Thursday 26 June 2008

A goose walked over my Parmesan


I was thinking, chicken with parmesan - that's what we'll have for supper - where can I find a nice recipe - Oh Look - a Barefoot Contessa testing blog - Oh Look - Parmesan Chicken - OOOOH SPOOKY. And that is when the goose trampled down my spine. I had chicken and parmesan and I made some dried crumbs and went out into the vegetable garden and found chard and spinach leaves for the salad. I even had lemons for the vinaigrette.

I do love a nice crumbed chicken breast. I often beat them out to cook quickly with a herb butter or salsa verde - I have been teaching this at school with a garlic and parlsey butter and crushed new potatoes but I think this would be great recipe to teach them how to coat something. Personally I think that the recipe could use a little more parmesan, but my husband, S, thought that there was enough. I browned the chicken in the pan and then finished it in the oven - it came out beautifully juice and was a big hit with S and little son. Big son had gone out - no surprise there. I have saved his chicken breast to have with some bacon in a club sandwich tomorrow. My first Barefoot Contessa book, BC at home, has nice pictures of stuffed ciabattas which we have been trying out this week. The goat cheese with roasted peppers, red onions and pesto one was really nice. Anyway, here is the Parmesan Chicken post - try it and see for yourself.

Barefoot Contessa Parmesan Chicken

6 small chicken breast fillets
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt (I used Maldon Sea Salt)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 extra-large eggs
1 tablespoon water
1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
Unsalted butter
Good olive oil
Salad greens for 6, washed and spun dry
1 recipe Lemon Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4-inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. This is where I browned the breasts briefly in the pan and then finished them in the oven for about 8 minutes. I only used olive oil and that fairly sparingly as S is dieting. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts. Toss the salad greens with lemon vinaigrette. Place a mound of salad on each hot chicken breast. Serve with extra grated Parmesan. We had new potatoes with this and also some marinated tomato and onion salad

Lemon Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Yield: 6 servings

Monday 23 June 2008

Mixed Berry Cobbler

I am going to be late this week as I am saving the Cobbler for Saturday when we are having a party. Eldest son is off to New Zealand for 9 weeks to ski - lucky him - and I will do the cobbler for one of the desserts. It is already made and in the freezer waiting for its top and baking.

Tuesday 17 June 2008

Busy Busy Busy


Work is increasingly hectic at the moment as the end of the school year is only weeks (2 1/2) away. It is only since I began to teach that I have remembered the excitement of looking forward to the holidays. All my classes have their practical exam this week - lets guess how many will have no ingredients!

I had intended to make the peppermint ring for a party last Saturday as S and I are dieting and making it for home would have been too much of a temptation. However, the party was canned as the weather forecast was bad (in the event the weather was lovely - ironic) so I opted to make some mini peppermint rings for the boys and freeze the rest of the choux for another time.

I have not used milk in a choux pastry before but it all came out ok. The buns were nicely risen and I dried them out in a slow oven until they were crisp. I used vanilla instead of peppermint in the cream as small boy is not fond of mint. I made a simple chocolate sauce of 1oz butter, 2oz unsweetened chocolate and 1 Tbs of golden syrup which was suitably glossy and bittersweet. The reaction

Small Boy - I would like those chocolate things again tonight
me - they're all gone
SB - What!!? That is so unfair, typical (teenage rant)
Me - does that mean you liked them...................sweetie .....speak to me

Monday 2 June 2008

Vive la Brownie



French Chocolate Brownies with Dorie

TWD this week was a winner from the start because both boys like brownies. I find the recipe interesting - I would have thought that rum soaked raisins and cinnamon would have given us Jamaican Brownies rather than French, but vive la difference! The recipe was easy to follow and baked more quickly than the 50 - 60 minutes stated. I think they had about 35 minutes in all. I left them on the cooling rack and went to the shops to get some vegetables for tonight's Thai Duck Salad. On my return large son told me that aparently we had been burgled - a slice was already missing. I turned the brownies out and cut them up. The texture was quite different to any other brownie recipe I have tried before. It was very light and cake like, where as all the other ones I have made have been dense and fudgy. I have to say I like the texture as it is less rich, but I think the boys will feel it is not what they were expecting. I think I would like to try the Jazzed Up Ginger Brownies next as I am searching for the perfect brownie recipe for the village summer fete cookery competitions.

Anyway, here is the recipe - bon chance!

French Chocolate Brownies

- makes 16 brownies -
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.