F.E.A.S.T.: Parmedijon Chicken

Hello everyone!

Today I have a new method for you, a F.E.A.S.T. that is guaranteed to jazz up plain old boneless/skinless chicken. It's simple, straightforward, and surprisingly tasty given how little goes into it. I call it Parmedijon Chicken, a name that I totally did not make up for the sake of a snazzier-sounding blog post.

In all honesty though, I highly recommend you try this. My mother has been making it for years and it's always a hit. I think you'll be impressed with how easy it is to make, especially when you compare that fact to the results. But as usual, I'll just let the food speak for itself.

WHAT I USED!!!
3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts  (stock)
3/4cup panko bread crumbs  (from a $2 box)
3tbs melted butter  (stock)
approx. 1/3cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese  (from a $5 block)
approx. 3tbs honey dijon mustard (stock)
salt & pepper to season/taste  (stock)

Check out that list! I told you it was simple. But wait, it gets better!

WHAT I DID!!!
Preheat the oven to 500 degress, and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Lay out the chicken. Smear the top of each breast with the honey dijon, using as much or as little as you like. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

Combine the panko, butter, and cheese in a bowl. Using your hands, mound this mixture onto each breast, applying gentle pressure to ensure it all sticks.

 

Bake for 10-15minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the topping is Golden, Brown, and Delicious. Serve with the side or veggies of your choice.

There. That's it. Simple. Easy. But oh so tasty. The chicken cooks quickly, so as long as you watch it it won;t have time to dry out. Aside from that one issue you're golden. Let's take a look at our acronym:

Fast: The whole process took around a half hour to make, so yeah, I'd say so.

Easy: Did you see that method? Anyone can do it!

Affordable: I keep frozen chicken on hand at all times, so the whole meal came together for under $10. And it fed three people, so not bad.

Super-Tasty: Yes, yes, yes. The mustard and the cheese combine together in a very pleasant way, sweet and salty, savory and spicy. The chicken cooked perfectly, having no time to dry out because it cooks so fast. And the panko provides a nicely contrasting crunch. Overall, delicious!

So, I would have to say this is one of the best weeknight quick-and-easy meals you're ever likely to make.

And it's so easy to adjust too! If you need to feed more people, just add more chicken and up the panko by a 1/4cup and the butter by 1tbsp per breast. You'll need to increase the cheese and mustard correspondingly, of course, but I reckon you figured that out. And if you don't have panko, you can always grind up some plain old sandwich bread in your food processor to make breadcrumbs. Just use about 1 slice per each breast, and you're set. It won't be as crunchy, but it still works in a pinch.

Anyway, I hope that some of you will give this a try and let me know what you think. I always hope to see feedback from my readers.

Until next time, go forth and eat well!

Sauerbraten Dinner

Hello again!

So I've been wanting to try making saurebraten for a while now, but I just hadn't ever gotten around to it. You know how it goes, right? Who can be bothered to make a dish that needs half a week to prepare? We're all busy folks, and none of us has the time to just decide, "huh, how about a German pot roast/brisket marinated in vinegar for dinner?"

Well I'm here to tell you that not only is this in fact doable, it's actually pretty easy, especially if you can cheat a bit!

As is my M.O., I started with the Alton Brown method for sauerbraten, but I made a few changes. He calls for a bottom round, but I used a brisket. I was fairly confident that it would work, since the method found here used brisket as well, and the methods are very similar. I did follow the braised cabbage recipe from that page too, but I'll get to that shortly.

Also, I couldn't find juniper berries, but the interents suggested subbing in some gin, which I thought was brilliant. Last, I decided to just throw the whole thing in a slow cooker, because let's face it, those things are magic. To round out the meal, I also made braised cabbage, as I mentioned before, and pretzel rolls, based on this recipe here.

All in all, it was a good meal, which is why I've decided to share it with y'all, my loyal readers.

Without further ado, let's jump right to it!

THE INGREDIENTS!!!
For the sauerbraten:
2cups water
1cup cider vinegar
1cup red wine vinegar
1 medium onion, chopped roughly
1 large carrot, ditto the onion
1tbs + 1tsp kosher salt
1/2tsp pepper, fresh ground
2 bay leaves
6 or so whole cloves
1tsp mustard seeds
a good splash (maybe 1/4cup?) gin
3 1/2 - 4lb beef brisket
vegetable oil for rubbing the brisket
1/3cup sugar
around 18 old fashioned gingersnaps, crushed

For the cabbage:
5tbs unsalted butter
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 medium white onion, also diced
2 granny smith apples, peeled and diced
1 large red cabbage, cored and sliced thin
about 2/3cup dried cherries
1 1/2cup red wine, like a shiraz
2 whole cloves
1/3 cup brown sugar
1-2 bay leaves
a good splash of cider vinegar
juice of half a lemon

For the pretzel rolls:
1 1/2cups warm (not hot!) water
1tbs sugar
2tsp kosher salt
4 1/2cups AP flour
1 package rapid-rise yeast
2oz unsalted butter, melted
10cups water
2/3cup (yep!) baking soda
1 egg yolk beaten with 1tsp water
more salt for sprinkling

(Ok, yeah, that's a lot of stuff, but a lot of it is cheap or else a staple, so just bare with me. I'm going to show you how easy this is in the method below. Just read the whole thing.)

THE METHOD!!!
Start the meat. Turn on a fan ('cause, y'know: vinegar!) and bring the water through mustard to a boil. Then drop the heat and simmer for 10min. Set aside to cool, then add the gin.

Pat the meat dry, rub with a little oil, and sprinkle with salt. Heat a large skillet over high and brown the brisket on both sides. It should take 2-3min per side. Let that cool, then drop (not literally!) the meat into the marinade. Stash the whole thing, covered, in the fridge for around 5 days. Yes, 5 days. Be sure to flip the meat over every day if it's not completely submerged.

