Steak with Béarnaise Sauce

January 23, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

Steak with Béarnaise | Image: Laura Messersmith — **Steak with Béarnaise** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

Each week I follow along with Ina Garten (aka the Barefoot Contessa) and attempt to recreate one of her dishes in my tiny New York City kitchen. The catch? This is my version of cooking school and I’m making these recipes for the first time. I’ll share both my successes and um, challenges, along the way and we’ll see if I can keep up with the Contessa!

Episode: “Happy Anniversary”

The Set-up: Ina and Jeffrey are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary with a special dinner.

The Menu: Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce, Steak with Béarnaise, String Beans with Shallots

0:39 – Ina starts this episode by making two statements – first that Jeffrey is a “creature of habit” and second that Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce is a “fairly 70s” dish. I can’t speak to the veracity of these claims, so I’m just going to roll with it.

1:03 – Pro Tip #1: if you’re poaching your own shrimp, leave the shells on and cook them for three minutes in boiling water. It‘s all the time they need.

2:18 – Cut to Mr. Garten driving along and expounding on the importance of anniversaries and admitting that he forgot their 20th. I hope Ina made him sleep on the porch.

3:20 – Back to Ina peeling and deveining the shrimp (tails on.) She says that even though shrimp cocktail is “really old-fashioned” it’s the first thing to go at a party. Guilty as charged. I make a beeline for it.

4:33 – On to the cocktail sauce part of the recipe. I thought I had made this before, but as I review the ingredients list I’m realizing I’m totally unfamiliar with chili sauce.

5:11 – Back to Mr. Garten who is on a mission to bring Ina a box of brownies just like she used to send him in college. So sweet!

6:07 –Ina is hating on the old martini glass, crushed ice presentation. Guess what first Google image search result for shrimp cocktail is… I guess they were taking the name literally?

7:25 – She plates her dish using a silver bowl on a white platter, but isn’t above cutting a lemon into a retro-chic garnish. I suppose we all have to have fun somehow.

10:29 – On to the Rosemary Roasted Potatoes which if you’ve been following along for the past year involve the standard olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, and in this case, minced rosemary. I seriously cook 90% of the vegetables we eat this way now.

11:36 – Over to Jeffrey who’s hitting up Michael the Florist TM for some ribbon to jazz up the box of brownies with. Good call, J, always enlist help!

12:45 – Ina has moved on to the Steak with Béarnaise starting with the sauce – white wine, champagne vinegar, tarragon – sounds good to me!

13:38 – Ina separates her eggs same the way I do by using the shells as little cups. Twinsies!

14:40 – Raw egg yolks + hot vinegar/white wine/tarragon/shallots + hot butter = béarnaise. Hmm. Usually adding hot things to eggs is a no-no, but the blender must prevent them from scrambling?

15:51 - It strikes me that this kind of recipe where the steps themselves aren’t that tricky, but the order is essential.

18:27 – Pro Tip #2: Remove the steaks from the refrigerator a few minutes before you intend to cook them to take the chill off the meat.

19:12 – Steak grillin’ time! Jeffrey’s grill-lighting activities are accompanied by the “getting things done” music. Charcoal chimney: check.

20:36 – Ina brushes the steaks with olive oil and then goes out to the patio to manage the grilling (read: tease Jeffrey) and then immediately abandons him to cook the main course. Ahahahaha.

21:44 – Ostensibly it’s so she can go inside to show us how to make String Beans with Shallots, so I’ll let it slide. This time.

22:18 – For a simple haricot vert this recipe requires a lot of equipment – a pot of boiling water, a bowl of ice water, a large skillet. Remind me to save this one for when we have a bigger kitchen!

23:33 – Jeffrey seems to be muddling along with the rib eyes pretty well and Ina does have some good-looking green beans. Dinner is coming together!

26:21 – Out on the terrace again to deliver the Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce – sustenance for Jeffrey as he grills, seems pretty fair now I guess.

