Sara's Weeknight Meals

- "Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by - [Announcer] Aboard Oceania Cruises, our guests embrace a passion for travel and our chefs are inspired by the flavors of the world and committed to providing fine dining at sea.

That's Oceania Cruises.

Oceania Cruises, your world, your way.

- [Narrator] Since 1921, Season has brought you skinless and boneless sardine fillets.

Our sardines are wild caught and contain essential vitamins and minerals for everyday meals.

Season Sardines, rich in omega-3s and protein.

And it feels good - [Narrator] Sunsweet Amaz!n Prunes and prune juice.

- [Sara] And by Mutti Tomatoes of Parma, the Republic of Tea, and USA Rice.

It's the age-old question, what came first, the chicken or the egg?

Don't worry about the answer because today we've got them both.

Starting with a grilled and golden chicken paillard topped with my secret ingredient.

It's a French thing.

It's essentially butter with all sorts of flavorings in it that you roll up like a party favor and then slice off pieces.

When you have something you wanna add instant sauce to.

My quick grilled chicken with a very wonderful date butter, yum.

And then.

Chicken and lemons is a match made in heaven.

And when you throw in artichokes, it's just over the top.

I'm gonna take those three ingredients down a Middle Eastern route and show you how to make quick lemon pickles 'cause this is where all the flavor is.

I promised eggs and I bring you oeuf from my buddy, the French chef, Frederic Godineau.

- [Frederic] We're gonna make savory galettes.

Today we will make with a fried egg, ham and cheese.

- Ham, egg and cheese, that is so American, thank you.

I'm gonna show you how to make my French salad and we're gonna make something that looks like a rose.

Chicken or eggs, you don't have to choose.

Today on "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

(upbeat music) Today I'm making a really fun "sauce."

It's called the compound butter.

It's a French thing.

It's essentially butter with all sorts of flavorings in it that you roll up like a party favor and then slice off pieces.

When you have something you wanna add instant sauce to like a grilled steak or lamb chop.

Today I'm making a very unusual butter though with dates.

Dates are amazing.

They're a very good source of fiber and they lend themselves to all kinds of recipes including savory.

I'm sure you've heard of this wonderful hors d'oeuvre that you should all make if you have it.

Dates stuffed with either manchego or blue cheese or any salty cheese wrapped with bacon and baked, killer.

So I've got in here a half a pound of unsalted butter and a third of a cup of finely minced, pitted deglet nour dates.

To that I'm gonna add two tablespoons of minced shallot.

I like shallots 'cause they add a little bit of sweetness and a lot of crunch.

Half a teaspoon of minced garlic.

A tablespoon of Dijon mustard which provides salt and some acid.

A tablespoon of sherry vinegar.

I love sherry vinegar and that's the acid that will cut through the sweetness in the dates.

And two teaspoons of hot smoked paprika.

Now if you can't find the hot version, you can certainly use regular paprika plus some cayenne.

I like both the smoke and the heat.

And a half a teaspoon of salt.

(upbeat music) Here we go.

Trying to keep it in the bowl, of course.

And now that it's all mixed, I'm gonna put it on a piece of parchment paper and roll it up into a log.

I'm gonna just sort of pile it in here to begin with.

You could make two.

I'm gonna make one big fat roll.

You can make two thinner rolls.

By the way, straight up as we have it right now would be great with bread.

Now this is fun.

At this point, this becomes a little bit of a kindergarten art project.

So you sort of use the parchment paper to shape the butter.

And you twist the ends like a party favor.

You know, like what you have at New Year's.

So I'm gonna pop this in the fridge to chill for a couple hours and get my chicken.

All right.

I have some here that I already made that's firmed up.

And my chicken.

I like to slice the butter ahead of time because you don't wanna put cold butter on hot meat because then the butter won't melt properly.

We want the butter to melt and mix with the juices of the chicken.

For each piece of chicken, I'm gonna do a couple thin slices of butter.

And then this can go back in the fridge or the freezer.

So this is gonna soften.

And let me tell you all the things you can put this on.

Besides bread, you could put it on top of steak, lamb chops, fish, mashed potatoes.

