Chicken Stock Breakthrough

Wow, the blog is over 2 years old and it's been a year since I last posted. Ok, now that Rachel and I are married and things have calmed down a bit, I think I can rededicate myself to cooking and blogging.
I had a breakthrough of sorts with chicken stock. My chicken stock before was very hardy, but cloudy (I tried the trick with egg white to clarify it, but that didn't do much). My recipe required a lot of chicken bones, onions, parsley, pepper corns, a little apple cider vinegar, and a lot of boiling. Well, after some research, I found out that the trick to clear chicken stock is not to boil it, but rather to let it simmer on low (the cloudyness is chicken fat that has emulsified in the stock from being boiled on high heat). Check out the difference between the two.
So here's my new chicken stock recipe:

Step 1:
1 Tbsp butter
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
Saute until you get fond (the brown stuff at the bottom of the pot), about 7 minutes.

Step 2:
add bones from one whole chicken
2 quarts water
bay leaf
1 Tbsp pepper corns
simmer on very low heat for 3 hours

Once it's all done, strain through a fine mesh sieve, let cool to room temperature, and pour in Gladwear to freeze for future use.

Dinner Test Run

I'm back! It's been nearly a year since my last post, and I've decided to knock off the dust and get this ol' blog back and running.

So Rachel's mom is turning 70 in April and we're traveling to Woodstock to see her. For her birthday I agreed to cook a nice dinner for her and some of her close friends in the area. Last night we had a test run and I put together a salmon fillet with mushrooms, shallots and asparagus en papillote! Oh man, what is that you ask? Basically it's where you cook something like fish in parchment paper. What I did was placed a 1 1/2" fillet of salmon, topped it with a slice of lemon and butter/dill mix, over a mixture of mushrooms, with asparagus to the side on a large piece of parchment. I then folded the paper over the fillet et al. and did my best to roll and crease the parchment together. I then baked it at 350 for approx. 25 minutes. The parchment cooks the fish perfectly and the asparagus and add a great flavor (but I would not recommend using shitiki mushrooms).


Then came The PAVLOVA! This thing looked so good in my recent copy of Gourmet and I thought it would be perfect for the birthday dinner. Here's the recipe. It's a very impressive dessert, and tasts like an upside-down lemon mergrane pie with berries. We found it kind of a pain to make if you're using a hand mixer. It's also super sweet (I'd recommend cutting the sugar down slightly) and the lemon curd is pleanty lemony with one tsp of lemon zest. An additional lesson learnt was that the pavlova grows while it's baking so be sure to use extra parchment (not the dumb little 7" round they recommend. So in the end we thought it was good, but unfortunately we're going to have to find something else for the dinner.

Food Fight

My love for both food and international affairs is epitomized in this YouTube clip. The clip displays how food and history have a very disgusting side when sound effects are added. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-yldqNkGfo

Sage Walnut Pesto with Parpadelle

I love pesto, but it's just not the season for basil. You'll see basil in the store with those huge leave and you say to yourself "that just ain't natural" and move on. Then you think "I'll just get that stuff in the jar," and then remember the last time you got it and how crappy it was. I think this recipe will appease your pesto urge even in the late winter/early spring.

The root of the word "pesto" is pestare or "to pound," and does not necessitate that basil be added to whatever you're pounding. This recipe take the idea in another direction and pounds sage together with walnuts to make a more savory sauce than basil and pine nut pesto. The garlic, cheese, and taste of fresh herbs still remind you, however, that this is still pesto - after a sort - and is still a great standalone sauce.

Pesto:
In a blender or food processor combine:
1 package of fresh sage (leaves only)
1/2 bunch of Italian parsley (leaves only)
2 toes of garlic
2 oz. walnuts
1/2 c. cream
1/3 finely grated parmesan cheese
1 egg yoke
salt n' pepa to taste

Blend the stuff until thick and the sage and parsley leaves are small pieces. Scoop out and place in a large mixing bowl.

