructed me to dilute it with chicken stock over the stove until it looked about right.  Fortunately for you all, I did some measuring as I cooked to give you a bit more detailed instruction:

            For about 4 servings, purchase 250g of concentrated mole (which is a little over half a pound).  Place this in a small sauce pot over medium-low heat and add 1¼ to 1½ Cups of chicken broth, depending on how thin you like your sauce.  Using 1½ Cups of broth, you will yield about 2 Cups of sauce.  If your sauce thickens up before you serve it, just add a little more chicken stock.  Serve over anything you like, but I thought it was delicious over chicken (both white and dark meat) that I baked in a 350°F/176°C oven (on a rack) until it registered 165°F/74°C internal temperature.

My Aqua de Jamaica
with the jamaica "flowers" I bought

My second “adventurous” purchase was of some beautiful jamaica “flowers” that I’ve seen everywhere.  A friend recently told me she makes them into an iced drink for her daughter, so I thought that would be fun to try.  After a little research, I found out that, not only is jamaica used in Mexico to make “aqua de jamaica”, the “flowers” are actually hibiscus calyxes (the covering of the buds before they blossom) and the drinks and other products made from it are popular all over the world for their various health benefits and delicious taste.  Here’s how to make it on your own (adapted from 101cookbooks.com):

For every ¼ Cup of jamaica flowers, boil about 2 Cups of water.  Steep the flowers in the hot water for about 8-10 minutes.  Strain out the flowers and immediately sweeten with about ½ Cup of sugar, or to your liking. (Some folks like it with no sugar at all.)  Dilute as desired with cold water (up to 1½  more Cups) and serve over ice with lime wedges.

Close-up of what was left of my
Roasted Salsa Verde after a dinner party!

Finally, I decided it was finally time for me to make my own salsa verde, considering I enjoy eating it in restaurants so much.  I bought a bunch of tomates (or, as we call them in the States “tomatillos”), as well as some serrano chiles (the ones that look like smaller jalapeños, about the thickness of your pinky), cilantro, onion and garlic.  At home it struck me that I would probably like the taste of a roasted salsa verde, so that’s what I decided to do.  Here are the instructions (adapted from RickBayless.com):

¾ lb tomates, halved
6 cloves garlic
2 serrano chiles, stemmed and halved with seeds removed (don’t remove seeds or use more chiles for a spicier salsa)
¼ Cup cilantro, roughly chopped
½ white onion, small diced
kosher salt

 Roast tomates, garlic and chiles in a 350°F/176°C oven until you see dark, toasted spots and the aroma is irresistible.  Put roasted vegetables and cilantro in a food processor or blender with about ½ Tablespoon of kosher salt.  Pulse until desired consistency is achieved.  Add onion and more salt, if desired.  Serve immediately if possible as it’s delicious warm!

 

 

My Sad Little Rosemary Bush

Just needed to share with you guys...I have the saddest little rosemary bush on the planet.  I figured if I put it out there, you could send warm, growing, healthy thoughts to the little bush and maybe it could muster up the strength to grow a little bit.  Here it is...

I know, you can barely see it...but inside the rocks on the left and the right are little offshoots of seemingly healthy rosemary, but it 's not growing at all.  It was in a small pot but I decided to plant it in the ground in hopes it would have more luck.  So far, nothing.  Other than sending good thoughts to my little bush, you could also send me some pointers.......!





Velouté

Broccoli Cream Soup
thickened with Velouté  

In my last column in The Aztec, and in my last blog post, I mentioned the use of velouté in order to make the sauce for your shallow poached dish. The sauce I described is a classic French sauce known as Sauce Vin Blanc. (Simply, white wine sauce.) Velouté is a very important part of Sauce Vin Blanc.

But don't let the fancy name scare you! Velouté is simply chicken stock that is thickened with pale roux. If you're interested in making velouté (which can be the base of any number of white sauces....it's known as a "mother sauce"), first take a look at my previous post titled "Roux".

Now that you're familiar with roux, all you have to do is temper the right ratio of warm pale roux into cool chicken stock. (For light consistency, the ratio is about 12 oz of roux for every gallon of chicken stock.  Since you will probably make velouté in much smaller quantities, that equates to about 1 1/2 oz of roux for every pint of chicken stock.)  Then, bring this mixture to a gentle simmer. It's usually a good idea to add some aromatics, as well, for flavor. Simply place some parsley stems, crushed garlic, peppercorns, and thyme stems into cheesecloth. Tie with kitchen twine, leaving a long enough tail to tie to the side of your pot and submerge it in the liquid. Simmer for at least 20 minutes or until you reach your desired consistency. Don't season your velouté with salt at this point as you will be adding it to your reduced cuisson (when poaching) which already contains salt, or will become the base of something else that you will season later.  You can add more salt once your velouté is incorporated if needed.

Again, chicken stock thickened with roux can be used as the base of nearly any white sauce, gravy or even cream soups, so make a little extra and be creative in using it! Good luck!

