LE GRAND AIOLI BACHELORETTE PARTY

AUGUST 2021

LE GRAND AIOLI

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Caprese Skewers with Balsamic Glaze Drizzle

LE GRAND AIOLI

Vast array of assorted fresh & poached vegetables

Cod, Shrimp, Chicken

Garlic Aioli

Sundried Tomato Aioli

Basil Aioli

Berry Compote 

Vanilla Ice cream

Banana Whipped Cream

Fruit Sauce

Savoiardi

 

COCONUT CHICKEN SOUP (Tom Kha Gai)

This is a classic found in Thai restaurants. Once you have the ingredients it’s fairly simple to combine. I put it into the category of an infusion as it’s almost like making tea. You add all the ingredients together and add the chicken and mushrooms. I like to keep the lemongrass pieces in when serving. People unfamiliar with them might need to be told not to chew and swallow. The same for the ginger though you can chew and swallow. You can make this soup as spicy as you like or not at all.

 

CHICKEN COCONUT SOUP (Tom Kha Gai)

1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk

13.5 oz chicken broth or water

1 lemongrass stalk, cut in 1-inch pieces

6 thin slices fresh ginger or galangal

¼-1/2 pound boneless/skinless chicken, breast or thigh, bite-sized pieces

1 cup white or shiitake mushrooms, thin sliced

1 zest of one lime or 4-5 kaffir lime leaves

1 tablespoon lime juice, or more to taste

1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce (nam pla), or more to taste

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon red Thai chili paste, or more to taste

seasalt

1 small red or green Thai chilies or 1 jalapeno, thin sliced diagonally, seeds removed

1 green onion, thin sliced

fresh cilantro leaves

Lemongrass: bottom one is peeled of the outer stalk.

Array of ingredients: Cut lemongrass, cut mushrooms, fish sauce,
Thai red chili paste, sugar, cilantro

Don't forget the ginger!

Two Thai red chilis sliced diagonally, seeds removed.

lime and lime zest

Add a can of Coconut Milk and water to a saucepan.

Whisk the Coconut Milk and water together while gently heating.

Combine and stir the coconut milk and broth or water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer. Add the lemongrass and ginger. Infuse for about a minute.

Add the lime zest, lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, chili paste and mix well. Let infuse for about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and chicken. Poach for about 5 minutes or until cooked through. Add the Thai chilis. Add a pinch of salt. Taste to see if it needs more salt or chili!

Serve garnished with the green onion and fresh cilantro leaves.

To make a heartier soup add vegetables like zucchini or carrots that are thinly sliced. Or add cellophane rice noodles that have been soaked in warm water for about 15 minutes. Or, serve with a side of brown or jasmine rice.

Soup with lemongrass and ginger added.

Stir the soup.

Add the lime zest, lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, and chili paste.
Then add the mushrooms.

Add the chicken meat (or turkey) to poach.

Finished soup, garnished with cilantro leaves and lemongrass.

FLAVORFUL BROIL ROASTED CHICKEN

Broasted Chicken

A special technique for cooking a chicken quickly. Marinate then broil placing the chicken low in the oven, not right under the broiler. 

Use a whole chicken it’s more economical and you’ll be eating just one chicken. If you purchase chicken already cut up it’s usually from different chickens. (Some people ask if they can use all breast meat and boneless. I would not recommend that for this recipe.) 

Cut it up into about 6-8 pieces depending on the size. First remove the backbone using shears or a cleaver. Then cut in half down the soft breastbone. Next, cut off the egg/thigh. Next, the breast with the wing attached and cut the breast in half. 

It’s okay to cut off the wing separately.

The raw chicken cut up.

Create a marinade. I like to use about ¼-1/2 cups soy sauce, depending upon the size of the chicken, add about 6 cloves of garlic roughly cut or grated – your choice. 

Add about 2 inches of chopped fresh ginger. 

Optional additions are about 1tablespoon roasted sesame oil, a few star anise, and a couple of whole chili peppers.

The chicken pieces with marinade in plastic bag. Refrigerate 3 hours to 2 days.

Place it all, chicken and marinade, into a plastic bag then seal the bag and move the chicken pieces around so they are all coated. Refrigerate from 3 hours to 2 days. The longer the better. I usually take it out at least once to move the pieces around.

