| Chef2Chef Recipe Club - Volume 1 Number 015 - October 5, 2001. Forum, Subscribe & Unsubscribe Information are at the end of this message. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Good Friday Morning! Wow, another week of great recipes comes to an end. Let's thank Chef June Jacobs CCP for her contribution. She'll be back soon with recipes with a "Southern" slant. Looking forward to that. If you folks have any questions, comments, ideas for a weeks theme, anything, just drop a note into the Recipe Club forum and I'll get after it. Promise! http://forums.chef2chef.net Here's the weekend recipes. Hope you've had a great week. Next week "Oriental" Bon Appetit, Chef David Nelson Friday: Brie Puff Pastry This incredibly easy is extremely versatile. It also freezes very well, so you can make it ahead of time and keep it on hand. We're going to use it twice in this dinner - half of it will be used as the base for our appetizer, Montrachet Tarts. The remainder will serve as the crust for the Caramelized Apple Tart. makes about one pound of pastry 1 cup unsalted butter, COLD (cut into 8 pieces) 1. In food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the flour and butter with short pulses until mixture is the consistency of coarse meal. 1. Cut the Brie into several small pieces and add to the flour mixture. Pulse until just before mixture forms a ball. Form mixture into a disc and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour. Teacher's Tip: This pastry is so versatile and durable you may wish to make it in "commercial amounts" and keep it on hand in your freezer. Here are the proportions: 1 pound unsalted butter, 1 pound (4 cups) unbleached flour; 1/2 pound Brie. Montrachet Tarts You will absolutely love these tiny little tartlets of tender Brie puff pastry you can buzz up in your Cuisinart! They are fabulous to serve with Champagne as an Amûse-Bouche, for a special dinner, or as a passed hors d'oeuvre for a cocktail party, anytime. What makes them even better is that the pastry can be made (and frozen) as much as a month in advance, and the tiny tarts completely assembled (except for brushing with the rosemary oil and baking) and kept stacked in your refrigerator the day of your party to be baked as needed. I can't take the credit ... These were created by my dear friend and mentor, Judith Dunbar Hines when we worked together at The Chicago Caterers. makes 6 cocktail servings 1/2 recipe Brie Puff Pastry 1. Remove the rosemary leaves from their stems and chop them coarsely with a large chef's knife. Put into a glass jar with the olive oil. You may do this several days ahead. 2. When you are ready to assemble the tarts, pull small pieces of the dough (about the size of a gumball) from the disc, and roll into a ball in your palms. Place the balls about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet. Press them down with your thumb. Put a little piece of goat cheese in the thumbprint. Chill the trays VERY WELL. 3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Remove baking sheets from refrigerator only as needed. Brush each tart with the room-temperature rosemary oil. Bake about 10 minutes. Remove to a tray and serve immediately. Teacher's Tip: Garnish the serving tray with a fresh rosemary sprig. Shopping List: On a nippy autumn evening, there are few dishes as satisfying -- or as romantic -- as a hearty Boeuf Bourguignon. This is an essential dish to have in your repertoire because, besides being heart-warming and delicious, it benefits from being prepared in advance and reheated; AND leftovers freeze well. Makes 6 servings 3 pounds lean stew beef (chuck, round), cut in 1 1/2-inch cubes 1. In a large mixing bowl, combine beef cubes with the wine, 3 tablespoons Cognac, the bouquet garni, a few peppercorns and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Set aside to marinate for at least 2 hours, but not overnight. 2. Peel and chop the onions and carrots. Remove rind from the bacon and cut the meat into 1-inch pieces. Blanch bacon in boiling water for several seconds. Drain and pat dry. 3. Remove beef from the marinade with a slotted spoon and pat dry. (If the meat is not dry, it will not brown.) Reserve the marinade. 4. Heat a Dutch oven or a large, deep-sided sauté pan with a tight-fitting lid and film it with oil. Sauté the bacon until it is lightly browned. Remove bacon from the pan and set aside to drain on paper towels. Leave any bacon fat in the pan. 5. Add the remaining vegetable oil to the pan, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in it, and when it is very hot add the beef to the pan (in 2 batches, if necessary) and sear on all sides. