|
Chef2Chef Recipe Club - Volume 5 Issue 71 - October 6, 2003 Chef2Chef Recipe Club Member Forum: http://forums.chef2chef.net -------------------------------------------------- Hello Recipe Club, This week is going to be a different format than what you're used to, so let me explain. My name is Mike Rodman and I am not a professional chef (nor do I play one on TV), but I enjoy cooking at home and have for several years. And although kind friends have suggested I open a restaurant, upon hearing such I generally picture some guy complaining about his food and what I would look like behind bars after reacting to it. So as a (happy and less-stressed) amateur, I don't have hundreds of original seven-course meals to share with you. But what I do have is a lifetime of entertaining dining stories (I loved to eat before I loved to cook) and my attempts at re-creating those special meals at home. The stories will be personal and, hopefully, entertaining. And each story will come with a recipe that I worked years (no exaggeration) to perfect. And I welcome you to improve upon them, as you see fit for your palette. So without further ado (or any ado, for that matter), please let me tell you about Chicken Savoy. -------------------------------------------------- In my late 20s and early 30s (in the mid-1980s) I was living in an apartment in Bloomfield, NJ This was very convenient because there were great Italian restaurants nearby, often frequented by Tony Soprano and Uncle Junior (well, not really, but you get the idea). I, myself, am not Italian. But I was raised in a predominately Italian neighborhood in Maplewood, NJ. And through the cooking of my friends' mothers, I kinda became an honorary Italian (although with my Howdy Doody face there was no mistaking me for the real thing). A few blocks from my Bloomfield apartment, just over the Belleville line, there was a little hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant called, "The Belmont Tavern". And living nearby might have been the best food logistics of my life. The restaurant had about a dozen or so tables and a small bar. The "decor" consisted of dozens of 8 x 10 glossies of Italian celebrities -- most of which were Joe Pesci. The main piece of art was a giant blow-up of Joe DiMaggio with his arm around the owner. And why did Pesci and Joe D. come to this little dive? The Chicken Savoy. One night, while waiting for a table, I overheard a conversation between two older, Italian gentlemen that went something like this: First Guy: My tomato plants have ripened. Second Guy: What are you talking about? Your tomato plants (expletive). First Guy: (Expletive) you. Your tomatoes (expletive). Second Guy: Bull (expletive). You couldn't grow a tomato if your life depended on it. First Guy: Oh yeah, I got tomatoes bigger than your (expletive) head. Second Guy: Big as my head, my (expletive). Your tomatoes (expletive). ... and on this conversation went for about 20 minutes. But it was worth every minute, just to get to the Chicken Savoy. Fortunately, it was a weeknight because, without exaggeration, the waiting line on Friday and Saturday nights was about two hours. And what were all these people waiting for? You've got it: Chicken Savoy. Several years later, in 1991, I moved to Arkansas, in an attempt to resurrect my newspaper career (what was I thinking?). And longing for some Chicken Savoy, I set about trying to re-create it. Twelve years later, I think I've got something pretty good. In fact, two kind New Jersey friends have told me (with little in the way of alcohol poisoning) that mine's better. Personally, I wouldn't go that far, but I've never seen anything but a smiling face after I serve it. -------------------------------------------------- Got a Passion for Cooking or know someone who does? Make it your Career! Shop and compare TOP US Culinary Institutes that offer Financial Aid and Job Placement. Request Information today and get your Career cooking in just 15 months! Chef2Chef.Net/Culinary-Institute -------------------------------------------------- Before the pay-off, three notes: 1) When I started to cook, I didn't know anything. I had cheap cookware and no tools, such as food processors and the like. And because I was working about 400 hours a week (or so it seemed), I relied a lot on bottled, store-bought ingredients, such as bottled crushed garlic. But even after I learned the advantages of fresh garlic, there were still some dishes that tasted better with the bottled stuff and this is one of them. 2) Your kitchen is going to smell thick with the air of garlic and balsamic vinegar. This is the price you have to pay. 3) I have also made this dish with Cornish Game Hens and it is both wonderful and impressive. CHICKEN SAVOY 4 bone-in chicken breasts, with skin left intact balsamic vinegar 3 Tbsp. margarine 1 heaping Tbsp. bottled crushed garlic salt, pepper and paprika 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar 1/3 cup red wine vinegar 1/3 cup water 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Clean the chicken and cut away extraneous fat. Liberally sprinkle chicken with balsamic vinegar on both sides and place on an elevated rack, skin side up, in a roasting pan. Pour 1/4 cup of water in the bottom of the pan. In a small skillet, melt the margarine (sorry butter lovers, but butter will separate in the oven and leave this dish an unpleasant mess) with the crushed garlic until you have a semi-thick, oozing garlic spread. Spoon liberally over the chicken and season to taste with salt, pepper and paprika (for color). Roast for 40 minutes. Remove chicken from the oven and raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Take the cup of balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar and water, and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute. Pour the mixture into the bottom of the roasting pan and sprinkle the parsley on top of the chicken. Return to oven, for 10 minutes (or until juices run clear when pierced at the thickest point). Remove chicken to plates. Scrape up the juices in the bottom of the pan, pour into a large measuring cup (or something similar) and pour juices around each piece of chicken. I have found the perfect side dish to be pasta with an Alfredo sauce. Our moderator, Dave, will now supply you with a homemade Alfredo recipe, if you prefer not to use the store-bought type. Mike Rodman is a free-lance writer who lives on Beaver Lake in Northwest Arkansas. He will have a book of short stories published as soon as he can drag himself out of the kitchen. -------------------------------------------------- Smart Chicken.com We would like to introduce you to Smart Chicken, this country's only air-chilled fresh chicken. Smart Chicken is truly the most natural chicken in the United States. All birds are raised on a 100% natural diet and processed using purified cold air instead of adding non-potable water - that's the air-chilled difference. Succulent flavor, Twice as tender, Always fresh and never frozen, Cooks 17-20% faster. We invite you to graduate your tastes with Smart Chicken. Visit the Smart Chicken http://html.chef2chef.net/goto.php?id=360 -------------------------------------------------- I've always been a big fan of Lidia Bastianich and this is a version of her recipe. Fettuccine Alfredo Ingredients: Enough pasta for four people, about 1 pound uncooked. 4 tbsp. butter 2/3 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup chicken stock or broth Sea salt and Fresh cracked pepper, to taste 2 large egg yolks 1/4 cup fresh Parmesan, grated Procedure: Cook the pasta until just underdone. While the pasta is cooking, combine the butter, heavy cream and chicken stock in a pot large enough to hold the pasta and the sauce. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Season with salt and pepper. Now add the undercooked pasta into the pot and return to a boil. This finishes the pasta and the sauce will be a bit thin. Once the pasta is done to perfection and the sauce is still boiling, turn off the heat and add one of the egg yolks and quickly stir it in, then the other. This will thicken your sauce. If it is too thick, add just a bit more stock. Now add the cheese and toss well. Serve to warm bowls immediately. -------------------------------------------------- QUESTIONS, Comments, Technical Support: http://forums.chef2chef.net |