Let's go Fancy with some Stuffed Quail!

So as I said in my previous blog post, this next recipe also comes from my trip to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America). Even though this recipe takes a bit of work, it’s very rewarding to eat afterwards because it was so many different flavors and textures. So definitely give it a try if you want a fun delicious dinner dish or want to fool around with some quail, which most people don’t use very often ^_^

Ingredients:

·      ½ cup + 2 tbsp butter

·      2 minced shallots

·      2 minced garlic cloves

·      1 tsp fresh thyme

·      1 lb assorted wild mushrooms, cut into small pieces

·      1 cup chicken stock

·      1 lb chicken breast, boneless

·      1 egg white

·      1 cup heavy cream

·      1 tsp nutmeg

·      6 oz fois gras, cut into ¾ inch cubes

·      ½ lb spinach, blanched, squeezed dry, chopped

·      1 tsp thyme

·      8-10 quail, boneless, wings removed

·      8-10 bacon slices

·      2.5 cups of demi-glace

Heat the ½ cup butter in a large sauté pan as hot as possible without burning it. Add the shallots, garlic, and thyme, and cook until softened and fragrant. Add the mushrooms and cook until lightly browned. Add the stock and simmer the mixture until the liquid is reduced and thickened slightly. Season with salt and pepper and add the remaining 2 tbsp butter.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Put the chicken, egg white, nutmeg, salt, and pepper in a food processor, and process until smooth. While the processor is running, slowly add the heavy cream. Using a spatula, fold in half of the mushroom sauce, fois gras cubes, spinach, and thyme. Fill a pastry bag with the filling and squeeze the filling into the openings of the quail until the quail looks plump again. Wrap a piece of bacon around each quail and secure with some butcher’s twine. Place the quail on a rack over a roasting pan. Roast the quail for 40 minutes. Transfer the quail to a warm plate and keep warm. Meanwhile, combine the roasting pan juices, remaining mushrooms, and demi-glace in a pan and reduce over medium-high heat. Pour over the quail, and you have a beautiful, delicious dish!

Seared Fois Gras with Brioche and Cherry-Ginger Compote

Hi there! So I had the incredible pleasure of attending a CIA (Culinary Institute of America) Bootcamp over the summer, where I was able to experience being in restaurant-cooking environment (almost, not quite as stressful). It was amazing; I learned a great deal, made some new friends, and got to make and taste some wonderful food! I definitely recommend the experience to others, but I’m not here to talk about that. The point of bringing it up was because the next couple of recipes will be from the recipes I made at the CIA! Today’s recipe is as the title says; it’s a wonderful recipe with a lightly seared fois gras piece on top of pan-fried brioche bread (I pre-bought mine at a local bakery, but feel free to make your own1!) with a cherry-ginger compote coloring up the top. I love this combination of flavors, but I recognize that fois gras is not many people’s favorite food. I used to be like that (for the past 19 years of my life), but once I tried it, I found that I actually really enjoyed its taste! So feel free to choose whether or not you’d like to give this recipe a try!

Ingredients:

·      14 oz fois gras, cut into 8 slices)

·      8 thick slices of brioche

·      2 tbsp butter

·      Coarse sea salt

·      2 cups of sugar

·      1 cup red wine vinegar

·      ¼ cup freshly minced ginger

·      4 cups fresh, pitted cherries

Place the sugar in a sauté pan and head over medium-low heat until the caramelized golden in color. Add the vinegar and deglaze the pan. Reduce the heat to low and add the ginger and cherries. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced and thickened. This is the Ginger Cherry Compote.

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium meat, add the brioche to the pan, and brown each side until golden. Heat a clean, dry sauté pan over medium-heat. Season both sides of the fois gras slices with sea salt, and lay each slice on the hot pan. Once each side has caramelized and browned, remove from the heat, place one slice on each piece of brioche with a generous portion of the Ginger Cherry Compote, and you’re all done!

Fudgy Goodness~

Think we’d be all done with the small sweet treats? Think again! Today’s recipe is homemade fudge! This is just a simple recipe for simple chocolate fudge, but feel free to add whatever you’d like to it, such as nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, or the like.

Ingredients:

·      3 cup sugar

·      1 cup cocoa

·      2 tbsp light corn syrup

·      2 cup milk (I used chocolate milk, but regular is fine!)

