Welcome to Voo's (Psst, prepare to gain weight)

Serves 4 people

8 Chicken Thighs, Bone In (Skin on too, DUH!)
3-4 Cups Chicken Stock
10 Button Mushrooms, washed and sliced into thick slices
1/2 Leek, finely chopped
1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, crushed
2 Carrots, sliced into 1-inch sticks *
3 Stalks Celery, sliced into 1-inch sticks *
1.5 Cups Dry White Wine (I used a Chardonnay)
All Purpose Flour
2 Bay Leaves
Thyme, 2 pinches
Paprika
Olive Oil
Unsalted Butter
Salt and Pepper
* I have the carrots and celery in big pieces so that they don't turn into mush when cooked.

Pre-heat oven to 375°F

Mushrooms
In a pre-heated pan (medium high-high heat), add olive oil and a 1/4-inch slice of butter.
Add mushrooms and leave them to sear.

Do NOT move them as you want the mushrooms to develop a nice dark color. Moving them will make them sweat and you will end up with boiled mushrooms. Also, do not salt them till I say 'add salt', as salt will make the mushrooms extrude (Ooooo fancy word) their water too fast.

After about 3-4 minutes, the mushrooms will have a nice nutty aroma. Move a few around and they should be dark brown. Toss the mushrooms and allow the others to brown. You want the mushrooms to reduce in size by 2/3's. Searing them concentrates the flavor and the browning adds a nice flavor to the mushrooms. At this point, add salt and pepper to taste and deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of wine, and continue cooking till the wine has evaporated. Remove from pan and set aside.

Stew
REMINDER: As always you should always taste the dish as you cook it. If it's raw/undercooked chicken, don't be a retard and taste that. I am NOT responsible for your stupid actions. Use common sense, kthx. Basically the dish should be under-salted all the way till you finish baking it in the oven. I would highly recommend using low-sodium broth as the dish will reduce. If it's still under-seasoned at the end, re-season the stew after you have removed the chicken. 'Coz really, stirring the stew with the pan crowded with chicken thighs is just silly.

Season chicken thighs with salt, pepper and paprika. Coat chicken in flour.

Heat heavy sauce pan on medium heat. Add olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan and sear the chicken thighs till both sides are golden brown and the skin is crispy.

Do not crowd the pan as it will lower the temperature and you will end up boiling the chicken instead of browning them. My pan fits 4 thighs comfortably and I did the searing in 2 batches. You want to have enough heat to brown the chicken, but not so much that it burns the pieces of chicken bits and flour left in the pan as you sear your second batch. You will have to find out what that fine line is. Good luck :P

Remove chicken and set aside. Lower heat to medium-low, drain all but 3 tbsp of oil from the pan, return pan to stove and add the carrots and celery. Fry for 1 minute. Add onions, leek and garlic, fry for an additional minute. Add 2 rounded tbsp of flour to the vegetables and cook for 1.5 minutes. Add 1-cup white wine and reduce for another minute. (Are you sick of reading the word 'minute' yet?).

Add mushrooms, bay leaves, thyme, chicken stock and stir a few times. Place chicken thighs on top of the vegetables and bring dish to a boil. There should be enough liquid to reach the edges of the chicken skin.

Once the liquid comes to a boil, place pan in the oven for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, take the pan out from the oven. Remove bay leaves and garlic cloves.

Serve with garlic bread, mashed potatoes or over egg noodles.

Note:
Stews are usually cooked in a pot, on a stove, but, since I enjoy eating chicken skin (Mmmmm) I came up with a unique way of cooking this to ensure I get the best of both worlds, stew with crispy skin, OMG how good is that! By finishing the dish in the oven and not covering the skin in liquid, it remains crispy throughout the cooking process. Naturally you could remove the skin or use chicken breasts (Why anyone would want to do that?). But, since I don't eat chicken breasts (they are too dry, even when cooked properly *cough*), you'll have to change the recipe if you want to make that substitution. The cooking time will be different tho.

Yes, yes, I said the pork update would be first. Sorry, the chicken will have to do for now.

Oven Roasted Loin of Pork
This slowly roasted, succulent cut of pork features a crispy crackling crust and is stuffed with a medley of citrus and herbs with an accompanying roasted garlic and white wine sauce.
Served on a bed of spinach and mashed potatoes.

Just so you know what "Prime Grade" Ribeyes should look like. Check out the AWESOME marbling on those steaks.


The finished product. Notice the veins of fat running through the steak, that's what gives the pricey steakhouse steaks the "melt-in-your-mouth" sensation.


The dish from another angle. Enough ogling, GO COOK!

Oh, and I apologize for not taking more pictures of the shrimp while I was preparing it. I was way too busy concentrating on the final product.

