Pollo Relleno Mendocino (Argentinian-style Stuffed Chicken)

I took the plunge and de-boned my first chicken. It actually wasn’t as bad as I had dreaded, but it does take some patience (Jacques Pépin says you should be able to do it in ‘about a minute’ but he’s just pulling our collective leg). For the stuffing, I followed a recipe in Gran Cocina Latina from an Argentinian winemaker. Apparently the Argentinians love that retro flavor, so what we have here is a giant chicken cordon bleu. I screwed up by burning the skin – I had my oven set to a little hotter than the recipe calls for, and I didn’t keep an eye on it during cooking. The obvious solution is to keep the oven at 400 (what the recipe calls for) and peek in on the bird once or twice and rotate the tray or cover with foil if needed.

De-boning the chicken:

(1) 6 lb. Chicken

I’m not even going to try and explain this in words. I followed Jacques Pépin’s method, and you should to. Here’s a handy-dandy youtube video how-to.

Brine:

1 onion, sliced

4 cloves of garlic, papery sleeve removed, but left whole

15 oz. water

Bay leaf

1 lemon

1 sprig rosemary

Fresh sage leaves

3 tbsp kosher salt

Black pepper

1 tbsp sugar

15 oz. ice

Sautee the onion and garlic in oil over medium/medium-low heat until the onion softens, 5 minutes or so. Add the water, bay leaf, rosemary, sage, salt and sugar. Stir to help incorporate the salt and sugar. Squeeze the lemon juice into the brine, then add the leftover lemon pieces. Bring to a boil, remove from heat.

Weigh out 15 oz. of ice in a large bowl, then pour in the brining liquid. Stir and allow ice to melt. Make sure the brine is room temperature (or cooler).

Pour brine into 1 gallon Ziploc bag and add deboned chicken. Allow to brine for 8 to 12 hours.

Stuffing:

1 lb. ham, sliced thin

3/8 lb. Gouda cheese, sliced thin

3/8 lb. Edam cheese, sliced thin

1 jar of roasted red peppers (or roast 2 red bell peppers yourself)

Lay out the bird on an appropriate surface and layer on the stuffing ingredients. Make little roll-ups of ham, cheese and peppers and stuff them in the leg holes to help keep their shape. Close him up when he’s all stuffed, and follow Pepin’s instructions on how to truss the beast.

Rub:

¼ cup Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon ground coriander

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Lemon juice to taste

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blitz until smooth. Rub all over the skin of the chicken.

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Place the bird in a roasting tray (I placed mine on a trivet of vegetables [carrot, onion, celery, rosemary]; this is great for making pan-sauce afterwards) and roast for 1.5 hours, or until the breasts reach 165°F. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Mango and Papaya Gazpacho

Gazpacho season is here, because frankly it’s too hot to turn the oven on. This recipe is an adaptation of Daniel Humm’s Strawberry Gazpacho that I’ve made before.  The basil I used was basil ararat from my garden, which turns from purple to green once it has been growing for a while (and my plant is getting quite large), hence why the purple basil listed in the ingredients below is green in the photos.

Mango and Papaya Gazpacho:

3 mangoes, peeled and diced

1 papaya, seeds removed, rind removed, diced

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced

1 medium red bell pepper, seeds removed, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, seeds removed, diced

1 tomato, diced

2 green onions, sliced

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1.5 teaspoons salt

½ cup extra virgin olive oil (use the good stuff for this)

2 cups bread chunks (i.e. 1” dice -  I used a large Italian style roll)

If ever you wanted to practice your knife work, here’s your chance. There’s no need to make this look perfect, so precision is not needed. For the mangoes, peel the skins off them, then cut the sides of the flesh off as close to the pit as you can. Dice and add to a large bowl.

For the papayas, split them into quarters (skin on), then use a spoon to scoop out the black seeds. Using a spoon or a knife, loose the flesh from the skin, roughly dice and add to the bowl with the mangoes.

Cut everything else that needs to be cut, and add to the same bowl, along with the vinegar, salt, olive oil and bread chunks, and give it a good mix with your hands. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temp for 4 to 6 hours.

After the ingredients have sufficiently marinated, pour everything into a blender (you’ll need to do this in 2 batches) and blend until smooth. Add to a large bowl. If the consistency is too thick, add some water to thin it out. Refrigerate until chilled before serving.

Croutons:

2 cups diced bread (1” or so dice – Italian or French baguette works great)

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic

4 sprigs fresh thyme

Heat a large pan over medium, add oil and give it a sec to get warm, then add the bread, garlic and thyme. Give it a good toss to coat the bread and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the bread starts to get crispy.

Mango Confit:

1 mango, diced

¼ cup Vermouth, or dry white wine

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Add all ingredients to a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the mango pieces offer little resistance to a fork. Strain out excess liquid.

Basil Oil:

1/3 cup Genovese basil leaves (regular green basil)

¼ cup olive oil

Blanch the basil leaves in boiling water for 10 seconds, remove and rinse under cold water. Add to a dish (pyrex measuring cup works well here) with the oil and blitz with a stick blender. Strain through a small strainer to remove excess solids. Let sit for 15 minutes before using.