27:10 – Actual “secret sauce” time as Ina reveals that the trick to make-ahead béarnaise is a few tablespoons of very hot water blended in at the last minute. Very tricky…

28:49 – Rosemary Roasted Potatoes are out of the oven, looking perfectly golden brown, steaks are off the grill and rested. It’s time to eat!

29:55 – As Ina teases Jeffrey about the time he forgot their anniversary over dinner he reveals the surprise: a walk on the beach and the box of brownies! So charming!

Final Thoughts:
It’s amazing how some of the simplest dishes (I’m looking at you string beans) can have so many steps!

Ina has such a great way of de-mystifying seemingly fancy recipes.

I’m thinking this might be a great Valentines Day meal – just add a glass of red wine?

Lessons Learned:
Talk to the Butcher – I’m always looking for excuses to practice cooking steak, but it’s also intimidating. After spending $$$ on a cut I worry that I’ll mess it up! I figured, who knows steak better than the butcher? So, I had a long conversation with Ritchie at Schatzie's about my plan to make Steak with Béarnaise and he recommended buying two different pieces: a 1 inch thick ribeye and a 1 1/2 inch thick NY Strip. This solved three problems - portion size, cooking time, and "doneness" - it allowed me to cook both pieces of meat for the same length of time and get one medium for me, and one medium-rare for Mike.

Pan Temperature – The steak is the star of this dish, so cooking it properly is essential and also honestly the trickiest part. I used an 8 inch cast iron skillet heated over high flame for 4-5 minutes before the steak even hit the surface. You want to hear that ssssssss sizzle sound. The length of time depends on the thickness of the steak and your desired internal temperature. A 1 inch steak cooked for three minutes on each side yields a medium (hot red) center.

Sauce Reduction – To get the right texture of the béarnaise sauce the vinegar/white wine/tarragon/shallot mixture should be reduced to about 2 tablespoons. It serves two purposes – concentrating the flavor and making sure the béarnaise sauce isn’t too thin.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes, assuming you have a small food processor or blender. I also used an 8 inch cast iron skillet, a chef’s knife, medium cutting board, small sauce pan, liquid measuring cup, and measuring spoon.

The Verdict:
I made Steak with Béarnaise for Mike and I – thanks to the excellent advice from Ritchie both steaks turned out just the way we like them. The béarnaise sauce is just slightly fussy, but thanks to Ina’s make-ahead hot water trick I made some earlier in the day refrigerated it and it still turned out beautifully. Steak with Bearnaise might not sound like a week-night meal, but it honestly takes less than 30 minutes start to finish and, btw it’s delicious.

Chicken Piccata

January 14, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

Episode: “It’s Friday Night Again”

The Set-up: Ina is trying to jazz up the usual Friday night chicken with a new menu.

The Menu: Chicken Piccata, Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes, Herb Roasted Onions, Apple and Pear Crisp

0:45 – It just occurred to me how similar this menu is to the episode I watched last week - I must have chicken, mashed potatoes and apple desserts on the brain!

1:10 – We’re starting off with the Apple and Pear Crisp as Ina extolls the virtues of Fuji apples and Bosc pears. (Firm, crisp, flavorful)

2:19 – A gentle scolding from Ina for the fruit pressers out there – stop leaving an imprint of your thumb in all the pears! (subtext)

3:32 – I’m glad to hear that Ina calls that sticky pie filling stuff “goo” – a woman after my own heart, because what other word really works?

4:26 – Crunchy oatmeal streusel topping time – mmmmm. Not to toot my own horn, but this one from my Apple Spice Coffee Cake is an all time favorite.

5:53 – Ina is using diced cold butter, but the resulting clumps of topping almost make it seem like it was partially softened. How does she get that texture? Maybe by using the mixer?

6:45 – Out in the garden to collect some blue muscari, bulbs and all, for decorating the table.

7:04 – Ina recommends following the design principle of grouping things in threes, so she has three vases of flowers.

