Food is Cynful: September 2009

About the Cyn

As I have added more and more recipe's to this blog I've realized that these are such sweet tender memories for me. Just as a photograph or childhood story will bring back memories, food floods me with tons of remembrances of happy times in the past! From family dinners and times with friends to Grandma making toast in the frying pan, food has brought about a way to record my family history. Food has always been and remains a huge part of our gatherings and I feel so very blessed to be able to share my memories and such terrific recipe's with my family and anyone out there who has a few minutes to spare. It is my hope that someday my children and grandchildren will prepare these recipe's and know they were special to someone!

Cynful Explanations

Al dente – An Italian expression applied in all western kitchens to pasta cooked just until enough resistance is left in it to be felt “by the tooth.” Fresh pasta can never by cooked al dente as it is too soft. The expression is also applied to vegetables that have been cooked crisp by steaming, boiling, or stir-frying.
Baste – To moisten food during cooking with pan drippings, sauce, or other liquid. Basting prevents foods from drying out.
Bias-cut - To slice food at a steep angle increasing the surface area, makes a thinner cut easier and looks better.
Butterfly- To split a food (such as shrimp) down the center, cutting almost but not completely through. The two halves are then opened flat to resemble a butterfly shape.
Caramelize – The flavor of many foods, including vegetables, meats, and seafood, is often enhanced by a gentle browning that caramelizes natural sugars and other compounds and intensifies their flavor. Meats for stews, for example, are usually browned to caramelize juices that if not caramelized are much less flavorful. Chopped vegetables, especially aromatic ones such as carrots and onions, are often caramelized—sometimes with cubes of meat—in a small amount of fat before liquid is added to enhance the flavor of soups, stews, and sauces.
Dice – To cut into cubes (unlike chopping, which cuts foods into irregular pieces).
Dredge – To coat a food with flour, any finely crumbled ingredient, or, in pastry, with fine sugar.
Egg wash – A mixture of egg or egg white, oil, and water brushed over floured items, which are then deep-fried or pan-fried in clarified butter or oil.
Fold – To incorporate an egg-white foam into an egg yolk foam or a flour batter without deflating it so that it retains its full leavening power.
Julienne – To cut into long thin matchstick size strips.
Marinade – A mixture of ingredients used to flavor and moisten foods. May be liquid of dry. Liquid marinades are usually acidic based and dry marinades are usually salt based.
Mince – To chop very fine.
Piping - To force a food (typically frosting or whipped cream) through a pastry tip to use as a decoration or garnish, or to shape dough, such as that for éclairs.
Poach – To cook completely submerged in barely simmering liquid.
Puree – To work or strain foods until they are completely smooth.
Ramekin – A small, ovenproof dish, usually ceramic.
Render - To melt animal fat over low heat so that it separates from any connective pieces of tissue, which, during rendering, turn brown and crisp.
Resting – Roasted meats should not be served straight out of the over, but should be allowed to rest in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes, loosely covered with aluminum foil. (The foil keeps the meat warm; loose wrapping ensures that the outside of the meat doesn’t steam and lose its crispness.) Resting allows the meat to relax so the juices become redistributed in the meat and aren’t squeezed out onto the platter during carving.
Sauté – To cook over high heat in a small amount of fat in a sauté pan or skillet.
Scald – To heat milk just below the boiling point. Or, to immerse a vegetable or fruit in boiling water in order to remove its skin easily.
Sear – To brown the surface of pieces of meats and or fish by submitting them to intense initial heat.
Simmer – To maintain the temperature of a liquid just below boiling.
Steam – To cook in steam by suspending foods over (not in) boiling water, in a covered pot or steamer.
Stew – A cooking method nearly identical to braising but generally involving smaller pieces of meat, and hence a shorter cooking time. Also, the dish prepared by using this method of preparation.
Stir-fry – Chinese technique of cooking think slivers of meat, shellfish, and vegetables in hot oil.
Sweat – To cook foods over gentle heat, usually covered or partly covered, until they release their moisture. Vegetables, meats, and seafood are often sweated when making soups, stews, and sauces so that the foods release their juices into the pan and surrounding liquid. Sweating is the opposite of sautéing.
Tempura – A Japanese method of cooking vegetables and shellfish. They are coated with a light cornstarch batter and deep-fried.
Wok – A round-bottomed pan, usually made of rolled steel, used for virtually all Chinese cooking methods.
Zest – The thin, brightly colored outer part of the rind of citrus fruits. The oils make it ideal for use as a flavoring. Remove the zest with a grater, citrus zester, or vegetable peeler. Be careful to remove only the colored layer, not the bitter-white pith beneath it.

