Fast and Easy Tortellini w Prosciutto and Peas

 

This is a great, fast and simple dish for busy holiday times when you just need a quick meal. As well, it scales up easily if you need to cook for a larger crowd. 

Prosciutto notes:

• Have it sliced thicker than normal for prosciutto. At my grocery store I had them slice on the #1 setting
• Use the least expensive prosciutto available, since it will be cooked
• When cutting crosswise, some strips will break apart, others stay intact. This doesn’t matter at all, in fact, it’s a feature.

 

Put on a large pot of salted water to boil

 

1/3 lb prosciutto, cut crosswise into 1/2” strips

2 shallots, thinly sliced

1 T olive oil

• Sauté over med-high heat until prosciutto is almost crispy
• Season with salt and generous fresh black pepper

1/2 C chicken stock

1 C green peas, slightly thawed if using frozen

• Raise hear to high, add and stir one minute
• Lower heat to low

 

24 oz fresh tortellini

• Boil for 50% of recommended cooking time
• Taste, and if not close to being done continue to boil for one minute.
• Reserve 1/4 C cooking liquid
• Drain and add to prosciutto and pea mixture

 

Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese

 Some notes on chicken stock:

• When you make your own chicken stock, be sure to freeze some of it in 1 cup or 1/2 cup containers. You can then partially defrost a container, pour out about half of it for a purpose like this dish and return the undefrosted portion to the freezer.
• When using store-bought stock, keep in mind that the ‘standard’ box container is 4 cups. A lot of dishes can for 2 or 3 cups of stock. Store the remaining in the fridge for a few days for freeze it. Then you’ll have a small portion of stock available for dishes like this.

Shoemaker’s Chicken - a Fall Classic

Chicken Scarpariello is the real name of this wonderful Italian-American classic, also known as Shoemaker’s Chicken. It’s a terrific blend of sweet peppers and onion, the supporting cast for semi-braised chicken and Italian sausages. While there are some slightly spicy peppers in this version, there is no true ‘spiciness’. Rather, there is a piquancy, a tartness, due to a disproportionate amount of red wine vinegar that blends with white wine and stock to create the delicious sauce. 

This recipe is based heavily on the version served at Rao’s, the famous Harlem restaurant that opened in 1896.  Besides their food, they’re quite famous for having only eight tables and no possibility of a reservation. So the place is filled with regulars who essentially ‘own’ their given table on their given night, along with celebrities who fill in as permitted by the head of the original owning family. 

If you have a serious desire for Rao’s, and haven’t run across their pastas and sauces in a grocery store (they really are quite good), then you can get a chance at the Los Angeles outpost they opened about 10 years ago. Not quite the same thing, but I’ll bet the food is quite good - someday I’ll find out. 

 Rao’s Chicken Scarpariello - “Shoemakers Chicken”

 

2-3 small red potatoes, sliced

• Parboiled to tender

 —————

• Preheat to 400 deg.

3 lbs bone in chicken, seasoned

2 T olive oil

• Brown 5 min on each side
• Remove

2 lbs Italian sausage

• Sauté 3-4 min (undercooked)
• Remove and slice 1” pieces
• Remove all but 2 T oil

2 large bell pepper, in strips

2 jalapeños, in strips

1 lg onion, sliced

1 t garlic

• Sauté 5 min

 —————

4-8 hot cherry peppers (in vinegar)

Sausage pieces

Potatoes

1/2 C chicken broth

1/2 C white wine

1/4+ C red wine vinegar

1 T dried oregano

S&P

• Mix together in sauté pan
• Spread on roasting pan
• Add chicken atop
• Roast up to 30 minutes, sauce thickened

 

Charlie Trotter’s Chicken Stock

Every chef has their own slight variation of making chicken stock.  This one from Charlie Trotter uses a very long cooking time and a very simple selection of vegetables and seasonings. So though the cooking time is long, the prep time is super short. 

Also, making a half batch of this recipe can be done using the bones and carcass of a single chicken. So after roasting a chicken for dinner, save everything and that night or the next day make the stock. No saving up bones and planning involved. 

I used this stock for two Charlie Trotter soups: 

Ginger-Infused Egg Drop Soup with Chicken Thigh

Braised Leek Soup with Oyster Mushrooms

Charlie Trotter’s Chicken Stock

6 lbs chicken bones

3 C onion, chopped

2 C carrots, chopped

2 C celery. Chopped

1 C leeks

1 T white peppercorns

1 bay leaf

• Cover 3/4 with water
• Boil, then simmer 4  hours, skimming
• Strain
• Low heat 30-45 min until 2 qts, if necessary

From: Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home

Charlie Trotter’s Ginger Melon Soup with Citrus Granite

 

This is a great recipe to test out your new Vitamix 5200. With only two ingredients in the soup, it seems like a no brainer. However, it’s important that you make the citrus granite (which is just a fancy word for ice). The soup, while flavorful, doesn’t stand up on its own. It’s too subtle. 

