Commencing Clarification - Chicken Consommé

Consommé may be one of the most misunderstood soups.  It's utterly clear yet brims with intense flavor.  How is this possible?  Why is Consommé so much "thicker" than "stock"?

Put on your life preservers folks, it's time to go a rafting!

Consommé is simply stock that has been clarified by a mixture of ground meat, miripoix and egg whites.  This mixture is added to everyday regular stock then heat is applied.  In the process the mixture forms a "raft" on top of the stock... Through continued simmering, the "raft" combines with the impurities in the stock and traps them in the albumen from the egg whites.  It all sounds complicated.  But trust me, you don't need a degree in food science or advanced culinary education.  It's surprisingly simple

Chicken Consommé

6 cups (about 1.5 Liters) Chicken Stock
1 lb (600 g) ground Chicken
1 Carrot, finely diced
1 Celery stalk, finely diced
1 Leek, finely sliced
3 large Egg Whites
Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste
Tarragon Leaves

Pour the chicken stock into a pot.

In a separate bowl combine ground chicken and diced vegetables in bowl.

Add the egg whites.

Then mix everything together with a fork until you have a big "mess" in the bowl.

Spoon the mixture into the Chicken Stock.

Place the messy mixture over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stir while you are doing this.

You will notice as the temperature rises the chicken/vegetable mixture will begin to rise to the surface and form the "raft".

Once the mix starts to simmer, stop stirring and let the stock bubble up through the "raft", allowing the egg whites to trap everything.

Continue simmering for 30 minutes. (though you can push it to 45)
Remove from the heat and skim off the "raft" (you will want to discard this.  Don't feed it to your dog, cause it contains onion...  Yeah, it's leek but they are closely related, so don't take chances)

Once the raft has been removed, go ahead and pour the Consommé through cheese cloth to endure you have removed all the "bits" of coagulated egg white.

You should have about 5 cups of perfectly clear pale amber liquid.

And there you go...  An elegant Consommé.

You can refrigerate the Consommé in a sealed container for about 1 week.  Do not be surprised if you find that it has gelled.  It is higher in gelatin than normal stock giving consommé a more voluptuous mouth-feel. (it's a good thing) I am only saving out 1 3/4 cups for something else... But the rest was delicious!

Mangia!!
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Leapin' Leftovers!! - Gingered Pear Chicken Salad

Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken.... What to do with left over chicken.  It's a never ending conundrum.  For there always seems to be some left over chicken somewhere in the refrigerator.  My answer is usually Chicken Salad.  (Lots and Lots of Chicken Salad - Cause I eat a lot of Chicken)

I have never really blogged about chicken salad before, cause it's just sort of something that I do and never really think of it as particularly interesting.  I mean, it's just chicken salad after all.  It usually changes depending on what is in the cupboard or in the refrigerator.  It always contains chicken, of course, but the accouterments change all the time.  Isn't that the essence of chicken salad?

THIS time, however, I happened to have all my favorite additions available, so I figured I would go ahead and give the whole thing a whacky whirl and document the deliciousness.

My Favorite Chicken Salad

4 cups (16 oz) Chicken Breast or Thighs, cubed
3 ribs of Celery, diced
1 can of Water Chestnuts, drained and sliced
1 d'Anjou pear, diced
3 Green Onions, sliced thinly
1/2 cup Homemade Mayonnaise
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
1 TB White Wine
3 TB Fresh Ginger, grated fine (I use a microplane zester)
1/2 tsp Dry Mustard Powder

Place the cubed chicken in the bowl.

Add the Celery, Chestnuts, Pear and Green Onions.

In a small bowl, whisk the Mayonnaise, Yogurt, Wine, Ginger and Dry Mustard together to form a smooth dressing.

Pour the ginger/mayonnaise dressing over the bowl full of Chicken and bits.

Toss until everything is well coated.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.

Serve as you like, on a bed of lettuce.....

or in a sourdough roll, as a sandwich.

Mangia!!
~~

Festive, Yet Frugal Fruit Salad - Waldorf Salad with Hidden Rose Apples

Greetings all!  Sorry I have been MIA for a while.  I did some traveling during the Thanksgiving holiday and thus was not really able to post anything.   Not that there was really anything to post as far as recipes go.  Most of the cooking going on during the last week and a half has been traditional Thanksgiving dishes and some signatures that I have already posted about such as Cherry Pie, Pasta Carbonara, Smoked Salmon and Crème Fraîche pizza (thank you Wolfgang Puck!) and, of course, turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes; all of which can be found on multiple sites and I don't really have anything "special" to add to the plethora of information already out there.

