Weekend Cooking and Island Chicken

Olá! Tudo bem! My name is Carole and I’m a new PhooDie!

I seldom cook on weekdays. After working in the institute, I head straight to the gym. Then, by the time I get home, I’d be too tired and too hungry to cook. BUT, I have to make sure that I eat the right amount of proteins and vegetables during dinner and in my packed lunches. My solution: cook freezable food. I would cook a big batch of two or more dishes in the weekends, freeze them, and just reheat them when I need them. The more delicious they become when frozen (just like adobo), the better.

Here’s one of my favorite recipes (from my healthy recipe source, prevention.com):

Island Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

• 1 can (225 g) unsweetened pineapple (crushed) with juice
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp lime juice (lemon works just fine too)
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 chicken breast halves, skinned and boned
• 1/2 cup onions, diced
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar (I usually use 2-3 tbsp of honey instead of sugar)
• 1 tsp minced jalapeno (or piri piri)
• 1 tsp cilantro, minced

1. Strain the pineapple, set aside the juice and refrigerate the pineapples.
2. Mix the pinapple juice, soy sauce, honey, garlic and red pepper flakes. Use this to marinade the chicken for at least 4 hours.
3. When the marinade is ready, cook the chicken in the marinade until the juices run out when you puncture it with a fork or a knife.
4. Take out the chicken and transfer the marinade to a saucepan. Reduce it until it has a saucy texture.
5. For the salsa, mix the reserved pineapples, onions, brown sugar (or honey, in my case), lime juice, jalapeno and cilantro.
6. On a dish, pour the sauce over the chicken and top it with the salsa.

This dish freezes quite well. If the salsa and chicken are frozen separately, they can last up to 2 weeks. It’s also like adobo, it tastes better when eaten after refrigerating/freezing.

Here’s a photo of the chicken after cooking. I didn’t make the salsa because I ran out of onions.

I love eating this dish with rice or potatoes and some veggies. Here’s how it looked like in my lunchbox today:

In Today's Lunchbox: Island Chicken with Baked Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli

It was the right lunch for a picnic in the gardens of Gulbenkian.

 

Suprême – The Breast Taste Of Chicken

Thanks to the strenuous workload of graduate courses, research and teaching. My food blog entries were as dead as Friedrich Nietzsche’s definition of God from his book “Die Fröhliche Wissenschaft (The Gay Science)”. Now that my graduate school obligations are temporarily over, it’s time to resuscitate my contributions of blog entries to Phood Journal.

Perhaps it’s an appropriate time to talk about breasts…chicken breasts…

To be honest, breasts are not my favorite part on a chicken. My order of preference when I am, say, given a half-serving of chicken or any poultry/game bird is thighs, legs, wings and breasts. I am fully aware that health and fitness buffs will contend with me but chicken breasts tend to have a very dry and bland texture. It doesn’t help too if the chicken bought from the market turns out to be an old and ailing chicken because the meat can be VERY tough. To open some gastronomic scars of my childhood, I found myself having a difficult time chewing and swallowing, and to some point would prefer regurgitating, the meat of the black chicken boiled in some weird Chinese plant extracts not because of the bitter taste coming from whatever alkaloid or natural product is found on that soup but rather the texture of the breast meat is just too DAMN dry and bland.

Then again, the chicken breast should not shoulder the blame for its taste and texture. Its prolonged exposure from the heat of braising, boiling or roasting has to compromise with the duration of completely cooking the softer, fattier and juicier red meat found on the thighs and the legs. The rule of thumb of treating chicken breasts (or any breast coming from any poultry or gamebird) with love is that you DO NOT OVERCOOK them UNLESS they come with the other parts. Plus, time is an advantage too for graduate students like me because the length of preparation can only take 15-25 minutes especially if you are aware of the “cooking parameters” that will maintain the juicy and exquisite taste and softer texture.

Paraphrasing French cuisine from Julia Child, the raw breast of a chicken is classified according to the presence of the wing, skin and the bone. If the upper part of the wing is present, then the entire slab is called a “côtelette” or simply (in English) the cutlet or the chop of the chicken. If the breast comes both skinless and boneless, then the chicken breast is called a suprême. However, a suprême is NOT ALWAYS a suprême because the definition of a suprême encompasses the cooking time and hence the taste and the texture of the flesh. If the “suprême” is overcooked, it becomes nothing more but the bland, dry and tough white chicken meat – similar to a prolonged chemical reaction that leads to an undesirable product. Instead, an actual suprême should be cooked in 205°C (400°F) for 6-8 minutes only – NOTHING LONGER NOR HOTTER.

