After my new addition to the chef’s pantry on Friday I feel like I’ve joined the ranks of real chef or something. Friday I purchased my second chefs knife but first, “big league” knife. The Shun Classic eight inch Hollow-Ground was the choice I went with. I never knew that cutting something could be so enjoyable. It’s my most prized kitchen position. The hollow-ground is a special indentation on the sides of the blade allowing for less stick and friction when slicing and dicing, and it looks much cooler too!
Before I made the purchase I did my share of due diligence. Numerous trips to Williams-Sonoma pestering the hags that work there to get a feel of which knife fit my fancy. One trip I was denied access to the locked cutlery cabinet at Williams-Sonoma and swore that if I bought the knife it would not be from that Yenta. The final decision came down to the Shun versus a Global eight inch chef’s, but the handle was a little too light and the customer feedback was better for the Shun. Unfortunately after printing my Bed Bath and Beyond coupon I discovered in the fine print that their liberal 20% coupon deals exclude Shun products, FML! The only other choices where order online or succumb to Williams-Sonoma; the choice was easy because any web site offered shipping within the next three months, so I made the trip to the mall. No questions this time, I marched up to the counter and said get me that one out of the cabinet and let me get out of here. Just the box was badass enough to make you choose Shun over Global.
I came home and couldn’t wait to butcher something up. I cut caprese tomatoes paper-thin, some celery for a snack into 1/8 in match sticks, this knife is amazing. My ma is pretty petrified of it; she keeps thinking someone is going to get killed by it. It’s a good weapon to have around the house, if I upgraded to the ten inch it would have been like having a samurai sword in the house.
To my disappointment Friday night was Diner night and I wasn’t able to cook. And what do you think Greggy gets at the Diner, some eggs maybe or a soup and sandwich, nope he and ma get a half a chicken; for people who complain about their food they don’t eat like Richard Simons when eating out. Needless to say I reminded pops that there was a lot of dark meat and grease in that bad boy.
Saturday night was what I’m hoping turns into a weekly tradition of a dinner party of sorts. Last Sunday was the Superbowl, which we did a bunch of hours de vours and some beef and chicken skewers with a little Thai peanut flare. This week the setting was Lizzy’s house down the street and a more intimate setting. Catie, Crackie, Lizzy, Lizzy’s new squeeze Mikey as well as myself. Liz and I spilt up the cooking duties (with Crack doing sous work) giving us a potluck style dinner, which I have never really done before. I picked Chicken and Dumplings settling on this because it’s a good crowd pleaser. The dish a lot like a chicken pot pie without the pie top and with soft spongy (or so they should have been) top.
Lizzy prepared some slamin buffalo chicken dip, which I haven’t had in years (since College Ave). Also done by chef Lizzy was dense, savory zucchini bread along with a side of red peppers and butternut squash adding some zesssst to the evening. For dessert our host and her assistant made some molten cakes, (which if numbers permitted I would have eaten five of) chocolate covered strawberries that Caite is still talking about and now craving again, along with a new culinary craze, chocolate bacon. I’ve seen chocolate and bacon being combined on Top Chef once or twice but have never made or let alone seen the two combined. It tasted much like it sounds; bacon that’s covered in chocolate. It was pretty good once I got the courage to try it out; Caite seemed to like it, as did Mikey.
Chicken and Stock
1 Whole Chicken, 4-5 LBS
4 Bay Leaves
1 Head of garlic, halved horizontally
10 fresh thyme springs
Kosher Salt
10 Black Peppercorns
2 TBS unsalted Butter
1 TBS EVOO
¾ C Diced Carrots
¾ C Diced Celery
½ Diced Onion
4 Garlic Cloves
2 Bay Leaves
5 TBS All-purpose flour
1 C Frozen peas
1CFrozen pearl onions
¼ C Heavy Cream
Fresh Ground Pepper
Dumplings
2 C All Purpose flour
1 TBS Baking powder
1TSP Salt
2 Large eggs
1 C Buttermilk
¼ C Chopped chives
Chopped flat leaf parsley
1. Make the Chicken and the Stock: Rinse the chicken under cold water and discard the giblets. Place the chicken, bay leaves, thyme, garlic head, peppercorns, and large pinch of salt in a heavy pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, then reduce to a simmer, uncovered, for 1 ½ hours or until the chicken is tender, skimming the surface as scum rises.
2. Transfer the chicken to a platter to cool then shred, strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve, discard any of the solids. Measure out six cups of stock reserving any additional for another use.
3. In a Dutch oven heat the butter and oil together over medium heat until the butter melts. Add the carrots, celery, garlic, diced onions, and bay leaves and cook stirring, until the veggies are tender about five minutes. Add the flour and whisk until combines, then continue to cook for two minutes. Slowly pour in the stock one-cup at a time, stirring well the whole time. Add the peas and pearl onions. Simmer the sauce until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 15-20 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and shredded chicken into the sauce and bring to a simmer.
