Mushroom…I forgive you.

Many vegetables for the longest time were on my “do not disturb” list have found their way into my kitchen as my culinary tastes have evolved over the years. A decade ago, my Subway sandwiches were always ordered without onions, olives, pickles, peppers, and especially mushrooms. Today, I will eat any pickle or pepper out of the jar with onions and peppers being absolute staples in many of my kitchen creations. Mushrooms, on the other hand had been given a personal lifetime ban many, many moons ago. It did not matter if they were canned, cooked, fresh, marinated, sautéed, big, small, or even just the flavor of them. If anything had the word mushroom in a recipe or the produce itself, it was not for me. When I made the decision to go into culinary school I went in with it in my mind that I was never going to like mushrooms. Ever. I did also commit to myself that if I was going to write off mushrooms for the rest of culinary career, that I would at least learn how to appreciate them in order to possibly learn how to use them. When they would come up in class recipes, I would try some. Most were pushed, however, to the side of the plate still not being for me. 4/10/10 would be the day that completely turned my mushrooms perspective around with a dish we made on a Saturday that I will remember forever: Veal Marsala. The dish was absolutely incredible overall. Most importantly, not only did I find the mushrooms in it tolerable, I may have actually instantly become a fan of those little bastards! Following is my version of Chicken Marsala. Veal or even steak fillet can easily be substituted along with a beef broth instead of chicken. Coming from a former “shroom hater”, this (beef or chicken version) easily ranks as one the top ten best dishes I’ve ever made! This is made with simple ingredients, simple to make, and the flambé technique with the Marsala wine also gives you an opportunity to bring out your inner-pyro!

Let’s get cookin’!

Chicken Marsala with White Rice

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 C. all purpose flour

1 lb sliced porcini mushrooms washed and stems removed

1/2 cup grape seed oil

1-1/2 C. Marsala wine

5 T. butter

2 15 oz. cans chicken broth

1 cup uncooked white rice

fresh chopped parsley

kosher salt

pepper

Directions:

Bring 4 T. of the butter and 1 can of chicken broth to a boil in a small saucepan, lightly salt and pepper and reduce heat to medium/low-low and continue to simmer whisking occasionally while you prepare the rest of the meal. Pound the chicken breasts flat to about 1/4" and lightly season both sides with salt and pepper. Dredge the breasts in the flour and shake off the excess. In a large pan, heat 1/4 cup oil over medium/high heat. When hot, add the sliced mushrooms and saute for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove mushrooms to a baking sheet. Add about 2 T. oil back to the pan, allow pan to heat back up and begin cooking the chicken in batches until slightly browned on one side. Turn chicken over and let cook on the other side for about a minute. With a plastic spatula slice the chicken into strips while over the heat. When all of the chicken is sliced, it should be cooked through but make sure the pink is all cooked out. Remove the chicken and add to the mushrooms. Place the sheet with chicken and mushrooms into an oven heated to 170 degrees to keep warm. Continue cooking the rest of the chicken (add oil as needed) in batches adding them to the sheet in the oven after each batch to keep warm. Place one can chicken broth, salt and oil in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the rice and stir once. Cover and reduce heat to medium/low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and keep covered. Let rest for 5 minutes. Remove cover and fluff with a fork. While the rice cooks heat up the pan used to cook the chicken and mushrooms over medium/high heat. When hot, take pan away from the flame and add the Marsala wine. Return the pan and slightly tilt so the wine flows to one side of the pan and bring the edge of the pan to the flames on the burner igniting the alcohol in the wine. Be careful to have plenty of clearance above the pan and to not have anything flammable anywhere close! Place pan back on the burner and when the flame subsides, add the butter/broth that has been reducing. Add the chicken and mushrooms to the pan, stir to spread out the chicken and mushrooms and keep warm over low heat. Serve over the the rice when it is finished cooking and garnish with parsley. Enjoy!

Baked Comfort

I'm an all around sports fan and a huge fan of the NCAA Mens College Basketball National Championship Tournament. The big dance. The small bets placed on filling out your own bracket and intently watching every single game, circling the correct picks and sometimes vengefully crossing out your misguided predictions. All in hopes that your bracket will rise to the top and bring home the fairly significant cash prize. I love it. This year I also loved Kansas to win it all, having the Jayhawks in my bracket as the last team standing. Not thinking much about their matchup with Northern Iowa, I fell into a nice Saturday afternoon nap only to awaken with five minutes to go in the game and Kansas is LOSING. The impossible happens. Kansas loses and my bracket goes up in flames. Figurativly and literally.

