Taking Stock, Making Stock

by Xani

Let me not waste time explaining why I haven't blogged in so long. Yes, I've eaten at wonderful restaurants and cooked fabulous foods, yet the blogging hasn't happened. I wish it had, but let's not dwell on the ancient past, let's look to the recent past/future! This weekend I cooked up a storm and I want to tell you all about it! This post will be light on the pics, but let's not let that keep me from blogging. Here we go!

The first thing I want to share with you is the awesome technique for making chicken stock that I discovered this weekend. I was feeling the need for a freezer-full of stock as so many cozy fall recipes for soups, stews, etc require stock or broth. While BCD mom raised us on a diet of College Inn chicken broth, hoarding dozens of cans in the pantry at all times, I've become sufficiently brainwashed to think that only homemade stock will do. But, we haven't been eating that much chicken at home lately, and we didn't have a stockpile of bones to make the base of the stock. So, I remembered this recipe for chicken stock which starts with three whole chickens, and after reading the comments, decided I could modify this technique to serve my purposes. Here's how it went:

Ingredients
2 (5-pound) roasting chickens
2 large yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered
4 carrots, unpeeled and halved
3 stalks celery with leaves, cut into thirds
3 parsnips, unpeeled and cut in half
15 sprigs fresh parsley
10 sprigs fresh thyme
10 sprigs fresh dill
1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in 1/2 crosswise
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

Method:
1. Wash chickens and remove and discard/find another use for the packet or innards. Put chickens in LARGE pot, cover with cold water. Bring to boil, reduce to a very slow simmer, simmer for 1 hour, skim scum/impurities off the surface periodically.
2. Carefully remove chickens from water. Let cool until they can be handled, then carefully pick the meat from the carcass (after 1 hour the meat should be mostly cooked, but not over-cooked. I harvested almost 3 pounds of meat from the chickens, which I separated into white and dark, and packaged and froze for later use such as chicken soup, enchiladas, or chicken pot pie).
3. Put all bones, skin, carcasses, etc back into the pot as you pick the meat (also pour back in any liquid that came out with the chickens). Continue to barely simmer (just a small bubble coming up here and there- if you cook too aggressively your stock will get cloudy) for another 2 hours.
4. Now it's time to add the veggies, herbs and seasonings. Many stock recipes have you add everything at the very beginning, but Michael Ruhlman recommends adding them only for the last hour of cooking, and for good reason-- too much cooking and the veggies break down/get soggy. This can cloud your stock, plus the water-logged veggies soak up so much of your precious stock! So just add them for the last hour, and keep the pot at that bare simmer...
5. It's been four hours, the stock is (almost) done!. Remove all solids, using tongs and a slotted spoon/strainer, pressing the veggies gently on the side of the pot to press out absorbed stock. At this point, I chose to keep simmering my stock for a while to reduce and concentrate the flavor a bit. When it reaches your desired intensity, let cool a bit and strain through cheesecloth.
6. Put stock in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Any fat will congeal on the top and can be skimmed off easily (mine had almost no fat even though I started with whole chicken).
7. Now you should be left with a large quantity of rich, flavorful chicken stock! This can easily be frozen for future use.

So there it is, my best stock yet! Mine came out a beautiful brown color, completely clear, with a nice roasted flavor (even though i started with all raw ingredients), and good sweetness and aroma from the veggies. I have already used some for risotto and chicken pot pie, and I'm so excited to have all that "poached" meat reserved for later. This is a lot more cost effective than just throwing the meat away after stock-making, too.

I cooked up a bunch of other recipes this weekend, too. No time to blog about each in detail, but here are some links and notes, and I'm happy to discuss with you in the comments, if you have questions.

New Year's Eve eggnog: Why am I making eggnog for a party on December 31 in mid-October?? Because this aged eggnog is supposed to be a revelation, and needs weeks or months in the fridge to mature. We'll break it out to ring in the new year, and hopefully not give our guests food poisoning.

Angel Food cake: I had 12 egg whites leftover from the nog-making, and a brand new tube pan that just arrived in the mail this week. I HAD to attempt my first angel food cake-- and I think it came out pretty good!

Lobster-ish Risotto with shrimp: I had a bit of frozen lobster stock in the freezer (made from the remnants of one of BCD Dad's big lobster gorge-fests) and decided to supplement it with some of my freshly made chicken stock and make risotto. I served it with some large pan-seared shrimp on top, and Mom's Caesar salad on the side. While I thought the risotto texture was good, the lobster flavor was very mild.

Buttermilk Waffles with apple topping: We had 2 cups of buttermilk hanging out in the fridge, so we tried this recipe on Sunday morning. It was just ok, I think next time I'll go to the trouble of separating the eggs and whipping the egg whites, to try and achieve a lighter, fluffier waffle. I also made a warm cinnamon apple topping from some of the apples still lingering from our apple-picking trip 2 weeks ago. Cooked the sliced apples with a little water, brown sugar, and cinnamon until apples were soft and the liquid had mostly evaporated. Finished with some lemon juice, butter, and a touch of cream. So much better than plain old syrup!

