I want to introduce you to Chef Mark Vogel, culinary instructor, food writer and doctor of psychology.  He has contributed several food articles on my web site including So You Want To Be A Chef that I just recently posted.

Chef Vogel graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City and has been writing a syndicated food column “Food for Thought” for a number of periodicals and web sites. I’m hoping he may help me on occasion with my “Ask A Chef” feature answering your cooking questions more thoroughly.

Mark just told me about his new web site Food For Thought that contains all of his writings plus a bunch of Mark’s recipes. I encourage you to check it out when you have a free moment (and come back to The Reluctant Gourmet when you are finished of course).

And to really wet your appetite on what you will find at Chef Vogel’s new site, I’m posting his recipe for Pasta with Basil Cream Sauce. I think you will enjoy it. And don’t forget to read my Novice to Pro interview with Chef Vogel.

PASTA WITH BASIL-CREAM SAUCE

Ingredients:

• 12 oz. pasta
• Olive oil and/or butter as needed
• Pinch of hot pepper flakes
• 1 small-medium onion, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 14.5 oz. can chicken broth
• 1 cup light cream
• 1 medium to large batch of basil, cut en chiffonade

While the pasta is cooking heat the oil and/or butter in a pan with the hot pepper.

Add the onion, salt and pepper and cook until the onion softens.

Add the garlic and cook one more minute.

Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Add the cream and barely return it to a gentle simmer.  Since it is light cream, over cooking can cause it to break.  Of course you could use heavy cream and dismiss that anxiety.

Add the basil and additional salt and pepper if needed.

Add the pasta, stir to incorporate it into the sauce and serve.

After purchasing some nice looking veal cutlets at the market, I thought
about making classic Veal Marsala for dinner. With the right ingredients,
this is one very quick and easy meal to prepare that’s usually a big
success in our house even with the kids. Problem was I didn’t have
one important ingredient – Marsala wine.

Hard to believe I couldn’t find any Marsala wine in the house but I
did find a bottle of Madeira, a fortified wine that comes from Portugal.
There are different styles of Madeira, from a pale blond color to a
deep tawny red and very dry to very sweet.

What is Madeira Wine?

Madeira’s are usually drunk as aperitifs and dessert wines depending on their
dryness and sweetness, but I typically use them only for cooking. In
my pantry, there were two bottles of Madeira. One was an inexpensive
California version and the other a more expensive Sandeman Fine Rich
product from Madeira Portugal.

There is no comparison in taste between the two. The Madeira from
Portugal is worth the extra bucks, but both will work for this recipe.
If you are interested in learning more about the various tastes of Madeira
wine, there is a good site called MadeiraWineGuide.

Another Important Ingredient

The other important ingredient to this dish is demi-glace, a richly
concentrated brown stock that has been reduced to a glaze. Also
used to make classic chicken and veal Marsala, demi-glace is one of
those ingredients that are hard to make at home because you have to
start with pounds of beef and veal bones that have been roasted and
then simmered for hours and hours in a huge pot. If you’re not careful
and you burn the stock while it’s reducing, you might as well throw
the whole batch out.

Not that I’m suggesting you don’t try making it yourself. You
can find a recipe for making demi-glace at home at GatewayGourmet.
I’ve made it at home a few times and it was an interesting experience,
but I’d much rather use one of the commercial products you can find
on the market today. One I really like is Demi Glace Gold and you may
have heard me rave about it in some of my other recipes.

Can you make this recipe without the demi-glace? Sure, I have a recipe
for Chicken Marsala that excludes the demi-glace and you can just
substitute the Madeira for the Marsala and the veal for the chicken.

The results are good but not the same as when you make it with
real demi-glace. And please avoid the fake stuff you can purchase in
an envelope at the supermarket. That artificial alternative is just beef
bouillon, salt, sugar and a bunch of chemicals.

