Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms & Cream

I found this recipe on Pinterest & made it tonight.  It. Is. Awesome!  So very yummy!  In the interest of sharing it with y'all, and in having it handy, I'm going to copy-paste the recipe from where Pinterest sent me, which is http://sugarandspice-celeste.blogspot.com/2009/08/chicken-breasts-with-mushrooms-cream.html.  She got the recipe from the incomparable Julia Child, so don't be shocked that there's butter, wine AND cream involved! :)

***WARNING: If you make this dish, you may be tempted to lick the remaining sauce from the pan! The mushroom and cream sauce that smothers the chicken breasts in this recipe is so divine. I found this in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I. She never fails to impress me (as you can probably tell from the numerous Julia recipes I've been blogging about lately!)

Just think...cream, mushrooms and butter...Mmm....sauces don't get much better than that, folks! It's creamy, luxurious and satisfying...all at the same time.

Furthermore, the way that the chicken breasts are prepared produces incredibly tender and moist chicken. Because I used my Le Creuset dutch oven, I did not follow Julia's suggestion of covering the chicken with a piece of buttered wax paper (gasp!). I simply covered the dutch oven with the heavy lid and popped it into the oven. The results were fantastic!

I served this chicken with asparagus...perfection! Brad and I both are looking forward to having this dish again!***

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Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons

(Chicken Breasts with Mushroom and Cream)

Source: Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck (Knopf, 1961)

Ingredients:

4 supremes (boneless, skinless chicken breasts)

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Big pinch white pepper

5 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon minced shallot or green onion

1/4 pound diced or sliced fresh mushrooms

1/8 teaspoon salt

For the sauce:

1/4 cup white or brown stock or canned beef bouillon

1/4 cup port, Madeira or dry white vermouth

1 cup whipping cream

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons freshly minced parsley

Directions:Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rub the chicken breasts with drops of lemon juice and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a heavy, oven-proof casserole, about 10 inches in diameter until it is foaming. Stir in the minced shallots or green onion and saute a moment without browning. Then stir in the mushrooms and saute lightly for a minute or two without browning. Sprinkle with salt.

Quickly roll the chicken in the butter mixture and lay a piece of buttered wax paper over them, cover casserole and place in hot oven. After 6 minutes, press top of chicken with your finger. If still soft, return to oven for a moment or two. When the meat is springy to the touch it is done. (Please Note: Although Julia suggests to check the chicken after only 6 minutes, I (as well as several of my readers!) feel that this amount of time is inadequate to thoroughly cook the chicken. I cooked it for closer to 30-40 minutes. Please use a meat thermometer to ensure the correct temperature before serving!)

Remove the chicken to a warm platter (leave mushrooms in the pot) and cover while making the sauce (2 to 3 minutes).

To make sauce, pour the stock and wine in the casserole with the cooking butter and mushrooms. Boil down quickly over high heat until liquid is syrupy. Stir in the cream and boil down again over high heat until cream has thickened slightly. Off heat, taste for seasoning, and add drops of lemon juice to taste. Pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

Serves 4.

Source: “Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I” by Julia Child (Knopf, 1961)

Kale Chips

We got this recipe a few years ago from our CSA in the newsletter, and I had to get it out again this year.  These kale chips are not at all like potato chips, except that they are salty & crispy & rather more-ish.

Kale Chips
1 bunch kale
1 Tbl. olive oil (approximately)
1 tsp. seasoned sale (or regular salt)

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Spray a low-sided cookie sheet with cooking spray or line it with parchment paper.

With a kitchen scissors or knife, remove the thick stems from the kale (and put in the compost bin!).  Tear the kale into small pieces - maybe and approximately 1.5" square? Wash, then use a salad spinner to dry them thoroughly... or use the towel trick*.

Place kale pieces on to a cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with (seasoning or plain) salt.  Bake until the edges are brown but not burnt, maybe 10-15 minutes.  Keep a close eye on it at the end - you want crispy, but not crumbling-to-bits when you eat it.  Let cool very briefly, then enjoy!


* Towel trick: Put your washed greens into the center of a kitchen towel - the flour sack kind works well.  Gather up the four corners into one hand so you've got the greens-filled part hanging down.  GO OUTSIDE.  Start swinging the towel around like you'd swing a jump rope.  Be amazed as centrifugal force causes more water than you would believe to be driven out from the greens!  It might take a couple spins until you've built up enough speed, but oh, is it fun!  :)

Links to 2 Favorite Kid Bento Blogs

Poor, neglected little Recipeeps! I had all sorts of good intentions re: posting every week. Well, it may be late, but here are the links to a couple of packing-kids-bento-lunches blogs I've especially enjoyed.

