On Rice and Peaches

Last month I had made a dinner for my son's birthday, that consisted of Chicken Madeira and a Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Risotto. Both were exceptionally great, flavors sublime, and I learned just how very important it is to not cook the risotto too quickly. With that in mind, I wanted to try a risotto again, and this time I was working on other flavors totally, so instead of using vermouth or Sherry in the mixture, I went with Tequila. I also used Romano Cheese rather than Parmesan, and the Romano gave a really great tang to the finished dish. As it happened, the flavors were so amazing that I think it is my new favorite rice dish. There are not huge changes in this dish from the last one, but this one came out perfectly cooked, just a bit al dente, and very creamy. I have learned to slow down the cooking time!

Roasted Garlic Tequila Risotto

Serves about 6

Roasted Garlic Tequila Risotto

FOR ROASTED GARLIC:

1 head garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
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1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 large shallots, chopped finely
1½ cups arborio rice
½ cup Tequila (or just use dry white wine or omit)
4 - 5 cups hot beef, chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
¼ cup cilantro, finely minced

Make Roasted Garlic. This part can be done earlier in the day (or up to three days in advance and refrigerated in a sealed container). 

To Make Risotto: Heat a saucepan with the 4 - 5 cups of stock and have nearby. Heat a 4 - 6 quart saucepan and add in the tablespoon of oil and butter. Saute the chopped shallots until very soft. Mash the roasted garlic with a fork, and stir in, then add in the Tequila and cook quickly to evaporate most of the liquid. What remains should be very thick. Pour in the rice and stir well to coat all the rice grains with the thick mixture. Over medium to medium low heat (you do not want to cook the mixture too quickly, or the rice will still be hard at the end) begin adding in the hot stock, one ladle full at a time, stirring the rice until each ladle of stock is absorbed. To use all the stock should take about 20 to 25 minutes. Be sure to leave a little bit of the liquid in the rice after the last ladle full of stock has been added, so the mixture remains soupy. More liquid will absorb even after off the heat, so remain vigilant.

When ready to serve, stir in the Parmesan cheese and the cilantro, reserving a bit of cilantro as garnish on top.

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Recently, I had opened up my last jars of Spiced Pickled Peaches, with the intention of making an upside down cake with them. Which I did, and then ended up with some of the peaches leftover. I went on to make a dessert loaf I called Just Peachy Loaf, and while making the batter, I utterly forgot about adding in the eggs. The loaf tasted amazing, but was hugely sunken in the center. Obviously, as I had used the last of my Spiced Pickled Peaches, that wasn't going to be an exact repeat any time soon, so I used canned peaches instead, and that time WITH eggs in the batter, it came out great! 

But then I realized I never put my upside down cake recipe here! So I am rectifying that now!

Spiced Peach Upside Down Cake

Spiced Peach Upside-Down Cake

Spiced Peach Upside Down Cake

Serves  8 to 10

CARAMEL TOPPING:
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
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- Spiced Pickled Peaches, or canned peaches in syrup
pistachios or other nuts, or cherries

CAKE:
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
    (or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract + 1 teaspoon peach flavoring)
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
1 cup sour cream

Make the Caramel: In a saucepan over medium heat, melt together the first cup of sugar and the ¼-cup of water. Stir until sugar is melted and bring to boil. Cover the pan tightly and cook for 4 minutes, to ensure all sugar crystals have been melted down. Uncover and continue to cook until the syrup turns to a light amber in color, 8 to 12 minutes. Meanwhile, grease an 8- or 9-inch cake pan, or an 8 to 9-inch square oven safe pan with butter or spray with nonstick spray. Once the syrup becomes amber colored, set the prepared pan onto an unlit burner or other surface that will tolerate high heat. Pour the syrup into the pan and using hot pads, swirl the pan to allow the syrup to reach all the edges. Set aside for about 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the peaches by cutting them into narrow wedges. Set the peaches into the pan in a pleasing pattern, such as lining them along the outer edges first, then filling the center with more peach wedges. Use nuts of choice, or maraschino cherry halves to fill in open spaces. Remember that the pattern created by the fruits and nuts will be reversed when the finished cake is turned out. Set the pan aside, then make the cake:

In a mixer bowl, cream together the butter and ¾-cup of sugar. Once very creamy, add in eggs, one at a time, mixing until completely incorporated before adding in the next. Add in the vanilla and or peach flavoring. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice and whisk to combine. Slowly, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until completely incorporated. Stir in the sour cream until combined. Gently, plop small mounds of batter all over the peaches in the prepared pan. Once all the batter is in the pan, ease the batter together to fill any gaps, making sure it reaches the edges of the pan.

Bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, or with only a crumb or two. Remove the cake to a rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then run a knife around the outer edges to loosen. Set a plate upside-down over top of the cake pan, then quickly invert the cake plate. Set it down and gently lift the pan off the cake. 
 
 

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Mouthwatering Chicken Dinner

My son's birthday is in a few days, but the only time he could visit was this past week, so I made him a birthday dinner a week early. Within reason, I ask what he'd like for dinner and then I make it - my birthday gift. So this time, he asked for Chicken Madeira and risotto and Bread Pudding.

The Bread Pudding recipe is one I've made many times over the years, although it has been truly years now since the last time I made it, so that was a welcome recipe to revisit! 

Chicken Madeira

As for risotto, I have made a few of them over the years, also. Nothing I have made real note of, though, so I had no place to fall back on for that recipe. And as for Chicken Madeira - I was stumped. I had heard of Chicken Marsala, though I never made that, but Chicken Madeira? So at first, I wondered if he just named the wrong alcohol? Nope, apparently not, as I looked it up online. 

What was mainly available online were recipes that were "Copycat Cheesecake Factory Chicken Madeira recipes." I've only ever eaten at Cheesecake Factory once maybe, many years ago, and this was not what I ate! I looked the recipes over, but they just didn't do it for me. While I don't care to drink Madeira on its own, I do like to cook with it. It is a special style of fortified wine that comes from the Portuguese island of Madeira. I have not used anything US domestic, nor would I. There are very nice Madeiras from Madeira that are inexpensive enough and more authentic. Generally, I have a Rainwater Madeira on hand, and as it is a lighter style, it is wonderful for cooking. 

So on with perusing recipes I went, and after reading what was available, I realized that essentially, this dish is made almost identically to the way I make my sauteed mushrooms. The main difference (besides the addition of chicken, of course) is that some of the alcohol liquid is left in the pan (and generally I use dry Sherry) rather than evaporating off all of the alcohol, and then the addition of some stock to further use for gravy. All the rest of the recipe is my own preferred method, despite finding others who did it basically the same way. I opted to do some things in advance, such as making my own stock. 

For the chicken, instead of buying whole chicken breasts, then slicing them into two flat pieces, pounding them to ¼-inch thickness - I bought chicken cutlets, already sliced thinly. This saved some time. Even so, it probably would have been better to pound a couple of them that were still cut a bit too thick. Oh well.

The Stock

For the stock, I bought some beef marrow bones at the grocery, and a couple of days in advance, set them on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for about an hour, until they were browned a bit. This gives great flavor to a stock. Then I placed the bones into a large pot with about 8 quarts of water, 1 onion with skins on (these give great color to the stock), 1 bay leaf and a teaspoon of black peppercorns, whole. I cooked this on a very low temperature, barely simmering, for two hours. At this point, I removed the 4 cups of stock that would be needed for the risotto. The stock had nice flavors at this point, but not overwhelming. I do not salt my stock, opting to salt the dish as needed when that time comes.

The rest of the stock, I allowed to slow-simmer for the remainder of the afternoon, planning to reduce the liquid by evaporation from 3 quarts to 1½ cups (just under one quart). By nearly dinner time, I removed the bones, onion and bay leaf and allowed the stock to further reduce to the 1½ cups I wanted. I strained this through a fine mesh strainer and stored this to use for the liquid in the chicken recipe. 

