What I have been reading lately...

I mentioned this book a few weeks ago.  As promised here is my quick take on the book.  "French Classics Made Easy" is the title.

Loved it.

From the idea for the Poached Chicken and Tarragon I blogged a couple of weeks ago to actual recipes such as the 10 minute souffle that I intend to make it was a very useful book.  I even learned a few new bits of trivia from this book.  Things such as Potatoes Dauphinoise is named after the Dauphine region of France (think their Alps) where it originated.

It is very well written in simple easy to follow numerated steps.  Each recipe has notes on variations or unusual ingredients or why a step was taken.  Too easy to not screw it up which makes his simplified, lower in calorie recipes so much easier to do than the originals.

Although I can't reprint recipes from the book direct, if I get an inspiration for a flavor profile or a new technique I'll certainly point you back to this book.  I'm funny that way...I get robbed enough of copyrighted material I certainly won't do it to someone else...so buy the book already.

The book also has a useful chart for converting metric to our English measurements.  Included on that chart page is conversion from F to C to "gas mark" that the brits use. He even implores you to take the time and actually just buy a scale to help you with more accurate measurements for the "science of baking".

This book is well worth the $20 I paid for it at Surfas.  I wish they had the book available for purchase online, but they don't so use it as an excuse to pop in on them at their store in Culver City. Their street addy is: 8777 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA

A Costco find that brings the taste of summer grilling

I bought this a while back at Costco and absolutely love the stuff.  It is their house label "Sweet Mesquite Seasoning".  It does just what it says it does.  It brings a marvelous sweet mesquite flavor to whatever you use it on.  It is a blend of salt, pepper, dried chiles, onion, garlic and a few other spices that you simply sprinkle on as a dry rub and let it marinate a few minutes before you grill pan it, bake it or whatever.

This stuff is seriously good and completely justifies one cost of Costco membership.

I've used this often on Salmon steaks as it brings out a pretty terrific flavor to them.  I either use the grill pan with them or micro-roast depending on how much time I have to fuss with dinner on a given day.  Either way you wind up with a nicely "grilled tasting" mesquite flavor without the hassle of breaking out the barbecue, especially nice to have around in winter when raining makes real grilling not an option.  Unless of course you are some sort of masochist that loves standing in a cold rain with an umbrella hoping for the authentic taste.

Another great use is with thick cut pork chops that you start on the grill pan and finish up in the oven to make sure the center is cooked to a lovely medium.  (I'm old school pork here and just can't quite stomach it at rare or even med-rare).  You start with thick cut pork chops, I prefer boneless.  Sprinkle on the "Sweet Mesquite Seasoning" on both sides and let set for 30 minutes. To do it on the grill pan all you have to do is cook one side on med-high for 4-5 minutes, turn over then toss in a 350F oven for 20 minutes to finish them off.  You get perfectly cooked and still moist pork chops with no worry about it being too rare.

I also have a great cocktail party appetizer I make with this seasoning that I call a Salmon Mousse.  Take 1 salmon steak cooked with the "Sweet Mesquite Seasoning" and using a fork flake it until it is all nice and fluffy.  Take 2 8oz packages of room temp Cream Cheese and 1/2 cup sour cream.  Whip until fluffy, fold in the flaked salmon and 2 teaspoons of the "Sweet Mesquite Seasoning".  Serve with crackers or french bread rounds.

Poached Chicken and Tarragon

I'm reading the most interesting cook book right now and it was the inspiration for this recipe.  Inspiration in that I took the basics and changed it up to make it my own.  (When done with it will do a quick review here and scan the cover etc., so you can track it down for your own use).

For starters, and I've said it before, I'm not the biggest fan of this domesticated bird, mostly because it lacks any real flavor of its own and bad experiences with it while at KFC back in High School.   The fam however loves the stuff.  I've figured how how to keep the breasts moist while cooking it up, I've even figured out that it really is just a flavor delivery device that loves to be sauced.

A couple of things with this recipe.  At the end its really important that you cook the residual poaching liquid down to a few tablespoons before adding the heavy cream.  Not doing so will leave you with a runny sauce.  And yes, this is calling for heavy cream to finish up the sauce as this is a French inspired recipe.  Sometimes its fun to be indulgent and sauce up with the heavy cream.  Not something one should do every day, but once a month or so its good for the soul to do it with little harm to ones overall diet.

For the wine in the poaching liquid I used a dry white we had left over from the night before.  It was a Chardonnay.  I've heard and learned over the years one should use a wine you'd drink instead of the "cooking" wines you buy at the grocery stores.  The flavor really is so much better and its not sullied with extra salt etc.,.

Poached Chicken and Tarragon

• 4 large chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 2 C dry white wine
• 1 T dried tarragon
• 2 t onion salt
• 1 t fresh ground pepper
• 1 c heavy cream

In large covered skillet add the chicken breasts.   Sprinkle on onion salt, pepper and tarragon.  Pour in wine.  Add cover.  Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.  Turn chicken once during the poaching. Don't worry that the poaching liquid doesn't completely immerse the chicken.