Based on my first experience of cooking and eating a homemade suprême, the final grade that can be given to a suprême borderlines between “E” and “F” for EXQUISITE and FANTASTIC respectively. Cooking is also short and simple that the anticipation of eating can only be delayed by the preparation of the sauce. The flesh is white in color just like your white chicken meat. However, the taste is so juicy and the texture is so soft that it’s like eating the drumsticks and thighs – my conventional favorite parts on a chicken.

I think from now on, the breast (in the form of a suprême) has become my GUILTY PLEASURE.

Chicken Suprêmes Recipe (taken from “Mastering The Art Of French Cooking” by Julia Child)

Ingredients:
4 fillets of chicken breasts, boned and skinned
4 tablespoons of butter
1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
Salt
White Pepper

1. Preheat the oven at 205°C (400°F).
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Set aside.
3. While the chicken is being marinated, melt the butter on a skillet or a flame-proof casserole under medium to high heat until the butter starts to foam and bubble. (Optional: The foam can be removed by scraping with a spoon giving the clarified form of butter.)
4. Roll the chicken breasts in butter QUICKLY and remove the skillet or casserole from heat.
5. Cover the breast with wax paper or aluminum foil.
6. Place the skillet or casserole inside the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and transfer the breasts immediately to a warm platter. The leftover butter in the skillet or casserole can be used to prepare the sauce of your liking.

 

Travel PhooD: Guinness in the Water

It was Easter weekend, and I was off on a jet plane (after a security mishap at Frankfurt International) to Dublin, Ireland, where I was to meet my good friend Lolli for a weekend of Irish revelry (and, for me, a whole weekend of English).

Ireland has a huge pub culture; Dublin’s Temple Bar (not actually a bar, but a district) sees thousands of people a night wandering in and out of the various bars on the street.  Often, the bars are packed to the gills, and the party spills out onto the street.  It’s also a great place to grab a bite to eat, and you can wash it all down with a pint of homegrown Guinness.  Guinness was first brewed in Dublin in 1759, when Arthur Guinness opened up the St. James’s Gate Brewery.  Guinness has gone on to become the world’s best-selling stout and is the most popular alcoholic drink in Ireland.  Fun fact: Student’s t-test was invented by William Sealy Gosset, a statistician who worked for Guinness in quality control and product improvement.

Guinness flowing on the Guinness estate...

But it’s not just about the Guinness.  Irish food is hearty and filling, much like German food.  The cuisine is heavily potato-based, which would explain why the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-52 caused a 25% decrease of Ireland’s population, either through death or emigration.  There’s also lots of beef and lamb, given the rolling hills and plentiful green grass available for grazing.  So what happens when you combine Guinness, potato, and beef (+ carrots + onions + garlic + parsley)?

Yum.  I had this for dinner at Quay’s Restaurant in Temple Bar.  Very filling, so I honestly didn’t need the mash on the side, but it was a nice thought.  Lolli had sausages and coddle (onions, rashers, and, of course, potatoes), which was also delicious, but looked decidedly phallic.

Sausage and coddle...

The appetisers were probably the most “interesting” part of the meal – I ordered a goat cheese and blood pudding salad, while Lolli had a boxty (potato pancake-like).  In all respects, the salad was delicious, the goat cheese warm and creamy, but I just couldn’t stomach the blood pudding, regardless of how crunchy and salty it was.  Mental blockage fail.

Complete with black, crunchy blood pudding medallions

A boxty, much better

The next day saw us on our way out west to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher.  On the way there, our tour stopped for lunch in Doolin at Gus O’Connor’s Pub.  Quick meal, didn’t expect anything special, since there were about fifty of us crowded in there.  Pay first, food brought out later is the rule here, but, considering how many of us invaded their space in about the span of 1 minute, the service is lightning fast.

