Braised Anatomy

Coq au Vin (Chicken & Wine Stew)

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Anita!

If recipes are the original music, my mom is the remix DJ. She’ll often find something, pick out the elements that she likes, and put in her own flare. One thing she does to a lot of her recipes is to “Indianize” them. For the uninitiated — this means more garlic, more spices, a good sear on any onions, and a subtle dialing-back of some of the ingredients that would have been the major flavor.

This is a French recipe with Indian undertones: Friendian.

The result: Wicka wicka wicka chicken!? Yeah. That just happened.

Ingredients

2 Tb olive oil
4 ounces (1/4 lb) bacon (I got this at the deli counter, it was about 4 slices)
1.5 lbs boneless, skinless, chicken thighs cut into three pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1.5 Tb all purpose flour
1 bag frozen pearl onions
1/2 pound white mushrooms, washed, stems removed and thickly sliced
1.5 Tb kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
7-8 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 6oz can tomato paste
0.5-1 cup red wine (feel free to use cheap stuff, just taste it first)
1-2 cups chicken stock
3 tsp dried thyme or parsley

Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or other large pot. Fry the bacon over medium heat, turning with tongs, until it begins to brown, then transfer to a large plate lined with paper towels.

Lay the chicken pieces on paper towels and pat dry. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Sear the chicken on both sides in the bacon fat, titrating the heat of the oil to prevent burning. Due to water in the chicken you may want to shield yourself with a pot lid. Remove the chicken to the same plate as the bacon.

Pour the remaining bacon fat out of the dutch oven. Add butter over medium-high heat and let it melt. Stir in the flour until you get a “toasty” aroma from the flour cooking. Add the mushrooms and allow them to slightly brown before adding the onions, salt, and pepper; continue to cook and stir intermittently until the onions become translucent. . Add the garlic, chili powder, and chili flakes and cook for 1 more minute.

Add the bacon and chicken and stir. Add the wine, chicken stock, and thyme and bring to a simmer for 15-20 min; you may want to add more stock so that at the beginning of the simmer you have a soup and at the end you have a fairly loose stew. Taste to see if you want to add more wine, garlic, or salt.

Serve on top of mashed potatoes.

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Posted in Chicken | 7 Comments

Basil Pesto

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Ari

I feel like a nomad.

I have no idea in what time zone I currently reside, or the day of the week.

I have one suitcase and one garment bag, and that is all I really need.

I have nightmares about losing my suit, and those are more terrifying than anything else my subconscious can drum up.

This whole “interview process” has been a very interesting experience – mind you I’m not calling it painful, horrible, frustrating, etc. It’s just…exhausting. But it’s a good exhaustion! It’s the kind of exhaustion that lets me know I’m quickly approaching achievement of the only major goal I’ve ever set for myself – to become a doctor (and a doctor with a job at that).

And as much as I’m spending an arm and a leg to travel and house myself for each interview, at least I don’t have to worry about food. Each program is generous enough to cover our dinner the night before, and breakfast and lunch the day of the interview. The quality of the food varies, but overall I can’t really complain…and the trick to making sure everyone is relatively pleased with the food served? Throw it in a deep fryer.

In the last 2 months I’ve eaten more fried chicken, shrimp, potatoes and other root vegetables than I care to admit to myself (although I’ll admit that fried rutabaga is a new favorite of mine). Man oh man do I miss vegetables. I find myself day dreaming of salad, vine-ripe tomatoes and fresh herbs from a garden…

Ingredients:

2 cups loosely packed basil
1 cup walnuts (or pine nuts if you’re feeling fancy)
3 tbs olive oil
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic
1/2+ tsp salt (depending on how salty you like your pesto)
Juice and zest from 1/2 of a lemon

Throw everything in the blender and go wild.
Eat with a spoon while dreaming of warmer days.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Chicken Tikki (Leftover Chicken Patties)

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Anita!

The nice thing about writing this blog post is that you cannot see me right now. I’m in my pajamas, my hair is tangled on top of my head in the ruin of a pillow invasion, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I have a soymilk goatee. The nice thing is, by the time anyone has to see me I’ll be showered and respectable. Every day I go through a grooming ritual — much like some people attend church or temple, I attend shower, makeup bag, and hairdryer.

Now that it’s interview season, I think about this every time I iron my shirt and don my suit. What if I reallocated the 45 minutes of primping to character grooming instead? Practicing speaking without cussing, for instance, or standing up for my friends? Would this count as much toward my professional career as an unwrinkled collar?

Ahem…I’m not sure where to go with this now. So I’ll just say that leftover chicken is delicious and has tons of character, but sometimes you have to dress it up with some other ingredients so it doesn’t just look like bits hanging off of a carcass. It’s the ultimate example of substance with form.

Ingredients (This is my mom’s recipe, I had it for the first time over winter break)

1 large breast of skinless chicken roasted or boiled, then ground fine in food proccesor
1 medium onion diced very fine
3 cloves of garlic diced fine
1 inch piece of ginger peeled and diced fine
1 Serrano chili diced fine
1 bread slice soaked with water and then squeezed dry
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup breadcrumbs
oil for frying

Combine the above, except oil and breadcrumbs, gently with your fingertips. Taste and adjust seasoning. Form into 3 inch patties, again using only your fingers and trying not to squeeze out too much juice as you mold them. Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl and coat each patty.

Put enough oil in a pan to shallow-fry the patties, and fry until slightly browned on each side. Try to fry the patties so that they have at least 1” between them; this enhances browning and makes them easier to flip. Drain on paper towels. Serve with ketchup.

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Posted in Chicken, Indian | 1 Comment

Pumpkin Spice (baked) Mini Donuts

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Ari

Sorry we’ve been MIA for the past month. Between the holidays and interview season we’ve been spending the majority of our time out of the kitchen, and jet setting around the country…and by jet setting I mean traveling as cheaply as possible because interview season is putting a major dent in my available funds. In fact, I’ve put over 7,000 miles on my car in the last 2 months…and in a related story, my karaoke and car-dancing-skills are at their all time best!

Now that I’m home, I have the luxury of both sleep and free time – much of which has been spent with my family,

my cat,

and in my beloved Goodwill.

And now you might be asking yourself – why on earth would this girl be so excited about a thrift store? Because somehow Goodwill always provides me with whatever my heart desires…and my heart has been desirin’ a mini donut maker. They say desire can make anyone a fool, and if so call me a fool – a very happy fool with a belly full of baked donuts.

A few months ago I started seeing recipes for mini donut makers, and immediately I was smitten. Donuts are one thing, but mini donuts – Whoa. Be still my heart. As time went on, my smitten-ness turned into desire, and before I new it, Goodwill provided (for only $5!). Am I a luck girl or what!?

my new friend

For my first attempt at mini donuts I decided not to risk producing a total flop, so I followed a recipe from a source that has yet to lead my astray in my baking endeavors – King Arthur Flour Recipes. I selected the “Pumpkin Cake Donuts“, and I do not regret my decision. My only suggestion is if you’re making these as mini donuts, cut the recipe in half…unless you have a lot of friends whose faces you’re ready to stuff. I promise to start playing with new (possibly healthier) recipes to use with my new toy. In the meantime, I’m gonna get back to hanging out with my family.

Happy New Year Everyone!!