Once A Chef Always a Chef

Milwaukee Winter Farmers’ Market

Peter — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:17:27 +0000

Okay, it’s a little late in the season, but I just recently discovered the Milwaukee Winter Farmers’ Market and I wish I had learned about it earlier! I came across it quite by accident as I was searching to see if there were any producers of hard cider here, in Wisconsin. I found one producer, Aeppel Treow Winery, which produces bothapple wine and hard cider. In their information I also discovered that they were at the Milwaukee Winter Farmers’ Market on the first Saturday of every month. Bonus, not only had I come across a producer of hard cider, but I also “discovered” a new, off season farmers’ market.

The market is held every Saturday, through April 24th, at the Tommy Thompson Youth Center at State Fair Park. You can access it through Gate 5, on 84th St. While not large, I was impressed by the variety of Wisconsin grown and raised products. Besides, the hard cider and apple wine, there was an apple orchard that still had apples for sale. These over wintered apples were starting to just show their age and were a bit on the mealy side, but they were still sweet and quite flavorful. A little mealiness is small price to pay for their taste which beats any store bought apples hands down. Also included in the days list of producers were a couple of honey producers, a couple of bakeries, numerous farmer’s selling pasture fed beef, pork, poultry and elk, and a few stands selling processed foods made from local, Wisconsin produce, from salsas and jams to pasta and granola.

Rolling Meadows Sorghum Mill is there selling their sorghum syrup and locally produced maple syrup. Of the few cheese producers there, we stopped at Saxon Homstead Creamery and picked up a wedge of their “Saxony” cheese, a washed rind cow’s milk cheese, which they describe as nutty and supple, a description that may be rather vague, but one I agree with. I will definitely be checking out some of their other cheeses. We also picked up some mushrooms from River Valley Ranch, Wisconsin’s oldest mushroom producer.

There wasn’t much in the way of produce, but I didn’t expect to find much at this time of year, in Wisconsin. But a few farmers were displaying some fresh spinach and radishes grown, I’m sure in hoop houses or hot houses.

While I didn’t purchase any, it did get me excited for spring to arrive and the farmer’s markets throughout Wisconsin to get started up again.

Probably, the biggest coup for the market though this the inclusion of Bolzano Artisan Meats. Bolzano is Wiscosin’s first and only company dedicated to the art of dry curing meat. While still relatively unknown in throughout the rest of the country, Bolzano has, in a very short time made quite a name for themselves among upper Midwest foodies. They currently offer guanciale, dried and cured pork cheek and panchetta, an Italian slow cured “bacon” that remains unsmoked. Both of their products are some of the best I have tasted and I expect it won’t be long before they gain a reputation from coast to coast.

With only 7 more weeks left before the market closes for the year, I doubt I will make it back,but not for a lack of wanting. Milwaukee is about a 45-60 minute drive and our weekends are pretty full for the next 2 months. So while I might not make it back this year, I will look forward to it’s opening next October, but just because I can’t make it back doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out if you are in the area. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Italian Beef Sandwich-Chicago Style

Peter — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:30:31 +0000

Sometimes, I’m not so smart. This is sometimes true even when I haven’t been drinking. Take this post, for example. I was planning on posting this recipe last night, but in my excitement I made up my sandwich and ate it before I remembered to shoot a picture of it. Luckily I had plenty of beef leftover so tonight I “forced” myself to eat another one, just so I could take a picture of it to share with you, my readers.

Okay, so it really wasn’t much of a sacrifice since I absolutely love Italian beef sandwiches. While you can find them in most major cities nowadays, Chicago is where it was created and it is in Chicago where this sandwich reaches its apex.

For the uninitiated, a Chicago style Italian beef sandwich is made up of thinly sliced, highly seasoned roast beef that has been warmed in jus, stuffed into a long roll, drizzled with more of the jus, and topped with either fried sweet peppers or giardiniera-a mixture of sliced hot peppers and vegetables. It rivals the Muffuletta (the famous New Orleans sandwich) for its shear messiness, and kicks the Philly Cheesesteak’s ass flavor wise, in my opinion (I’m willing to hear a rebuttal on this, but good luck changing my mind!).

