Anticipation

I know I might sound a little crazy, but I have found myself actually waiting to cook these recipes. I woke up this morning and wanted nothing more than to cook Tyler's perfect omelet. I kept going back and forth with myself on how wonderful it would be for breakfast. Obviously I decided not to make it because that would take away one of our dinners for the week, but not without disappointment. When I first started this project I assumed it would be enjoyable, something new. What I didn't think would happen is this, but its nice. This has become something that Im looking forward to, something that I actually anxiously anticipate doing. Its really wonderful. Being a housewife and a mother is my dream job. I am so blessed everyday that I get to stay home and watch my children grow and be the best wife I can be for my husband. But this, this project has given me that extra push to be my best. This project has taken me back to myself. I love my life as a mommy and wife, but this has brought out the Samantha that has been in hiding. The Samantha that took a back seat to my main priorities. But guess what, Im back baby.

Chicken Paillard

This is one of the first meals I saw when I flipped through the book. It instantly caught my eye. The picture is beautiful. The ingredients and instructions easy. Sounded like a match made in heaven. Then I saw the word anchovies. I shuddered.  But keeping an open mind in this new project I moved forward and decided to make this meal.

First you start by pounding 2 chicken breasts split in half to 1/2 inch thickness. Which gives you four thin pieces of chicken. Pound them out in between two pieces of plastic wrap for a smoother hit and less mess to clean up. Then get your breading station ready. One bowl with about 1/4 cup flour, salt and pepper. One bowl with two lightly beaten eggs. And one bowl with about a cup of panko bread crumbs with salt and pepper. The flour and Panko should have enough seasonings in them so that you can visibly see it. Then begin the breading process. Dip the chicken in the flour first. Then the egg. Finally the Panko shaking off any excess at each station. Lay the chicken on a plate and refrigerate for 10 minutes so that the breading can dry out and make sure that it stays on during the frying process.

Meanwhile, you can start on the sauce. This is all that you will need. A blender, two egg yolks, a clove of garlic peeled and smashed, the juice of two lemons, 4 anchovy fillets, 1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese, olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper.

Combine the anchovy fillets, lemon juice, egg yolks, and garlic and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth. Stream in 1/2 cup of olive oil while the blender is on until the sauce thickens. Afterwards toun the blender off and stir in the cheese and a few cranks of pepper.

Place the sauce in the fridge if you do not intend to use immediately. 

After ten minutes in the fridge heat a large skillet with two inches of oil to about 350 degrees to fry the chicken. Place the chicken in the oil ONLY when is is hot, otherwise you get greasy chicken. Fry until golden brown and then drain on paper towel lined plates. DO NOT overcrowd the pan because you will drop the temperature and cause longer cooking time which will in turn make your chicken retain more oil=greasy chicken. No one likes greasy chicken. 

After the chicken if finished cooking its time to assemble your plate. Place a little bit of the anchovy sauce in the bottom of a bowl and combine with arugula or mixed greens, grape tomatoes and bocconcini (fresh mozzarella balls) Place the chicken on the place with a drizzle of the sauce on top and a side of lemon wedges and you are set to go!

 I think this pretty much sums up dinner. The all around perfect bite. A little chicken, mozzarella, tomato and arugula with sauce. All in all I really surprised myself. I took a chance on the anchovies and guess what....I LOVED the sauce! It was different than anything I had ever made before but oh oh so delicious! The chicken was light and crispy which was the perfect compliment to the soft tomatoes and mozzarella in the salad. This was a fantastic meal and hats off to Tyler Florence. He has yet to let me down.

 Tyler (my Tyler!) enjoyed the mozzarella ball immensely! He threw the lettuce on the ground but ate everything else! Cam ate the chicken and cheese, but hey, at least he ate it!

One more recipe down and I cant wait to start on the next!

"Haute" dogs

So starting off with my new adventure of cooking my way through Tyler Florence's cookbook I decided to start out with a great dish for watching the Super Bowl. These "haute" dogs are nothing more than glorified pigs in a blanket, but man are they glorious! In the recipe you are supposed to use a sausage and put caraway seeds on top but seeing as it is just me and the boys I opted for beef hotdogs and no seeds. They still turned out fantastic.

The ingredient list is a hard one, are you ready? Hotdogs....and puff pastry. I know, it blows my mind too! To be fair Tyler Florence's recipe calls for high grade sausage, puff pastry, caraway seeds and an egg white to give it a nice shine and make the seeds stick. I made mine the same he made his though.

I used kosher salt instead of caraway seeds just to give it an extra bite. Alright are you ready for the directions? Thaw the puff pastry. Cut one sheet into six pieces. Wrap one hotdog in one piece of cut puff pastry. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet with seam side down. You can glaze with a beaten egg white if you do so choose. Sprinkle anything you'd like on top. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Voila! Delicious new take on pigs in a blanket!!

Here they are! I added a little crushed black pepper to a couple to just to experiment. Phenomenal! A nice side of yellow mustard was a great sidekick!

Seeing as his plate is clean Im "assuming" that Ty liked them too! But you know what assuming does! Cam ate them more delicately by poking the hotdog out first then eating the pastry, but hey, he ate his dinner!!

A very successful dinner on the first leg of cooking my way through this cookbook. I think this is a good sign!

And so it begins....

Here it is. The book that started it all...I first saw this book at the military Bx. I flipped through it just to see if any of the recipes looked like something we would eat, and to my surprise every one of them looked AMAZING! I didn't want to make an impulse buy so I left it there and kept looking around for the perfect book to cook my way through. Well, ultimately I decided on the first one I saw. I always do that! This was for a different reason though. I couldn't find another book that interested me like this one did. The pictures captivated me, the stories intrigued me. I was hooked. So begins the journey that I have set out for myself.