America's Test Kitchen "Dish It Your Way" Challenge: Mac n' Cheese

I recently watched a show where French chef Christian Constant demonstrated his version of a pasta dish.  He stuffed cooked macaroni with paper thin truffles, cut the macaroni’s into rounds, placed them on the inside of a hollowed out eggshell, and then filled that with a scallop mousse.  Once cooked, he removed the shell and had something that looked like a Fabergé egg.  It was amazing, and like Michael Jordan doing a layup, he made it look easy.

While pondering what to do for the next round of America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” challenge, Christophe turned to me said, “Do something like that!”

My response, “You’re nuts!”  I’ve never been good at basketball and have never been able to a layup to save my life.  There was no way I was going to try what a starred chef pulled out of his hat.  Not to mention, it was missing one key element: cheese.  Yes, that is how I got out of that one: cheese.

Scaling back a bit, I decided to something more family style, and I looked in the fridge for inspiration.  I found Roquefort cheese and smoked salmon, hence I decided upon:

Rigatoni with Roquefort Cream Sauce and Smoked Salmon

(I immediately nixed Christophe’s idea to stuff the Rigatoni with the salmon and cook them in a hallowed out egg.) 

I ran with this idea because I’m tired of being disappointed with a mac n’ cheese that is overcooked, swimming in a bland sauce, and lacking character.  More than anything, I was interested in taking a risk with flavor and ready to go a little off the deep end.

Ingredients:

1 pound Rigatoni pasta

4 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons flour

2 cups whole milk

10 oz. Roquefort cheese, cut roughly into 10 cubes, plus additional for garnishing

8 oz. smoked salmon, cut into 1/8 inch matchsticks

½ cup bread crumbs

Salt and pepper

Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil over medium high heat.  Stir in one pound of Rigatoni pasta.  Cook for 8 minutes (or slightly under ‘al dente’; the pasta will continue to cook in the oven so an ‘undercooked pasta’ is desired at this state to avoid a mushy end product), and drain well.

While pasta is cooking, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium size pot over medium high heat.  Allow the melted butter to foam; sprinkle flour over the top and allow it to rise and brown slightly.  Knock down the mixture by whisking briskly and continue until a smooth consistency is reached.  This will avoid unwanted flour clumps in the sauce.  Add milk, lower heat to medium –low and continue to whisk until a homogenous liquid is formed.   Stir in 9 cubes of the Roquefort cheese and continue stirring into melted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste, being cautious not to over salt since the cheese has a high salt content. Mix in pasta until well coated.

In four large ramekins or one 9x13 baking dish, layer sauce coated pasta and salmon, followed by a top layer of pasta again.  Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and crumble the remaining cube of Roquefort cheese on top.  Place in preheated 350F oven for 15 minutes.  Garnish with additional cheese and chives if desired.

I know Roquefort cheese and smoked salmon aren’t a typical combination, but risks are worth taking when something is to be gained.  In this case, the risk paid off.  I got a well cooked, not over cooked pasta, in a sauce “with character” with smoking, salty hints that brighten the dish.  Now, I think I’m ready to work on my free throws – I’ll get to that layup later.

Amerca's Test Kitchen "Dish It Your Way" blogger challenge #2: Potato Salad

This is America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” blogger challenge #2.  The subject: potato salad – an American summer classic.

I’m known in my family as being one who likes to cook.  I like to experiment.  I take recipes and deviate; sometimes it works, sometimes not.  I once tried “relooking” Thanksgiving dinner with disastrous results.  I learned my family is not “okay” with grilled apples with couscous, and I had to remake everything in the tradition fashion just to please some at the table.  I’ve learned there are some things you just don’t mess with.  So, I am a bit hesitant to “relook” a potato salad.  There are hundreds of variations of this dish, but one has a solid idea of what is coming to the table when the menu is announced.

Christophe had some elaborate ideas for this challenge: fried potato “nests” filled with rougaïl; mille-feuilles of potato and cucumber in mayonnaise, and even something that resembled a dinner more found in a mountain ski lodge than at a barbeque in the back yard.  I look back at my Thanksgiving dinner catastrophe as learning moment; potato salad is convivial, social, and to me, something served family style.  It does not need to be overworked and should not be served with grilled apples and couscous.  A classic is a classic for a reason, and its purpose shouldn’t change.  Potato salad should gather people happily around the table, feed them, and leave them with a good memory of the day.  It shouldn’t have your family asking, “And the normal potato salad, where’s that?”

Potato Salad… with a Mediterranean twist

·         1 pound small, whole new potatoes

·         1/3 cup mayonnaise

·         2 Tablespoons lemon juice

·         1 garlic clove, minced

·         ¼ cup kalamata olives, rinsed and coarsely chopped

·         2 Tablespoons capers, rinsed and coarsely chopped

                        Make sure both are well rinsed to avoid excess salt.

