A Silver Palate Cookbook Riff...Chicken Blanketed with Mushrooms & Speck

Sometimes a little disorganization pays off. A few weeks ago while looking for an entirely different cookbook on my shelves, I came upon my old, early 1980's copy of The Silver Palate Cookbook. I love this book, and being easily distracted, I sat on the floor in the hall and started thumbing through it, remembering old favorites, and the dinner parties I threw with this book propped on the counter as I cooked. Some books I consider seminal cookbooks for me; The Silver Palate was one, right next to it on the shelf lives the Frog / Commisary Cookbook another one.

Being young, newly married, and having bought our first home (mortgage rates were at 12% back then), we ate a lot of chicken, a lot. It was cheap, and you could dress it up, and I did. One of my absolute favorites was "Chicken Baked on a Bed of Wild Mushrooms". Wild mushrooms seemed so sophisticated back then, and I could squeeze the food budget enough to get them at the Mushroom Palace, over in Devon on a fairly regular basis. Just to make that recipe.

It was tempting to just make that old recipe as written, just one more time and I had the basic ingredients on hand, but I had other things, too, that I wanted to use for dinner that night. So my chicken, isn't on a bed, it's under a blanket. A creamy blanket of mushrooms and smokey pork (Italian speck) for good measure.

Chicken Blanketed with Mushrooms & Speck

Chicken Blanketed with Mushrooms & Speck

Inspired by "Chicken on a Bed of Wild Mushrooms" from The Silver Palate Cookbook.

Serves 4-6

1 oz. dried wild mushroom (porcini or morels)
1-1/2 cups boiling chicken stock
3T olive oil, divided
1-1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved through the middle and pounded flat
4 oz. of speck or lean smoked bacon, in 1/4" dice
8 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
1/2 cup finely chopped shallot
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup creme fraiche
1/2 cup sweet vermouth
2 tsp. dried marjoram
salt and pepper


1. Place the dried mushrooms in a heatproof bowl, and pour the boiling stock over them. Press down on them if needed to submerge. Let stand 10 minutes.  Spray a 4-quart shallow baking dish with cooking spray. Heat 2 T of the oil in a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, and brown the chicken on each side for about 2 minutes. Remove the browned chicken to the sprayed baking dish, arranging evenly over the bottom of the dish. Turn off the heat under the skillet. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

2.  Remove the dried mushrooms from the stock,  set the stock aside, and chop into bite-sized pieces if necessary. Turn the heat under the skillet to medium-high, and add the last tablespoon of oil. Add the speck to the pan, along with the fresh mushrooms, the rehydrated dried mushrooms, the shallots and the garlic.  Cook until the fresh mushrooms give up their liquid. 

3. Add the creme fraiche, the vermouth, and 1 cup of the reserved stock. Add the marjoram, and season with the salt and pepper to taste. Cook uncovered until there is only about 1 cup of liquid left in the skillet. 

4. Carefully spoon the speck and mushroom mixture over the chicken, and pour over any remaining juices. Cover the baking dish with either a lid or foil, and place in the oven. Bake about 40 minutes. 

Curing the November Blues: Lentil Soup with Speck & Kale

Lentil Soup with Speck & Kale is a great lunch for a
gloomy, cold late Fall day.

I have the November blues. The cold is starting to already get to my Mediterranean  genes. We're halfway through November and I'm already looking for "Signs of Spring". The garden seed catalogs are still at least 6 weeks away, and since I'm planning a fallow year so I can work on the soil, I will be planting very little, and probably in Earth Boxes. The frost on the brown leaves on the ground makes them look like frosted cornflakes, but that just makes me think of the snow to come. It's getting dark way too early in the evening. That is not good. Am trying to think of things that will cheer me up. Maybe putting up the Christmas tree over the weekend will help. Maybe. This lentil soup, with speck and kale, though, and my favorite yellow, happy tablecloth will probably do the trick.

This is the kind of healthy soup that doesn't taste "healthy". Chock full of good stuff like lentils and kale, it'll warm you up without slowing you down. You could make this a vegetarian soup using olive oil in place of the bacon fat or butter, vegetable stock, leaving out the speck and adding about 2 drops of liquid smoke; also remember to use a vegetarian Worcestershire, or the Pickapeppa which has no animal ingredients. This is also gluten free.  A great carry-to-work-lunch, too, that will have your coworkers swooning around the microwave when you heat it up. Don't share unless you've brought extra.

Note: Speck is smoked proscuitto, and if your grocery or good deli doesn't carry it, use smoked bacon instead. It does not taste the same, but will still be delish.


Ingredients:

Lentil Soup with Speck & Kale
Serves 6

2T bacon fat or butter
3 oz. diced speck (can sub minced, smoked bacon)
1 lb. regular brown or green lentils, washed and picked over
1 large onion, diced finely
2 celery stalks, diced finely
1 large carrot, coarsely grated
1/2 cup minced red bell pepper
1 quart of homemade or no  salt added chicken stock
1 quart of water, plus extra if needed
2 bay leaves
1T dried marjoram leaves
1T dried thyme
2 tsp. Worcesteshire sauce or Pickapeppa sauce
Coarse salt and pepper

1 lb. kale, leaves and small stems only, blanched, squeezed out and chopped

2T good quality balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

1. Heat the bacon fat or butter in a deep soup pot, and sauté the speck until brown. 

2. Add everything else through the worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook about 45 minutes to an hour until the lentils are tender .