10:17 – Maybe this is too retro, but I think Ina’s goal of making home, especially dinner, welcoming for Jeffrey after a long week on the road. If I were spending most of my time in airports I’d want something cozy waiting too.

11:38 – Onward to the Herb Roasted Onions. Once I “discovered” roasting a few years ago it quickly became my favorite way to transform vegetables from sort of “meh” when boiled to amazing.

12:26 – She’s upping the ante on these onions by tossing them in a mustard thyme vinaigrette before roasting. Brilliant.

13:02 – A quick glimpse of Mr. Garten zipping along on his drive home before we’re back to make Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes.

14:35 – Pro Tip#1: Heat the milk and butter before adding to the mashed potatoes, but DON’T heat the buttermilk, or it will curdle.

15:44 – Dinner is 75% there, last but not least: Chicken Piccata.

20:39 – I really dislike breading things, but I have a feeling these will be worth it.

21:23 – Watching Ina’s technique and I noticed she keeps a “clean hand” and a “dirty hand” to prevent contamination – filing that one away.

22:50 – I am determined to master crispy sautéing – so tricky to get the oil just right!

23:08 – Mr. Garten arrives as the chicken goes into the oven to finish cooking. Perfect timing!

26:22 – The cork on some white wine has been popped (hellooo weekend!) and Ina is making the lemon sauce for the Chicken Piccata.

27:01 – Chicken, lemon, white wine – oh my goodness this has my name all over it.

28:57 – Finishing touch time – a little leftover marinade on the onions, a spoonful of lemon sauce on the chicken, a spoonful of buttermilk mashed potatoes. So hungry just watching.

29:46 – Over the Apple and Pear Crisp that lured Jeffrey into the kitchen he says he wishes there was more than one Friday night in a week. Adorable!

Final Thoughts:
Tossing vegetables in a vinaigrette sounds like an awesome way to up the ante on roasting.

Just realized that Ina has some favorite combinations – chicken + mashed potatoes + apple dessert = happy husband.

Lord, I just love how sweet Ina and Jeffrey are after 40(?) years of marriage.

Lessons Learned:
Even though Chicken Piccata is a relatively simple dish there's still a ton to learn while making it.

Oil Temperature – I’ve been trying to master browning bread crumbs for some time now, but I always seem to either burn them immediately because the oil is too hot, or they stay pale and greasy because the oil is too cold. Heat the oil on medium for 2-3 minutes until it shimmers a little in the pan, just a slight ripple in the surface before adding the chicken and reduce to medium-low if it seems like it’s browning too quickly.

Breading – I admit, I misread the recipe and used Panko bread flakes instead of bread crumbs. Thankfully they work just fine! I also tried the technique of chilling the breaded chicken on a plastic wrap lined baking sheet before sautéing and found that my coating didn’t budge (even when left over night.) This step also makes it possible to do most of the prep ahead of time and cook the chicken just before serving. Booyah.

Portion Size – This is sometimes tricky, but if you can buy chicken breasts or cutlets that are on the smaller side, say 3-4 ounces each, or cut larger ones in half. Mainly because once they’re pounded flat they get quite a bit bigger and can mess with your cooking time. Learned that the hard way with Parmesan Chicken. With the smaller size at 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick I found that the cooking time (2 minutes per side, plus about 10 minutes in the oven) was perfect.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Fairly, assuming you have three or four large plates. I used a rolling pin to flatten the chicken), four dinner plates, a baking sheet, one medium sauté pan, a small cutting board, a chef’s knife, metal spatula, and both dry and liquid measuring cups and spoons. An instant read meat thermometer will also give you peace of mind.

The secret weapon of this recipe: clear plastic wrap. It turns your counter into another plate or prevents contaminating a clean plate with chicken. Second runner up: parchment paper. Such a help with clean up and it seems to encourage crisping during the baking stage.

The Verdict:
When Mike and I first sat down for dinner to Chicken Piccata neither of us were that hungry for some reason and I foolishly suggested that we just share one. But, after the first bite of these crispy, golden pieces of chicken we both found that we had bigger appetites than we originally thought – suddenly sharing seemed ridiculous! The breading was crispy, the chicken juicy, the lemon lovely and tart against the richness of the olive oil. Seriously good. Please make this!

