Another great Valentine

Tweeted pic from Neil Patrick Harris 2/14/12

In case you missed it, here is the link to Neil Patrick Harris' spectacular Valentine's Day dinner he tweeted from ink in LA. The photo is of Course 5: Lamb tongue, snap peas, chickpea cylinders, yogurt spheres and curry jus.

(Click here.)

Ink is at 8360 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. Telephone (323) 651-5866; email: info@mvink.com

Their takeout menu is here.

Butter - let's make it perfectly clear

One of the ingredients called for in Sautéed Maine Scallops on Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Parsley Nage in "Terra: Cooking from the Heart of Napa Valley" (Ten Speed Press, 2000, 256 pages) by Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani is clarified butter. You could go out and buy it as ghee, a common ingredient in Indian food. But clarified butter, also known as draw butter, isn't that hard to make at home.

Why bother? Well, if you don't clarify butter, the solids in it will burn at a rather low temperature. And the milky part of it will cause it to go rancid in a few weeks. Clarified butter will keep for months in the refrigerator (maybe even next to the stove, but I'm not that confident it would meet food safety standards, so I refrigerate).

Besides, it's not that hard to do. You start with unsalted butter, cut into cubes. Melt it on the stove over low heat. Skim off the foam (this is optional; if you don't skim it, it will eventually drop to the bottom with the other solids). Keep cooking it until the moisture boils off and the solids begin to brown; this may take up to 30 minutes. (The higher the butterfat content of the butter, the faster this step will go.) Strain it through a mesh strainer lined with damp muslin, a hemp coffee filter or cheesecloth (you could use dry cheesecloth, but it will absorb some of the butter oil, and you should expect only about 75 percent of what you started with to end up as clarified butter). Regular coffee filters clog too quickly and absorb too much of the oil. You can either discard the cheesecloth with the solids, or spread them on toast or use them in soups or oatmeal.

It's possible to clarify butter in the microwave. Melt the butter in a Pyrex measuring cup that's at least twice the volume as the amount of butter you have. A frozen stick, cut in half, takes about 90 seconds, with another 30 seconds of swirling. Put the measure into the refrigerator and cool until completely solid. Skim any foam from the top, then loosen the fat and remove to a plate. Scrape any solids off the bottom and the solid that is left will be clarified butter.

If you don't have cheesecloth, try you can try using a gravy separator. Most of the solids will sink to the bottom. Pour them off, skim off any foam at the top and the rest should be clarified butter.

Weeknight nage for busy gourmets

The recipe I posted earlier this week is good but complicated. 

It took Jim a whole afternoon to prepare this wonderful dinner: 

Sautéed Maine Scallops on Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Parsley Nage in "Terra: Cooking from the Heart of Napa Valley" (Ten Speed Press, 2000, 256 pages) by Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani.

What follows is my simplified version for two people. It takes about 30 minutes to fix, and is a good way to flavor up chicken breasts. It also looks impressive. If you don't care for cilantro, use flat-leaf parsley instead.

Lori K's Chicken Breasts in Rustic Nage

Serves 2

Recipe ©2012  Lori Korleski Richardson

Ingredients

For the nage

1 small minced shallot

3 tablespoons dry white wine

1/4 cup heavy cream

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 small bunch cilantro, stemmed

1/4 cup packed spinach leaves

1/3 cup chicken stock

1 clove garlic, smashed

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 ounces white or brown mushrooms, sliced

For the rest

2 small chicken breasts

Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper

Spray olive oil

8 baby carrots

4 spears asparagus

1/2 yellow bell pepper

2 cups boiling water

1 pack (4.1 ounce) Idahoan Baby Reds instant mashed potatoes

4 sprigs cilantro, for garnish

Instructions

To start the nage, combine the minced shallot and wine in a small, heavy, nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced to 1 tablespoon. Add the cream and return just to a boil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Set aside and keep warm.

Put the cilantro and spinach in freezer zip bag and partially close. Microwave until just wilted. Seal the bag and throw the bag into the freezer to chill. Put the stock and garlic into a blender, along with a little salt and pepper. Take the bag out of the freezer, drain the greens, squeeze out any excess water and add to the stock and garlic. Process until smooth. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium skillet over high heat, add the mushrooms and sauté for 4 minutes. Set aside.

Using the microwave, cook the baby carrots in a bowl with a little water until tender, about 4 minutes. Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus, then put them in a freezer zip bag and partially close; cook about 2 minutes or until bright green. Cut the ribs and seeds off the yellow bell pepper and cut into 8 strips. Cook in a freezer zip bag until just well heated. Drain all these, season with a little salt and pepper and keep warm.

Pound the chicken breasts until they are about a 1/4-inch thick. Season with salt and pepper and spray with olive oil. Heat a cast-iron shallow skillet to hot over high heat. Sauté the breasts on one side until they are very white around the edges. Flip and cook about a minute less on the other side. Remove the pan from the heat and let the breasts rest in the pan for 1 minute.

