Motivation
I'm in the mood to spend an hour and a half standing in front of the stove and we need a starch with dinner. This risotto is excellent, but it was the motivation behind getting cork flooring in the kitchen.
We've modified the recipe to no longer be vegetarian.
Ingredients
5 cups chicken broth
3/4 lb fresh asparagus
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp oil
1/3 cup finely minced onion
1.5 cups Arborio rice
1/5 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (DO NOT get the pregrated stuff)
Mise en Place
Bring the broth to a simmer in a saucepan.
Cut the asparagus into 1 inch pieces, reserve tips separately from stems.
Grate the cheese.
Method
Heat oil and 2 T. butter in a 4 qt. pot. Saute onions until softened but not brown. Add the rice and stir to coat. Add the wine and stir until completely absorbed. Stir in asparagus stems.
Add broth to the rice mixture 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently. Allow each addition to be almost completely absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup. After 12 minutes, add the asparagus tips.
Once down to the last 1/4 cup of broth, remove from heat, add remaining broth, butter, and parm, stirring to combine. Serve immediately.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Mandarin Chicken
Motivation
Bill got this recipe from his father. This was one of the first dinners he ever cooked for me. A good move, that. Even after years of studying and experimenting with food, the recipe has remained largely unchanged. I think we took out some salt and canned bamboo shoots. Fresh bamboo might be a good addition.
Ingredients
2.5 - 3 lb. chicken, cut up (we usually use thighs or drumsticks)
1/8 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp oil
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. water
1 cup (11 oz can) drained mandarin oranges
1/2 cup (5 oz can) drained sliced water chestnuts
2 cups prepared rice
Mise en Place
Combine cornstarch, sugar and water.
Method
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown in oil in a large frying pan.
Add onion, broth, and soy sauce. Cover, simmer over low heat for 36 - 40 minutes or until chicken is tender. Flip chicken half way through. Remove chicken and set aside.
Add cornstarch mixture to pan, stirring until it thickens. Add oranges and chestnuts. Heat through, about 5 minutes. Pour over chicken and serve with rice.
Bill got this recipe from his father. This was one of the first dinners he ever cooked for me. A good move, that. Even after years of studying and experimenting with food, the recipe has remained largely unchanged. I think we took out some salt and canned bamboo shoots. Fresh bamboo might be a good addition.
Ingredients
2.5 - 3 lb. chicken, cut up (we usually use thighs or drumsticks)
1/8 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp oil
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. water
1 cup (11 oz can) drained mandarin oranges
1/2 cup (5 oz can) drained sliced water chestnuts
2 cups prepared rice
Mise en Place
Combine cornstarch, sugar and water.
Method
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown in oil in a large frying pan.
Add onion, broth, and soy sauce. Cover, simmer over low heat for 36 - 40 minutes or until chicken is tender. Flip chicken half way through. Remove chicken and set aside.
Add cornstarch mixture to pan, stirring until it thickens. Add oranges and chestnuts. Heat through, about 5 minutes. Pour over chicken and serve with rice.
French Onion Soup
Motivation
I made French Onion soup every weekend for about two months until I built a recipe I was happy with it. I knew what I wanted from a French Onion soup and I ended up stealing bits and pieces from other recipes to get something that matched my mental profile. I wanted it to really taste of caramelized onions and be thick and hearty (which doesn't seem like too much to ask).
The traditional way to serve this soup is to shred the cheese over a crouton and then broil the whole bowl of soup to make a melted cheese surface. Which is awesome. However, if you don't have oven-proof bowls or you want to save a bit of time and fuss you can use my less impressive, but reasonably decent stand-in method described below.
Ingredients
1.75- 2 lbs Yellow Onions (~6-8 small-medium onions)
4 tbsp Butter
1/2 tsp dried thyme (or a couple of sprigs fresh if you have it)
4 cups Beef Broth
1 baguette French Bread
Balsamic Vinegar
Gruyere Cheese
Mise en Place
Slice onions. I have a granton edge santoku knife that I really like for this. Cut tops and bottoms off of onions. Slice in half. Peel off skin. Lay onion flat-side down and slice thinly parallel to top or bottom edge.