Artichoke Hearts

This addition was my wife’s idea. The kids wanted sautéed artichokes
with their dinner so my wife opened up a can of artichoke hearts in
water, rinsed them well in cold water, squeezed out the excess water
and then sautéed them in a little olive oil and butter. We served the
artichokes separately to the kids but added them to the sauce for us.

Two points. One, only use jarred or canned artichoke hearts in water
not oil. You can’t get the unpleasant flavor of the oil out of the artichoke.
Second, be sure to rinse the artichokes well before using. We have
tried sautéing them without a good rinse and you could still taste the
preservatives in the water and the kids wouldn’t eat them. Fresh artichoke
hearts are better yet but a lot more work.

Chicken Marsala Perfected

By the way, I have written an eCookbook called Chicken Marsala Perfected
that you can download to your computer and might be interested in. It’s
more than a recipe for chicken Marsala but a cooking lesson for sautéing
anything just like a professional chef. The recipe was given to me from
Chef Ricco who you see in my blog and Ask A Chef feature. It’s filled
with tips and techniques for making this classic dish as well as veal and
steak Marsala and gives you the technique for making dozens of pan sauces.

Veal Madeira with Artichoke Hearts
Serves 2 adults and 2 kids

Ingredients

• 1-tablespoon butter
• 1-tablespoon oil
• 6 veal cutlets
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour seasoned with salt and pepper
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• 1 - 14 1/2 oz. can artichoke hearts in water;washed, rinced and drained
• ¼ cup of Madeira
• ½ cup of demi glace
• Salt and white pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon of butter for mounting

1. Have all your ingredients prepped before you begin to cook.

2. Pre-heat your sauté pan.

3. Dredge each cutlet in seasoned flour and shake off any excess.

4. Add one third of the oil & butter to the pan.

5. Sauté 2 of the veal cutlets, one minute per side, remove, & reserve.

6. Add another 1/3-tablespoon of butter and oil to the pan and sauté
the next two veal cutlets, remove & reserve. And then do the same
for the final 2 cutlets.

7. Reduce heat to medium, then add shallot, artichoke hearts, salt and pepper
and cook for 1 or 2 minutes, stirring constantly so nothing burns.

8. Remove the pan from the heat, add the Madeira wine and reduce by half.

9. Add demi glace; reduce until the sauce will coat the back of a spoon, taste
& correct seasonings.

10. Finish with the cold pat of butter.

11. Add the veal cutlets back to the pan for 1 minute to reheat it and serve.

I served this with my daughter’s favorite Near East rice pilaf, a staple in our
house. That girl could eat rice pilaf every night so you are going to see it in a
lot of my photographs. We also served a salad and I think a 2004 Chalone
Vineyard Syrah that was absolutely fantastic.

Danielle wrote and said, “I make this great stuffed pork tenderloin and I am looking for a sauce to go with it. It is stuffed with, spinach, pine nuts, goat cheese, garlic and sundried tomatoes.”

When I asked Chef Terrell about a sauce, he immediately wanted to know if the tenderloin was marinated. Why? Because if Danielle used a marinade, it could be incorporated as the base for her sauce. Chef would need to know what she used so the sauce won’t be in conflict taste-wise.

But since Danielle does not marinate the tenderloin but seasons it with salt and pepper, Chef Terrell came up with this simple but excellent base sauce for any pork tenderloin recipe that hasn’t been marinated.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup minced shallot
• 1-tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1/2-cup Port, Marsala or red wine.
• Drippings from baking pan
• 2 tablespoons balsamic or apple cider vinegar
• 1-cup good beef stock
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

How to Make at Home

1. In the pot or skillet in which the tenderloin was seared, melt butter and scrape up any fond left after searing using a wooden spoon, then sweat (to cook slowly over low heat in butter, usually covered, without browning) shallots and deglaze the pot with wine, pouring in any drippings left after baking the roast.

2. Add vinegar and stock and bring to a boil.  Turn heat down to a simmer and reduce by half.

Related Topics:

More Pork Recipes

Pork Tenderloin with Lemon, Capers & Olives