Sautéed Chicken Breast w/ Cream Sauce

This is one of my favorite ways to do chicken breast. It is so simple that I can make it when I come home from work and it has so many great flavors! The first thing that you need to make sure when sautéing anything, particularly if you want to make a pan sauce, is to use either a cast iron or stainless steal pan. Put away the non-stick pans! The reason is you can't develop a good fond in a non-stick pan because, well...it's non-stick. Fond is a french cooking term for base and it commonly refers to the delicious browned bits and caramelized drippings from meat or veggies that form at the bottom of the pan when sautéing or roasting. We use the fond to create a much more complex depth of flavor. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablepoon extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 1/2 cup cooking white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and coated in flour 
• 1/2 cup cream
• 2 tablespoons parmesan, shredded
• 2 teaspoons italian herbs, optional

Directions

Remove chicken breast from packaging and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Lay the chicken breasts between a layer of saran wrap and pound thinly. Season the chicken breasts on all sides with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Then dredge the chicken breasts in flour and pat off excess. 

Heat your pan (remember no non-stick!) over medium high heat. When the pan is hot add in your the EVOO, it should shimmer when added. Carefully add the chicken breasts to the pan and sauté 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 160°F. Remove from pan to a cooling rack and let rest (Don't worry, the internal temp. will reach 165°F with the carry over cooking). 

You may need to add another tablespoon of EVOO to the pan, if you have enough don't worry about it. Add in the garlic and shallot and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. (It's very important to have all your ingredients, mis en place, ready for the pan sauce because the garlic and shallot will burn very quickly if you don't move quickly). Add in the white wine and deglaze the pan with a wooden spoon (scrap all the brown bits off the bottom). Reduce the white one until almost fully evaporated, almost syrupy consistency. Add in the chicken stock and reduce that liquid by half. Remove your pan from the heat and add the butter in a few cubes at a time and whisk in until the sauce begins to thicken. Whisk in the cream and parmesan cheese until it has melted. Finally whisk in the herbs. You want to add your fresh herbs in at the end, off the heat because cooking them can destroy their flavor. Slice your chicken breast and drizzle the cream sauce on top. 

Don't mind the grease splatter on the Thermapen :) One of the most important tools every...EVERY kitchen should have is a quality thermometer. Thermapen is the best hands down.  "The Super-Fast Thermapen is a professional tool (originally designed for commercial kitchens, labs and manufacturing plants) that has become the top consumer cooking thermometer for home use. Its popularity among celebrity chefs, cooking magazines, top foodies, bloggers and competition BBQ teams has made the Thermapen into an essential tool in the best-equipped home kitchens and backyard BBQ rigs.  Made by Hand in England, the Thermapen is faster and more accurate than any other cooking thermometer on the market. Competitors have tried to copy the Thermapen with mass-produced products made in China and have flooded the housewares market with slower, less-accurate knock-offs. However, when compared to true competing commercial thermocouple thermometers, the Thermapen is not only faster and more accurate, it's also less expensive!  The Thermapen's speed and accuracy will reveal more about food and cooking techniques than you ever imagined. You'll learn that temperatures are always changing; a roast is never the same temperature throughout while cooking. If you want to know what's really going on, get a Thermapen.  If you want to experience speed and precision (traceable to National Standards) and you're on a quest for culinary perfection, you will want a Thermapen  Add up the expense of wasted meats alone and you'll justify the cost of this professional tool.  A Thermapen an be used for virtually anything that needs to be cooked or chilled. Use it on meats, fish, casseroles, re-heated foods, breads, cakes, deep frying and candy. You don't have to have a Thermapen o be a great cook; however, more than one celebrity chef and several food writers have testified that a Thermapen ill make you a better cook...AND, you can choose your own color! Order one today." They come in various colors and are the perfect thermometer for either the home cook or cooking professionals. I've owned several thermometers in the past and all of them have either broke, melted or a pain because you have to keep on calibrating them. Save yourself the frustration and money and just buy yourself a Thermapen!

Sous Vide Short Ribs

I love having those moments when you make something for the first time and you think "Dear Lord, where have you been my whole life?" These short ribs were one of those moments. Ever since I started cooking sous vide I knew I wanted to try the 72 Hour Short ribs, but just never got around to it. Then, when I went grocery shopping the other day, I saw these beautiful shorties starring at me in the meat section. (That was probably the weirdest sentence I have ever wrote...I feel like that should be lyrics in next big rap song). Anyways....If you decide to start experimenting with sous vide cooking, do yourself a favor and make these things. Yes, they take 72 hours, but that is just time they spend in the water bath. The recipe is actually very easy, I just threw them in Monday night and they were ready for Thursday night dinner (Quite convenient actually). Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 cups dark brown sugar
• 5 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp cayenne
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp ground allspice
• 2 tbsp chili flakes
• 3 tbsp ancho chili powder
• 1.5 lbs Short ribs, boneless
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 Tbsp Shallots, minced
• 1/2 Tbsp Garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/2 cup Short Rib Jus
• 2 Tbsp butter, cubed and coated with flour
• 1 Tbsp thyme, minced
• Salt & Pepper, to taste

Directions

The night before you want to start cooking the ribs, mix all the dry ingredients (first 8 ingredients) in a bowl. Rub the short ribs generously with the dry rub, place in a sealed container, and store in the fridge overnight, letting the meat marinate as the rub liquefies. 

Place the short ribs in a vacuum seal bag and vacuum seal. Place the short ribs in a 140° F water bath and sous vide for 72 hours. 

Remove the short ribs from the bag, saving the jus for the pan gravy, and pat the short ribs dry with a paper towl. Heat a cast iron pan over medium high heat, add in the oil. Sear the short ribs on all sides getting a nice crust (Maillard reaction) on all sides of the meat.

After you sear the meat, remove from pan and let rest while you make the pan gravy. Add the shallots and garlic and saute until fragrant, being sure not to burn. Deglaze the pan with the red wine. Reduce the wine until almost all evaporate. While the wine is reducing, strain the short rib jus through a fine mesh sieve lined with cheese cloth. Once the wine has almost evaporated add in the rib jus in. Continue reducing until you have about 1/2 cup liquid. Take off the heat and whisk in the flour coated butter, one cube at a time. You should notice your sauce starting to thicken and turn into a gravy. Check the consistency with a spoon, it should coat the back of the spoon and maintain a clear path when you rub your finger through it. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and the minced thyme. 

Slice the short ribs into 1/2" thick cubes, drizzle the pan gravy over top and serve. 

Kitchen Word of the Recipe

Reduction - is the process of thickening and intensifying the flavor of a liquid mixture such as a soup, sauce, wine or juice by boiling.  Reduction is performed by boiling liquid (whether stock, wine, whiskey, vinegar, or sauce mixture) rapidly and usually without a lid (enabling the vapor to escape more easily) until the volume desired is reached by evaporation. Since each component of the mixture evaporates at slightly different temperatures and the goal of reduction is to drive away those with lowest points of evaporation, it is – in a way – a form of distillation.