While the sandwich, itself, is not complicated to make, finding a couple of the ingredients may be slightly difficult. First off trying to find the proper giardiniera can be difficult. Any slightly spicy mix of pickled vegetables might be called giardiniera, but not all really work with this sandwich. You want to find a brand that contains mostly sliced hot peppers with just a few other vegetables thrown in, mainly carrots, celery, bell peppers,etc. There are many brands out there that are mostly cauliflower and carrot. Stay away from those, as they don’t provide the right flavor. Scala’s is the brand most recognized in Chicago and I believe you can buy their giardiniera online. The other difficult item to find is the bread. In Chicago there are numerous bakeries that specialize in making loaves for Italian beefs. It can be difficult to find a bread the right size with the right crust and crumb consistencies. Most baguettes are too hard, most “Italian” breads are too large and too soft. Outside of Chicago I have found the best bet is the cheap, grocery store baked “French” bread. I usually stay far away from these loaves that tend to make a mockery out of the French baguette but in this case they work perfectly. The crust is just tough enough to hold all the jus for just about the length of time it takes to eat a sandwich (don’t delay in eating too long or the bread will dissolve into nothing) while the soft interior is perfect for soaking up all that just.

One final word about this recipe. I often try to stay far away from those little beef bouillion cubes, but they are virtually essential to making a jus of the proper flavor so I make an exception in this case.

It is best to roast the beef at least 1 day in advance to cool it down completely. This will help with slicing, especially if you don’t have an electric slicer.

Italian Beef Sandwich

3 pounds beef, sirloin roast (or other less fatty roast)
1/2 Tbsp. oregano, dried
1/2 Tbsp. basil, dried
1/2 Tbsp. granulated garlic
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. black pepper
salt
4 cubes beef bouillon
5 cups hot water

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly season roast with salt. Mix the spices and dried herbs together along with the peppers. Generously sprinkle over the roast, coating it well on all sides. Place the roast on a rack over a 9×13 pan. In the pan place the beef bouillon and the hot water. Add any remaining season. Roast to an internal temperature of 140°F.

When meat and jus has cooled add meat to jus and refrigerate overnight. The following day slice the beef as thin as you can. This takes a little patience if you don’t have an electric slicer, but try to cut as thinly as possible. Your efforts will be rewarded in the long run. In a pot, heat the jus to a low simmer or just below. You don’t want it boiling or you will overcook your beef. Cut the bread into 6 inch sections and slice open but leave a thick hinge. Taking about 6 oz. of beef, dip it into the hot just and allow it to warm for about 45 seconds, give or take, depending on how out the jus is. What you don’t want to happen is for the beef to start to curl. This means you have overcooked it and it will be dry and tough. When the meat is warmed just through, use tongs to transfer to the bread. Don’t shake off the excess jus. Try to transfer the meat leaving it as wet as possible. Drizzle a little more jus over the top then top the sandwich with as much giardiniera as your mouth can handle, drizzling a little of the oil, the vegetable are packed in, over the top of everything. At this point you want to eat this thing pretty quickly or you find your bread disintegrating before your eyes

Monkey Bread

Peter — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:15:29 +0000

Okay, I have to admit, I’m a sucker for Monkey Bread!!! Yes, I know, it probably can’t be considered the height of the culinary arts, but damn it’s good. What’s not to like; rich caramel, buttery goodness, a crisp crust and gooey interior. It’s got everything you need to start the day off right!! Add a cup or 2 of coffee and you can start your day in high gear.

There are a number of recipes out there for Monkey Bread. Some use store bought biscuit dough, others use store bought bread dough, and yet others have you make everything from scratch. While “made from scratch” is often my favorite way to go, I have to admit that, in this case, I am partial to the recipes using store bought biscuits. Not only do I like the soft texture of the Monkey Bread made this way, but it cuts down on a lot of prep work, which makes it a great breakfast for when you have overnight guests. Get a couple of the kids involved, they love to help shake the dough in the sugar, and you can have this on the breakfast table in no time.

Money Bread

3 cans (12oz each) biscuit dough
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1 cup, packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350° F. Grease a large bundt or tube pan. Meanwhile mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon and either leave in a large bowl or place in a large ziplock bag. Cut the biscuits into quarters and toss them in the sugar-cinnamon mix until well coated. Arrange the pieces in your prepared pan sprinkling with the optional pecans and/or raisins as you build up the layers. In a saucepan mix the butter and brown sugar over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuit pieces and immediately put into the oven to bake. Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 8-10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Don’t allow to cool longer or the Monkey Bread might stick to your pan as the sugars cool.

