Et voila le Coq au vin

And here is the Coq au Vin. It was really fun to cook and easier than I thought. Just keep the simmer going and don't singe your eyebrows while doing the flambe! :D I followed Julia Child's suggestion and I made a side of parsley potatoes. I have lunch for tomorrow! :D

Creamy chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala is very simple to prepare and it is one of my favorite recipes. You can cook this recipe only with Marsala wine or keep on adding the extra ingredients to achieve the creamy and delicious sauce. Do not forget a little bit of crunchy bread on the side to clean the plate! :)

Ingredients:

* A couple of chicken breasts, diced in chunks

* 2 tablespoons of all purpose white flour

* 1/2 tablespoon of fresh oregano, chopped

* 1 cup of mushrooms

* 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

* 1 cup of Marsala wine

* 1 tablespoon of Sherry wine

* 1/4 cup of chicken broth

* 1/4 cup of heavy cream

* Salt

* Pepper

* 1 table spoon of vegetable oil

* Angel hair pasta (optional)

Easy as pie. Actually easier, I do not find pies that easy. Cut the chicken in square chunks, medium size. Then mix the flour, oregano, salt and pepper. Usually I use a plastic bowl with a cover, but a plastic bag can do the trick. Or you can do it one by one if you feel fancy. Drop the chicken pieces in the flour mix, cover the bowl and shake, shake, shake. In a pan, heat one tablespoon of vegetable oil and when hot, melt the butter in the oil. Then add the chicken, brown it and with a slotted spoon put it aside. Over low heat, add the Marsala wine and sherry to the pot and scrape the bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. When the mixture starts thickening, add the mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes and put back the chicken in the pot. Cook all together for about 10 minutes, then add the broth and the cream. Cook it for about 20 minutes, until the sauce is reduced. While you are cooking, keep on tasting and rectifying the salt. Serving suggestion: serve over a bed of boiled angel hair pasta.

Preparation time: 1 hour

Turkey pot pie

I cooked a huge turkey a couple of days ago and of course my fridge was taken over with a carcass and leftovers. I've never tried to make a pot pie before but  I found a great recipe and off I went. I was concerned with the crust but it came beautiful, looking and feeling almost like puff pastry, but way easier to make. The author of the book explains that the combination of butter and white vegetable fat is what makes the difference with shortcrust pastry, giving it a nice crumbly texture and indeed, the texture was fantastic. The original recipe called for porcini mushrooms and chicken, but my problem was turkey and I did not have any porcini mushrooms; in the middle of a blizzard, I was not about to drive to the store, so I altered the original recipe from "Greatest-ever pastry cookbook" by Catherine Atkinson .

Ingredients: (serves 6)

* 1 cup of mushrooms cut in slices (or 1/4 cup of porcini mushrooms and 3/4 cup of white button mushrooms cut into quarters)

* 1/4 cup of butter

* 2 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour

* 1 1/2 cup hot chicken stock

* 4 tablespoons light cream

* 1 onion finely chopped

* 2 carrots, sliced

* 2 celery sticks, chopped

* 1 pound of cooked turkey, cubed (or chicken)

* 1/2 cup frozen or fresh peas

* 1 teaspoon rosemary

* 1/2 teaspoon thyme

* 1/2 tablespoon of Porcini mushrooms and truffle infused oil

* Salt

* Ground black pepper

* Beaten egg (to glaze)

For the pastry

* 2 cups all purpose flour

* 1/4 tablespoon salt

* 1/2 cup cold butter, diced

* 1/3 cup white vegetable fat, diced

* 4-8 tablespoons chilled water

To make the pastry, sift the flour and the salt into a bowl. Add the diced butter and vegetable fat and rub it in with your fingers until the mixture looks like bread crumbs. I have tried to mix the butter with a mixer and other tools, and the best way is with your hands. Wash them good, brush those nails, roll your sleeves and feel the dough in your hands, get to know it. It feels like a friend after a while :) . Then, add 6 tablespoons of chilled water (it really needs to be chilled to hold the dough) and keep on working the mix until the dough holds together. If it does, add a little bit more of chilled water, one tablespoon at a time and no more than 8. I had more than enough with 6. Make a ball with the dough, then flatten it round, wrap it and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, do not hurry, you work better the dough when it is cold. 

If you were to use porcini mushrooms cover them with hot water in a bowl and let them soak for 30 minutes. Drain in a cheesecloth lined strainer and dry well on kitchen paper. 

Start heating the oven at 375° F. Melt half of the butter in a heavy pan; whisk the flour and cook until bubbling, whisking constantly. Add the chicken stock and whisk over medium heat until the mixture boils. Cook for 2-3 minutes, whisk in the cream, add salt and pepper and set aside for the moment.