Parpadelle:
Cook 16 oz. parpadelle according to the package directions. Just before the noodles are done, take out a cup of the pasta water and set aside (this is a very important ingredient!). When the pasta is done, drain and add to the pesto sauce and mix. If you find the mixture too thick and not mixing well, take that pasta water you set aside and add bit by bit until the noodles loosen up and you're able to mix in the pesto.

Though cream and egg yoke are not in pesto, the taste of sage and walnuts are too strong to use with the traditional olive oil method. The cream base gives it a nice base for the bolder taste of sage, while the yoke lightens up the hefty texture of walnuts.

There you go Bigbowl, my sage walnut pesto recipe. I'm sure you'll blow it out of the water, but for the moment I'll bask in my stroke of perceived culinary genius.

Mini Barrels--Update

I tried some of the scotch this weekend and it still sucks. BUT! It has only been a couple weeks and I suspect that once it really gets a good soaking in the barrels it'll get better.

Mini Barrels--The Beginning

So Big Bowl took it to the next level with his Chocolate Buttermilk Cake (with photo! I'm still kicking myself for not having photographed the Sacher Torte). Looks good my friend, but those strawberries seem a bit watery, though the balsamic is a nice touch.

Speaking of balsamic, this is my latest hair-brained idea: mini barrels. These little puppies are charred white oak with a mini-spigot to boot that can hold 1 liter of liquid. The whole idea of these things is to age wine, liquor, or balsamic vinegar, and the charcoal will filter out the impurities over time.

With this in mind I took some Colavita balsamic (right barrel) and some of the finest Bulloch Lade blended scotch whiskey in a plastic bottle (left barrel). I didn't want to use real fine vinegar or scotch because I have no idea how if this is going to work. Apparently you need to rotate the barrel a quarter turn every three months. I filled them just yesterday and in May I'm going to turn them. I figure I could also give the stuff inside a taste at that time as well. I'll give an update in May and let you know how it goes. I suspect it's going to be some tasty stuff. Maybe if Big Bowl ever decides to come out East maybe he could sample some himself.

Sacher Torte Sucks

So my friend Fred had a birthday last week and seeing that he's Bavarian/Austrian I decided to make him a Sacher Torte. People from this region of the world love Sacher Torte (so if you ever want to make a very organized and disciplined friend, bake a German or Austrian a Sacher Torte).

The concept of Sacher Torte is great. It's two unleavened chocolate cakes separated by a tart apricot jam filling, covered in a rich chocolate granache served with unsweetened whipped cream. Lots of chocolate, a little bit of fruit, and rich whipped cream makes for a great desert.

Except it's not. Now if you've ever had Sacher Torte your first impressions probably were that it is dry in spite of the large dollop of unsweetened whipped cream that they serve with it. The only thing that is able to help it down is a very small (but tasty!) coffee. The frosting is great as well as the filling, but the cake sucks. Clearly the recipe needs some reformulation to be something that keeps with the traditional aspects while defenestrating the dry cake. This is my proposal: brownies (my Austrian friends are going to kill me). Yes, Sacher Torte is so much better if you use brownies rather than the dry cake they try and pass off as "kostlich."

If you care to read my recipe here it is:

Cake
Preheat oven to 375 (190 C)
in a double boiler mix:
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Once it's mixed well add:
3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
Separate batter into two round 9" baking pans and bake for approx. 30 minutes. Or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean.

Apricot filling:
1/2 cup of apricot jam
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Heat in a sauce pan and mix together until the jam is no longer solid and the lemon juice has been absorbed.

Once you have the cakes done and the filling mixed together, place your first cake bottom-side up on a cake platter. Pour filling over the top and spread around (don't put it on the sides), and then place your second cake on top, bottom-side up.

Granache:
Get one of those hunks of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate from Trader Joe's (approx. 1/2 lbs.)
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 pint of cream
Heat chocolate in a double boiler until melted, whisk in cream slowly until absorbed by the chocolate.

Then pour the granahe over the already layered cake and spread around until even. Stick it in the fridge for about an hour or until the granache has hardened.

Now call your friends Fredic, Maria, Stephan, Lesi, make some coffee, whip some cream (remember, no sugar), and have a piece.