I asked Jessica what she wanted to make this week, and she said "Coq au Vin." But I thought it would be too expensive because there are two kinds of booze in it. I suggested a few more things - some French, some German, some American - and it always came back to Coq au Vin. So, we went to the liquor store, bought the crappiest six dollar jug of Burgundy we could find, and proceeded to light my dutch oven on fire. Enjoy.
Ingredients:
3-4 Pounds Chicken (we used boobies, you can use whatever you want.)
4 oz Bacon (about 5 strips.)
A shallot (in place of Pearl Onions... read Julia's recipe if you're confused.)
1/4 Cup Cognac
3 Cups Burgundy
Chicken Stock to cover
A bay Leaf
2 Cloves Garlic, mashed
1 Tb Tomato Paste (the recipe says 1/2 Tb, but Jessica made me put more. Peer pressure.)
3 Tb Flour
8-10 Oz Mushrooms (we used baby bellas)
A shit ton of butter... I think we finished off a stick by the end of it.
Salt and Pepper
Boil the bacon for 10 minutes to get rid of the smokey flavor. Saute in a dutch oven with butter until crispy. Remove. Try not to eat too much of it.
Salt and pepper your chicken and sear both sides in the bacon fat. Add bacon back in, throw in a diced shallot. Cover and cook for five minutes. Turn the chicken to its other side and cook for five more minutes.
Grab a lighter and your Cognac, laugh maniacally, and set the chicken aflame. Then freak out and shake the pan around until the flames are gone. Add your wine and chicken stock, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
Saute up some mushrooms, fo' shizzle. You can probably do whatever vegetable you want, but Julia said mushrooms. So it has been written, so it will be done. Make a paste of butter and flour.
Take chicken out of the pot and reduce the sauce to about 2 cups or until you're sick of waiting. Throw in paste and whisk vigorously. It'll be thick and saucey now.
Add everything in - chicken, mushrooms, whatever else - and let stand for a few minutes to baste in its majesty. Eat.
Showing posts with label Sous Chef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sous Chef. Show all posts
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Pork Dumplings and Chicken Fried Rice
When I was in high school, we had a German exchange student for a year. We were sitting in choir, and the teacher asked if she understood something, and said something to the effect of "not really," and the teacher asked me to translate for her. And now we're buds. In honor of my friend coming halfway around the world to visit us Jerseyans, we're making... Chinese food. Whatever.
Again, this video is a little wonky... we chose the recipe in the car on the way to Shoprite, so neither of us had much time to mentally prepare ourselves for the undertaking we... undertook. But, nevertheless, here are Pork Dumplings.
Ingredients:
Frozen Wonton Wrappers (Don't make the mistake we did. Please. Don't do it. The angels will cry.)
1 lb Ground Pork
1 lb Napa Cabbage
1 Tb Ginger, grated
2 Scallions
4 Tb Soy Sauce
2 Tsp Sesame Oil
Salt
Put on a pot of water to boil.
Grate the ginger into a tiny bowl and cover with water, let steep like tea while you're doing everything else.
Blanch the Cabbage for a second until wilted - not cooked. You kind of want to feel a little crunch in the dumpling. Unless you're into soggy dumplings, but that's completely your business. Put the cabbage in a colander set over a bowl and smoosh all of the liquid out of the cabbage. Keep for later. Dice up the cabbage into whatever size you want.
In a bowl (we used my Dutch Oven because I had run out of bowls.), throw in the Pork, chuck in the diced Cabbage, minced the Scallions and juggle them in, glug in the Soy Sauce, squirt in the Sesame Oil, sploosh in the Cabbage water, drizzle in the Ginger "tea," and plop in half the grated Ginger for good measure. (Or pick neater ways to do each of those things. Generally you want the ingredients in a bowl.) Mix.
Wrap up in your wrappers and put in boiling water. They will immediately ploop to the bottom of the pot. You know they are done with they float back to the top like they found their swimmies.
Eat with soy sauce or hoisin sauce or make a fancy schmancy sauce of your own.
REALLY QUICK! Explanation of fried rice... I may make a video some day. But here's the gist.
Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients:
Whatever vegetables you want. I used carrots and celery. Cut into little cubes.
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
4 Chicken Strips (or like a breast), cubed
2 Cups Rice, cooked (obvi.)
Eggs
Vegetable Oil
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Sesame Seeds
Heat up a pan (I used a Cast Iron Skillet... I've read that's the best for stir fries because it doesn't cool down every time you add an ingredient.) and put in some Vegetable Oil. Sear the chicken for about a minute on each side. Yes, they will be raw, but they'll be done by the time everything else has joined the party. Move to the edges of the pan.
In the center of the pan, add in whatever Vegetables you chose and the Garlic. Stir it around until it's lovely and brown. I don't like to overcook the veggies - I want the centers still with a bite. Can you use the term "al dente" with vegetables? Move to the edges of the pan.
Throw in the rice. I've heard it's actually better to use day old rice because it's less sticky, or the stuff you get in a box from a take out place, but I never think that far ahead. Mix everything around.
Make a well in the middle of the pan and crack two eggs in. Scramble the eggs about 3/4 of the way done, then mix everything together so there's a mixture of egg clumps and other ingredients coated in egg.
Sploosh in Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, and Sesame Seeds to taste. I've never measured it before. I'd say about a tablespoon of Sesame Oil, and just keep adding Soy Sauce until its the color you like your fried rice to be.
Again, this video is a little wonky... we chose the recipe in the car on the way to Shoprite, so neither of us had much time to mentally prepare ourselves for the undertaking we... undertook. But, nevertheless, here are Pork Dumplings.