There's a little story that goes with this recipe. I was assisting my sis (aka making all the food) with her BBQ and we were shopping at Sam's Club looking for some Ribeyes. I was on a mission for the best marbled ones, and if you are familiar with steak grades, you will know that the "Choice" grade is what supermarkets usually stock, I almost NEVER see "Prime" grade steaks, EVER! So, as I was loading our cart, I saw 2 magnificent "Prime" grade Ribeyes staring at me, for $8.99/lbs too!!! I was soooo excited, but, for the sake of not appearing any weirder than I already am, I will spare you the details of my excitement. Naturally I wasn't going to waste those steaks on some puny BBQ when I could turn them into a Scampi Surf and Turf.

On to the preaching. I only buy Ribeye or New York cuts, while they are one of the most expensive cuts, (filet mignon is the most pricey) they are extremely tender and flavorful steaks. When looking for steaks you will want to select those with the most marbling. Marbling is the streaks of fat that run through the meat.

Steaks should be cooked to medium-rare, no more. I do not entertain requests for steaks any more done than medium-rare. For the prep, the steaks are salted 2 days before cooking, left uncovered in the fridge and on paper towels. I turn them over once a day too. This process is known as "dry-aging". Granted, steaks can be dry-aged for a longer time, but since I am an amateur cook, I try not to push my luck. Dry-aging does a few things to the steak. It reduces the moisture content and intensifies the flavor of the beef. This makes for a tastier steak. The process also allows enzymes in the beef to break down additional connective tissue, making it more tender. After 2 days, the steaks will take on a deep red color. Before cooking, you should trim any grey parts on the steaks. Since the surface of the steaks are drier, you will be able to cook them at high heat and they will have a crispy crust while maintaining a juicy center. I prep all my steaks this way and I have always received compliments on them.

The recipe...

6 16U Shrimp Per Person (16U is the size of the shrimp, it means there are 16 in a lbs).
1 Ribeye Steak
Finely Minced Garlic (About 3-4 cloves per person)
White Wine (1/3 Cup per person)
Olive Oil (Do not use Extra Virgin Oil as the taste will overpower the dish)
Unsalted Butter (About 1 tbsp per person)
Rice
Salt
Pepper
Optional: Lemon Wedges
(Yes, I feed people as if they are livestock to be fattened up, you were warned)

PREP (The day before)

Scampi Sauce:
Put garlic in a small pot and add enough olive oil and butter to cover the garlic. Slowly bring the ingredients to a slow simmer for 5 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. This allows the olive oil to extract some of the flavor from the garlic, you do not want to brown the garlic.

Add white wine and continue simmering for 15-20 minutes till the garlic is soft. Remove from stove. You should make the sauce the day before and let the shrimp marinade in it.

The sauce should be a little under-salted as the shrimp will have some salt in them from living the sea.

Shrimp
De-shell and de-vein the shrimp. Add the cooled scampi sauce and shrimp in a sealable bag and marinade in the fridge overnight.

COOKING THE DISH
You should prepare the dish in the following order:

Rice
Start cooking rice. (I don't think I need to explain this).

Steak
Pre-heat grill till it is screaming hot. (I don't know exactly what "screaming hot" is, but I believe it is about 400°F). Season steaks with pepper and lightly coat them with oil. Grill steaks, turning them once. They should have a nice crispy crust and still remain juicy in the center. If you want your steaks to have fancy cross-grill marks, grill your steaks at 45° angle and turn them 60° half way through cooking. (I always do that ^.^).

When they are medium-rare, remove from grill and allow to rest. Do not slice them yet.

Shrimp
Empty the shrimp and scampi sauce into a pot and bring to a boil. Ensure that you gently stir the shrimp so that it gets cooked evenly. Once the shrimp are mostly pink, turn off the stove and continue stirring for another minute, then remove from stove. You do NOT want to overcook them as they will turn rubbery. If you are not sure if they are cooked, take one out and slice it at the thickest part. If it's not opaque, it's not cooked through.

PLATING
Slice the steak into nice thick slices. Don't spoil it by slicing it paper thin. You want to taste the meat and have a nice meaty texture with each bite.
Scoop out rice, top with shrimp, garlic and scampi sauce. Finally add the steak and garnish with lemon wedges.

Bon Appétit!

I received one of the best compliments ever when I was told that my steaks are as good as a $40 steak, eaten a pricey restaurant. /bow

As with all recipes, you should taste the dish during each step of the cooking process to ensure that there is sufficient seasoning and more importantly, you are not over-seasoning the dish. There is nothing worse than having realized that the dish is too salty when you are serving it. It is always better to under-season than over-season.

If (or more appropriately, when) I open my restaurant, you should be forewarned that asking for steak sauce will see you promptly ejected from my restaurant and YOU WILL BE BANNED FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!! Steak sauce is used to cover up the taste of crappy meat and I will be most insulted if you ask for that "condiment". My good friend Mark will do the same thing if you did that in his restaurant, the only difference is that he would probably greet you with the largest knife he can get his hands on. Cleaver anyone?