Over at Wendolonia, Wendy shares pics of lunches she creates for her 1st grader & those she sends with her toddler to daycare. Lots of great hints & tips, a few videos on how to use/stack some bento boxes, some of her life... I like the semi-weekly photo posts of that week's bentos for attainable inspiration. (Plus, I'm pretty sure I need to buy some food-safe markers now!)

The other site I've been following is Another Lunch. Last December, Melissa did a big "Twelve Days of Christmas" series, which is super-cute. In fact, a LOT of her bento lunches are really, really adorable, often with fancy picks or frosting eyes or other fun bento toys. She sometimes does thematic "Muffin Tin Mondays," where she uses a muffin tin instead of a plate for a fun at-home lunch for her kid(s). (I think she must get up earlier in the mornings than I do, though - some of her bentos are fairly fancy!)


Now, don't think that because these are kid-bento blogs that you couldn't use any of these ideas for yourself! I just found them looking for ideas for Pumpkin's lunches since she's now all-day as a first grader. I think all your coworkers would be jealous if you pulled out a frog-shaped sandwich with googly frosting eyes! :)

Wednesday Fun: This is NOT the Swedish Chef You're Thinking Of

I...um...well. How to intro this one?

This link is from our beloved Kashka_z.

And it has bacon.

...and a man smearing butter on a pan with his feet.

...while speaking Swenglish?

Go watch it. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3d-qENAaNbM

Tidbits about Lamb Cuts

Now that we've gotten our lamb meat back from the butcher, it got me wondering about the different cuts. I mean, a lot are the same as pork - you've got your chops, and your ribs, and your roasts - and "leg of lamb" is obvious, but are there other cuts of meat specific to lamb and/or mutton?

So I did a little searching and found some charts.

Here's one from Treasure Valley Sheep Producers. It looks like it's a scanned in copy from the National Live Stock and Meat Board. (Who knew there was a National Live Stock and Meat Board? Not me.)

(You can click on it to have it bigger.)

If that's a little too "butchery-y," check out this link over to American Lamb's "Lamb 101 - Cuts" page. It breaks it down a little more basically, and has photographs of some of the different cuts.

And if you want to start from the "ok, it's called THIS; now, what does that mean?" side of things, here's a page at The Nibble that's a glossary of lamb terms.

Ok, my question's answered & I hope you've had a chance to learn something new, too!

Wednesday Fun: Pumpkin Art

What is Halloween around these parts without some creative pumpkin carving? Wander around your neighborhood or do a search on the web & you can find TONS of interesting (or gory or silly or elaborate...) ideas.

You might be a devotee of the classic jack-o-lantern face with its triangle eyes & nose & simple mouth with a couple of teeth. Or maybe a simple variation on that theme.

• Like mine this year! :)
• Mr. Kluges's drooling pumpkin

Maybe you are keen on making a set of pumpkins in a theme or using props to create a scene with pumpkins.

• The KISS Army
• How about some Wizard of Oz? (More links to his stuff below.)
• Fire-breathing pumpkin dragon
  

Using well-known art as inspiration?

• The Scream by Jason Green
• American Gothic, anyone?
• Of course, Mona Lisa's smile's a little creepy anyway.
  

How about designing a pumpkin based on the light inside of it?

• The Sunburst by David LaRochelle via This Old House
• Jack O'Lantern Hell by Plutor/Logan Ingalls on Flickr

Or you get out the wood-carving tools and go for the three-dimensional approach. (Man, are some of these impressive!)

• Zipperface by Ray Villafane, via This Old House (Yes, really.)
  
• Scott Cummings, PumpkinGutter.com - Wow. Just wow. He's got dinosaurs, Einstein, an evil rabbit, Wallace and Grommit and a Davy Jones you have to see to believe! Amazing stuff here!

Whatever sort of pumpkin art you enjoy (or toward which you aspire), I hope you enjoy seeing and/or carving some this October! If you've got links to some great pumpkin art, leave them in the comments because we'd love to see them!


Addendum: Want to make your pumpkin last? Check out this science experiment where 5 methods of pumpkin preservation (plus a control pumpkin) are put to the test!

Wednesday Fun: Tidbits about Pumpkins

Did you know...


At one time, pumpkins were believed to heal snake bites as well as to remove freckles.

Many people think the pumpkin is a vegetable but in actuality it is a squash fruit. Pumpkins consist of 90% water and if you fill a pumpkin with milk and then bake it, you will have a pudding.*

Pumpkin flowers are edible.

