Panfried Truffle-stuffed Chicken Breasts with Pickled Roasted Beets

Most of us don't have the money to drop at least a hundred bucks on a truffle (who would think that the fruiting body of an underground mushroom would be so expensive?), but have no fear! You too can taste this highly prized and delectable treat, because you can buy a jar of truffle butter, which is basically butter with bits of truffle mixed into it. A worthwhile purchase, if you ask me because truffles have a very distinctive, strong, earthy flavor and a little of that stuff goes a long way - and man oh man is it delicious. Here I've breaded chicken breasts with oatmeal, then stuffed them with black truffle butter and paired them with pickled red and golden beets and fresh spinach (or try watercress, if you can find it). This is one of my favorite ways to use truffle butter, for sure, although I also like to use truffle butter to top baked potatoes or yams with or spread on bread or fry eggs in. This recipe wasn't very work intensive either, so it could make for a wonderful weeknight meal. Yum!

Pan-fried Truffle-stuffed Chicken Breasts with Pickled Roasted Beets Adapted from Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Café Cookbook Ingredients: Panfried Truffle-stuffed Chicken Breasts • 5 tablespoons of truffle butter, softened • Salt and pepper • 6 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves • ½ cup flour • 2 eggs, beaten • 3 cups oats (I used thick rolled oats) or brown rice cereal • Olive oil (for frying) Pickled Roasted Beets • 12 small beets, Chioagga, red or golden • ¼ cup red wine vinegar or Champagne vinegar • Salt and pepper • Extra-virgin olive oil Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Trim the tops and the ends of the beets, then wash them. Roast them with a splash of water in a tightly covered baking pan for 45 minutes to an hour until they can be easily pierced with a knife. Allow the beets to cool slightly, then peel and cut them into quarters or round. Gently toss the beets with the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Allow the beets to marinate in the vinegar, then dress them with olive oil. 2. Lay the chicken breasts flat on a clean work surface. With a sharp paring knife, cut a pocket about ½ inch wide and 2 inches deep in the thicker end of each breast. Divide the truffle butter into 6 equal pieces and insert each piece into the pocket of each breast. Season both sides of each breast with salt and pepper. 3. Dredge each breast into the flour, shaking off any excess, then dip them into the beaten eggs, and roll them in oats. Put the breasts on a baking sheet in one layer, and sprinkle both sides of the breasts with more oats and make sure they're evenly coated. Refrigerate, uncovered, for up to 4 hours before frying. 4. Heat olive oil in a cast-iron skillet (although I used a non stick fry pan) over medium heat. Fry the chicken breasts in the olive oil for 3-5 minutes or until nicely browned. Flip them over and cook for another 3-5 minutes. The internal temperature should read 165°F. Serve immediately.

Skate with Shiitake Mushrooms and Roasted Hazelnuts

Most people have never heard of skate, a cousin to the stingray, but its wing-like pectoral fins have a delicious, extremely delicate flesh that is slightly sweet and reminiscent of crab or lobster meat. It's one of my favorite types of seafood but isn't very common, so if you do find it at the fish market or your local grocery store, snatch it up and try it - I doubt you will regret it! Just be sure to have the cartilage, which is tough and inedible, removed before you prepare it. (Trust me, removing it yourself is a pain in the ass.)

Skate, being a mild fish, tastes best when it is prepared with somewhat rich or strong tasting ingredients, whereas a fish that is stronger tasting to begin with such as salmon ought to be prepared more simply - even with just extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper - in order to allow the natural flavor, which can stand on its own, to shine.

I've prepared skate the traditional way before - a la Grenobloise (in the style of Grenobole in the Dauphine region of France), with brown butter, capers, parsley, lemon juice, diced lemon, and tiny croutons.



But I prefer the version in the following recipe (slightly adapted from a recipe by the very talented Daniel Boulud), which marries the rich, earthy flavors of the shiitake mushrooms and crunchy roasted hazelnuts sautéed in butter with the tender, mild flesh of the skate. The richness of the dish was cut with the acidity of fresh lemon, which provided a wonderful tang. What an incredible combination of tastes and textures!