As you do this, boil the water for the potatoes. Add the pouch of potatoes all at once and stir well to moisten. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, finish preparing the nage: Reheat the cream mixture, and add the cilantro-spinach purée and the mushrooms. Bring just to a boil, then remove from the heat. Taste and adjust seasoning. Set aside and keep warm.

To serve, put 1/2 cup mashed potatoes in the center of each of 2 warmed shallow bowls. Spoon the  nage evenly around the potatoes, then place one chicken breast on top of each serving of mashed potatoes. Arrange the vegetables on and around the chicken. Garnish with cilantro springs.

A nage to remember

©2012,  Lori Korleski Richardson

Nage isn't a word we use much, even among dedicated cooks. It is a French word that means "swimming," and is used to describe a dish served in a soupy sauce.

For my birthday this year, my dear husband - who before he met me was considered a gourmet bachelor cook - took over the kitchen for an afternoon and made me a version of this dish. He substituted haricots verts for sugar snap peas, a wild mushroom mixture for the chanterelles, and he skipped the baby squash.

There's a saying popular among cooks: "Never go to a restaurant for a meal that's not significantly better than what you make at home." It's no wonder we don't eat out more often.

And I must say, my birthday dinner was better than the meals at any of the restaurants that we tried for Restaurant Week, although the one at Ten came very close.

Jim found this recipe in "Terra: Cooking from the Heart of Napa Valley" (Ten Speed Press, 2000, 256 pages) by Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani. We've eaten at cozy Terra several times, but have never ordered this dish.

If this seems like way too much work (not everyone has a whole afternoon to prepare a dinner), or you don't care for scallops, I'll be posting my simplified version of this recipe, made in less than 30 minutes with chicken breasts, later this week.

Sautéed Maine Scallops on Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Parsley Nage
Serves 4
Typed in by Lori Korleski Richardson
Ingredients
For the nage
2 teaspoons minced shallots
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, stemmed
1/2 cup packed spinach leaves
2/3 cup chicken stock
Pinch of minced garlic
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 1/2 ounces chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and cut or torn into bite-size pieces

For the rest
3 tablespoons clarified butter
20 ounces large scallops, cleaned (hinge removed)
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 peeled young thin carrots, tops trimmed to 1/2 inch and blanched
4 baby yellow squash, blanched
12 sugar snap peas, blanched
2 cups hot garlic mashed potatoes (recipe)
4 sprigs parsley, for garnish

Instructions
To start the nage, combine the shallots and wine in a small, heavy, nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced to 2 tablespoons. Add the cream and return just to a boil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Set aside and keep warm.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the parsley and spinach, and blanch for 10 seconds. Drain and immerse in ice water until cold. Drain, squeeze out all the excess water and coarsely chop. Combine in a blender with the cold stock and garlic and process until smooth. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing the solids with the back of a large spoon to extract all the liquid. Reserve the liquid and discard the solids. Melt the butter in a medium sauté pan or skillet over high heat, add the mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes. Set aside.

To sauté the scallops, heat the clarified butter in a large sauté pan or skillet over high heat until hot. Season the scallops with salt and pepper, dust with flour on both sides, and sauté until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Remove the pan from the heat and let the scallops rest in the pan for 1 minute.

Meanwhile, finish preparing the nage: Reheat the cream mixture, and add the parsley-spinach purée and the mushrooms. Bring just to a boil, then remove from the heat. Taste and adjust seasoning. Set aside and keep warm.

At the same time, melt the butter in a medium sauté pan or skillet over medium heat, add the carrots, squash and sugar snap peas, and sauté until heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve, put 1/2 cup garlic mashed potatoes in the center of each of 4 warmed shallow bowls. Spoon the mushroom and parsley nage evenly around the potatoes, then place one fourth of the scallops on top of each serving of mashed potatoes. Arrange the vegetables on and around the scallops. Garnish with parsley springs.

Easy garlic mashed potatoes

You'll need 2 cups of this for tomorrow's recipe, but they're good anytime. Why not make some for tonight, and save out what you'll need for tomorrow?

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Makes 4 cups
From "Terra" by Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani

Ingredients
1 head of garlic
2 pounds large russet potatoes, peeled and halved lengthwise
2/3 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

Instructions
Peel and remove the hard stem from the bottom of 10 large garlic cloves and put in the pot. Cut the potato halves into 1-inch thick pieces and put them in the pot. Cover with cold water and add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, decrease the heat to a simmer and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain. Return the potatoes to the pot and shake over medium heat for a few seconds to help the excess water evaporate. Add the cream and bring to a boil, then remove from the heat, add the butter and stir. Transfer to an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Or, press the potatoes through a food mill or potato ricer, or mash them in the pot with a potato masher