Farfalle with Red Chard & Chicken

Peter — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:27:50 +0000

It’s the first week of March and the weather has taken a decided turn towards spring here in Wisconsin. What that means exactly is that the thermometer has finally risen above freezing. I’m not getting my hopes too high yet, as there is still a very good chance for, at least, 1 or 2 more good snows, and even the possibility of a late winter, early spring blizzard, but there’s something in the air. I can feel it, and it is Spring.

If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m not one of these people that hates winter. In fact, I rather enjoy winter, though there are things about it I don’t like, such as driving 30 minutes to work on snow covered roads. I’m someone who loves all the seasons, although I have to admit that fall is by far my favorite. For me, autumn is the only season with no drawbacks. Winter, spring, and summer all have their positives, but they also have their downsides. Spring is starts off muddy, rainy and dreary, Summer can get too hot and humid, while Winter can get too cold and the snow can be a danger, at times, but I wouldn’t give up any of them.

I always look forward to the change in seasons and this year, I have to admit, I”m really ready for spring. It’s a gamble though, in Wisconsin, as to when spring will really arrive. Some years it can be as early as mid March and in others as late as late April or early May. It’s always a crap shoot, but I’m hoping for an early spring this year.

Today’s dish is a quick pasta, that can pretty much be done in the time it takes to bring water to a boil and cook your pasta. Something you’ll hear from me quite often is that good food doesn’t always have to take lots of time. Don’t worry, I’m not turning Rachel Ray on you, but I do think that there are plenty of wonderful dishes out there that take very little time.

This pasta, while short on cooking time, doesn’t skimp on flavor. Paired with a salad, some garlic bread and a glass of wine, this dish is a perfect late winter dinner, both when time is short and when you want to impress.

Farfalle with Red Chard and Chicken
-the amounts are for 1 serving, but this dish easily scales to just about any number of servings

4 oz. farfalle pasta
6 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast
2-3 oz. Cremini mushrooms
1 cup chard (swiss, red, rainbow your choice)
1/2 shallot
1 clove garlic
3/4 Tbsp. rosemary, fresh
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated
salt
pepper

Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, mince the garlic and the shallot. Chop and rinse the chard, stems included and finely chop the rosemary. Add the pasta to the boiling water. Preheat a large skillet and add the olive oil. While the skillet is heating dice the chicken breast. Add to the hot skillet and season. While chicken is cooking slice the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms when the chicken is 3/4s of the way done. Saute until the mushrooms start to wilt then add the garlic and shallots. Continue to saute for 4 minutes longer then add the chard. Toss a couple of times then add the wine and rosemary. When pasta is done (about 11 minutes cooking time depending on brand) drain, reserving a couple of tablespoons of cooking water. Add pasta to the skillet,then add the butter and parmesan. Remove from heat and toss and stir until the butter and parmesan have melted into the remaining liquid to make a smooth creamy sauce. The pasta should be lightly coated with the sauce. If a little too dry add a tablespoon or 2 of the pasta cooking liquid. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Baking Bread

Peter — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:22:32 +0000

Awhile ago I had promised myself to do more baking to regain some of those skills I lost due to not using them much over the last many years. While I have done more baking since I started this blog, I haven’t done nearly the amount I want, so I’ve made that promise to myself again and hopefully will stick with it.

The bread I baked the other day is the first loaf I’ve baked in quite some time, and I realized just how rusty those skills become without use. Don’t get me wrong, it turned out fine, but I do need a little work on my skills to get my breads to the level I would like them to be. None the less, I thought I’d share the recipe I used as it produces a bread with really good flavor. The crumb was a little dense for my taste, but again this was more due to my rusty skills then the recipe itself.

Before I get into the recipe though, there are a few terms I need to go over as many of you may not be familiar with them. First off is the term “poolish.” There are numerous different types of pre-ferments and words used to describe them. Poolish is one such term. While there are many different words out there, I find that there are 4 that people need to know. The rest of the terms are mostly variations on these 4 terms. These are, sourdough, levain, biga and poolish. The first 2 are preferments that capitalize on wild yeasts and micro organisms. These tend to take numerous days to create initially. Once created they are stored in the fridge and “fed” every so often to keep them active. When ready to bake with these type of preferments, a bit of the starter is pulled from the fridge and “fed” over a day or 2 to make the wild yeasts active again before making bread. These starters give bread a wonderful depth of flavor and often a slight sourness to them. These are very traditional methods of leavening a bread.

