Culinary School Chronicles - Poached Chicken with Sauce d'Archiduc

Classes of late have moved farther away from food theory and more to practical application of the skills we have acquired.  I wonder if anyone but me has actually spent the time reading the manual they gave us....?  Probably only the few die-hards like me and my tablemates who haven't given up on showing up yet!  16 bodies of 24 again today.  Oh well...it means more product for those who show, so whatever.

Today Chef did a demo of Mushroom Rice Pilaf and then we learned to take chicken breast off the front end of the bird, remove the skin and poach it.  Very similar technique to what I did a few weeks back when we poached Rainbow Trout.

We also did a take on Sauce Archiduc which is a derivative sauce that combines the chicken's poaching liquid with a Béchamel sauce (back to Mother sauces again!).  The traditional version popularized by Escoffier is a cream and mushroom sauce, but this version incorporates lemon grass, Thai green curry paste and no mushrooms.  The sauce picks up a subtle hint of flavour from all of these ingredients and gives you that nice little burny tickle at the back of your throat that us capiscum lovers want.

Honestly, until I took this course, I never would have considered poaching to be a viable method of cooking - it seemed too much like boiling or microwaving to me.  But I was wrong.  Between the poached rainbow trout and the poached chicken today, I am a convert.  And it actually is quite a quick cooking method for your "a 1à minute" moments.  I didn't even know I had a là minute moments until I took my course but apparently I do!  And all of these classics still hold up incredibly well at a dinner party.

We also learned about the making of a clouté.  I must admit I love the French cooking terminology we keep learning.  Everything has a name and a defined method.  So classic.  So French!

Anyway a clouté is made by peeling an onion, and cutting it in half.  You then cut a fairly deep insert into the onion and place a bay leaf in the cut.  Then you use a few cloves to pierce the onion and bay leaf to hold them in place. This is my clouté looking back at me from my milk like a little clove studded face.

Basically what we do is place flavouring agents in the bottom of a sauté pan, adding the chicken and poaching liquid, then cook the chicken.  At the same time you make a classic Béchamel sauce and that sauce is added to the strained poaching liquid to create the Sauce Archiduc.  Using the Béchamel is just a different way to thicken an sauce instead of using a Beurre Manie or other method.

What I can say about this dish is that it seemed to be enjoyed by all on Saturday night, including the kids who cleaned their plates.  We served this dish with Mushroom Rice Pilaf and Roasted Asparagus.  Yummy!

Poached Chicken with Sauce d'Archiduc

Poaching liquid:

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (if you can leave the wing on and Supreme it...even better)
1 tablespoon butter
1 shallot, peeled and finely minced
2 tablespoons ginger root, finely minced
1 teaspoon Thai green curry paste
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
2 stalks lemongrass, cut half and bruised

Archiduc Sauce:

Reserved poaching liquid
1 recipe Béchamel sauce (see below\)
1/2 cup heavy cream (35|% cream)
Salt and pepper to taste

Use a sauté pan just large enough to hold the chicken breasts in a single layer.  Butter the inside of the pan and sprinkle with shallots, lemon grass, curry paste and ginger.

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  Place them on the pan presentation side up (the prettiest side).  Sprinkle with lemon juice and add just enough stock to cover the chicken.

Cover the chicken with a cartouche ( a buttered piece of parchment paper cut in the shape of the pan - this acts as a paper lid).  Bring the liquid to a low boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat and simmer until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 175 degrees, approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove chicken from pan and place in another dish, cover with foil to keep warm.  Return the poaching liquid to a boil, and reduce by half.  Add the Béchamel sauce.  Return to a simmer and continue to cook for 5 to 7 minutes.  Strain the sauce.

Adjust seasoning and serve over reserved chicken breasts with Mushroom Rice Pilaf and some lovely seasonal vegetables.

Béchamel Sauce


2 cups homo milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 clouté (half an onion with a bayleaf and 2 cloves)

Rinse a small saucepan with cold water.  This will create a coating in the bottom of the pan and reduce the chance of your milk burning on the bottom of the pan.

Add the milk and clouté to the pan and bring to a simmer.  You want to scald the milk but not boil it.  You will know it is scalded because bubbles will form around the side of the pan and if you swish the milk a bit you will get a wisp of steam coming off it.

Melt butter in a separate saucepan.  Add flour and combine well.  Cook for 1 minute but try not to add any colour - we are making a white sauce so we want a blonde roux.  Allow to cool slightly.  For this technique to work the milk and the roux MUST be a different temperatures - moderately warm and hot are ok.

