A friend text some pictures to me on Saturday of some steaks he cooked with his new sous vide cooker. Of course that made me want to play with mine so Saturday night I pulled out a piece of top sirloin and cooked it up to a perfect medium rare.
You really can get flawless steak every time with sous vide. This morning I got up thinking about other things I could cook sous vide and wanted to try something I hadn't done before.
I picked up some boneless/skinless chicken breast and butterflied them.
I seasoned well with salt, pepper and thyme and layered with prosciutto.
I rolled the chicken and prosciutto and wrapped tightly in plastic wrap
I put the rolls in the fridge to firm up for a few hours to firm up in shape. While they were chilling a tended to other things. I went to the garden to pick basil for a pesto. While in the garden I noticed that the tomato plants that are left over from my spring garden have some small green tomatoes on them. I know they won't have a chance to ripen so I picked a few and thought about how to work them into my plan.
The basil went in the processor
I added olive oil, Parmesan, garlic and substituted pecans for pine nuts, a little salt and a splash of lemon.
I prepped some leaks for braising, cutting away the tough green part of the leaves
I split the leaks length wise, rinsed them very well. Then I buttered them and put them in a pyrex with some white wine and chicken stock, added salt and pepper and put in the oven to braise.
Next I prepped my dessert of poached pears. I peeled my pears and cut about a half inch off of the bottom to give them a flat base to stand on. I put 2 cups red wine, a little over 1/4 cup of sugar, a couple of cloves, a cinnamon stick, 1/2 cup orange juice and some zest in a 4qt sauce pan. I brought the mixture to a boil, then simmered it for 5 minutes. I added the pears on their sides and poached covered for about 20 minutes turning every 5 so they would cook all the way around. Once they were poached I let them cool in the pot for a half hour then moved the whole pot to the fridge for 3 hours. When ready to serve, remove pears from pot and plate, return pot to heat over med/hi heat and reduce sauce by half, spoon sauce over pears.
I chilled for a while, then an hour and a half before I wanted to serve, I got my water bath heated up to 143
I vacuum bagged each chicken roll individually over the plastic wrap and put it in the water bath for an hour and a half.
While the chicken cooked I took some chicken livers and very gently sauteed them in butter and white wine, then sliced them and set aside.
Next I prepped my sauce, a white wine cream sauce with porcini mushrooms, reduce about 1/3 cup of white wine and 1 tbs red wine vinegar in a sauce pan with some minced garlic, when it's reduced just about to a syrup add cream and re constituted dried porcini mushrooms, reduce and season to taste. I also got water boiling for some pasta.
Just before I was ready to pull the chicken I sliced the green tomatoes and cut some red and yellow bell peppers. I toss them in olive oil and salt along with some tri color cherry tomatoes and char them in a grilling basked over the 20000 BTu Burner on my propane stove outside
I pulled the chicken and unwrapped the rolls
I sliced the rolls and was pleased. The chicken was full cooked but still very moist and tender
To plate, first the salad. Spring mix tossed with slices of my poor mans foi gras, topped with shaved parm and a homemade vinaigrette that I make with 20 year old balsamic vinegar.
Then to plate the chicken I spoon cream sauce on the plate, I then make a base with charred slices of green tomatoe, stack the chicken rounds on it, top with charred peppers and cherry tomatoes, then drizzle with a little more porcini cream sauce
Pasta with pesto and braised leaks are on the side
And of course, dessert
Next time I will use a little more prociutto and I will probably cook at a couple degrees lower temp. Overall though it rocked, the chicken has a tender, buttery texture that I've never really experienced before and it's very good