November 2007 Archives
November 30, 2007
Marco Canora, Chef and Partner at Insieme and Hearth restaurants in NYC has an easy chicken recipe for you and your family to fry up in the kitchen, Tuscan Fried Chicken with Sage.
What makes this recipe unique is that rather than being a thick, crunchy style, it has a much softer, silky texture because it is fried in olive oil. This is a classic in Marco’s family, and a healthier, faster way to make fried chicken.
Adds Marco, "Fry small pieces. The secret to this recipe is cutting the chicken. I cut a thigh in half and a breast in thirds. When the pieces are small, the meat and crust cook in the same, short, time. The chicken doesn’t dry out and the crust doesn’t burn or absorb too much oil. You also wind up with the right ratio of crust to meat. Every bite includes both.”
Procedure:
- Combine the chicken, ¼ cup of olive oil and the sage in a wide shallow bowl or plastic bag. Season the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Mix to coat the chicken with the oil, herb and seasoning then set aside for about 20 minutes.
- Heat ½ inch of oil in a large high-sided skillet over medium heat. Dust several pieces of chicken with flour starting with smaller boneless and pieces. Shake off the excess then dip the floured chicken in the beaten egg.
- Carefully place the egg-dipped chicken in the skillet. Continue preparing and adding only so many pieces as will easily fit into the pan without crowding. When the first batch of chicken is all in the pan the oil should come about half way up the pieces. Add more if necessary. Adjust the heat so the oil is active--tiny bubbles rise around the chicken--but not so high that it is actively simmering.
- Cook the chicken until the first sides are golden, about 7 minutes. Turn the pieces and continue cooking until each piece is uniformly crisp and golden and the internal juices run clear, about 5 minutes more. Transfer pieces of chicken as they become ready to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Sprinkle each piece with salt while still warm.
- Repeat in batches, dipping the remaining pieces of chicken in flour and egg then frying. When you begin to fry larger pieces, the drumsticks for example, lower the heat a little and expect to cook each piece closer to 20 minutes in all. Serve the chicken warm or at room temperature.
Serves 8.
Tips from Marco:
- Make sure to get your oil hot, shimmering but not smoking, and adjust as necessary to keep the chicken sizzling.
- Add the chicken to the oil a piece at a time, allowing 30 seconds or so between additions. This will prevent the oil from cooling down. Remember to adjust the heat as necessary to maintain a constant temperature.
- Salt the chicken as it comes out of the pan but let it rest for a few minutes before you serve it. (I prefer to eat this chicken at room temperature.)
About the Chef:
In the fall of 2003, Marco Canora and partner Paul Grieco, a fellow Gramercy Tavern alum, opened Hearth Restaurant in Manhattan’s then burgeoning East Village neighborhood. The restaurant earned a positive two-star review from The New York Times and a local following. Considered a downtown dining destination, Hearth offers a modern American menu influenced by Marco’s Italian heritage, along with an unparalleled selection of wine.
In April 2007, Marco and Paul opened Insieme at The Michelangelo hotel. The Italian word for “together,” Insieme features two menus, traditional and contemporary, side-by-side. For the traditional menu, Marco offers classic Italian dishes deeply-rooted in history and family recipes. On the contemporary side, he presents a modern approach to the cuisine of his heritage. With Insieme, Marco and his partner bring their casually elegant style and exacting culinary approach to midtown Manhattan.
November 20, 2007
Secret Sauce has another delicious dish from The Excelsior Café Chef & Owner Jake Linzinmeir, 2-Minute Telluride Ski Patrol Pasta.
This is a true classic of Jake's and one of the old favorites from The Excelsior Café. In fact, we've been assured that if it were ever taken off the menu, a riot would ensue!
...Grab this recipe now before Jake changes his mind!
Procedure:
- Cut pancetta into quarter in dice. Freeze prior to cutting if you'd like to make it easier to cut.
- Cook orreciette to al dente in steady boiling water. Remove, toss in oil, and let cool on sheet pan in fridge. Do not shock with water or ice!
- Roast red peppers over open flame, peel, seed, and cut into thin strips.
- Heat E.V.O.O. in sauté pan and add pancetta and pepper flakes. Saute until pancetta is golden brown. Do not allow garlic to brown.