Away from the burner add about 1/4 of the hot milk to the roux.  Mix until smooth.  Add in another 1/4 of the milk and mix.  Keep adding the milk a bit at a time until all milk is taken in by the roux.  Turn the heat to very low and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Take off heat at reserve for use in Archiduc Sauce.

(Incidentally, if you add about 2 cups of Swiss cheese to the Béchamel right now, you get a Mornay sauce which makes an awesome Mac'n'Cheese.)

Friends for Dinner - Vegetarian

Tonight was fun - got a chance to hang with my old (that is NOT a comment on our age by the way) friends who I went to high school with.  Actually, two of the ladies I have known since grade 6!  Hard to believe we have known each other so long.  Unfortunately, through time we lost touch -well actually I lost touch with them during university.

But through the magic of technology, and Facebook, we managed to reconnect 2 summers ago and I am glad to have them back in my life, even if only electronically mostly and in person once every couple of years.  It is true what they say about true friends - you might not see each other for a long time but with true friends you just pick up where you left off.  And we did.

Here`s a couple of nice quotes about friendship before I get down to the business of cooking:

A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. ~Douglas Pagels

Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty. ~Sicilian Proverb

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. ~C.S. Lewis

All right....back to the business at hand.  My friend Jill who is visiting from Scotland is a vegetarian so I thought since she was coming for dinner that I`d do a full vegetarian menu.  That`s why a few weeks ago I experimented with Falafel.  

Surprisingly they`ve become very popular with my family, and were a huge hit as lunch when we were camping - who knew!!!  Except Brenden tells me he only likes them cold and with ketchup...whatever!  You cannot even try to explain the tastes of a 15 year old boy.  At least he tried it and has been using up the leftovers from Friday night like crazy!

So here`s our dinner menu:

Appetizers:

Eggplant Caponata with Toasted Pita Chips and Flatbreads

Caprese Salad Bites

Main:

Pickled Turnips by Toorshi

Falafel Balls with Taratoor Sauce on Pita

Tomato Mint Chutney

Cucumbers Tossed in Yogurt with Mint and Parlsey

Curried Couscous with Orange and Mint

Toorshi Pickled Turnips

Toronto Bites Goes Camping....

So I am off for a few days to commune with nature and perhaps drink a few beverages beside a late night campfire.  We have been camping  for probably close to 10 years now, at first against my will, but now I actually look forward to sleeping in a tent.

Although the odd evening where my mattress has deflated and I wake up with stiff hips on hard ground has made me reconsider my decision several times!

I find the prospect of cooking on a campsite fun yet challenging in the sense that I have to think through exactly what I want to eat with what and then bring it.  And I NEVER like eating boring food even when camping.  What we do is really car camping and I bow to my friends like Joanne, and Chris and Elsie who whip up bannock in a pan out of nothing and purify their drinking water from puddles.  That kind of camping is just not for me although the boys really want to go extreme camping (as they call it) in Algonquin Park next year and I know I will have lots of fun figuring out how to dehydrate stuff for them to take.

We have a reputation for always eating well when we camp and we do make food a bit more complicated than opening a box of burgers or just BBQing sausages, but all it takes is a little planning and  list making.  For example, a good horseradish cheddar melted on a burger, topped with homemade Red Relish, served with a salad of seasonal vegetables elevates the ordinary into extra-ordinary.

When I decide on salads, I try to make ones that use less than 5 ingredients and ones where ingredients can be repeated in different forms from one dish to another. Fennel Lemon Salad or Caprese Salad are both great examples of dishes with 2 or 3 key components.  Tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce never go wrong and there is nothing wrong with a good bottled dressing in your cooler.

Couscous also works better as a side or as the base for a salad than rice, as it only takes time to boil the water, then sitting for 5 minutes.  Throw in a combo of stock and orange juice instead, add some Asian spices, open a can of mandarin oranges and stir in.  Sprinkle with mint and voilà - creative but easy side dish.

A great tip that our old friend Mark gave us was to cook in the order of whatever is most defrosted.  So if you planned to have steak one night but the chicken is pretty soft, and the beef rock hard still - eat the chicken and wait until the next day for the steak.  Another helpful idea is to take something ready made for first night, especially if you are getting there later in the day.  A stew or chili made ahead and frozen not only acts as an ice block in your cooler, it is a quick heat and serve meal.

We also generally camp with our long-time friends Ann, James and their son Shane (the BFF of our favourite Junior Chef).  We just pool resources for lunch and then take turns making dinner at each other's sites so it reduces the planning in half and the cooking in half.