Deep Dish Apple Pie

January 07, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

Episode: “Sweet Home Supper”

The Set-up: Ina invited Michael the Flustered Florist ™ for a dinner inspired by the comfort food of his Pennsylvania childhood.

The Menu: Oven Fried Chicken, Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes, Green Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing, Deep Dish Apple Pie

0:44 – Ina kicks off this episode with Oven Fried Chicken and I am excited to see how she manages crispy chicken without a ton of frying oil.

1:30 – Oh dear, step one involved breaking down a whole chicken. Perhaps some day I’ll be as blasé about butchering as Ina is, but not yet…

2:26 – Step 2: marinate the chicken in buttermilk to tenderize. Why is buttermilk only sold in quarts? I literally never need that much, ever.

3:18 – Quick check in with Michael at the shop and he’s playing his role of “Flustered Florist” to the hilt. Give this man an Emmy!

4:09 – We’re back with Ina as she starts the pastry for Deep Dish Apple Pie. She correctly identifies pie crust as the top source of baking anxiety. Count me among the intimidated.

5:42 – Ina’s Pro Tips for pastry success include: 1. Very cold ingredients (butter, vegetable shortening, ice water). 2. Use the food processor on pulse to cut in the butter. 3. Chill the dough for 30 minutes before rolling.

9:11 – Now that the dough is resting we’re moving on to make the dressing for Green Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing, which mainly involves pureeing Roquefort (obvi) and mayonnaise in the food processor.

10:37 – Ina doesn’t say this, but I’ll bet the flavors in the blue cheese dressing improve if it’s made ahead of time.

11:36 – Onward to make the pie filling for Deep Dish Apple Pie! This is something else I struggle with, no matter how many apples I put in it always seems to cook down. Keeping a close eye on this step…

12:25 – Back to see what Michael the Flustered Florist ™ is up to – mainly covert delivery operations to patios and front stoops across the Hamptons.

13:53 – The Moment of Truth! Pie crust rolling time. Ina shares a few more Pro Tips for pie crust success: 1. A well-floured surface. 2. Keep moving the dough as you roll to make sure it isn’t sticking. 3. Use the rolling pin to help move the dough into the pie plate. 4. Ease the dough into the pie plate, don’t stretch! 5. Use a little water to re-seal any cracks.

15:45 – Ina calls this “mile-high apple pie” and she’s not kidding – I’d guess her filling is about 1.5 – 2 inches above the edge. Filing that away for later…

16:01 – Finishing touches are on – egg wash + a sprinkling of sugar to make the crust brown and a little shiny. Yum!

18:49 – Now for the frying of the chicken, which involves my least favorite cooking prep process: flouring the buttermilk soaked chicken pieces. Eww.

19:13 – Even Ina can’t quite mask her disgust over her flour-encased fingers. This is the reason Shake N’ Bake was invented.

20:56 – Chicken fryin’ time. This the other reason I never make fried chicken – what to do with all that oil?

21:48 – Pie is out of the oven, chicken is in the oven, and next Ina is making the Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes.

22:24 – Ina has heated the milk and butter on the stove before she adds them to the mashed potatoes - brilliant.

23:30 – Now for the sour cream and the seasonings. I bet the tang of the sour cream in the potatoes pairs beautifully with the buttermilk in the chicken preparation.

26:19 – Final prep on Green Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing. Ina’s play on a traditional wedge salad uses green leaf lettuce instead of iceberg. Good move.

27:07 – Ina’s solve for lettuce too big for a salad spinner is to whip it around in a kitchen towel which sprinkles her entire kitchen with droplets of water. Probably one of my all-time favorite moments.

28:32 – Well, we can trace the heirloom tomato craze back to at least 2005 when this episode first aired – Ina’s recommending them for this salad.

