Rolled Breast of Chicken Glazed with Pomegranate

So you've already read my spiel on pomegranate molasses and how it is a somewhat obscure ingredient here in the US.  Well I used only 2 tablespoons of it for the eggplant, and I have an entire bottle.  So while I'm on the subject, I thought I'd better give it another go.  This time the fiancé had to be appeased with a little meat (I have vegetarian tendencies, but don't classify myself as anything in particular).  Again to Paula Wolfert, in "The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean" where she gives us this Georgian dish in which pounded chicken breasts are stuffed with mozzarella and basted during broiling with that wonderful sweet/sour pomegranate glaze.  Worth it.

Rolled Breast of Chicken Glazed with Pomegranate

2 large boneless chicken breasts (2 1/2 pounds), halved, skinned, and pounded to 1/4 inch thick. Reserve the skin

S/P

4 ounces unsalted mozzarella, cut into finger-size pieces

1/2 teaspoon hot Hungarian paprika 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium red onion

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup pomegranate seeds

Sprigs of coriander and flat-leaf parsley

Season the breasts with salt and pepper, place the cheese in the center of each breast, sprinkle with paprika and roll the breast tightly into a cigar shape.  Cover each seam with 1/4 of the reserved skin, then secure with cooking string at 1" intervals.  Sprinkle olive oil all over each breast, and refrigerate now until :45 before serving.

Peel the onion, and cut into thin rings.  Rinse the onion under cold water and squeeze it out to dry.  Set aside until ready to serve.  (I did all of this with the onion but when picture/serving time came around I completely forgot about it, so you don't see it in the photograph.)  

When ready to serve, bring the chicken to room temperature and preheat the broiler.  Brush the chicken with the pomegranate molasses and then with the mayonnaise.  Broil the chicken and baste often with the pan juices.  While Wolfert says the chicken should be done in about 12 minutes, my broiler took about 5 minutes longer than that.

Let the rolls rest 5 minutes before uniting them and slicing them to serve.  Garnish with sprigs of fresh herbs, pomegranate seeds and the onion rings.  Sprinkle with the pan juices.  Enjoy this very flavorful dish!

Chinese New Year

I celebrated the Chinese New year in a plane, flying between Paris and San Francisco.

Given what the food served in planes has become, the best thing is to fast and drink lots of water. And then had a Chinese meal upon arriving.

In the Chinese tradition the rat (or mouse, there is no difference in the character used for these two different animals) is an animal that "saves". So save everything for the years to come. Starting with food! How? Making preserves!

Happy New year to all!

Writing, writing, writing

Last night I headed over to the Ferry Building Marketplace to meet up with a bunch of local food bloggers and enjoy some wine and nibbles and most importantly some "catch up" with friends. It seemed like everyone had been having a tough week or so. Personally I've been super busy writing--not just here but for Bay Area Bites and for SF Station.

On the KQED food blog Bay Area Bites you can read about my search for great hot chocolate. I will be posting something there every Wednesday. On SF Station I wrote both the Shopping and Food & Drink features of the week. The articles are Valentine's Day specials--I hope you will enjoy reading them.

Lately I've been wondering am I becoming a food professional? Some people seem to think I am one already. Personally I think of myself as more of a writer with a passion for food. Everywhere I go and everything I do is potential fodder for this space. In fact, even writing every other day, there is more to write about than I can take on. In the works currently are stories on some of my current favorite condiments, local chefs and some restaurant reviews. As usual, stay tuned for more.

Happy Weekend!

Fourth of July Salad

Six Degrees is the theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries. You may remember a few years back there was both a movie based on it and a popular trivia game based on it called the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". At this point I imagine you thinking what does this have to do with salad or the Fourth of July?
Well, here goes:

Fourth of July
Independence Day
Democracy
Greece
Greek Salad
Greek Inspired Salad

So there you have it, my salad is connected to the Fourth of July by six degrees of separation! While I am making this salad for a potluck (see the last post) I think with the beans and cheese it would make a nice light dinner with some fresh pita or French bread. Perfect Summer fare.