Ingredients:
Frozen Wonton Wrappers (Don't make the mistake we did. Please. Don't do it. The angels will cry.)
1 lb Ground Pork
1 lb Napa Cabbage
1 Tb Ginger, grated
2 Scallions
4 Tb Soy Sauce
2 Tsp Sesame Oil
Salt
Put on a pot of water to boil.
Grate the ginger into a tiny bowl and cover with water, let steep like tea while you're doing everything else.
Blanch the Cabbage for a second until wilted - not cooked. You kind of want to feel a little crunch in the dumpling. Unless you're into soggy dumplings, but that's completely your business. Put the cabbage in a colander set over a bowl and smoosh all of the liquid out of the cabbage. Keep for later. Dice up the cabbage into whatever size you want.
In a bowl (we used my Dutch Oven because I had run out of bowls.), throw in the Pork, chuck in the diced Cabbage, minced the Scallions and juggle them in, glug in the Soy Sauce, squirt in the Sesame Oil, sploosh in the Cabbage water, drizzle in the Ginger "tea," and plop in half the grated Ginger for good measure. (Or pick neater ways to do each of those things. Generally you want the ingredients in a bowl.) Mix.
Wrap up in your wrappers and put in boiling water. They will immediately ploop to the bottom of the pot. You know they are done with they float back to the top like they found their swimmies.
Eat with soy sauce or hoisin sauce or make a fancy schmancy sauce of your own.
REALLY QUICK! Explanation of fried rice... I may make a video some day. But here's the gist.
Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients:
Whatever vegetables you want. I used carrots and celery. Cut into little cubes.
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
4 Chicken Strips (or like a breast), cubed
2 Cups Rice, cooked (obvi.)
Eggs
Vegetable Oil
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Sesame Seeds
Heat up a pan (I used a Cast Iron Skillet... I've read that's the best for stir fries because it doesn't cool down every time you add an ingredient.) and put in some Vegetable Oil. Sear the chicken for about a minute on each side. Yes, they will be raw, but they'll be done by the time everything else has joined the party. Move to the edges of the pan.
In the center of the pan, add in whatever Vegetables you chose and the Garlic. Stir it around until it's lovely and brown. I don't like to overcook the veggies - I want the centers still with a bite. Can you use the term "al dente" with vegetables? Move to the edges of the pan.
Throw in the rice. I've heard it's actually better to use day old rice because it's less sticky, or the stuff you get in a box from a take out place, but I never think that far ahead. Mix everything around.
Make a well in the middle of the pan and crack two eggs in. Scramble the eggs about 3/4 of the way done, then mix everything together so there's a mixture of egg clumps and other ingredients coated in egg.
Sploosh in Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, and Sesame Seeds to taste. I've never measured it before. I'd say about a tablespoon of Sesame Oil, and just keep adding Soy Sauce until its the color you like your fried rice to be.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Seitan Teriyaki
Warning: This is, by far, the least organized video I have made. I was completely unprepared. Usually when I cook (even for myself, not just on blogs), I read the recipe enough times that its semi-memorized and I can focus on cooking instead of reading the recipe. But alas, alack, this time I did not.
So, without further ado, here is Seitan Teriyaki, with my guest hippie, Cheryl! (Yes, there are two vegetarian hippies in my life. More cow for me.)
For those who could not follow that (which is probably everyone except for Cheryl and I) here is the recipe.
Sauce:
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup plus 1 Tb Rice Vinegar
1/4 Cup Water
1 inch Ginger, grated
Zest and Juice of 1/2 Orange
Other stuff:
8 Oz Seitan
10 ish stalks Broccolini
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
Sesame Oil (to cook in)
Combine saucey things and put on the stove to boil for about 20 minutes. Stir fry the Seitan in Sesame Oil and set aside. Stir fry the Broccolini and Garlic. Put everything back together and TADA! Seitan Teriyaki. Serve with rice, if that tickles you. It tickled me.
See? Not so hard. Most stir fries are like that - cook things, add sauce, eat.
PS - Original recipe was found at Vegan Yum Yum
So, without further ado, here is Seitan Teriyaki, with my guest hippie, Cheryl! (Yes, there are two vegetarian hippies in my life. More cow for me.)
For those who could not follow that (which is probably everyone except for Cheryl and I) here is the recipe.
Sauce:
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup plus 1 Tb Rice Vinegar
1/4 Cup Water
1 inch Ginger, grated
Zest and Juice of 1/2 Orange
Other stuff:
8 Oz Seitan
10 ish stalks Broccolini
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
Sesame Oil (to cook in)
Combine saucey things and put on the stove to boil for about 20 minutes. Stir fry the Seitan in Sesame Oil and set aside. Stir fry the Broccolini and Garlic. Put everything back together and TADA! Seitan Teriyaki. Serve with rice, if that tickles you. It tickled me.
See? Not so hard. Most stir fries are like that - cook things, add sauce, eat.
PS - Original recipe was found at Vegan Yum Yum
Monday, May 10, 2010
Gnocchi and Tomato Sauce, Attempt #3
Ok, bringing in the big guns. Jessica came from Queens to teach those potatoes what happens when you mess with me. I, finally, after three attempts, get to eat a dinner of Gnocchi and Tomato Sauce.
Ingredients for Gnocchi:
2 Russet potatoes
1 ish cup of flour
1 egg
Some olive oil
Ingredients for Sauce:
Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Red Pepper Flake
Basil
Hoorah! And happy mother's day, Mommy.
Ingredients for Gnocchi:
2 Russet potatoes
1 ish cup of flour
1 egg
Some olive oil
Ingredients for Sauce:
Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Red Pepper Flake
Basil
Hoorah! And happy mother's day, Mommy.
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