Its been ages since I posted anything here, and I have missed it immensely. Assignments, travelling, ill health and a general laziness kept me from pouring my guts out here..
So this is just going to be an informal post dedicated to my brother who celebrated his birthday on September 11th. It also happened to be a decade since the very very unfortunate Twin Tower mishap. A heartfelt thought and prayer for all those who lost their life that day and for everyone they left behind to mourn.
But as sad this day is, it is also a happy and special celebration of life for me, in the form of the birthday of a sweet loving and adorable brother, God was kind enough to give me. Initially I had made lofty plans for a grand dinner. A bad back and a few other uncertainities came in the way of my lofty culinary ambitions and had to instead dish out a simple fare.
Recently we were on a long vacation to France. Thoroughly enjoyed the sight sound taste and smell of the beautiful country. Learnt to enjoy French cuisine, specially discovered a new found love for Mussels..:))
Anyways, so I decided to make a meal with a French connection, if you will. French Tarragon is a beautiful sweet smelling herb with a distinct flowery flavor of its own. I decided to use this herb in my main course to add to the delicate french touch. But the problem is getting the fresh variation of this. Although our local supermarket stocks all kind of fresh hard and soft herbs, very ocassionally do they put tarragon out on the shelves. I was pretty certain I would have to go with the dried version, which is good too...but then nothing like the fresh, right?
I think it was divine intervention, when I hit the store on 10th, there it was...a nice small tray of fresh tarragon. I was so super excited I almost jumped and hugged the person standing next to me much to her shock..;)
For the first course I decided to try my hand on Cream of mushroom soup. While in Nice, we managed to buy some real good quality Black truffle oil. Its one of the most sought after culinary delights and is superlatively priced too. I can have truffle oil with simple brown bread and it takes to me heaven.
Although I would have loved to make this soup with a combination of porcini and chanterelle, the unavailability of these is a major constraint. So I had to go with the easily available white button mushrooms which are pretty decent too. But to intensify the flavor a bit, I decided to use some dried porcini, which were soaked in warm water prior to use.
Cream of Mushroom Soup:
Ingredients:
Approx 300 gms of finely chopped mushrooms
A handful of garlic, finely chopped too
Butter
A combination of cream and milk
salt
pepper
black truffle oil for finishing
Process:
In a heavy bottomed pan I melted the butter, added a few drops of olive oil to prevent the butter from burning up. I then added the chopped garlic and fried for a min till translucent. Next went the finely chopped mushrooms and the two were amalgamated together with a dash of salt and pepper. Once the mushrooms were soft I added the milk and cream and slow cooked for about 15 mins. Adjusted the seasoning and took it off the heat and allowed it to cool. Once cooled down, I used a hand blender to break down the mushrooms and create a much smoother consistency. Now, at this stage, it is completely up to individual preference as to how smooth or textured you like your soup to be. I like it a little textured where I can feel little bits and pieces of shroom with every spoonful, so I stopped the blending while it was still a little grainy.
If the soup feels too thick, a little milk can be added and brought to a boil. While serving I drizzled a bit of truffle oil for instant boost in flavor. A simple soup was magically transformed into a gourmet dish...Loved it so much..:))
For the main course, since I now had both fresh and dried Tarragon, I decided to use both in the prepation of the chicken.
This is a very impromptu dish that I churned up hence will be tough providing exact measurements. I pretty much eyeballed everything but the result was quite good, much to my delight.
I used boneless chicken breast for the dish..The recipe is as follows:
Chicken in a tarragon cream sauce:
Ingredients:
Boneless chicken breasts- 1 per person(approx 150gms each in wt)- used 2 chicken breast(300 gms)
Fresh Taraggon- a small bunch, leaves separated from the stalk and finely chopped
Half a teaspoon of dried Tarragon for the marination
One and half teaspoon of garlic paste
2 stalks of scallions
3 tbspn of dry white wine
aprrox 100 ml of full fat milk( one can use heavy cream, if you dont mind the calories)
salt and pepper
2 tbspns of regular sunflower oil
1 tspn butter
Preparation:
I marinated the chicken breast with the garlic paste and the whole of the dried tarragon, salt and pepper and refrigerated it for 2 hours.
After marination, I simply heated the oil in a pan, and fried the finely chopped scallions and tarragon till soft. I then added the marinated chicken and fried them on medium heat..aprox 4 mins on each side. Since the breast pieces were quite thick, it needed a little slow cooking to be fully done. So I added a splosh of water and covered and cooked it for a bit on low heat.
Once it was done and all the water had evaporated I removed the chicken from the pan and placed on a platter. Next, I added the white wine to the pan and let it intensify the flavor and also deglaze all the dried fried bits of the chicken and the herbs from the bottom of the pan...I finished the sauce by adding milk and butter and simmering it with salt and pepper till it thickened significantly..the sauce was served in a little pot, to be poured over the chicken while eating.
I served this dish with some simply steamed french beans and carrots and a jacket potato with sour cream and butter..I sliced up some fresh garlic bread to use as a mop to soak up the excess sauce on the plate..;) was quite delicious indeed..
