Vegetable Stock from Culinary Fundamentals

Yield: 1 gallon

Categories: Soup

Source: Culinary Fundamentals
Copyright: Prentice Hall


Ingredients:

2 fluid ounces Vegetable oil
1 pound Onions, sliced
1 pound Leeks, chopped
8 ounces Celery, chopped
8 ounces Green Cabbage leaf, chopped
8 ounces Carrots, chopped
8 ounces Tomato, chopped
3 each Garlic cloves, crushed
5 quarts Cold water
1 each Sachet d'épices (with 1 teaspoon fennel seeds and 3 cloves)

Process:

1. Heat the oil in a large rondeau over medium high heat and add the vegetables. Cover and sweat the vegetables for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent.

2. Add the water and sachet; simmer for 30 to 40 minutes.

3. Strain the stock. It may be used now, or it may be cooled and stored for later use.

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.

Chicken Fricassee from Culinary Fundamentals pg 536

Chicken Fricassee from Culinary Fundamentals pg 536

I cooked this for my family the day after Thanksgiving 2011, also cooked it in class a few weeks ago.  Served this with Steamed Brocolli, Spatzel, and Redskin Mashed Potatoes...

Chicken Fricassee 

The American Culinary Federation

Servings: 10

 Categories: Main Dish

Source: Culinary Fundamentals

Copyright: Prentice Hall

2 4 lb each Chickens, skinned (4-4 1/2 pounds each)

1 1/2 tablespoons Salt

1/4 teaspoon White pepper, freshly ground

1/2 ounce All-purpose flour

5 ounces Unsalted butter

1 1/8 pounds Onion, medium dice

2 teaspoons Garlic, minced

8 fluid ounces White wine

16 fluid ounces Chicken Stock

1 1/2 pounds Leek, diced

12 ounces Carrot, medium dice

2 each Bay leaf

2 each Thyme sprig

12 fluid ounces Heavy cream

1/2 ounce Parsley, chopped

1. Cut the chicken into eighths. Rinse the chicken pieces and blot dry. Season well with salt and white pepper and dust lightly in flour. 

2. In a large braising pot, over low-medium heat, heat the butter and sauté the chicken pieces until they stiffen slightly, but do not brown. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook stirring frequently until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with white wine and add the chicken stock, leeks, carrots, bay leaf, and thyme.

3. Bring to a simmer and return the chicken to the pan along with any juices released while the chicken was held. Cover the pot and braise the chicken on the stovetop over low to medium heat, until the chicken is fork-tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.

4. To finish the sauce, remove the chicken and hold it warm. Add the cream and simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 5 to 7 minutes. Return the chicken to the sauce and continue to simmer. Garnish with chopped parsley. Serve immediately.

How do you make your Corned beef?

Okay this is part rant and part how I make my Corned Beef!

Those who follow me on "FB" know which company I work for. I work for a prominent grocer in the STL area, we are union and I recently transferred to a store closer to home. So I am low in seniority and get the jobs and shifts no one wants.

Subsequently, there are guys who are cooking that I question there abilities...

So I posed a question this evening on "FB", "do you remove all the fat off your Corned Beef; before or after cooking, or not at all?"

I posed this question cause the cook there this evening was trimming all fat off the corned beef to hold for serving...
IMHO, this would make the meat suseptable to drying out?

About half the people who responded to my question said they would leave the fat on to cook it and remove to eat. While the other half resoundly said, "this was where the flavor was at and they would leave it on."

I believe that to eat healthier, the fat needs to be removed as much as possible. With that being said, this is corned beef, to be served on St. Patty's Day. This is a once a year meal which should be packed with as much flavor as possible.

Fat is where the flavor is!

I myself would prepare the corned beef with the fat and the serve it with the fat...

Leaving it upto the person eating it, to remove that which they did not want.

Especially if I were cutting it to hold for up to two hours for the person coming up to buy it on a whim...

Why would I do this?

One as I have stated in order to help it keep moist. Secondly, for the flavor aspect...

Now here to how I prepare my Corned Beef & Cabbage meal, on St. Patty's Day:

I prefer the flat cut Corned Beef...
I use a large roasting pan...
Line it with heavy aluminum foil...
Cut up Red Potatoes, Carrots, and Onions, making a bed to lay my corned beef on it...
The only seasoning I use is the seasoning packet that comes with the corned beef...
Add water to cover the vegetables and place 3-4 beef bullion cubes in it...
Add a few more vegetables to cover the meat...
Seal the roaster with more aluminum foil...
Bake in a 350 degree oven, half hour for each pound of meat...
Remove from oven...
Place corned beef on serving platter...
Scoop out all the cooked vegetables...
Slice Corned Beef in thin slices...
Drizzle au jus over the mCorned Beef and resereve the rest to be served on the side!

