Da and I were feeling the cooking mojo today and spent the whole day in the kitchen.
Today's menu:
Stuffed Chicken Roulade
Risotto with White Wine Reduction Sauce
Saute Green Beans with Almonds
Shaved Salad
Crestini with Goat Cheese, Pesto & tomato
Cinnamon Apple Upside Down Cake
Blanch the green beans in 2/3 water, 1/3 chicken stock and a small palm full of coarse salt.
Drain when the beans are al dente.
Saute beans in two pads butter, add slivered almonds, saute 1-2 minutes more tossing constantly in pan. Remove from heat and serve hot.
Risotto - add 3 pads butter and 1 turn olive oil to hot skillet. Add arborio rice to mixture and saute in pan until butter is foaming. Add warm chicken stock to pan until arborio rice is covered. Stir constantly until liquid is absorbed. The risotto will not be cooked through at this point... Add more stock and continue in this fashion until rice is cooked through and sauce is creamy. Serve with chicken and white wine sauce over top. (white wine sauce in early post)
Chicken roulade - start with a fully deboned chicken. Pat inside and outside of chicken dry and season with French thyme, S&P. Add stuffing of preferance, close back and sew closed.
Turn chicken over and truss working from the center out in order to create a uniform log.
Place in a casserol (create a trivet on the bottom with carrots, celery and onion.)
Preheat oven to 450. Cook for 15minutes at this temp and baste every 5min with a mixture of melted butter and olive oil.
Reduce heat to 350 and continue to baste ever 15min until bird reaches between 150-160 degrees.
Remove from oven, turn out into a metal bowl with breast facing down, tent with foil and allow to sit. The temp will continue to rise until the core temp is 170 degrees and juices will redistribute to the meat. (Allowing to sit for 5-10 minutes will ensure the meat is tender and juicy).
Turn out onto a platter and slice in thin rounds.
Use innards from deboned chicken to create a rich chicken broth to cook rice stuffing and risotto and/or other soups and dishes for future dinners.
Simmer slowly for at least a few hours if not all day.
For the stuffing finely dice carrots, celery, onion, and rehydrate dried morels (mushrooms).
Add butter and olive oil in a hot pan, add long grain rice and saute until butter is foaming then add the vegetables and saute until fragrant.
Add chicken stock, bring to a boil and the cover and reduce heat. Simmer until rice is cooked through. Remove from heat and let cool slightly before stuffing bird.
For shaved salad (recipe in previous post). Slice vegetables as thinly as possible. Toss in dressing and then serve with shaved Parmesan Reggiano and parsley as a garnish.
Pesto - start with fresh basil, resh pine nuts, Parmesan Reggiano, garlic, lemon juice, and high quality olive oil.
Blend all ingredients in a high powered mixer until smooth.
Crestini - slice day old bread very thin.
Brush with olive oil and Italian spices of choice.
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until crispy, but not burnt.
Top crestini with soft goat cheese, a dollop of pesto and a half of a grape tomato.
First get out your copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, your sharpened boning knife, and a whole foul. (Rinse and thoroughly pat dry. If the bird is wet it will be slippery and can cause an injury when cutting).
Create a long incision along the back bone of the bird from the neck to the tail. Then working with your knife always toward the bone (to ensure you don't mangle the meat or pierce the skin), work down the rib cage of the bird to allow the first half of the bird to flap open and away from the cage. Use your fingers to help guide the meat away as you work down the rib cage. Once you get to the front breast bone STOP! Do not continue to cut through as this skin is very thin and you risk piercing it.
Repeat on the other side. (one side may take you longer than the other, that's okay! Turn the bird if needed in order to ensure you maintain control of both the bird and the knife). When you get to the breast bone again stop.
With both sides off the ribs, separate the ribs from the breast bone and set to the side. Next working from the tail toward the neck use your fingers to separate the meat from the breast cartilage. Once you have a clear visual of the thin skin begin to remove the breast bone and cartilage making sure to keep the knife facing the bone so as not to pierce the thin skin.
Remove and set aside.
Next turn the chicken upside down so the wings are close to you and remove the first joint and bone of the wings (remove bones back to the elbow). Once the bone has been removed, cut the wings off at the elbow leaving a small boneless arm attached to the bird (as shown below)
Notice the small arms remaining. Next working on the first ball joint of the legs use your knife to remove the tendons which attach the meat to the bones and joints.
Once the ball joint is entirely exposed (as shown above) and you can see the beginning of the bone shaft pull the bone out. (Now simply pulling the bone out is far more difficult than it sounds and can mangle the meat if you don't do it properly. So...here is a trick to remove the meat from the bone cleanly).
Wrap a piece of cotton butchers twine around the bone using the first half of a surgeons knot.
Tie a knot at the far end of the sting in order to create a handle
Grab the sting and pull the sting up and away cleanly removing the meat from the bone. When you get to the ball joint the sting will catch. This is okay! Twist and wrap the string away to remove the first section of tendons from the joint and then use your boning knife as you did with the first joint to remove the remaining tendons and skin. This process will turn the leg inside out. To finish the chicken simply turn its little legs back right side out.
The fully deboned chicken
The deboned chicken with the carcass pieces and innards set out. Use the bones and innards to create a flavorful stock to cook with later. 
Blanch the green beans in 2/3 water, 1/3 chicken stock and a small palm full of coarse salt.
Risotto - add 3 pads butter and 1 turn olive oil to hot skillet. Add arborio rice to mixture and saute in pan until butter is foaming. Add warm chicken stock to pan until arborio rice is covered. Stir constantly until liquid is absorbed. The risotto will not be cooked through at this point... Add more stock and continue in this fashion until rice is cooked through and sauce is creamy. Serve with chicken and white wine sauce over top. (white wine sauce in early post)
Chicken roulade - start with a fully deboned chicken. Pat inside and outside of chicken dry and season with French thyme, S&P. Add stuffing of preferance, close back and sew closed.
Turn chicken over and truss working from the center out in order to create a uniform log.
Turn out onto a platter and slice in thin rounds.
Use innards from deboned chicken to create a rich chicken broth to cook rice stuffing and risotto and/or other soups and dishes for future dinners.
Simmer slowly for at least a few hours if not all day.
For the stuffing finely dice carrots, celery, onion, and rehydrate dried morels (mushrooms). 
Add chicken stock, bring to a boil and the cover and reduce heat. Simmer until rice is cooked through. Remove from heat and let cool slightly before stuffing bird.
For shaved salad (recipe in previous post). Slice vegetables as thinly as possible. Toss in dressing and then serve with shaved Parmesan Reggiano and parsley as a garnish.
Pesto - start with fresh basil, resh pine nuts, Parmesan Reggiano, garlic, lemon juice, and high quality olive oil.
Blend all ingredients in a high powered mixer until smooth.
Crestini - slice day old bread very thin.
Brush with olive oil and Italian spices of choice.
Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until crispy, but not burnt.
Top crestini with soft goat cheese, a dollop of pesto and a half of a grape tomato.
City Chicken : Recipe Joy of Cooking
Skewer chicken and pork cuts together
Dredge in spiced flour, eggs and bread crumbs
Brown in butter
Then let simmer in the same pan until meat is cooked through but still tender.
Slice potatoes into thin rounds, submerge in water or chicken stock and zap in the microwave for 6min. Then drain and put into an oven safe casserole.
In a saucepan create a simple cream sauce, and add a generous helping of your favorite cheese. I used Dubliners cheese tonight (sooooooo good)!
Pour cheesy cream sauce over potatoes, (optional: top with crispy crumbs or crispy onions), and bake in a 350 degree oven until potatoes are cooked through.