Chicken pot pie: Perhaps the pièce de résistance of the entire weekend, I made this for Sunday dinner. I used Ina Garten's recipe for the filling, but used a baking powder biscuit recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Book as the topping (instead of doing a pastry topping). The filling was AMAZING-- loaded with veggies, and yes, delicious, moist meat from the stock-making. The sauce (which used 5 cups of my fab new stock) was SO rich, flavorful, and velvety. The biscuits were very simple, I added a bit of chopped thyme to the dough and also laminated the dough (folding it into thirds and rolling out, repeating, as in puff pastry) to make it extra flaky. I baked them right on top of the pot pie filling in my Le Crueset dutch oven. Perfect hearty fall dinner fare, with plenty of leftovers.

...And would you look at that, it's lunchtime, and I've got some of those leftovers waiting for me in the fridge! Hope you enjoyed my return to blogging, even though it was light on pictures. Now that I'm back in to the swing of things, it's time to dust off my camera again!

Happy cooking,

X

Pantry Raid: Roast Beef Hash

by Erin

First, before I get down to business, a brief announcement: last weekend, Xani was learning to drive a motorcycle and she crashed and broke her hand. It's hard for her to type (and write - she broke her dominant hand), but she's doing fine, does not need surgery (unlike when I broke my hand - we BCD girls just can't keep our hands in tact!), and is in good spirits considering the circumstances. We're working on a way to communicate some of her great dining adventures in Chicago a few weeks ago - maybe our first vlog??

Can you find the broken bone??

Anyway, let's get down to business. Last week was my Spring Break (last one ever - weird!) and being the good daughter that I am, I went out to Blackacre to see the BCD parents. We of course did some great cooking and eating, including an Emeril recipe for roasted whole duck with roasted sweet potatoes in the roux (very delicious), and classic roast beef with Yorkshire pudding. The roast beef was wet-aged and perfectly cooked, and while we have in the past struggled with our Yorkshire pudding (too much fat, not puffy/fluffy enough), this time we went to the master, Alton Brown, for his Yorkie recipe. It was a hit! Very fluffy and crispy, with great flavor from the fat leftover from the beef.

As usual, the BCD parents sent me home with an entire box of goodies, including a big hunk of leftover roast beef. While I love a good roast beef sandwich on baguette with horseradish sauce, I wanted to take a crack at making roast beef hash. I love corned beef hash (tip to Baltimore peeps: I had some of the best corned beef hash of my LIFE at the Waterfront Hotel brunch - go get some!), and I had a great plate of roast beef hash during my first visit to The Spotted Pig in NYC, so I was eager to have it again at home.

I looked up a few recipes and relied most heavily on this one from Serious Eats, but in the end I sort of just made it up. I didn't have any cooked potatoes so I boiled up a few potatoes until a fork went in easily. Meanwhile I finely chopped the other ingredients: half a vidalia onion, about 5 cloves of garlic, and about 3/4 cup of mushrooms I had left over.

Taters in the hot tub...

Sliced and diced onions and taters

Mushrooms and garlic

I also diced the roast beef into about half-inch cubes, and I may or may not have eaten several of the delicious cubes along the way.

When the potatoes were done, I chopped them into about half-inch cubes. I added some oil to a big pan and got the potatoes cooking. After they started to caramelize, I added the mushrooms and the garlic.

I was a little concerned that the mushrooms would give off too much liquid and affect the crisping-up process, so I wanted to add them early-ish in the cooking. After the veggies had cooked down a bit, I added the beef and started it to brown.

One of the things that I love about a good hash is that everything is cooked down and crispy and sort of melded together, and that takes a long time. I cranked up the heat a bit and checked on the hash often so all sides of everything would crisp up nicely.

Mmmm...super-caramelized meat and potatoes

The verdict? Delicious. Everything worked well together, and the mushrooms added a really great flavor that you don't get in traditional hash. The meat was crisped up but still tender, and I loved all the caramalized potatoes, onions, and garlic. I thought about adding a poached or fried egg to my roast beef hash masterpiece, but in the end all I wanted was the hash - I didn't want to be distracted!

It was another pantry raid success. Stay tuned for the next one: chicken enchiladas verdes!

Cheers,
EP

More Home Cookin': Risotto Two Ways

by Xani



I am a very lucky girl. I have a great family, an awesome home, a busy social calendar, and a wonderful job. I guess having ANY job in this economy is a wonderful thing, but mine is EXTRA wonderful-- I work with cool people on interesting issues, have a corner office with a view of Camden Yards, travel to fantastic locales, and (jealous yet??) every once in a while, one of my coworkers, knowing my love for all things culinary, brings me a foodie present. And a few weeks ago, I got a very special present indeed...