4. Make the dumplings: Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine eggs, chives and buttermilk; pour the egg mixture into the flor and fold gently, mixing just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very soft.
5. Using 2 spoons, carefully drop heaping tablespoons of buttermilk-chive dumplings batter onto the hot chicken mixture, the dumplings should not be touching or crowded. Cover the pot and cook the dumplings 10-15 minutes, until they are firm, puffy, and cooked through, Season with fresh ground pepper and garnish with chopped parsley, serve in shallow bowls
This wasn’t the first time making this dish, however the first time turned out better, which needless to say really pissed me off. I make expectations high saying how good it was last time and this time when I’m “entertaining” the dumplings don’t rise the way I want. A word of advice, when making the dumplings, when you mix the egg and flour mixture together make sure you add them immediately to the hot chicken mixture. Don’t mix them at your house, then walk down the street, reheat the chicken mixture all the while letting the dumpling dough warm which is probably why they didn’t get nice and fluffy. Well you live and you learn, and like I said to Crack, “you cook for your friends because they don’t judge you if your food tastes like shit (not saying that any of the food tasted like shit, but I’m a perfectionist and if everything that I make isn’t exactly up to my unreachable expectations Ill harp on those not perfect things, but hey I’m crazy and that’s ME).
Sunday was adventure day in the Whitehouse; Ma, Pop, Caite and I went on a road trip to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods on Rt. 1. It was a strange shopping experience. Maybe someday Ill be a rich enough and yuppie enough to shop at Whole Foods. I spent $13 on four honeycrisp apples (they are mad good if you come across them) and a pack of Tazo tea, for THIRTEEN BUCKS. The place was really cool though as far as supermarkets go. All the different sections have their own theme kind of motif going on, great organization everywhere, and displays that make you want to buy buy buy. The seafood guys were my favorite, being that they all look as if they just jumped ship. Trader Joes was a little better but I was not all about the scene that all of their employees seemed to follow. These kids all look like grunge scene throwbacks from Seattle in the early 90’s. You think you would want grocery store employees to shower but I guess Trader Joes is lineate on personal hygiene issues.
Sunday dinner is usually a dinner that I like to take time making. But today was day two of ma’s new weight watcher plan, which means blander cooking. Tonight was a version of my least favorite dinners to eat. When I was little it was Fletchgee. Buttered noodles and caned ham that’s baked, its supposedly Chezch food but it SUCKS and I refuse to eat it. Another one is Summer Salad, which is just a bunch of roman lettuce leaves topped with tuna; what the hell kind of substance dinner is that. All of these shity dinners might I add are my parents favorite, I know it makes no scene at all. Steak and eggs was the menu tonight as well as frozen potatoes with peppers and onions. I wasn’t allowed to make fresh potatoes (I’m dying to cut up potatoes with the new knife) and I wasn’t allowed to touch the eggs (I like my scrambled eggs a little on the wet side, not grossly wet but just not firm) because everyone but myself likes them burned, I know its nasty. So I made the steaks. I wanted to do a little red wine marinade but that would be an odd pairing with eggs, so just some brushed on veggie oil with a healthy helping of kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Make sure you take the steaks your cooking out of the fridge about 15-20 minutes before cooking them; this allows them to get to room temperature letting the meat fibers cook properly making for a better more flavorful final product. About five and a half or six minutes each side on a med-high grill will give you a perfect medium doness. My definition of medium is no dark red; any dark read means some kind of rare (med-rare/rare). Totally pink throughout (my personal favorite) is a straight medium, and if there is a touch of well anywhere except the edges, warrants a well tagging (med-well/well). Everyone said medium was good, actually I didn’t ask because my ma tries to get a perfect medium every time. I cooked these bad boys to a perfect medium throughout, mine was slamin, when you put pressure it should bleed out, giving you that mouth watering flavor (my mouth is watering just describing it, no sauce needed for this temp). But everyone was a baby and ma threw them back on the high grill giving the thinner ones a nice shoe leather finish. There is nothing worse than a burnt steak. While working at Chili’s in West Virginia people used to order their steaks “burned” rather than well done just to make the point they wanted their meat tougher than leather, but they are stupid hicks that think that Chili’s has premium cuts.
This upcoming week holds some promise to it, even through there is going to be some more light cooking in this house for a while. I’m going to have to hit the library and Boarders to get some low fat/cal menu ideas other than the weight watchers web site. So well see where we go from here, all I know is, is that Ill be cooking and writing and using my new killer knife. Until then, Smell ya Later
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