Braise Chicken with Mushroom Sauce

Braise Chicken w/mushroom sauce


Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts (cut in to 3 pieces or 2 depening on the size)


Ingredients for Veloute sauce

2 1/2 qt of white stock (chicken stock)

4 fl oz of butter

4 oz  white mirepoix (onion and celary. small pieces.)

4 oz of flour


In a sachet or cheese cloth tied:

1/2 tsp of peppercorns

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp dried thyme

3-4 parsley stems


Mushroom sauce

2 qt of chicken veloute

1 case of muchroom

1 pt of heavy cream

salt and pepper

2 oz of butter

1 tsp of lemon juice


Life can be busy sometimes.  This recipce is a really cool one.  It seems like a lot, but it is all from scratch.   First we make the Velote sauces. With a pot, cook the white mirepoix (onion and clerely, cut in small dice) with the butter  .  Sweat them until tender but don't brown them.  Add the flour, mix until it is incorporated with the butter.  Cook until it looks like oatmeal.  Add the chicken stock in and mix well.  Add in the sachet or cheesecloth with the ingredients in it.  Simmer on stove for about 45 mins.  Once done drain through a china cap, or something like it, in a bowl.  Sauce will look creamy.

Veloute is a mother sauce that can be use to make other sauce, so you will have extra.

To make the mushroom sauce, cut the mushrooms and cook them in a pan on medium heat.  Once cook add the Veloute sauce in.  Stir, and then add the cram and butter and lemon juice. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Sear the chicken in the pan, season with salt and pepper.  Don't cook the chicken, just brown the outside.  Put the chicken in the sauce and put it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked at 165 degrees.  Serve on top of rice or pasta.  Enjoy.

Recommendation:  I sauted the muchroom in the jus that is left by the chicken after I have seared it and cooked the sauce in the same pan.

Pictures to come.

Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup

I posted a recipe on my blog today and I thought that you all would enjoy it! Chef Ben is the one who made it, so naturally this should be on his blog!

We made this recipe for "General Conference Lunch". When we were living in Las Vegas, we had the tradtition of General Conference Breakfast, but because General Conference doesn't start until 12pm in Florida, we had to make some modifications to our tradition.

You can see the recipe on my blog here:
http://mckenziestewartphotography.blogspot.com/2012/10/roasted-red-pepper-and-sweet-potato-soup.html

Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup

2 large or 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped

1/2 ;arge yellow onion, chopped

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

dash crushed red pepper flacks (This is optional, the more you add the spicier it is!)

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/4 dried parsley

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 450

Coat the Sweet potatoes and bell peppers in olive oil. Place chopped sweet potatoes and bell peppers on a tinfoil lined baking sheet. Sprinkle basil, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes over the top of the vegetables.

Bake for 25 - 35 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are nice and mushy!

Put all ingredients, including broth, into a blender and blend until smooth. Bring the soup to a boil on the stove. Let cool. Serve. Enjoy!

Citrous salt and pepper French chicken

Ingredients:

French Chicken Breast (one chicken breast per person)

Pepper


Citrous Salt

1 lemon
1 Lime
1 orange
2 cup of sea salt.


This is a very easy recipce to make and it is very delicious.  Zen the lemon, lime and orange in a bowl.  Add the salt to the zen and mix it. There you have it Citrous salt.  You can use it on chicken and seafood. Salt is a preservative so it can last at room temperature for several months.

French Chicken is a chicken breast that has the lower part of the wing attached to the breast.

Season the chicken and sauté it.  Oil the pan so it does not stick.  Cook on med-hight heat.  Cook the chicken skin down first for 5 mins and the other side for 5 mins.  If the chicken is not done, put it in the oven at 375 degree until it is done.  The Chicken is done at 165 degree.  Enjoy.

Getting ready for something exciting!

Today I have been hard at work making dishes and taking pictures to post about soon! My wife has stuck in there as my dish tester (actually I think she is LOVING this). This week I will be posting a lot about chicken and some basics that I'll use in later recipies. The next week, I'll be doing something exciting! I will be making next week... Eggplant week!!!! Anybody out there who is saying "oh man", be prepared to change your mind! Not only are you going to learn all these amazing things with eggplants and learn how easy they are to cook, you'll LOVE the dishes! I'm sure of it!

I have to get to work now and cook for the wonderful Walt Disney World guests, but stay tuned in because there are exciting things happening soon!

Ben's Marinara Sauce

There are many versions of  marinara sauce.  Some have a few more herbs or other foods that are added to the sauce.  This is a very simple tomato sauce recipes that work with anything. The can be used for pizza, pasta and seafood.  You can add meat, spinach or cheese that can make a new sauce.  Marinara sauce to me is like the base sauce and it can be used to make other sauce like 4 cheese tomatoes sauce, meat sauce and along with others.  This sauce is so simple that the flavor is just perfect.  Chef Ruby taught me that you don't have to add too many new things to a sauce to make it great. 


Marinara Sauce Ingredients:

4 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoon of mince garlic (fresh)

2 cans(35 oz) of peeled tomatoes.

S&P (salt and pepper)

2 tablespoon of chope fine basil leaves (fresh; I get mine from my garden)

I start out with a pot on the stove.  The oil and and garlic are put in at mediem high temperature.  Don't brown the garlic but stir it until it releases its flavor.  That is what makes a big difference in the way the flavor at the end comes out. Once its there, get 2 cans of whole peeled tomatoes and pour it in with the juice.  Don't worry about the whole tomatoes being whole it will break down durring the cooking process and it will be pureed at the end. The canned tomatoes I use and suggest using is called "Cento" but any will work. Add about 4 pinches of salt and pepper.  Stir the sauce with a wisk and set the temputer at a simmer.  Let it cook for about 30 to 45 mins. Stir occasionally. This will help the flavor to speard.  With the basil leaves, chop them fine and put them in the sauce about 5 min until the sauce is done. Stir it in.  When done, remove from the stove and puree the sauce until there no big lumps of tomatoes. There you have it.  You can jar it and save it for latter.  It makes a great pizza sauce and like I said before you can add anything like meats, mushrooms, or cheese to make other sauces. Refrigerate the rest.  It can last about 2 to 3 weeks.

- Chef Ben



Look out for some upcoming recipes where I will be using this Amazing Marinara Sauce!

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant fries with Marinara Dipping Sauce