Wanting to be able to walk into the kitchen and cook with whatever happens to be on hand is why I am participating in the Rouxbe Cooking School. I developed this dish one evening when I needed to make dinner and had no desire to make a trip to the store. Drawing on some recently completed cooking school lessons, I broke free from my usual rut of tossing something on the grill and came up with this delicious pasta dish that is easy enough to make for a mid-week dinner.
Chef's notes
Rouxbe Homework Assignment No. 1
Step 1: How to slice ingredients, How to make stock
Step 2: Sweating
Step 3: Pan frying, Pan sauces (developing sucs, flambe, deglazing)
Step 4: Pan sauces, Selecting pasta, How to cook pasta
Steps
1
Ingredients and preparation
Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced
1 medium red onion, cut into strips
1 medium fennel bulb, cut into strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. aleppo pepper, or other dried red pepper flakes
1 tsp. juniper berries, ground
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, stemmed and chopped
2 cups chicken stock
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp. gin
1/2 tsp. orange zest, finely grated
Prepare your mise en place by slicing the onion, fennel, and chicken breast. Mince the garlic. Chop the fresh thyme and parsley. Remove the zest from an orange and grind the juniper berries. Pre-measure the rest of the ingredients to have ready.
2
Sweating the onions, fennel and garlic
Ingredients
Prepared sliced vegetables
Pre-measured spices
2 Tbsp. olive oil
pinch of salt
Place a large saute pan over low heat and add 2 Tbsp. olive oil. Add the sliced onion, fennel, pepper flakes, juniper, thyme and a pinch of salt, and cook over a low to medium-low heat for 5 minutes to begin sweating the vegetables. Add the garlic and continue to sweat the vegetables for another 5-7 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside.
3
Pan fry the chicken
Ingredients
Prepared sliced chicken breast
olive oil
Pre-measured gin
Return the saute pan used to sweat the vegetables to the stove over a medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp. olive oil to the pan once it is hot. Place the slices of chicken in the pan turning them once a nice crust has developed on the first side. Adjust the heat as needed to prevent burning the sucs that are developing on the pan surface.
Once the chicken is nicely browned on both sides, turn off the heat under the pan and add the 3 Tbsp. of gin all at once. Turn the burner back on and tip the pan up to pool the gin, it should ignite, so stand clear. Alternatively you can flambe the gin using a long-handled lighter. Once the flames die out, scrape the pan to deglaze the sucs. Remove the chicken pieces from the pan and set them aside with the vegetables.
4
Making the sauce and cooking the pasta
Ingredients
Pre-measured chicken stock
6 oz. dried pasta
3 qt. salted water
pre-measured chilled unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste
pre-measured parmesan cheese
pre-grated orange zest
Add 2 cups of chicken stock to the saute pan and simmer to reduce to 1 cup.
Bring 3 quarts of cold water to a boil for the pasta. Once the water boils, season with enough salt so the water tastes similar to sea water. With the water at a boil add the pasta and stir to prevent it from sticking together. Cook until al dente and then drain, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water to thin sauce if desired.
Once the chicken stock has reduced, stir in the chilled butter one piece at a time. Adjust the seasoning of the sauce. Add the chicken and vegetables to the sauce and mix. Add the cooked pasta and stir in the parmesan cheese and orange zest. Add reserved pasta water to thin the sauce if desired.
5
Finishing the dish
Ingredients
prepared parsley
Once all the ingredients are nicely combined, place the pasta on a serving platter and top with the chopped fresh parsley. Serve immediately.
