Sunday, November 11, 2012

How To Make So Delicious French Veal Blanquette

Veal blanquette is a classic French dish, which has become one of the greatest known trademarks of French cuisine. It is a stew based main dish, in which the veal is cooked in a roux and cream based white sauce. This recipe has been introduced to the American food market by Julia Child and now other ingredients like pearl onions and quartered mushrooms are also added to the dish. This is simply a wonderful recipe, which is perfect for serving even in parties.


Ingredients:
  • 4 lbs. of veal stew meat, cut into 1 inch sized cubes
  • 3-4 stalks of celery, cut into large pieces
  • 1 teaspoon of dried tarragon
  • 1 cup + 1/2 cup of dry white vermouth
  • 3-4 leeks, cut into 1 inch sized pieces
  • 3-4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch sized pieces
  • 1 lb. of button mushrooms, quartered
  • 1 lb. of pearl onions, peeled
  • 4 cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
  • 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper
  • 2-3 small bay leaves, dried or fresh
  • 2 small cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
  • 5 cups of water
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • Freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste
  • Salt, to taste
  • 4 tablespoons of all purpose flour
  • A large handful of finely chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • 7 tablespoons of heavy cream

Method of Cooking:

1. Fetch a large pot and line its bottom with half of the veal cubes. Top that with half of the carrots, leeks, onion slices, garlic and half of the celery. Spread the vegetables evenly over the veal pieces to make room for the other ingredients. Then sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of tarragon, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/4th teaspoon of dried thyme and 1/4th teaspoon of white pepper over the layer of veal and vegetables. Next, drop 1 bay leaf and 2 cloves into the pot. Once done, repeat the same process of layering by starting with the remaining veal pieces and finishing with the remaining cloves and bay leaves.

2. Once done, place the pot on the stove and set the flame on high. Pour the white vermouth and the water over the entire mixture and then let the mixture come to a boil. Once the mixture starts boiling, turn down the flame to medium and let the mixture simmer slowly for 30-40 minutes.

Simmer the mixture uncovered for the stated time period and make sure that you skim off the scum frequently that gets collected on the surface of the liquid. Once the time elapses, cover up the pot with a heavy lid and let the mixture simmer for another 50-60 minutes or until the meat becomes very tender. The meat should be very tender but it should not start falling apart from the bones.

3. Now take a large bowl and place it beside the pot. Fish out as many veal and vegetables pieces from the stew as possible and then strain the mixture to seperate out the remaining spices, meat pieces and vegetables from the stock. Discrad the bay leaves and the cloves and retain the stock for later use.

4. While the stock is boiling, take a saucepan and fill it halfway up with water. Place the saucepan on the stove beside the pot and then let the water heat up. Once the water reaches the boiling point, drop the pearl onions in it and boil them for 1 minute. Once the time gets over, drain away the water from the saucepan by dumping the pearl onions into a colander. Now let the onions cool down a little by letting them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. Once the pearl onions are cooled enough to handle, peel off their skin and then set them aside.

5. Turn up the flame to high and let the skillet heat up. Once the skillet heats up, put 2 tablespoons of butter in it and wait until the butter melts completely. Once that happens, put half of the mushrooms into the skillet and brown them on both sides by stirring them occassionally for 5-7 minutes or until they are nicely browned on both sides. Once done, transfer the browned mushrooms to a plate and brown the rest of the mushrooms in the same manner. You can brown all the mushrooms at a time but make sure that you don't overcrowd the skillet; otherwise, the mushrooms will sweat instead of browning.

6. Once all the mushrooms are nicely browned on all sides, remove the skillet from the hob and place a saucepan on it. Adjust the flame and set it on medium and then drop the remaining butter into the saucepan. Swirl the saucepan to coat its base with the butter and also to melt the butter quickly.

Once the butter melts completely, add-in a little bit of the flour and whisk it to mix with the butter. Continue adding a little flour at a time while whisking the mixture until the entire flour gets moistened with the melted butter. Once that happens, pour 1 cup of the reserved veal stock into the saucepan and whisk it vigorously to combine it immediately with the roux.

7. Next, whisk-in 2 cups of the remaining veal stock. Stir the sauce lightly and then season it with a small pinch of salt. Once everything is mixed, let the sauce boil vigorously for 4-5 minutes or until it becomes a little thick. Then turn down the flame to medium low to simmer the sauce by whisking it frequently for 8-10 minutes or until it turns creamy and thick.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

A Famous Chinese Noodles Recipe

Chinese food recipes or cuisine has turned into a staple world food, loved by people around the world. A third from the world's population enjoys Chinese food every single day, since it offers dishes which are considered to be a few of the tastiest and unique in the world. Although it started off in China, the trend of this oriental cuisine has become widespread in the Western world, exemplifying the quality and lovability of Chinese food. Chinese food is a popular cuisine in America, with restaurants found throughout the country. Many items on the Chinese food menu are deep-fried, loaded with sodium and drowned in sauces. However, if you choose wisely you can make some great, healthy choices. Chinese restaurants serve an array of vegetable and lean protein dishes for you to enjoy.