29:12 – Michael the Flustered Florist ™ has arrived and he and Ina are driving right into a supper that looks so, so good.

30:00 – PS: for folks following along at home – Ina’s pie did not fall in the middle and I swear I can smell the apples and spices through the TV. My stomach is growling.

Final Thoughts:
Ina has such a knack for transforming old-fashioned recipes into something fresh.

I really need to make pie – after my dessert class a few weeks ago and now this episode it’s time.

If I were coming to dinner at Ina's after a hard day my menu would definitely involve chocolate cake.

Lessons Learned:
Deep Dish Apple Pie it had to be done. I dug out my copy of Barefoot Contessa Family Style, rolled up my sleeves and prepared to make both the pie crust and the filling. If I had to identify my two major areas of “opportunity” I’d say rolling the crust and portioning the filling. I always seem to end up with a wonky shape and pies that seem really full, but then fall after they cool. Not life ending, but annoying when you’ve put in so much effort.

Alas, even though I followed the recipe to a T, I still fell a little short of where I wanted to be.

I’d chalk that up to two factors:

1. Not enough water in the pie crust. A careful observer will notice that the edge of my pie is missing in one section – that’s because it literally cracked a little and fell off during baking. I’d noticed when I was rolling out the dough that it felt a little dry and was prone to splitting a little, but it didn’t seem excessive, so I let it ride. Rookie mistake.

2. Not enough apples in the filling. I piled them up to what I thought was a crazy height and they still cooked down quite a lot resulting in a concave top. Rats.

Luckily, neither of these issues are insurmountable, but both have inexperience as their underlying cause – if I made pie more often it almost certainly would have been obvious where there were some areas for improvement before I actually baked it.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Sort of. I needed a food processor, dry and liquid measuring cups, a butter knife and plastic wrap for the dough. For the filling I added a large bowl, chef’s knife, peeler, microplane zester, large cutting board, and wooden spoon to the mix. And, of course a pie plate. Parchment paper and a baking sheet will help with clean up.

The Verdict:
I made Deep Dish Apple Pie for a New Year’s Eve dinner with friends. Since we’re on the same page about trying new recipes, I knew it was okay to bring something I’d never made before. I hate to sound ungrateful by complaining about apple pie, but I’m not sure that this one quite hit the mark. The crust was good, but the filling was overly tart – too much lemon with not enough sugar balancing it out. As result it was great with vanilla ice cream, but on it’s own…. In the end, I’m not sure that I’d make this particular version again, but it’s definitely not going to stop me from trying to find the perfect recipe or developing one of my own. That just means more PIE!

Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup

December 17, 2014 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

Episode: “Herb Hall of Fame”

The Set-up: Ina is writing an article about cooking with her three favorite green herbs: basil, chives, and parsley.

The Menu: Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup, Pasta with Pecorino and Pepper, Chive Risotto Cakes

0:31 – We’re starting off this episode about fresh herbs in Ina’s garden where she has the most massive terracotta pot of basil. “Such a luxury, indeed.”

1:12 – First recipe up: Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup which Ina says is a “classic culinary combination” tomatoes & basil.

2:46 – In this soup, Ina is using red onion and carrots with tops because their sweetness will emphasize the sweetness of the tomatoes.

3:25 – I’m noticing here that Ina isn’t de-seeding her tomatoes, just dicing them as-is – I wonder if it makes a difference…?

4:03 – Oooh, nice - this is a 2 for 1 soup that can be served either hot or cold.

5:22 – Now Ina is giving us a run-down of some of her other favorite basil-centric dishes: caprese salad, green goddess dressing, roasted pepper & goat cheese sandwiches, under the skin of a roasted chicken breast, or even as a table decoration.

6:17 – Now onto the processing, uh, process, compliments of the food mill. It seems to filter out some of the tomato skins and other fibrous parts, so maybe that’s why she didn’t bother to de-seed the tomatoes earlier.

7:45 – Soup’s on! We get a quick julienning lesson and then Ina plates her soup. [cooking nerd alert] I hate to be a stickler for accuracy, but what she actually demonstrated is chiffonade.