I never cook my Cabbage with the Corned Beef, instead, I steam it, to keep it a vibrant green with texture. (I can not stand mushy cabbage!)

Enjoy!!!!!!!

What ever is left over after the meal, I save for the morning after to make a
scrambled Corned Beef Scramble to be served with Biscuits and Gravy....

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Buffalo Chicken Salad

1 Rotisserie Chicken
6 Hard Boiled Eggs
2 Stalks of Celery (Small Dice)
½ Cup Shredded Carrot (optional)
1 Large Bunch of Green Onion (chopped)
1 Cup Mayo or Miracle Whip (if preferred)
½ Bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo Chicken Sauce
1/8 Cup Blue Cheese Dressing
1/8 Cup Sweet Relish (optional)

Boil Eggs and debone Chicken, discarding all bones and shredding chicken into bite sized pieces. Dice celery and chop green onion. Place into a large bowl and measure out mayo, buffalo sauce, and blue cheese dressing. Stir well and refrigerate at least one hour until serving, may hold up to 7 days. Serve on Croissants, Kaiser, or Whole Wheat Rolls, garnish with Lettuce.

Pot Roast w/Carrots, Potatoes, & Onion

Pot Roast w/Carrots, Potatoes, & Onion

serves 4-6

3-4 Pound Chuck Roast

4 TB Olive Oil

1 1/2 Pounds Baby Carrots

2 1/2 Pound small Red Skin Potatoes

1 Small Onion

2 Stalks Celery

4 tsp Beef Bouillon Powder

Morton Nature's Seasonings: Seasoning Blend

Garlic Powder

Coarse Ground Black Pepper

1 # Amish Style Egg Noodles

Take out the roast, put it on a clean surface such as a cutting board rub in two TB of olive oil on the roast. Get a heavy bottomed stock pot put about 2 TB of olive oil in pan. Season roast with Seasoning Blend, Garlic Powder, and coarse ground Black Pepper to taste. Let seasoned roast rest. Turn heat on to stock pot and prep vegetables. Chop onions, quarter potatoes, chop the celery, and rinse carrots.

When oil is smoking slightly in stock pot, place seasoned roast in pan to sear it and seal in the flavors and juices. Turning ever 4-5 minutes with a pair of tongues being careful to not pierce the meat. Sear all sides including the edges. Spray the crock pot with PAM to assist in cleaning later and turn on high.

Once seared, remove from heat and finish preparing the vegetables. Put in one cup of hot water and 1 1/2 tsp of bouillon into crock pot, stir to dissolve. Place half the vegetables into the crock pot, reserving carrots.

Season vegetables with the seasonings used proir. Place seasoned meat onto the bed of vegetables you just made and then add all the carrots around the seasoned meat. Then add the remaining onion and potatoes. Once again season the vegetables and place 2 tsp of bouillon on top by sprinkling over. Then pour water over to rinse the vegetables, enough water to not quite cover the meat. Leave on high about 40-50 minutes, then place temp on low to finish.

Should take 6-8 hrs total.

You can check periodically or leave on while you are at work, attempt to not pierce the meat other than when using a meat thermometer.

Once you decide it is completed, with Beef it should be 130 degrees F for rare, 140/medium, and 150 for well, remove from crock pot, cover losely with aluminum foil and let rest.

(Meat will continue cooking and temp may rise an additional 10 degrees while resting. This also allows the juices to properly distribute)

Place vegetables into a bowl and keep warm, drizzling with some of the pan juices for flavor and moisture. reserving juices in the crockpot to make the fresh pan gravy, placing crock pot on high. Taste to see if you desire to add more bouillon for additional beef flavor. Season to taste, you want it to be strong, never salty. Bring to a boil. (if it will not boil, place stock into a sauce pan on the stovetop.)

Take a 1/2 cup of warm water and disolve 1 tsp of flour or corn stach. Slowly stir into the beef stock and stir frequently until a full boil is acheived. Reduce heat to a fast simmer, continue to stir frequently until desired consistance is achieved.

Serving suggestion: You may serve the vegetable as is or mash the potatoes.

Steamed Broccoli
Amish style Egg Noodles

To mash the potaotes:

Mashed Redskin Potatoes

Seperate potatoes from carots, onions, & celery.

Mash with a potato masher.

Add enough cream or 1/2 & 1/2 to thin out.

Add 2 TB butter.

Season to taste with Sea Salt & Pepper. (Garlic & Parsley if desired)