- Add roasted peppers, tomatoes, and garlic to pan and toss twice away from heat. Return to heat and deglaze pan with white wine.
- Reduce slightly and add pasta toss well to coat with sauce.
- Add spinach with fresh oregano, toss twice and plate.
- Finish with grated Pecorino Romano cheese.
- Pour yourself a cold glass of Pinot Grigio, eat, and then go skiing!
Serves 4.
 | E.V.O.O.: Extra Virgin Olive Oil |
About the Chef:
Jake Linzinmeir comes from the great Midwest where he grew up in the kitchens of his family farm. The son of a pilot and an internationally traveling family, Jake was exposed to the regional cuisines and cultures of America, Asia and Europe from a young age.
With this influence, he chose to attend Cornell University's acclaimed School of Hotel Administration. A specific interest in the independent restaurant world took Jake to kitchens and restaurants of New York, Aspen, Los Angeles and Italy.
While in Italy he was selected to stage with the Michelin Three Star Le Calandre near Venice with Chef Massimiliano Aljamo, the youngest Chef to ever earn three Michelin Stars.
Currently, Jake owns and operates a number of restaurants in Telluride, Colorado, including The Bluepoint Grill & Noir Bar, The Excelsior Café, and Chair 8. Other concepts he has begun include Sushi Kiko, The Excelsior Deli, and The Wildflour Market.
Jake has been a regular guest of NBC's The Today Show and featured in Bon Appetite, Food Arts, Newsweek as well as representing Amstel’s “Living Tastefully” campaign as their featured Chef.
Recently selected as one of the industries Rising Stars by Restaurant Hospitality magazine, Jake continues to lecture and demonstrate at culinary events throughout the country. He's currently compiling recipes for a new cookbook for all to enjoy his dishes at home.
Visit Chef Jake Linzinmeir on the web @ Chair 8.com.
Jake Linzinmeir Secret Sauce Rewind
- Watch Jake prepare his Telluride Ski Patrol Pasta on TODAY
- Telluride Shepherd's Pie
- Watch Jake prepare his Telluride Shepherd's Pie on TODAY
Best-selling author Nigella Lawson has a frozen treat to share that even the most inexperienced of chefs can easily create with confidence, No-Churn Pomegranate Ice Cream.
Says Nigella, "It’s not hard to think of a dessert that can be made in advance. But mostly the advantage is simply that all the effort is upfront and early. The thing about this recipe is that you do it in advance–it’s ice cream, so that stands to reason–but what you do in advance is negligible in terms of effort. You don’t make a custard, and you don’t have to keep whipping it out of the deep freeze to beat the crystals out of it. No, you simply squeeze and stir.
On top of that cause for greater contentment, there is also the fact that this delicate pink ice cream tastes like fragrant, sherbety heaven.”
Impress your family and friends with Nigella's delectable dessert tonight. Here's how:
Procedure:
- Juice the pomegranates and the lime, straining the juices into a bowl. You will have approximately ¾ cup of pomegranate juice. Reserve the pomegranate seeds for garnish.
- Add the powdered sugar and whisk to dissolve.
- Whisk in the cream and keep whisking until soft peaks form in the pale pink cream.
- Spoon and smooth the ice cream into a rigid plastic container with a tight-fitting lid and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight. Scatter with pomegranate seeds when you eat it.
Watch Nigella prepare this dish on TODAY:
| Substitute with Pom Juice: Nigella recommends ¾ cup of Pom and a ¼ cup of lime juice in lieu of pomegranates. |
About the Chef:
Nigella Lawson is the British bestselling author of Feast: Food to Celebrate Life, Forever Summer, Nigella Bites, How to Be a Domestic Goddess, and How to Eat, which have sold in excess of 2.8 million copies worldwide. Her 2005 book Feast: Food to Celebrate Life inspired “Nigella Feasts,” which debuted on Food Network in fall 2006. American audiences also know Nigella as host of “Forever Summer with Nigella,” her popular cooking/lifestyle series that aired on style, and “Nigella Bites,” which aired on E! Entertainment Television and style.
Nigella’s upcoming book, Nigella Express, will be published in November by Hyperion, featuring fabulous fast foods, ingenious short cuts, terrific time-saving ideas, and easy, delicious meals. The Domestic Goddess is back in her new Food Network series, “Nigella Express,” also debuting in Fall 2007.