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the beef from the pan. 6. Add the chopped onions and carrots to the pan and sauté the mixture until onions become translucent. Return the beef and bacon to the pan. Add the marinade and bouquet garni to the pan and bring everything to a boil. Add unpeeled but lightly crushed garlic. Cover and simmer over low heat until beef is tender -- about 2 1/2 hours -- and the sauce is a rich, dark brown. 7. Wipe the mushroom caps with a piece of paper towel. Peel the pearl onions, and cut an "x" in the root end of each with a small, sharp knife. Melt the remaining butter in another skillet. Add the onions and mushrooms and sauté quickly over medium high heat without browning. Set aside. 8. When the beef has finished cooking, remove it and the bacon from the cooking liquid with a slotted spoon. Strain the liquid through a sieve or strainer. Press to get all the juices out of the vegetables you will be discarding. Return the sauce to the pan with the beef and bacon. (If the sauce seems too thin, mix 2 teaspoons of potato starch with 1/4 cup of the cool sauce before returning to the pan.) Add the mushrooms, pearl onions and the remaining Cognac. Warm the stew until it is completely heated through. Wine Tip: I like to drink a Corton or Pommard (Burgundy, of course!) with this very Burgundian stew -- or you could choose a Carneros Pinot Noir from California. Saffron Fettuccine 1/2 pound top quality dried fettuccine (some brands call it "tagliatelle" - it's all the same) 1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add a large tablespoon of salt and the saffron. When the water boils furiously again, add the pasta. Stir to make sure the noodles don't stick together. (Do NOT add oil to the water!) 2. Drain the cooked pasta well and add about 2 tablespoons unsalted butter to the pasta in its dish. Shopping List:
This is the most popular salad I've ever served. It was created quite a few years ago when I was just getting started in the food business. It's still a winner -- a little different, but not weird -- and provides a sweet/tart palate cleanser before dessert. Makes 6 servings 1 head Boston lettuce, well washed and thoroughly dried Dressing: 1. Remove pithy bottoms from Boston lettuce leaves, and remove the woody arugula stems. Drain the strawberries, and put the first five ingredients into a large, shallow bowl (perhaps the one you will bring to the table). 2. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard and vinegar, then add the walnut oil, whisking all the while. Continue whisking while dribbling in the Canola oil, then add the salt and pepper. Taste and correct the seasoning. Toss with the salad just before arranging on individual plates or salad bowls. Shopping List:
Tarte Tatin is an apple tart that is baked with the crust on top and inverted on the serving plate. Two French sisters (named Tatin) supposedly invented it in the Loire Valley many years ago. Whatever the REAL story, the tart became a classic because it tastes so good and is so easy to prepare. This is another delicious use for the Brie Puff Pastry. makes one 10-inch tart 1/2 recipe Brie Puff Pastry 1. Quarter, core and peel apples. Cut them lengthwise into 1/8-inch slices (thin). Mix cinnamon and sugar and toss with the apples. 2. Butter a 10-inch ovenproof deep fry pie pan heavily with the 2 tablespoons soft butter. Make sure you coat the bottom especially well. Sprinkle half of the 1/2 cup of sugar over the butter. Arrange 1/3 of the apples over the sugar. Sprinkle 1/3 of the melted butter over the apples. Repeat with 1/2 the remaining apples and butter, then a final layer of apples and butter. Put remaining sugar on top. Cook on top of the stove (over medium-low heat) for about 20 minutes, until apples have softened and begun to caramelize. 3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out pastry to 1/8-inch thick. Cut it into a circle the size of the top of the pie pan. Place over the apples, letting the edges fall against the inside edge of the dish. Cut 4 or 5 holes about 1/8-inch long in pastry as vents. 4. Bake in lower third of preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes. If pastry is browning too fast, cover lightly with aluminum foil. Tart is done when you can see thick brown syrup exuding from Shopping List: EDITORS NOTE: If you loved these recipes, stop by Chef June's website and pick up on of our new cookbooks, Feastivals, Have a great weekend! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |