It Just Never Gets Old

Our quasi-adopted, full-grown son spent the night with us again last night and surprise, surprise...I roasted a whole chicken. Actually I roasted two since Sanford also brought his Mississippi First co-conspirator, Rachel Hicks with him for dinner and we had all three boys at home. I made a pan sauce by reducing the drippings with some wine, peach preserves, apple cider vinegar and a paw-full of pecans. It was a great meal and we had a fantastic time. The boys were quite entertained listening to all of us growed-folks tell stories about when we were in high school. I don't know what I would eat if they stopped making whole chickens. I just cant get fired up about the whole boneless, skinless thing.
Bon Appetit!

~Tom

Valentine's Night Pot Roast (Because nothing says "I love you!" like Pot Roast)

I am generally a pretty romantic guy. As a matter of fact, I'm a bit of a softie. So it might surprise many of you that when I proposed to Kitty, it was perhaps the most un-romantic thing I've ever done. Seriously. Two words...speaker-phone. That's right foodies and gourmands, the guy who writes all of these love stories to food, pressed speed dial #1, called his girlfriend and said "How does October 8th look for you?"

To which she replied "For what?"

"For getting married." I said, as if she should have known.

"Why, are you proposing to me?"

"I just want to make sure that date is open. I'm going over my calendar and trying to get some things planned in advance." I said.

"Looks fine to me baby." She said, surely holding back either venom or tears.

"Thanks hon." I said as I reached for the "call cncl" button.

It wasn't until hours later that I was cognizant of my terrible, terrible mistake. But Kitty is a real trooper and, aside from good natured ribbing that I fear will never cease to be funny, she let me get away with my faux pas unscathed. 

In honor of my actions, worthy of the anti-cupid, I decided to have a sweet but decidedly unromantic dinner for Kitty on Valentine's Day. Card with a monkey face? check! All the boy-kids at home (plus a cousin)? check! Pot Roast? check! We didn't sweep her off her feet but she definitely felt loved. And isn't that what Valentine's Day is all about? The cards full of bad poetry in soft shades of pink? That's the stuff of men who cant say how much they love their wives in their own words and actions. Fancy, expensive meals in posh restaurants? Merely make up dates for all the times she was left at home while the fellas whooped it up on "guy's night out." Expensive sparkly-things? They scream "I'm compensating for affection with this gift that someone else suggested." As for me, romance is found in the sweet, silent smile and the soft touch on the arm as we pass each other in the kitchen while one is doing dishes and the other is getting back to homework. Passion is found in the kiss on the neck, from over the back of the sofa that says "The kids are asleep and you can watch Top Gear tomorrow on Hulu." Love is found in the ordinary times. My cupid haunts the daily routines. Our life is love.

With all of that said. Here is the recipe for Brandy Pot Roast. Cook it with love.

Brandy Pot Roast

1  5 lb. pot roast

2 large yellow onions

4 carrots

4 stalks celery

6 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp. oregano

1 Tbsp. thyme

½ cup brandy

1 32 oz. container beef stock*

1 Tbsp. olive oil

3 Tbsp. butter

Salt

Pepper

Prep

Roughly chop onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Season roast with salt and pepper.

Cook

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Heat a large iron skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and continue heating until oil smokes. Add seasoned pot roast and brown on both sides. Add chopped vegetables and transfer to oven. With the oven open and the skillet on the middle rack, add brandy, herbs and ½ tsp. black pepper. Add beef stock until liquid is almost to the rim of the skillet. Top loosely with foil and cook for 2 hours. Slide out the oven rack, turn the meat and stir the vegetables. Add more liquid to cover vegetables an cook for an additional 3 hours or until the meat tears apart with a fork. It is really better if you can allow it to cook for eight hours, basting with the liquids every 30 minutes.

When cooked, transfer the meat and vegetables to a serving bowl and cover with foil until ready to serve. Place the pan on the stovetop and cook over medium-high heat until reduced by ½ of original volume. If there is any liquid standing in the serving bowl, drain it into the reduced liquid and reduce again to ½ of original volume. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the butter.

Plate

Serve meat over some form of starch (toast, rice, mashed potatoes, or mashed cauliflower) and top with vegetables and reduction sauce.

(Serves 6)

Practicing What I Preach (sort-of)

Last night I grabbed a $1 cheeseburger at McDonald's on my way home from a speaking engagement in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I won't bore you with the pictures. Suffice it to say that the burger was mediocre at best. I was not however disappointed since it tasted exactly how I expected and provided me with enough energy to get home and go to sleep.
Wednesday night I took my own advice from the day's blog entry and whipped up a chicken breast without any notion of a recipe. I had some chicken in the freezer, some cream in the fridge and some chicken stock in the pantry (didn't feel like thawing out the homemade stuff). I put that together with a pouch of frozen butter beans and some basmati rice. It wasn't haute cuisine, but everyone was happy, the sauce was rich and it went nicely with the leftover bottle of Parados Malbec that was sitting on the dining room table in the cool  chef-thingy I got for Christmas from my in-laws. Despite the fact that I didn't use a recipe to cook the dish, I did remember what went into it and even took the time to write it down. here is my recipe for no-recipe chicken. If you want to get all fussy and go lower-cal, you could substitute milk for cream. It just won't taste as good. Instead, I would recommend just pouring a little less sauce on the chicken and none on the rice. That stuff tastes great without any sauce. Or you could hide your TV remote and chase the kids around the yard for a while to burn off the extra calories from the cream. Or you could just not worry about it and cook something extra light the next night. Or you could eat cream with every meal and just COMPLETELY stop snacking on junk between meals. Wow - I'm preachy tonight. Sorry about that.
Bon Appetit!

