Microwave Magic

The microwave oven was invented about 50 years ago, launching a totally new faster way of cooking in more than a million years. Unlike a conventional oven, it cooks the food inside without getting hot itself and does not require preheating. To do so, it uses shorter wavelength of electromagnetic radiation than other home appliances, television and radio for example. Because a) the water molecules inside food line up with the direction of an electric field, b) the microwaves in the oven produce an electric field that reverses its direction 4.9 billion times a second, a lot of anarchic microscopic telescopic movement happens, and therefore heat is created and propagated to the whole dish, albeit not simultaneously. That is why you have to mix the content to obtain an even temperature and not get burnt by isolated pockets of heated fat for example.

Any aliment that contents water will cook in the microwave. The following recipes are dedicated to those of you who only use your microwave to warm tea or coffee (a not very efficient or tasty use of your appliance) or reheat cooked food. Not surprisingly I particularly like preparing shellfish in the microwave (they are mostly water) and vegetables (for the same reason). The consistence of shrimps and scallops is particularly amazing. Every bite procures a little burst of ocean taste. Besides savor, microwave cooking provides fast, healthy and low calorie food. Each recipe serves two people.

Green winter soup (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 17 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
2 cups (474 ml) chicken stock
1 cup (237 gm) green tops (beet root, radishes…)
1 cup (237 mg) of spinach
1 cup (237 gm) of celery
1 half onion peeled and sliced
¼ (60 g) cup of parsley
½ (120 ml) cup cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Material:
Salad bowl
Board and paring knife
Blender or food processor

Clean and cut all the vegetables. Put the vegetables in the salad bowl. Cover with the chicken stock and cook on high in the microwave for 15 minutes.
Pour in the food processor in batches or in the blender all together. Add the cream. Correct the seasonings. Mix well. Serve immediately.

Squash quiche (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 15 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
1 acorn squash
½ (113 mg) cup Gouda cheese or sharp cheddar grated
1teaspoon caraway seeds
Red pepper flakes to taste
1 egg
¼ (60 ml) cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Material:
Salad bowl
Parchment paper

Sharp spoon (melon balls or grapefruit spoon)
Paring knife

Halve the squash. Remove the seeds with the spoon and wash, dry and toast in a pan with a little oil for 5 minutes. With a sharp spoon carve balls out of the squash. The difficulty is to keep the skin of the vegetable intact. Set the acorn halves on the parchment paper inside the microwave. Cook on high for about 7 minutes. Open the microwave and check for doneness: the squash flesh should be yielding to the knife.
In a salad bowl, crack and beat the egg, add the milk, caraway seeds, red pepper and grated cheese. Stir until well mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour half of the batter in each squash cavity. Cook on high for another 3 minutes or until the custard has settled.
Serve with a salad sprinkled with the toasted seeds and the dressing of your choice.

Simply shrimps and broccoli (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 10 minutes, Reasonable)

Ingredients:
1 lbs (454 mg) shrimps
1 lbs (454 mg) broccoli
1 clove of garlic
Few drops of olive oil
2 branches of dill

Material:
1 porcelain or glass dish large enough to contain the ingredients
Plastic film to loosely cover the dish while cooking
Paring knife
Wooden spoon

Peel and clean the shrimps, removing the black vein on the back of the shrimp. Place them on the dish.
Peel the garlic and slice finely. Sprinkle over the shrimps.
Clean the broccoli, keeping only the florets. Place them on the dish.
Wash the dill. Keep the fronds and cut them finely. Sprinkle over the dish. Pour a few drops of olive oil.
Place in the microwave and microwave on high for 4 minutes. Open the microwave and toss around the content of the dish. Microwave on high for an additional two minutes. The shrimps should have turned orange and the broccoli greener with a wet swimsuit model look.
To be bio correct, choose native shrimps.

