|
By Wolfgang Puck, Tribune Media Services
And that's the challenge.
Yes, many people must have braised brisket with onions, dried fruit, and red wine for Rosh Hashanah.
In past years, I've shared recipes just like that with you in this column.
So it's time to offer a different kind of sweet-and-sour dish for the holiday. The recipe I share with you
here features chicken breast, which also reflects the desire many home cooks have these days to cook lighter,
lower-fat fare.
My recipe comes from the tiny Italian island of Pantelleria, which is actually just 50 miles from the
eastern tip of Tunisia on the coast of North Africa. I first discovered the dish on a visit I made to the
island almost 10 years ago.
The simple recipe, with its appealing combination of tart dried raisins, fresh
sweet grapes, dry white wine and sweet dessert wine, grated lemon zest, fresh sage, and a bed of the tiny
grain-shaped pasta known as couscous, reflects the exotic melting pot that the Mediterranean has been down
through the centuries.
In fact, you can add your own personal influences to the dish, too. In place of the sage, for example, try
stirring a pinch of dried ginger or a teaspoon or more of grated fresh ginger into the sauce. Or add a little
allspice, or a whole cinnamon stick.
Or, as I like to do, you can replace the traditional North African-style couscous with larger pearl
couscous, so called because the spherical grains of pasta are as big and smooth as small pearls. Look for
boxes or bags of pearl couscous in well-stocked supermarkets or specialty foods stores, or on the Internet.
Especially popular with cooks in the easternmost Mediterranean, it also goes by the name of Israeli couscous.
And that makes it an even more fitting part of a special Rosh Hashanah dish that will really help you ring in
the changes for the Jewish New Year, or at any time of year!
Serves 4
Ingredients - Roast Chicken Breasts with Raisins & Couscous
CHICKEN:
4 whole chicken breasts, each about 12 ounces
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup sweet Italian wine such as Moscato
1/2 small fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cup seedless raisins
1 sprig fresh sage
1 lemon, zested
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup organic chicken broth
1 cup sweet seedless grapes, cut in half
COUSCOUS:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup Israeli couscous (also labeled pearl couscous)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups good-quality canned chicken broth
1 tablespoon minced parsley leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves, for garnish
Preparation - Roast Chicken Breasts with Raisins & Couscous Recipe by Wolfgang Puck Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the chicken, season the breasts all over with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken skin side down and saute until golden, about 3 minutes. Turn with tongs and saute for 3 minutes more. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast until the chicken is cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter and wrap in heavy-duty aluminum foil to keep warm.
Pour off excess fat from the pan. Add the dry and sweet wines, fennel, raisins, sage, lemon zest, and lemon juice, and, over high heat, stir and scrape with a wooden spoon to deglaze the pan deposits. Boil the wine until it reduces by half its volume, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the broth and boil until it reduces to a consistency thick enough to coat the back of the wooden spoon, about 5 minutes more. Remove the sage, stir in the grapes, cover to keep warm, and set aside.
Meanwhile, prepare the couscous. In a saucepan, bring the broth to a boil, then remove from the heat. In another saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until glossy, about 1 minute. Add the couscous and stir until well coated with the oil. Stir in the salt and 1 cup of the hot broth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until about two thirds of the liquid has been absorbed, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the remaining hot broth and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the couscous is al dente, tender but still slightly chewy. Adjust the seasonings to taste, stir in the parsley, cover, and keep warm.
To serve, spoon the couscous into the center of 4 serving plates. Slice each chicken breast diagonally off the bone and arrange on top of the couscous. Spoon the sauce, raisins, and grapes over and around the chicken and garnish with the minced sage leaves. Serve immediately.
(c) 2008 WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
PRINT
RSS
SHARE
Recent Wolfgang Puck Recipes
Wolfgang Puck Recipes from Wolfgang Puck's Kitchen (Click Here for More)
Wolfgang Puck's Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck
The world-renowned chef with an extraordinary passion for food now shares that passion in Wolfgang
Puck's Kitchen. Puck makes great cooking easier than you ever imagined. He reveals how to turn common ingredients into uncommon masterpieces. Each feature includes both an expert tip and an easy recipe-exactly what you need to transform your home cooking from acceptable to delectable. Moves with color photos.
About Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck, in the eyes of food lovers and experts alike, is one of the most famous chefs in America and arguably the world. He has spawned a culinary empire that includes a fine dining group of 12 internationally acclaimed restaurants in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Las Vegas, Chicago, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Maui; an extensive catering & events business with bases in Hollywood and Chicago, famed as official caterer to the Governors Ball following the Oscars; as well as Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc., a corporation that controls, licenses, and franchises the Wolfgang Puck brand in a wide variety of business activities, including casual Wolfgang Puck Cafes, fast-casual Wolfgang Puck Expresses, consumer packaged foods, cookware, book publishing, television, and the Internet.
For the first time, Puck shares his expert, easy-to-master approach to cooking in the newspaper arena through WOLFGANG PUCK?S KITCHEN, a newspaper column syndicated by Tribune Media Services.
The Austrian-born Puck began his formal training at age 14, inspired by his mother, Maria, a hotel chef. He left Europe for America in 1973 at the age of 24, having already worked in the master kitchens of three-star French restaurants. In 1975, Puck moved to Los Angeles, and soon was both chef and part-owner of Ma Maison. It quickly became a magnet for the rich and famous, with Puck as star attraction. Since then, he has changed the way Americans cook and eat by fusing formal French techniques and Asian and California influenced esthetics with the highest quality ingredients.
After the 1981 publication of the first of his five cookbooks, Puck, in partnership with designer Barbara Lazaroff, opened Spago. Located in West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip, it was an instant success and culinary phenomenon from its opening day in 1982. Although the original location closed in 2000, three years after the successful opening of Spago Beverly Hills, Spago Hollywood today is remembered internationally as a legendary haven for entertainment, political and social luminaries.
In 2000, Puck developed his own "Wolfgang Puck" television show, which began airing on the Food Network in January 2001. The show features Puck sharing his cooking expertise with a studio audience who joins him in his kitchen, along with field documentary segments in which he explores the vast and diverse world of food, from farms to artisan workshops to restaurants, and visits with such luminaries as Julia Child, Robert Mondavi and Paul Bocuse. "Wolfgang Puck" was awarded a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Service Show in 2002.
Puck also appears regularly on ABC's "Good Morning America," sharing his latest creations. He has been a guest on a multitude of other shows, including "The Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Entertainment Tonight," "ABC News with Peter Jennings," "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher," "Frasier," and "The Simpsons." In 2001, the A&E Network featured Puck's life on its popular "Biography" series.
Puck and partner Barbara Lazaroff are actively involved in many philanthropic endeavors and charitable organizations, including their own Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation, established in 1982, which supports the annual American Wine & Food Festival to benefit Meals-on-Wheels.
Puck lives in Beverly Hills. He and Barbara Lazaroff have two sons, Cameron and Byron.
(c) 2008 WOLFGANG PUCK WORLDWIDE, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
|
