Chicken Marsala a la Ryan�s Cafe

Certain dishes have a special place in my heart and this is one of them. The first real restaurant job I had in San Francisco was at a small place called Ryan�s Caf�. It was run by a husband and wife team, Michael and Lenore Ryan. They were true �foodies� before that term had even been coined. This Chicken Marsala dish was the most popular dish on the menu and the first one that I was taught. I had cooked with wine a few times at culinary school, but this was the first time that it had really hit me what magic could be created by adding the right wine to certain ingredients. Every time I make this dish, I fondly remember that 23 years old cook (with full head of hair), so thirsty for knowledge, just drinking it all in, both literally and figuratively.

Marsala wine originates from the Italian city of Marsala, which is in Sicily. It is similar to the more commonly know Spanish Sherry, and like Sherry is a wonderful wine to cook with. It has a complex, slightly sweet flavor that makes it the perfect choice for this great chicken and mushroom dish I�m demonstrating today. Be careful when buying your bottle of Marsala. You don�t need anything too expensive, but make sure it�s just regular Marsala wine, and not �Sweet Marsala� which is a desert wine and too sweet for this dish. This same recipe can also be made the with Sherry or Madeira wine with very nice results.


Ingredients:
2 boneless chicken breasts, skin on
1 shallot minced
2 tbl fresh parsley
3 tbl butter
2 tbl olive oil
1 tbl flour
5 white mushrooms, sliced
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup Marsala wine
1 tsp salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp pepper

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Eggs Benedicts � The last 2 episodes to make this brunch classic!

Hopefully you watched the hollandaise demo we just posted, and you are ready to fearlessly finish this delicious egg dish! So, the sauce is done, now you need to poach the eggs and finish the plate. In this first clip, I show the basic restaurant technique for poaching eggs. Due to the high-volume of a brunch service, it is almost impossible to poach eggs �to order.� They are poached ahead of time and held in cold water until final plating, when they are re-heated in simmering water for a few minutes. This method also works great at home for smaller batches as you�ll see. Once you�ve poached your eggs and have them in cold water you are free to set up the rest of the plate and all you then have to do is reheat them as I�ll show you. Ok, here we go with the poaching clip. Immediately following is the final plating and some cruel teasing on my part.


Now that we have our eggs ready we can plate this beauty up. Now, as you�ll hear me say in the clip, I didn�t waste time filming how to toast an English muffin and fry up a couple pieces of Canadian bacon. If you need help with those techniques you can email me and I�ll make fun of you in private. VERY IMPORTANT: make sure you are using a warm plate! Since the sauce is just warm, not piping hot, and the eggs are also just warm, it is CRUCIAL that the plate is warm, as well as making sure the English muffin and Canadian bacon are hot. If you need some potatoes to serve with this dish, please check out our Homefries demo. Enjoy!

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Hollandaise 101 � Can a sauce really sense fear?

Re-run alert! Yes, viewers to my old blog may have seen this clip before, but it�s such a key sauce to master, I wanted to have it on this new blog. This sauce can be used on many other things besides eggs; like grilled asparagus and poached salmon. But, since the most common use is on the famous Eggs Benedict, I will also demo how to poach eggs (secret restaurant method) and how to finish the final dish. Stay tuned for that. Now, let�s get our Hollandaise on.

I�m going to show you a new and terrifying method for making this classic Sauce. I don�t use a double-boiler, but rather cook the egg yolks directly over a low flame. I find it faster, easier, and with less chance of under-cooking the yolks. (Warning, you may scramble a few before you get it, but once you get the feel you�ll never do them over water again!) Please note, it�s hard to see on the video, the bowl is never actually touching the flame, but a few inches above.

You�ll hear me say in the clip that this is the way to control the heat in the eggs. Most importantly, be brave! Like bees and dogs, a Hollandaise can sense fear. If you are afraid it�s going to �break� or separate, then it will. I believe this so deeply I had the slogan printed on T-shirts, which coincidently, I�m selling on the site! Hey, I think this is the first clip that actually features one of my products. Did I just �sell out?� If you are interested in getting one of these shirts just click on the picture and you'll be whisked away (pun intended) to my CafePress online shop. Anyway, good luck with the Hollandaise, and let me know how it came out. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
1/2 lemon
salt to taste
cayenne or tabasco sauce to taste

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Blood Orange Tapenade Citronette � Cheating and proud of it!