Scallop salad (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 20 minutes, Reasonable)

Ingredients:
1 lbs (454 mg) scallop
Drops of olive oil
2 tomatoes
1 red pepper
1 clove garlic
1 shallot
½ lbs (170 mg) spinach salad

Fruity sauce:
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon of fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Drops of Maggi aromatics

Material:
Salad bowl
Paring knife and cutting board
Set of tongs
Newspaper
Glass or porcelain dish
Plastic film to loosely cover the dish while cooking

Clean the scallops and lay them on the porcelain dish. Peel and mince the garlic clove and the shallot and sprinkle on top of the scallops. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle a few drops of olive oil. Using the tongs, place the tomatoes on the lit burner of a gas stove. When the skin cracks, after about a minute, remove and place on a colander. Repeat the operation with the red pepper, charring it on each side. When it is black allover, wrap in a newspaper. Peel the tomatoes. The skin should separate from the flesh very easily. Cut the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Place the tomato pieces in the scallop dish. When the red pepper is cool enough to handle, unwrap from the newspaper. Remove the charred skin and the seeds under running water. Cut in pieces and add to the scallop dish.
Pour the two vinegars in the salad bowl with salt and pepper. Stir and add the olive oil, drops of aromatics and fresh orange juice. Stir well. Add the washed and dried spinach leaves and toss.
Place the scallop dish in the microwave. Microwave on high for two minutes. Open the microwave and stir the content of the dish. Microwave on high for another two minutes. Pour the content of the dish on top of the spinach leaves.
Note: to skin a tomato, to skin a pepper. The other method for removing the tomato skin is to plunge the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute. I prefer it when I am using large quantities for a tomato sauce. For a salad, I much favor the charred method, which does not add water to the fruit and does not cook it. For skinning a pepper, you can also put it under the broiler of your oven for 30 to 40 minutes, turning it over at mid-point. This method is again more appropriate when skinning a lot of peppers and has the same outcome as the tomato boiling method: it cooks the flesh of the pepper. This is an advantage when preparing a red pepper sauce.

Speedy chocolate cake (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 6 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
3 oz (85 g) 70% cacao chocolate
2 tablespoons coffee
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Milk as needed
1 egg white

Material:
Glass salad bowl
Eggbeater
2 individual silicone molds

Break the chocolate in pieces and place in the salad bowl with the coffee. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir and add milk to obtain a chocolate sauce. Bring the chocolate to a temperature of 148F(50C) and mix in the orange zest. Pour slowly the liquid chocolate into the egg white while beating, as if making a mayonnaise. Pour the emulsion in two individual silicone molds and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Reverse each mold on a dessert plate, dust with confectioner sugar and serve immediately.

Fish Stories

Fish is a great addition to any diet. Low in calories, fat and cholesterol, it is a good source of protein, calcium and b-vitamins. Because it lives in a weightless universe where fast retreating is needed for survival, it has muscles made of fast contracting fiber and hardly any hard connective tissue. All of which means it cooks fast, is tender and, in its fillet form, has hardly any bone. If you feel daring, want to bake a whole fish and trust your eyes to spot the bones, start with a hot oven (425F or 218C) and measure the height of your fish at the thickest point. Count 7 to 10 minutes per inch (3 cm) of thickness.
The following three recipes, calibrated for 4 people, play on a variation of three traditional cooking methods: poaching, steaming and frying. In the first two cases, the twist comes from the fact that the sauce is cooked at the same time as the fish and requires very little additional attention. The last, breaded fillet is lighter than traditional fish and chips.

Poached Fillets Vietnamese style (Easy, Cooking and preparation time: 20 minutes, A little expensive)

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons (57 gm) sugar
2 tablespoons (24 ml) water
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 clove garlic minced
1 shallot minced
1-inch piece ginger peeled and grated
1 small Thai chili
1 stem lemon grass minced
1 tablespoon (12 ml) of fish sauce
¼ cup soy sauce (57 ml)
4 4-oz (113 gm each) fillets of firm and thick white fish (cod, sea bass or striped sea bass for example)

Material:
1 4-quart saucepan
1 frying pan
Set of tongs

Combine the 4 tablespoons of sugar with the two tablespoons of water in a saucepan. Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar melts. Bring to a boil until it turns and smells like caramel. Stir in ¼ cup of water until blended quickly. Remove from the gaz and set aside.
Pour the sesame oil in the frying pan and set over medium heat heat. Stir-fry the minced garlic, shallot, lemon grass, ginger and chili. Stir in the fish sauce, soy sauce, reserved caramel and 1cup water. Bring to a boil stirring occasionally. Lower the gas.
Cook the fish for 10 minutes at a very low boil, turning it over at mid point.

Serve with rice and a steamed vegetable such as broccoli, spooning the sauce over all three elements.