So we're just gonna let that soften over here and get going with our chicken.

What we're making today, again, is a French thing.

I'm sorry, I go back to my French roots all the time.

That was my training.

We're making something called chicken paillard.

And essentially what that means is flattened chicken.

So I've gotten thin sliced chicken.

And by all means, if you can, use that 'cause then all you have to do is pound it.

But if all you can find is the big, thick chicken breasts, pop 'em in the freezer for 30 minutes, cut 'em in half horizontally, and then go ahead and pound 'em the way I'm gonna show you right now.

But here's a trick, regardless of what kind of chicken you're using, you should use a little water.

Why?

So it doesn't tread.

When I put it on top of the plastic wrap to pound it, I put a little water down first.

Underneath the chicken, I put more water sprinkled on top, another layer of plastic wrap, and then I pound it.

And the water helps the chicken to slide as it's pounded rather than stick and shred.

Now, this is a great thing to do after a bad day at the office or the kids have been really annoying.

Try not to go over the edges.

Just get it on here and then I'm gonna wash my hands.

Salt and pepper.

We've got the grill preheating.

We want it to be medium high.

You oil the protein, not the grill.

Okay, we're good to go.

I'm gonna go put these on the grill.

(upbeat music) Boy, that looks wonderful.

I'm gonna just put a little bit of the juices from the chicken right on it.

And the butter.

And at this point, you decide, "Ooh, do I want a lot of butter "or do I want a little butter?

"Ah, more butter.

"I'm channeling Julia Child.

"More butter."

And then we are just gonna let that melt and I'm gonna get some parsley.

You could top it with any chopped fresh herbs and some asparagus, and there you go.

My quick grilled chicken with a very wonderful date butter.

Yum.

(upbeat music) Chicken and lemons is a match made in heaven.

And when you throw in artichokes, it's just over the top.

I'm gonna take those three ingredients down a Middle Eastern route and show you how to make quick lemon pickles.

I've got some chicken thighs here that I'm browning.

I patted 'em dry, eight chicken thighs.

I'm browning 'em skin side down.

I salted and peppered the skin side.

And I'm just letting them finish up.

I already did half 'cause we don't wanna crowd the pan 'cause we like that nice color.

And while they're finishing browning, just gonna turn it down a tiny bit, I'm gonna talk about the lemon pickles.

So you pick up the lemon and you squeeze it and you see that I'm not getting any kind of give.

What that means is there are a lot of white pith right under the lemon.

We don't want that white part of the lemon or not a lot of it anyway because it's very bitter.

So instead, you want a lemon like this one.

You'll see how much give there is because that means there's less of that white stuff.

So it'll be less bitter when we make our pickle.

For this recipe, we're gonna need two and a half lemons.

I know that seems odd, but I'm sure you can find a use for the other half.

And we're gonna slice them a quarter of an inch thick.

And this is sort of important because we're just gonna cure them for a couple of days.

So we need the salt to penetrate.

I'm gonna put one layer of lemons in here, try to spread them out so they're not overlapping too much.

We need three tablespoons of kosher salt, and then I'm gonna sprinkle half the salt on top evenly.

And this is gonna get rinsed off later.

Okay, so that's about a tablespoon and a half.

And then we're gonna put another layer on top and sprinkle the rest of the salt.

And then we cover these with a plastic wrap and we leave them at room temperature for about, well, anywhere from 12 to 48 hours.

You know, 48 hours, they're gonna be more deeply pickled, they're gonna be much softer.

And if you take them out at 12 hours, they'll be a little crunchier.

All right, I'm gonna take these over and cover them up.

But just before I do that, I know my chicken's ready, so I'm just gonna take it out, turn off the pan and save some of the fat.

We're looking for some nice color.

See, we've got nice color there 'cause this is where all the flavor is.

And we've got some wonderful brown bits in the bottom of the pan.

That will add to the sauce.

This is a fun dish.

It all gets baked in this pan.

So it's like no muss, no fuss too.

Let me just put a little plastic wrap on these.

