Even More Coming Soon!

As anyone who has been following Screw Your Diet is surely well aware, the updates here have slowed to a crawl. If only I had the time to earn straight As in culinary school, work my day job, do my usual boatload of homework, AND keep this site more up to date. But alas, there are only so many hours in a day. Even so, I’ve still got a load of content planned – I haven’t even come close to posting all of the meat dishes from my previous class!

The next wave of content is all about baking, since that’s the class I just completed. Everything from French bread (not pictured here, but still coming), éclairs, custards, plated desserts, and everything in between. Most of it is sweet, with a bit of savory baking here and there. There’s sure to be something for everyone, so check out the previews below to see what you have to look forward to. And, as always, I’ll do my best to start posting them as soon as I can.

Poached Filet of Sole in White Wine Sauce

I must start this post with a confession – I am no great lover of cooked fish. When I was younger, I used to eat it all the time, but somewhere along the way my taste buds decided they weren't having it anymore. These days, the majority of my fish consumption comes in the form of sushi, but an enjoyment of cooked fish is starting to slowly return to me! Even so, I’ll still only go for white fish that doesn’t taste particularly fishy. Salmon is still a no go for me.

Of course, a nice pan reduction sauce can make almost anything taste better than it was originally intended. Such is the case with this filet of sole recipe, called “Sole Vin Blanc” in French (Sole with White Wine). The filets are rolled, skewered, and then cooked in a pot full of aromatic vegetables, white wine, and stock, then served with roasted potatoes and sautéed mushrooms. It’s a fairly simple dish to prepare and, like me, you’ll probably wonder why it took you so long to try fish prepared this way.

Brioche Dough Cinnamon Rolls

Alright, so, I know I said I’d be posting a bunch of savory, meat-related dishes that I learned in class – and I still intend to post the rest of them. But first, let’s take a break – a sweet, delicious break. Since I’m in the baking and pastry class now, I figured why not have a sugary interlude before diving back into the entrees? It doesn’t get much better than a fresh batch of cinnamon rolls.

One of the best kinds of dough I learned to make recently was brioche. The richness of it makes for the perfect cinnamon roll, and it’s relatively simple to make. Another thing to keep in mind is that for baking recipes, I’ll often be measuring out a lot of things in ounces now instead of teaspoons, tablespoons, and cups. Baking is like a precise science, especially when it comes to leavening agents like yeast, baking powder, and baking soda, so it is ultimately beneficial to measure things out this way instead. You can find a perfectly good scale for less then $30 at Target if you don’t have one – this is the one I’ve got, and it works like a charm.

Duck Leg Poêler (Special Roast) With Sweet Pan Reduction Glaze

Happy new year, everybody! In my previous recipe, the sautéed duck breast, I told you I'd also show you what to do with the legs and thighs of a duck as well. So, as promised, today I'll show you what to do with them. It's actually a relatively simple recipe that doesn't require a whole lot of labor, though that will also depend on what kind of side dish you choose to prepare with it. I made little potato tournes, but honestly, I do not recommend them. They're tricky, labor intensive, and exist basically just for their aesthetic appeal (and to drive culinary students insane). You'd do just as well with something like boiled potatoes without the fancy cuts, or green beans.

Anyway, if you’ve ever roasted anything before, this is a little bit different. Poêler (which is a French culinary term with no English translation) refers to the process of roasting, but with moisture added. So instead of roasting in a pan by itself, these legs will be roasted on a bed of aromatic vegetables.

Crispy Sautéed Duck Breast with Cherry Quinoa

And now for my favorite bird – duck! Chicken is alright, but it just doesn’t have the natural flavor or richness of a bird that can fly. If you’ve never had duck, my advice is: HAVE DUCK. It’s all dark meat, it’s fatty, and it’s delicious. This first duck dish is a relatively easy one, with only a few components to worry about. You can sauté using clarified butter, but I opted to use duck fat instead. Sweet, sweet, versatile duck fat. I found a little tub of it at Whole Foods, so that’s where I’d start looking if you’re not sure where to purchase it.

Speaking of purchasing things, you’ll likely need to buy a whole duck and cut the breasts off for this. I couldn’t find any place selling just duck breasts, but if you can, go for it. If you buy a whole duck, don’t worry – the next recipe will tell you how best to prepare the legs and thighs, so stay tuned!

Sautéed Chicken with Mushroom Risotto and Asparagus

Next up, we’ve got a sautéed chicken airline breast (a boneless breast, skin on, with the drumette still attached), some mushroom risotto, sautéed asparagus, and pan reduction sauce. With so many different parts, this recipe is going to get fairly in depth. In fact, this dish was actually my entry into a cooking contest recently, and although I didn’t win, it came out pretty great.