Lolli had a jacket potato with vegetable ratatouille and I had a tartlet made of St. Tola goat cheese and whiskey onion marmalade…hot damn, this was good.  Wasn’t expecting it, really, but the onions underneath that soft, warm baked cheese were incredibly caramelly and delicious.  I’m drooling just thinking about it.

All warm goat's cheese and caramelized onions...

And the weekend was over, just like that.  I bought a four-pack of Guinness to take home; have since used a can to make Guinness beef stew in my slow cooker (recipe up soon)!

Parting shot

Next trip: Belgium…

 

How I won a beer-tasting contest…and encountering Westvleteren

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Please note that I’m using the famous line of the Confiteor in its original language since (a) it’s the most sacred of weeks in Christendom, and (b) I can’t believe that the folks closest to me here in Leuven (and the rest of the EU) has dubbed me the beer-queen.  Such dubious honor was given to me by my labmates when I won the beer-tasting contest a month ago.

Wait, a virtual teetotaller winning a beer-tasting competition?  I kid you not, I identified 8 out of EIGHT beers.  Here’s the proof:

There was the easy-breezy kriek (gueuze beer flavored with sour cherries), then the blond-type and amber ales like Stella Artois (very light, almost watery mouthfeel), Duvel (made me think of bitter lemons and hops), Delirium Tremens (there was something vaguely medicinal in its aroma) and Leffe blond (heavier mouthfeel, heavily hopped), and La Chouffe (almost like Duvel with its citrus notes, but has a heavier body)…then the two dark Trappist beers, Chimay Blauw (rich body, with a bitter, toasted grain flavor) and Rochefort 8 (also rich in mouthfeel, but with a sweeter, nuttier tone).

I wasn’t expecting to win the contest, but I swore to myself that I should be able to identify the Chimay from the Rochefort 8, since the latter is my favorite dark Trappist beer.  Yes, I prefer donker Trappisten bier than lager-type ales.

And speaking of Trappist beers: a few nights ago, I was lucky enough to have tasted the one of the rarest Trappist beers in the world—a brown, no. 12 beer from Westvleteren monastery.  It’s so hard to find in shops since the monks limit their production and sell only one case PER PERSON visiting their holdings.  This one was sold in De Bier Tempel in Brussels for 10 EUR.

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I know—you’re wondering if all the hype about this beer is worth it.  I say—IT IS!  Taste-wise, it’s almost like a Rochefort, but with a heavier texture, and a deeper, nutty taste mixed with burnt caramel, toasted grain and hops and creamy foam—it has “presence”.

And I had to open this with a Chimay bottle opener.  Well, they’re both Trappists.

I guess I’ve earned my badge as a beer expert, having specialized in one of the major food groups necessary for the health and sanity of grad students in Belgium–beer, waffles and chocolates.  And beer is “liquid bread”.

 

Getting schooled

First of all, let me use a Staubtuch to wipe off the dust from this blog. You might have noticed the lack of posts of late, particularly from moi. “Real” graduate student life took over and I personally didn’t have time to properly cook moreso to engage in a hobby. Sorry about that. Hopefully the developments the past month may alleviate things.

Anyway back to food, back in January, since I didn’t have time to celebrate my birthday as I did last year, I gifted myself with a cooking course.

With my co-foodie Janet, we searched for a good cooking course in Saarland and we came across Kochkultour.  Kochkultour is a cooking and pâtisserie school here in Saarbrücken hosted by the Plana Küchenland showroom.  Recognized by regio-guide as the top cooking school for the past three years, courses are taught by Saarland-native Kai Mehler, who came home to Saarland after years of culinary experience in Germany and abroad.

The school offered a plethora of short courses that take about 4-6 hours depending on what is on the menu.  Owing perhaps to its reputation, a lot of the courses were fully booked.  Since I didn’t want to wait so long to actually go to a cooking course, Janet and I opted for the New England and North American cooking course entitled On the Road which still had 8 slots left.

Before the cooking even started, we were offered sparkling wine, which I gladly had a glass of.  On the dinner table were slices of freshly prepared focaccia and Gänseschmalz (goose fat).  On one hand I regret not purchasing a jar of the Gänseschmalz. On the other hand, my hips are probably better off without it.

