Quick Chicken Marsalla a la James

So, last night I decided I wanted to move away from the soups and stews and move to something a little different. I like to at least try to use ingredients that I don’t have to shop for and purchase. This reads, “whatever is in the house” with hopefully only a quick bodega run in between to replace the sprouting garlic or get another can of stock. I never seem to have enough stock, no matter how promiscuous I am with jars in friends’ freezers. It’s one of those mysteries that’s up there with where does the other sock go and why are hotdogs ill-matched in count to their buns per package.

So, having of course eaten chicken marsalla, but never making it (plus figuring if I have to look it up on the internet I should hang up my knives) I assembled the following ingredients.

• 1 small package of shitake mushrooms. I think any wild mushrooms (heck even canned mushrooms) would have worked great, and I think next time I’m going to up the quantity of mushrooms considerably.
• About a ¼ bottle of an inexpensive white wine. The wine guy told me that the $6.99 Pinot I was standing in front of was quite good for the buck. Since I know very little about wine other than when I have drank enough, I trusted him.
• 2 defrosted skinless chicken breasts, butterflied. I wouldn’t suggest pounding them out flat as you actually want the breast to sustain some cooking time while the sauce comes together
• 1 shallot, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced. (When in doubt, useth more garlic. Spiticus 2:49)
• About a cup of chicken stock or broth
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of butter. If mixing meat and dairy is an issue for you, I think a slurry of cornstarch and water could do the trick as well, though you’d lose out on the creaminess.
• About 3 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. You might need a little more or less depending on the veggies and chicken absorbency, so keep more nearby and adjust.
• Juice of ½ lemon

Now, I had intended to flour the breasts ahead of time. I got absentminded and that didn’t happen. If you want you can flour the chicken first, seasoning the flour with a little kosher salt and ground black pepper. Judging by the fact that I think it came out quite nicely without this step, I would say its pretty non-essential. I did however manage to remember to salt and pepper them.

Brown the butterflied chicken breasts in a little olive oil. Remove from pan and set aside on a dish. Now in the remaining oil toss in the garlic and shallot and brown.

Once the aromatics brown, dump in the wine (I’d say about a fourth of a bottle or 1 cup. I’m not sure I did it by eye), and scrape up the happy brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat down to about medium low (4 on a gas stove) and let a lot of the alcohol and liquid cook out. This shouldn’t take more than minutes I would say.

Add the stock and the mushrooms and salt and pepper the sauce a bit. I let it cook down, uncovered, for about 10 minutes at this point. I then squeezed the juice of half a lemon into the pan, cooked. Quick stir, then back into the pan with the chicken breasts, nestling them into the sauce, and cover. After probably 15 minutes (maybe a bit less), pull a piece of chicken out and test for doneness just by cutting down the middle. You’re looking for white and juicy. I removed the chicken again to the dish, added the butter (or cornstarch-water) and gave it a stir another 5 minutes.

I like to put a piece of chicken atop a little mound of rice and then ladle some sauce over it.

Mangia!
James

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Carrots and Mushrooms

Sorry once again for the delay folks. I was hoping to get some food pics for the blog in Mexico, but that didn’t pan out. I was too busy swimming with my new sea-lion friend, the polyamorous Monico. Since my return to New York, however I’ve been experimenting with smaller cuts of beef on the bone. Today, I’ll concentrate on the short rib stew I made.

This attempt had some room for improvement, but even as it was I think I am on to something. After getting short ribs from the butcher (not Dimitri unfortunately, but this guy was ok), I headed to the local bodega for my veggies, formulating a braised dish in my mind. I’m going to call this a concept recipe, not because no one has ever thought to braise short ribs, but because I didn’t consult the internet and promised to eat whatever came out. I’ll note what I think needed a little tinkering and what went as hoped. All in all, I’d have been happy had I been making this for guests.

As is my MO particularly in the winter, when I prefer comfort foods, this recipe calls for only one pot.

What I used:

2 lbs of short ribs, straight from the case
1 small organic onion chopped fine
1 shallot minced fine (I think I could have left this out)
3 gloves of garlic minced fine
@5 organic carrots, chopped into ¼” pieces
1 package large garden variety white mushrooms, sliced thickly
2 ½ cups organic beef broth (I think next time I will use less, maybe 1 ½ to 2 cups)
1 cup red wine (the wine store lady had no idea what to use, so I guessed on an Argentinean merlot)
1 small can navy beans, drained
1 large leak, coarsely chopped (I’m on the fence on this one, I’m not sure if it added much to the dish)
A slurry of about a tablespoon of corn starch and just enough water to dissolve
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
About 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

First I browned the salted and peppered short ribs in the oil, some parts were still pink since its hard to brown them with the bone still in evenly on all sides. I removed from the pot and in the remaining olive oil and beef fat I browned my onions before tossing in the garlic and shallot and allowing these to likewise brown.

I then threw in the leak. While this didn’t seem to be a big flavor component, it did slow the browning of the aromatics because they are so full of water. While they sweated down in the oil with the onions and garlic and shallot I threw the rest of the veggies in except for the beans, which I totally forgot about until the last minute. Had I thrown the beans in at this stage I don’t think the results would have been that different given the flinty outside of the beans. I guess it depends if you like the beans more intact or more creamy in the finished stew.

I let all of the veggies, still on high heat, brown and soften, stirring often, before adding the brown ribs back to the pot with the wine and the stock (broth in this case). I turned the heat down, salted and peppered the pot a bit more and then plopped in the bay leaf. I gave it a quick stir and then set my timer for 2 hours. Every so often I would stir, taste, and adjust salt and pepper. Since the stew seemed a little thin I added the slurry of corn starch when there was 10 minutes left on the timer.

After two hours the meat was falling off the bone, the veggies were nice and soft (in the case of the leaks they had almost disappeared). I served one rib atop cous cous and then a ladle of the veggies and beans over the top.

What was nicest was the texture and flavor of the beef, the carrots and mushrooms were the right texture, and the beans were a nice added element. As noted above, it could have been a bit thicker. Maybe less broth at the beginning stage or maybe more corn starch slurry towards the end could have fixed that. Live and learn. Also, as noted as well, what was with the leak? It all but disappeared and I don’t know if it needed to be there. The shallot was hard to pinpoint as well. Was it there? Did it need to be there? I wasn’t sure.

As for the seasoning, maybe some fresh thyme? The bay leaf was all that fell into the pot other than salt and pepper, so maybe it could have used a little more oomph. Any ideas folks?

All in all, second guessing aside, what I came out with was a nice winter stew that I was more or less happy with. If it doesn’t come out to your liking, the other downside is you will have a ton of it. Leftovers for days is the rule when I cook anyway, so this is no surprise. Anyone want any? J

Mangia folks,
James