12/12       #524                    

ST. MARTIN RECIPES

    Last year Al had the pleasure of visiting tiny St. Martin island in the Caribbean, home to some of the best restaurants in this hemisphere.  If you haven’t experienced the genteel post-colonial charm of this French/ Dutch island, you’re really missing something.  As a man who is interested in food, Al paid particular attention to his meals, and took notes so that I could share some ideas with you.

    The undisputed hit of the trip was the discovery of ‘Ti Bouchon, the kind of tiny tucked away gem of a restaurant that everybody dreams of finding.  The owner, known simply as Momo, was a French-Algerian of considerable charm and ability.  Bearing more than a passing resemblance to our own Jerry Pellegrino, Momo was a master of the front of the house, greeting patrons with warm, gregarious informality.  His young French chef was equally skilled and regaled us on two consecutive nights with first rate creations that were amazingly reasonable in price.  My favorite dish was a rack of baby veal ribs with a superb mushroom sauce.

     In the little village of Grand Case you can visit Spiga, a very up to date Italian restaurant run with creativity and energy by Lara and Ciro Russo.  There Al had a marvelous meal of chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in prosciutto and served with a creamy sun dried tomato sauce.  He made mental notes and tried fairly successfully to recreate it at home.  Here is his take on the recipe.

CHICKEN ST. MARTIN

A Radio Kitchen Original Recipe

Inspired by Spiga’s, Grand Case, St. Martin

12 medium white mushroom, washed, finely diced

2 medium shallots, peeled, finely diced

½ stick unsalted butter

salt and pepper

1 tsp ground fennel

2 tbs dry sherry

2 skinless boned chicken breasts

olive oil

6 oz. goat cheese

4 ounces prosciutto ham, about 8 slices

¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

¼ cup black calamata olives, seeded and quartered

¼ cup dry white wine

½ cup cream

1 tbs tomato paste

1.  Make a duxelles with the mushrooms and shallots:  after dicing, cut the butter in pats and melt in a medium sauce pan over a low flame; add the mushrooms and shallots and sauté gently, never allowing the butter to burn; as they become tender, season with salt, pepper, and fennel; add the sherry and continue to cook until the mushrooms and shallots are cooked through and are very tender.  Remove from heat and set aside.

2.  Place the chicken breasts flat on a cutting board, and butterfly them by slicing  horizontally, but not all the way through.  In a heavy oven-proof skillet, sauté the inside of the breasts in olive oil for about 2 minutes.  Turn and sauté the other side also for 2 minutes.  Remove the skillet from heat and allow the breast to cool down.

3.  Lay waxed paper over a cutting board, and lay out four slices of prosciutto in preparation for wrapping the chicken breasts.  Using a slotted spoon, spoon about half the duxelles onto the middle of the ham.  (Tilt the sauce pan so that the cooking liquid will drain to one side.  Retain this liquid.)  After you have used up the duxelles, soak the sun dried tomatoes and olives in the liquid.

4.  Lay a chicken breast, inside up, on the prosciutto and duxelles, and stuff the breast with about 2 tablespoons of goat cheese.  Close the breast, and wrap the prosciutto around it, trying to cover it entirely.  Turn the breast over, so that the duxelles side is uppermost, and replace it in the heavy skillet.  Repeat for the other breast.  Place the heavy skillet in a 375 degree oven and bake for about 45 minutes.

5.  Remove the heavy skillet from the oven and set aside the fully cooked breasts.

Deglaze the skillet with the white wine, and scrape up all the brown bits and the melted goat cheese that escaped the breasts.  Swirl in the cream and add the sun dried tomatoes, olives and tomato paste to the mixture.  Cook over low heat, thoroughly blending all the liquids.  The sauce should be a rich medium reddish brown.  Reduce over medium heat until it thickens.

6.  With a very sharp thin knife, slice the prosciutto wrapped breasts into 5 or 6 pieces and fan out on a plate.  Spoon the sauce generously over the pieces.  Serve with wild rice, pureed yams and broccoli florets.

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