Turkey Scallopine w/ Capers & Lemon

How's everyone doing?! 

I'm on cloud 9 right now!  The quarter is pretty much over and we received our grades for our Garde Manger final practical.  We did a 6-course meal (salad, consomme, fish course, intermezzo sorbet, beef entree, and dessert).  We were in teams of 3 and we found out we got an A!  Which is a major big deal, because it's EXTREMELY hard to get an A from the chef we have - and we've done it twice - with our midterm and now with our final!  How awesome is that?!

Anyway, scallopine is usually done with veal, but I saw some turkey breast fillets on sale at the grocery this week and knew I could pull together something quick and tasty with them.  Lemon and capers are such a classic combo and this comes together in such a quick amount of time!  Fancy without the fuss!

Ingredients:

2 turkey breasts, pounded flat and cut in half
salt and pepper, to taste
flour, for dredging
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup white wine
juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon capers

Season the turkey breasts with salt and pepper. Dredge in the flour, dusting off excess.

Heat the butter in a large saute pan under medium high heat.  Add the turkey and saute until golden brown on both sides.  Remove from pan and keep covered and warm.

Deglaze the pan with the white wine and add lemon juice and capers.  Return the turkey to the pan and coat with sauce.

Serve turkey over rice and vegetables and any excess sauce.  Dig on in!

I told you it was easy!  And it's ready in no time - what are you waiting for?!

Sauteed Chicken w/ Garlic Jus & Rice

Happy Thursday, guys!

 How is everyone's week going so far?  Ours has been pretty chill - literally.  We're doing ice sculptures this week at school (our group chose a swordfish), so hopefully I'll get some pics up of our finished product by the end of the week!

Sauteed chicken is one of the easiest ways (and my personal favorite) way to prepare chicken.  It's so easy to whip up a sauce with the little pan bits and some herbs afterward that this makes the perfect weeknight (or weekend!) meal!

Ingredients:

2 chicken leg quarters, skin on (you could also use breasts, too)
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup jasmine rice
1 cup small diced vegetables (I had zucchini and orange bell peppers)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preheat your oven to 425 F.

Place rice, vegetables, and 2 cups of cold water in a medium saucepan.  Bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cover.  Let cook until rice is light and fluffy, about 10-15 minutes (Jasmine rice cooks relatively fast - if you use a different rice, keep the cooking time in mind).  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Heat a large oven-proof skillet under medium high to high heat.

Season both sides of the chicken legs sear in pan until golden brown on both sides, about 3-4 minutes each side.  Transfer pan to the oven to finish cooking, about 10-15 minutes.  Let rest on a separate plate for 2-3 minutes.

Using the same saute pan, add garlic.  Cook for about a minute, or until fragrant.  Deglaze the pan with the chicken stock and white wine.  Reduce until you have about 1/4 cup left.  Mount the sauce with butter and season, to taste.

Place mound of rice on the center of a clean plate.  Place chicken on top and drizzle with the jus.  A perfect meal in minutes!

Hope you guys have a great rest of your day!

Chicken Sausage & Peach Tacos

Sometimes one has to stray away from the normal taco.  Sometimes, you just have to be daring.  Sometimes you just have to challenge the pairings of the Flavor Bible and come up with your own (after all - those pairings didn't just show up out of no where - there had to be a first attempt somewhere!).

What was originally a salad, but due to lack of enough lettuce (I know, lame right?), and over abundance of tortillas - soon became one of the most unique tacos I've ever come to know.  And whether it be fate or just pure luck... these things were delicious.


Ingredients:

2 chicken sausages (ours were a sun-dried tomato & basil blend)
shredded lettuce
2 peaches, quartered
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
warm tortillas

In a small skillet, melt the butter under medium high heat.  Add peaches and top with brown sugar.  Cook until peaches are soft and slightly carmelized, "shaking" the pan every so often in order to mix the butter and brown sugar to provide a delicious coating for the peaches.

Ideally, I wanted to grill the sausages, but Mother Nature wasn't havin' it and decided to literally rain on my parade.  So just fry up the whole sausages in a skillet under high heat instead.  Heat until cooked throughout then let rest on a cutting board for about 2-3 minutes, then slice.

Assemble your tacos by placing a layer of lettuce in the middle of a tortilla.  Then top with a few slices of peaches and finally top with a few slices of sausage.  Fold and enjoy!

There was sweet.  There was savory.  And it was all purely delicious!  I can now mark chicken sausage and peaches as a match made in heaven for my Flavor Bible notes - so I dare ya to give it a go and tell me what you think!

And don't forget, I do a CSA round-up every Thursday afternoon - there's still time to submit your CSA/Farmer's Market/Garden pictures!  Just e-mail me at mtlabor85@yahoo.com and I'll put them in the post tomorrow!  See you guys tomorrow.

Baked Salmon w/ Pesto Puff Pastry & Corn

Remember that Lowell EGO light that I said I was getting?  Well... it came in the mail this past weekend and my verdict???  I.  Absolutely.  Love.  It.  LOVE IT. 

This salmon dish was just a quick Saturday night meal that was ready in about 30 minutes, just using what I basically had on hand!  I just love how the light gave such vibrance to the photos!  I hardly had to do any editing (besides some basic cropping/sharpening/noise reduction).  So hopefully over the next couple of months I can work more on the "styling" part of my photos.  Any tips?  Suggestions?  Any would help!

So if you're looking for something quick and tasty, this salmon dish is definitely for you!




Ingredients:

2 6 oz. salmon fillets
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less if you like it less spicy)
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil, for rubbing
1 & 1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup pesto
2 rectangles of puff pastry (cut a little bigger than the salmon fillets)

Preheat oven to 400 F. 

Rub salmon fillets with olive oil and season both sides with cayenne pepper, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

Place puff pastry pieces on a greased baking sheet and bake according to package directions, or until golden brown.

Place salmon skin-side down in an oven-proof skillet and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until salmon is cooked through.

(My salmon and puff pastry were pretty much done at about the same time, so it worked perfectly)

Cook frozen corn in microwave according to package directions.

Spread a good amount of the pesto on top of the puff pastry and top with salmon and corn. 

Seriously.  I could not have had better ingredients to work with.  So colorful, so flavorful.  SO PERFECT. 

I asked Andy what he thought of the addition of the puff pastry (whether it was really necessary or added anything to the dish) and he said he actually enjoyed it's contrast with the delicate salmon.  So major score!  I loved this dinner and plan on making it many many times over!  Enjoy guys!