Another Modernist Style Dinner: Agave-Chile Glazed Chicken with Lentil Salad

I've been a lazy poster lately so I figured I'd write up Sunday's dinner, a super easy "modernist" style meal of sous vide chicken breast  with agave-chile glaze and the Lentil Salad from Modernist Cuisine at Home.

Agave-Chile Glazed Chicken Breast

Recipe by William Colsher

Ingredients

• 1 Large Chicken Breast Half (about 8 oz.)
• 3 Tbs. Agave syrup
• 1 Tbs. Ancho (or other) Chile powder

Cooking Directions

1. Pre-heat a water bath to 135 F.
2. Trim the chicken breast of excess fat and sinew and vacuum seal in a sous vide safe bag.
3. Place the sealed chicken in the water bath.
4. Cook for at least 3 hours 15 minutes to insure pasteurization.
5. Leave the chicken in the running bath until ready to serve.
6. Combine the agave syrup and chile powder.
7. Pre-heat your broiler on high.
8. Remove the chicken from the bath and bag. Dry it carefully on a paper towel.
9. Place the chicken skin side up on a small oven safe pan and baste it with a little of the glaze.
10. Place the pan under the broiler for a minute or so. Watch it carefully as the glaze will burn very quickly. Baste and broil several times until you have a nice glaze built up.
11. Slice the breast on the bias and serve over Modernist Lentil Salad.

Pressure-Cooked Lentil Saad

Recipe Adapted from Modernist Cuisine at Home

Yield: 6 servings as a salad, 4 as part of a main course
Ingredients

• 200 g Dry Lentils
• 85 g Carrots
• 70 g Leek
• 50 g Sweet Onion
• 50 g Shallot
• 50 g Celery
• 8 g Garlic
• 2 g Black Peppercorns
• 1 g Thyme
• 1 Bay leaf
• 750 ml Mineral Water
• 85 g Your Favorite Vinaigrette
• 80 g Fuji Apple, diced fine
• 95 g Walnuts, diced fine

Cooking Directions

1. Place the lentils in a bowl and cover with cold water for 2 hours.





2. Slice the vegetables thin and wrap them in cheesecloth with the peppercorns and herbs.





3. Drain the lentils and place them in a pressure cooker with the water and package of aromatics.
4. Seal the pressure cooker and cook on high for 7 minutes.
5. Let the cooker cool until it can be opened or depressurize it according to the manufacturer's directions.





6. Discard the aromatics, drain the lentils and spread them on a tray to cool.
7. When the lentils have cooled, place them in a bowl and gently mix in the vinaigrette, apple, and walnuts.

Notes:

Vinaigrette: Modernist Cuisine At Home has a rather elaborate vinaigrette recipe. You want one that's slightly sweet. Use a white wine vinegar.

Lentils: Use whatever you have. I use Bob's Red Mill French Green Lentils both because they're excellent and also because Bob Moore is a good guy.

Apple and Walnuts: you want the dice to be about the same size as the cooked lentils.

Temperature: As part of a regular salad you should probably chill the lentils. I served them warm under the chicken.

Modernist Cuisine at Home: a frighteningly expensive cookbook, even at Amazon. If have have an iPad, get the free "Inkling" app and check out the free sample chapters.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Ragout

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Ragout

Recipe by William Colsher

This recipe was inspired by the "Rouelle of Four Story Hills Farm Poularde" in Thomas Keller's Under Pressure and the need to use up a batch of Modernist Cuisine At Home's "Shiitake Marmalade".

The dried mushrooms I used in the Mushroom Ragout are the "Forest Mix Mushrooms" from Chef Depot. Their website is a bit on the primitive side but service is excellent and the mushrooms are a bargain at $16.95 a pound.

The immersion circulator I use is the Anova model. It's inexpensive (relative to others) and works beautifully.

Ingredients

• 2 Chicken Breast Halves
• 4 Tbs Shiitake Mushroom Marmalade (recipe below)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Transglutaminase RM
• Mushroom Ragout (recipe below) 

Cooking Directions

1. Carefully trim all excess fat and connective tissue from the chicken. Gently flatten the breast halves.
2. Place the breast halves skin side down on an 18 inch sheet of plastic wrap. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

3. Spread the mushroom ragout down the center of one of the breast halves.

4. Carefully sprinkle the transglutaminase around the edges of the  mushroom breast half.
5. Cover the mushroom breast half with the the other one, tucking it under so it makes solid contact with the transglutaminase coated areas.

6. Roll the breasts as tightly as possible into a cylinder. Tie off the ends. Place the cylinder in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.