Sometimes you just have to cheat. I was planning to serve a beautiful seared Ahi tuna loin. I wanted to slice it and serve it on an olive Tapenade. This is a classic combination in the Mediterranean, but I had one problem, I didn�t have the hour it was going to take to shop for, and mince the 12 ingredients that go into my Tapenade recipe. Lucky, I live near a Trader Joes (a CostPlus World Market, or Whole Foods would have also worked), so I went in and bought a jar of prepared green olive Tapenade. Before it went into the basket I carefully checked the ingredients� nothing but vegetables and spices! It was incredibly close to the one I make from scratch, and so I decided to use it guilt-free.

When I got home a quick taste-test confirmed my belief I had made a great decision. It tasted great and I was ready to move on to the tuna. So the point is, if you�re going to �cheat� and use prepared foods, make sure they�re high-quality and all natural. Now, this Tapenade would have made a great accompaniment for my seared tuna all by itself, but I decided to dress it up with some blood orange juice and olive oil as you�ll see in this demo. Bye the way, this mixture is fantastic on almost anything from grilled fish to roasted vegetables. It�s low-carb (as in almost no-carb) and since a small amount goes a long way, it�s also fairly low-cal.

4 tbl green olive Tapenade
1 small blood orange (or half a regular juice orange)
2 tbl olive oil
salt to taste
cayenne to taste

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Dijon Pan Jus

Sorry to keep you waiting! Here is the sauce clip as promised. This technique is so crucial since it allows for a very fast and elegant sauce anytime you've roasted meat in a pan. All it requires is the "fond" (refer to clip for definition), some type of liquid, and a small chuck of cold butter. At the end of the clip I explain my thought process regarding the exact ingredients to use, but the technique is ALWAYS the same; deglaze, reduce, finish with butter.

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Homemade Pizza in 3 Acts

Made properly, pizza at home can be just as good, and probably better, than the stuff you have delivered. Except for the pizza pan you�ll see later, I tried not use any special equipment, like pizza stones, or exotic ingredients you would have a hard time finding.

Act 1: The Pizza Dough (Pay attention or you�ll get pizza D�oh!)

In clip one I make a very simple standard pizza dough. It�s amazing how intimidated people are when it comes to making any kind of dough or bread at home. Hopefully this demo will cure that. By the way, I will add ingredients to all these clips so you can have the exact measurements. This is only really crucial for the dough. The sauce recipe and final pizza can be varied as you see fit. So, let�s get this Pizza party started right! The key to a great pizza dough is a moist, sticky dough. We only want enough flour to be able to work with the dough�too much flour will result in a dry, tough pizza.

The �Sponge�:
2 teaspoons dry yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2/3 cup bread flour

The Rest of the Dry Ingredients:
4 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 cup rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil

Act 2: The Pizza Sauce

The sauce for our pizza is also very simple. A fast and tasty base for whatever wonderfully creative toppings we decide to go with later. This is an important point. If you�re going to top the pizza with lots of spicy and/or salty ingredients, your sauce better be fairly basic. Regardless, this quick, homemade sauce will destroy any canned grocery store sauce, as well as most pizzerias. By the way, I�m giving away an ancient family secret in this clip, so pay attention, my Grandmother is watching from pizza sauce heaven!

1 can whole peeled tomatoes (28 oz) �San Marzano� if possible!
3 cloves garlic
2 tbl olive oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1/2 tsp dried Italian herb mix (basil, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, etc.)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
pinch sugar
small pinch baking soda (shhh)

Act 3: The Pizza

OK, so I�m not giving a list of ingredients for the finished pizza. You know what you like. But, here are a few key mistakes most people make when doing pizza at home. They put too much sauce. They put too much cheese. They put too many toppings and when they try to eat it, it all slides off on to the floor and all their left with is a wet piece of steaming bread. Don�t be that person. Watch me restrain myself and also watch how my pizza pie ends up being the shape of a heart. Wow, what a great Valentines gift idea for you guys out there�make your lady a heart shaped pizza! By the way, go to the local Bed, Bath and Beyond, or other kitchen wares store, and get one of the pizza pans with holes in it that I used in this clip. It really makes crispy crust a reality without the 70 pound pizza stone that you probably aren�t going to pull out of the bottom cupboard anyway.

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The Citronette � Why do they call it �Lemon Vinaigrette?�

Remember that post I did recently where I said how stupid it is for Chefs to argue over terms and names for dishes? Well, forget all that! Now, just to be clear, what I really meant is to argue whether something is a relish or a salsa, is basically a waste of time. You know my rule�if you made it, you get to name it. But, when something is just plain wrong, I have to draw the line.