FYI, Hazelnuts are rich in protein, dietary fiber, iron, calcium and vitamin E. Like all nuts, they contain a lot of fat but over 80% of the total fat in hazelnuts is monounsaturated (healthy fat).

Skate with Shiitake Mushrooms and Roasted Hazelnuts Adapted from Daniel Boulud's Food and Wine recipe Ingredients: • ½ cup hazelnuts • 3 medium shallots, minced • 2 garlic cloves, halved • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened • ½ pound shiitake mushrooms • leaves from 2 thyme sprigs • Salt and freshly ground pepper • 1½ - 2 pounds skate wing fillets, cleaned and cut into 4 equal portions (about 6 ounces each portion) • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil • ½ lemon, peeled, sectioned and diced • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 170°F. Spread the hazelnuts in a pie plate or baking pan and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. (You can also roast the hazelnuts at a higher temperature, if your oven's settings don't go as low as 170°F, but you do risk destroying the healthy fats. I roasted mine at 300°F - the lowest temperature setting on my oven - for about 10 minutes.) Let cool for about 10 minutes, then place them on a kitchen towel and rub them together to remove the skins. Some of the bits of skin may remain. Coarsely chop them and set aside. 2. Wipe the mushrooms with a damp paper towel, then dry them with another paper towel (washing them will cause them to become soggy). Remove the stems from the mushrooms, then cut the caps into 1-inch pieces. 3. In a medium skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over moderately low heat and sauté the shallots and garlic until softened, 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Continue to sauté the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Discard the garlic and thyme. Reserve a third of the mixture. Purée the remaining mushroom mixture. 4. Cut each skate wing in half crosswise and season with salt and pepper. Spread 4 of the skate pieces with a quarter of the mushroom puree. Cover with the remaining skate wing, pressing the packets together. 5. In a large skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the skate packets and cook over high heat until browned and crisp on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Flip the packets, lower the heat to moderate and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, the reserved mushroom mixture, the hazelnuts, diced lemon and lemon juice. Cook until the skate is just white throughout, 4 minutes. Transfer the skate to plates, and top with the mushrooms, nuts and lemon and serve.

Tomato Basil Soup

I've made this soup more than half a dozen times but I never get sick of it, and neither does my man♥. The sweetness of the honey pairs so well with the sourness of the balsamic vinegar, and let's not forget the numerous spices - cumin, fennel seed, and paprika - that make this soup much more than your average tomato basil soup. Very important is the fresh basil (so much better than dried basil), but if you can't find fresh basil, I highly recommend the dried basil made by Morton & Bassett. It's a San Francisco-based company that makes very high quality herbs that are all-natural, non-irradiated and contain no preservatives or additives.

For a tasty non-vegetarian version, add meatballs (pictured below), although I love the vegetarian version just as much! For the version with meatballs, simply season about 3 pounds of ground beef with 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper, then form 1½-inch meatballs, and sauté them in butter or extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat until browned. Add the meatballs along with honey and balsamic vinegar.



Also, without the chicken stock, this makes a wonderful pasta sauce, especially with grated parmesan cheese.



Btw, cooked tomatoes contain more lycopene (the antioxidant that gives tomatoes its red hue and has twice as much antioxidant power than vitamin E) than raw tomatoes. There is also evidence that cooking tomatoes in extra-virgin olive oil seems to increase the body's ability to absorb lycopene.

Tomato Basil Soup Adapted from Gourmet Nutrition Ingredients: • 5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil • 1 tablespoon salt • 1½ teaspoon black pepper • 8-9 medium tomatoes, diced • ½ cup fresh basil • 1 yellow onion • 2 teaspoons ground cumin • 2 teaspoons ground fennel seed • 2 teaspoons paprika • 4 cups vegetable broth or chicken stock • 4 tablespoons honey • 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar Directions: 1. Preheat a large pot on medium-high heat. Add oil and onions, and sauté until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Add garlic, cumin, fennel, paprika, 4 tablespoons of broth, and sauté for 1 minute more, stirring constantly. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 2. Now add the remaining broth, balsamic vinegar, honey, and simmer for 30 minutes, continue stirring occasionally. Add the salt, pepper, and basil and remove from heat.