citrus fennel chicken

This was the last Sauces class of the year, so Chef Morse set up our final to be kind of Iron Chef-style. Each team got to pick from three proteins: beef, chicken or fish. Our team picked chicken and fish, and I was in charge of the chicken.

This recipe was emailed to my inbox not too long ago, and I decided to adapt it. Instead of clementines I used segmented oranges.

This is me segmenting oranges, one of the first things I ever learned to do in culinary school. And it was taught by Chef Morse too.



After that I cut up fennel in segments too.



Frank helped me marinate them in olive oil, orange juice, lemon juice, mustard, brown sugar, salt and pepper.



Meanwhile I prepared the other seasonings in the dish: butter, lemon, toasted almond slices, toasted fennel seed, thyme, parsley (chopped and whole leaf) and fennel frond.



Scott seared off the chicken breasts, seasoned with cayenne, salt and pepper.



Jen contributed a delicious Israeli couscous, made with chicken stock and seasoned with cucumber, fennel frond and feta cheese (the feta changed everything).



After all this we still had some time to kill, so Jen and I candied some orange peel, to further play on the citrus theme and to provide a different textural element.



Once it got close to plating time, I started on the sauce. I took the pan that the chicken had been seared off in, and mounted the pan with some butter.



Then I threw in the marinated orange & fennel, along with some marinade, and cooked that off.



In went the other seasonings I had prepared: lemon juice, toasted almond slices, toasted fennel seed, thyme and chopped parsley.



Cooked everything until the sauce was the consistency I wanted.



Then came plating. Or rather, some contem(plating), haha.



Bed of couscous first, then chicken, then sauce.



We garnished with parsley leaf, fennel frond, slivers of orange peel, and an orange segment.



Besides the chicken being a little dry from finishing too long in the oven, everything tasted pretty good. Citrus + fennel + chicken = good combination.

thai red curry paste

In Sauces class we deviated from the classic cream/butter sauces to do something herb/spicy (the other mode of getting flavor). Specifically, Thai red curry paste!

I've only made Thai curry a handful of times, and always with packaged pastes. So making this from scratch was really exciting.

I started out with the dried spices - 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, 2 cardamom pods, 1/2 tsp black peppercorns, 1/2 tsp salt.



Ground all of that with the mortar & pestle until it was powder.



Next were some ingredients I haven't worked with before: galangal (similar to ginger), lemongrass, what is supposed to be kaffir lime (but was actually just regular lime), and what is supposed to be coriander/cilantro root (actually just the stems and leaves). Even in culinary school we have to do Americanized substitutions, haha.



We did get authentic shrimp paste though. This stuff is potent.



The recipe called for 10 dried chilies and 10 fresh chilies (I assume red bird's eye chili), but we made do with what we had. From left to right, I used 10 dried guajillos, 1 fresh fresno and 3 green bird's eye chilies.



Then there was a lot of mincing of the fresh ingredients. Clockwise from the top: 2 teaspoons lemongrass (lower portion), 1 teaspoon lime peel, fresh green chili, fresh red chili, 3 tablespoons shallots, 3 tablespoons garlic, 1 teaspoon galangal, 1 tablespoon cilantro stem, and 1 teaspoon shrimp paste in the middle.



Everything went in the mortar and pestle and was ground up. The dried chilies had to be soaked in water, de-seeded and pureed before it could go in though. All in all the yield was about 5 tablespoons.



For each tablespoon, you sautee it with some oil, add 1/2 cup coconut milk, then a dash of palm (or brown) sugar and fish sauce. We cooked chicken with red bell pepper, basil and kaffir lime leaves. It was delicious.

scallops meunière

In Sauces class we had the choice of doing Steak Diane, filet of sole or Scallops Meunière and I chose the scallops because I'd never really cooked scallops before.

Meunière is a classic French sauce of brown butter and lemon, most often used with fish or seafood. In our version it started with searing the scallops in a pan with oil, a few minutes on each side until golden brown.



Like the chicken dish from before, this was another pan sauce. After searing the scallops, I dumped out the excess oil, then sauteed butter until it started turning brown. Then I added the capers, raisins and almonds.



The sauce was seasoned with Worchestershire and lemon, then chopped parsley was added at the end.



For the plating, we seared off a wedge of onion and some cauliflower florets. Since there were five pieces of scallop it occurred to me to make it a flower pattern, with the florets at the center and the onions fanning out.



We poured the sauce over it, hot. Another savory and rich sauce with just the right amount of tang, with the added bonus of sweetness from raisins and crunch from slivered almonds. Yum.

pan-sauce chicken

For this portion of the semester, our advanced class is focused on sauces, both classic and modern. We started out with a pan-sauce for chicken.

First you take some oil and sear the chicken breast (salt & peppered, presentation side down) until it's golden.



Turn over and sear the other side, then throw the chicken in the oven so the inside can cook.



While the chicken is roasting, take the pan you just used for searing and pour any excess oil out, leaving just the chicken fond (bits left over from searing). Throw in a little butter, then sautee mushrooms and shallots.



After they've cooked for a bit, deglaze with white wine and sherry vinegar (preferably this kind if you can get your hands on it), then add demiglace (or reduced/thickened brown stock).



Let the sauce simmer for a bit, then add some roasted garlic puree and a little more butter if needed.



Lastly, turn the heat off and stir in some chopped chives.



By the time your sauce is done, the chicken should be done too. Cut into the non-presentation side and check to see if the juices run clear. If not, put it back into the oven for another few minutes. Otherwise, pour the sauce over and serve!



The sauce is rich but savory with a tang, and even better with creamy mashed potatoes. Mmm.