Sweet Crestini

Sweet Crestini

Thin bagguette or day old bread (sliced into thin rounds)

Butter

Walnut Oil (or lightly flavored oil)

Cinnamon

Crushed Almonds

Brown Sugar

Dash Nutmeg

Arrange rounds on a cookie sheet (parchment paper optional).

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and heat until combined and fragrant.

Brush the mixture onto each bread round (being sure to get some of the almonds on each slice.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until golden (may take less time depending on the size of your bread rounds)

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Serve with a sweet dipping sauce or along side baked Brie.

Breakfast sandwiches

Fry an egg
Toast some bread and butter it
Slice cheese enough to cover the bread
slice of ham
Stack it together.

I like to have a runny egg, myself.  I break the yolk before closing the sandwich.
Do this on an English muffin and Poof!  A really inexpensive Egg McMuffin

Cooking for Newbies:

It amazes me how many of our children don't know how to cook anything but can order off of a menu. So here is my suggestion.  Recipes for the cooking illiterate.  I'll be adding even the easiest of recipes.  Join me! 

Americanized Wontons

Cooked white rice
browned and drained Hamburger
frozen veggies of choice (peas and Carrots are both good)
Cream of mushroom soup (opt)

MIX together in bowl

Scoop on to Wonton wrappers (found in the produce section)

brush outside of wrapper with whipped egg whites and press edges together diagonally.
fry in hot oil.

Voila!  Serve with soy or duck sauce

How-to Debone a Chicken

How to debone a chicken (or really any foul) Julia Child style!

Okay Julia explains things very clearly in Mastering the Art of French Cooking...BUT I think she could use a little picture guide to assist home cooks. So...Julia this is for you :-)

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.

If you find yourself daunted by the task just remember... you can do it, take your time, and always wear your pearls in order to channel Julia for luck... and you'll do great!

French Fun with Da and Lexi

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.

City Chicken and Scalloped Potatoes

Arvada Dinner Post 01/06/2010

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.

Scalloped Potatoes
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.

Arvada Dinner Post

Basic Roasted Chicken with Stuffing.

Choose favorite stuffing and fill cavity of bird (account for additional cooking time with stuffed birds). Massage butter into top of bird and season with S&P (as well as additional spices to taste).

Cook until juices run clear.

Celery Casserole - recipe below.

We also had mashed potatoes and gravy. - Perfect meal for a cold day!

Baked Celery Casserole

4 cups sliced celery

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cans sliced water chestnuts drained

1/4 cup sliced almonds sauteed in butter

1/2 cup corn flake crumbs

melted margarine or butter

Parboil celery in water with a little salt added, zap in the microwave for a few minutes or sautee in a pan for a few minutes to take the bite off. Combine drained celery with water chestnuts and undiluted soup. Place in casserole. Top with crumbs and margarine. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes.

Potato Pancakes

2 eggs

1 small onion

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 -3 cups leftover mashed potatoes

Put eggs, onion, salt, flour, baking powder and 1/2 cup potatoes into blender. Cover and process until smooth. Add remaining potatoes, cover and process at grind. Pour onto a hot well greased griddle. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Makes about 12 pancakes. Serve with applesauce, sour cream, ketchup, or family sauce or your choice.

Shaved Vegetable Salad

9-8 tblsp extra olive oil

1-3 tblsp fresh lemon juice

1 clove garlic, crushed

salt

3 large fennel bulbs

6 celery stalks, thinly sliced on the diagonal

8 large radishes thinly sliced

1 large bunch Italian parsley, washed leaves removed (optional I prefer without as I'm not a huge parsley fan)

1-3 ounce piece of Parmesan shaved with a vegetable peeler

Fresh ground black pepper

In a small bowl of jar whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt to taste. Set aside.

Trim the feathery stalks and root of fennel so the base of the bulb is flat. Remove any tough outer stalks. Using a sharp knife or mandolin, slice the bulb from top to bottom. Then slice crosswise as thinly as possible into half moons. In a plastic bag toss the sliced fennel with a few drops lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Set aside.

Just before serving in a large bowl, toss the fennel, celery and radishes with a little olive oil.

Arrange the vegetables on 6 plates with salt to taste and drizzle with the reserved lemon dressing. Sprinkle on a generous amount of shaved Parmesan. Finish with pepper to taste.

Mashed Potatoes ala Norma

5 large potatoes peeled

1 garlic clove, split

2 egg yolks

fresh ground pepper

1/2 cup butter

1 cup hot milk

4 slices Italian salami, diced

1/4 pound mozzarella cheese diced

2 tbsp heavy cream

2 tbsp grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Cover potatoes and garlic with boiling salted water and cook through. Preheat broiler. Drain potatoes and garlic and mash with butter and milk. Beat in egg yolks (make sure egg yolks are not cold have them on the counter to come to temp while potatoes are boiling to prevent scrambling). Mix in diced salami and mozzarella and then place in a buttered oven safe dish. Spoon cream over the top, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and place in the broiler 8 inches from the heat. Cook slowly until light brown crust appears.