SoGood.TV: Cooking With HJ

White Cooked Chicken for Chinese Year of the Dragon

I got this recipe from the wonderful Kylie Kwong of Australia. Great chef, great recipes. Find her white cooked chicken recipe here. The only change I made was in poaching time. She says the chicken should poach for 14 minutes and steep for 3 hours. I never have 3 hours. So, I poach for about 35 minutes and let it steep for about 90 minutes to two hours. I have no doubt her results are spectacular, but mine birds are pretty tasty and succulent too. Enjoy!

 

Video: Salmon and Red Potato Hash

This hardly needs a recipe, but here goes. Use what ever leftovers you like or have on hand. 

2 teaspoons canola oil
1 cup leftover potatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup leftover salmon, flaked into pieces 
3 scallions, chopped

In a large non stick skillet heat oil until it just starts to shimmer. Add potatoes and let heat through and  brown, about 4 minutes. Break up into smaller pieces if desired. Add salt, pepper and a favorite herb. Flake in salmon and let brown about 3 minutes. Add scallions, stir. Check seasonings, add a pinch of whatever you think in needs. Serve with other leftovers and a tasty lager (or seltzer!)   

 

Recipe: Flourless Chocolate Cake

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is a very basic recipe, but there are a lot of steps. Click here for the video, enjoy!

12 ounce package of semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces (plus some for pan)

6 large eggs, separated

¾ cup sugar, divided

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

 

Special Equipment:

SpringForm pan, electric mixer, two large bowls, rubber spatula for folding, parchment paper

 Heat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper or waxed paper; butter paper.

 In a heavy bottomed medium sized pan, stir chocolate and butter over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat; set aside to cool to lukewarm.

 In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and half of the sugar with an electric mixer until pale yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Sift in cocoa powder; fold in melted chocolate mixture, then fold in vanilla extract and salt. Set aside.

 Meanwhile, in a second large bowl, whip the egg whites with an electric mixer. Make sure the beaters are clean and dry. When soft peaks form, slowly add the remaining sugar and continue to beat until medium peaks form. Stir ¼ of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then gently fold the remaining whites in two batches. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake cake until it has risen and the top cracks, about 45 minutes. A wooden skewer inserted into the center should come out with some moist crumbs attached. Cool cake in pan on rack.

 With a small knife, loosen the sides of the cake then remove the springform ring. Using a plate, gently press down on the cake to even it out. Invert cake onto cake plate. Peel off parchment paper and dust with confectioner’s sugar. Delicious with seasonal fruit and a Moscato d’Asti.

 

 

Video: Mussels Mariniére and Chardonnay

Mussels Mariniére and Chardonnay

Almost a fool-proof dish, and very healthy. Low in calories, high in potassium and, most importantly, very tasty. Also flexible. If you don't have olive oil,  butter works. If you don't like fennel (though you must at least try it) skip it and add tomatoes, basil and shallots instead. I've even used red or rose wine in a pinch.  Whatever you do, don't throw out the liquid. Serve this with bread, the traditional "frites" or pasta to soak up every last bit.

2-3 pounds of mussels

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 fennel bulb, trimmed and sliced thin

1 large onion, sliced

4-6 cloves of garlic, chopped

1-2 tablespoons of fresh chopped herbs such as Italian Parsley

3 scallions, chopped

1 cup dry white wine

salt and pepper to taste

Long gone are the days of soaking mussels to get rid of the sand, most are line grown and grit free by the time they reach your kitchen, especially if you get them from a great place like the Southold Fish Market. Be sure to rinse them well, however. You can gently rip off the beards if you find any. Make sure to check closely for open or cracked ones, those you can discard. Once clean, cover with a moist towel and keep cold until you are ready to use them.

Meanwhile, in a large dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add fennel at let cook about 5 minutes until soft. Add onions and garlic, cook until softened about 4 more minutes. Add a pinch of salt to prevent browning if you'd like.

Add mussels to pot with herbs, scallions, white wine, a dash of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir, cover and let cook until the mussels open, about 5 minutes. Discard any that are not open.

Grab a crusty loaf of bread, a cold bottle of Chardonnay (Paumanok Festival, 2009) and a big bowl for the shells. Enjoy!

Video: Tomato Toasts

Finally, tomato season is here!  Enjoy!

Tomato Toasts

The key ingredient here, of course, is seasonally ripe and delicious tomatoes. Use the amounts below as a guide, no need to be too exact. Absolutely nothing beats this dish on a late summer day. 

2 large and ripe tomatoes, yellow, red or both

1/2 onion, finely minced

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon chopped herb such as parsley or chives

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 baguette, sliced on the diagonal

1 garlic clove, peeled

Heat grill (or oven to 300F.) Get two bowls. Cut tomatoes in half, through the "equator". Gently squeeze out seeds into the first bowl and discard. Chop tomatoes into a small dice, add to the second bowl. Add minced onion, vinegar, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well, taste and adjust ingredients to your liking. Set aside.

Meanwhile, brush the bread with olive oil. Grill or toast in the oven until the bread is lightly toasted, about 5-7 minutes on the grill, and about 10 in the oven.  Remove and let cool slightly. Lightly rub cut side of garlic on one or both sides of the bread, depending on how much garlic you like.