11:18 – We’re back in the garden to raid the chive border and Ina reminisces about her grandmother making chive cream cheese. Mmmm.

12:30 – Now on to the Chive Risotto Cakes which I am excited to see prepared. So far so good – chives, greek yogurt, Italian fontina.

13:50 – This is the tricky part in my mind: the risotto. Even after making it twice (here and here) I’m still a little nervous about it.

14:01 – The risotto has been mixed into the cheese and it kinda reminds me of a rice casserole, which sounds like I’m being mean, but I swear it’s more of a reassuring feeling.

15:36 – The risotto cakes have chilled for a few hours and now Ina is forming the cakes and coating them in panko for frying.

19:42 – I just realized that these risotto cakes are pretty close to an arancini, just without the filling. A gateway rice ball if you will.

20:15 – Ina and I have the same approach to meals – don’t know what else to serve with something? How about salad leaves with vinaigrette?

21:20 Ina’s friend Cathy arrives right on cue to taste test the risotto cakes, excellent timing because they look so good.

22:53 – Now we’re on a little field trip to see an herb garden that Cathy helped design(?) plant(?) which gives the two ladies a chance to brainstorm all the ways Ina uses fresh herbs.

23:29 – I assume Cathy has permission to raid the garden for parsley, because she hands a huge bunch to Ina for her Pasta with Pecorino and Pepper recipe right before they leave. Run!

26:13 – Ina is full of tongue twisters today: Pasta with Pecorino and Pepper (and parsley.) She says parsley is the unsung hero of the herb garden, which seems about right.

27:34 – Ina is all about the hard Italian cheeses today, first Fontina, now Pecorino.

28:48 – The pasta is done cooking and now Ina is maling the sauce right in the pot – cream, butter, halved cherry tomatoes, parsley (!), pepper, and a big handful of pecorino.

29:56 – Ina finishes up her article over a bowl of pasta and compares it to completing a homework assignment, but getting to eat the research.

Final Thoughts:
I have a hard time narrowing down my favorite herbs – rosemary, thyme, tarragon – they’re all so good!

Using fresh herbs is such an easy way to elevate your cooking, Ina’s right when she says they have much better flavor than the dried versions.

Question: what would Ina say if I just “borrowed” and handful or two of her basil. NBD, right?

Lessons Learned:
Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup is really an easy recipe - the main skills you’ll need are chopping the tomatoes and the vegetables, and measuring the seasonings. I used Roma tomatoes, sometimes called plum tomatoes, and de-seeded them before chopping. It’s kind of a messy job, but as Ina always says, “clean hands are a cook’s best tool,” so I quartered them length-wise then ran my index finger along the ribs to scoop out the seeds. Our blender can definitely handle them and pretty much anything else we throw at it, but for some reason I prefer to leave them out.

I know I’ve mentioned before that I find vegetable prep meditative, so I tend to take my time when I’m cutting produce, usually because I’m being overly attentive to keeping the sizes consistent. This is a great recipe to practice with – large dice (tomatoes & carrots), small dice (red onion), mince (garlic), chiffonade (basil). It will be helpful to your cooking in general, but with this recipe in particular it’s not such a big deal because eventually everything will be pureed anyway.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes, assuming you have access to blender, immersion blender, or food mill. I used a high-powered blender, a 5 qt. French oven, medium mixing bowl (for prep and during the blending process), a medium cutting board, a chef’s knife, a liquid measuring cup, measuring spoons, a wooden spatula and a rubber spatula.

The Verdict:
Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup will make you question everything you thought you knew about tomato soup. Okay, so maybe that’s a little dramatic and this might seem like a lot of effort, but imagine making a beautifully smooth restaurant-quality soup that has deep tomato flavor. It’s such a great recipe for chilly winter days, but still light enough for warmer months. I love serving this with a simple garnish of olive oil and basil and accompany it with crostini or a toasty grilled cheese. Yum!