Remove chicken from pan and set aside.  Increase heat and boil down the poaching liquid until reduced to a few tablespoons.  Add heavy cream and whisk in.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes uncovered to thicken.  Return breasts to the sauce and heat through.  


Serve over rice with some sauce spooned over the chicken.

Walnut Butter Cut-outs

This cookie recipe goes back to my childhood.  Where my Mom got the recipe I don't know, but I can remember decorating them as a little kid back when we lived in the UP of Michigan.

They are buttery and nutty at the same time due to the finely ground walnuts.  The walnut flavors intensify during the baking making them even tastier.

A couple of caveats with this one.  First the walnuts really do need to be finely ground or you will have difficulty getting clean cuts with the cookie cutters. Secondly, don't try to skip the chilling process...if you do you will have too loose a dough and it won't roll out thinly...it will just stick to everything in a gloppy mess.  Learned that one the hard way.

A few drops of food coloring can be added after you have the butter and sugar creamed together.  Its a fun way to have green trees and wreaths or red hearts etc.,.


Walnut Butter Cut-outs 

• 1 C Butter 
• 1 t vanilla 
• 3/4 c sugar 
• 1/4 t salt 
• 1 egg 
• 2 1/4 C flour 
• 2 t baking powder 
• 1 c fine ground walnuts 

 Cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. When fluffy beat in egg.
 Sift together flour and baking powder. Work into butter mixture in small batches. 
 Fold in ground walnuts.
 Divide dough and pat into rounds. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour. 
 On floured board roll to about 1/8 inch thickness. 
 Cut with cutters and decorate. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400F until cookies edges just start to brown, about 8 minutes.

Banana Nut Bread

I'm sure if you do a google search for banana bread or banana nut bread you'll get a bajillion hits.  Now this one will be among the bajillion.  Its my version of the classic and quite tasty as I use butter instead of oil for the lipid in the batter.  That buttery flavor plays well with the bananas and vanilla.


Banana Nut Bread
Yield 2 - 9x5 inch loaves  
Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup butter at room temp
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups mashed overripe bananas
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 t cinnamon
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter,salt and sugar until smooth. Stir in the bananas, eggs, and vanilla until well blended. Carefully fold in dry ingredients into the wet in small batches.  
Bake for 60 to 70 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the crown of the loaf comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pans for at least 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack, and cool completely. Wrap in aluminum foil to keep in the moisture.

Power restored...finally and a little EQ Kit raiding

By now most everyone has seen the news where the L.A. area was bludgeoned to within an inch of our life with one of the worst wind storms in recent memory.  My little corner of L.A. took the brunt of the wind storm and has something like 86,000 homes without power as I write this.

Day 1 of the power outage we didn't know how long power would be out so we resorted to canned goods and the EQ kit (earthquake) ready to eat meals that were coming up on their expiration date.

Among the items we dug into was the "Heater Meals" and it was our first time using them.  The principal behind it is pretty easy.  One simply takes out the heater package, adds water that is included in the packaging to activate the chemical reaction that creates the heat.  Once that is done you quickly fold the top over and place the heater on top of the food package.  10 minutes later it is done and you have a meal ready to eat.

Well sort of, in spite of all the steam your food is just warm.  The food is fine for an emergency but it is lacking seasoning.  The included "saltless seasoning pack" is mostly pepper which is to say the food is still a little bland even with it being used.

I doubt I will buy them again as they are a bit pricey even if found on sale.

As a side bar at the end of Day 1 when it was apparent it was going to be a few days without power we opted to open up the fridge and start cleaning it out. The neighborhood then proceeded to round up candles, cook up our perishables, break out the wine and have a giant "potluck by candlelight" party.  Hah, can't keep a good neighborhood down long.

By Saturday power was restored and I had a nice and clean fridge already for restocking.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

Remember when I did the lobotomy to the jack-o-lanterns a few weeks ago?  Well I put up all the pumpkin in canning jars and have had it refrigerated waiting for just the perfect night for soup. Yes, soup.

It is stupid easy to work with your own or store bought pumpkin.  I prefer my own as I can control the salt better, but its still all good.

Adding in the ginger and cayenne build in a different layer of flavor and heat than just plain curry powder alone.  Worth the extra kick as far as I am concerned.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

• 4 cups (32 oz) pumpkin puree
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 can chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 T curry powder
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1/2 t ground black pepper
• 1/8 t cayenne pepper
• Salt to taste
• olive oil

In large sauce pot add enough oil to lightly coat bottom of pot.  Over medium heat add carrot and onion until the onion is translucent.  Add garlic and stir one minute to cook out the raw taste.  Pour mixture into blender with the broth and puree.  Return to pan, add pumpkin and heat through.  Simmer about 15 minutes to let flavors blend.  Test for seasoning and add salt as needed.