These traditional Italian pan fried cutlets are even better when you use PANKO bread crumbs to cover the pieces.  Breaded chicken cutlets are delicious, economical, and can go with a myriad of side dishes, such as buttered Brussels sprouts and orzo pasta. The addition of the lemon/caper sauce makes this dish even  piu delizioso !

Best pan fried chicken cutlets with lemon caper sauce                                     

1 large boneless ½ chicken breast            2 TBS drained capers             

1 egg (beaten with 1 TBS water)                  Juice from ½ lemon

½ cup flour                                                        ¾ cup chicken stock

1 cup panko bread crumbs                        2 TBS butter in 2 TBS flour

2 TBS olive oil                                                ¼ cup chopped parsley

Salt & pepper

1. Place breast half on cutting board
2. Place hand on top of breast and carefully cut in halfmoving from right to left. You will be able to feel theblade cut through the meat. Salt & pepper pieces.
3. Cover breast halves with plastic wrap and pound flat
4. Dust each half with seasoned flour, then dip in egg wash
5. Cover chicken breast with crumbs, pressing them in.
6. Add 2 TBS oil to med hot pan. Fry breaded pieces in oil until crispy
7. Remove chicken from pan, add capers, lemon, and stock.
8. Combine butter and flour into a paste, stir in paste until liquid is thickened. 
9. Place spoonfuls of sauce on plates, add chicken, anoint with sauce garnish with chopped parsley.

       BUON APPETITTO

If we hadn’t met Felton Cox (while disembarking from our cruise ship in Nassau) we would have never experienced the authentic conch fritters that his friend made us. Felton is a tour guide/real estate agent that drove us to view the city from the old British fort.

Next to the ramparts is where we found this local chef cooking up the real thing.

Conch (pronounced CONK) is a popular mollusk (gastropod) that is indigenous to the

Caribbean waters around the Bahamas and Florida. It can be found canned or frozen if you don’t have fresh. Can’t find conch, try shrimp, crab, or squid fritters.

Ingrdients Sauce

1 cup chopped conch meat     ¾ cup flour             1 large lime

½ cup chopped celery            2 eggs                      3 TBS ketchup

½ cup chopped onions           ½ cup milk              1 TBS hot sauce

1 toe chopped garlic              2 TBS hot sauce       3 TBS mayo

½ cup chopped red pepper    oil for deep frying     Salt & pepper

Salt & pepper                         Chopped parsley

1. Beat eggs, milk, flour together, Add meat, veggies, to make a stiff batter

2. Using a large tablespoon carefully drop dollops of batter into hot (375)

oil until they float, then turn over until golden  (golf ball size)

3. Drain on paper towels.  Serve with sauce, Garnish with parsley.

OK, you’re going out for the evening.  You ask your host “Can I bring anything”  They say, sure,

how about an hors d’oeuvre or some munchies?  You think…WHAT CAN I BRING that’s not “chips n’ dip”

So here’s the solution….create a beautiful antipasti platter.  You won’t need that much and it won’t break

the bank. You’ll need a good sized platter….oval are great. OK now, go to your local deli or Italian specialty

shop. I use the following…..a little less than 1/4 lb of each of these salumi (all prepared meats are called salumi in Italy)

1. Capicollo (sweet), 2. finnochiona or spressatta, 3. regular Genova salami, 4. Mortadella…..all sliced very thin. Next you’ll need some olives. Try about ten of each, calamata (pitted), regular domestic black pitted olives, maybe a couple alphonsos, greek (pitted). Next a small punch of grapes, some nice broad green leaf lettuce and some mint or chives for garnish. OK….ready to create.