Steamed fish baked in parchment paper with French beurre blanc sauce (Easy, Prep time: 5 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
8 scallions, white part sliced
4 tablespoons (57 gm) dill leaves washed and minced
4 tilapia fillets or flounder
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons (28 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 tablespoons (57 gm) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons (42 ml) olive oil
¼ cup (57 ml) soy sauce

Material:
Salad bowl
Parchment paper
Baking sheet

Set the oven at 450F (232C).

Divide the parchment paper in 4 squares sufficiently large to wrap around the fillets.
In a salad bowl, whisk in the sesame oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, grated lemon zest, and dill.
Lay each fillet in the center of the parchment paper, sprinkle the sliced scallions, pour a spoonful of sauce and top with a tablespoon of butter. Form four similar little fish packages.
Place the packets on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
Unwrap carefully not to spill the sauce and serve with a purée.

Breaded Fillets (Easy, Prep time: 5 minutes, Cooking time: 6 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
¼ (57 ml) cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons (28 ml) butter
1 egg beaten
Breadcrumbs
Flour
Salt and pepper
4 flounder fillets or skate fillets

Red wine sauce
1 tablespoon (14 gm) of butter
2 shallots or 1 onion minced thinly
3 tablespoons (42 ml) balsamic vinegar
1 cup (237 ml) red wine

Material:
1 plate
1 soup dish
1 cutting board
1 saucepan
1 frying pan
1 protective screen cover for the frying pan

Pour the flour in a plate. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Crack and beat the egg in a soup dish. Lay the breadcrumbs on the cutting board. Lay a flounder fillet on the flour plate and flip it over. Dip completely the floured fillet in the egg dish. Lay the egged fillet on the cutting board, first on one side then on the other. Repeat with the other fillets.
Put the saucepan over the medium range of the gas. Add the butter. When it is melted, add the minced shallots. Stir-fry for 3 minutes, add the balsamic vinegar and wine and reduce until you are left with 1/3 of the liquid about 15 minutes.
Pour the butter and vegetable oil in the frying pan and wait until one crumb thrown in the frying pan sizzle. Use the protective screen cover if needed. Sauté the fillets of fish 3 minutes on each side. Serve immediately with the sauce on top and Michel’s sautéed potatoes (recipe follows).
The addition of oil to the butter will preserve the butter taste but prevent the smoking that happens at temperature of around 250F (121C). That is because the smoking point of fresh cooking vegetable oil is higher, ranging from 350F to over 450F(176C to 232C). Deep-frying occurs at 350F to 375F(176C to 190C).
Michel’s sautéed potatoes (Easy, Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 20 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon (14 gm) of butter
1 tablespoon (14 ml) of oil
1 Idaho potato per person
1 onion per 4 people
1 garlic clove
Bunch of parsley
Salt to taste

Material
Paring knife and board
Peeler
Colander
Kitchen towel
Frying pan
Protective screen cover for the frying pan
Wooden spoon

Peel the potatoes and slice them thin. Wash them in water. Dry in a kitchen towel. Peel and slice the onion and garlic clove. Wash and dry the parsley. Keep only the leaves.
Pour the oil and butter in the frying pan and melt over the high setting of the gas stove for one minute. Use the protective screen cover to prevent oil projections. Add the potatoes in one layer. When one side is browned, turn over to the other side. At the very end, add the onion, garlic and parsley.
F

Broccoli beauty

Broccoli, a parent from cabbage is a lovely vegetable worthy of a vase, the beauty of which is only eclipsed by its benefits to our bodies. It is high in vitamin C and soluble fiber and contains multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties. Every part of it, from the leaves to the stem is edible. If using the leaves, cook it as you would collard greens.
Broccoli is usually boiled or steamed, but may be eaten raw. The broccoli soup recipe uses raw florets as a garnish to the soup, along with croutons. The broccoli quiche is a vegetarian alternative to the traditional ham quiche.

Broccoli soup (Easy, Prep time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 20 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. (14 ml) olive oil
1 lbs (474 gm) broccoli
2 shallots peeled and minced
1 potato peeled and cubed
3½ cups (587ml) chicken stock (see January first blog)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 bouquet garni (see January first blog)
6 tbsp. (84 ml )crème fraîche
Fresh chives finely cut for garnish

For the garlic croutons:
4 garlic cloves peeled and minced
¼ loaf firm white sandwich bread crusts removed, cubed
2 tbsp. (28ml) olive oil
1 pinch chopped thyme leaves