Top toasts with tomato mixture and drizzle with remaining olive oil. Serve with a dry Rose. A delicious appetizer or light lunch.

Recipe: Arancini with Lemon Risotto (Italian Rice Balls)

This lovely dish does not require lemon risotto. Use whatever leftover risotto you have. In fact, with another flavor feel free to include a little square of Mozzarella cheese in the center. It gets lost in the lemon risotto, especially with the addition of pork, so I skipped the extra calories.  Simply use your pinky to put a little hole in the rice ball, place the cheese inside and then cover it up. Bread and fry as instructed. Cheers.

2 cups canola oil for frying

1/2 cup flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil

3/4 cup dried bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch of black pepper

About 1 1/2 cups of leftover lemon risotto

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons milk

diced leftover pork (or chicken or shrimp) about 1/4 cup

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Heat canola oil in a large dutch oven to about 350F. Meanwhile, set up three shallow bowls. Put flour in the first one, the beaten egg with 1/2 tablespoon of oil in the second, and bread crumbs in the third. Add a pinch of salt a pepper to each bowl. Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl combine risotto, meat, egg yolk, milk, and herbs if desired. Form small circles, about the size of a golf ball. (If inserting cheese, push pinky into center, add a small square of mozzarella, and cover.)

To Bread the Rice Balls.

It is preferable to keep one hand "dry" and one hand "wet" when breading in this method. Otherwise you end up with more coating on your hands than on the rice balls. (It won't be perfect, just do your best.)

So, with the dry hand, dredge the rice ball in the flour. Place in egg wash. With the wet hand, coat the ball in the egg wash. Place in the bread crumbs. With the dry hand, coat the ball in bread crumbs. Set on a platter. Repeat until done. You can do this ahead of time and place the coated balls in the refrigerator until ready to fry. 

When the oil is ready, place the rice balls into the pot. Stir to prevent from sticking. Fry until cook through and golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Place on a sheet pan covered with a grill or a platter with paper towels. Serve with a salad and a lovely dry Rose.

Video Recipe: Lemon Risotto

This dish requires a bit of patience, but it is pretty straight forward and incredibly delicious. Risotto can be flavored with whatever you like. Try thyme instead of parsley, and stir in a bit of shrimp at the end if you'd like. Be sure to save the leftovers for Arancini or Rice Croquettes. Totally yummy.

6 cups diluted low or no salt chicken stock such as Kitchen Basics
3 tablespoon butter, divided
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, chopped
1 leek, white part only, minced                                                                                                                            1 1/2 cups Aborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmesean cheese
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
Juice of two lemons, about 2 tablespoons
Zest of 2 lemons, about 2 teaspoons
salt and pepper to taste

In medium sauce pan, bring stock to a low simmer.  Lower heat to simmer.  Meanwhile in dutch oven, heat half of the butter and all of the olive oil. Add shallots and leeks, cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add rice, stir until lightly toasted, about 4 minutes. Pour in wine, stir until evaporated, about 1 minute.  Ladle in 1 cup of stock, simmer and stir until absorbed. Repeat this process until the rice is creamy and cooked "al dente," about 30 minutes.  Add cheese, remaining butter, lemon juice and zest.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add parsley, serve immediately.  Delicious as a side dish for sauteed pork chops or as a meal with a salad.

Video Recipe: Grilled Chicken Thighs with Absolut Brooklyn BBQ Sauce

I made this recipe using Absolut Brooklyn Vodka, which is a special edition for the summer of 2010, and infused with Red Apple and Ginger. It works beautifully with this recipe, but you can replace it with any apple flavored vodka, or simply add 2 tablespoons of apple juice. This recipe makes more than enough for the chicken, and the leftover sauce be kept in the fridge for up to two weeks. Click here for the video.

For including Absolut in my post, I received one bottle of vodka, a Flip camera, and was invited to appear on the site as a featured blogger. In case you were wondering...;)

Absolut Brooklyn BBQ Chicken

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 small onion, grated

3 cloves garlic, pressed

2/3 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

8 ounce can tomato sauce

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, or mustard of your choice

2 tablespoons molasses

1/4 cup of Absolut Brooklyn

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more to taste)

For Chicken

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs

2 tablespoons Absolut Vodka

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a medium sauce pan, heat vegetable oil. Add onion and garlic, cook for 1 minute. Stir in remaining ingredients, let simmer 20 minutes, or to desired thickness.

Heat grill to medium high. In baking tray, marinade chicken with vodka. When the grill is ready, season chicken with salt and pepper.  Place chicken on grill, cook on each side for about 3 minutes. Then, generously brush on BBQ sauce. Cook 3 minutes, turn over and brush the other side. Continue to cook and brush chicken until completely cooked through. Chicken thighs offer a wonderful texture when cooked a bit longer than their white meat counterparts. Expect to cook them about 15 minutes, depending on the size of each thigh. Enjoy with a tasty drink like my Sangria.