I needed comfort food NOW...and some vodka. The dish of choice was an obvious pick for me: a cheesy, saucy baked mostaccioli. I've made this, or something similar, countless times and is easily one of my favorites. It's my Old Faithful, it's simple to make, it's chock full of deliciousness in every bite, and will feed you and a small hungry crowd. The leftovers even nuke up nicely, if there are any.

Let's get cookin'!

Baked Mostaccioli

Ingredients:

1 lb Mostaccioli

2 tablespoons olive oil +

1 lb Italian sausage

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 red onion diced

two bell peppers diced

1 lb mozzarella cheese chopped or shredded, divided in two

1 6-8 oz tub parmesan

5 garlic cloves chopped

1 package of basil leaves chopped

Panko bread crumbs

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

Chipolte flakes (optional)

directions:

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally. Remove and drain the pasta a little bit before the pasta is al dente and still a little tough on your tooth. It will finish in the oven and won't be overcooked. Moved the drained pasta to a large bowl and shake around with some drizzled olive oil. Heat the 2 T olive oil in a large pan and begin to saute the onion and peppers. Add the sausage, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic breaking up the sausage into small pieces and is fully cooked. Drain or paper towel out the excess grease by tipping the pan and moving the mixture to the high side of the pan. Add this mixture, the crushed tomatoes, half of the mozzarella, half of the parmesan, basil leaves to the pasta. Gently stir to evenly combine, trying not to break up the pasta. Pour this into a greased 13x9x2 baking dish. Scatter the remaining mozzarella over the top. In the tub with the remaing parmesan cheese, add enough panko crumbs to refill the container and shake or stir to combine. Shake evenly over the dish. Lightly sprinkle some chipolte flakes over the top and place in an oven that has been preheated to 420 degrees. Baked for about twenty minutes or until there is some light browning on the crust. Remove from oven and let rest for 6 minutes +/-. Spatula desired portions onto plates and devour.

The Fried Chicken Experience

What a great subject to post for my very first blog ever...juicy, tender, delicious fried chicken! Man, I love a good fried chicken! I have caught myself on numerous occasions catching the golden scent of a fried chicken in the air while walking or driving around somewhere even if there is no fried chicken in direct sight. It could really exist somewhere in my vicinity, or it could just be a deep craving my imagination conjures up to encourage me to seek out this tasty, tasty treat. I recently made my first homemade fried chicken the only way it should be made...with generous scoops of pure lard liquified hot in a cast iron skillet! Lard...for the obvious reasons, you probably shouldn't cook with every day. But once in a while it's OK to indulge for a fantastic fried chicken. You've earned it! The ingredients are cheap and the results are unforgettable.

Let's get cookin'!

Fried Chicken with Diced Ham Risotto

chicken:

1 whole chicken (cut eight ways or purchased precarved by your butcher)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 eggs

2 tablespoon hot sauce

2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon dry italian herb seasoning

salt and pepper

lard

directions: Put enough lard to fill about half of a cast iron skillet and begin heating it up to 350 degrees (a candy thermometer works great the monitor the lard temp). While the lard heats, sprinkle salt and pepper on the chicken pieces. Whisk the eggs with the hot sauce. Mix the paprika and italian herbs with the flour. Dip the chicken pieces in the egg mix and then coat them in the flour mix. When the oil is at temperature, begin frying in batches. The chicken should not be completely submerged in the lard. Turn chicken occasionally to even browning until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Place chicken on a wire rack on a baking tray in an oven preheated to 170 degrees while you finish cooking the rest of the chicken.

risotto:

1 1/3 cup aborio rice

2 14 oz cans chicken broth

1/2 cup white wine

8 oz. diced ham

3 garlic cloves

1/2 red onion diced

1 bell pepper diced

6 oz. parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons butter

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

directions: Melt butter in a saucepan over med/high heat. Add garlic, onions, bell pepper, salt and pepper and saute, about 5 minutes. Add diced ham and saute, about 2 minutes. Add rice and stir to mix in pan, about two minutes. Lower heat to med/low and add white wine. Stir occasionally until most of the liquid has been absorbed into the rice. Continue stirring and adding the chicken broth one cup at a time until all of the liquid has been absobed. Add cheese and stir to combine. Enjoy!