Chicken Pot Pie

I have been craving a chicken pot pie for days.  So yesterday I made one.  My roommate picked up a fresh chicken at the farmers market and cut it up. 

First I made a chicken veloute seasoned with onions, garlic and summer savory.  A veloute is stock thickened with a roux, basically a thin gravy. 
I then sauted the chicken. Mixed the vegetables, veloute and chicken all together and put in a casserole dish and covered with store bought puff pastry. And baked it in the oven. 

Easy as.........pie!  lol

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart

So.....I tried another round with my tart.  This time with a peanut butter filling and the easiest tart crust ever! 

I made a few changes to the recipe.  I have made it plain but I wanted a chocolate crust. So I added extra sugar and cocoa.

3 ounces margarine

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used canola)
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 ounces of cocoa
3 3/4 ounces flour

I did everything the same as David Lebovitz's recipe I just added the cocoa to the flour.

It must have been tasty......because someone decided to lick his!  lol

Curried Vegetables with Brown Rice

Tonights supper was julienned vegetables, tofu, madras curry paste, coconut milk and brown rice.  A quick, spicy meal. Great for leftovers too! 

Poutine Cook Off

Friday in class Chef divided us into groups of two, and gave us a poutine challenge.  We could use any ingredients on our floor of the kitchens.  Only rule was we had to cut our own fries. It was fun to see everyones ideas.  No two alike and all pretty tasty!

Goat cheese, 3 year old cheddar, bacon, caramelized shallots and garlic( cooked in duck fat) The gravy is made with a duck fat roux, chicken stock and duck glace. 

Mushrooms in a duck glace gravy, gruyere cheese, fried prosciutto.

3 year old cheddar, apples, tomato concasse, and a spicy gravy.

Battered sweet and regular potatoes, peppers, onions, bacon and cheddar.

Maple sauce, pork belly, onions and fries cooked in duck fat.

Veal sweetbreads, mushrooms, beef glace gravy.

Chorizo sausage, onions, jalapeno havarti cheese.

Sauerkraut and Smoked Meat

Exciting news!  I am making sauerkraut and smoked meatat school!  In a couple of weeks I will be making rubens for break at school.  I happened to mention to Chef about my love for rubens and he said I could try making my own sauerkraut and smoked meat! And I will be making sourdough rye bread to go with it.

Here is day one of the fermentation process of the cabbage. Simply shred 5 pounds of cabbage and sprinkle with 4 tablespoons of sea salt. Rub the salt into the cabbage until it starts to release juices. Then cover with plastic wrap and a weight. Store in an area approximately 50 degrees. I will be checking it in 2 weeks

And here is the brisket in the brine.  Mustard seeds, pickling spice, salt, garlics,bay leaves and curing salt. (also known as Prague Powder Number 1) all mixed with some water.  Pour over the brisket and let set.  Again I will be checking this in 2 weeks.  Hope it works!

Bacon covered in Chocolate.....

I have been wanting to make this since the first time I heard of it!  It sounded so good.  Chocolate and bacon!  My two favorite food groups! 

And it is so easy to make.  Cook your bacon until crisp then dip in melted chocolate. I sprinkled this one with a little bit of sea salt. Looks nice but not really necessary.

Puttanesca Sauce and Fresh Pasta

Puttanesca Sauce

1 small can of diced tomatoes, I used some with garlic added in
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
kalamata olives, to taste
green olives, to taste
capers, drained and rinsed, to taste
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Method:

Heat oil add onions and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent.
Add the drained tomatoes to the skillet.
Raise heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
Stir in olives, capers, and pepper to taste and continue to simmer until your pasta is ready.
Serve over pasta. I added a bit of parm too.

Fresh Whole Wheat Pasta

1 1/2  cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of white flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients place in food processor, add liquid and blitz.  How easy is that!!??  You can do it by hand but why?  lol

Dump onto counter and start to knead the dough. Adding as little flour as possible.

Once dough is smooth let it rest undercover for at least 15 minutes.

Divide dough into 4 pieces and flatten slightly.  Start rolling through press on the widest setting.

Keep rolling dough gradually going down in thinness.  The above picture is starting on #6.  In the below picture the dough in the back is on #3 and the one in the machine is #2.  Crazy how much it stretches! 

The dough is then run through the cutting side of the machine, and hung to dry.