·         3 hard-boiled eggs, coarsely chopped

To avoid the green ring around the yoke, cover the eggs in water and heat until boiling.  Allow to boil 1 minute, turn off heat, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes.  Then, plunge into ice bath.

·         ¼ cup finely diced chives

·         Dash of salt and pepper

Add whole unpeeled potatoes to salted water in a medium size saucepan.  Leave skins on to help the potatoes stay in tack during cooking.  Bring to boil over high heat.  Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 15 -20 minutes until tender.  The potato peels should not yet be broken, but a knife should easily enter and leave the potato when pierced.

Drain potatoes and allow to cool.  Slice into quarters.

Mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic, and pepper in a medium mixing bowl until smooth.  Then, pour over cooled potatoes. Stir in olives, capers, hard boiled eggs, and chives.  Chill 4 to 24 hours before serving.

If you have a hankering for a more patriotic salad, check out wild, fresh + tasty’s red, white, and blue potato salad – she used three types of potatoes!

Interested in some chicken with the dish?  Here’s the winner from first “Dish It Your Way” fried chicken challenge.

America's Test Kitchen "Dish It Your Way" Blogger Challenge!

Over the course of the summer, I’ll be participating in the America’s Test Kitchen “Dish It Your Way” Blogger Challenge.  The “Dish It Your Way” asks blogger to recreate an American classic dish throughout the summer, share the recipe, and tell a story.  This week: Fried Chicken.

For those who don’t know, I’m American, and my husband, Christophe, is French.  This has given us an immense playing field to explore new cuisines, share traditions, and celebrate new holidays (he loves Thanksgiving).  Last Christmas in Chicago, Christophe had his first taste of this “amazing dish” that was crunchy, spicy, and made with fried chicken.  That’s right, the man who has criticized the “culinary catastrophe” of chicken nuggets has found himself enamored with the adult version: fried buffalo chicken stripes.  Not the commentary one would expect from a Frenchman who likes to spend hours tinkering in the kitchen, but none the less, a new experience for him and one he wanted me to recreate.  I’ve tried a few recipes, but none of them lived up to our expectations.  We have learned, recipes don’t always translate well from one continent to another, so it’s all about adapting.  Therefore, I turned to another recipe for inspiration and decided to move the spicy part of the dish to the condiment. The batter in this recipe is adapted from the Cook’s Illustrated “Fish and Chips”, and the heat in the recipe is provided by a spicy mayonnaise dipping sauce.  As I’m discovering, being a good cook is not just able following a recipe, but learning how to use to as a guide.  I’ve also learned that when done right, chicken nuggets can be darn good, and yes, I am calling them nuggets just to get his goat.

Buffalo Chicken Nuggets with Homemade Spicy Mayonnaise

Fried Chicken Nuggets

·         2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes

Mix together in a rimmed baking pan and then set aside:

·         ½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

·         ¼ cup cornstarch

·         ½ teaspoon cayenne

·         ½ teaspoon paprika

Whisk together in a large bowl:

·         ½ cup flour

·         ¼ cup cornstarch

·         ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon paprika

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         ½ teaspoon pepper

Then add 1 ¼ cup cold beer and whisk until a lumpy batter forms.

Drench cut chicken into the flour mixture in baking pan, shake off excess flour, and then drench in batter.  Place chicken pieces on a cooling rack to let excess batter drip off, 2-3 minutes.  Then fry the chicken in an electric deep dryer for 6-7 minutes, or in 1 ½ quarts of vegetable oil heated to 375 degrees, also for 6-7 minutes.

Serve hot with spicy dipping mayonnaise.

Spicy Homemade Mayonnaise

The key to making sure the mayonnaise “takes” is to gather all the ingredients beforehand and allow them to reach room temperature.

Mix in a deep bowl:

·         1 large egg yolk

·         2 tablespoon mustard

·         1 tablespoon lemon juice

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         ½ teaspoon pepper

·         1 garlic clove, crushed

·         1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

·         ¼ teaspoon paprika  

Also needed:

·         Olive oil

Place a kitchen towel under the bowl so it slants up slightly towards you and the liquid mixture runs together. Using an electric mixer on high speed in one hand, slowly drip olive oil into the mixture.  Do not move the mixer around like in a cake batter, instead focus on a single spot to drip the oil.  The mayonnaise will start to “take” when that area becomes fluffy and creamy – after a few minutes of mixing.  At that point, the mixers can slowly be moved around to incorporate the rest of the mixture.  A Kitchen Aid with the whisk attachment could be used in place of an electric mixer or a hand whisk for the brave.

Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with chopped chives.  

I have learned that adaptation is needed to be successful.  Recipes are guides, unless if it's in baking - and that is why we have pastry chefs. 

I’ve also learned I’ll never be a professional food photographer; taking a good photo is a lot harder than it looks.