I'm so excited to be adding Chicken

Cordon Bleu to my list of favorites. I starting making this dish about 15 years ago. I saw the recipe for the first time while helping a friend in her kitchen and really wanted to try it. When the whole thing came out and it was delicious I was so excited. Looking back I think that this dish might have been the start to my love of cooking. Since then I have been asked to make it for different occasions and festivities. One of the most memorable was after Emma's baby blessing. It's something that people cut into and are amazed at what they find inside and are amazed that you could make such a thing. So here it is the start of my cooking adventures...

10 Chicken Breasts
20 slices of Lunch Ham
1 lb Swiss cheese
1 bag of cheap Corn Flakes
2 sticks of Butter
Lots of toothpicks

Sauce
26 oz can cream of chicken
16 oz tub of sour cream (fat free works the same)
3-4 tbsp lemon juice or enough to taste

Rinse chicken and pat dry really well. The drier and colder the chicken, the easier it is to work with. Trim the chicken fat away. Butterfly each chicken piece. Using a meat tenderizer pound each piece one at a time under a sheet of plastic wrap until the piece has even thickness. This is important! The chicken needs to be an even thickness so that it will cook evenly. Before you remove the plastic wrap place your hand on top of the pounded chicken. By wiggling your hand on top of the chicken you can feel any larger bumps that may not have been pounded down. If you don’t cover it with plastic wrap, chicken pieces will fly all over the place.
Now set the chicken aside, it’s time to prep for the roll.
Cut 10, 3/4 inch square strips of cheese. This will be enough for each piece of chicken to get one strip. Set aside 20 pieces of ham. Get out your toothpicks. Arrange everything in order of how it will go on to the chicken. First the chicken, then ham, then the strips of cheese, then the toothpicks. The toothpicks really need to be taken out of the box and set at the end of your assembly line so you are not reaching into the box with raw chicken on your fingers. You want to lay the top widest part of the chicken near you then place 2 pieces of ham on top of that. The cheese goes on top of the ham on the end closest to you. Roll everything together squeezing tightly as you roll and repeat with each piece of chicken. You will need toothpicks to hold the roll in place. Don't be afraid to use more than one toothpick.
Now set the chicken rolls aside, it’s time to prep for the crust.
First preheat your oven to 400. Melt the butter in a covered dish in the microwave. Pour the corn flakes in a zip baggie and crush down to ¼ the original size. Both the butter and corn flakes need their own individual shallow bowls. A pie tin works great. Bathe the roll in the butter and then transfer to the corn flakes making sure the roll is completely covered by the corn flakes, then place in a 9x13 baking dish and repeat with each roll. You want to put the chicken pieces close together so that there will be enough room for all the rolls.
Now bake the chicken uncovered in the oven for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.
While chicken is baking mix the sauce. You will need to taste your sauce to make sure there is enough lemon. Only add lemon by the tbsp! Warm the sauce either covered in the microwave or over a medium low heat on the stove top. Remove the chicken from oven, check for doneness and let sit for a few minutes while you set the table. Remind those eating with you that there will be toothpicks. You can spoon the sauce over the top right before serving or let each person spoon as much as they want themselves.

This whole process is lengthy and my back usually hurts afterward. From start to finish it takes me 2 ½ to 3 hours including cooking time but I have done it several times. Plan ahead and be prepared to need a lot of dishes. Be careful with what you touch as you are handling raw chicken a lot! While the chicken is in the oven, CLEAN AND DISINFECT EVERYTHING YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE TOUCHED. If you are like me you will need to clean the entire kitchen because you have had to spread out over everything. This chicken presents beautifully and is an elegant main dish. I hope you love it as much as my family and I have over the last several years.

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Chicken Cordon Bleu

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