My favorite sandwich

Ruben sandwichs are my all time favorite sandwich!  I love them!  It was the one thing I really missed being vegetarian for 7 years!  Well rubens and bacon.  You just can replace them with veggie options.  No tofu rubens for me!  lol

Doesn't that look good!  Smoked meat, sourkraut, pickles, swiss cheese and mustard all on crusty homemade bread! 

White Bean Extravaganza

Ha!  ...Not really an extravaganza...but still pretty exciting to me! haha

I cooked white beans the other day and made a simple edamame and bean salad.  I tossed them with Italian salt and a drizzled of olive oil.  So simple but delicious! 

Then I decided to make a bean dip.  Something to go with the wheat bread I had just made.

cooked white beans, with cooking liquid reserved in a seperate container
olive oil
garlic
onion
parsley
srachia sauce
Salt and pepper

Saute garlic and onions in a bit of oil.  Cook until tender.  In food processor add beans, garlic and onion. Puree until coarse. Add a drizzle of olive oil, parley and salt and pepper .  Pulse a couple of times to mix in.  Puree until smooth adding bean liquid as needed to get the desired consistency. 
I added about a tablespoon of srachia because I love it!  lol

I had a little of each at seperate times and then thought why not together for supper!  Genius eh!?  lol  I toasted a couple of slices of bread and sliced some mixed peppers.  It was a great supper....light but still very filling.

Doesn't that dip look yummy.  I added just enough srachia to give it a bit of kick.

Chocolate Caramel Tart

Yesterday was so snowy and nasty out that I decided to spend some time working on my Chocolate Caramel Tart recipe.  This is an amazing tart!  I keep working on it hoping to get it perfect.  Its getting there slowly.

Chocolate Crust

1 1/4 C flour
1/4 C cocoa
1/4 C sugar
4 oz cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk
1 T ice water 

Place the dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse to blend. Add butter and pulse to break up the butter into pea-sized pieces. Add the yolk and ice water and pulse a few more times until the dough begins to look crumbly. It looks like it will not hold together, it is too powdery.  But once you start working it you can see it start to come together.

Dump the dough on a clean work surface and smearing parts of the dough across the work surface with the heel or palm of your hand. This is a great technique that essentially flattens the butter and coats it in flour, producing that all-important flakiness. Be careful not to overmix. Fraisage or smear the dough just 3 or 4 times (depending on the amount of dough you're working with) and then gather and fold the dough back on itself. Form into a disk and wrap and chill at least 30 minutes.

Roll between 2 pieces of parchment to an 1/8 inch. Line tart pan, patching as you go if necessary. Chill the shell for at least 20 minutes.
Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Prick the bottom of the tart shells with the tines of a fork and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Caramel Filling

1 1⁄2 cups sugar
3 tbsp. light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
6 tbsp. heavy cream

In a saucepan, whisk together sugar, corn syrup, water and bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer inserted into the syrup reads 300°. Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter and cream, (the mixture will bubble up) until smooth. Pour caramel into cooled tart shell and let cool slightly; refrigerate until firm.

Ganache
 
1⁄2 cup heavy cream
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Make the ganache: Bring cream to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Put chocolate into a medium bowl and pour in hot cream; let sit for 1 minute, then stir slowly with a rubber spatula until smooth. Pour ganache evenly over tart and refrigerate until set.

The crust turned out perfect!  Exactly what I was looking for in a crust.  The caramel filling which ALWAYS  works for me decided to revolt today.  It seized up after being poured in the crust.  It is more like a fudge than a caramel filling.  Not sure what I did wrong!! It still tastes good though and it looks great!  lol

Guesss I get to try making it again......I gotta get it perfect!  lol

Apricot Jam and Brown Bread

After eating white bread for the last 2 weeks I was seriously craving something brown!  lol  The white bread was homemade so at least it wasn't "wonder" bread! 

So I made a mulit-grain brown bread and had it toasted with homemade orange-apricot jam. Just what I needed! :)

White Truffle Risotto and Crusted Scallops

Today I bought a new camera. And to celebrate here is a post of dinner. Man, I have really missed taking picture of my food. My cell phone takes an okay picture for a cell phone, but it is no comparison to a camera! 

This was a yummy meal!  Sauted mixed peppers on the bottom topped with a creamy risotto made with parmasan cheese and a drizzle of white truffle oil. 

The scallops I kept simple with a light crust of panko crumbs seasoned with chili flakes and a bit of lemon zest.  I dusted with floured, egg washed and then dipped one side in the panko.

Aren't they beautiful?  And delicious!  Rich and creamy with a crispy crust on one side.  These will be made again!