So here I have a half batch that I made that's been curing for a couple of days and looks a little more translucent.

It's more tender, it's been pickled.

And now I'm gonna rinse these to get rid of the excess salt and then pat them dry, remove any seeds.

(upbeat music) I wanna make sure these are dry on both sides 'cause we're gonna brown them.

Good, these are now ready to go.

Okay, it's the artichoke moment.

I'm using canned artichokes.

You could also use frozen artichokes.

Actually, if I had my choice between canned or frozen, I'd pick canned.

They tend to have more flavor and be less watery, even though they're packed in sort of a watery liquid.

You're horrified?

Oh my goodness, you're not using fresh artichokes?

Remember, this is a weeknight meal.

I don't think anybody's gonna take the time to prep fresh artichokes hearts.

If you want to, go ahead.

This is just one 13 to 14 ounce can.

We're just draining of the liquid because water's very important to get rid of when you wanna get color and flavor.

So we're gonna pat these guys dry.

Then they're gonna get wonderfully brown.

So remember, we saved a couple tablespoons of fat.

And we started with olive oil, tablespoon to brown the chicken.

And then we had two tablespoons of chicken fat and olive oil mixed when we were done.

And we're gonna brown the artichokes in there.

So this'll just take a few minutes to brown.

You have to be patient.

Like anything else, when you're browning, don't move it until it slides a little bit, which means that it's already developed a crust.

I taught my daughter how to do this.

My daughter, believe it or not, doesn't cook.

She loves to eat.

That's all I care about.

She makes a mean salad and a beautiful vinaigrette.

But I taught her how to brown artichokes, and she now makes a wonderful pasta dish.

And she always starts this way.

And it's her one dish, but she wows people with it.

I think these guys are about ready to turn.

Yep.

So you wouldn't think they'd get this kind of color.

But they do because we patted them dry, we used the right amount of oil, and we took the time to let them get that nice color.

They only need about another minute on the other side.

While he's finished browning, I'm gonna go get the wine, which is our liquid in here.

I'm using a nice dry white, a Sauvignon Blanc.

You could use a Pinot Grigio, any dry white you like.

This is not a sweet dish.

So we need about a third of a cup.

You could eyeball it or measure it.

And I think those are looking very good.

Okay, so first we're gonna put in our wine, and it's gonna spatter up.

We're gonna stir it.

The artichokes are gonna fall apart a little bit, but it doesn't matter, they're still gonna be yummy.

And now I'm gonna put all the chicken back in.

And it's gonna be a little crowded, but it doesn't matter 'cause we already browned the chicken.

Now, see all those juices right there?

Those have flavor, so those go in too.

And finally, I'm gonna tuck the lemons in between the chicken thighs.

It will flavor the whole dish, give off more juice, add some salt.

Okay, and now the whole thing goes in the oven at 350 for, I'm gonna say, 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how big the thighs are.

These guys are sort of big, but we're gonna check them and see.

They should be very firm.

(upbeat music) Ooh, that smells good.

Now, one thing I'm gonna do is just make sure.

Yeah, I can see that that's very firm.

That's my indication that it's done.

So we're gonna transfer this over here.

And what's great about this dish, besides everything else that's great about this dish, is it creates its own sauce while it cooks.

So the chicken juices and the lemon juices and the wine and the artichokes all sort of mingle and create something very tasty.

Now, these lemons are completely edible 'cause they've gotten very tender in the oven and also from pickling.

And then I'm just gonna pour all these juices over the top with the artichokes.

I wanna point out, there's only five ingredients in this dish if you don't count the salt and the garnish I'm just about to put on, which is cilantro.

You could finish this with dill or with parsley.

There we go, a perfect weeknight meal.

My chicken thighs with pickled lemons and artichoke hearts.

(bright music) I'm here today with my friend, Chef Frederic from France, and you're gonna show me, I'm so excited, a dish that could be a nice weeknight meal.

What are we making?

- Yes, exactly.

We're gonna make savory galettes, which is the salty version of the crepe.

Today, we will make with a fried egg, ham, and cheese.

- Oh, ham, egg, and cheese.

That is so American, thank you.

