Nibbling Along

Imperfect

Usually I think my instincts with food are pretty good -- when I guess that such-and-such will pair with this-or-that, I'm often correct. When I make substitutions, it's usually an improvement on the original. This wasn't the case with this turkey breast with chantrelles in cream sauce. I like turkey (and the turkey breast tenderloins I got were about the size of boneless skinless chicken breasts, making for a quick cook time), I like chantrelles, and I thought they would combine well in a sort of variation on this Ina Garten recipe, which is good but a little hotel-food-ey, if you know what I mean.

Who doesn't love the combination of mushrooms and thyme? I think chopped chantrelles, thyme, and shallots would have been really good as a sandwich with a fried egg. Sauteed mushrooms on toast always makes me think of J.R.R. Tolkein and his hobbits -- he made their favorite food mushrooms on toast, because he loved that snack himself. Just a little tip -- if you add whole sprigs of thyme as I did in the photo above, the flavor will infuse the dish (and many of the leaves will fall off) so you can just pull the sprigs out at the end. I added a little chardonnay to deglaze the pan, then some cream and creme fraiche to make a pretty tasty sauce. The turkey breasts had been seared in the pan (to contribute fond) and I finished them with a quick roast in the oven. The turkey breasts were pretty good, the sauce was pretty good, but overall it was a little underwhelming. I think it would be better if I'd used some crimini mushrooms, because these chantrelles were a little bit on the delicate side, flavor-wise, and turkey has a stronger flavor than chicken.

Incidentally, I'm irritated that crimini mushrooms are sometimes also sold as "Italian brown" mushrooms, or as "baby portobellas," and the price tends to vary depending on the name. Once, I saw these mushrooms in two separate loose bins in a supermarket -- one bin labeled "Italian brown mushrooms, $2.99 a pound," the other "baby portobellas, 5.99 a pound." They were the exact same product -- the "baby portobellas" were no larger than the "Italian browns," and they weren't organic vs. conventional -- so I guess either the produce manager didn't know his produce or expected ignorance from his customers.

Anyway, I was disappointed that the whole of this dish was less than the sum of its parts, especially since fresh chantrelles are freaking expensive.

Begin with a Nibble

When I have company over, I always like to have a little cheese tray out so everyone can have a little nibble, drink some wine, and chat. It's a really classic, elegant way to start a dinner party, and it takes a hell of a lot less time to put together than a tray of fussy hors d'oeuvres. I think that doing a good cheese tray requires some thoughtfulness and planning, though, so I thought I'd give a little explanation of how I do mine.

My game plan for a cheese plate is to have something sweet, something savoury, some good bread or crackers, and maybe some marcona almonds or other good nuts. Sometimes I put out a few different kinds of cheese, but the other night we just had Jason's friend Ed and Ed's six-year-old son over, so I went with just one wedge of a standout cheese -- creamy, buttery St. Andre. This has been one of my favorite cheeses since college, when my roommate and I would breakfast on little slices of St. Andre toasted in whole wheat pita bread.

I always, always, always want something on the plate to cleanse the palate -- especially if I'm putting out olives (don't forget a little plate or bowl for pits), or a really strong cheese such as a gorgonzola. Grapes are perfect for that. I also like to put out two kinds of bread or cracker, since not everyone likes the same kinds. On this plate, I used original flavor Mary's Gone Crackers, which are really cruncy and nutty and delicious (and gluten free, to boot), and theoretically chive-flavored crackers from the Fine Cheese Co. I say "theoretically" because even though these crackers looked like they had little flecks of green, I could not discern any chive flavor. I won't be buying those again -- they were okay tasting, but not good enough to justify the price.

When I'm putting out more than one cheese, I try to think about what my guests like and how the cheeses will go with the meal as a whole. I think it's a bad idea to use a really pungent cheese before the meal, because such strong flavors can blow out your palate too early in the meal -- though if you're doing a cheese tasting at the end of a meal, a really stinky Gorgonzola would be great (I'd like it with some dried fruits and toasted nuts). To make everyone happy, I usually include one brie-like cheese and one sharp cheddar, and then go with whatever I feel like having for a third cheese. Cheeses should always be served at room temperature to really show off their flavors, so be sure to take them out of the fridge a couple of hours before your guests arrive.

One last thing I always try to think about is color -- cheese and bread alone on a plate is monochromatic and boring. Depending on what you're serving, use grapes, olives, roasted bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, apples, pears, or other fruits and vegetables to brighten things up. Use a plain, clean white plate as your canvas, and all the colors will stand out beautifully.

Goldilocks Garlick

Onions might be my favorite ingredient to work with, but garlic is probably a very close second. The appeal is largely in the textural experience -- I love slicing a round globe of winter onion in two, and peeling off the top papery layer. Garlic husks rustle as I pop off cloves, faintly fanning a little of their aroma into the air. When smacked with the flat of a knife, the husks make a satisfying crunch.

Between the raw heat of fresh garlic and the intense caramelized gooiness of roasted garlic, there's a happy medium: toasted garlic. To toast, simply place as many cloves (still in their husks) in a dry pan, and place over medium heat,tossing occasionally, until you start to see little tan spots on the paper. Cool and use however you like. The heat takes some of the edge off of the flavor, but doesn't change the texture as much as roasting would. It's the garlic that would make Goldilocks perfectly happy -- not too much heat, not too sweet, but just right.