Nigella was Deputy Literary Editor of The Sunday Times before pursuing a successful freelance career.
Hailed as Author of the Year by the 2001 British Book Awards, Nigella was also named Bon Appétit magazine’s 2002 “Tastemaker of the Year.” How to Eat was honored as the 1998 British Books Awards Illustrated Book of the Year, while How to Be a Domestic Goddess was named Cookery Book of the Year by the Guild of Food Writers in 2001. Nigella Bites received the WH Smith Book Awards 2002 Lifestyle Book of the Year, with the cooking series based on the book winning the Gold Ladle for Best Television Food Show from the World Food Media Awards in 2001.
Visit Nigella Lawson on the web @ nigella.com.
Excerpted from NIGELLA EXPRESS by Nigella Lawson. Photographs by Lis Parsons. Copyright © 2007 Nigella Lawson. Published in the United States by Hyperion. All Rights Reserved. Available November, 2007 wherever books are sold.
November 9, 2007
Secret Sauce welcomes TODAY's very own Giada De Laurentiis to share the secret of creating Tiki Barber's favorite veal dish, Veal and Lemon Saltimbocca.
Says Giada, "I like the Italian whole tomatoes better than the American diced tomatoes. The whole chopped tomatoes melted into the sauce in a nice way. It also needed some wine to cut the flavor of the cream. ...Tastes much better with the wine!"
Try Giada's delicious dish tonight. Here's how:
Procedure:
- Place the veal chops on a work surface and season with salt and pepper. Place a slice of lemon on top of the chop. Top with two leaves of sage. Wrap the veal, sage, and lemon in a large piece of prosciutto and press to seal.
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Warm the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place the veal chops in the hot oil, lemon side down. Sauté until the prosciutto starts to caramelize, about 2 minutes. Turn the veal over and sauté for another 2 minutes. Transfer the veal to a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until medium-rare, about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, pour off the excess oil from the pan. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
- Add the chicken broth and reduce by half. Add the tomatoes, cream, salt, pepper, and remaining 1 teaspoon finely chopped sage. Stir until combined and hot. Place the veal on top of the sauce to serve.
- Serve immediately.
Serves 4.
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes
| Deglazing means "adding liquid to a pan to create a sauce from the meat juice cooked onto the bottom." |
About the Chef:
TODAY culinary contributor and host of Food Network's Everyday Italian, Giada De Laurentiis' passion for food began as a child when she learned to prepare recipes for her frequent family gatherings.
Born in Rome, Giada grew up in a large Italian family where the culture of food was a staple in and of itself. As the granddaughter of film producer Dino De Laurentiis, she learned to prepare many of the family's recipes as well as other Italian specialties.
Giada's passion for cooking flourished through professional training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, where she specialized in both cuisine and pastry. Later, she moved to Los Angeles, where her experience included positions at the prestigious Ritz Carlton Fine Dining Room and Wolfgang Puck's Spago in Beverly Hills.
Giada is a private chef and caterer, as well as founder of GDL Catering in Los Angeles.
In addition to Everyday Italian, as the host of Behind the Bash, Giada takes viewers behind the scenes of six-figure weddings, high-roller Vegas soirées and Hollywood movie premieres to see what goes into creating the world's most spectacular parties. On Giada's Weekend Getaways, she heads to cities and towns that are ideal for a three-day, food-filled weekend.
Giada is the author of The New York Times' best-selling cookbook Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes and Giada's Family Dinners.
Get more recipes from Giada De Laurentiis on the web @ foodnetwork.com.
November 2, 2007
Secret Sauce welcomes Emmy-winning Food Network personality Michael Chiarello and his favorite dish, Panko-Crusted Turkey Scaloppine with Homemade Marinara and Arugula Salad:
Says Chef Chiarello, "Cooking is all about gathering family and friends together for a great meal—a meal that starts with great ingredients. This Panko-Crusted Turkey Scaloppine recipe uses one of the tricks I learned as a restaurant chef. I use Italian-style panko bread crumbs to keep the scaloppini light and crispy. I serve it with a side of homemade marinara sauce. But once you've mastered the basic technique, you can vary the dish for the season. For a Thanksgiving twist, serve the crusted turkey with my Cranberry Brown Butter.”