~Tom
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts with Cream Pan Sauce

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 Tbsp. olive oil

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 tsp. Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning Blend

¼ cup chicken stock

¼ cup heavy cream 

2 green onions

Prep

Liberally season chicken breasts with Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning Blend. Chop green onions. Set stock out and allow it to come to room temperature while cooking the chicken.

Cook

Heat a large iron skillet over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp. butter and olive oil to skillet. When the butter foams and begins to brown, add chicken smooth side down first and cook until done, turning only once. This should take about 5 minutes for each side. Remove the chicken from the heat and either wrap in foil or place in a bowl, covered with foil. Deglaze the pan with ¼ cup chicken stock, loosening any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When stock is reduced by ½ of its original volume, add cream and reduce by ½. Reduce heat to low and add to the sauce any liquid that has accumulated in the bowl or foil pouch of cooked chicken breasts plus the remaining 2 Tbsp. of butter. Stir with a spoon or whisk until the butter is completely incorporated in the sauce.

Plate

Place the cooked breasts over a starch (rice, potatoes etc.) in the center of the plate and drizzle over the top with the sauce. Garnish with chopped green onions.

(Serves 6)

Quick Veal and Pan Sauce

With the boil water notice, the water mains leaking like the Iraqi Navy and a full day of writing, I really didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking tonight. Veal was an easy choice. Veal + butter + heat = yum. Sorry for the blah picture. I tried something new with the Blackberry camera and got this muddled garbage.

Veal Scaloppini with Pan Sauce

8 thin veal fillets

4 Tbsp. butter

2 green onions

¼ cup dry white wine

¼ cup heavy cream

¼ cup beef stock

½ tsp. Ivy & Devine Poultry Seasoning Blend

Salt

Pepper

Prep

Finely chop green onions. Dry veal fillets with a paper towel and allow them to come to room temperature. Lightly season with salt, pepper and seasoning blend.

Cook

Heat a large iron skillet over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp. butter to hot skillet and when it foams and brown add veal. Cook for 1 minute on each side. Remove veal from pan and set aside in a bowl. Cover cooked veal with foil. Deglaze pan with wine and reduce to ½ original volume. Add stock and continue reducing until the liquid remains separated when a spatula is drawn across the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to low and add cream plus any liquid in the bowl of resting veal. When cream is fully incorporated reduce heat and add 3 Tbsp. butter (in three pats). Swirl butter until it is fully incorporated.

Plate

Serve with sauce on the top and garnish with green onions.

(Serves 4)

Anatomy of a Great New Year's Eve

Kitty and I don't leave the neighborhood on New Year's Eve. Usually, we just walk over to Rose and Peter's house, cook dinner, watch the neighborhood kids shoot fireworks and wait for all of our kids to return home safely. This year, we did all of these things, but the location was our house. Peter brought over some Ghost Pines Cabernet Sauvignon (Winemaker's Blend). Kitty and contributed a bottle of Parados Malbec and a couple bottles of Montsarra Cava Brut. The dinner consisted of Steak au Poivre, Steamed Brussels Sprouts and a White Vegetable Mash topped with Sharp English Cheddar. Here are the "before" and "after" shots!
Before...

After...

Before...

After...

Needless to say, a great time was had by all.

Bon Appetit!
~Tom

A Slab of Goodness

What did we do before the Flatiron Steak? I buy them by the half-dozen, keep em in the freezer and always have the ability to whip up a steak without much thought. When I can remember, I take a Flatiron out of the freezer and put it on a plate in the fridge (uncovered) about a week before I want to cook it. This alloys it to "dry age" a bit before you cook it. Doing this intensifies the flavor and makes it more...steaky (if that is a word). You can cook a Flatiron on the grill but tonight's recipe involves the stovetop and the broiler. Remember that a hot plate is imperative when serving steak. When I cook steaks in the broiler/oven, I put the plates in the oven when I remove the meat and turn off the oven. This way, the residual heat will warm the plates and the serving platter while you make the sauce.

Flatiron Steak with Brandy Pan Sauce

1 Flatiron Steak
3/4 cup beef stock
1/8 cup brandy
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 bunch parsley
salt
pepper

Prep
If you have time, unwrap the steak and place it on a plate, uncovered, and put it on the bottom rack of the refirgerator for a couple of days before cooking. It will turn a dark red and not look to hot, but trust me...it is much better than right out of the package. Finely chop the parsley. Peel the garlic and rub the clove all over the meat. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Place the oven rack in the center position. Turn over broiler on high and allow it to heat up for at least fifteen minutes.

Cook
Heat a large black-iron skillet over medium-high heat until it is very hot. Add olive oil and butter to the hot skillet and when the butter is completely melted, add the steak and cook for one minute on each side. Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook for 8 minutes. Remove steak and place on a cutting board and allow to rest under foil while the sauce is prepared. Transfer the skillet to the stove top over medium heat. Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup of beef stock. When the liquid is reduced by one half, add brandy and continue reducing until the liquid just covers the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to low and add remaining stock and butter. Carve the steak into 1 inch slices and add any juice remaining on the cutting board to the sauce. Stir the sace to incorporate all liquids.

Plate
Add sliced steak to a warm plate and top with sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley.