Roasted Chicken Stock, Great for Thanksgiving

The essence to a great sauce is a great stock. Veal, beef, chicken, vegetable and fish, all components to creating the perfect sauce. Below are the steps I used to make a roasted brown stock using chicken bones. Something that can be used to create the ultimate gravy for Thanksgiving.
The french called my step one, mirepoix. A combination of carrots, onions and celery. For this stock, I used 2lb baby carrots, 2lb thick cut celery, and 4lb thick cut spanish onions. Place these in the bottom of a roasting pan.
For the chicken, I purchased two roasting chickens, broke them down to breasts, legs and thighs, then wrapped them and put them into the freezer for later use. The carcass of the two chickens was then broken in half using the back side of my chef knife. I lightly coated the whole pan of mirepoix and chicken bones in olive oil and placed into a 425 degree oven. Every hour I opened up the oven and tossed the bones and vegetables to help evenly brown everything.
After about 3 hours, I coated the bones with one small can of tomato paste and then placed back into the oven for another hour.
One the roasting is done, it should look something like the picture above.
Now everything is placed in a good stock pot. Place 20 black peppercorns, 15 sprigs of parsley, 8 sprigs of thyme, and five garlic cloves into the pot.
Fill the pot with water until everything is just covered. Simmer for another 3 to 4 hours.
Once complete, it will look something like this.
Next strain the stock with fine mesh strainer into a smaller stock pot. If you want to get really classy, use some cheese cloth. Ensure all the liquid drains. You may need to use a spoon to help drain all the liquid. Cool in an ice bath or in the fridge over night so the fat solidifies and rises to the top.
The next day, pull out from fridge so the fat can be skimmed off.
Use a spoon to clear the fat off. I recommend once this is done, to place the stock back onto the stove and let it simmer until it reduces by 1/4th. This will concentrate the flavor a touch more and make it a little thicker.
Once complete it will look like the picture above. You should get about 2 2/3 qts of stock. Notice one key ingredient not listed, Salt. You do not salt stock. Salt is added when completing a sauce or gravy. Enjoy, and have a great Thanksgiving.

Fall Farm Market Dinner 2010

The culminating bounty of Summer has come and past. Lauri, Jeni and I completed our 2nd annual Farm Market Dinner. It took a few weeks to post this due to computer internet issues(thanks Charter for making us think it was our computer when the end result was your faulty equipment). We love this dinner because where the growing season takes us. We start with fresh herbs, asparagus and Strawberries in the spring. Then the season takes us to raspberries, blackberries, peas, carrots and lettuce. Finally the ultimate end to summer finishing with squash, beans, corn, tomatoes and melons, to name a few. Below, you can witness what we enjoy about fresh produce.
Laurie's beautiful table to accent the bounty we are about to enjoy.
Fresh gazpacho. Chunky vegetables and an overnight flavor mingling that really hit the taste buds. Great start to the evening.
Deep fried squash and eggplant with a nice panko bread coating. Very good indeed.
Chorizo hash baked in a small cast iron skillet. Chorizo, fresh chicken egg, dill, potato and pickling spice.
Smoked shredded pork but with Peach BBQ Sauce and an awesome succotash.
The end of our dinner. Blueberry pie with watermelon sorbet. Yum, all the way around.

Every dish was fresh, light and tasty. If you get a chance, start getting together with some friends and make up some tasty super fresh food from your local farmers market.

Chorizo Crab Burgers

I love summer time. Charcoal, smoke, pork products, fresh produce. Oh yes, summer time. At a recent farm market venture, I came home with some great crusty bread, fresh onions, crisp sweet corn, great chorizo from Crane Dance Farms and juicy tomatoes. Naturally, it came together to form one great burger.

First, I mixed a lb of chorizo with a lb of crab, mixed it together like you would making a meatloaf, except I used only 1/2 an egg. Mix in some bread crumbs, form a patty and viola, you have a tasty burger.

Next, the toppings. I smoked the corn then roasted briefly in the oven. The corn added a nice extra crispiness that the grilled multi grain ciabatta bread did not completely deliver. The onions were caramelized then braised in beer. Hmmm, beer. The hippie farm tomatoes added a nice fresh, juicy character to the whole dish, that, along with ponzu whipped avocado replacing the need for ketchup and mustard. Best served with a cold beer. Below are a few more pics. Enjoy!

Dinner at the Blackbird in Chicago

Dinner at the Blackbird. Found this restaurant in the Best New Chef issue of Food and Wine. Chef Mike Sheerin is a graduate of GRCC's Culinary School. I had heard of Blackbird and its sister location, Avec, in previous issues of Food and Wine. Awesome meal is all I can say. The decor was simple lines with the color white splashed on everything. We chose the 11 course meal. Below are the pics and the description the chef provided. I cannot say enough good things about this place.

Course 1. Freshwater Shrimp with pickled watermelon, shisito peppers and coffee. Nice start.
Peanut gazpacho with cured hiramasa, rhubarb, pine, brittle peanut and green peppercorn. Incredible.
Seared ahi with green garbanzos, picholine olives, smoked butermilk and candied wild rice.
Hudson valley foie gras torchon with black garlic, green strawberries and shrimp salt. Tasted like butter. Literally. My least favorite.
Slow-cooked halibut and brandade with chinese broccoli, lavender and picked cherries. From here on out, everything was great. Great makes it sound less than what it was.
Sauteed skate wing with peach molasses, eggplant confit and chamomile.
Roasted berkshire pork loin with beets, caramelized white chocolate, plums and sea beans.
Grilled wagyu tri tip with artichoke, figs, sprouting granola and cassia bud. After the granola, this guy could make bark taste like a million bucks.
Cherry sorbet with candied pecans, blis maple syrup and cilantro. Where's the sorbet? Inside the completely enclosed cherry made entirely of sugar.
Brown butter cake with red raspberries, borage and goat's milk caramel ice cream.
Criollo chocolate with cupuacu, milk meringue and tonka bean ice cream. The best statement of the night came when this was delivered. In a spanish accent: "Youz needz to breaks the ballz."

The meal tasted as good if not better than the plates looked. Reservations are expected since the place is busy. Have fun and go with an open mind. You cannot go wrong with whatever you order.

Pan Seared Salmon with Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette

I do apologize for the lengthy span in writing on this blog. Work, kids, a moment to create something fascinating. In the warm confines of summer, I now have something healthy and full of great flavor to share. Pan Seared Wild Caught Salmon with lightly sauteed peas and asparagus atop a bed of greens with a smoked tomato vinaigrette a summer squash spaghetti.

This whole entree came about learning how to effectively cook on my new Brinkman Charcoal Grill and Smoker. I took some roma tomatoes, cut them in half, tossed in a bit of olive oil and placed them on a low heat charcoal grill. Just before placing the tomatoes on, I threw in some hickory chips to get the smoke going. Once on the grill, I covered and let them smoke for about 10 to 15 minutes. Once complete, I put them on a pan surrounding 4 cloves of garlic and roasted it in the oven at 400. They roasted for about a half hour. Once complete, they went in the food processor, pureed then added some good olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic and Italian vinegar. Once blended, in the fridge it went.

Jane and our friends down the road started a garden. It is loaded with some great veggies. She went down and plucked some great Arugula, Basil, parsley and lettuce. After a thorough rinsing and drying, I made a ponzu oil blend and lightly tossed it in the greens, then placed it on a plate. From there, the farm market Asparagus and Peas were quickly sauteed to soften the veggies and give them a softer texture. Then I used my zester to make spaghetti like strands with some summer squash. This too, was lightly sauteed in oil with a pinch of salt and pepper and held till the end. Finally, with skin on, I placed the salmon, which is seasoned with salt and pepper, skin side up into a ripping hot pan. After 2 minutes, I flipped over onto the skin, put the asparugus and peas onto the salad, waited for 4 minutes, took the fish out and peeled the skin off. The fish went onto the salad, then the awesome dressing finally topped with the summer squash.

It was a simple salad with incredibly complex flavors. Real smoke is hands down better tasting than liquid smoke. If you do not have a smoker, just roast the tomatoes and leave it at that. If you want to taste test this dressing, I recommend you visit my mother in-laws driveway. Spilled some when it fell out of the car and broke open. Enjoy.

Italian Night

Italian night for our Supper Club. In was a great night of food, wine, beer, and most importantly, FOOD! This is the first time we actually had too much food. Sorry Jeni. This was a great night of eating and friendship.
Poached in Red wine then grilled. I have a huge man crush on my butcher. He can make a mean Italian sausage.
My entree was roasted spaghetti squash, grilled asparagus, poached then grilled sausages, sun dried tomato tapenade, roasted roma tomato sauce and garnished with some deep fried basil.
Gnocci! Made fresh from Jeni and it was amazing. Would have thought she was making it for some time now, never would have guessed it was her first time. Finished with a butter sauce.
Prosciutto Spinach Ravioli. If a pork product is being used, it will be good. This was an amazing app. by Laurie. Full of flavor and finished in a butter sauce. Enough said.

I really recommend joining a supper club. It doesn't have to be first class dining, it just needs to be fun and a great way to try new things.

Shrimp Arugula Flat Bread Pizza

Originally, this was going to be a grilled flat bread pizza. Problem, ran out of propane before I was going to grill the shrimp. Oops. Mental note, check out the propane level well before cooking. Being quick on my feet, changed the recipe some and baked this light, crisp, full of flavor pizza in the oven.
Step one, make the flavored oil. Using a good thermometer, I heated a two cups of oil to 100 degrees F, turned off the heat, threw in some rosemary and a couple of garlic cloves. I let this sit out for 30 minutes to infuse the flavor. After 30 minutes, I discarded the rosemary and garlic. Note: when finished using the oil, reserve the leftover flavored oil in the fridge. Botulism could form if you do not refrigerate it.
The flat bread. You may use round if square is unavailable.
Pour the flavored oil, 2 to 3TB of it, onto the flat bread. Use a brush so every inch is covered in the oil.
Next the Goat Cheese. I used two small 4oz packages of goat cheese. It needs to be soft like cream cheese so it spreads easily. Goat cheese has a lot of tartness. That is what I love about it. So, I went liberally with the cheese. You may use on package if you want less tartness.
Season the cheese with fresh cracked pepper.
Take some fresh red onion and cut into strips, place around the pizza so as to ensure every bite will have some onion in it. Note: use white onions and caramelize them for a roasted flavor
With red pepper, do the same as the onion. Note: buy roasted red peppers in a jar and spread around the pizza.
Since I had to juice left for the grill, I sauteed 3/4lb of 26-30 size shrimp in the garlic rosemary oil. Under cook them slightly since the pizza will go into the oven. Keep in mind, shrimp will need to be deveined and shell removed before cooking. Once assembled, bake in an oven at 425. Bake until crust is crispy and cheese is cracked.
Sprinkle fresh arugula on top and serve immediately. Enjoy!