Heat the remaining butter in a deep frying pan, cook the onions and carrots over  a low heat for 5 minutes. Then it is the turn for the celery,  and mushrooms, cook 5 minutes more (if you are using porcini and button mushrooms you will only add the button mushrooms at this point). Then we add the rest: turkey, peas, rosemary, thyme, porcini and truffle oil (and if you were using the porcini mushrooms, you would add those now). Add the creamy sauce we prepared before and stir all together. Check for salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into a 2 1/2 quart oval baking dish (2.5 liter). 

Roll out the pastry to about 1/8 inch. Cut an oval 1 inch larger all around than the dish. Lay the pastry over the filling. Press around the edges to seal, trim the excess. Seal the edges pushing your forefinger into the pastry edge and pinching the pastry with the other hand. If you have the time and inclination, you can cut decorations with the leftover pastry trimmings (mushrooms, leaves...) and stick them to the pastry lid with beaten egg. Glaze the lid and decorations with beaten egg, cut some slits in the pastry to allow the steam to escape and bake the pie for about 30 minutes, until it looks nice and brown. 

Preparation time: 2 hours with prep

Paella - The Queen of the Spanish cuisine

There are as many paella recipes as people and tastes. None is right, none is wrong. It is subjective. There isn't a manual in Spain issued by the government telling us how to cook. Everybody spins the recipes with what they learn from their families, from others and from their mistakes. This is the paella my family cooked and it suits me well. It has been cooked like this for 4 generations. And it is tasty!

Ingredients (for 4 people):

* 3/4 cup of rice

* 12 shrimps

* 12 prawns (langostinos) -optional-

* 2 medium squids (calamari) cut in rings

* 12 mussels

* 12 clams

* 2 small boneless chicken breasts (or 1 big), diced

* 1/4 cup peas

* 1/4 cup roasted peppers, Goya has them available and probably the Italian section of your grocery store too

* 2 cubes of fish bouillon dissolved in 4 cups of water

* Pinch of saffron

* 1/4 cup tomato puree (crushed tomatoes or from a can, without additives)

* 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

* 1 medium onion, finely chopped

* Pinch of pepper

* Pinch of salt

* If available, a special non stick paella pan; if not, a shallow pan.

In a saucepan, heat about 4 cups of water and dissolve the fish bouillons cube. Keep the bouillon warm. 

Clean the mussels and the clams, and boil them together in a another pot with salt and pepper, and reserve them for later.
In the paella pan, pour a little bit of olive oil, heat it, and then brown the garlic. When the garlic starts getting color, add the onion. Once again, when the onion starts getting soft and acquiring color, throw the tomato in the mix. This is called sofrito, the base of many Spanish dishes. Saute everything together for a few minutes and then add the squids, chicken, shrimps and prawns. Over medium heat, stir all together for about 5 minutes, until the shrimps are getting color. Then add the rice and stir 5 minutes more. Now it is the time to start adding the fish bouillon, starting with 1 1/2 cups. Bring it to a boil and after 10-15 minutes add the peas, the clams and mussels and the saffron. Keep adding fish bouillon as necessary until the rice is tender, rectifying the salt. Do not stir the rice if you want to achieve the typical crusty bottom of a paella.  5 minutes before taking the paella off the fire, add the red peppers on top. You need to cook the rice until is tender and the bouillon evaporates. Serve it with half lemon to squeeze over the rice.  

Preparation time: about 2 hours (prep and cook)

Breaded chicken breasts with Parmesan cheese

Easy as pie, quick, tasty and loved by grown ups and kids alike! Piece of warning; take my measurements with a grain of salt, I am not much of a measuring person. I tried to translate my recipes in numbers to the best of my ability, but the fun part is to try a pinch here and two there and see what works. If you do not like an ingredient, add less, if you like it add more. When it is essential to stick to an specific quantity of an ingredient, usually I mention it on the recipe.

Ingredients:

* 2 boneless chicken breasts

* 1 cup of bread crumbs

* 1 egg

* 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley

* 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

* 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder if you have a   

  vampire gen)

* Pinch of salt

* Pinch of black pepper

* Olive oil

Sharpen that knife; remove the skin and fat of the chicken breasts and filet them, 1/4" more of less, thin, you do not want to cut bricks if you are going to bread them. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. In a flat plate, mix the bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan cheese and really finely chopped garlic. Beat the egg in a separate bowl. Soak the pieces of chicken in the beaten egg, and then roll them in the bread crumbs mix, one coat only. In a pan, heat a generous quantity of olive oil; don't go crazy since you are not deep frying but bear in mind that the bread crumbs absorb a lot of oil. Sometimes, between batches of chicken I need to replenish the oil. The oil needs to be really hot; once is hot, set the heat to low and fry the chicken until the crust is gold and crunchy. The idea is to have enough heat to cook the inside but without burning the outside. By the way, people, use regular olive oil, not extra virgin olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil is used in Spain for bread and salads, not to burn the heck out of it. Do not believe all what TV hosts said, some of them cannot cook. Incidentally, neither do I, but I do not have a TV show, so there. 

Preparation time: about 30 minutes