Okay, so where do we start?

- We start by taking, so you will mix the dry ingredients, two cups of buckwheat flour.

- You never use measuring cups, right?

You weigh things, okay.

We're doing cups 'cause a lot of American cooks like to measure.

If you were gonna weigh them, you'd need 240 grams of buckwheat flour, and then- - And then you need one half cup of- - All-purpose.

- All-purpose flour, a pinch of salt.

- A pinch of salt, that's about a half a teaspoon, and I'm gonna whisk this up.

- Exactly.

- Okay.

- [Frederic] In the meanwhile, I'm gonna do the wet ingredients, so I take one large egg, a cup of milk, and a cup of water.

- And that's just regular whole milk, right?

- Yes, whole milk.

Now we're gonna add the liquid into the dry ingredient.

It should be the consistency of a thin pancake batter.

You could do this in a blender.

Of course, he would not 'cause he's French, but you just throw everything in a blender and hit the button.

Okay, Chef, do you wanna take over here and just see if you like it?

So now what happens?

- Now we're gonna let it rest.

- Okay.

- Because it's a French recipe, so it needs to rest.

- Those French are so lazy.

No, really, the reason that it needs to rest is to let the gluten relax in the flour so that you have a very tender crepe in the end.

While that's resting, I'm gonna show you how to make my "French" salad, okay?

- Sure.

- Can you bring up the toppings over there?

This is something I used to make at a restaurant in 1978 when I was just 12, and it's just a very pretty presentation.

So let me mention I have this dressing.

We're not gonna make it today, but don't worry.

The recipe will be online so you can find it.

It's a creamy garlic dressing which has sherry vinegar in it.

If you're not a fan of raw garlic, they're just a tiny bit, but if you're not, you can use shallots, chopped shallots.

And what do you think?

- I prefer shallots as well.

- Yeah, you don't want garlic breath?

- No.

- No, okay.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take, this is butter lettuce, Boston lettuce, and we're gonna make something that looks like a rose.

So we start with the larger leaves on the outside.

- Sure.

- And then we build it up.

It's sort of counterintuitive to what the French usually do because yeah, you have to press it down, good for you, 'cause they like to toss the greens with the dressing.

We're not gonna do that today.

Oh, you got a big one, but that's 'cause you're a boy.

Okay, so I have a little one, you have a big one.

There we go, okay.

So now we have some cherry tomatoes, scallions, cucumber, and these are pepitas, pumpkin seeds.

So we just sprinkle these around, tuck in the tomatoes, tuck it into the various parts.

We don't need a ton.

Oh, isn't that lovely?

Okay, so now we're gonna just drizzle this yummy dressing, and then we're all set and can go back and work on our crepes.

- [Frederic] The clarified butter.

- What is clarified butter?

- So this is butter that we are melting very slowly and we get the three layers.

- The top layer's the scum, which is protein solids.

The middle layer is the butter oil, which is what we want.

- And the bottom layer is milk solids, which is watery stuff.

But you don't, this has been melted and it looks like it's only got two layers.

Where's the scum?

- Because it's a good quality butter.

It's coming from France, this is why.

- Oh, it is French butter, therefore it is better butter.

Why do we wanna just get to the butter oil?

- To avoid that the butter burns.

- What makes the butter burn are the milk solids and the protein.

- Yes, exactly.

- Okay.

This is a fun thing, the French use it to saute.

- Yes, exactly.

- 'Cause you wouldn't use oil, right?

- Nope.

- Why not?

- 'Cause we like butter.

- Okay, I like that, Julia would like that answer, 'cause we like butter.

Okay, very good.

The only trouble is you take a pound of butter and you melt it and skim off the top and pour off the bottom, you're only in about 12 ounces.

You go from 16 ounces to 12 ounces, you lose a fair amount of the butter.

Okay.

- This is the butter.

- Got a good night's rest.

And we're using a crepe pan.

- Crepe pan, non-stick pan, basically.

- Okay, non-stick pan.

- So you take a brush.

Not every crepe, we just do for the first one.

- Just the first one.

- First one.