My Mac is acting a little odd as well, the board shifted or something and it pinched a wire which caused it to intermittently go into sleep mode. But I have torn it apart and it seems to be working now.  Probably has to do with my computer's run-in with the TSA at the airport.  I mean REALLY?  Do they have to practically disassemble my Mac to make sure it's not a bomb, while the crazy guy still manages to make it to the plane with a gun in his shorts?  a hem!

OK, enough about inappropriate touching and massive doses of Xrays that I am sure will have a negative effect on my ability to pro-create.   I really had a wonderful time in southern California visiting with friends and hanging out with my godson and his family.  After all, I have not seen the little sprout since September of '09, and sprout he did...  He's so tall!  LOL

Anyway, I figured that I would go ahead and share something that I did right before I took off for the airport... OK, not RIGHT before, I mean I did have time to eat it and all... ;)

Last year I made a Waldorf Salad for Thanksgiving, and had lamented that I did not have some of those wonderful Hidden Rose apples to make it with... Luckily, this year I was able to procure more than 2 from the Harvest Festival, so I had plenty to experiment with... For those who are new followers of this blog, I will recap the Hidden rose apple very quickly.

The Hidden Rose apple was developed by Dragonberry Farms in Clackamas, Oregon.  It's still a little difficult to find even here.  In fact, the only place I have been able to purchase these apples is at the Hood River Harvest Festival.  From the outside it is fairly unassuming......

But once it is cut open, it's like magic.

Blushing red and actually smelling of roses, this is a drier apple than say a Newtown Pippin.  The skin is not nearly as tough as a Granny Smith or a Red Delicious.  The flavor is tart and somewhat "tingly" on the tongue with a delicate flavor of rose water that lingers for a short time...  Utterly delicious to eat out of hand, but I have found that it holds it's shape well in cooking as well.  Unlike the MacIntosh or the Canadian Yellow Transparent, which promptly turn to mush once heat is applied.

So I made my Waldorf Salad with this delicious apple...

2 lbs of Hidden Rose apples. (anything tart)
5 oz of Celery (diced)
3 oz Homemade Mayonnaise (Seriously, Not Miracle Whip or Hellmens/Bestfoods, it needs to be homemade)
Juice of 1/2 Lemon (Meyer Lemon is nice too)
2 oz Toasted Walnuts (Roughly Chopped)

Slice and dice apples - Core the apple, slice into quarters then slice each quarter into 3, yielding 12 sections then slice these into about 1/2 inch chunks just like you would for apple pie. This will yield about 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs of apples. (I used Organic Braeburns, so I did not peel the apples. If I was using a Granny Smith, with a tougher peel, I would have removed the skin)

Place chopped apples in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice to keep from browning before adding the diced celery.

It really looked like a bowl full of watermelon.

The amazing thing about this apple is that instead of browning as it oxidizes, it simply turns a deeper shade of red.  So with this particular apple, you can leave out the lemon juice if you like.  Amazing...

Add mayonnaise, toss until coated well.
Refrigerate for about 1/2 hour, covered.
Serve on Romaine leaves and sprinkle with chopped walnuts, or (if simply serving to a large group of hungry children) toss walnuts with the salad right before serving (they get soggy if you do it early)

It created a very "christmassy" looking salad, all festively green and red.  The flavor was positively phenomenal, but while eating it, I found the intense redness of the apple a little disturbing... This is simply an aesthetic issue, and once I make this a few more times, I will get over my programming from previous Waldorf Salads...  LOL

It really was delicious and WELL worth the whole year that I had to wait in order to execute this idea.

Mangia!!
~~

A Little Creole Soul - Penne alla Nawlens

It all started when I decided to cook dinner for my youngest brother and his family, minus my niece who was at the beach with my parents. I was toying with the Macaroni alla Nawlens, that I made some time ago. When I mentioned Andouille floating in a sea of cheese and pasta, the idea was met with zeal. So it was decided... Penne alla Nawlens it was. This is when the problem started.