·      8 tbsp (1 stick) butter

·      2 tsp vanilla extract

Lightly butter an 8x8-inch pan. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, cocoa, and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer WITHOUT STIRRING. Cook the fudge until it reaches 238ºF. Remove the fudge from the heat, add the butter and the vanilla extract, and stir with a wooden spoon until the fudge starts losing its sheen. Pour into the prepared pan and let it cook to room temperature. Cut into squares and enjoy! :)

Homemade caramel – a sweet and salty treat!

Happy weekend! I would say that sometimes it’s a big struggle trying to find good caramel not filled with… let’s say unknown ingredients and strange after-tastes. So I decided to make my own caramels, and they turned out sticky, sweet, a bit salty, and absolutely delicious! It’s hard to stop eating them, honestly, but I’m trying to manage my weight, so I’m ignoring them as best I can (hard when I have a large jar of them on my desk). But I recommend giving them a try if you love caramels or candy!

Ingredients:

·      ½ cup water

·      2 cups sugar

·      1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

·      1 can condensed milk

·      1 cup light corn syrup

·      12 tbsp (1.5 sticks) softened butter

·      1 tsp salt

·      Sea salt

Lightly butter a 9x13-baking pan. Combine all the ingredients except the salt in a heavy-bottomed 4-quart saucepan. Bring the mixture up to a boil while stirring constantly. Continue to stir until the mixture reaches 245ºF. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the salt. Remove the vanilla bean, and pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt over the top and allow the caramel to cool to room temperature (let it sit for at least 2 hours). Remove from the pan, slice into strips using a very sharp knife, and cut the strips into bite-sized pieces. Wrap the caramel candies in parchment or wax paper individually to keep fresh. You’re all set! ^_^

Tempura Eggs - Deep-fried eggs, how's it done?

Hello hello hello! Wondering about this recipe? Imagine a soft-boiled egg encompassed in a crispy tempura layer, covered in a sweet-salty sauce, over a bowl of rice. That is this recipe! But how exactly do you deep-fry an egg like that? So here’s the secret: you have to freeze the eggs! Eggs in the refrigerator last up to 21 days, but in the freezer they can last up to 50 days. When frozen, the shells crack around them and are easy to remove. Follow the recipe below to finish up this delicious dish!

Ingredients:

·      2 large eggs, frozen

·      1 cup flour + extra for coating the eggs

·      1 tbsp cornstarch

·      1 cup seltzer water

·      2 tsp salt

·      2 tsp black pepper

·      1.5 cups dark soy sauce

·      1.5 cup mirin

·      3 pieces dried konbu seaweed (3-inch length pieces)

·      ¾ cup bonito flakes

·      Bowl of rice to put finished items on

Combine the 1 cup flour, cornstarch, seltzer water, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. This is the tempura batter. Place the bowl in the fridge until ready to use.

Combine the soy sauce, mirin, konbu, and bonito flakes in a pan, and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer the mixture gently over medium heat until the liquid has reduced to about two-thirds. Let it cool, then strain and store in a bottle.

Heat a large amount of oil in a large pot to 375ºF. Remove the eggs from the freezer, peel the shells off, roll the eggs in the extra flour, and dip the eggs into the tempura batter and coat evenly. Drop the eggs into the hot oil, keeping the oil around 320ºF while frying, and fry for about 10 minutes. Remove to a metal rack to let the oil drain off. Pour some of the sauce you made over the bowl of rice, place the fried eggs on top, top with a bit of extra sauce, and you’re all done!

Omurice - Fried Rice Omelet

Long time no post! Sorry about the long delay; vacation plus preparing for college took a lot of time out of me, but I’m back now! Today’s recipe is Omurice! This is a classic Japanese bento item, where you fill an egg pancake with sweet and salty fried rice. You can add your favorite fried rice recipe to this, or you can use mine as a reference, but as always, please don’t follow it exactly. Cooking is all about experimentation and creating your very own food. ^_^

Ingredients:

·      2 large eggs

·      ¼ - ½ tsp salt

·      1 tsp soy sauce

·      1 cup cooked white rice

·      1 tsp – 1 tbsp ketchup

·      1 tsp – 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

·      ½ - 1 small onion, chopped

·      1 tbsp red pepper, chopped

·      2 tbsp carrots, chopped

Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat with some oil. Sautee the onion, pepper, and carrots in the pan until translucent and cooked through. Add the rice, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce, and stir to combine. Whisk the eggs, salt, and soy sauce together in a bowl. Heat a separate frying pan over medium heat, pour the egg into the frying pan, and cook without stirring until cooked without browning. Flip the egg pancake over and cook the over side the same way. When finished, place some of the fried rice on half the egg pancake, fold the empty half of the pancake over the over half, and place the finished omelet on a plate. All done!