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Dear Readers,
With the way things are going, I can only wish that the day has more than 24 hours! So, I've decided to take a short hiatus from posting after the Vanilla Extract post and come back with more goodies for you. I will exponentially write more about my vanilla extract and perhaps cover more about the type of beans used, etc. I have always been very interested in making my own food and seasoning, I think I might have found a serious hobby besides cooking :)
So, A Series of Kitchen Experiments wishes you:
xoxo
36 hours old
You can make your own vanilla extract at home and I promise you that is it extremely simple. I cannot stress that more. It's been 36 hours since I steeped my own vanilla extract and it looks and smells heavenly! So I urge you to try making your own bottle of vanilla extract at home as one 375ml bottle can and will last you years because it is more potent than the imitation. As for cost, let's just say the cost of one 125ml bottle of pure vanilla extract can buy enough pods to make 2-3bottles 375ml of vanilla essence. So, you can do the math.
To make vanilla extract you will need only two ingredients and some patience. Technically, the extraction process will take 6 months but you can start using the extract at 4 weeks.
Vanilla extract recipe:
1.5 cup of vodka (you should use a clear alcohol that is relatively flavorless and must be between 35% - 40% alcohol level)
8 vanilla pods, seeds scraped and pods cut into 1 inch pieces
Method:
Put the vanilla pod pieces and seeds into the bottle of vodka and shake. Let it sit in a cool, dark place. Shake daily for the first week, and then 2-3 times on the second week onwards. After 6 months, sieve the content.
You can either discard the vanilla pods and precipitations or you can dry it out on a few layers of kitchen towels and mix it with your sugar to make vanilla sugar. As you can see, the vanilla pods can really stretch its uses and it is very worth your while.
I used Absolute Vodka but you can go ahead and use any vodka brand you please.
Like wine, vanilla extract will mature over the years giving you a rounder and deeper flavor as time goes by. And because it is steeped in 40% alcohol, it will last forever and will never go bad. However, after 6 months of steeping I suggest straining the vanilla essence to rid the pods and seeds. The extract will continue maturing after as well.
I don't know about you but I'm done with shopping in mortar and brick stores. I am ALL for online shopping these days, especially during this festive season. Why? There are plenty of pros when it comes shopping online and one of them is that you can shop at your own leisurely time! Another pro would be that you don't have to cram in like a pack a sardines with schools of people shuffling around a store. Some people just like standing in the way, be it to scratch their chin or stare at stuff or look for their wallets.
I will be back in Malaysia in mid-Jan to mid-Feb next visiting my parents, visiting friends and relatives. The "talk" sounds pretty daunting isn't it? But it's not as daunting as the shopping list I have for gifts to bring back home!
I need to look for wakame slices for my mom, 2lb of Schwartz's smoked meat, some ice wines/ciders, maple syrups and the list goes on... fingers crossed on my luggage for not being overweight once I am done. I still want to go shopping for boxing day and in January 09 before l leave. Apparently with the economy in depression, things are foretold to be a lot cheaper to lure consumers.
Hmmm :)
The birthday dinner went well and the guests loved the mixed roasts of game birds and chicken. This is possibly my most favorite dish to make and serve when you have a dinner party that is casual. I like to see people tucking in, picking their favorite parts from a large platter nicely stacked with quails, cornish hens and chicken.
Initially, I wanted to include pheasants and forgo the whole idea of a chicken to make this a gamey dinner but I couldn't find any at the grocery store. So, chicken it is! Although, Cornish hens are technically teenage chickens that are less than 2pounds each. But if you let these Cornish hens free in the wild and have a bunch of hunters hunt for them, they will be labeled as Cornish Game Hens - so they can pass off as game meat as well. Anyway, they tasted great and the quails were nicely gamey but I suspect I needed to marinate the quails more because of it's texture and less-fat content in its meat. The chicken, well, the chicken tastes like good ol' chicken.
