Brandy – Let's Cook Together

Cherry Jubilee

Denis Martel — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:14:24 +0000

This is a classic, so easy to prepare and always appreciated by your guests when you flambé it before serving. I am sure you will hear some ohh and ahh when you serve it.

Ingredients:

One can of pitted sweet cherries
60 ml orange liqueur
125 ml blackberry jelly
5 ml chopped orange zest
60 ml brandy

Method:

Drain the cherries and marinate for 3 to 4 hours in the orange liqueur
Just before serving, melt the jelly by stirring over low eat in a medium sauce pan
Add the cherries, the liqueur and orange zest
Bring to a boil and remove from heat
In a small pan, warn the brandy
Pour the brandy over the cherries and light the brandy
Serve on top of vanilla ice cream

Seafood Risotto

Denis Martel — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:12:42 +0000

This is an excellent recipe for risotto! It will warm you up.

It is easy to do but I would recommend reading the recipe a few times before you start cooking. There are several steps and some of them need to be done quickly.

Ingredients:

400 gr Monk fish, cut in 2 cm cubes
30 ml olive oil
50 ml butter
1 medium sliced onion
1 medium sliced carrot
1 sliced celery stalk
4 garlic cloves chopped
4 large tomatoes, seeds removed, and cut in cubes (or use one can of cubes tomatoes, including the juice)
15 ml tomato paste
75 ml brandy
250 ml white wine
250 chicken soup base
5 ml thyme
3 bay leaves
Salt and pepper from the mill
125 ml cream
50 ml butter
1 small chopped onion
500 ml Arborio rice
500 ml chicken soup base
250 gr large scallops, sliced in two
12 large shrimps, cut in 1 cm pieces (keep four large shrimps for decoration for when you will serve the risotto)

Method:

Roll the fish in flour
In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the fish for 2 minutes
Remove the fish and add sliced onion, carrot and celery and sauté for 5 minutes
Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes
Add wine and brandy and let diminish by half
Add soup base, thyme and bay leaves and bring to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes
Add cream and simmer an additional 5 minutes
Adjust seasonings and put on the side
In another pot, melt butter and cook chopped onion for 2 minutes
Add rice and mix for 1 minutes
Add 250 ml of liquid, alternating between the soup base and tomatoes base, stirring often until the liquid is absorbed each time (about every 3 minutes)
Add shrimps and scallops and cook another 5 minutes

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Asparagus

Denis Martel — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:00:51 +0000

After readying so many cookbooks, you sometimes come up with ideas. I was telling myself that chicken breast stuffed with asparagus should be good but I could not find any recipes., so I had to develop one!

Ingredients:

4 skinless chicken breast flattened
40 ml brandy
40 ml maple syrup
4 slices of prosciutto
4 asparagus, blanched for one minute
Salt and pepper
200 ml grated mozzarella cheese
30 ml olive oil
Bernaise or brown sauce, your choice

Method:

Place a chicken breast between two piece of waxed paper, with a cast iron frying pan (or something as heavy), flatten the breast
Repeat with the other breasts
Place the chicken escallops in a baking dish and marinade with the brandy and maple syrup for about 2 hours
Drip dry the escallops, place a slice of prosciutto on each of them
Cut the asparagus in two and place two pieces on each escallop
Salt and peer and add one quarter of the grated cheese per escallop
Roll the escallops and, using a butcher rope, attach them
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and brown the escallops until cooked (about 12 to 15 minutes)
Serve with a drizzling of sauce

Brandied Chicken Breasts

Denis Martel — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:53:46 +0000

This recipe is not for those who are watching their cholesterol level, at least not on a regular basis. It is for me, however, one of the best ways to cook chicken breasts.

Ingredients:

4 boneless and skinless chicken breasts
50 ml Brandy
3 ml salt
3 ml black pepper
3 ml marjory
125 ml butter
125 ml dry sherry (or another fortified wine)
500 ml cream (35%)
4 egg yolks
2 ml salt, pepper and nutmeg
200 ml grated swiss cheese
200 ml fine bread crumbs

Method:

Rub the chicken breasts with the brandy and marinate for 30 minutes
Add salt, pepper and marjory
Melt butter in large frying pan and sauté the chicken for about 6 to 8 minutes on each side
Put the chicken in a baking dish and keep warm
In the frying pan, add the sherry to the leftover butter, bring to a boil and let diminish by half
In a bowl, mix the eggs with the cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg
Pour the mixture into the frying pan stirring until it thickens
Pour the sauce over the chicken breasts
Add cheese and bread crumbs
Place the dish in the top rack of your oven, bake at broil for a few minutes until brown

Spicy Sauce for Chinese Fondue

Denis Martel — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:17:15 +0000

You can diminish the quantity of spices in the sauce, particularly if you want to serve it to your kids.

Ingredient:

200 ml chili sauce
20 ml brandy
15 ml spicy sauce from the Caribbean (I personally use Matouk’s Calypso)
3 ml cayenne
5 ml parsley

Method:

Mix all the ingredients and leave in the refrigerator for about one hour so the flavours can blend

Liver Pâté

Denis Martel — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:42:51 +0000

Contrarily to the store bought pate, this one will not have a pink colour because we are not adding a chemical product (potassium nitrate or saltpetre) to extend its life span and avoid a chemical reaction with the air.

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken liver
300 gr ground pork
200 gr pork fat
50 ml brandy
100 ml red wine
2 chopped onions
3 chopped garlic cloves
15 ml whole black pepper
1 egg
Mix of herbs and spices to your taste (such as parsley, oregano, thyme, black pepper, etc.)
Sliced olives
Bacon strips

Method:

Mix all ingredients except the last two in a food processor and reduce to a purée
Place bacon at the bottom of your dish (you can use a bread pan or small round Pyrex dishes)
Pour puree over bacon
Put a few sliced olives on top to decorate
In a large Pyrex dish, place the pâté dish, filling the larger dish with water, at least up to the level of the purée
Bake in the oven at 275⁰F for about one hour
Remove from oven and placing weight on the pâté to compress it for a day
Refrigerate for 24 hours