Fridge "Mystery Box" #2

The past few weeks of September have been a whirlwind of sorts, and I have been eating out more often than cooking in my kitchen. Last week I made a trip to Trader Joes and stocked up on a bunch of chicken, pork tenderloin, bacon, pancetta, spinach, garlic, cream, etc...my "basic staples", but I didn't get around to using them. So it was about time last night that I did a once-over on my fridge to create a "Mystery Box" of ingredients for dinner.

From my fridge and cupboard, I pulled organic-free range chicken breasts, a leftover bag of sun dried tomatoes, diced pancetta, baby spinach, heavy cream, garlic, panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, a leftover half a lemon, and chicken stock. I had some fusilli pasta and figured that would be a nice starch for the meal. So, I thus concocted:

Panko-Parmesan Crusted Chicken Paillards - Spinach and Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce with Pancetta - Fusilli Pasta

Best part? Aside from boiling the pasta, this is a one-pot dish. And, yes for anyone who REALLY follows this web site, my last mystery box also had chicken, and I made it into paillards; it's not that I am a freak about chicken or cooking it the same way, rather take that this technique is THAT easy and simple to follow and is always a great way to change up a simple chicken breast.

First, I started with my pancetta. As always, even with bacon, I start the pork in a cold, non-stick pan to slowly render out the delicious fat from the pork belly. I had about 1/4C total left over in my fridge. Cook the pancetta over medium heat until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove pancetta from pan and reserve (caution: you will be tempted, as I am [and Brett was] to eat all of the pancetta bits before adding them back to the dish. Please try to restrain yourself b/c it REALLY adds depth to the final dish.)

Rendering out the pancetta:



Once it's cooked, reserve it (and don't touch!)



Rendered pork fat. Will add flavor to the chicken and the spinach sauce:



While I cooked the pancetta, I trimmed up my chicken breasts and sliced them in half horizontally. I have a sharp boning knife that I keep around, but you can do this with any sharp knife (though I would suggest not using a serrated knife). I like to do this because the chicken cooks up faster. Technically, the use of the word "paillard" means to pound out the protein until it is really thin, but I opted not to whip out the plastic wrap and mallet this evening.

Slicing the chicken horizontally:



Of course you end up with four "halves", but I ended up using three for the dinner:



Next, I put together my "breading" station: about 1/2 C AP flour, one egg with a little water whisked together, and equal parts parmesan cheese and panko bread crumbs.



1/2 and 1/2 panko and parmesan:



Dredge chicken in flour, pat off, dredge through egg mixture, then dip in parmesan/panko mix.



Reheat pan with pancetta drippings and add some olive oil to coat bottom of pan; make sure pan is very hot to create good crust with panko (heat on medium high).



Flip chicken after about 6-7 minutes when browned; be careful not to burn the panko.



Cook chicken about another 6 minutes and remove from pan; rest on paper towels while finishing rest of sauce.

I prefer to slice my garlic rather than mincing it so anyone enjoying the meal can taste the essence of garlic but can pick out the slivers if they don't want to eat them.



Drain off some of the fat from cooking the chicken and add the garlic, cooking over medium heat, until fragrant and slightly browned.



I then add about 1/3 C of chicken broth to the pan to deglaze the browned bits; reduce the liquid until almost dry and then add the spinach to saute; season with salt and pepper.





Once the spinach is completely wilted, add the sun dried tomatoes. Toss together.



Add about 1 C heavy cream and bring to a boil; reduce to sauce consistency and then season with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon to brighten all of the flavors.



Oh, and don't fotget to add that pancetta back in!



...and...PLATE.



Not the best lighting, but it was a delicious concoction using ingredients that were on hand an ready to be used. The panko crust on the chicken was light, and the parmesan was cut with the acid from the lemon juice and sun dried tomatoes. And who can pass up spinach and cream (as I am a huge fan of creamed spinach...) WITH THE ADDITION of pancetta? The pasta was the perfect balance of a basic starch to the blending of flavors from the sauce and chicken. The whole thing took about 30 minutes, tops, and left us both extremely satisfied.

Oh, and of course I had some wine - if you can get your hands on some Sullivan Vineyards Red Ink, you have the makings for a perfect meal.

Farmers Market Feast

Going to any Farmers Market is one of my favorite pastimes, right up there with cooking and drinking wine. I am very lucky to live in San Francisco and have the opportunity to walk to the famous Saturday Farmers Market at the Ferry Building EVERY Saturday. I try to go as often as I can. You will find me leisurely strolling among the tourists, locals, and executive chefs checking out all of the season's finest produce, meats, cheeses, herbs, nuts, plants...ah it is like heaven.