Cut all the salumi in half. Start with the finnochiona and place each half along the rim of the platter, next do the same with the coppicollo halves. Now break off about four or five big lettuce leaves and put them in the middle of the platter. Add the grapes to the middle. Now, take each half of the Genova salami and make little cones out of them. (The fat from the salami will stick them together)  Place these (5-6) at both ends of the platter, then arrange various olives in the spaces remaining. Finish with the mortadella halves that you can just bunch up and stick them in the remaining spaces. Now to finish , stick a bunch of the mint sprigs into the space in the bunch of grapes and sprinkle the chopped chives all over the whole thing. Just look what you have created….look at the colors and textures!  People with think you are a culinary genious…and now you are!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 – DEMO PAVILION
Shore of Erie Food and Wine Festival – Amherstburg Ontario

4:00 pm
Speaker: Doug Cordier
Topic:Tomatoes! Tomatoes! Tomatoes!
Just in time for our September tomato harvest, one of Doug’s dishes will be Riccolla Gnocchi with a tomato basil sauce.

Back for his fourth year at the SOE Festival, Chef Doug Cordier’s cooking is always a unique combination of zesty flavors and simple techniques.

Doug  has been cooking professionally for over 20 years.  Most recently, he appears regularly on Chef Chuck Kaess’s “Who’s In The Kitchen” on Channel 5, as well as instructor of Italian cooking at The Pointe Pedlar, and the Grosse Pointe War Memorial.

Aside from catering, TV and classes, Doug also offers Lobster Parties with partner  Dave Hohlfeldt in “The Lobster Boys” , corporate classes with UBS & Payne Webber , and leads annual trips to a beautiful Tuscan Villa in the middle of the Chianti region of Italy.

Grosse Pointe War Memorial Association
32 Lakeshore Drive
Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan
313-881-7511

Wednesday, Sept. 23 – 6:30 – 8:30 p. m.

Cooking with Cordier
Doug offers new dishes from the Veneto & Tuscany regions. Menus complimented with assorted antipasti platter with Italian meats and olives and rustic Italian bread with verde dipping sauce. Regional Italian wine will be
served; you must be 21 years old to attend.

Menu:

• Stromboli
• Venetian antipasti
• Tagliatelli with Lamb and Mushrooms
• 2000 year old Tuscan pears

$48 per person

Wednesday, Oct. 21 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Menu:

• Antipasti: artichoke, garbanzo and tuna insalada
• Red pepper boats stuffed with prosciutto and olive
• Pan fried polenta gnocchi with tomato basil sauce

$48 per person

Grilled Pineapple with Mascarpone and Brandy Glaze

1/2 pineapple (trimmed)
1/4 cup brandy
6- 8 TBS butter
4 TBS brown sugar
½ tsp vanilla
½ – ¾ cup mascarpone cheese

1. Combine brandy, butter, sugar, vanilla in small pan
2. CAREFULLY heat mixture
3.  Cook until mixture thickens
4. Baste pineapple slices with syrup and grill until browned
5. Transfer slices to plates
6. Place dollup of mascarpone in center, anoint with remaining syrup
7. Garnish with mint leaves

Makes about four servings

Buon Appetito
Cooking with Cordier

Braised pork cutlets with porcini
Slow cooked pork cutlets  with porcini mushrooms

3- 4 pork cutlets
½ cup  red onions (chopped)
2 toes garlic (minced)
2 TBS tomato paste
2 portabella mushrooms (large slice))
½ cup  porcini mushrooms (reconstituted) save liquid
3/4 cup red wine
3/4 cup brodo (stock)
2 TBS flour for sprinkling
2 TBS oyster sauce
½ cup chopped parsley
3 TBS olive oil

1. In heavy skillet heat olive oil, brown cutlets, remove & set aside
2. Add onions , garlic, tom paste & oyster sauce,  sprinkle with flour
3. Cook mixture for 3-5 minutes until thick
4. deglaze pan with wine, deduce to half, add mushrooms, then brodo
5. Place pork back in pan  (stock should be half up sides of cutlets)
6. Put top on and bake in 275- oven for one or two hours until tender
7.  Check to see that sauce has not become too thick, the sauce should be
very dark and rich, thin with water if needed
8.  Add chopped parsley to sauce, transfer to plates, garnish with more parsley

Cooking with Cordier

The first course of every Italian dinner is the antipasto.  No, this doesn’t mean you are against pasta. These mushrooms can be served hot with an assortment of cold antipasti for a special occasion, or as a side dish (contorno) with a salad (insalatta)