Slice baguette into 3/4" - 1" medallions. Plan on 2-3 per bowl depending on girth of baguette. Place on cookie sheet on top of a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil and dry out to make croutons. (The warming draw of my oven does this well, but a oven set on 250-300 will also work).
Cut another 6-8 medallions from baguette. These will be used later to thicken the soup. Cut these medallions into small cubes.
Method
Melt butter in a small stock pot over medium heat. Once button is finished foaming add sliced onions and caramelize. Basically walk over and stir onions every couple of minutes until they have reduced to dark golden brown strands. Plan on doing this for about 30-40 minutes.
Once onions are caramelized add brandy to the pot and cook off the majority of the liquid. Remove most of brandied caramelized onions from the stock pot and reserve. Add beef broth to pot and bring to simmer. While the broth is warming up toss bread cubes into the pot and use immersion blender to pulse bread into broth thicken it up. You can add bread in stages if you want to control how thick the broth gets. Once bread has been blended into broth return onions to the pot and add thyme.
Simmer soup for a couple of minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. I often add a splash of balsamic vinegar to add a bright acidic note.
Cut slices of Gruyere cheese and place on top of the baguette croutons. Place under broiler to melt cheese.
To serve ladle soup into bowl and place push 2-3 cheese croutons down into soup so that cheese is level with the surface of the soup.
I made French Onion soup every weekend for about two months until I built a recipe I was happy with it. I knew what I wanted from a French Onion soup and I ended up stealing bits and pieces from other recipes to get something that matched my mental profile. I wanted it to really taste of caramelized onions and be thick and hearty (which doesn't seem like too much to ask).
The traditional way to serve this soup is to shred the cheese over a crouton and then broil the whole bowl of soup to make a melted cheese surface. Which is awesome. However, if you don't have oven-proof bowls or you want to save a bit of time and fuss you can use my less impressive, but reasonably decent stand-in method described below.
Ingredients
1.75- 2 lbs Yellow Onions (~6-8 small-medium onions)
4 tbsp Butter
1/2 tsp dried thyme (or a couple of sprigs fresh if you have it)
4 cups Beef Broth
1 baguette French Bread
Balsamic Vinegar
Gruyere Cheese
Mise en Place
Slice onions. I have a granton edge santoku knife that I really like for this. Cut tops and bottoms off of onions. Slice in half. Peel off skin. Lay onion flat-side down and slice thinly parallel to top or bottom edge.
Slice baguette into 3/4" - 1" medallions. Plan on 2-3 per bowl depending on girth of baguette. Place on cookie sheet on top of a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil and dry out to make croutons. (The warming draw of my oven does this well, but a oven set on 250-300 will also work).
Cut another 6-8 medallions from baguette. These will be used later to thicken the soup. Cut these medallions into small cubes.
Method
Melt butter in a small stock pot over medium heat. Once button is finished foaming add sliced onions and caramelize. Basically walk over and stir onions every couple of minutes until they have reduced to dark golden brown strands. Plan on doing this for about 30-40 minutes.
Once onions are caramelized add brandy to the pot and cook off the majority of the liquid. Remove most of brandied caramelized onions from the stock pot and reserve. Add beef broth to pot and bring to simmer. While the broth is warming up toss bread cubes into the pot and use immersion blender to pulse bread into broth thicken it up. You can add bread in stages if you want to control how thick the broth gets. Once bread has been blended into broth return onions to the pot and add thyme.
Simmer soup for a couple of minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. I often add a splash of balsamic vinegar to add a bright acidic note.
Cut slices of Gruyere cheese and place on top of the baguette croutons. Place under broiler to melt cheese.
To serve ladle soup into bowl and place push 2-3 cheese croutons down into soup so that cheese is level with the surface of the soup.
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