My point is, it’s pretty labor intensive and you’ll use a lot of pots and pans to make it happen. Its individual components are not especially difficult on their own, it’s just the combination of them and timing it all out that can be tricky. In fact, I’m going to be laying this one out a little differently than normal. Instead of trying to fit all the parts together for you, I’m going to list the preparation methods for each component in their own separate sections. That way you can coordinate it however you see fit, since my order of operations may or may not have been ideal for most. Do feel free to leave your feedback regarding this layout – let me know what works and what doesn’t.

It might also help to have another cook in the kitchen to assist on this recipe – if no one is available, you may want to swap the risotto for mashed potatoes, depending on how adventurous you’re feeling. Included below will be tutorials for clarified butter and pan reduction sauce, both of which are necessary components of this dish. So if you’re feeling particularly ambitious, this is one dish that’s sure to impress.

Grilled Chicken With Rice Pilaf and Glazed Vegetables

We might as well start at the beginning of my most recent class, and it began with chicken. This particular dish is a grilled chicken breast de supreme (a boneless breast with the skin on), with rice pilaf and glazed carrots and turnips. It’s a fairly basic meal for one or two (though the recipe can be easily doubled, tripled, etc., depending on how many you need to feed) and takes less than an hour to prepare.

Unfortunately, as I made this in class, I didn’t have the time to take pictures of the process. It is, however, fairly straightforward, so I’ll just do my best to make the description as detailed as possible. This won’t be an issue for ALL of the upcoming recipes here, but it will be for some of them. There is also the possibility that I’ll make these at home and update the recipes with pictures after the fact.

Coming Soon to Screw Your Diet!

Hello everyone, and happy holidays! It’s been about a month now since I’ve really been able to update Screw Your Diet with new recipes, but that doesn’t mean I have nothing to post. Quite the contrary, in fact – I’ve been so busy cooking and learning, that I’m backlogged with delicious recipes! For the next 2 weeks, I’ve got a well deserved break from school, and I’ll use that time to post up as many of the dishes I’ve been working on as possible (the dish above is roasted rack of lamb with creamy polenta and ratatouille, by the way).

Also, I will soon be adding a new page to the site called “The Basics”. Here you’ll find basic recipes and techniques to help you get started. Lessons on stock making, how to clarify butter, mother sauces, vinaigrette, pan reduction sauce, knife cuts, etc., just to name a few. A lot of the upcoming recipes feature these techniques, and rather than detailing them every time they’re needed, I felt it’d be easier to be able to simply refer to the basics page. It should be up and running before too long, so check back soon!

In the meantime, enjoy previews and descriptions of all the recipes you’ll be seeing here over the next 2 weeks! (Note: they will not necessarily appear on the site in the order they’re listed below.)

Perfect Rustic Mashed Potatoes

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Of course, that has everything to do with the food, and nothing to do with being symbolically thankful for all the help the native Americans gave the first white settlers (who then showed their appreciation by slaughtering most of them). In any case, this was my first time actually contributing to the feast – I didn’t make the turkey, but I did make the mashed potatoes, as well as Crack Pie for dessert (which was a huge hit, by the way).

I’ve had mashed potatoes as a side dish for a number of meals that I’ve posted here on Screw Your Diet, but I usually don’t include a recipe since everyone likes to make them their own way. So I figured it was time to show you how I make them. Unfortunately, there won’t be any visual aides in this recipe, but mashed potatoes are pretty straightforward, so hopefully you won’t need them. If you do find yourself having trouble, feel free to shoot me an email!

Panna Cotta with Berry-Wine Sauce

I feel like I have to do this more and more lately, but I do apologize that my updates to this site have been so infrequent these past couple of months. I really do wish I had more time, but I think you’ll find that this recipe was worth waiting for!

This past weekend, to celebrate the finish of my second Culinary Foundations class, I decided to prepare something that is not covered as part of my school curriculum: panna cotta. This rich and delicious mixture of cream, sugar, and gelatin hails from Northern Italy, and is actually extremely simple to make. If you’ve never tried it, think of panna cotta as a kind of cream-based Jell-O, only a bit more firm. Served with a mixed berry and wine sauce, it’s a dessert you’ll be sure to never forget!

Lobster Bisque

Alright, we’ve made it – it’s the final soup! I saved the absolute best for last, so today we’ve got lobster bisque. This rich delicacy has a smooth, creamy texture and a flavor profile that’s both sweet and savory. For the best results, I recommend using a whole, live lobster, rather than one which has been frozen since I’ll be writing the recipe out as though you have a whole one.

If you do choose to go the route of whole, live lobster, don’t boil it alive! The lobster will make an unpleasant sound, and it’s just not particularly humane. Instead, you should simply force your chef’s knife through the back of its head – that sounds even less humane, but it’s actually quick and painless. But that is the price of fine cuisine, is it not? Something has to die to become delicious food for us. And I promise you, your lobster’s sacrifice will not have been in vain, because there’s nothing quite like lobster bisque.