One recent Saturday started with a lot of rain, thunder and lightning in the Bay area, but it didn't stop me from going to one of my culinary "hang outs". While the weather impeded the tourists and some locals from visiting the market, it enticed Brett and I to step outside, get a good walk in over to the Ferry Building.

It was great to see the Market through a visitor's eyes, especially with the curtain of tourists missing from the halls of the Ferry building and close to 100 or so white-tented stands lining the front and back of the building. Starting with coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee (always worth it), we strolled each and every inch of the market, checking out all of the seasonal produce grown locally. You could smell the fresh tomatoes in the air mixed with the wafting scent of peaches and other amazing stone fruit (and, as Brett noticed, there were a lot of figs). Because of the lack of crowds, we could actually talk to the farmers about their offerings and taste a sample of their hard work.

We walked through the market stalls, taking our leisurely time, checking out each purveyor and talking about what we wanted to get for a Farmers Market dinner. Brett was impressed with all of the sustainable and organic meats, and when we walked by the tent occupied by The Fatted Calf, we immediately spotted what we were going to dine on. The nice girl representing the company pulled out a vacuum-sealed pancetta-wrapped pork tenderloin that had been marinated in white wine, rosemary, and mustard; not to mention that the pork was horomone-free and organically raised. Dinner=done.

We then made our way back to Dirty Girl Produce to pick out some small, cherry tomatoes that you literally could smell just by standing next to the produce boxes. We rounded out our purchases with some baby romaine for a salad, chanterelle mushrooms (because they are my favorite), and a couple cheeses from Cowgirl Creamery accompanied by a sour baguette from Acme Bread. We had the makings for a truly organic, sustainable meal to satisfy our souls.

While we got our dinner together and organized, we noshed on our cheese and bread selections: sour baguette from Acme and Truffle Tremor plus a wedge of Mt. Tam from Cowgirl Creamery. It was so fantastic to see the excitement through Brett's eyes about our selections as he literally devoured the Truffle Tremor with the baguette (not to mention that Acme is now his favorite bread bakery, let alone that we went out and bought a loaf everyday after that Saturday, and, with every bite, Brett happily shared, "Oh. My. God. This LITERALLY is the best bread I have ever had.)



As we enjoyed our "first course", I got the oven ready for the pork tenderloin. I pre-heated a roasting pan in the oven at 400*F. While waiting for the oven to heat up, I let our pork come to room temperature. I bent down and took a giant whiff of the amazing scents coming from the pork; the fragrant rosemary, the pique mustard, and the subtle overtones of chardonnay married beautifully with the salt-and-peppery notes coming from the pancetta that surrounded the pork. My mouth was literally watering as I put the tenderloin into my pan to bake.



(This pork is pretty easy to make at home. Mix together about 1/2 C wine, 2 tbsp dijon mustard, and 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, salt and pepper. Mix together and brush on pork to coat evenly. Wrap the pork tenderloin with thin slices of pancetta; the mustard mixture will help to adhere the pancetta. Can be made 1 day ahead to "marry" flavors together.)

After about 20 minutes (145*F registered on thermometer), THIS is what pork heaven looked like:



Perfectly cooked - slightly pink and not dried out.



Now, backing up, while the pork was cooking, we washed our baby romaine and amazingly fragrant baby tomatoes for a simple salad. Most people know that I have a strong dislike of raw tomatoes year round due to what I think is their true lack of flavor and mealy texture, except for this time of year when heirloom tomatoes are in season. All I can say is I could not stop eating these red jewels, and we almost didn't have enough for the salad. I had some Caesar dressing in my fridge, so we dressed our produce very lightly with the dressing to let all of the flavors shine through.



Chanterelle mushrooms are perhaps one of my favorite things, so I had to pick some up, even if it was a random addition to our dinner. After the pork was finished, I took the drippings from the pan and heated them in a skillet. I then added some sliced chanterelle mushrooms to soak up that pork goodness while balancing with the meatiness of the mushrooms.









Our Farmers Market meal had finally come together. Each element of our dinner was bright and delicious in its own way, and it felt great to eat knowing that all of our ingredients were local, sustainable, horomone/pesticide-free, and organic. Brett even made a comment that he felt "better" eating this way, and I have to 100% agree, not only for my conscience, but for my health as well.