Pumpkin takes its name from the medieval French word 'pompom', meaning 'cooked by the sun.' (Ultimately, probably from the Greek 'pepon.')

Besides making a delicious snack, pumpkin seeds are full of zinc, iron, potassium, magnesium, and essential fatty acids. I think they're totally worth the yick of pulling them out of all the pumpkin guts. REALLY want to know exactly how healthy they are? Check out the USDA's nutrient listing for 1/2 c. of them.


Take a wild guess as to the size of the 2010 World Record Pumpkin. Then go here and see how close you got. HUGE, isn't it?!



*I have not tried this, but I think somebody should!

Sources: Pumpkin Trivia Tidbits, Food Facts & Trivia: Pumpkin, USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Pumpkin Nook.

Egg Baked in Cream

Addendum 9/28/10: I had this on our weekly menu, but the day I was to make it, I realized, "I have no leeks!" Instead, I caramelized some onion (always caramelize more than you think you're going to need 'cuz it cooks down so much) and steamed/sauteed some Swiss chard from our CSA & threw that in too. Results = delicious!!!


I know I just posted a recipe that came from The Wednesday Chef, but I actually made two of hers that week & the other was so good, too, that I wanted to share it. Of course, you should really pop over to her site to read her mouth-watering description of Camino's Egg Baked in Cream and see some yummy-looking pictures. We had it for supper, but I think it would make a fabulous brunch dish & comes across as fancy and difficult. So, perfect for impressing the in-laws for brunch!

It's really quite easy. I think you could probably even saute the leek mixture ahead of time and then just allow a little longer for cooking. Luisa mentions cooking the leeks longer than recommended since she likes them softer, and since I do, too, that's how I did it. Mr. Kluges and I threw some torn-up spinach leaves in the ramekins on top of our leeks & it was great! The girls opted for no leeks & their spinach as a salad, but each ate TWO plain baked eggs with cream, so that was a winner for us. I have to confess that Mr. Kluges & I liked it so much that we ate two each as well! *grin* So, you may want to allow for seconds if you're not serving it with a lot of side dishes!

Egg Baked in Cream
Serves 1 with leftover leeks for many uses

1 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 leeks, sliced, light green and white parts only
Salt
2 sprigs thyme, leaves roughly chopped
2 sprigs parsley, leaves roughly chopped
1 large farm-fresh egg
About 2 tablespoons half-and-half
Coarsely ground black pepper
Grilled or toasted bread slices

1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. In a small sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the leeks, a splash of water and a pinch of salt and cook until the leeks are tender, about 2 minutes. Add the herbs and transfer to a 6-inch cazuela, cocotte or other ceramic dish, covering the bottom with the butter, leeks and herbs.

2. Crack the egg into the middle of the dish. Add enough half-and-half to barely cover the white. Sprinkle with salt and coarsely ground pepper. Cook until the white is set, 8 to 12 minutes. Serve with grilled or toasted bread.

Cauliflower & Potato Gratin

Yum. I made this Cauliflower & Potato Gratin last week and it was so good, and warm, and yummy. It would make a great side dish or a vegetarian main dish with a salad. Might be a good option in a case like AKJ's Thanksgiving dilemma last year where she needed to bring a side, but somebody else was bringing potatoes, and veg, and sweet potatoes, etc.

I'm just copy-pasting the recipe over here from The Wednesday Chef, but do go over there to read her fabulous description of it because it'll totally make you hungry.

Note: I used fontina instead of Gruyere, and it filled a 9x13 glass baking dish perfectly.

Cauliflower and Potato Gratin
Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish

1 (1 1/4-pound) head of cauliflower
1/2 pound small boiling potatoes
Salt
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/4 cup butter
1 leek, white part only, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons crème fraiche or sour cream
3/4 cup grated Gruyère cheese, divided (about 1 1/2 ounces)
Freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the dried base and green leaves from the cauliflower and discard them. Separate the head into florets about the size of walnuts and chop the stem into similar size pieces. Cut the potatoes into similar-size pieces as well.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high head and salt liberally. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar and the cauliflower and potatoes (the vinegar will help keep the cauliflower white). Cook until the cauliflower pieces are tender enough to be easily cut with a spoon, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3. While the cauliflower is cooking, make a cheese sauce. In a medium, heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and stir in the leeks. Cook until they are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and whisk to make a smooth paste. Add the milk a little at a time, cooking until it thickens. When all the milk has been added, reduce the heat and cook over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Stir in the crème fraîche, then one-half cup of the Gruyère, 1 teaspoon salt and a generous grating of nutmeg (a little less than one-quarter teaspoon). Whisk until smooth, then taste and add more salt or nutmeg if necessary.