Note: Using a mandolin if you have one will make all the slicing a breeze

Greek Inspired Salad
makes enough for a big potluck!

4 c garbanzo beans (about 2 1/2 14 oz cans)
2 bunches flat leaf parsley, about 1 c coarsely chopped
1-2 large English (hothouse) cucumbers, sliced
1 bunch radishes, about 1 c sliced
3/4 lb feta cheese, crumbled
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
1/4 c olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Rinse and drain the garbanzo beans well. Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise then slice into half moon slices, you should end up with about 4 cups total. Slice the radishes thinly, Add the beans to a bowl with the chopped parsley, rashishes and cucumber. Add the lemon juice and the olive oil. Sprinkle on the crumbled feta cheese. Because the feta is salty, taste before seasoning the salad with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Smashing Through Those Stereotypes

We had some friends around for dinner last night, a French/Spanish couple and a British couple. It was a fabulous evening that culminated in a visit to the local bar for a coffee and to see a group of women who perform a cappella, singing in both French and Occitan.

I made a Greek salad with watermelon, cucumber, little orange tomatoes from our garden, red onion and feta cheese, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a bit of salt and pepper. That sweet/salty combination is divine!


The main course was jambalaya, which everyone had heard of from the song, but didn't know what it was exactly. We served our precious last bottle of Crystal Hot Sauce alongside and they all used surprisingly generous amounts, then decided that Crystal puts Tabasco to shame. I guess I'll be bringing many bottles back from New Orleans in February.

Dessert was another New Orleans favorite, bread pudding with Whiskey sauce. I haven't made it since our big Easter bash. This is my carefully guarded, secret recipe that I won't give out, not for anything.





So, about that stereotype...
toward the end of his second helping of bread pudding (he had two helpings of everything!) José exclaimed, "I guess it's not true that the Americans can't cook."

So happy to help quash that all-too-common stereotype!

An Evening Out

A month or so ago I discovered the game FoodSmarts. I was so intrigued that I contacted the two creators of the game and they told me about all of their games (FoodSmarts, WineSmarts, ChocolateSmarts and SexSmarts) They also told me about Vino Venue, a wine shop and tasting bar with a twist--tastes of wine are sold by the ounce, out of wine vending machines. The "tastes" are purchased using a pre-paid smart card.



Last night I joined several other Bay Area food bloggers for an evening of wine tasting and conversation at Vino Venue. When I got home, I found that SF Station had posted two articles that I wrote. One article is a restaurant review of Miss Millie's. The other article is about the very same SmartsCo and all of their games.



Check back next week, when I will share more about Vino Venue and the second Bay Area food bloggers evening...

CQ HQ July 2007

June flitted away too fast, and my cooking plans too often went by the wayside in a flurry of dance recitals, birthday celebrations, and professional changes.

Now I am practically on vacation, and will be flying off to spend the summer in the USA from July 5th until August 29th.

My parents now have a PC, and I plan to continue CQ, La France Profonde and And So Forth from Olympia, Washington.

I haven't told my parents, but I even have cooking plans for the holidays. As soon as I get back to the States, I'm going to buy Patricia Wells' new cookbook, Vegetable Harvest, and try out some of her recipes with produce from the Olympia Farmers' Market.

I'll definitely be hosting "Mid-Month Meal Inspiration" again too, so start bookmarking promising recipes published from July 1st-July 15th on your favorite blogs.

Finally, if you look at my sidebar, you'll see a new feature: The Foodie Blogroll. Even though this is a huge list, it has brought in a few more visitors and is a fun way to quickly and randomly check out a variety of food blogs.

As you can see, I have lots of projects in store for Cuisine Quotidienne despite my lack of blogging and cooking activity in June.

What are your summer plans -- cooking, blogging or other?