Material:
1 toaster oven
1 cookie sheet
Parchment paper to line the cookie sheet
1 heavy saucepan
1 blender
1 peeler
1 paring knife and cutting board
1 wood spoon
1 soup ladle
1 glass bowl

Turn on the oven at 300F (148C).
Mix in the glass bowl all the ingredients for the croutons. Line up a cookie sheet with parchment paper and pour the content of the bowl onto it. Put the cookie sheet in the oven for about 15 minutes, until they are crisp. Let them cool. They can be stored at room temperature in a closed box for about a week.
Wash the broccoli, cut off the very end of the stem. Slice the stems and separate the florets, saving a few to add raw to the soup.
Heat the oil in the heavy saucepan. Add the shallots and sauté until soft. Add the broth and the potato and bring to a boil. Add the broccoli. Cook until tender for about five minutes.
Pour the soup in the blender in batches until you reach a smooth consistency. Season to taste. Return to the saucepan on the stove at very low heat. Add the crème fraîche, stirring with the wood spoon until mixed, three minutes.
Ladle on a bowl. Garnish with the croutons. Serves 4 for a starter.

Broccoli Florets quiche (Easy, Prep time: 20 minutes, Cooking time: 30 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
½ salty piecrust recipe (recipe follows)
1tablespoon butter
Dusting of flour
Broccoli florets from 3 broccoli heads (save the stems for the soup)
3 eggs
1cup (237 ml) cream
½ cup (113 gm) grated Gruyere

Material:
1 6-inch mold
1 saucepan
1 salad bowl
1 whisk

Set the oven temperature at 360F (182C).
Butter and flour the molds. Layout the refrigerated piecrust with a rolling pin on a piece of parchment paper and garnish the buttered and floured mold. Pierce the dough with a fork all over. Set on a baking sheet and return to the refrigerator.
Pour water in a pan and set on the stove at high, when it boils, add the florets. When it boils again, strain immediately, and cool down with cold water.
Lay a parchment piece over the crust. Cover with rice. Bake for ten minutes in the oven. Remove the parchment and paper when cool enough to handle. Save the rice for another pie.
In a salad bowl, crack the eggs. Beat with the whisk. Add the cream and Gruyere. Pour the mixture over the cooked crust. Add the florets on top and bake for 20 minutes.
Serve immediately or at room temperature with a salad for a light lunch for 4.

Crust for 2 savory pies

Ingredients:
1½cups (350 gm) all-purpose flour
1teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170 gm) diced cold butter
½ cup ice-cold water

Material:
Mixer
Rolling pin
1 nine-inch pan
Parchment paper
Rice

Pour all the ingredients except for the iced water into the mixer, pie blade in. Blend, adding water through the top cover, until a ball of dough forms.
Scrape up the ball and place in the fridge for 30 minutes up to two days.
To transform a savory crust into a sweet one, add ¼ cup (57 gm) of sugar. Bake without garnish for 20 minutes prior to adding a lemon based cream and the berries of your choice.

Chicken without the egg

As part of New Year celebrations, countless resolutions are made. Mine is to cook an entire chicken on Sunday night and then to accommodate the rests for several other meals during the week. Anyhow, chicken is on the recommended pyramid of aliments, at the third level, which means you can eat it 2 to 3 times a week. There is however no end to what you can do with it: it is the “new” pork. Here is how to use almost every bit of it.
Roasted, as a complete yummy meal. As stock, for a healthily restorative chicken soup, as a salad for an elegant lunch, as an Asian inspired stir-fry. I leave to your imagination other usages. The stock can enhance any vegetable soup and the chicken meat any sandwich.

Roasted chicken (Easy, Prep time: 20 minutes, Cooking time: 1 hour, Cheap)

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken preferably free-range
2 sprigs of thyme or dry thyme leaves
2 sprigs of rosemary or dry rosemary leaves
1 sprig of sage or dry sage leaves
1 head of garlic
1 tablespoon of crystal salt (14 gm)
1 tablespoon of (14 ml) olive oil
1 teaspoon of pepper
3 baking potatoes
1 large sweet potato or yam

Material:
Paring knife
Cutting board
Large salad bowl
Baking sheet
Parchment paper

Preheat the oven at 400F (204C).
Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper.
Peel and cube the potatoes and store them in the salad bowl filled with cold water. Peel and cube the sweet potato.
Place the chicken on the cutting board. Empty the cavity and save the liver. Remove the leaves from two of the sprigs. Lifting the skin off the breasts delicately, insert the leaves between the skin and the flesh of the chicken. Insert the remaining sprigs and the reserved liver in the cavity. Break the head of garlic into cloves keeping the skin on.
Wipe the potatoes dry. Set the chicken breasts up in the middle of the baking sheet, positioning evenly the two types of potatoes and garlic cloves around. Sprinkle with the tablespoon of olive oil and the salt and pepper.
Place the baking sheet and its content in the oven. Cook for 40 minutes, remove from the oven and turn over the chicken. Cook for another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and wait for 5 minutes before carving.