5. Butter a 6-cup gratin dish and spread a thin layer of the sauce evenly over the bottom. Arrange the cooked cauliflower and potatoes in an even layer over the sauce. Pour the remaining sauce over the top and spread evenly with the back of a spoon. It should come about three-quarters of the way up the vegetables.

6. Scatter bread crumbs evenly over top and then scatter the remaining one-quarter cup Gruyère over that. Bake until the gratin is bubbling and the top is browned, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve immediately.

Wednesday Fun #111 - Happy Turkey Day!

Happy pre-Thanksgiving to all of my fellow Americans!

Firstly, if you're in charge of making the turkey, make sure it's thawing! :)

Secondly, if you're an NPR listener, you might want to check to see if you can catch Lynne Rossetto Kaspar and her producer, Sally Swift, doing their "The Splendid Table: Turkey Confidential" broadcast where they do a live chat/help on Thanksgiving from 10-12. I've listened before, especially when traveling, and it's fun, funny, and helpful. I remember one year when two callers back to back really demonstrated the range of help Lynne gives & the varying experience levels of her listening audience - one had a question about a double-reduction sauce, the other was cooking a whole chicken for the first time and wanted to know how to get the packet of giblets out. Or, if you've got the technology, you could, you know, download some previous years' episodes and listen on your drive to Grandma's house.

Thirdly, what is your favorite part of the traditional Thanksgiving feast. I know everybody has different traditions, and I'm sure family-specific dishes that show up at your feasts, but let's hear about your fav of some of the (stereotypical, I'm sure) traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Leave a comment here or just click on the poll off to the right.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Neat Champagne Science... and a Saber!!!

Ok, for some neat Champagne knowledge plus a SABER go to Wine Library TV and watch episodes #756 and #757... it's worth the 35 minutes!

Wednesday Fun #89 - Introducing "Accidental Hedonist"

First of all, isn't that a great name? Accidental Hedonist. Awesome.

This is a more-than-just-recipes sort of blog. Kate Hopkins also writes about restaurants, beer, whiskey/whisky (her book, 99 Drams of Whiskey just came out!), and food politics. She also has guest bloggers who do extended (I want to say year or half year long) stints with (I think weekly) regular posts.

She's currently exploring more about beer, beer styles, beer judging, beer making - both industrial and home brewing, etc. and thinking about writing a second book, this time about beer.

While not as practical/useful as some other food blogs out there, Kate's is definitely one that makes me think. She talks about food politics, the FDA, foodie/gourmet, price v. quality, food snobbery, the food distribution system, Big Food, etc. Check her out; I think you might like Accidental Hedonist.

Wednesday Fun #85 - Introducing "The Wednesday Chef"

Ok, people, it seems to me as though we need a bit of a break from the question-y Wednesday Funs because, well, they haven't been especially answer-y lately. Fine and good, I say, for I shall take this opportunity to begin the food-related website sidebar dealie which I proposed a few weeks ago.

I don't know quite how I stumbled upon The Wednesday Chef, which foodie sites led me to which links which led me to hers, but oh, I know why I stay. Luisa introduces her recipes with such elegant, inviting writing, such poetry, with descriptions that make me swear I'm going to try that recipe, no, this recipe, no, oh, did you read this recipe?*

I mean, listen to this excerpt from her post on Florence Fabricant's Moroccan Carrot Soup with Mussels:

This soup! So unassuming. So simple. And yet. With just one spoonful, something steals over you. A strange and piercing Wanderlust, almost impossible to battle with. You close your eyes and as you eat, you feel yourself transported to a cool, tiled courtyard, with a tiny fountain babbling quietly and the scent of rose petals in the air. It was all I could do, once my spoon scraped the bottom of my bowl, to keep myself from booking a flight, right then and there, to Morocco.

Or listen to this, from her recent trip, April in Paris:

If you don't already know about the cheese course at Astier, in the 11th, consider this your nudge. When you're in Paris, have dinner there. Skip the desserts, they're nothing special. But whatever you do, don't skip the cheese. The waiter, winking, will bring you this straw platter covered with...can you count how many cheeses? With a few knives and a nub or two of bread, settle in until he comes by again, cluck-clucking, to take the cheese away and bring it to another deserving table.

Or, for a non-travel-y excerpt, she write about her uncle's way with artichokes:

And, lastly, my uncle - as I think I've mentioned before - is an artichoke whisperer. He closes himself into the kitchen with a sharp paring knife and a bowl of acidulated water and, and meditates or something, goes into a fugue state, cleaning big mountains of thorny little artichokes, transforming them into silky, delicious dishes that make me want to park myself with a fork at his table and never, ever leave.