I was at a restaurant recently and one of the salads came with a �lemon vinaigrette.� I asked the waiter if it was made with lemon juice and vinegar, and he said it was just lemon juice and olive oil. So, I say, �then it�s not a vinaigrette, it�s a Citronette!� Well, instead of agreeing with me, and telling me what a brilliant point I had just made, he basically stared at me, as if to say, �listen you jerk, I�ve got other customers, do you want the damn salad or not!?� OK, OK, I don�t blame him; in fact, my wife was giving me the same look. It�s just one of those things that really bugs me� if it doesn�t have vinegar in it, it�s NOT vinaigrette! If you use lemon juice (or some other citrus) then call it a Citronette, that�s the accurate name. Wow, I feel better.

By the way, this wonderful Citronette is a natural with so many dishes; grilled veggies, any fish, chicken salad, etc. I also steal yet another trick from Chef Gordon Ramsey, who adds a little water to his Citronette to make it even lighter.

Ingredients:
1/3 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Tsp Dijon Mustard
1 Tbl Water
1/3 Tsp Salt
Pinch Of Cayene

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Boneless Pork Loin Chops with Shallots and Apple Cider Reduction

Here�s a delicious, and easy, pork chop dish that only takes about 20 minutes start to finish. By the way, a "chop" usually refers to something that has a bone still attached. The problem with center cut pork chop with the bone is that by the time you cook the meat next to the bone to a safe tempreture, the meat away from the bone is dry. So, I prefer the boneless "chop" for this dish. You have to be careful though, without the bone, this cut is very easy to overcook. So becareful! Medium pork is OK to eat (I'm talking to all you people over 50!).

Pay attention to the money saving tip regarding buying a pork loin roast and cutting your own chops. Butchers are not going to like me telling you this, but that�s OK, what�s the big deal with upsetting large men with sharp knives?

Ingredients:
4 Double-Cut Boneless Center Cut Pork Chops
(About 1 1/2 Inch Thick � Cut Your Own!)
8 Shallots Sliced Thin
2 Cups Apple Cider
1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
Salt And Pepper
Veg Oil
1 Tbl. Unsalted Butter
A Few Springs Fresh Thyme or Rosemary

View the complete recipe

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Duck Confit Part 2: Crisp and Sauce

In part one of this lesson, we prepped and roasted the duck. In this second part you�ll see how we finish this dish. You�ll also learn how to do a simple fruit-based pan sauce that�s a winner with any type of game. It�s simply equal parts berry jam, vinegar and water. You�ll be amazed how this basic 3-part formula comes together to create such a delicious and versatile sauce!

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Steak au Poivre �Pepper Steak�

This clip was already been posted on the site when we first started, but since there is a good chance many of our newer viewers have not seen it, I decided to re-run it today. It�s probably the dish I�ve gotten the most emails about and also lots of comments on YouTube. It�s very simple, and makes for a fantastic �special occasion� dinner.

We�ve streamlined this steakhouse classic to work for the home chef. If you can find veal stock, or even demi-glace, you can use that instead of the beef stock I used in the clip. Either way, it will produce a delicious, rich pan sauce perfect for a couple tender, medium-rare filet mignons. Also, many Chefs use a combination of black and green peppercorns. So if you can get them, go ahead and add a teaspoon of crushed green peppercorns to the sauce when you add the stock and it will be even more authentic.

Speaking of old clips, if you not happy with your mashed potatoes, check out that clip on the site and watch how to make great mashers every time.


Ingredients:
2 Filet Mignon (Beef Tenderloin, about 8 oz. each)
3/4 cup Veal Stock or Beef Stock/Broth
1/3 Cognac or Brandy
1/3 Heavy Cream
Cracked Black Pepper
Salt
Unsalted Butter

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Zen and the Art of Chicken Teriyaki � A Kitchen Koan

When I first got to San Francisco, having come from a very small town in Western New York, it was like arriving on another planet. I was fascinated by the amazing variety of foods and cultures, and began exploring them all. Growing up, my family and I had made the occasional trip to the local Americanized Chinese restaurant which was always an exotic treat, but now I was getting the real stuff; Thai, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, I couldn�t get enough! At the same time I also became interested in the eastern religious philosophies, Buddhism, Zen, etc., which for a former alter boy was quite the experience. This was also when I learned about the Zen �koan.�

For those of you not familiar, a koan is basically a question, riddle, or story that has no obvious answer. It is used by Zen masters to teach or enlighten their students. Most of you have heard the most famous koan, �Two hands clap and there is a sound; but what is the sound of one hand?� What a great idea� teach students by making them even more confused! Well, since I�m doing Teriyaki today I decided to have a little fun at the end of the demo with a koan or two of my own.