Menu

Waldorf Salad

Clam chowder

Corn chicken breast with mashed sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce

Brownies

Fortunately for us, but perhaps not so for Kochkultour, the course had only 6 students.  This way all six of us were involved heavily in the preparation of the dishes.  Say for example for the mise en place, each of us had an at least one ingredient to chop.  I was happy I was far away from the garlic and onion station and was tasked to chop potatoes (both normal and sweet) along with Janet.  As a team, we selected and cleaned the mussels for the clam chowder.  And we all were involved in beating the eggs for the mayonnaise.  We were allowed to shine every so often.  For example, Janet prepared the base for the clam chowder and I showed my master skill in separating egg yolks from egg white. (Please hold the applause)

Janet with Chef Kai Mehler

Thoughts on the food:

Waldorf Salad: Preparing the mayonnaise from scratch was a new experience for me and it’s something I would do again if I’m going to prepare Waldorf salad.  Only maybe next time I’ll probably use an electric beater instead of beating the eggs to submission with a wire whisk.  From the taste point of view, I enjoyed the mixture of the sweetness of the apple with the tangy flavor of the lemon juice and the bite from the curry.  I don’t think Janet was a fan.  I have had Waldorf salads before and for the most part whoever prepared them was a little heavy handed with the mayo.  The one we prepared was light and perfectly stimulated the appetite.

Clam chowder: The moment the chef opened the package, I knew we weren’t going to prepare a traditional clam chowder because instead of clams, we used mussels.  Since I have never been to New England, I didn’t have the faintest clue whether this was an acceptable variety or not.  Don’t get me wrong.  The soup was tasty and creamy. It’s just that the purist in me was screaming “Those are not clams!”.  I nevertheless finished my bowl and craved for another one.

Corn chicken breast with mashed sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce: Amongst all of the dishes we prepared the main course left the smallest impact on me. Maybe it’s because we used chicken breast, which I think is blandest cut of meat ever. If I remember correctly, we seasoned the chicken breast with rosemary, salt, and pepper.  Then they were pan-fried skin side before they were place in the oven.  If I were to repeat this dish, I would use chicken leg quarters instead of the breast.

Brownies: The ironic thing about the dessert is that the part I enjoyed the most was the one that wasn’t on the menu.  Before we even arrived, the chef prepared some blueberry ice cream which he served on the side with the brownies.  It would have been nice to learn how he prepared it but after learning how much the churner cost, I just turned my attention to enjoying the taste.  The chef admitted that the brownies could have been taken out 2 minutes earlier as it was a little dry for a brownie.  I would have repaired it by cutting it across and spreading some chocolate cream in the middle and then I’d cover it with chocolate glaze.  Hmmmm chocolate…

Out of respect for the chef, I will only share the recipe for the Waldorf salad in a later post since a lot of my relatives wanted the recipe.  The rest you can learn if you attend the next On the Road course.

Two very satisfied students

I highly recommend to anybody living on this side of the Bundesrepublik to attend one of Kai Mehler’s cooking courses.  He matches his culinary knowledge with an enthusiastic teaching method and an engaging demeanor towards his students.  The price is affordable given that it already includes the ingredients used, the drinks, and the use of the kitchen.  The booking information you can get from the Kochkultour website.

 

Breakfast in Bed

There are few things more lazily gratifying in the morning than being served breakfast in bed.  You don’t even need to get out of bed, and you’re already being fed – how great is that (especially in the winter, when you dread that first step out of bed onto the chilled floor)?  It’s also a great way to surprise someone, but doesn’t require too much work, skill, or money (only a lot of preparation).

I not-so-recently made breakfast in bed, and I have to say that the time I put into pre-morning preparation was probably the key to finishing on time.  You’ll, of course, need a breakfast tray, some matching plates and cutlery, and some food.  The breakfast tray can be bought anywhere where they sell kitchen things – I bought a wooden one with legs to stand the tray up in bed.  You can tailor the breakfast to the person, depending on what they do or do not like.  If you don’t know, try to extract it (in a subtle way) from them.  Some common components are:

• eggs – scrambled, sunny side up, boiled, poached (from easiest to hardest)
• bread
• cold cuts and sliced cheese
• cereal or muesli
• coffee or tea
• orange juice
• pancakes
• meat – sausages, bacon, meatballs

One note about the orange juice – please please please make an effort to squeeze it yourself!  The difference between store-bought and freshly squeezed orange juice is HUGE, and this is one thing you could definitely do on the (late) night before and chill in the fridge.