In contrast a biga and poolish use a small amount of commercially prepared yeast (store bought) to create a preferment. The yeast is mixed with water and flour, covered and allowed to sit for a few hours or overnight. Like its sourdough cousins, these starters help add depth of flavor to the bread and contribute to a more open texture and crumb. The main difference between a biga and poolish is hydration. A biga has less water and is more dough-like in consistency while a poolish contains more water and is closer to a batter or sponge in consistency.

In this recipe I also use a “stretch and fold” method of fermentation. During the initial bulk fermentation the dough is gently stretched out, folded into thirds, turned 90 degrees and folded into thirds again then gently rolled to tighten the surface again. This is often done every 30 minutes for the first 90 minutes of fermation and is used in open textured breads to help align the gluten strands.

Finally, if you are looking for a nice crisp crust to your bread you really need to invest in a pizza stone, preferably a large, square one and a spray bottle. The pizza stone will help provide a more even temperature in your oven, along with helping to crisp the bottom of your bread. The spray bottle, filled with water, will create the perfect steamy environment, in your oven, for producing a nice crust.

Basic Batard

1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/4 cups water, 90-100°F
3/4 tsp. yeast

2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup water, 90-100°F
2 tsp. yeast
2 1/2 tsp. salt

Start the night before you want to bake. To make the poolish, combine the first set of ingredients and mix until well combined. Cover, loosely with plastic wrap and allow to ferment, at room temperature, overnight. The following morning, combine the flour, yeast and salt in a bowl and set aside. Add the remaining water to the poolish and mix to loosen. Add the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Pour out, onto the counter that has been lightly dusted in flour and knead for 7-10 minutes. The dough will be slightly soft and on the sticky side. Refrain from adding too much flour as you knead. You want the dough soft. Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough in it. Place in a warm spot (preferably about 70-75°F – an oven with the light turned on is perfect if your kitchen is on the cool side). Every 30 minutes do a stretch and fold, as described above, making sure to be gently so as to not knock the gases out of it. After 90 minutes the dough should be about double in size. If not allow to proof a little longer, without doing any additional folds. Divide the dough in 2 and form into batards (a short fat baguette). Allow to rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 500°F. Dust a peel with flour, place batards on the peel, dust the tops with flour and, using a thin, sharp knife slash the top of batard starting about 1 inch from the end and going to within 1 inch of the other end and about 1/4 inch deep. Open the oven door and, using the spray bottle spray the sides of the oven. Try not to directly spray the pizza stone as excess moisture on the stone may make it crack. Quickly slip the loaves onto the pizza stone, close the oven door and reduce the heat to 450°F. During the first 5 minutes of baking quickly open the oven door and spray down the sides of the oven with water 3 times to produce steam. Do this quickly so as to not lower the temperature of the oven too much and to trap as much steam as possible. Bake for an additional 20 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers 200-205°F.

As tempting as it may be to cut into the bread right away, allow it to cool for at least 15-20 minutes to help develop its flavor.

Roast Chicken

Peter — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:54:45 +0000

Roast chicken, a dish so simple yet so difficult to master. When I was in the restaurant business roasting a simple chicken was often used as a test when hiring a new chef. At a glance roasting a chicken is one of simplest things in the world, but really think about it. How often have you had a truly great roasted chicken? So often the breast is dry or the thighs are undercooked, the skin never takes on that great crispness, or the whole thing just tastes rather bland. Yes, it’s simple to roast a chicken and yet so difficult to make it great. Roasting a chicken takes a lot of skilled technique and it is difficult to cover up if you have made an error at any point. That’s why so many people use it as a standard to measure chefs by.

Believe me, I have roasted countless chickens in my time. In the beginning it was a hit or miss proposition, but slowly I learned a few techniques that helped me conquer this foe. Search the internet and you will find a number of “fool proof” ways to roast a chicken. Let me tell you, first off there is no fool proof way. It takes diligence and missing that mark will definitely mean undercooked thighs or overcooked breasts. Some methods will have you rub butter over the flesh, under the skin. This is a great method but time consuming and a pain the ass if you aren’t careful as you can easily tear the skin. Also what about the wings and legs and thighs, it’s pretty hard to get under the skin on those.

All good methods will have you truss the chicken, pulling all the meat in tight to the body. Many people kind of tune out when they hear the word truss, thinking it is some difficult task better left to butchers and chefs. Not so! It is relatively easy and I will show you, step by step, how it’s done.