A viewer to our site, Connie, had asked for a teriyaki recipe. So I did some research. I had enjoyed teriyaki many times, but always at Japanese restaurants. If I had made it at home, I probably just bought a bottle of teriyaki sauce and brushed it on some chicken. So, today�s clip is the true authentic version (which, of course, there are several sources giving different versions of what the �original� recipe is). I�m very glad I did it, but I�m not sure why. By the way, the term teriyaki comes from of two Japanese words "teri" and "yaki." Teri refers to the shine or luster of the glazed sauce, and yaki means to broil or grill the meat. Prepare to be enlightened� you�ve been warned.

Ingredients:
10 Boneless-Skinless Chicken Thighs
1 Cup Sake
1 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Mirin
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp finely grated ginger or paste

1/4 Cup Chopped Green Onion

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Braised Beef Short Ribs with Chocolate and Cinnamon ...Free your mind, and your cuisine will follow

To many, the thought of adding chocolate and cinnamon to a savory dish like braised beef short ribs, would just seem too strange. I remember the first time I had Chicken Mole in San Francisco�s Mission district, it was so rich and delicious, and when I was told the sauce was actually made with dark chocolate and dried chilies, it took a while to process. It forced me to change how I thought about food, and how ingredients are �supposed� to be used. I�m not sure at that young age I would have even ordered it if I had known there was chocolate in it. Now, it�s my absolute favorite Mexican dish.

Legend has it the recipe I�m showing today comes from the Catalonia region of Spain. It�s an amazingly sexy concoction that would be perfect for that special winter dinner. The chocolate and cinnamon scent the succulent short ribs in a way that is very hard to describe. The first time I served this to my wife Michele her exact response was, and I quote, �wow... wow... wow� mmmmm.�

So, please, free your culinary mind and give this a try! All the ingredients are easy to find and the recipe is almost impossible to mess up.

Warning: to make this properly, the dish takes two days to prepare. The first day it�s braised, then left to cool in the sauce and refrigerated overnight. Day 2, you lift all the fat of the top of the sauce, reheat and serve. I served this with another unusual side dish, Celery Root and Potato Puree, which all also demo. Make sure your butcher picks out some nice meaty short ribs for you, some can have a lot of fat on them, so make sure you check them.

Ingredients:
3 pounds beef short ribs (about six 4-in. long)
3 oz Bacon (maybe 4 slices)
1 cup dry sherry
1 quart beef broth
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 oz bittersweet chocolate
5 springs of thyme
2 tbl flour
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leavesblack pepper and salt

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Almond and Parsley �Salsa Verde� � It�s easy being green!

As you watch me make this delicious and versatile condiment, you might be thinking to yourself, wait a minute, that�s a pesto. Well, it basically is. The reason I�m calling it a �salsa verde� and not a pesto, is because whenever you say �pesto� people instantly think of the traditional (and DONE TO DEATH) version with the pinenuts and basil. Now, I have no problem with a nice, properly made pesto. But, I was in the mood for something completely different. By the way, there�s nothing I hate more than Chefs arguing terms and names� �That�s NOT a Confit, it�s a Compote!!� or �That�s not a marinade you idiot, it�s a wet rub!� �Every professional chef or cook reading this knows exactly what I�m talking about. You�ve heard my rule before; if you make it, you get to name it! For example, my Salmon Mango Bango, ridiculous name, but no one can do a damn thing about it.

So, I�m using the term �Salsa Verde� the way it�s used around Northern California. It�s a very generic term for any fresh green sauce, usually starring some type of herb, but also can be made with spinach, arugula, etc. If you are a regular to this site you�ll see me do many versions of salsa verde, especially when the weather gets a bit warmer. (to combat Christmas shopping stress I want you all to close your eyes and for one minute picture a warm, sunny meadow, lush with fresh herbs) ahhhh, that�s better.

This is a great sauce to experiment with by switching out the nuts, herbs and oils used. Hopefully you saw the Piquillo Pepper video, which this sauce was amazing on. I also had the left-overs on a piece of seared salmon which was sublime.

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