There is a great documentary on Netflix about the groundbreaking work done by Charlie Trotter - titled “Love, Charlie”; it’s an important survey of how we went from fine dining meaning French to now meaning Fine Dining in America. 

Ginger-Melon Soup

2 small or 1 large honeydew melon, flesh cut into 1-2’ chunks

1/4 C candied ginger, coarsely chopped (see note)

• Purée in blender until smooth
• Strain through a chinois / strainer / cheesecloth 

Citrus Granite

1 grapefruit

2 oranges

2 lemons

1 lime

1/4 C simple syrup

• Juice all the fruit into a metal 8x8 pan (or similar)
• Freeze, scraping the surface with a fork every 10-15 minutes until completely frozen

Assembly

• Place a scoop of granite in center of a shallow bowl
• Carefully pour soup around the granite
• Garnish with mint or citrus zest if desired

Notes: 

• Add a 1/4 C water to the melon if it doesn’t blend right away
• Use 2 T of preserved ginger if you can’t find candied ginger. Mix 1/4 C of julienned ginger into 1/2 C water and  1/2 C sugar. Simmer 10 minutes.  Drain and repeat 2 more times with refreshed water and sugar. 

Adapted from: Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home

VitamIx 5200 - the best kitchen tool I’ve gotten in the past 10 years

 

One of my 4 pillars of good cooking is to invest in effective kitchen tools and to avoid kitchen gadgets. 

Two years ago I bought a Vitamix 5200, and it is one seriously high performing kitchen tool.

When it comes to mid-sized appliances like stand mixers (KitchenAid) and food processors (Cuisinart) there are some well known, time tested clear cut choices. I had a classic Waring blender, which was the go-to blender choice for many decades. 

I wasn’t overwhelmed with the Waring’s performance, but also having an effective stick blender and the fact that I don’t use a blender too often, I saw no need to invest in an expensive Vitamix. Boy did I miss the boat on that one. 

The Vitamix came on to the home cooking scene about ten to fifteen years ago, when this professionally used kitchen machine was discovered by home cooks. The claim was massive power. Since I wasn’t a smoothie junkie and could get by with my existing blenders I didn’t give it much thought. 

But then my wife and I did the Optavia diet (about 100 pounds combined loss, thank you Optavia). That diet included many flavored shake products and it was clear the Waring wasn’t up to the task. In order to better support the diet I splurged on the Vitamix. 

What a revelation. Power is everything. 

For shakes the Vitamix easily destroys ice cubes and the mix into a smooth, creamy, perfect consistency. I’ve since used it for soups and am shocked at how quickly and thoroughly it creates velvety, partly foamy consistencies. Here’s a recap of features and attributes: 

• Simple controls - nothing more than an on/off switch, a variable/fixed speed selector and a knob for varying the speeds. 
• You can fill this machine as much as you want - see the picture above - and it will reduce the entire container without having to open it up and remix / push down the ingredients. 
• The blades are not sharpened like a food processor’s but they somehow chop through solid ingredients and reduce to a very finely chopped size. Herbs, vegetable, any solid is reduced to a super fine, actually minuscule size. I still strain soups through a chinois, but could easily serve many soups unstrained. 
• Leaving the blender to run for just a few seconds after completely mixing ingredients will begin to introduce air into the mixture, creating a creamy, frothy texture. 
• There are many more sophisticated, and more expensive, models available than the 5200 - but this no frills machine should meet virtually every need a serious cook has. 

Because of the power of this blender, I’m finding myself making more soups, especially chilled vegetable soups like this summer pea soup. 

Overall, splurging on the Vitamix is the best $400 I’ve spent on a kitchen tool since I bought the $400 toaster. But that’s another product review. Too bad we don’t eat toast very often anymore. 

Here’s a link to the Vitamix 5200 if you’re interested in purchasing one. 

Gordon Ramsay’s Veal Stock

 

This is a traditional brown veal stock, using bones roasted in high heat. Optionally, it can be reduced by half. Further reduction will result in a true Demi-glacé, which can be used in small amounts or combined with other liquid (wine, water) to create a stock of desired density.  

Gordon Ramsay Veal Stock

 

3 lb veal bones

     -  Roast 1-1.5 hours until browned

     -  Meanwhile……

 

7 T olive oil

1 lg onion, peeled, chopped

2 lg carrots, peeled, chopped

1 celery, chopped

4-5 garlic, unpeeled

     -  Heat until lightly colored

1 T tomato paste

     -  Cook 2 more min high

3/4 C port

3/4 C Madeira

     -  Deglaze

     -  Boil to syrupy consistency

 

Bones

     -  Remove excess oil

     -  Add to pot

5 Qts cold water - to cover

     -  Bring to boil

     -  Skim

 

Bouquet garni (bay, parsley, thyme)

4 oz cremini mushrooms

     -  Add to pot

     -  Simmer up to 6 hours

     -  Remove from heat, rest

     -  Strain

     -  Season lightly

 

Optional - reduce by up to half

 

Store 4-5 days fridge, 3 month freezer

Adapted from: Gordon Ramsay Three Star Chef