Day nine: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Posted on | November 9, 2009
Probably to get away from the culinary school students because today, and today alone, we were given one piece of chicken (either a breast or a leg and thigh) and told to make a dish out of it, complete with starch, vegetable, and sauce.
We were told yesterday we were getting chicken. But that is all we knew.
Today, we were allowed to choose from three starches (selected by the school) and a handful of vegetables.
And the plate had to be pretty.
And we had an hour and a half to do it.
Welcome to the Mediterranean
We were not allowed to just dive in and make what we wanted. First, we had to tell the Chef what it would say on our menu. Based on that, he would let us cook what we wanted or not.
I considered a poached chicken (the only food I have ever poached was the salmon in my final exam for my second term and I wanted to try poaching again) with braised fennel and a cream sauce. I considered a Southern fried chicken with a pan gravy and biscuits. I considered a chicken breast sandwich with caramelized onions and smoked paprika aioli and micro greens with a side of vichyssoise.
And I even considered a take on the traditional club sandwich with pancetta and garlic aioli and homemade biscuits (would this have been fun or what?).
But, ultimately, I decided to go with a Mediterranean theme. So here is what I told him: “It will be a seared lemon and thyme chicken breast served on a fragrant bed of orzo with a side of sweet red onion confit and a rich pan sauce encircling the entire dish.”
He listened, arms crossed, looking into the distance, and nodding, ever so slightly, as I spoke.
“Yes. I like it. Okay.”
And here are my dishes.
Sweet red onion confit
First, I roughly julienned a red onion. I threw this into a small saucepan with butter (I must have put in a good ounce or two of butter, but when the Chef peeked into my pan, he told me to add at least that much again. When it was done, it was positively dripping with all that butter. He thought that was marvelous, but I thought that was way, way too much.) I also added minced fresh tarragon and thyme and dried lavender. Then I covered this and put this on a burner on medium heat for a good hour, stirring every so often so the confit would be evenly carmalized.
I did not save any thyme or tarragon to sprinkle on the confit at the end, but if I make it again, I will to add more flavor to the dish.
Seared lemon and thyme chicken breast
While the confit cooked, I liberally sprinkled salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken breast, then I seared it skin side (the presentation side) in a spitting hot pan with a dash of grapeseed oil. When it was a beautiful golden brown on the outside, but still raw on the inside, I removed it from the heat and added white wine, minced garlic, very thin lemon slices, and a tied bundle of thyme and tarragon. I covered the pan (I didn’t want to lose the liquids), and popped it in the oven to finish (it took about 20 minutes at 450 F).
Fragrant bed of orzo
Then I simply boiled my orzo (the first time I have ever made orzo, by the way) and tossed it with olive oil, salt and pepper, and sliced green olives. The olives made it tasty, but it wasn’t exactly fragrant! (Which wasn’t a big problem becasue the other dishes, especially the confit, were very fragrant.)
Plating it all
When the chicken was done, I removed the breast from the pan, allowing it to rest and reabsorb those juices, discarded my tied aromatics (the bundle of thyme and tarragon) and made a pan sauce out of the drippings and fond.
The sauce wasn’t too bad, but I ended up adding too much lemon, making it too acidic. I balanced it with some sugar, but, between us, while that helped, it just didn’t help enough.
Then I sliced my breast so it would fan nicely on the plate.
At this point, the Chef came by and helped me to plate my food. He mixed my onion confit with the orzo to help give it some body so it would stand up on the plate and not just disintegrate into a sloppy mess. Then, he fanned the breast on the side of the mound of orzo and onion. He topped this with a bit more of the confit, then topped that with a generous pinch of micro greens.
Then a drizzle of olive oil around the food, and wha la, a very pretty plate.
Do you know what these are: Tiger, cougar, camel, rhinoceros, kangaroo, hippopotamus, bison, lion, hyena, zebra, elephant, sheep, bear, gorilla, monkey, seal, giraffe? Why they are the animal shapes used in animal crackers!
Afterward, in class, we talked wine and beer and how they were made and which beer was best and why you can’t make beer ice cubes and where the best place was to go for beer and how beer tastes best cold but not icy, and how warm beer tastes like piss and what was with the English and their beer anyway, and why do they serve beer warm and …
Then we left. But not before we got the syllabus for the next four days for the kitchen portion of the term.
The very first lollipops were made in Connecticut. They were named after a race horse: Lolly Pop.
Next, we will cook something I have never cooked before. My husband loves it and would eat it all the time if it were more available. I tried it for the first time last week and really could not see the allure. But, hey, that was only one bite of one dish, so maybe the one we make at school will be more appealing.
On the first day, we will do fabrication and make a side dish. Day two, we will braise some and make a stuffing. Day three we’ll stuff and braise some more. And on the fourth, and final, day, we’re making a vegetable side dish and will cook our protein.
And as for the black box item on the fifth day, it will run much like today’s black box: We will be told what the protein is the day before and we will have to select vegetables and starches from the limited number of items offered.
The Chef does not know what the next black box protein will be. He said he was thinking of scallops.
I told him I was, too.
Contest where you can win, win WIN!
You asked for it, so I created it (erm, am creating it as we speak!). The next post will announce both the contest and the FREE PRIZE! (You have to say it like that: FREE PRIZE!, don’t you?!). Good luck and stay tuned.
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November 9th, 2009 @ 12:52 pm
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