Back to Basics, Part 6: Poaching

And now for our final of six fundamental cooking methods: poaching.

I think this is probably the one folks are least familiar with, and I’m sure there are more than a few of you who do not think it sounds appetizing! But poaching really is a fun technique to know that is relatively easy and can result in some delicious meals.

There are two different types of poaching: shallow and deep. Both are excellent methods to use with naturally tender items (particularly fish but chicken works well too) and utilize flavorful liquids that include some type of acid for cooking. When shallow poaching, your product is only covered about half way with liquid and your pot is covered with either a lid or parchment paper, so you are cooking your food through a combination of liquid and steam. Your sauce is commonly made using the liquid remaining after cooking, known as a “cuisson”. When deep poaching, your product is completely submerged in a liquid known as a “court bouillon” at a temperature between 160°F/71°C to 185°F/85°C (LOWER than simmering) and your sauce is generally made separately.



Shallow-Poached
Paupiettes of Sole with Vin Blanc Sauce

First, choose your fish or other meat to poach. Shallow poaching works best for your most tender filets of fish such as sole or flounder, whereas for deep poaching you can use something a little more bold like salmon or heartier like halibut. Now it’s time to prepare your “flavorful liquid”. If you’ve decided to shallow poach, part of your flavor is going to come from butter, shallots and herbs that will form a “bed” on the bottom of your pan. To shallow poach your food, you are going to use vegetable stock or fish stock (or a mix of half chicken stock and half water), along with white wine. (Use a 2 parts stock to 1 part wine ratio. You should have a total of about 6 oz of liquid for every portion of fish you’re poaching.) If you’ve decided to deep poach, your court bouillon will be a little more involved but incredibly delicious. If you’re making a gallon of court bouillon (a minimum to cook about four portions of poached fish) use 5 quarts of water and 1 Cup of white wine vinegar. To this you can add any combination of aromatics, the most traditional being carrots (~1/2 lb), onions (~3/4 lb.), thyme, bay leaves and peppercorn. You could also use any of the following to flavor your liquid: parsnips, leeks, mushroom stems, garlic, fennel, shallots, ginger, chiles, etc. Combine all your ingredients and allow to simmer for about an hour. Strain out all of your aromatics and you’re ready to poach!

Here are the two methods, step by step:

Shallow Poach
1. Preheat your oven to 300°F/145°C. Season your fish with salt and pepper. If desired, roll into “paupiettes” which is simply rolling into a cylinder, “skin side inside, tail to head”.
2. Generously butter a straight sided sauté pan. Put minced shallots and parsley (or other desired herbs) in the bottom of the pan to form a “bed” and place fish on herb stems. Add your wine and your stock. (For four portions of fish, this will equal about 3 Cups total liquid.)
3. Place your sauté pan on the stove over medium heat. Bring liquid to just below a simmer and place lid (or buttered parchment paper) over your pan. Transfer pan to hot oven and cook until fish is opaque and has an internal temperature of about 145°F/62°C.
4. Remove your poached items and keep warm on a plate covered with tinfoil. To make your sauce, reduce your “cuisson” by half, then add seasoned chicken stock thickened with pale roux (known as “velouté”—way more info available on my blog!) and heavy cream, if desired. Reduce this again by half, seasoning if needed with pepper and salt. Add herbs at the end if desired and serve over your poached fish.

Deep Poach
1. Prepare your court bouillon in a stock pot or rondeau as described above. This is the hardest part!
2. Reheat your court bouillon on the stove over medium high heat until it is at the correct temperature. It should be at about 185°F/85°C before adding your fish. Maintain the temperature throughout the cooking time between 160°F/71°C to 185°F/85°C.
3. Add your fish to your court bouillon and cook until it is completely opaque. Fish should reach an internal temperature of about 145°F/62°C and chicken should reach an internal temperature of about 165°F/73°C.
4. Remove fish from court bouillon, pat dry on paper towels, and serve with your desired sauce.


Another very popular item that people love to poach is the egg. Fortunately, poaching an egg is not a terribly involved process. First, bring at least a gallon of water 185°F/85°C. While waiting for your water to heat up, break your eggs individually into small ramekins or teacups. This is a very important step to ensure the yolk of your poached egg is surrounded by cooked egg white, so don’t skip it! When your water is ready, add about ½ oz of salt and 2 fl oz of vinegar (per gallon of water) and stir. Slowly and easily pour one egg at a time into the water. Let the eggs float to the bottom and don’t bother them for one minute. As the eggs start floating back to the top, you can gently make sure they are separated from each other. Cook the eggs for about 2-3 more minutes (3-4 minutes total). Use a slotted spoon to gently lift each egg from the water individually. Blot the spoon with the egg in it on a paper towel. At this point, you can use the edge of the spoon against the paper towel to “cut” the jagged edges of cooked egg white for a beautiful presentation. Serve poached eggs immediately.