And her pictures? Gorgeous. Just gorgeous.

Inspiring, huh? So go, check out The Wednesday Chef...

...and then, when you make something from there, let us know just how poetically it turns out, m'kay?

*Ok, I must confess I actually haven't made any of the recipes from her blog yet, but that's only because I forget to go look at them whenever I make up my weekly menu plan. But, oh, they sound so good!!!

Wednesday Fun #80 - The Food Found 'Round the Web

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned a food-related website I enjoy - The Accidental Hedonist. Besides a great name, it's got yummy-sounding recipes (not that I've made any yet), interesting articles about food policy and politics, and stuff I found fascinating about whiskey/whisky.

Nectarine and AllKnowingJen shared this website where the author used her crockpot all 365 days one year. (I can say the Brown Sugar Chicken went over pretty well at our house...) Syl shared this site with lots of freezer keepers. I'm sure at least some of you have other favorites you enjoy/follow.

So my question is this - what ARE some of your favorite food-related websites? Maybe you love the writing, or the pictures are totally drool-worthy, or the recipes have been a hit. Share!

And also, (see poll, but feel free to elaborate here) do you want to have a blogroll of these sites in the sidebar?

Wednesday Fun #77 - Easter Egg "Tie" Dyeing Idea

Over on Cool Mom Picks I saw this kit for dyeing eggs using vintage silk ties. "Huh," I thought, "that doesn't sound too hard. I wonder if there are directions on-line for doing that, 'cuz picking up some ties cheap at Goodwill would certainly be less $ than ordering the kit..."

So I found this thing where Martha Stewart had been on the Today show back in 2007 demonstrating it. Doesn't look too hard at all, so I might give it a try.

Here's where somebody else tried out Martha's idea, with great pix.

And another, with super pictures of the eggs and the ties they came from.


So, anybody else thinking about giving these a try? If so, please post your pix!

(Or any other beautiful eggs you make! Dyeing eggs is my favorite part of Easter!)

Cakes, good and bad... or awful and AWESOME

You might already know about Cake Wrecks, which are good for a laugh or wince of disgust.

But here, HERE is a cake that is way awesome - the Indiana Jones Temple of Doom Idol cake by Clever Cake Studio.

(via Accidental Hedonist)

Blog all about the crockpot

Just found this blog all about crockpots and thought some might enjoy.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

LInk to How to Roast a Pepper

The Wednesday Chef is a food blog I read on occasion. I love Luisa Weiss's writing, and have several of the recipes she's posted bookmarked, but haven't tried any yet. (But I will! Really, I will!)

I was just over at her site, where she's posted this great tutorial on how to roast a pepper. While I'm sure a lot (or maybe all) of you know how already, I really liked how clear her directions are and how beautiful the photos.

(And I usually halve my peppers first and remove the seeds, but then the edges don't get as singed, so next time I'm trying 'em whole like she does.)

Additionally, in a cooking class I took once, the chef advised either putting the just-roasted peppers into a paper bag and closing it or putting them in a bowl and sealing it with plastic wrap for the 20 minutes or so while they cool. That way the steam helps loosen the skin, making removal easier. Another tip from him was to let them get way blacker than you think they should be. And it's true. Really. Great roasted flavor and much easier to peel when they're blackened like a burnt marshmallow!

Fish/seafood resource

There's a lot of debate about whether fish is good for you or toxic, whether eating fish is sustainable or not ecologically, whether you should look for farmed or wild-caught, which fish to avoid. So wow do I love this website: http://www.oceansalive.org

It lists most commercially available fish and seafood options and rates them on a best/okay/worst scale for your health and the health of the environment and fish populations. It breaks down how many servings a month of what type of fish are suitable for women/men/older kids/younger kids. There's a list to help you substitute eco-sustainable fish when your recipe calls for one that's not sustainable. There's even a recipe section, though I haven't tried any of them yet.

Wednesday Fun #29 - Maybe NEXT Easter...

Instead of a question this week, I bring you this fabulous idea...

Easter Cakes Baked In Egg Shells!

Imagine it - peeling what you think is a hard-boiled egg (but probably a strangely lightweight one) ... and finding... cake?! Inside the eggshell? Cool!

No, seriously, Maggie over at Mighty Girl did it, and here's her post about it.

She links to this post where she got the idea.

It's too late for Easter this year, but oh, doesn't that sound like fun for next year?! I'm thinking that cake mix with the confetti dots inside would look really cool.


P.S. If you want to answer a question, HERE's one that's looking for responses.