This one is a breakfast treat from Louisiana. It's a farmers cheese, served in cream, top milk or half & half, and covered with sugar or cane syrup and fruit. Other uses include cheesecake, fillings, ice cream, and eating out of hand with S&P. This is one of those foods that was produced locally, back in the day, but was supplanted by product as Sir Corporate Agriculture discovered the charms of Dame Government.
Due to current health regulations, making cultured products in a restaurant is problematic. (you try explaining to the inspector why a large bowl of milk is sitting around unattended outside the refrigerator) Therefore, do try this at home, off site or as an overnight project.
Put 1 gallon skim milk in a bowl and let it come up to between 70° and 80°. Add ½ cup of cultured buttermilk and ½ teaspoon liquid rennet diluted in a quarter cup of water. Mix the heck out of it, cover, and let it sit at room temperature (72°) for 12 to 15 hours. Spoon the curd out with a skimmer and drain. If you don't have a cheese draining implement (and honestly, few of us do) you can perforate some clean cottage cheese containers and set them on a rack in a roasting pan. Put in the fridge and wait until the whey stops dripping (4 to 5 hours) then repackage.
Notes: This differs from Junket because of the addition of the buttermilk's culture. Therefore you're dealing with microbes. Don't just wash your equipment, sterilize it. If you have a ceramic bowl, it helps stabilize the temperature. However, if you've used it for yeast dough, go with a stainless. Don't borrow your pastry people's equipment or space. They use yeast. Yeast and warm standing milk do not equal cream cheese. Keep the whey. It can be cooked for ricotta, used in soup, or given to the previously jilted pâtisserie. The bread and muffin crowd will thank you.
This dish is an old standby. The Villa de Chez Celebrity Chef probably serves squid ink gnocchi, made from Peruvian potatoes and pignon nuts bought down the mountain by an obscure religious order, but I suspect that chicken piccata has made an appearance at the staff table. This recipe, adapted from Cooks Illustrated: Feb 01, is tried and true. It serves four, but can ramped up or down easily.
Take four boneless breasts, skin if necessary, pull the tender, and trim. If you have the time, brine* them. Cut them in half horizontally* (butterfly), apply S&P to both sides and dredge in flour.
Bring a flat bottom pan to heat, oil lightly, and cook the chicken to brown on both sides. As the pieces curl, press them back into the heat. You're looking for even cooking. Cycle as many times as necessary. You don't want to crowd the chicken, and you definitely don't want to burn the fond building up. Hold done pieces in a low oven.
When the chicken is done, add a bit of oil and sauté a minced shallot until clear (30 sec.) If your mom is Italian you can also add 2 oz of prosciutto chiffinade. When this is ready, deglaze with one cup of chicken stock*, and add lemon slices (Half a lemon, sliced thinly, pole to pole) Reduce to 1/3 cup. Add the juice of 3/2 lemon and 2 T capers*. Simmer for a minute, take it off heat and mount* with 3 T unsalted butter. Add 2 T minced parsley, spoon sauce over reserved chicken, and serve.
Notes: Brining means to soak the breast in a salt / sugar solution for a few hours.... I know the traditional method is pounding, but that tradition dates back to when chicken referred to birds, not a genetically standardized meat production unit.... Most recipes use wine, but you're adding more acid and the wine flavor dulls the lemon flavor. (in my opinion) .... Use nonpareil size capers. Taste first and if too salty or vinegary, rinse them. If they taste good to you, toss 'em in.... Mount means to use butter to thicken a sauce and add gloss. You use small chunks of cold butter, one at a time, and whisk them into the sauce as they melt. It does not mean to float a spreader full of room temperature butter on the surface.
Rather than going into all the salsa (sauce) variations, or the different kinds of pico de gallo (roster's beak) I'm going to give you the basic tomato based mix that most Americans view as salsa.
Prep: Cube 3/2 lbs of ripe tomato. The size of the cut depends on what the salsa is being served with. Mince 1/2 cup red onion. Seed and mince 1 large jalapeño. Toss together and let drain in colander.
Before Service: Chop fresh cilantro with a sharp knife. Don't mince, mash or over-cut, leave some life in the herb. Juice two limes. Put everything together, then add salt and fresh pepper. STOP. You're done. Clean up, go on to your next job, or grab a smoke, that's all there is to it.
The key point here is the tomato. When you buy or receive them, let them sit out at room temperature until they ripen. The gas-stabilized half ripe red product you find at most store's tomato bin just won't do the job without some help.
A lot of recipes add additional bits to the basic mix, i.e. garlic, garlic powder, hot sauce, jicama, chilies of this or that sort, scallions, bits of orange, lemon or lime zest, sugar, and so on. My advice is if you're working for the house, use the house recipe. If you are the house, master the basic move of sourcing ripe tomatoes before you try a variation. Remember, when cooking for the public, some darn person, usually seated near you, will be 'lergic to at least one of your additions. (not that this has ever happened to me) When making it for yourself, have fun. (bits of orange are surprisingly good)
O.K. let's see where we stand after the latest re-boot. Borg be gone. Re-assimilated by the Caeliar and whisked away from direct storyline involvement, they have to time-out in the wings. If you ever have to explain Deus ex Machina to a fanboy, point to that bit of business. Janeway is dead, except in the hearts of her friends, but there is that bit of Q involvment just waiting for a guest appearance. Voyager has been fitted with a Quantum Slipstream Drive a support fleet, and a benamite recrystalization matrix, (Irsk-Dulaph poop: really, pg 333 ) but the engine room blows up just as regularly as in the first Enterprise. (Scotty, we're going to stop at the Radio Shack planet and buy you some fuses) Seven is now a damsel in distress (wonder how many nude Jeri Ryan hits Google got on that one?), but comes equipped with a regal bearing, full lips, a new wardrobe befitting her regal bearing, and catoms. Catoms are programmable matter. They work like secret Vulcan mind tricks. When the story gets painted into a corner, you can pull a new one out and save the day. Darn handy, and they accessorize so well with a regal bearing. A side note; baby Miral Paris has learned to say p'tak.
Please don't get me wrong, I paid my money and I'm satisfied with my purchase. It's a product, like meatloaf or a comic book series. The good guys win by looking to their higher nature, the bad guys loose, or more often temporarily withdraw, and off we go. For two or three hours you can immerse yourself in familiar gossip, plenty of remember when, sophomore pathos and philosophy, and some journalism grade slippery science. A tad shy of the Odyssey, but good dum fun and a temporary palliative to the end of the world bloviation our other media outlets are currently selling.