6-8 large mushrooms or 3 portabellos
1 Italian sausage (crumbled)
½ cup roughly grated asiago cheese
¼ cup roughly grated asiago cheese (for garnish)
½ cup PANKO breadcrumbs
1 egg (beaten)
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
1 toe garlic finely chopped
2-3 Tbs mixture of chopped fresh herbs
(basil, parsley, oregano, tarragon, thyme etc)
2 cups fresh mixed greens
1 Tbs olive oil & natural bristle paintbrush
1 Tbs light Italian salad dressing (for greens)
Salt (1/2 tsp) & pepper
Chopped chives for garnish

Instructions
1.  Carefully remove stems, spoon out insides, & chop stems
2. Sauté sausage until crumbled, add chopped stems, S&P, onion, garlic (cook 4 mins)
3. Transfer to bowl & add herbs, cheese, egg & breadcrumbs (mix very lightly)
4. Loosely stuff mushrooms, mound up stuffing
5. Place stuffed mushrooms in greased baking dish
6. Paint tops of mushrooms with olive oil
7. Bake in 375 oven for about 15-20 minutes until browned
8. Lightly dress greens, place cooked mushrooms on bed of greens
9. Garnish with asiago cheese & chives

Cooking with Cordier

Recipes for Ribollita (means “re-boiled”) are infinitely variable…..this “soup” could be termed minestroni on steroids. The dish was served in three stages. First was the actual soup served directly after preparation.  The second phase was the next day when the soup was “re-boiled”.  The third phase (if it ever made it this far) which was very thick by now was placed in a baking dish, adorned with grated parmesan cheese and baked like a fritatta. In Italy, cavolo nero is an important ingredient in this recipe.  Swiss chard, and beet greens can be substuted.

RibollitaClassic Tuscan Bread Soup

1 ½ cups red onions (1/4” chop )

3 toes garlic (minced)

3 carrots or 15 mini carrots ( ½ “chop )

3 TBS pancetta (chopped) & 4 TBS olive oil

2 zucchini (1/2 “ chop)

1 large russet potato (1/2 “ chop)

2 stalks celery (1/2 “ chop)

3 plum tomatoes (1/2 “ chop”

3 cups brood (stock) & 4 cups water

3 cups kale (1 “ chop)

3 cups Swiss chard (1 “ chop) or cavolo nero

1 leek ( ½ ‘”chop)

1 cup green beans (bite size)

1 large can cannellini beans ( ½ of can mashed)

3 TBS tomato paste

3 – 4 slices thick Italian bread (1 “ chop)

Instructions

1. Saute pancetta & olive oil , add onions garlic & carrots

2. Add tom paste and sauté 3-5 minutes.

3. Deglaze with 2 cups brodo…then add zuc, pots, toms, celery, & beans

4. Continue to cook, add rest of brodo & some water, add chard & kale & \

5. Add bread and cook for another hour…..you may have to add more water.

6. Add salt & pepper to taste

7. Anoint with parmesan cheese & olive oil before serving. Serves about 6

Buon Appetitto

Cooking with Cordier

This recipe was inspired by a trip to Siena, Italy…and a salute to the Pucini opera by the same name…

Shrimp Tosca

Batter sauted shrimp with caper lemon sauce

10-12 large butterflied shrimp (16 – 20s)

2 eggs beaten

1/3 cup parmesan cheese (grated)

3 Tbs olive oil

2-3 TBS capers (washed)

Juice of one lemon

¾ cup flour

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup chicken broth

½ cup heavy cream

Chopped chives for garnish

Salt & pepper

Shrimp instructions

1. Peel, de-vein and butterfly shrimp

2. Beat eggs and add cheese to shallow bowl to maker slurry

3. Dredge shrimp in flour

4. Lightly coat shrimp with slurry

5. Sauté in hot oil, don’t move shrimp until browned on bottom

6. Cook shrimp on other side

7. Add wine, capers & lemon and reduce

8. Add cream and reduce to proper consistency

9. Serve immediately with chopped chive garnish.

Buon Appetitto