- You just need to get some oil in there.

- Exactly.

- Now, how do you know when it's hot enough, the pan?

- Do you see some smoke, you know?

- Little bit, till it's almost start smoking.

- Yes.

- Okay, so we just have to wait half a second.

(upbeat music) Oh, you know what they say about the first crepe?

You usually, it's like the first pancake, sometimes you have to throw it out, but not with Chef Frederic.

You may notice that this keeps beeping, it's because we're using an induction burner and it doesn't like it when we take the pan off of it.

But what's great about induction is it heats up really fast and the burner itself does not get hot, so it's very safe.

Oh, this takes no time at all.

- [Frederic] No.

- It looks sort of, oh, beautiful.

Wow, that's lovely.

It doesn't take as long on the second side as the first, correct?

- No, no.

Yeah, and then we're gonna flip it inside.

- And can I make one?

- Sure.

- Here we go.

You gotta work really quickly.

It sets almost as soon as it hits the pan.

Oops, okay.

You think it's ready?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Oh, yay.

- As beautiful as mine.

- Oh, that was so nice of you, thank you.

So now you're gonna show me how to do.

- A fried egg inside the ring.

- Oh, inside the ring.

- Yes.

- Wow, I love that.

Oh, that's so wonderful.

So if you don't have one of these pretty rings at home, take a can of tuna or salmon, take off the top and the bottom, wash it out like crazy, and then you can use the tin.

- A little bit of salt.

- A little bit of salt.

- While the egg is cooking, let me get the ham and cheese.

We're gonna slice it into julienne.

(upbeat music) For the cheese.

- [Sara] What kind of cheese are we using?

- Emmental cheese.

- Emmentaler.

It's one of the two cheeses you use for fondue.

- Yes.

- Wow, that looks like it's done.

- Yes, exactly.

I'm gonna remove it.

(upbeat music) Then I'm gonna assemble the crepe.

So basically you take the crepe on your table, you just fold it to make it nice.

- Oh, that's very pretty.

- Just-- - Weigh it down with a little cheese.

- A little bit of cheese, a little bit of ham.

Then I'm gonna take out, so you take a knife, take out.

- I'm gonna save all my tuna fish and salmon canned salmon cans from now on.

- Much nicer presentation.

Oh, wow.

- That's it, and you just put it back.

- Put it in to melt.

- Inside.

- That is gorgeous.

What a magic trick.

Yummy.

- A few seconds for the heat to come from the bottom and to melt the cheese.

The egg is already cooked, so there's no need.

(speaks in foreign language) - Oh, it's a boy thing, huh?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- (speaks in foreign language) is for a- - Girl.

- Human being.

- Oh, okay, thank you for correcting me.

- So I think it's ready.

- Yeah, wow.

- The cheese starts to melt, so we can stop it and put it directly on the plate.

I'm gonna put it onto the plate.

- Oh, that's so beautiful.

- There we go.

- And because it's induction, we can put the plate on there.

Doesn't heat up.

Oh, I'm so excited.

Yes.

Okay.

I get the first bite?

- Yes.

- I'm gonna break the yolk?

- Yes.

- Okay, I feel very honored.

Nice crispy bottom.

Wow.

So that is so wonderful.

That is it.

Our ham, egg, and cheese galette.

Yay.

Wonderful weeknight meal.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

(soft music) - [Sara] For recipes, videos, and more, go to our website, saramoulton.com.

"Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by - [Announcer] Aboard Oceania Cruises.

Our guests embrace a passion for travel and our chefs are inspired by the flavors of the world and committed to providing fine dining at sea.

That's Oceania Cruises.

Oceania Cruises, your world, your way.

- [Narrator] Since 1921, Season has brought you skinless and boneless sardine fillets.

Our sardines are wild caught and contain essential vitamins and minerals for everyday meals.

Season Sardines, rich in omega-3s and protein.

And it feels good - [Narrator] Sunsweet Amaz!n Prunes and prune juice.

- [Sara] And by Mutti Tomatoes of Parma, the Republic of Tea, and USA Rice.

(soft music) (upbeat music) (soft music)