This represents only a small portion of the total amount of saffron

Saffron! Fragrant, gorgeous, expensive saffron-- and lots of it.
Saffron isn't something I necessarily keep around the house-- I've only ever bought it in those teeny, tiny little containers which cost $8 and hold approximately three strands. But now, thanks to a very generous co-worker with family in the middle east, I am absolutely RICH was saffron. I'm considering storing it in a fireproof safe. And I'm considering lots and lots of recipes which showcase its gorgeous color and aroma.



My first recipe is a classic: Risotto Milanese . It was also the perfect Pantry Raid meal to cook on a weeknight when I had invited my buddy Jason over for dinner, but had no time to hit the store. I had the onion, arborio rice, Parmesan, and homemade chicken stock on hand-- all that was left to do was a little stirring (ok, a LOT of stirring), throw together a little salad, and voila!






The recipe is pretty basic, and I've done risotto before , but the real magic here is how you steep the strands of saffron in the broth while it heats, which infuses it with the flavor and color. Then, as you gradually add it to the rice, you see it turn that gorgeous yellow color right before your eyes!





Jason and I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner (and I especially like his Iron Chef-style commentary while I cooked-- Thanks dude!), but a good portion of the risotto went uneaten. A few days later, feeling too lazy to make arancini , I opted to create a sortof "risotto kugel ." I mixed a beaten egg into the leftover risotto, spread it into a buttered (vintage) le crueset skillet, topped with bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and (of course) more butter, and baked in a hot oven until heated through and golden brown on top. Then I served it up in slices alongside a few pieces of The World's Best Broccoli (simply roasted at high heat with garlic, olive oil, and red chili flakes, then topped with lemon juice, zest, and Parmesan while hot out of the oven-- delicious!).






I've hardly made a dent in the saffron, so please send me your favorite ways to use this prized spice. So far I'm pretty happy with these two delicious, hearty meals that were relatively simple to make, but oh-so flavorful and perfectly cozy for a winter that just won't quit. I'm actually writing this post from Chicago (lucky me!) where the weather is still decidedly wintry... all the more reason to indulge in comfort food! Stay tuned for yummy Chicago eats!


X

Pantry Raid*: Bangers and Mash

by Erin

Last weekend, I spent a lot of time at school studying and doing work for my clients (yup, I have clients through clinic - weird!), so by the time Sunday evening came along, I was ready for some home cooking. (I also find cooking to be an incredible stress reliever, which I was also in need of!) I of course haven't been grocery shopping in an embarassingly long time, but I had been to the farmer's market with Xani recently, so I perused the cabinets and fridge and tried to come up with something. It was definitely another culinary adventure of a hungry law student.

I saw potatoes, garlic, onions, and Italian sausages, all purchased at the farmer's market, and therefore all local and/or organic. Yay!

What did I come up with? Bangers and Mash. Bangers and Mash is a classic English/Irish comfort food (and pub grub) comprised of mashed potatoes and sausages. When I was in Australia someone told me that the sausages are called "bangers" because back during WWII, there wasn't that much food around so they put more water than usual in the sausages, so when they cooked them, they went BANG.

Anyway, I just made the recipe up as I went, but it turned out to be mighty good. I started by boiling up some potatoes. I also tossed about 5-6 cloves of garlic (still in their skins) into the boiling water to cook, so I could have garlic mashed potatoes. (This is so much easier than roasting the garlic in the oven for 45 minutes!)

As the potatoes and garlic were cooking, I thinly sliced some onions and got them cooking in olive oil. Then I had the sausages. We have bought these sausages from the market in the past, and they are fantastic (perhaps because they come from happy pigs?). Although different from traditional English sausages, I had to work with what I had, and I knew they'd be good.

I am always concerned about cooking them long enough, so instead of tossing them into the frying pan, I added them to the boiling water with the potatoes to cook them almost completely. Then I tossed them into the frying pan with the caramelized onions to get browned up.

Everybody in the hot tub

Meanwhile, I drained the potatoes and garlic. I peeled the garlic and added the cloves to the potatoes, along with some butter (okay, a lot of butter) and parmesan cheese. And voila! - garlic parmesan mashed potatoes!

Then it was time to plate. I finished browing up the sausages, put them on the plate with a pile of mash, then topped them both with the super-caramelized onions. Then I added a small pile of mesclun mix (also from the market) to add some freshness and green to the plate.

The verdict? Delicious and so comforting. And I was really proud of myself that I just made it up on a whim. Both the cooking and the eating were relaxing and took my mind off of my crazy life for an hour or so. Well worth it!

Coming up next: Xani's culinary adventures in the Windy City and Motor City!

Cheerio,

EP

* Pantry Raid - this was the name of our brilliant idea for a TV show, but then someone ELSE thought of it and put it on the Style Network! And it sucked. And now it's cancelled. So there. Ours would have been so much better! I figured if nothing else, I could turn it into a theme on our beloved blog.