OmniVeggie

There is something comforting about pockets. On cold days, you can pop your hands into them (if you are woefully underprepared for the weather, as I often am). You can carry things in them, like phones, keys, quarters, lint, receipts, pennies (God, the pennies), Simpson's Individual Stringettes (The NOW String), iPods, love notes...basically, your whole life. I'm told, by parties unnamed, that women don't carry things in their pockets, as their pockets are tiny and ill-suited for carriage of useful things. This is the direct result of women's clothing being much more form-fitting than men's and aren't we all glad that men's clothes aren't so form fitting.

No, hipsters, you aren't included.

Hannah wears Smocks on warm sunny days. I call the pockets upon the smocks, Smockets. They too, are useful.

Pockets can be made from most anything. Felt, denim, canvas, a pita, and perhaps the most versatile pocket of them all:

The Aluminum Foil Pocket.

Yes, dear readers, the Aluminum Foil Pocket (or as my friend from Southend-on-Sea might pronounce it, "Aluminium."). Reynolds and his Wrap saves the day once again. I've used it previously with tilapia and assorted veggies, some herbs, and butter. Yes, the butter.

Today, I had a day off from the TV show that I work on and it was spent with Hannah. We didn't do terribly much and usually when it gets to that point, we gravitate towards the Food Network. We aren't terribly fond of Emeril and his BAM middle of the BAM sentence ex-BAM-ations of his notch kicking. But today he was on making some chicken.

In pockets.

He made them in Parchment Paper, but when one of his guests asked him, "What if you don't have any at home?" He said, "I use aluminum foil at home."

Hannah said we should make the recipe. And so we did.

We took our own deviation, mixing Jamie Oliver's recipe for beurre blanc with whatever the hell it was that Emeril was doing and created a Lemon Beurre Blanc Cream Sauce to put on top of our veggies. Emeril also told us to not include fennel, but we will be damned to one degree or another if fennel is not going into our pocket. Since Hannah can't eat the chicken, we also substituted some cannellini beans for one of the chicken breasts.

It was fabulous.




Chicken and Vegetables with Lemon Beurre Blanc Cream Sauce
(Adapted from Emeril and Jamie Oliver)

1⁄2 Fennel bulb, sliced
2 carrots, cut into strips
2 small zucchinis, cut into strips
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into slivers
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 3⁄4 teaspoons herbes de Provence, divided (we used fresh parsley, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, and bay)
1 1⁄4 teaspoons salt
3⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 (6 to 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts (optional if you are veggiesaurs)
1⁄2 can of white beans (7.5 oz) (butter or cannellini, optional if you are meatosaurs)
4 teaspoons dry white wine

Lemon Beurre Blanc Cream Sauce (recipe follows)


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Using good knife, cut the zucchini, fennel and carrot into thin, strips. Place the strips in a bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of the butter slivers, 3/4 teaspoon of the herbes de Provence, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Set aside.

Lightly season each chicken breast on both sides with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper. Set aside. Season the beans as well.

Tear off about a full wingspan of aluminum foil; fold in half. Place the chicken (or beans) in the middle, cover with half of your vegetable mixture. Drizzle with a couple glugs of white wine. Roll up the sides and the top, sealing it off.

Place the bags on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Spoon lemon butter sauce over the chicken or the beans, garnish each plate with 1 parsley sprig, and serve immediately.




Lemon Beurre Blanc Cream Sauce

1 1⁄2 C white wine (we used some crappy kind of Sauvingnon Blanc with a cigar smoking bird)
2 lemons, peels off and quartered
1 diced shallot
ground pepper
herbes de provence (we used fresh parsley, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, and bay)
6 or 7 tbsp unsalted butter
1⁄2 cp heavy cream

Combine the first five ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. When the wine has reduced to half or so, strain the flavored wine into another container. Then wisk in the butter, a tablespoon at a time, until it’s all melted in. Add the heavy cream, and blend. The sauce should retain a thin consistency.