For my breakfast, I cooked:

• soft-boiled egg (wasn’t so soft-boiled by the time I served it…)
• croissant and roll (from the bakery downstairs)
• sliced cheese and salami
• freshly squeezed orange juice
• crêpes with berries and fresh whipped cream
• Nürnburgers (small sausages)

It took me about a half hour to finally prepare everything before service, but I woke up periodically during the early morning to squeeze orange juice and premake the crêpes and Nürnburgers (I reheated them afterward).

The cold items are easy enough, as is the bread (I assume you will be buying fresh bread and cold cuts from the deli, not making them yourself), but the hot items are a bit tricky.  If you know what time the person is getting up, you just need to get up about a half hour (or however long you think you need) before that to prepare everything.  If you don’t know, then…try to guess.  You can also cook everything beforehand and leave it in a warm oven until it’s ready to be served (not ideal, but will still work).  Of course, this also depends on what you’re cooking.  Use your judgement.

Some final tips about preparation:

• Buy everything beforehand (the night before, at least) and try to store it where they can’t see it or won’t be suspicious.
• Prepare what you can ahead of time.  Measure out ingredients for pancakes, set aside enough eggs and sausages to simply throw into the pan and cook as quickly as possible in the morning.
• Use linens and nice cutlery.  Add a flower if possible.  Small details make a huge difference.
• Cook with love!  Yes, waking up early is not really that pleasant, but I guarantee it will be worth seeing the smile on their face.

Have fun!

 

Culinary Instrumentation 101: The Trusty Food Processor

I don’t know how much blood I have lost from accidentally getting cuts on my fingers with either a chef’s knife or a cheese grater over the past two months. All I know is wherever the site of the bleeding is, it’s too far away from my entrails, unless I perform hara-kiri. Aside from that, it just occurred to me two weeks ago that julienning and mincing meat and vegetables into strips or pieces with a knife seemed a tedious and time-consuming process for a graduate student who should spend more time pursuing erudition rather than olfactory and gustatory indulgence.

As time is more important than money, I decided to invest on a substantially “expensive” instrument – the food processor. Well, it was substantially “expensive” because I bought the Cuisinart brand with a 7-cup capacity. I bought it brand new from an Ebay auction at 66 USD – 20 USD shipping charge included (but this is already considered cheap because the 7-cup Cuisinart food processor costs 100 USD on Amazon or on grocery stores.) I don’t want to sound like a beauty pageant contestant but I have to say this. I personally believe that every graduate student studying ALONE and ABROAD should own one. Here are my Top 5 reasons justifying my worthy investment:

1. Versatility: A food processor is like the entire set of food preparation apparatuses crammed into one machine. It does not only chop and mince. Provided that it comes along with the shredding and slicing discs, it can grate, julienne and slice too. You can also use it for mashing without you complaining about the lumps produced from using a fork. This feature also allows you to prepare soups, sauces, stuffings, dressings and garnishes. (Limitations: It does not dice.)

2. Automation: A food processor is like a spectrometer without the detector. Not that I am lazy in cooking but as a graduate student, time is of the essence. So just plug your food processor and and individually put whatever vegetable you need for cooking. Press the button. Presto!!! You are done in 2-3 minutes as opposed to using a knife which will take you 10-15 minutes to get the job done.

3. Safety and Protection: One cool feature of the food processor is that it is covered. That way it protects your eyes from whatever lachrymose vapors released during chopping. (This is somewhat analogous to a pair of laboratory goggles except you don’t have to put on it because it’s the food processor that wears it.) In addition, to avoid any future possibility of getting cut, you can skip washing the food processor blades with sponge and detergent. Instead, use the dishwasher.

4. Consistency This feature will come into play if you need to prepare scalloped vegetables. What your food processor does is that it slices your vegetables evenly, maintaining the consistency of food texture upon cooking. (Sidebar: Not advisable if you are julienning vegetables for garnish.)

5. Practicality: If you are done with your graduate studies and you plan to go back to your home country that you no longer need it, sell it via Ebay or Amazon. That way, you will be able to partially retrieve your money.

In other words, the food processor is your trusty kitchen sidekick.