Chicken pieces ready to cook. Marinade removed.

When ready to cook prepare a sheet pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Place an oven rack way down at the bottom of the oven and preheat the broiler. 

Shake off the marinade from the chicken and place the pieces skin side up on the pan. Drizzle with about 1 tablespoon roasted sesame oil. 

Place the pan with the chicken on the low rack. Close the oven door.

Add caption

Chicken in the oven.

Let it broast until you see it browning and bubbling, between 10 and 15 minutes should do it. 

Then take the pan out and turn the chicken pieces over. Return to the oven and broast about another 10 minutes. 

Turn the oven off. You can leave the chicken in the oven for about another 10 minutes if you like. Then remove the chicken.

Chicken after about 15 minutes. Take out and turn over.

Chicken cooked after turning over.

Serve it hot or room temperature. Top with cut green onion pieces and a sprinkle of lightly toasted sesame seeds. I like the unhulled seeds mixed white and black together.

The chicken remains very juicy using this method and cooks very quickly. I think you’ll like it.

SERVING SUGGESTION.

CHICKEN WITH LEMON AND HONEY

Last night I spoke with my sister who lives in Florida and usually gets together with her friends for Rosh Hashonah. She was having twelve friends for dinner and they were all bringing something. They seem to stick to the traditional eastern European style of cuisine for these events. The foods from that time were based on the hearty fare of the cold weather that had undoubtedly started by then and to feed those hearty souls who farmed the land. Somehow that became the tradition in the US. In Israel the foods are now different and more Mediterranean and I’ve been told they shun the eastern European traditional foods.

My sister was making a chicken dish recommended by David Leibovitz with shallots. It sounded interesting so I took a look and found it online. I had a chicken in the fridge. I’ve been purchasing the Halal chickens at my local supermarket. The process they use is the same as kosher and the products are much less expensive. I found them to be really good and very clean with no bloodiness. They made a really good chicken soup that was very clear. I was impressed. I wanted a dish with lemon and honey. I have some Sumac, a berry with a lemony flavor, I seem to have purchased a couple of times forgetting that I already had some! Now I want to use it every chance I get. It’s red and looks a lot like chili or paprika.

Here is the recipe I came up with:

CHICKEN WITH LEMON AND HONEY

3 lemons

3 tablespoon unsalted butter

3 tablespoon honey

4-5 sprigs rosemary, leaves only

1 leek, white part only, thin sliced

1 garlic clove, thin sliced

1 tablespoon soy sauce

sea salt & black pepper

2 tablespoon Sumac

potatoes, peeled and chunks

1 chicken, cut into 12 parts – 2 wings, 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 breasts cut in 2 parts, back cut in 2 parts

3 T chopped parsley

Oven 425

Juice 2 lemons. Put into pan with the butter, honey, rosemary, garlic, and soy sauce and leave until the butter is just melted. Stir and put aside.

Put the cut up chicken into a roasting pan toss with salt and pepper and Sumac.  Pour the butter sauce over and toss with your hands. Toss in the leek slices. Cut the 3^rd lemon into small wedges and place them between the chicken parts along with the chunks of potatoes.

Place in the oven for 20 minutes then turn the pieces over. Roast another 30 minutes until the chicken is well browned.

Sprinkle and toss with the parsley, some more Sumac and a finishing flurry of salt.

You can make this recipe your own by varying some of the components. Perhaps a different herb or no herbs at all, olive oil instead of butter, and so on. You can’t go wrong as long as you use a lavish amount of seasonings. If you don’t have a leek, use an onion, or shallots. No potatoes? Leave them out.

 

HERE IS THE CHICKEN READY TO GO INTO THE OVEN

HERE IS THE COOKED CHICKEN WITH PARSLEY TOSSED ON TOP

SPICE RACK

I have been storing my spices in these round metal containers with a clear covering on top. I bought them in a dollar store and the tops stay on very firmly. In my new place there are few drawers to store them. So I bought some magnets and glued them on to the bottoms of the containers, some required more than one magnet. It's a great solution. You do have to use some sense of awareness that they are there.