Serves 5 persons for dinner or 1 for a week

Chicken stock (Easy, Preparation time: 5 minutes, Cooking time: 1 hour largely unattended)

Ingredients:
Chicken bones
1 carrot peeled and cut in large pieces
1 celery piece
1 entire onion peel included, cut in 2
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper grains whole
1 bouquet garni

Material
Slow cooker or 6-quart pot
1 colander
1 plastic box with cover

Put in the pot what remains of the chicken after you carved it. Add all the other ingredients. Cover with water. Cook on the low setting of a gas stove for an hour, or in a slow cooking set on low for 4 hours.
Strain the stock through the colander into a plastic box and discard all the solids. Wait until it is cold or refresh the stock, as you would a Champaign bottle, by placing the plastic box on ice in a bigger salad bowl, before refrigerating. The grease will rise to the surface, allowing you to remove it easily from the stock, after a few hours spent in the refrigerator. The stock will keep safely for 3 days in the refrigerator, or can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Note: you can buy a bouquet garni in a jar or you can make your own, by laying down the green leave of a leek and covering it with a sprig of time, a laurel leave and any other herbs such as oregano and rosemary. Fold the leek leave in half and tie everything with kitchen string. Et voilà, garnished bouquet for kitchen use.

Quick chicken soup (Easy, Prep time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
Leftover chicken meat
2cups (454 ml) chicken stock
1 carrot
1 celery branch
1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced
½ cup whole-wheat pasta (113 gm) of your choice
Salt and pepper to taste

Material:
Paring knife and board
Peeler
4-quart pot

Peel and cube the carrot. Wash and slice the celery. Slice the chicken meat.
Put the meat, chicken stock, carrot, celery and garlic in the pot. Bring to a boil over the medium setting of a gas stove burner. Pour the pasta in and cook for an additional 11 minutes (or the prescribed cooking time on the package)
Serves two comfortably for lunch.

Truffle chicken salad (Easy, Preparation time: 5 minutes, Moderate)

Ingredients:
Leftover chicken meat
1 jar of black truffle pieces
1 lettuce
Chives
1 ¼ cup (54 ml) mustard dressing (see Bistro carrot from December sixth blog)

Material:
Food processor with the blade attachment on
Salad bowl

Wash and dry the lettuce. Display in the salad bowl. Drizzle with the sauce.
Place the chicken with the truffle juice from the truffle jar in the bowl of the food processor. Pulse lightly until the chicken is broken in small pieces. Remove the chicken “paste” and place in the middle of the salad bowl. With a wooden spoon, mix in the paste the broken pieces of truffle.
Serve as a light lunch with toasted bread and potato chips


Chinese chicken stir-fry (Easy, Preparation time: 15 minutes, Cooking time: 15 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 slices of Pancetta or Prosciutto in small pieces
1 2-inch (6 cm) piece ginger root peeled and grated
3 garlic cloves peeled and minced
1 lemon grass bulb, tough leaves removed, heart sliced fine
1 hot pepper seeded and sliced
1 onion peeled and diced
1 carrot peeled, cut longitudinally in thin strips
2 celery branches peeled and sliced
2 bok choi washed and sliced or 1 lbs spinach leaves washed
1 cup of broccoli florets cut small
½ lbs (170 gm) rice noodles cooked and cooled
Leftover chicken meat sliced finely
1/3cup (76 ml) soy sauce

Material:
Board and paring knife
Wok or large frying pan

Place the wok over the stove on the medium setting of the gas stove. Pour 2 tablespoons sesame oil. Stir-fry the ginger, garlic, lemon grass and hot pepper for 2 minutes. Add the pancetta. Add the onion, carrot and celery pieces and cook for 10 minutes or until soft. Add the bok choi and broccoli florets and cook for an additional three minutes. Add the chicken meat, the noodles and soy sauce. Mix well and serve hot.