Chicken Madeira

Chicken Madeira

Makes 8 pieces of chicken

8 chicken cutlets, OR 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts halved into two flat pieces each and pounded to ¼-inch thickness
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1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1½ pounds baby bella mushrooms, or white button mushrooms, sliced
½ teaspoon salt
2 large shallots, sliced thinly
2 - 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced finely
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
½ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1¾ cups Madeira wine
2 - 3 quarts unsalted stock (chicken or beef)
oil, as needed for frying chicken cutlets
½ cup all purpose flour
salt, for sprinkling on chicken
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¼ cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch

A day or two ahead, slowly simmer the 2 - 3 quarts of stock down to just 1½ cups, cool, cover and refrigerate until needed.

Earlier in the day (if time will be an issue) heat a large skillet and add in the tablespoon each of olive oil and butter and add in the mushrooms and the half-teaspoon salt. Stirring often, saute the mushrooms. First, they will begin to release a huge amount of water. Cook past this, allowing all the liquid to evaporate and the mushrooms to begin browning. Now add in the shallots and continue to cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms are nicely browned and the shallots are very soft. Add in the garlic, pepper and the thyme leaves and toss well, until the garlic is fragrant. Add in the Madeira wine and raise the heat, then cook, stirring, until the wine has reduced to a thick, glossy paste in the pan. Remove from heat and set aside.

When ready to proceed with the recipe, heat another large skillet with some of the extra oil. Sprinkle all the chicken cutlets with a little salt on each side, then lightly dredge each cutlet in the flour. Fry the cutlets until they are done to 165 degrees internal temperature at the thickest parts of the meat, and remove them to an oven safe tray and keep warm, at the lowest oven setting.

Add the reduced stock to the pan with the mushrooms and set back on the heat. Cook the stock down slightly more. Stir together the water and cornstarch and pour into the pan and stirring quickly, cook until the mixture thickens just slightly. Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed. [If you choose to do the chef-like finish, you can also whisk in a couple of tablespoons of butter, just before adding the chicken. I had planned to do this and completely forgot!]

To serve, set each of the chicken cutlets into the mushroom sauce, turning to coat with sauce, then set on a platter. Serve extra mushroom sauce on the side.

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Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Risotto

As for the risotto, 

I sort of followed a recipe from Kylee Cooks, but made some of my own adjustments. I made my own stock, and it was from beef bones, not chicken or vegetable stock. I used large shallots rather then onion. I also roasted a head of garlic to nicely tender and light brown, then extracted all the garlic and passed it through a garlic press to remove anything hard or clumpy, then used it all in the dish. If I made this recipe again, I believe an added cup of the stock would have been better. The rice just was a little more "al dente" than I was truly comfortable with, while eating. Flavors were wonderful.

Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Risotto

Serves 6 - 8

Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Risotto

1 head garlic
1 pinch fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon olive oil
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1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 large shallots, chopped finely
1½ cups arborio rice
⅓ cup dry vermouth, dry Sherry or other dry white wine
4 - 5 cups hot beef, chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup parsley, finely minced

Earlier in the day (or up to three days in advance), preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Clean a head of garlic, slicing a bit of the root end off so it will set straight. Cut off about a quarter-inch from the top of the head. Any little tips of the garlic that were cut off, remove from their papery skin and set atop the cut top of the head. Place the head of garlic onto a piece of aluminum foil and wrap foil up around the head, leaving the top open. Set the pinch of fresh thyme leaves on top, then the teaspoon of olive oil, then pinch the top closed. Set the garlic in its little packet into an oven-safe ramekin and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Once done, cool, then press out all the garlic into a small bowl. Either mash or pass through a garlic press. Cover and refrigerate if not using that day.

To Make Risotto: Heat a saucepan with the 4 - 5 cups of stock and have nearby. Heat a 4 - 6 quart saucepan and add in the tablespoon of oil and butter. Saute the chopped shallots until very soft. Add in the roasted, pressed garlic, and stir well, then add in the rice. Stir well to coat all the rice grains with the oil and butter. Pour in the dry vermouth and cook quickly until the vermouth (or other wine) is completely evaporated. Begin adding in the hot stock, one ladle full at a time, stirring the rice until each ladle of stock is absorbed. To use all the stock should take about 20 to 25 minutes. Be sure to leave a little bit of the liquid in the rice after the last ladle full of stock has been added.

When ready to serve, stir in the Parmesan cheese and the parsley, reserving a bit of parsley as garnish on top.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.