Absolut Brooklyn Sangria

This summer, SoGood.tv, along with a host of other Brooklyn blogs, has been chosen to collaborate with Absolut Vodka, to celebrate Absolut Brooklyn, a Red Apple and Ginger infused vodka in a bottle designed by Spike Lee. Over the next weeks, we'll all be sharing our own "Stoop Life Stories" in Cyberspace. Mine will be recipes to enjoy while we toast the phenomenal spirit that is Brooklyn, starting with this yummy Sangria. Best of all, Absolut is donating $50,000 to Brooklyn's Habitat for Humanity. Cheers to them for that!

For my efforts, I received a bottle of Absolut Brooklyn and a Flip Camera, (though sadly not the HD one so I can't blog with it.) Therefore, it is, apparently, a sponsored post. That I spent much more on the video than I received isn't relevant, but I can't help but mention it. Video ain't free, nor is recipe testing, but I was a tad unclear. The FTC rules are a bit murky themselves, but the precise wording from a rep of Absolut is below. Hmm. I wonder how much I have to disclose if I produce a video for a candidate for public office? But, I digress....

Here is the wording: "As a collaborator, we’d love to work with you to celebrate Brooklyn, including: · A feature as our “Blogger of the Week” on ABSOLUT VODKA’s Facebook page (reaching half a million fans!) · VIP access to a celebrity event in Brooklyn we are planning for early June · Special call-out as a key collaborator during the Fifth Annual Brooklyn Blogfest on June 8 · Gift of a Flip camera to capture all the action this summer · Gift of product that has yet to hit store shelves (the vodka)."

Absolut Brooklyn Sangria

1 apple, diced

1 orange, diced

1/4 lemon, diced

1/4 lime, diced

1/2 cup Absolut Brooklyn

1/4 cup Cointreau or other orange flavored liqueur

1/3 cup orange juice

3-4 tablespoons super fine sugar

1 liter bottle ginger ale

Ice

In a large pitcher, mix all the ingredient except for the ginger ale and ice. Let sit, refrigerated, for at least one hour and as long as 8. When ready to serve,  add half the ginger ale and ice. Taste, adjust sweetness and add remaining ginger ale to taste. An absolute party favorite with friends and neighbors. Gotta love Brooklyn.

Video Recipe: Grilled Lobster Salad with Avocado and Grapefruit

Clearly, I'm an omnivore. I eat meat, fowl and fish of all kinds. When it comes to shellfish, I also slaughter them. I'm actually grateful for the task as it reminds me that the shrink-wrapped meat in the grocery stores comes from life. That knowledge demands that I be more mindful of the life as well as the death of the creatures that nourish me.

Of course, this recipe does not have to begin with a swift kill. You can get lobster tails or parboil the lobster before cutting it in half. The parboiling kills it, of course, but according to some, not as swiftly or humanely as a knife between the eyes. But the knife demands direct action, so choose your method or skip it and simply enjoy a perfectly vegan avocado and grapefruit salad. It's all good.

Grilled Lobster Salad

1 lobster, about 1 1/4 pound

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon (or your favorite herb)

1/4 teaspoon salt

pinch of freshly ground black pepper

1 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned

1 ripe avocado diced

1 bell pepper, diced (red, yellow or orange)

3 oz watercress, cleaned and large stems removed

Chill lobster for 20 minutes in the freezer. Preheat the grill to medium high. Meanwhile, zest 1/2 of the grapefruit, set aside for the dressing recipe below.

Slice the top and bottom off of the grapefruit. Place a cut side down on the cutting board. With your knife cut away the peel, from top to bottom, taking all the skin and pith off. Discard the peel. When the grapefruit is completely cleaned, take your knife to section the fruit into a bowl. Squeeze what is left of the grapefruit into a bowl for the vinaigrette recipe below. 

Meanwhile, place butter, oil, herbs, salt and pepper in a small microwave dish. Heat for 1 minute, until butter is melted. Set aside.

When you are ready to grill, have a cutting board, sharp knife and tray standing by. Take the lobster, place it belly down on the cutting board. Take hold of the tail in one hand, take your knife in the other and place the point just at the joint below the eyes. Thank the lobster, and in one swift move, push the knife in and slice down. The claws should immediately go limp, though the rest of the body may twitch for a bit. Slice the lobster in half. With the back of your knife, hit the claws so they crack a bit for more even cooking.  Put the lobster in a tray to take to the grill.

Place the lobster halves shell side down on the hot grill. Brush the meat with the butter mixture. Cover and cook about 5-7 minutes. Turn over for an additional minute or two.  Remove and let cool for 5 minutes so you can get the meat. Slice into bite-sized pieces.

Toss the remaining salad ingredients with the Grapefruit Vinaigrette  (or one of your favorites,) top with the lobster, and enjoy a job well done. Enough for two and perfect with a lovely Rose.

Grapefruit Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons wine vinegar

2 tablespoons grapefruit juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon grapefruit zest

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste, perhaps a pinch of sugar

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except for all. Mix well, drizzle in olive oil while whisking. Season to taste. Or for a super easy method that my chef instructors would frown on, add all the ingredients into a large jar and shake. It works for me!