Sous Vide Experiment #1 - Soft Boiled Eggs

I got a sous vide machine (a machine that precisely controls the temperature of water to get food cooked to the exact temperature you want). It's been fun to experiment so far and the first thing I wanted to master was the perfect soft boiled egg. As you can see from my notes below, it took a few tries but it came out successfully in the end! 

46.5 degrees C

30 minutes: pulled egg too early - yolk was warm but whites were still translucent and uncooked

1 hr: egg whites are still transclucent


146 degrees F

45 minutes: egg whites cooked but still runny. yolk good consistency. Need to increase temperature a few degrees

148 degrees F


1 hour: egg yolk has custard like consistency but not very runny. Whites are mostly solid but still a little watery.



63 degrees C - Winner!

45 minutes: egg yolk is creamy but a little runny, egg yolks are slightly watery but mostly cooked.


Found this temp. from watching a lot of Top Chef. It's the perfect temp for the yolk and leaves a little bit of white but not a lot.

Keys for serving egg once done: make sure to use slotted spoon to remove any uncooked egg white. Shake the spoon a few time to really make sure the egg is "Clean".

Simple Braised Chicken

I wanted to do a braised chicken dish and I found this really simple recipe. This should please a lot of people because it's basically chicken in gravy. It takes a little bit of time but can be done ahead and reheated before eating. I served mine with mashed potatoes and Fried Carrot Shoestrings (recipe found here).


Ingredients

6 chicken thighs, bone and skin on (adds more flavor but for healthier dish boneless, skinless thighs work just fine)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon roux (optional)*

Directions

1. Heat 1 tbs. olive oil in a large dutch oven or pan over medium high heat. Season chicken thighs liberally with salt and pepper. Add chicken, skin side down, to pan and saute until skin is nicely browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn chicken over and brown other side for another 5 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside.

2. Pour off excess fat but leave 1 tbs. in pan. Add onion and cook 5 minutes. Add garlic cloves and cook for 2 minutes.

3. Pour in wine and bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits on bottom or around sides of pan. Boil until wine is reduced to 2 or 3 tablespoons, about 2 minutes.

4. Add chicken back to pan and cover with chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer (low heat).

5. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes or until chicken is very tender.

6. Remove chicken and place on a plate to cool. As chicken cools, use a blender or immersion blender and puree the cooking liquid. (if adding roux, add at this point, after sauce is pureed but before adding chicken)

7. Shred chicken using two forks. Remove any fat, skin and bones. Add back to pureed cooking liquid.

8. You can make it up to this point and then put in fridge. When ready to serve, heat chicken over medium low heat until sauce and chicken are hot again. Serve over mashed potatoes with carrot shoe strings.

*If sauce for chicken is not as thick as you like, you can add in a roux. Melt 1 tbs. butter in a small saucepan. Once melted, add 1 tbs. flour. Whisk mixture together and cook for at least 3 minutes or until mixture turns slightly golden brown. Add roux to liquid slowly while whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Heat the liquid with the roux in it to see the roux thickening effects. If it gets too thick, just add more chicken stock.

Fried Carrot Strings

 I came up with this garnish after watching a lot of Top Chef. I wanted to add something to the plate that would add some texture and be a little different. The first idea that popped into my head was fried carrot shoe strings. And I'm glad the idea did pop into my head, because it was really easy and delicious. I may make them as a healthy-ish snack in the future. The cayenne heat with the contrast of the carrots sweetness was really nice.

To shred the carrot you can use a peeler and then cut the peeled off pieces of carrot with a knife into thin sticks. They also have a zesting tool that looks like this that I think would do a good job much quicker.

To dredge the carrots I used wondra flour. Now I used to have a ton of doubts about wondra until I read the book "On the Line" about Le Bernadin restaurant with Eric Ripert. They use wondra to dredge their fish then blow off the excess and it gives them a thin crunchy crust. I figured if a three michelin star restaurant can do it, so can I. I tried out the wondra and it worked wonderfully! I plan to dredge with it again soon!

3 large Carrots, shredded
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 cup wondra flour

1. Shred carrots into shoe string shapes, allow to drain on a paper towel for a few minutes.

2. Dredge carrot strips in the wondra flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Make sure to dust off the excess flour.

3. Fry carrots in preheated pan of canola oil at 375. Don't have to use a lot of oil, have a sauce pan with 2 inches of oil at the bottom. Carrot strings will crisp up in about 20 seconds. Make sure they turn golden brown then remove quickly because they can burn fast.

