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Doing 2 dishes at the same time is very exhilarating.
It calls into action all sorts of organization and time management skills.
Starting from a proper butchered, classical 8-cut chicken,
we produced 2 different braised chicken dishes: Chausseur (brown) and Fricassee (white).
For the brown braise, getting a nice brown skin crust sets up the dish.
Then after layers of earthy flavors and low oven love, you get a satisfying dish.
Chicken Chasseur
Another take of this technique goes in the opposite direction in color development, or as many in my class consider, a total lack of appeal.
Cream-based white braise. Mine was a touch more color on the chicken than perfection.
Chicken Fricassee
I’ve lost count of the number of roast chicken I’ve eaten in my life. And I’m not talking about roast chicken meals, I mean the total number of roasted birds I welcomed into my belly. Yes, if physiological consequences didn’t interfere, I would still be eating a whole bird by myself in one sitting.
Roast chickens are so tasty! From Costco, Boston Market, Whole Foods, German Beer Gardens, to Thomas Keller’s Bouchon (at all 3 locations!), I eat roast chicken everywhere.
In the past 2 years, however, I began a quest to produce my own at home. I’ve been roasting at least a whole bird a month but sadly, not yet satisfied.
Today’s class turbo-charged my power levels for this quest. I am now a total believer in basting and inserting butter pads under the breast skin. From the wafting smells, the enticing sizzle, to the deeply flavored gravy, roast chicken induces pure euphoria.
Constant moisture control and a gentle touch.
I made it to gnocchi heaven today.
Not enough the least bit humble about it, either. As I was finishing up my fresh pasta dish on the range, my plate of Chef-instructor-approved gnocchi sat at my work station. A classmate tasted my dish and yelled out, “Joy, these are so good,” and my response was, “I know!” So shameless. I had to pause for a second, catch myself, and only added a “thank you” to pretend being grounded. Love the gnocchi!
Next challenge: use even less flour in the dough next time.
I keep wanting to make fresh pasta at home but never did.
My bitchin’ pasta roller KitchenAid attachment is neatly tucked away in a corner, quietly suffering from neglect. What in the world have I been waiting for? There is simply no comparison. I might never buy another box of dried pasta again. Well, fine, some shapes are only possible with dried pasta and the heartier, heavy sauces easily overwhelm the delicacy of fresh pasta, but you get the point. Fresh pasta all the way.
I challenged myself and chose to roll my dough out by hand. It was a wonderful way to develop a relationship to the dough. I experienced all the stages of changes in elasticity and really pushed the product to its limit in thickness (or I mean, thinness). Unfortunately the cooking part didn’t do the product justice. I undercooked the pasta in overly salted water. There is no choice but to bust out my pasta roller this weekend and properly cook up some fresh pasta.
Chef Barrett showed us a cool trick with the rolling. After a few passes through the roller, one can attach the head and tail of the sheet and roll the loop continuously. Very cool.
Fresh Pasta & Gnocchi production day tomorrow!
That gnocchi is going to rock. What a genius idea — to bake the potatoes instead of boiling!
So perfect of a simple trick, the devil ain’t got nothing on this. When Chef instructors let out that little piece of wisdom, I nearly wet my pants. Bake them potatoes! Obviously!
How else do you keep the moisture content minimal? My last home batch was a pathetic mess of overzealous flouring. But not tomorrow. Tomorrow will be my ascension into gnocchi heaven.
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