As I mentioned, I already made this recipe, or at least something along the same venue, a while back (Macaroni alla Nawlens), but I figured, in light of my recent successes without using béchamel as a base, that it was time to re-vamp the recipe a little.

When I started looking at the recipe it became glaringly apparent that I was off my "game". If memory serves me correctly, though I was attempting to recreate a recipe I had eaten at the New Orleans Cafe in old Town San Diego, I was in a hurry, I was hungry, and I was simply cleaning out the refrigerator of so many small pieces of cheese. Which would be fine, except for the fact that I blogged about it. I probably shouldn't have, as I had not entered into the project with any sort of definitive plan. (even an experiment needs a plan) I was simply making it up as I went along. And while it was tasty, I think it could be much better....

So I post this again, but THIS time, it is with a serious endeavor to create a Macaroni and Cheese dish that actually reflects the flavors of Cajun/Creole cuisine.

First, as I mentioned, the béchamel HAD to go. This is based on Heavy Cream, Butter, Crème Fraîche and Cheese (lots of Cheese). Secondly, I had to attempt atoning for my mistake; when I originally threw this together I committed a cardinal sin that shall haunt me to the end of my days (cause I knew better). I completely left out the "Holy Trinity". I have no idea what I was thinking, but the combination of Onion, Celery and Bell Pepper is quintessential to ANY Creole/Cajun dish. Sure, I had thrown in some onion, but that is a pale shadow of what is possible. Lastly, the cheese had to be addressed. So I sat and contemplated. I finally went with 1 firm cheese (Gruyere), 1 semi-firm cheese (Emmental), and 1 smooth melting cheese (Danish Fontina). A lot simpler, but more flavorful, than the train wreck of cheeses I used before. The funniest part is, that I actually used less cheese this time, but without the béchamel, it had SO much more cheese flavor. Awesome!

After all, if I am gonna cook for family, I SHOULD be putting my heart and soul into what I am doing. They're worth it. So without further nonsense babbling.... I present Macaroni alla Nawlens, the way I should have made it the first time. And I must admit, I was not disappointed at all, it was SO much better this time.

Penne y Formaggio alla Nawlens

24 oz Andouille Sausage
1/2 Bell Pepper, chopped (I used left over peppers from some other dishes, thus the rainbow)
1/2 medium White Onion, chopped
1 rib Celery, chopped
1 Cup Heavy Cream
4 oz Butter
6 oz Emmental
8 oz Fontina (Danish red wax type)
8 oz Gruyere
8 oz Crème Fraîche
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 lb Penne (Elbows or Cavitappi will work too)
2 oz Panko

Slice up the andouille. (I use Aidelle's cause that was all I could find)

Set a large pot of water over high heat so it can come to a boil while you are grating all the cheeses so your ready.

Once you have grated all the cheese, grab a handful from the pile and set it aside for later.

Place Heavy Cream and Butter in a small sauce pan, melting it over low heat.

Place 1 TB Olive oil in a saute pan set over medium flame.

Add the andouille (in batches if necessary) and saute until lightly browned, but more importantly, until you have some of the fat rendered into the pan. (you're gonna need that for the next step)

When you have fried all the andouille, set it aside.

Add the "Holy Trinity" to the hot andouille fat, and saute until soft.

You should be able to drop your pasta now, boil for 1/2 the time called for on the package.

Begin preheating the oven to 325 degrees.

Once the Butter and Cream are melted and homogeneous, add a handful of the cheese mixture and whisk until melted and smooth before adding another handful.

Add all but 1 handful of the shredded cheese.

When all the cheese (except for the handful you set aside) has been added and is melted, add the Crème Fraîche and whisk again. (it will look a little runny)

Whisk in the Cayenne Pepper (add more if you have a higher heat threshold)

Drain the penne (don't forget to give it a really good shake to get the water out of the tubes) then pour the pasta back into the pot you boiled it in.

Add the Fried andouille and the Holy trinity.

Pour the hot cheese sauce over the top.

Then toss everything to coat it really well.

Add the reserved handful of cheese and stir it in.

Immediately pour the mixture into an 9 x 13 casserole dish. (Hooray for old CorningWare!)

Sprinkle with Panko.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until is begins to bubble.

Switch on the broiler on and place under the element for 3 minutes to finish of the top crust.

Then indulge in spicy cheese happiness.

(My nephew sure did)

Now if I only had some Crayfish.

Hoooo wee!!
~~