To serve:

Gazpacho

Croutons

Mango Confit

Slice of Serrano Ham

Purple Basil Leaves (Ararat Basil)

Basil Oil

Coriander Flowers

Chicken Cordon Bleu

This week’s theme is ‘reinventing the classics,’ so I thought I’d update an old school chicken dish I use to eat as a kid. Chicken Cordon Bleu is one of the few things my mom bought pre-packaged, and who can blame her? Stuffing and breading chicken breasts is kind of a pain in my opinion, so I decided to jettison that whole process. I guess you could call my recipe ‘deconstructed’ chicken cordon bleu. I also wanted to use some better ingredients than those old store-brought cordon bleus (which always had a tiny piece of ham in the middle, swiss cheese, breading that got soggy on the bottom), so I grabbed some jamon Serrano, gruyere, and emmentaler cheese from DiBruno Brothers.

Brine:

½ onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, peeled

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

10 oz. water

3 sprigs thyme

1 sprig rosemary

½ lemon

2 bay leaves

10 oz. ice cubes

1 oz. salt

Black pepper

2 teaspoons sugar

In a 12” pan over medium heat, add a little olive oil and sautee the onion, garlic, celery and carrot for about 5 minutes, until softened and the onion slices start to get translucent. Add the 10 oz. water, along with the thyme, rosemary, lemon (squeezing the juice into the brine and removing any seeds), bay leaves, salt, black pepper and sugar. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and add ice cubes.

Transfer brine to large Ziploc bag. Make sure the mixture is cool, and add chicken breasts. Place in a bowl and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours.

For the chicken:

2 large breasts, brined

4 slices jamon Serrano

Preheat your oven to 425°F. Remove the breasts from the brine and pat dry. Slice in half vertically, and wrap a slice of ham around each half. Place on a baking sheet, and bake for about 25 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.

For the Sauce:

~5 large crimini mushrooms, sliced

2 tbsp butter (plus extra for the mushrooms)

2 tbsp flour

1.5 cups whole milk

½ cup emmentelar cheese

¼ cup gruyere cheese

Salt

Pepper

Nutmeg (about 1/8 to ¼ teaspoon)

In a 10” pan, melt some butter and sauté the sliced mushrooms for about 5 to 7 minutes, lightly seasoning with salt. Remove from the pan and reserve. Add 2 tbsp of butter, and once melted add the 2 tbsp flour. Whisk to form a roux. Meanwhile, have the milk heating on another burner (or in the microwave). Add warm milk to the roux about ¼ cup at a time, whisking to incorporate. Once all the milk has been incorporated, add the chesses, along with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste (should only take a small amount of nutmeg – it’s powerful stuff). Add the reserved mushrooms, and bring the sauce to a simmer.

Bread crumbs:

Baguette

3 sprigs thyme (whole)

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled

In a large pan over medium heat, add a decent squirt of olive oil. Break/cut pieces off the baguette and add to the oil, along with thyme and garlic. Sauté until the bread starts to get crispy, about 5 minutes. Discard thyme and garlic.

Serve the chicken breasts along side the sauce and bread crumbs. Pair with roasted potatoes and blanched asparagus.

Ham, Pea, and Mint Risotto

Do you like mint? That’s cool. I don’t. I guess it just reminds me too much of toothpaste. However, since this week’s themed ingredient was mint, I forged ahead anyway, and decided to do a savory dish instead of an obvious mint/chocolate dessert combo. I do like how the mint acts as a fresh herb to cut through the richness of the rest of the dish; I just wish it didn’t taste so… well, minty. If you happen to like mint, however, I think you will really enjoy this recipe:

Ham, Pea, and Mint Risotto:

2 shallots, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1.5 tbsp Bacon grease

1 cup Arborio rice

½ cup dry white wine or vermouth

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup frozen peas

4 tbsp chopped fresh mint

¼ lb. Smoked ham, chopped into pieces

3 tbsp butter

Black Pepper

Parmesan Cheese

Green Onions

Salt (optional)

Pour your stock into a medium sized pot and bring to a bare simmer. Keep the stock at this temperature for the duration of the process – adding the hot stock to the risotto aids the cooking process.

Heat a medium sized pan over medium-low/medium and add the bacon grease. When the grease is melted, add the shallots, and cook for about 3 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the rice, stirring to coat, and toast for about 1.5 minutes.

Pour in the white wine, and cook until the wine is evaporated/absorbed. Add 1 cup of the stock, stirring frequently. When the stock has been pretty much all absorbed, add in another half cup, again stirring and waiting for the stock to be absorbed by the rice. Repeat this process until the stock is all used up, about 17 minutes. After the last addition of stock, add in the the peas and ham. The ham just needs to warm up, and the peas only take about 3 minutes to cook.

When the rice is fully cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the butter and mint. Season with black pepper and salt (shouldn’t take much – also, the parmesan you’ll be garnishing with adds saltiness). Serve with grated parmesan, an extra crack of black pepper, green onions and mint leaves for garnish.