Our first guests

After a loooong hiatus from this project, we're back on track with the Winter season recipes. We fell off the bandwagon partly because of Christmas travel chaos, and then between traveling and general busy-ness, cooking was sidelined for the last month and a half. But now we're back in business!

This week I made 2 recipes for our dinner. After looking through the Winter recipes, for some reason I thought they were less involved than the Fall recipes, and thought that doing 2 at a time will 1. make up for lost time last month and 2. push the challenge up a notch. So for the next 4 weeks, for the most part I will be pairing an h'or d’œuvre with an entrée. This week, I'm going easy with some Gougères (cheese puffs) to start, and roasted chicken stuffed with truffles and foie gras....you would have to try REALLY hard to make those things taste bad.

Getting foie gras in Chicago isn't easy - especially the fresh, never frozen kind.

Even after the city repealed the foie gras ban a few years ago, most grocery stores just don't have the demand to keep any significant amount in supply (I needed 2 lbs). My usual go-to, Whole Foods, lectured me on how badly geese are treated when I asked them if they had any in stock. Talk about preaching to the wrong audience. I ended up finally finding foie gras yesterday, thanks to some quick research by the Chief Procurement Officer, on the South Side at Chicago Game and Gourmet. The directions led me to a sketchy brick warehouse building surrounded by an abandoned playground and projects. After walking around the building a few times, I couldn't for the life of me find a store front. Finally I got scared and called the company, and I was directed through an unmarked door. I thought the place would look like a grocery store or a butcher's shop, but was instead greeted by a roomful of office workers dressed in business casual, selling meat from their phones and computers. I asked them if I could take a look at the back where I assume they store all their meat and produce, and some mob boss look-a-like quickly said no and told me to wait by the door while they prepared my foie gras order. Apparently they usually just supply restaurants with their meat orders, and don't get many walk-ins like me. I didn't care what they did in their spare time.....I got my foie gras in time for the 24 hour marinade process!

24 hr marinade for foie gras included pink curing salt, Madeira, cognac, white pepper, salt and sugar. I had to remove all the veins and membranes from the liver with tweezers, as was recommended in the book...not fun.

We invited Grace and Peden to dinner because I was making so much food, so I thought it was time to share the bounty of this incredible experience. Having four people meant I had to cut all the recipes in half (except the Gougères, which I knew would disappear like peanuts regardless of how many I made). The chicken recipe called for some pretty expensive items - foie gras was $65/lb, and we couldn't even afford any fresh truffles (~$200/truffle!!!!!) Colin ended up getting a huge bag of desiccated truffles online, which I reconstituted with hot water.
Obviously, it wasn't as fragrant or delicious as fresh truffles, but when a recipe calls for multiple cups of that stuff, I really couldn't afford to care - it was still $300. I tried to fortify the reconstituted truffles with tiny amounts of white truffle oil in certain steps, and I think in the end, because of the sheer amount of truffles used in this recipe, everything worked out beautifully.

Oh, and I was wrong about Winter being easy - I was on my feet from 9am until 6pm, actively cooking, with a short break to walk Chaya and shower in the middle. Good thing I had so many delicious ingredients to "taste" the whole time! Colin got me a Canon Rebel DSLR for Christmas for this project, so behold the improved photography!

Gougères 

Combine egg mixture into cooked dough a little at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Put into pastry (ziplock) bag.

Pipe onto baking sheet (I piped them too big), sprinkle each with shredded Gruyère and sea salt. Bake for 12-14 minutes at 425

I forgot to take pictures of final product because they were SO DELICIOUS.

Chicken Roasted with Truffles and Leeks

I did the steps a little out of order because I had to wait a hour for the truffles to puff up. It all worked out in the end.

                                                 Vin Jaune Sabayon

Reduce vin jaune in saucepan, then add gelatin sheets.

Combine reduced vin jaune with eggs and melted butter.

Pour mixture into whipped cream canister (yay finally got to use it!)

Close up of this beautiful gadget

                                                    Brioche Stuffing

Make crumbs.

Combine brioche crumbs with butter, foie gras, and chopped truffles.

Season with salt. Put into piping bag for later.

Clean bowl with leftover brioche, and eat.

                                              Marble Potato Confit

Roast mini potatoes with split head of garlic, thyme, and tons of olive oil for 1.5 hrs at 275 F, covered. This is my new go-to way to make roasted potatoes....so delicious!

Once cooled, remove potatoes and peel them. It wasn't as tedious as it sounds, although it was still a pain in the ass. Strain and reserve olive oil, and return potatoes to it until ready to plate.

Chop shallots and truffles.

Sweat shallots, then add truffles and thyme. Deglaze vin jaune, and reduce until almost dry.

Add cream and Chicken Jus (I cheated and used store-bought chicken broth). Simmer for 15 minutes, then cover and steep for 30 minutes.

Add in crème fraîche, salt and cayenne pepper.

                                                      Braised Leeks

Clean and trim 4 leeks. Boil for 15 minutes, then put into ice bath.

Cut leeks on a bias, then slice down the center, stopping 1 inch of roots. Fan out. Chop some truffles for later.

 Roasted Chicken

Separate skin from breast and leg. Pipe Brioche Stuffing under skin, distribute evenly. Season cavity, then stuff with pricked lemon, peeled garlic, and thyme. Butter and salt the outside of the bird, then truss the chicken with twine. I skipped the refrigeration step - it didn't seem like the stuffing was going anywhere.

  Meanwhile......                                 Truffle Jus

Mince truffles and shallots. Sweat until tender.

Add Madeira, and reduce by half.

Add black truffle juice, Chicken Jus, and thyme. Simmer until 1 cup remains.

Render fat from a little foie gras.

Add rendered fat to pan.

An hour before serving, place Vin Jaune Sabayon in immersion circulator at 145 F. I half expected the nitrogen cartridge to explode.....

                                                  Chicken Fricassee

Dice white part of leek.

Shred leg meat from chickens into bite-sized chunks.

Briefly boil leeks, then cool.

Chop truffles and parsley.

Add 2 tablespoons of Vin Jaune Cream Sauce (and throw the rest away....) to butter in pan. Add meat and leeks. Season with salt and add truffles and parsley. Right before serving, fold in Vin Jaune Sabayon (from a super hot whipped cream canister). Can I say how much of a waste it was to make so much Vin Jaune Cream Sauce, and then only use 2 measly tablespoons??

To Finish:                                      Breast Enhancement

This is how chicken breasts look once they have been carved off the body.

This is the new and improved tailored breast for plating.

Reheat

Glaze Braised Leeks in butter and truffles.

Reheat Marble Potato Confit in Chicken Stock, then glaze with butter.

                                                               Voila!

Notice how in the original picture, the Chicken Fricassee is nowhere to be found. Maybe it wasn't pretty enough for the picture? I was also confused about how their leek is so long....the recipe clearly said to trim to 3.5 inch pieces.

Tasting notes:
The common consensus between the 4 of us is: absolutely delicious. I was never a fan of chicken breast until now....stuffing with foie gras and truffles is the way to go! My gougères never really puffed up  - I think I piped them too big - but who cares, they still tasted so good. I have so much foie gras left over...what a great problem to have!