3. Taste for salt and pepper and add as needed, stir in the kale and the balsamic vinegar, and heat through.  Serve piping hot.

Braised Pork Chops with Fennel, Potatoes, & Rosemary

Cold out there. Don't know why it's such a surprise, but its cold. Gray and cold. They call April the cruelest month, but I personally think November is the worst. So far we've had sleet, snow, and a touch of Indian Summer and it's barely mid-month. Ugh. Since I don't like winter much at all, November brings the prospect of four cold months ahead. The only thing good about it is that it heralds the start of the real cooking season. Nothing like coming through the door to a warm home, and the good smell of something delicious happening in the kitchen.

Contrary to popular belief, the flavor of anise is even better in savory dishes than it is in sweet things. It's actually not as intense here as it would seem; it melds beautifully into the herbal background and lets the flavor of the pork shine.

This is a wonderful, aromatic one-pot meal, and a green vegetable or a salad will round it out nicely.  The dish gluten free, so if you want to serve bread on the side, choose accordingly to the needs of those at your table.

Being lazy about dirtying extra plates,
we serve ourselves these braised pork chops right from the pan on the stove
 when there are no guests.

Braised Pork Chops with Fennel,  Potatoes, & Rosemary
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1T olive oil
2 oz. diced speck or bacon
4 boneless center-cut pork chops (heritage if possible), 1" thick, salted and peppered
1 large onion, diced
1 large fennel bulb, cored, sliced, both white and green parts
Fennel fronds reserved for garnish
1 T bruised fennel seeds
3 cups small, yellow potatoes, halved or quartered
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, no salt added
1 cup chicken stock
pinch hot red pepper flakes
1T Italian seasoning
2T fresh rosemary leaves, minced
2T Anisette liqueur
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil on medium heat in a large, deep covered sauté pan, and add the speck. Cook until it begins to just brown. Move the speck aside and add the pork chops. Brown the chops, about 4 minutes per side, adjusting the heat as needed.

2. Remove the chops and speck to a plate and set aside, leaving any fat in the pan. Add the onions, fennel bulb, fennel seeds and potatoes. Salt lightly, and cook until the onions and fennel begin to soften. Add the tomatoes,  stir up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, then add the stock, the red pepper, the Italian seasoning, rosemary and the Anisette.  Bring to a simmer and stir well.

3. Add the chops, the speck, and any accumulated juices from the plate, return the mixture to a simmer, cover and cook about an hour, until the pork is very tender. Place the chops on a serving platte, and spoon the vegetables and juices over it all. Garnish with the fennel fronds.

Bacon from the Boot: Cauliflower with Basil Pesto, Speck & Gorgonzola

Cauliflower with Basil Pesto, Speck and Gorgonzola in my new blue dish!

Bacon and cheese, geez. It's a go-to combo in so many ways. Atop burgers or nestled inside them,   mac & cheese with bacon, even in the ubiquitous drive-thru breakfast sandwich, it raises the deliciousness factor by at least 10. Not much that isn't improved by smoked meat and cheese. I often like to use speck, which is the Italians greatest gift to us smoked meat lovers, in pasta dishes and anywhere else I can get away with it. Technically, what it is, is smoked prosciutto, but it's meatier than our regular bacon, porkier, and well, a little smokier in my estimation. You can get it sliced to order in good delis, and already diced in many good supermarkets. Sometimes I just dice it up, crisp it up in a little good olive oil, and use that as the base for a good vinaigrette. Wonderful stuff from The Boot.

Yesterday, my local Whole Foods had a terrific Friday Deal on bone-in rib steaks, and I picked up a gorgeous 3" thick 2-pounder to butterfly and grill for our dinner. Also a lovely organic cauliflower that I originally intended to puree with cheese. We've had some carb-heavy meals lately and I wanted a good, low carbs side dish. The Gorgonzola and the speck caught my eye in the fridge drawer, and I thought they would make nice partners in a rustic baked casserole. I was right. It's a little homely, but it's a great accompaniment to grilled meat, and can bake unattended while the grill does it's magic on the rest of your dinner.

Cauliflower with Basil Pesto, Speck and Gorgonzola
6 servings

1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 oz. diced speck or smoked bacon
1/2 cup of red bell pepper in 1/2" dice
6 cups of al dente cooked cauliflower, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth
3 T Basil Pesto ( I like the Basil Pesto from Stonewall Kitchen if I don't have any homemade)
4 oz. crumbled Gorgonzola Dolce
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil or parsley

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Heat the olive oil is a large nonstick skillet that has a cover and add the speck. Cook on medium, about 5 minutes until the speck is starting to crisp. Add the bell pepper, raise the heat and continue to cook about 2-3 minutes longer until the pepper is starting to soften.

Adds both color AND flavor.

Add the cauliflower, give it all a big stir, and add the white wine. cover and let steam-cook about 2 minutes until most of the wine is gone. Stir in the basil pesto, mixing thoroughly. Turn the cauliflower mixture into the prepared baking dish and cover with foil or a lid. Bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the cover, sprinkle the Gorgonzola over the top, and return to the oven for about 5 minutes, uncovered until the cheese begins to melt.

Remove, stir gently to mix in the cheese, sprinkle the basil or parsley over the top and serve.