Did you catch the season premiere of Top Chef last week? It seems that the producers are trying hard to create drama by picking contestants that are completely wacky. This guy Andrew is a loudmouth whiner drops the F bomb every chance he gets. And there is the obligatory heavily tatooed bald guy with a scowl. Don't forget the chemist chef who brings all kinds of gizmos and prefers to cook with liquid nitrogen. There are also 4 contestants from San Francisco, two of whom are a lesbian couple (Jen and Zoi). Again, drama.
Anyways, my point was that their first elimination challenge was to prepare a classic dish, two people each doing one of 8 dishes. The person who made the better classic dish was exempt from elimination. Their choices were Lasagne, Duck ala Orange, Crab Cakes, Chicken Piccata, Eggs Benedict, Steak Au Poivre, Shrimp Scampi, Souffle.
Ryan, who claims to have started cooking in a restaurant at age 11 is chosen to do the Chicken Piccata and on his shopping spree, he loses his notebook and picks up breadcrumbs and tomatoes!! He gets harped upon by the judges for making Chicken Milanese, and they are amazed that he doesn't even know how to make the Piccata. In my mind, I was like...haha haaa, even little ole me can cook up that dish. Now, if I had to do a souffle, that would be a different story!
Anyways, here is my tried and true recipe, which I got out of a magazine called "Cuisine at Home" a couple years ago. I also use their Italian meatball recipe, which I will post some other time.
Chicken Piccata
Season:
4 chicken cutlets with salt and pepper, then dust with flour
Saute in:
2T. oil, 2-3 min per side. Remove from pan and
Deglaze with:
1/4 c. white wine and 1 clove minced garlic
Add:
1/2 cup chicken broth
2T fresh lemon juice
1T capers
Sauteed cutlets
Finish with:
1 T. butter and fresh lemon slices
Garnish with:
Chopped fresh parsley
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4 comments:
I so agree with you Dee! Even I know the components of piccata, and I've only ever made it once when I was a kid with mother, and it was at my request! I didn't see the part about him losing his notebook though. Still, DOH! And what's up with ALL the SF contestants? Whatever ... I want to know how Padma landed this gig. I only ever knew her as the wife (well, ex) of the "Satanic Verses" guy, Salmon Rushdi.
I wanted to let you know that my boss brought in a big bag of lemons from her tree, so I am going to put copies of your lemon bar recipe next to the bag!
I want to see you do something with radicco treviso - I've gotten it in my farm box twice now and haven't had the chance to find something good to do with it that my family might actually eat LOL!
Ciao baby ...
Oh yeah, Padma...did you notice that she left Salman after she got this Top Chef gig? I always thought they seemed to be an odd couple anyways.
Good luck with those lemon bars!
Here is something I found that sounded easy and yummy for your radicchio treviso.
Ingredients
1 large head of radicchio di Treviso, rinsed, patted dry, and peeled of any imperfect outer leaves
1/8 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated cheese such as Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano
Salt and Pepper to taste
Method
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
Cut off the base of the Treviso and separate out the leaves, layering them in an ovenproof casserole. Drizzle with olive oil and evenly scatter the grated cheese on top of the leaves. Place in hot oven for 10 minutes, remove and serve promptly.
Let me know what you end up doing....enjoy!
Thanks Dee. I will try it out tonight!
LouAnne
I saw that episode too, and thought it was hilarious. That, and the misspelling of pappardelle pasta. Parpardelle? Really?
Mr Wonderful very helpfully pointed out your recipe for banana muffins. I think it was a hint. ;-)
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