I got this dinner idea from none other than Mr. Jamie Oliver. In both Jamie in Italy and Jamie at Home cookbooks, he celebrated the idea of having more than one kind of meat for roasting, which is brilliant for Thanksgiving or Christmas or any dinner party. And I concur, why settle for one type of bird when you can have 3 or 5 or 7! He arrange his mixed roasts on a bed of polenta, which I have substituted for parsnips and cauliflower puree because I was serving roasted smashed potatoes as one of my side dishes. The parsnip puree idea was taken from Au Pied de Cochon's Duck in a Can where the canned ducky goodness is poured over parnip puree covered toasts. I figured, the flavors of parsnips would work terribly well with gamey meats as ducks are rather gamey as well.
I would recommend anyone hosting a dinner party for 7-10 people to try this recipe as it is bound, as Jamie Oliver would say, to make you some very good friends.
Mixed Roast on Parsnips and Cauliflower Puree
6 quails, washed and halved
2 Cornish hens, washed and quartered
1 chicken, washed and cut into 8 pieces (quartered and then detach drumsticks from the thigh and wings from the breasts - this will give you 8 pieces)
10 slices of bacon
Marinade:
Zest from two oranges
Juice from two oranges
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary
1 cup of Pinot Noir (but you can use other red wines that you like)
2 teaspoon tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parsnip and Cauliflower Puree
3 cups parsnips, roughly chopped
2 cups cauliflower florets
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and whole
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Gremolata (for sprinkling)
5 large basil leaves
zest from 1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic
Method:
The birds
1. Place the birds in a large roasting tray and rub them with salt and pepper. Leave them a aside while you tend to the marinade.
2. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the marinade together and mix well. Whisk with a fork or a whisk until it is well emulsified and pour it over the birds.
3. With your hands, and your hands only, rub the marinade over the birds like you are giving them a good massage. And now, let them marinade for at least 2 hours in the fridge.
4. Once they are well marinated, sear the pieces of chicken, Cornish Hens and quails in a hot pan until they are nice brown but do not cook them through. You will do that in the oven - this step is to ensure a nice browning color before roasting ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE TIME.
* The last thing you want to do is popping pieces of game birds in in different time intervals, in front of your guests, because they are different in sizes and have different cooking times. So, in browning I can control how much I want my larger birds cooked through so that they cook in the same time as the other smaller birds.
5. After searing the birds, place them back into the same roasting tray (yes with the marinade) and drape them with bacon. You want them to be kind of cooked in a confit style from the bacon fat and also keeps them from drying out. Roast them in the oven at 350F for 70 minutes. Let them rest after roasting for 15 mins before plating.
Parsnip and Cauliflower Puree (this can be made ahead of time)
1. In a pot, add 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon salt, garlic, all the cauliflower and parsnips and let it cook for 20 minutes or until the parsnips are soft.
2. Keep 1/4 cup of cooking water and drain the rest. Discard the bay leaves but keep the softened garlic cloves - they are great flavor components.
3. In a blender, put in the cooked cauliflower and parsnips in. Season with a bit of salt and pepper and add the milk and lemon juice. Blend until the puree is smooth, add a bit of the cooking water in to help things move along. Your end product should look like a nice fluffy mash potatoes.
Gremolata
Chop the lemon zest, garlic and basil leaves together until they are finely minced. This adds a great layer of flavor on top of your misto roasto. And need I add that the smell of this is just heavenly? :)
This is what I'm talking about...
1. In a large platter, smear a nice layer of parsnips and cauliflower puree to make a bed for the roasties.
2. Sprinkle with some chives (optional) and also halve of the chopped bacon bits.
3. Arrange the quails, Cornish Hens and chicken on the bed of pureed parsnips and cauliflower - arrange them as your see fit because any way you go, it's going to turn heads when you bring this to the table :)
4. Spoon some of the gravy from the roasting pan over the top of the birds for a final glaze and then sprinkle with the rest of the bacon bits and gremolata on top.
5. Serve with love.
The great thing about serving a mixed roast is that the possibilities are endless. You can use any types of game meat on a bed of polenta, parsnips puree or even nice buttery mash potatoes for a one platter meal. Throw in some carrots and vegetables to roast together, if you like. As I said, the possibilities are endless and it is such a crowd pleaser! :)