Hope you all will like these two recipes and will try making them..
Bon Apetit!!!
So this is just going to be an informal post dedicated to my brother who celebrated his birthday on September 11th. It also happened to be a decade since the very very unfortunate Twin Tower mishap. A heartfelt thought and prayer for all those who lost their life that day and for everyone they left behind to mourn.
But as sad this day is, it is also a happy and special celebration of life for me, in the form of the birthday of a sweet loving and adorable brother, God was kind enough to give me. Initially I had made lofty plans for a grand dinner. A bad back and a few other uncertainities came in the way of my lofty culinary ambitions and had to instead dish out a simple fare.
Recently we were on a long vacation to France. Thoroughly enjoyed the sight sound taste and smell of the beautiful country. Learnt to enjoy French cuisine, specially discovered a new found love for Mussels..:))
Anyways, so I decided to make a meal with a French connection, if you will. French Tarragon is a beautiful sweet smelling herb with a distinct flowery flavor of its own. I decided to use this herb in my main course to add to the delicate french touch. But the problem is getting the fresh variation of this. Although our local supermarket stocks all kind of fresh hard and soft herbs, very ocassionally do they put tarragon out on the shelves. I was pretty certain I would have to go with the dried version, which is good too...but then nothing like the fresh, right?
I think it was divine intervention, when I hit the store on 10th, there it was...a nice small tray of fresh tarragon. I was so super excited I almost jumped and hugged the person standing next to me much to her shock..;)
For the first course I decided to try my hand on Cream of mushroom soup. While in Nice, we managed to buy some real good quality Black truffle oil. Its one of the most sought after culinary delights and is superlatively priced too. I can have truffle oil with simple brown bread and it takes to me heaven.
Although I would have loved to make this soup with a combination of porcini and chanterelle, the unavailability of these is a major constraint. So I had to go with the easily available white button mushrooms which are pretty decent too. But to intensify the flavor a bit, I decided to use some dried porcini, which were soaked in warm water prior to use.
Cream of Mushroom Soup:
Ingredients:
Approx 300 gms of finely chopped mushrooms
A handful of garlic, finely chopped too
Butter
A combination of cream and milk
salt
pepper
black truffle oil for finishing
Process:
In a heavy bottomed pan I melted the butter, added a few drops of olive oil to prevent the butter from burning up. I then added the chopped garlic and fried for a min till translucent. Next went the finely chopped mushrooms and the two were amalgamated together with a dash of salt and pepper. Once the mushrooms were soft I added the milk and cream and slow cooked for about 15 mins. Adjusted the seasoning and took it off the heat and allowed it to cool. Once cooled down, I used a hand blender to break down the mushrooms and create a much smoother consistency. Now, at this stage, it is completely up to individual preference as to how smooth or textured you like your soup to be. I like it a little textured where I can feel little bits and pieces of shroom with every spoonful, so I stopped the blending while it was still a little grainy.
If the soup feels too thick, a little milk can be added and brought to a boil. While serving I drizzled a bit of truffle oil for instant boost in flavor. A simple soup was magically transformed into a gourmet dish...Loved it so much..:))
For the main course, since I now had both fresh and dried Tarragon, I decided to use both in the prepation of the chicken.
This is a very impromptu dish that I churned up hence will be tough providing exact measurements. I pretty much eyeballed everything but the result was quite good, much to my delight.
I used boneless chicken breast for the dish..The recipe is as follows:
Chicken in a tarragon cream sauce:
Ingredients:
Boneless chicken breasts- 1 per person(approx 150gms each in wt)- used 2 chicken breast(300 gms)
Fresh Taraggon- a small bunch, leaves separated from the stalk and finely chopped
Half a teaspoon of dried Tarragon for the marination
One and half teaspoon of garlic paste
2 stalks of scallions
3 tbspn of dry white wine
aprrox 100 ml of full fat milk( one can use heavy cream, if you dont mind the calories)
salt and pepper
2 tbspns of regular sunflower oil
1 tspn butter
Preparation:
I marinated the chicken breast with the garlic paste and the whole of the dried tarragon, salt and pepper and refrigerated it for 2 hours.
After marination, I simply heated the oil in a pan, and fried the finely chopped scallions and tarragon till soft. I then added the marinated chicken and fried them on medium heat..aprox 4 mins on each side. Since the breast pieces were quite thick, it needed a little slow cooking to be fully done. So I added a splosh of water and covered and cooked it for a bit on low heat.
Once it was done and all the water had evaporated I removed the chicken from the pan and placed on a platter. Next, I added the white wine to the pan and let it intensify the flavor and also deglaze all the dried fried bits of the chicken and the herbs from the bottom of the pan...I finished the sauce by adding milk and butter and simmering it with salt and pepper till it thickened significantly..the sauce was served in a little pot, to be poured over the chicken while eating.
Hope you all will like these two recipes and will try making them..
Bon Apetit!!!
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