4. Place the fried carrots on a paper towel to drain and sprinkle with a pinch of salt once finished. Put a bundle of carrots on top of dinner and enjoy! 

Country French Omelet with Potaotes and Bacon

I made this dish for my boyfriend's family around christmas time, yes that's how far back I've had to go to finish all of my half written posts since august haha. It's a crowd pleaser and was really simple so I could still talk with everyone while I cooked. I crisped the bacon and partially cooked the potatoes that morning before I went to their house. I also added a little Parmesan cheese to the top right before placing the dish in the oven to get an even more golden brown crust with a little crunch.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon good olive oil
3 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup (1-inch-diced) unpeeled Yukon Gold potatoes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon fresh chopped chives
1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese, optional

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Add the bacon to a 10 inch non stick pan over medium high heat and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is browned and slightly crisp. Take the bacon out of the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on a paper towel covered plate. Pour out bacon fat except for 1 tbs. 

3. Place the potatoes in the pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until very tender and browned, tossing occasionally to brown evenly. Remove with a slotted spoon to the same plate with the bacon.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs, milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together with a fork.

5. After the potatoes are removed, pour the fat out of the pan and discard. Add the butter, lower the heat to low, and pour the eggs into the hot pan. Stir the eggs with for 1 minute to make a few curds then sprinkle the bacon, potatoes, and chives evenly over the top and place the pan in the oven.

6. Cook for about 8 minutes, just until the eggs are set. Slide onto a plate, cut into wedges, and serve hot.

Quick Candied Pecans

I tried this component in a salad from a restaurant and I really liked it. This version is not quite as good as theirs but it's close. The crunchy sweetness with the tangy-ness of goat cheese is great on a salad.

Pecans can be stored at room temp in an air tight container for about 2 weeks. If making ahead for an event, I would do 1 to 2 days before actually serving.


Ingredients:

2 cups pecan halves
4 tablespoons butter, salted
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Melt butter over medium-high heat. Add pecans and toss to coat.

2. Add sugar, and stir until caramelized, about 5 minutes.

3. Spread on wax or parchment paper and cool.

Pecans can be stored at room temp in an air tight container for about 2 weeks. If making ahead for an event, I would do 1 to 2 days before actually serving.

Short Bread Cookies with Chocolate

I made these cookies because a friends daughter (hi Chio and Natalie) is allergic to eggs and nuts but I was in charge of dessert. To make these rather simple cookies more elegant I drizzled chocolate over the top. You can either drizzle the chocolate or dip half of the cookie into the chocolate - either way they taste really good!!!

Ingredients

3/4 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 to 7 ounces very good semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 3 by 1-inch finger-shaped cutter. Place the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.

4. When the cookies are cool, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put 3 ounces of the chocolate in a glass bowl and microwave on high power for 30 seconds. (Don't trust your microwave timer; time it with your watch.) Stir with a wooden spoon. Continue to heat and stir in 30-second increments until the chocolate is just melted. Add the remaining chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until it's completely smooth. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled; stirring makes it glossier.

5. Drizzle 1/2 of each cookie with just enough chocolate to coat it.

Tomato Bisque Bread Bowl

This recipe is for the tomato bisque. The bread bowl itself - I bought a large round shaped loaf of bread, cut off the top (snack for the chef), and then slowly hollowed out the bowl. Hollow out the bread slowly with your fingers because if you poke a hole in the outer crust - your soup will end up everywhere later! 

 

Definitely take the time to strain the blended soup through a fine mesh strainer - it gave the soup a much smoother texture. 

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced bacon (about 1/2 ounce)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

4 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned 

4 cups vegetable broth, homemade or low-sodium canned

2 (28-ounce) can whole, peeled tomatoes (with liquid), roughly chopped
3 basil sprigs
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 cup heavy cream
1 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring, until crisp and most of the fat has rendered, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. 

2. Lower the heat to medium, add the onion, carrots, celery, and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft and fragrant, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes.

3. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. 

4. Pour in the broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil while whisking constantly. 

5. Tie the basil sprigs, thyme, and bay leaf together with a piece of kitchen twine and add to the pot. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

6. When the soup base is cool, remove and discard the herb bundle. Working in batches, transfer the mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Using a sieve over a large bowl, strain the tomato puree. Return the puree to the pot and reheat over medium heat.

7. Whisk the heavy cream and salt into the soup and season with pepper to taste. 

Divide among warm soup bowls, garnish with the crispy bacon, and serve immediately.