Better BS

...And by BS, of course, I mean boneless skinless. I've often talked trash about chicken breasts, because they're usually the crappiest thing anyone serves. I've had rubbery chicken breasts, spongey chicken breasts, stringy chicken breasts, and -- of course -- completely bland chicken breasts. Even (or perhaps especially) when cooked with the rest of the chicken, the situation isn't much better, because by the time the fattier dark meat is perfectly cooked, the breasts are sadly dessicated and lifeless.

They are healthy, though, and I have had a few decent bits of white meat in my day, so I decided to try my hand at making a chicken breast that not only doesn't suck, but is actually pretty tasty. I first wanted this chicken for use in Caesar salad, but it's also good on it's own with a little pan sauce (like the one in this recipe, though I think chicken is even better with thyme).

Chicken usually benefits from a brine, but I wanted to make this as streamlined of a process as possible, so I skipped the brining and just seasoned the breasts judiciously. It's not really necessary, because at least part of any piece of the meat you eat will have been hit directly with the seasonings -- unlike a whole chicken, which needs a brine for seasoning to penetrate beyond the very outer layer. I seasoned both the breasts themselves, and the light flour coating I dusted them in. I think the flour really helps to get good caramelization and texture on the outside of the breast.

Aside from proper seasoning, the most important element in making a good piece of meat is hitting the right temperature. You don't want to undercook chicken for health reasons, but you don't want to overcook it because it will taste like cardboard. If you don't already own one, buy a probe thermometer right this very second. You can buy one for less than $18 on Amazon here. I've used mine (well, not this specific one -- we just got this one a couple weeks ago after I accidentally melted the old one to death) for cooking meats, making caramels, even for cheesecake. You can set a little timer to go off when whatever you're making hits the correct temperature -- how cool is that? And since the probe is attatched to a long metal cord, you don't have to keep opening and closing the oven door to check on things.

Because I'm lazy, I didn't want to use more than one pan to make some stupid little chicken breasts, so I do the whole thing in a cast iron pan, which is oven-safe and very easy to clean once it cools down. It also is great because you can get a nice little bit of that brown stuff on the bottom of the pan called fond, which is great to have if you want to build a little pan sauce while your chicken rests. See that golden brown stuff on the bottom of the pan in the photo? That's fond. It's delicious.

Speaking of resting your chicken, rest it. Chicken breasts only need about 5 minutes or so -- if you're going to be eating them right away, put a little tent of foil over the top to keep them warm -- but definitely give them that time to let the juices redistribute back into the meat, and also to let the meat coast up to the perfect temperature. Otherwise you'll cut into the chicken, the juices will all run out of the meat, and you will cry tears of shame for not remembering to rest your chicken properly.

Want to make some boneless skinless chicken breasts that are really quick and actually taste pretty good? Here's the recipe.

Separate but Equal

Segregation: I'm for it. Not for people -- for onions and potatoes. I truly believe that, with a little tolerance and understanding, all people can live in peace with one another. The same cannot be said of potatoes and onions in storage. When stored together, the gases they give off will cause both of them to go bad fast, and that's gross. They both like the same storage conditions -- a cool, dark, fairly dry place -- but they need separate homes. I store my onions (and shallots and garlic, if I've got them) in a top trawer because I use them more often, and the potatoes go in a lower drawer or cupboard with the less-used kitchen stuff so they won't be likely to get dinged as I dig around for utensils. Let's review: for people, segregation = racist and bad, when storing potatoes and onions, segregation = helpful in preventing spoilage.

Smashie Smashie

Last year, I went to the Gilroy Garlic Festival with my grandmother-in-law and cousin-in-law. I didn't make it this year, and that's fine. Some of the food is pretty good (though I was not a fan of the garlic ice cream -- I was expecting a more mellow, roasted garlic flavor, and instead it was full of raw garlic heat) and the wine tasting tent is worth a visit for the shade and the Rapazzini almond sparkling wine (which smells like marzipan and is a great aperitif -- I don't really like their other wines, but this stuff is tasty). The downside is, the festival is ridiculously hot and dusty, and the many tacky or new-agey arts-and-crafts booths leave me with an urge to purchase my very own collection of handcrafted, personalized flamethrowers.

I do love garlic, though, and in honor of this very savoury member of the allium family, which was, I'm sure, gloriously fêted lasted weekend in Gilroy, I figured I'd do a little post about garlic. Not a recipe (though I'm marinading some pork chops as I write, and I'll share the details later), but a simple technique: how to peel garlic.

First, set out as many cloves as you need on a stable cutting board. These three cloves are from part of a large garlic "braid" I purchased at last year's festival -- it kept pretty well all year hanging up on the kitchen wall. I'm just now starting to see a little sprouting in some cloves, so it's time to toss it, but these three looked okay.

Take a heavy, wide knife -- a chef's knife or santoku knife works well -- lay the blade flat on top of the cloves, and smash down on the flat of the blade with the palm of your hand. If you're nervous about smacking a knife with your hand, you can even just place your palm on the flat of the blade and apply pressure. You'll hear a little crunch as the cloves' papery covering breaks.

And there you have it -- the paper is no longer irritatingly snug around the garlic, but has popped open like an unbuttoned jacket. It will slide off very easily, and you are then free to mince your garlic, press it, or just smash it up a bit more and toss it in a marinade.