I’ve long been a fan of fennel. Freshly cut fennel in a salad is such a great thing that I can’t see any home going without. So when walking through Wegmans this week I couldn’t resist buying just one fennel bulb. I had no idea what it would be used for, but there it was and I had to have it.
Over the months working on Munch Monster I’ve found myself coming ever closer to a culinary style. Where I dreamed of perfecting some hoity toity haute cuisine dish at some point prior to this endeavor, I’ve since found that I just care about flavor. I’ve yet to compose dishes based on their look. California style stacking doesn’t really appeal to me, but the intention behind it does. Creating different components of a dish that are set together, but remain separate, is an interesting idea. In that way I’ve found that I can remain simple – letting the food itself be the flavor profile, rather than any fussing around I could come up with – and yet the entire plate becomes something…more.
So it’s with that thought in my mind that I “came up” with this roasted fennel recipe. I had an inkling of serving chicken with some potatoes, as I usually do. But as much as I love that classic pairing I wanted to go elsewhere. The roasted fennel came about because of the chicken roulade, and the flavors there. The orange zest in the breading would offer a subtle connection to the fennel far below, and the pairing of fennel and mushroom is classic, simple, and brilliant.
What this entire dish says to me is that I’ve found a direction to explore, one that excites me as a cook. Tasting everything together it also tells me that I have a lot to learn. This is the most thoughtful dish I’ve ever prepared, but it doesn’t succeed completely. For one thing I don’t like the breading approach to the chicken. I had good intentions going into a roulade, and this is an idea I’ll come back to at some point. But it’s these flavors that I want to play around with, cut them to their base and perfect something I can be proud of. Now the question remains will my wife appreciate eating a variation of this dish 5 times until I feel satisfied?
As a side note after coming up with the roasted fennel idea I checked online to see what others might have thought or done. I was saddened, but not surprised, to see that far better chef’s than me have been doing this for years. This in turn excited me more, because a dish that is come upon so naturally has got to be delicious. The roasted fennel and the asparagus with hollandaise were the only perfected part of the dinner. But I’ll get this chicken dish to come out at some point. The next stop is braising those tasty legs…
Chicken Roulade with Mushroom Puree and Fontina
2 chicken breasts, pounded out and flattened
1 cup portabella mushrooms
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 slices Fontina cheese
Salt and Pepper
Flour for dredging
1 large egg, beaten lightly with 1 Tbsp water
½ cup Macadamia nuts, blended into a fine powder
1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs (or panko)
Zest of 1 orange
Preheat oven to 400
Place mushrooms in a small Cuisinart with a pinch of salt and pepper and the olive oil. Pulse until mushrooms are a paste like consistency. In a small sauté pan over medium heat cook mushrooms until they begin to give up their water, set aside to cool slightly.
Set up your dredging station: first the flour, then the egg wash, and finally mix the Macadamia nuts with the bread crumbs and orange zest. Spread the cooked mushroom puree on the inside of the chicken breasts, lay the Fontina on top, and then tightly roll the breasts up. You can do what my mom always does with chicken cordon bleu and just use toothpicks to keep everything together, and just remember to mention that to anyone eating the dish. There’s nothing like a small wooden spike hitting the roof of your mouth to liven up a dinner, trust me. I prefer to truss my food with some cooking twine.
Lightly coat the rolled up chicken in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip the chicken into the egg wash, and then coat with bread crumb mixture on all sides.
Roast in oven for 12-15 minutes, or until chicken is just done. It’s difficult to use a probe thermometer here, so you’ll just have to trust your own ability to check for doneness.
To serve slice into thick pieces, being sure to remove any toothpicks or twine.
Roasted Fennel
Ingredients:
1 Fennel bulb
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Preheat oven to 400
Cut stalks off the top of the fennel bulb (reserve the fronds for garnish, and because they are tasty). Cut bulb in half lengthwise, then slice fennel into 1 ½ – 2 in pieces. Place a Silpat onto a baking sheet and spread fennel out. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Drizzle vinegar over fennel.
Roast in oven for 30 minutes.
Pan Seared Asparagus With Hollandaise
8 large asparagus stalks
Salt and Pepper
2 egg yolks
1 ½ Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 grind of fresh pepper
1/8 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ tsp water
½ cup butter, melted
Pinch of salt
In a pot of boiling salted water cook asparagus for 3 minutes. Shock asparagus in ice water. Over medium high heat sear the asparagus in a saute pan. Season with salt and pepper.
Get a double boiler rolling at a gentle simmer. In the top bowl whisk the egg yolks, lemon juice, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and water. Add the butter to the egg yolk mixture very slowly. Very, very, very slowly. You’re making an emulsion of lemon and butter utilizing the egg yolks as the emulsification agent. This takes patience, and very low heat. Keep whisking and adding butter until fully incorporated. The sauce should be very thick, but not a butter spread.