Many Chinese recipes are quick, simple to make, or both. Some can be created with ingredients that can be found for the most part local supermarkets, while some may need a trip to a Chinese/Asian market or utilizing a substitute. Whether you're a new comer to Chinese cooking or simply searching for a recipe that does not require spending a lot of time in the kitchen. People of the Western culture appreciate Chinese food for its combination of superb taste and affordability. Instead of seeing it as a foreign food that is never to be understood and difficult to cook, it has become known that Chinese cuisine is in fact easy and convenient to make in the comfort of one's own home. With all the basic ingredients of common dishes such as bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts available from any neighborhood supermarket, Chinese food has been localized for people everywhere.

Chinese Noodles are magnificent recipes in chinese food. These are so appreciable among kids. This Chinese noodles recipe is a vegetarian noodles recipe. Noodles are a favorite of most children. Stringing, sucking, rolling the noodles around the fork provides them with lot of fun as well as the nutrition. Chinese noodles, whole wheat based noodles are healthier than the white flour based noodles. You also have a choice of egg noodles and eggless noodles. Many kids do not like to eat their veggies in any form but make an exception to the vegetable noodles.


Chinese Noodles Recipe

Noodles – 200 gms
Water – 4-5 cups
Salt – 1/2 tsp or to taste.
Butter or vegetable oil – 1 tbsp
Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp or to taste
Tomato ketchup – 1 tbsp
Soya sauce (optional) – 1 tsp
Red chili powder (optional) – 1/4 tsp

Instructions:

Heat water till it starts boiling. Add noodles to the water and let boil for 3-4 minutes. Drain and add to a bowl. Add 1/2 tbsp oil and keep aside till needed.In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil, add chopped ginger, garlic and onion. Sautee for 2 minutes.Add beans. Cook for 2 minutes stirring. Add cabbage, capsicum, green peas. Cook for 2 minutes.Add tomatoes, salt, pepper powder, ketchup, Soya sauce. Mix well.Place the boiled noodles on a serving plate. Add the cooked vegetables mix on the top of the noodles in a heap. Serve immediately piping hot.

You may also add the noodles to the frying pan and mix with the vegetables before
serving. It tastes great that way too. Check if your store bought noodles contain salt and add accordingly. For variation, Leave out pepper powder, tomato ketchup, soya sauce and add curry powder or rasam powder. It is a tasty change from the usual noodles. and try this chinese noodles recipe.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Tips For Cooking The Best Salmon Steaks


Salmon steaks are a favorite among all age groups. Cooking them is not at all a tough task. Rather it is much easier than it seems. Let us try and know how to grill salmon steaks over a stove top. The method is as interesting as the final result would taste! So what's the wait for? Let us first have an idea about the things which are required for the purpose of grilling salmon steaks on the stove top. The ingredients required are as follows:
  • A grill or a heavy skillet stove
  • Oil required for grilling (preferably olive oil)
  • A choice of your seasoning
  • A lid which can cover the salmon steaks completely
  • Paper towels
  • A large spatula

The process of preparing delicious and mouth watering grilled salmon steaks over a stovetop is as described below:
  1. Begin the process by first seasoning the salmon steaks with your choice. Make sure that the seasoning is evenly spread on all sides. Do not bother if there is skin on one side. Now keep the seasoned salmon steaks on one side and start heating the pan grill on a high temperature. Remember that the pan should not get overheated. For knowing whether the pan has perfectly heated or not, just sprinkle some water on the grill. If the water sizzles up, you know that your grill is ready for use.
  2. Now you need to add the olive oil to the grill. You can do this by either pouring the oil over the pan or by just spreading the oil with the help of a spatula. You can also use a paint brush to spread the oil over the pan. Just be careful that the brush is able to sustain the heat. Otherwise a paper towel works best for spreading oil over the pan of your grill. In case you are feeling the fishy smell of the salmon steaks all over your kitchen, just switch on the exhaust fan.
  3. Take the salmon steaks and put it over the pan. Do not forget to put the seasoned skin side down first. Here if you find that the heat is a bit high, you can lower it to your suitability. Do not panic if the skin side gets deep brown by the heat as most people prefer not to eat the skin portion.
  4. After some time when you find that the flesh of the salmon steaks have started cooking and is beginning to brown a little in color, you can use the spatula to turn over the steaks in the pan. Just allow the steaks to cook for sometime. You can get a hint of the salmon steaks getting cooked nicely when the edges of the steaks begin to show signs of the flesh cooking towards the center.
  5. After you have made yourself sure that the salmon steaks have cooked themselves properly, cover them with a large lid that ensures all the salmon steaks are inside it. You can pour a little bit of hot water under the lid when you place it over the fish. This is done for ensuring a steam which enables faster cooking. You can also add the hot water more than once.