7. Place the chicken cylinder, still sealed in plastic wrap, in a sous vide bag and seal, removing as much air as possible without deforming the cylinder.
8. Heat a water bath to 62 C and cook the chicken cylinder for 90 minutes.
9. Remove the chicken cylinder from the water bath and unpack it. Gently dry it with paper towels.

10. Carefully slice the cylinder in 1 cm. disks. 
11. Place a bed of mushroom ragout on a plate and arrange three slices of the chicken on top.
12. Spoon some of the mushroom gravy over the slices. 
13. Serve with roasted potatoes

Shiitake Marmelade

Adapted from Modernist Cuisine At Home

Ingredients

• 300 g Shiitake Mushroom Caps
• 60 g Unsalted Butter
• 60 g Shallots, finely minced
• 100 g Water
• 36 g Soy Sauce
• 4 g Honey

Cooking Directions

1. In a food processor fitted with the steel blade mince the mushroom caps. Pulse carefully - don;t let them become a puree.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and cook the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until they are lightly browned and rather dry.
3. Add the shallots to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are softened and translucent.
4. Add the water, soy sauce and honey to the pan and stir to combine.
5. Simmer until the mixture is slightly thickened.

Mushroom Ragout

Recipe by William Colsher

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Mixed dried mushrooms
• 2 Tbs Shallots, finely minced
• 2 cups Chicken Stock
• 2 Tbs Unsalted butter
• 2 Tbs AP Flour
• Salt
• Pepper

Cooking Directions

1. Pick over the mushrooms and rinse quickly under running water then place them in a heatproof bowl.
2. Bring 1 cup of the chicken stock to a simmer and pour it over the mushrooms. They should be completely covered. If necessary set a smaller bowl in top to hold them under the liquid.
3. Let the mushrooms soak until they are completely softened.
4. Lift the mushrooms out of the stock and chop coarsely. Reserve the soaking liquid.
5. In a small saucepan melt the butter over medium heat, then add the shallots and cook until they have softened and become translucent. 
6. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for a few minutes until the flour begins to color.
7. Add the mushrooms to the roux and stir to combine.
8. Carefully strain in the reserved mushroom soaking liquid, stirring and add the remaining chicken stock
9. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and cook until slightly reduced and thickened.
10. Season to taste.

Baking Steel Naan

Naan

Recipe Adapted from Neelam Batra, 1000 Indian Recipes

Yield: 10 Naan
Ingredients

• 7 g Dry Yeast (1 packet)
• 5 g Sugar
• 60 g Warm Water
• 220 g Plain Non-fat Yogurt
• 20 g Vegetable Oil
• 330 g AP or Bread Flour
• 2.5 g Kosher Salt or to taste
• Bench Flour
• Melted Butter or Ghee

Cooking Directions

1. Place the Baking Steel on a shelf at the second level below your oven's broiler. Preheat the oven to 500 or 550 F.
2. Combine the yeast, sugar and warm water in a small bowl.
3. When the yeast mixture is frothy combine it with the yogurt and vegetable oil. Whisk until a smooth homogenous mixture is achieved.
4. Place the flour and salt in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Cover and pulse once or twice to combine.
5. Add the yogurt mixture and process until a smooth ball is formed. It should be quite soft and a little sticky. If necessary, add a little more flour (if too wet) or yogurt (if too dry) and continue to process.
6. Place the dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl, rotating to coat it with oil, cover with foil, and allow it to double in volume, about 1 hour in a warm kitchen.





7. When the dough has doubled in volume, lightly flour your work surface and hands and roll the dough into a a log about 10 inches long.
8. Cut nine 12 inch squares of wax paper.





9. When the oven is preheated cut the log into 10 sections.
10. Roll out each ball into an 8 inch disk. Stack each naan, separated by a piece of wax paper. Cover the pile with the damp towel.
11. Switch the oven to broil.





12. Stretch the first naan into the characteristic triangular shape.
13. Carefully toss the naan onto the Baking Steel.





15 Seconds






60 Seconds



14. Cook for about 90 seconds. Adjust the naan's location with tongs to optimize browning.
15. Remove the naan with tongs, brush generously with melted butter and set aside, covered.
16. Continue until all are cooked.
17. Serve hot.

Notes: 

Quantities: The original recipe is expressed in cups and teaspoons and is, perhaps, somewhat inaccurate. (If you have Batra's book, you'll see that I used considerably more yogurt.) I weighed everything out as I measured for this version. Use caution and good sense if you choose to give it a try. As always with bread recipes, the exact amount of liquid will vary somewhat depending on you flour, the weather, and the whims of Hestia.

Flour: I used King Arthur Bread Flour.