I also find this is the time where I will use helpers to make dishes come together quickly.  When I say helpers I mean buying products I can turn into something else, or buying good quality prepared products.  So I might pick up 10 chicken kabobs from Bano's at the Market and vac seal them, or buy pre-formed lamb burgers from Whitehouse meats.  If you ask them, they'll even vac seal them for you on sight in whatever quantity you want.

For me, it is the little touches that make camping special, like this year I will bring with me homemade Blueberry Preserves for bagels, and homemade Corn Relish and Red Relish for burgers.

Glen made pulled pork last weekend - his first attempt in his smoker - and we vac sealed and froze it.  We'll make some BBQ sauce - we did an amazing Carolina-style vinegar and mustard one last weekend.

And I am bringing Falafel which I made last week for something different for lunch. We shall see how it turns out but the plan is to just crisp the Falafel balls in a non-stick frying pan.  I also have some pickled turnips I bought from a vendor at a Farmer`s Market and an Eggplant dip from Scheffler`s at the Market that I`ll add some Tahini to make a quick sauce.  Otherwise, it is wraps and sandwhiches.  Those little cans of flavoured tuna are great or the foil packed Thai Tuna would be a good sandwich.

So here`s what we have planned for dinner....you know I will let you know how it all turns out. And I might even teach you all how to make Spider Weenies!!!

Day 1:   Whitehouse Meats Lamb Burgers with Shropshire Blue Cheese
                Caesar Salad with Crispy Bacon, Sour Dough Croutons and Parmesan

Day 2:   Glen`s Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Carolina BBQ Sauce
                 and Tangy Coleslaw
     
Day 3:  Marinated Chicken with Lentil Salad (more details once I have them)
                 Grilled vegetables would go nicely here.... (hint hint Ann)

Day 4:  Chili with Fresh Bread
                Green Salad with Herbs, Tomatoes , Cucumbers and Cheese
                 Jiffy Pop (late night snack 2)

Day 5:  Home...recipes and photos to come!

Falafel Balls

Falafel is a golf-ball sized ball patty made from ground chickpeas and spices.  The balls are deep fried or baked and served either alone with a salad or in a pita.  Typical toppings include lettuce, tomato, pickled turnips, hot sauce and a tahini-based sauce called Taratoor.

I read somewhere recently that McDonalds serves a McFalafel as one of their sandwich options in Egypt even!  That just strikes me as plain odd and several kinds of wrong, but McDonalds is as McDonalds does.

This recipe is adapted from one by Mark Bittman of the NY Times. It really does work best with dried chickpeas, so start the night before you plan to serve them and soak them overnight for best results. Other than that, the recipe comes together fairly quickly (especially if you have a deep fryer) and will make you never want to use those boxes of dehydrated falafel again.

Falafel

1 3/4 cup dried chickpeas
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
1 small onion, quartered
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Scant teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1 cup chopped parsley or cilantro leaves (I did a mix of both)
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Corn or vegetable oil for frying
Additional salt for after frying

Put beans in a large bowl and cover with water by 3 or 4 inches. Soak for 24 hours, adding water if needed to keep beans submerged.  They will triple in volume over night.

Drain beans well (reserve soaking water) and transfer to a food processor. Add remaining ingredients except oil; pulse until minced but not puréed, scraping sides of bowl down; add soaking water if necessary to allow machine to do its work (I probably added 1/4 a cup in total).  Do not add too much liquid or the mixture will not hold together and you will find yourself having to squeeze out any excess to get it to hold together.

Keep pulsing until mixture comes together. Taste, adding salt, pepper, cayenne or lemon juice to taste.

Heat oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees. If you don't have a deep fryer, a large, deep saucepan will work with about 2-3 inches of oil. Turn heat to medium-high and heat oil to about 350 degrees using a candy thermometer to keep tabs on the heat.  A good test to know that the oil is ready is to drop a pinch of batter dropped into the oil - if it is ready it will sizzle immediately.

Scoop heaping tablespoons of batter and shape into balls or small patties. Fry in batches, without crowding, until nicely browned, turning as necessary; total cooking time will be less than 3 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

I thought these turned out fantastic and I think that I will be adding them to my 2011 Xmas party menu, except slightly smaller.  Yummy.

Makes 24 balls

Quick Taratoor Sauce

This is a quickie version of the tahini sauce that you get in Middle Eastern restaurants.

Directions:

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup Tahini paste
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce (optional)

Combine all ingredients well.  Refrigerate until needed.  Serve in spoonfuls on your Falafel.