The morning you want to eat, pull out your slow cooker. Set the thing on its lowest, longest setting (mine was for 10hrs) and put the meat and marinade within said vessel. Don't forget to add the sugar like I did. When you get home, switch the setting to warm and work on the rest.

Oh, and at the last minute, strain the solids out of the marinade and discard. Put the remaining liquid in a small pot and place over med-high heat. Whisk in the gingersnaps to form a sauce, adding a bit of water of it gets too thick. Serve sauce over the meat.

To make the pretzel rolls, drop the water through butter into your bread maker and turn it on to the dough setting. Don't have a bread machine? That's ok, just follow the method in the link above. When the dough is done, bring the 10cups of water to a boil with the baking soda. Roll the dough out into 16 even pieces and form into balls. Give each a 30sec bath in the water, then place on a cookie sheet. Brush each with the egg wash and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 450 for 12-14min, or until GBD (golden, brown, and delicious).

Meanwhile, while the dough is doing its thing in the bread machine, start the cabbage. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and apple and saute for 5min, or until the onions are translucent. Add the cabbage through the bay leaves and bring the whole thing to a boil over medium high. Cover the pot, reduce the head, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Remove the bay leaves (if you can find 'em!) and the vinegar and the lemon juice.

See, now wasn't that easy?

...Ok, yeah, it's still kind of daunting, isn't it? But I promise, it's worth the time and effort to make this meal.

The brisket came out perfectly tender, and was fall-apart-in-your-mouth delicious. Like I said though, I forgot to add the sugar to the marinade at the end. As a result, I think we lost a little bit of the sweetness we should have had, and the meat had a bit too much acidity. The cabbage was also quite good, crunchy and tender, aromatic and sweet. The pretzel rolls were also phenomenal, perfectly salted, and kind of stole the show.

I think next time I make this meal, I'll be sure to sweeten the marinade for the actual cooking process, so as to get the flavor balance correct. Other than that though, I'd call the meal a success. I hope that if you are brave enough to try it for yourself that you have as much luck as I did.

As always, thanks for reading. I look forward to seeing some feedback on how y'all think I'm doing here.

Go forth and eat well!

(Oh, by the way: you're probably asking yourself, "where are all the pictures he usually posts?" Well, unfortunately, all the pictures came out blurry, so none of them are worth sharing. Sad times, right? I really need to get a better camera...)

Restaurant Review: Benihana and The Londoner (take 2)

Hello again, loyal readers!

I recently went out for another friend's birthday, during which time we went to not one but two different restaurants: Benihana for lunch and The Londoner for dinner. I am pleased to report that a good time was had by all, so I would like to offer up a pair of quick reviews to entice and amaze you.
Without further ado:

Benihana
The Place: Benihana is your typical Asian-inspired restaurant, sparsely decorated with bamboo and paintings of kanji. The real show, however, comes at the table. As with any hibachi restaurant, they seat you around a large flat-top griddle rimmed with a counter for plates and drinks. Once you've placed your order, a chef comes by, cranks up the heat to high, and prepares everything right in front of you. Yes, you get to watch as everything from the fried rice to the steak is cooked before your eyes. They even throw in a few tricks, such as a stack of onion rings made to steam like a volcano. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the concept, but if you've never been it really is a fun experience.

What I ate: Since it was lunch time, I ordered the Lunch Boat served with chicken. It also came with steamed rice (I upgraded to the fried rice, though, 'cause why not?), onion soup, salad, edamame, sashimi, sushi, fruit, tempura shrimp, and a partridge in a pear tree. It sounds like a lot, but it was definitely an appropriately-sized portion for lunch. One of my friends, the birthday girl in question, ordered a bit more ambitiously and let me try her jumbo shrimp and filet mignon. I am pleased to report that all of the food was fresh, delicious, and wonderfully prepared.

My thoughts: As I said before, it really is an experience going to a place like this. The service was excellent, the chef was very entertaining, and the meals were quite tasty. As for my rating? I'm hovering at around a four out of five stars. Don't get me wrong here, I was quite satisfied with my meal. But, while well prepared, the food was not so astoundingly delicious as to merit a perfect score. Still, even a 4/5 is a solid score in my book, and one that I would gladly revisit in the future.

The Londoner
The place: Nothing has really changed since my last review. It's an English-pub-style joint, 'nuff said.

What I ate: This time, they had Magner's hard cider (on tap!), a personal favorite. I eagerly ordered a pint. Of course, the Cheesy Hampton fries were ordered once more, and they were as tasty as they were before. This time around, I ordered the Steak & Ale Pie in a further attempt to eat appropriately-themed food wherever I go. This steak, mushroom and onion concoction, more of beer-infused stew, came topped with puff pastry and served with baked beans and mashed potatoes. The steak was quiet good, although the pastry got soggy really fast. Still, it was quite good, The potatoes were about what you'd expect, but the baked beans were positively wonderful. I think they may have been the best thing I've eaten there yet. Overall though, a much better meal this time around.

My thoughts: Last time, I rated the Londoner at about 3.5/5 stars. I think I'm willing to upgrade that to a 4, but I'm not quite sure to be honest. The food was good, but was it four-star good? Hmm... I may need to go back a third time to really get a handle on this place. For now, I'm going to rate it at 3.75 out of 5 stars, which is weird, I know. But I'm just not totally convinced that it should be bumped all the way up to a full four. But anything over three stars is good food, so don't let me deter you; go check it out for yourself!

Anyway, thanks for reading as always. And as always I look forward to hearing back from anybody who would like to leave feedback!

Go forth and eat well!