If at all possible start with a good quality chicken. At least try to find an organic bird from a small producer, or better yet source chicken from a local farmer if at all possible. Your last resort should be any of the large named producers. These birds are filled with antibiotics and hormones and in general are quite tasteless compared to locally raised birds.

Finally, we come to seasoning. A good roasted chicken requires copious amounts of salt and pepper to make a flavorful bird, both on the outside and on the inside. Beyond that the choice of herbs and aromatics is yours. Personally, I like to keep it simple, oftentimes, flavoring the bird with garlic only, though adding lemon or orange wedges to the cavity imparts some wonderful flavor as well as herbs such as thyme, rosemary, tarragon or others, whatever suits your tastes.

Roast Chicken
1 whole chicken (4-6 pounds)
1-1 1/2 Tbsp. butter*, softened
2 heads garlic
salt
pepper

Remove the giblets from the chicken and save for another use. Rinse the chicken under cold running water, then pat dry. Allow to sit for 1 hour at room temperature to take the chill off (don’t worry about letting it sit out, it’s not sitting out long enough for it to be dangerous). Meanwhile break apart the heads of garlic and peel the cloves. To make the job easier, lightly crush the cloves with the flat side of a knife. The skins should then pretty much slip off. Preheat the oven to 500°F. Once the chicken has rested, pat dry again and season the cavity with plenty of salt and pepper, getting your hand in there to run the seasoning into the flesh. Add the garlic cloves to the cavity. Next fold the wing tips underneath the bird.

Take an 18″ piece of butcher’s twine, find the center of it and wrap it around the neck of the bird, making one complete loop to secure it. Bring the two ends of the string up alongside the bird and over the thighs.

Loop the string around the end of the legs and have the ends cross in the center.

Next loop the strings all the way around the bird, underneath the tail, again meeting in the center, pulling them tight and tying them off.

Season the outside of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Use more than you think you need. Finally, take the softened butter and rub it all over the outside of the chicken. Place the chicken in a pan on a roasting rack. If you don’t have a roasting rack, peel 1 or 2 onions and cut into 1/2″ slices. Place the slices in the pan and place the chicken on top of that. Place the chicken into the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 425°F. Roast for approximately 45-55 minutes or until an instant read thermometer, stuck into the thickest part of the thigh registers 162 degrees (I prefer to use a digital probe thermometer that I leave in for the entire cooking process. I set it so that an alarm goes off when it reaches the proper temperature). Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before carving. Many recipes will tell you to cover the bird during this rest, but I find this to cause the skin to get soggy and one of my favorite parts or roast chicken is the crispy skin. Giving the chicken this resting time will allow the meat to relax, which in turn will allow more of the juices to stay in the meat. Carving before allowing this rest period will cause the chicken to expell much of its juices and moisture. This resting period goes for just about any large cut of meat. Carve and enjoy!

*I often use butter, but many fats can be used in place of the butter. Olive oil is probably the other most popular choice although I have used both duck fat and goose fat on numerous occasions. Bacon fat allow would be too strong and overpowering, but if you want the additional flavor cut 1 part bacon fat with 2 parts butter or oil.

Banana Almond Galette with Chocolate

Peter — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:58:13 +0000

Anyone watching the Olympics this year? I don’t know what it is, but for some reason I just can’t get into them much this year, which is strange for me as I am usually glued to the TV for the Winter Olympics. I did catch the opening ceremonies, which I thought were outstanding and I’ve caught a bit of the skiing events but not as much as I normally do. I’ve always been a big fan of the downhill events, especially the Super G and Downhill. I also love all the slalom events. I guess I’m kind of “old school” that way, though I don’t mind the newer “freestyle” events and snowboarding. I’ll watch the hockey events, but I have to admit, I’m bored mindless by all the other skating events. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they shouldn’t be included, I just don’t personally find them all that captivating, though I know many people do. So are you watching them this year? What are your favorite events?

In my last post I made chicken breasts wrapped in puff pastry. Since I had bought the pastry and used only 1 sheet of the dough I had another one left (they come 2 to a package) and thought I would create this simple dessert. The filling for this galette is frangipane, an almond filling made with ground almonds, sugar, eggs and a few other ingredients. I didn’t have almonds but had a block of marzipan around so based this frangipane off of that.

It’s hard to beat this combination of flavors. Chocolate complements both the almond and the banana flavors well and helps bring the galette together. Serve slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or cold the following morning as an excellent breakfast pastry.