Get ready for the holiday season with this delicious dish. Here's how:
Procedure:
- Cut turkey breast diagonally into ½-inch-thick slices. Between sheets of plastic wrap, pound turkey to 1/8-inch thickness with meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle with dash salt and dash pepper; press seasonings into turkey with fingers.
- In small bowl, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, 1 teaspoon salt and dash pepper. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil; work with fingers to moisten the crumbs lightly. Spread mixture on dinner plate. Spread flour on another dinner plate. In shallow bowl or pie plate, beat eggs slightly with fork.
- Dip turkey slices into flour to coat both sides; shake off any excess flour. Dip into eggs, letting any excess drip back into bowl. Coat completely with bread crumb mixture, pressing crumbs in place; place on tray. Cover; refrigerate until ready to fry.
- Heat 12-inch skillet over high heat. Add ¼ inch of olive oil for frying; heat to almost smoking. Add as many turkey slices as skillet will hold; do not crowd. Cook about 2 minutes or until bottom is golden. Turn slices; cook about 30 seconds longer. With tongs, remove turkey as each slice is done, allowing any excess oil to drain back into skillet; place on several thicknesses of paper towels. Repeat with the remaining turkey slices.
- Place arugula in large bowl. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil to coat leaves lightly. Add squeeze of lemon juice, additional salt and pepper; toss, taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Divide turkey evenly among dinner plates, placing in center of plate. Spoon 2 tablespoons of Marinara Sauce on each side of the turkey. Mound salad evenly on top of turkey. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of each salad. Garnish plate with lemon quarter. Serve immediately.
For Sauce:
Marinara
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup finely chopped onion (1 medium)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 can (28 oz) Progresso Crushed Tomatoes with added puree
1 large fresh basil sprig with leaves removed
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher (coarse) salt
Pinch baking soda or sugar, if desired
Directions:
In 3-quart nonreactive saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add onion; cook 4 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Stir in parsley and garlic; cook about 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Stir in tomatoes, basil stem and salt. Simmer uncovered 20 to 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until thickened. (If sauce tastes too acidic, add pinch of baking soda and cook 5 minutes longer. If sauce needs touch of sweetness, add pinch of sugar and cook 5 minutes longer.) Remove basil stem before serving.
Cranberry-Sage Brown Butter
Ingredients:
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons minced fresh sage
1-½ cups fresh cranberries
3 tablespoons dark molasses
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup chicken stock or low-salt, canned chicken broth
Procedure:
To make the sauce, add butter med-large sauté pan and place over medium-high heat. When butter begins to turn light brown, add fresh sage.
Stir for a few seconds and then add cranberries and sauté until skin begins to burst. Add molasses, balsamic vinegar, and stock, scraping bottom of the pan to pick up all the flavor of the browned butter.
Simmer until cranberries are soft and the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Be sure to taste sauce for seasoning before you pour it over the turkey!
Serves 4.
About the Chef:
Michael Chiarello is the tastemaker behind NapaStyle, Chiarello Family Vineyards, Consorzio Flavored Oils, and Tra Vigne Restaurant as well as an Emmy-winning Food Network personality and cookbook author. Over his 20-year career, Michael has drawn on his Southern Italian roots and Napa Valley way of life to pioneer culinary and lifestyle innovations that inspire friends and family to gather around the table to create meaningful traditions in their own lives
Born in 1962 and raised in the central California, Michael followed his childhood dream of becoming a world-class chef. During his 20-year tenure as Executive Chef of Tra Vigne and seven other restaurants, Michael was twice named Chef of the Year: in 1985 by Food and Wine magazine while at Toby’s in Miami; and in 1995 by the Culinary Institute of America.
Food Network’s Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello, has won three daytime Emmy Awards, more than any other Food Network show. Michael’s other television shows include NapaStyle on Fine Living, and the PBS television series, Michael Chiarello’s Napa.
His latest cookbook, At Home with Michael Chiarello, follows Michael Chiarello’s Casual Cooking, which won the 2002 IACP Award. Other books include Napa Stories, The Tra Vigne Cookbook, Flavored Vinegars, and Flavored Oils.
Get more recipes from Michael Chiarello on the web @ ProgressoFoods.com.
