Lobster Eggs Benedict

Lobster Eggs Benedict is probably the most complicated thing I'd ever want to make for breakfast. Even so, it's not particularly difficult and by cooking the lobster sous vide the potential horror of rubbery, overcooked lobster is effectively eliminated. Here's how to do it:

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.

Dinner the Modernist Way: Squash Soup, Flat Iron Steak and Roasted Potatoes

Cooking

Well, this whole Modernist Cuisine thing has got me hooked. At first it looks like a lot of effort, especially if you come to it by way of Thomas Keller and Ferran Adrià. But in reality a lot of things require less effort than their conventional counterparts. This meal is a good example - the hardest part is peeling the squash - everything else is "set and forget".

Squash Soup

Recipe Adapted From Modernist Cuisine At Home

Ingredients

• 500 grams Butternut Squash, peeled and diced
• 18 grams Lemongrass, sliced thin
• 113 grams Unsalted Butter
• 30 grams Water
• 5 grams Salt
• 2.5 grams Baking Soda
• Coconut Milk

Cooking Directions

1. Over medium heat melt the butter in the pressure cooker.
2. Combine the water, salt and baking soda in a small bowl.
3. Add the squash, lemongrass, and salt mixture to the pressure cooker. Mix well.
4. Seal the pressure cooker and cook at 15 psi for 20 minutes. If you're using an electric pressure cooker like mine, cook on high pressure for 30 minutes.
5. Carefully shake the pressure cooker two or three times while cooking to prevent sticking.





Cooked Squash



6. When the cooking time has elapsed, carefully release the pressure and transfer the contents to a blender.
7. Blend at high speed, adding enough coconut milk to produce a smooth creamy soup.
8. Strain through a fine sieve (this removes any woody bits of the lemon grass) and serve hot.

Perfect Steak

Sous Vide Flat Iron Steak

Recipe by Michael Callahan

Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients

• 1 Flat Iron steak, about 1.25 lb
• 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 Tbs Garlic Powder
• 2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 Tsp Mustard powder

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat your water bath to 130 F.
2. Carefully trim the steak, removing excess fat and connective tissue.
3. Combine the vinegar, garlic powder, olive oil and mustard in a container large enough to hold the steak.
4. Add the steak and turn to coat it with the marinade.
5. Allow steak to marinate 30 minutes.
6. Vacuum seal the steak.
7. Cook in the water bath for 3 hours
8. Remove the steak from the cooking bag and wipe it dry.
9. Quickly sear the steak, about 30 seconds on each side.
10. Slice thin across the grain and serve hot.

Roasted Potatoes

Recipe by William Colsher

Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients

• 8-10 Small "new" potatoes
• Salt
• Pepper
• Fresh Rosemary, chopped
• Extra virgin olive oil

Cooking Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 F
2. Halve or quarter the potatoes.
3. Combine salt, pepper, rosemary, and olive oil in a bowl large enough to hold the potatoes.
4. Add the potatoes to the bowl and toss to coat with oil and seasonings.





5. Spread the potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are browned and tender.
6. Serve hot.

Notes:

Pressure Cooker: 1) Modernist recipes typically specify 15 PSI for pressure cooking. However, most electric pressure cookers (like mine) only come up to 11 PSI on their "high" setting. They work perfectly but do require a little extra time. I cooked the squash in this recipe for 30 minutes with excellent results.  2) You cannot make this recipe in an old fashioned "jiggler weight" cooker. You'll lose too much steam and the squash will burn.

Butternut Squash: 500 grams is about half a typical butternut squash. The extra can be frozen.

Coconut Milk: How much you need will depend on how moist the squash is. I ended up using almost the whole 12 oz can.

Flat Iron Steak: A typical flat iron steak is about 1.25 - 1.75 pounds. Because very little weight is lost when cooking sous vide you can get 4 "normal" servings from a single steak. After the cooking is complete you can just toss half in the freezer with the left over squash.