Potage Mulligatawny

Okay everyone, this one is quite an undertaking – but it also happens to be one of the most delicious soups I’ve ever tasted. Potage Mulligatawny is a thick, hearty offspring of Indian and British influences. It’s got a delicious curry base and comes loaded with rice, diced apple, and a garnish of poached chicken breast and crispy bacon lardons for a symphony of flavors that must be experienced to be believed. But make no mistake – this is literally one of the most labor intensive dishes I’ve ever prepared. It employs multiple cooking techniques and loads of ingredients, so be prepared to set aside the better part of your day to make it. Even so, I can not recommend it enough, and once you taste it, you’ll be a believer as well.

Potage Cultivateur

Sorry it’s taken so long for me to get to the next recipe. Between school and work, I don’t have a ton of time for posting these days! I’ll do my best to make more regular updates, but this is kind of the nature of the beast right now.

Anyway, Potage Cultivateur is a hearty vegetable soup and would normally not exactly belong on a site called Screw Your Diet. It’s actually quite good, and good for you. It’s not an especially difficult soup to make either, though it can be time consuming due to the type of knife cut it calls for. The cut is called paysanne, and basically that means you’re looking for relatively flat squares, about ½” x ½”. While you don’t have to cut your vegetables in this way, it certainly makes for a nice presentation and helps to ensure that they’ll all be cooked evenly - it’s worth the extra bit of effort.

Consommé Macédoine

For the 3rd soup in what I’ve dubbed “Soup Madness 2012”, I made a consommé macédoine (or as a friend of mine referred to it, Minecraft Soup). Consommé means “completed” or “concentrated” in French, which is a pretty accurate way to describe this one. The flavor of it is very rich and concentrated in a remarkably clear broth. Macédoine refers to the cut of the garnish vegetables that go into the soup – leek, carrot, and celery, all cut into 4mm x 4mm x 4mm cubes (or in the leek’s case, just 4mm x 4mm).

There are a lot of elements to work with in this soup, but if you’re careful and patient, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with it.

French Onion Soup

After a very successful New England clam chowder, I decided it was time to make a French onion soup. It’s flavorful and extremely popular, though I found my first couple of attempts to be lacking. I initially tried to make it earlier in the week, and was not pleased with my results. When I made it in class later in the week, I was still not entirely pleased with how it turned out. Not satisfied with my results so far, I gave it another shot - the third time proved to be the charm, as this batch came out pretty close to perfect. The key is simple: take your time. Don’t rush it.

New England Clam Chowder

The start of the fall season also happens to be the start of soup season. After all, what’s better than a hot bowl of soup on a cold or rainy day? It’s just as well then that my schooling has taken a turn toward soups in the past week, and there are a number of fantastic recipes I’m excited to share with my readers here. So over the next week or so, I’ll be posting all soup, all the time.

First up is a creamy, flavorful, New England clam chowder. It’s always been one of my favorite soups, and I was surprised to learn how easy it is to make.

Dark Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate pudding used to be a childhood favorite of mine. As I got older, my love for pudding gave way to more, “sophisticated” chocolate offerings, but I knew a small part of me would always love it. That part of me took control of me this past weekend and demanded that I produce something rich and chocolatey, the likes of which I had not tasted in a long time. And so I did!

This was my first time making pudding, but I found the process to be a lot easier than I expected. Granted, there is a stretch of about 10 – 15 minutes where you’ll be stirring and whisking constantly, but aside from that, it’s really not too much of a hassle to make.

Pepper and Herb Crusted Pork Roast

I love the other white meat. More flavorful on its own than chicken, and with just as wide a variety of ways to prepare it, pork shows up in my diet fairly regularly. Some of you may remember he last pork roast I posted here was a stuffed pork loin, and kind of tricky to prepare. This roast, by contrast, requires very little effort or prep time and is quite delicious. Try it for yourselves and see!

Caramel Cake

This past week has not left me with a lot of time for cooking or baking at home, a fact you’ve no doubt noticed since I went 7 days without updating Screw Your Diet. Well, Saturday’s veal chops were the first step to getting things back on track here, and now I have something sweeter for your baking pleasure – caramel cake.

This is not an especially difficult recipe, and it isn’t as overpoweringly sweet as it looks. You will, however, be making caramel from scratch and that can be a tricky process. Just be sure you have a candy thermometer and that you use a small or medium sized sauce pan instead of a large one like I did. Kind of defeats the purpose of the thermometer if the liquid is too shallow to measure! I eyeballed it and got lucky, but I wouldn’t advise you take that risk yourselves.

Veal Loin Chops with Tarragon and White Wine Reduction Sauce

Veal is one of those rich, delicious delicacies that PETA would have you believe is morally reprehensible to consume. And you know what? Maybe it is, but I’ll be damned if that’s going to stop me. So with some thick and succulent veal loin chops on hand, I decided to go with a relatively simple recipe that produces some pretty complex and interesting flavors, mostly due to the use of tarragon. On the side, I steamed some broccoli and made a simple risotto to round out this delicious gourmet meal. The risotto recipe is the same one I used for my seafood risotto, and you can make whichever sides you like, so I’ll only be detailing the process for cooking the veal below.