Banana Almond Galette with Chocolate

5 oz. marzipan
2 Tbsp. heavy cream
1 egg
2 Tbsp. sugar + more for sprinkling on top
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 bananas, peeled and sliced 1/4″ thick
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

Pre heat oven to 400F. Break up the marzipan and mix with the cream and egg until smooth. Lay out puff pastry sheet on a lightly greased baking tray. Spread marzipan mixture over pastry leaving a 1 1/2″ border.

Sprinkle with the chocolate chips.

Finally arrange the banana slices over top, in a decorative fashion. I just created overlapping rows.

Sprinkle granulated sugar over top of the bananas and bake for 17-20 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden brown and the almond filling has puffed slightly. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

For added texture you could skip the step of sprinkling the sugar over the bananas before baking. Instead wait until the pastry has come out of the oven and cooled slightly. Sprinkle with sugar and use a blow torch to caramelize the sugar over top.

Poulet en Croute

Peter — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:45:39 +0000

Puff pastry should be a staple in everyone’s freezer nowadays. It can be found in virtually every grocery store, in the freezer section so there’s no excuse to not keep some around. Of course, if you are feeling ambitious you can make your own, but it is a time consuming endeavor. Making your own is well worth the time as anything you would make at home will always trump the stuff that you can buy, but in today’s age it can be hard to find the time, and it is certainly something you can’t do “at the last minute.” I encourage everyone to try their hand at making puff pastry once in their lives, but until then buy a box or 2 and keep them in the freezer.

Puff pastry is a very versatile product. It is used in many desserts, from traditional Napoleons to various tarts and galettes. It can be used to create edible “bowls” to place various foods or small shells that can be filled with an endless array of foods to make little hors’doeuvres, or it can be used to wrap various ingredients in flaky, buttery crust.

One of the best things about puff pastry is the way it can elevate a rather simple dish into something elegant and special. The recipe I offer up today is the perfect example of this. Without the puff pastry I’ve offered up a simple chicken breast topped with mushrooms, ham and swiss cheese. Wrap the whole thing in puff pastry and you have an elegant dish that you can impress friends and loved with.

A couple of things to keep in mind when working with puff pastry, either store bought or homemade. When working with it don’t allow it to get too warm or the butter will begin to melt prematurely. This is no good as you want the butter in there when it bakes. As the butter melts it produces steam and this is what gives puff pastry its puff. It shouldn’t be cold or it will crack, but should remain cool to the touch. When cutting puff pastry use a sharp knife and make sure you make clean cuts and don’t mash the edges as you cut. This will inhibit rising. Also when using an egg wash to help get a nice shiny golden color, try not to let the egg drip onto exposed cuts, this will also inhibit its rise.

Poulet En Croute

2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless (about 5-6 oz. each)
4 oz. white mushrooms, very finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 slices prosciutto
2-4 slices Swiss cheese, Emmentaler, or Gruyere, thinly sliced
1 sheet puff pastry, store bought
4 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 egg, beaten

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat a saute pan, add half the oil and sear the chicken breasts until cooked 3/4’s through.

Remove the chicken, add the remaining oil and the mushrooms. Cook for 3 minutes then add the garlic. Lower the heat to medium and cook until the mushrooms have given off most of their liquid and it has evaporated. Add the cream, season with salt and pepper and cook until the cream thickens and most of the liquid has reduced. Allow both the chicken and the mushrooms to cool to room temperature. Cut the puff pastry sheet in half. On each half layer, in order, the cheese, the ham, the mushroom mixture and finally the chicken breast, laying everything lengthwise along the pastry sheet, and leaving as much of a clean border around the pastry as possible.

Brush the exposed puff pastry with the beaten egg, just to moisten the pastry. Gently pull the pastry up over the chicken so that the pastry completely encloses the chicken. Don’t worry about making it look pretty, just make sure that it is well sealed and that you didn’t tear any holes in the pastry. If you did tear a hole just rip off a bit of the excess and use that to repair it. Flip the package over so that all your seams are on the bottom and gently smooth out the pastry.

Don’t worry about them looking perfect, once they puff up in the oven many of those small imperfections will disappear. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the pastry to set up again. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375F. When the pastry has chilled brush the top and sides and the beaten egg and place package on a slightly greased baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes. Lower the heat and bake for 20-25 minutes longer or until a thermometer, stuck into the middle of the chicken breast reaches 165F. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 7-8 minutes before serving.