With over 400 video recipes produced thus far, it probably seems odd that I'd never done a proper chicken stock recipe. In the early days of the blog, I decided that I wouldn’t do video recipes that would eventually appear in the online culinary academy curriculum.
I had planned on having a selection of videos featuring key techniques that people would pay to watch, but with all the various projects going on, I've never quite been able to get that together. Anyway, this chicken stock video recipe would have been included in that collection.
While I can often be seen using my carton of all-natural chicken broth, there's nothing like homemade. It does take a long time to simmer, but the actual work is minimal, and the procedure quite simple. It's also a very frugal undertaking, with the bones I used costing 80-cents a pound. That's three quarts of chicken stock for about $3 in costs!
Please note that you can use this exact same recipe/procedure with roasted chicken bones. In fact, most of the homemade chicken stocks I make are the result of a roast chicken dinner, but for this video I decided to go classical. Unlike beef and veal, chicken stock is not traditionally made from roasted bones.
You should try both ways, and see which you like, and for what dishes. By the way, even though I didn't roast the chicken bones, I still got quite a nice, richly colored stock, which comes in large part to leaving the skins on the onions. I don't remember exactly why that is, which is fine since I really I don't care that much. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 3 pounds chicken bones, backs and necks 1 large onion, skin on 2 carrots, peeled, cut in large chunks 1 large or 2 small ribs celery cut in large chunks 1 bay leaf 9 black peppercorns 4 springs thyme 2 cloves garlic, peeled 3 quarts cold water
You may have already heard by now, but I was the grand prize winner in the Next Food Network Star YouTube Challenge! Thanks to you, as well as my large, unbelievably passionate, and supportive subscriber base on YouTube, we dominated the competition.
The voting was closed, so there was no way to monitor the number of votes cast, but gauging by the comments on the Food Network's YouTube channel, we crushed it. The response was nothing short of awe-inspiring! It seems one thing is very clear, despite my reservations; most of my fan would love to see me get some kind of show on the Food Network.
By the way, contrary to popular belief, that's not the prize. The grand prize is a trip for two to New York, dinner at one of the Food Network's chefs' restaurants, and an interview with the network executives (although I should warn them – I'm money in an interview). In that meeting I will pitch the idea for a Food Wishes style show, where the food's the star, and the chef is rarely, if ever, seen.
Thanks to all of you who voted! Stay tuned for more information as the adventure has only just begun!
"Beans and Greens" is one of those special recipes that truly has it all – it's very easy and inexpensive to make; it's highly nutritious; it's soulful and comforting; and can be served as a main course, side dish, soup, vegetable stew, or my personal favorite…as an appetizer.
It's not my favorite because it's a great appetizer, which it is, but because it's so damn profitable. When I was in culinary school, we were taught the secret to making money wasn't from the main courses, but from selling lots of inexpensive-to-make desserts, salads, and appetizers. "Beans and Greens" is a popular appetizer in Italian-American restaurants in Western New York, and whenever I travel back east to visit family, I'm always on the lookout for this local delicacy. I'm usually grinning to myself as I eat, fondly thinking back to school and that food costing class, knowing that I'm happily paying $7.95 for something that costs 45 cents to make.This is my new favorite home version, and uses delicious, beautiful escarole. This type of curly endive has a pleasantly bitter flavor that mellows as it wilts into the hot, creamy beans. This recipe can be adapted a thousand ways, but no matter how you tweak it, be sure to use a good homemade chicken stock (btw, demo coming soon), or an all-natural, high-quality, low-sodium, ready-to-use broth.
If you try reducing some cheap canned broth by half, you'll have something salty enough to choke a water buffalo. Also, try and find some nice Italian cannellini beans. I like the ones that come in the glass jars, but canned will work also. If not, any white bean should do nicely.
It goes without saying, but do not even think about starting this recipe unless you've made an embarrassingly large pile of the Parma crisps. I hope you give both recipes a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 2 tablespoon olive oil 4 cloves garlic, sliced thin 1 quart low sodium chicken broth 2 (15-oz) jars or cans white cannellini beans, well drained, not rinsed pinch of red pepper flakes 1 anchovy fillet 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano 1 head escarole, or curly endive salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil View the complete recipe
I had no idea I knew so little about the Geoduck! This video, entitled "Don't Judge a Clam by Its Cover: Geoduck," was produced by the incomparable Liza de Guia, from Food Curated. As you know, I'm a huge fan of Liza's storytelling skills, and was particularly fascinated by this episode. For even more geoduck information, please be sure to read her original article here. Enjoy!
I had originally planned to post the beans and greens recipe seen herein with a simple suggestion to serve it with some delicious, Parmesan crostini. They're such a basic garnish that I take for granted you all know how to whip up a quick batch, when in fact some of you may have never attempted something like this before.
So, I decided to do a quick little how-to for making what I call, Parma Crisps. These are a bit different in concept than your average tossed salad crouton. For those we probably spike the bread with tons of garlic, herbs, spices, and pepper, before making it all crispy and sufficiently decadent, to where it will distract us from even the most mundane of salads.
Here we have to remember these are simply to accessorize another dish of food – something rich, comforting, and with big, bold flavors. In that case I want something crispy, crunchy, with a nice nuttiness from the caramelized cheese, but that's about all. Any more than that, in this humble chef's opinion, would be superfluous.
Stay tuned for the beans and greens video recipe coming on Monday. Since you'll want to serve that with these, you may even think about practicing a few times over the weekend, you know, just to be safe. Enjoy!
Ingredients: sliced baguette olive oil (no need to use extra virgin) freshly, finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese View the complete recipe
Pardon my Latin, but once in a while I like to shake up my meat sauce modus operandi, and this brightly colored beef brisket cherry tomato sauce recipe is an example. The video shows two major deviations to my usual ragu-how-to: I used beef brisket instead of chuck; and I used some fresh cherry tomatoes, instead of all canned product.
The result is a deeply flavored sauce, heavy with that special beefiness that only a brisket can bring. Despite being such a slowly cooked dish, the fragrant cherry tomatoes give the sauce a surprisingly bright, fresh flavor and glow.
The brisket does take a long time to cook, but all that connective tissue adds a certain body that I love in a meat sauce. I cheated here with some additional boneless beef short rib meat I had on hand, so feel free to add any tough, stewing cuts of beef.
As I mentioned in the video, if you haven't seen how we finish our pasta recipes around here, click on some of the links you'll see below the post, or in the pasta category, and watch the last steps.
Sauces like this should never be ladled over drained pasta! You need to let the hot pasta absorb some of the sauce before serving – so check it out, and enjoy!
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 1/2 pounds beef brisket, cubed 1 teaspoon salt 1 qt chicken broth 1 bay leaf 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary 1 pint small, sweet cherry tomatoes 2 shallots, chopped 4-6 cloves garlic 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 3 1/2 cup prepared tomato sauce 2 tablespoon tomato paste 1/4 cup cream salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste hot red pepper flakes and/or cayenne to taste 1 pound penne pasta
With over 400 video recipes produced thus far, it probably seems odd that I'd never done a proper chicken stock recipe. In the early days of the blog, I decided that I wouldn’t do video recipes that would eventually appear in the online culinary academy curriculum.
