Court Bouillon from Culinary Fundimentals

Yield: 1 gallon

Categories: Soup

Source: Culinary Fundamentals
Copyright: Prentice Hall

Ingredients:

5 quarts Cold water

8 fluid ounces White wine vinegar

Salt (optional), as needed

12 ounces Carrots, sliced

1 pound Onions, sliced

1 pinch Dried thyme

3 each Bay leaves

12 each Parsley stems

1/2 teaspoon Peppercorns

Process:

1. Combine all the ingredients, except the peppercorns, in a large stockpot. Simmer for 50 minutes.

2. Add the peppercorns and simmer for 10 minutes more.

3. The court bouillon may be used now, or it may be cooled and stored for later use.

Compound Butter

 Started with about 1 stick of softened butter (unsalted), half a small shallot (minced), small handful of Sun-dried Tomato (minced), about the same amount of bacon ♥ slices> (minced), 2 TB Blue Cheese, 14 stalks of parsley (de-stemmed & minced), 4 stalks of Green Onion (sliced thins or minced) and salt/pepper to taste.

Compound Butter

(French: "Beurre composé")

Compound Butter's bring additional flavor and moisture (causing a pleasant, mouth feel and taste), they can be made fairly simple using butter and what ever flavors you wish.  Simplist of Compound Butters can be as simple as Butter, Garlic, Parsley, and Salt/Pepper to taste, this goes well when eating a lot of Italian type dishes and when making Garlic Bread!

Most people use Compound Butters on meats or to season vegetables, when using add at the time just before you take them off the heat source or when you are plating them up and they should always be room temp so that they melt.  (Do not want a cold piece of butter on your beautiful food! Unless you are serving something cold?)  The potential for different flavor combinations and concoctions is limitless, what are you serving?  Steak, Fish, Lamb, Pork, Asparagus, Green Beans (haricots verts), Baked Potato???

What will you use?  Butter (unsalted), Parsley, Garlic, Shallots, Onions, Ginger, Tomatoes, Wine, Cilantro, Basil... I think you get the picture!!!

This Compound Butter was just something I threw together in anticipation of a nicely grilled Rib Eye Steak!  It about tripled in size to a regular stick of butter.

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Menu for Food Prep II Practical

Menu for Food Prep II Practical

December 7, 2011

Harrison J. Graden Sr.

Lemony Chicken

Steamed Green Beans

Whipped Potatoes

Recipe that I used as a base for my Chicken:

Chicken Piccata

(Borrowed from Domestic Goddess Blogspot)

Serves 4

4 chicken breast, tenderized (if you don’t have your meat mallet yet, go get one NOW!)

¼ cup of white flour

½ tsp of salt

Spices of your choice (I used a pinch of coriander, cumin, turmeric and chilli powder)

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp butter

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

½ cup dry sherry (use dry white wine and a ½ a Tbsp of sugar if you don’t have any)

2 lemons (one for juicing and one for garnish)

Zest of ¼ lemon

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp of capers

1 tsp of whole grain mustard (optional)

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

2 Tbsp Italian parsley, finely chopped

If you don’t have a meat mallet/tenderizer bash you chicken breasts flat some other way – rolling pin, clean hammer, my cousin used her hand blender end once and said it worked, but let it be the last time... got get one! Mix up the flour, salt and spices. Heat half the oil in a large pan to medium high heat. Dredge your chicken breasts through the flour and fry them until browning on each side (2min per side max). Add the extra oil as you need it. Set aside the chicken.

If there is any burned flour in your pan, wash it out, if not add the butter to the same pan and once it has mealted add the onions and garlic and fry for a few minutes until they turn glassy. Then add the stock, wine, lemon juice from one lemon, the zest, capers, mustard, and sugar. Allow this to simmer and reduce by about a 1/3. Then add the chicken breasts and the parsley to the sauce and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

If making this ahead of time. Leave the chicken and sauce separate until ready for use. Then heat the sauce, add the chicken and parsley, and simmer until the chicken is heated through.

Add lemon slices and extra capers as garnish. 

http://domesticgoddesses-sa.blogspot.com/2011/03/lemony-chicken.html

My results:

High B or Low A, depending on how he weights the grades with the whole class.  Chef said my sauce was near perfect and well balanced, while I felt it was too tart. Since I do not drink anymore, I felt the alcohol was not completely cooked out. When I split my chicken breast, I misjudged my sizes and portions between the two plates were off. Green Beans were cooked perfectly but under seasoned, Potatoes were good as well, just had gotten cold.  I agreed on the Beans and potato assessment. 

Blue Cheese Burgers

I made these burgers, they were okay but as for myself, I think they could use some improvement.

(I know the pic is not of a burger but I like the grilled aspect.)




Blue Cheese Burgers

2 oz. cream cheese
2 oz. crumbled blue cheese
1/8 t. onion powder (or ¼ cup Chopped Green Onion)
1 T. chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound ground beef (I use 85% lean)
salt and pepper
Coarsely ground black pepper (optional)
1. In a small bowl, mash together cream cheese and blue cheese then stir in the onion powder and parsley. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
2. Divide ground beef into 8 equal pieces. I first divide it into four pieces then divide each piece again. Form the pieces into balls then sprinkle the balls lightly with salt and pepper, rolling them around a bit to make sure all sides are covered. Flatten each ball to form thin patties of equal size. I find it easiest to form the patties on a sheet of waxed paper.
3. To fill burgers, place a tablespoonful of cream cheese mixture in the center of each of four patties. Spread the filling out evenly to within half an inch of the edge of each patty. Place the remaining patties on top to form four filled burgers. Gently press the edges of each burger together to form a seal.
4. Sprinkle burgers liberally with coarsely ground black pepper (optional).
5. Prepare your grill and cook burgers until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees (USDA recommendation) or until desired degree of doneness. Let rest for ten minutes.
6. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes: I recommend cutting these burgers in half before eating to avoid ‘burger blowout.’ I don’t add anything besides salt and pepper to the meat because the filling is so flavorful, but you are more than welcome to add extra seasoning to the meat if that’s what you like. Feel free to experiment with different seasonings in the filling, too!

Serving Suggestion: Whole Wheat Bun, Baby Spinach or Arugula, Sliced Red Onion, & Sliced Tomato

As found on:

http://pinchmysalt.com/2007/11/08/blue-cheese-burger-recipe/