Pierre Franeys Tomato Sauce Food

PIERRE FRANEY'S TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Blend the tomatoes thoroughly, using a food processor or electric blender.
• Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onions and garlic. Cook briefly, stirring. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Let simmer about 20 minutes.

PORK CUTLETS PARMIGIANA

Steps:

• Pound each slice of pork on a flat surface with a meat pounder or a mallet to about 1/4-inch thick. (Properly pounded slices will look like veal scallopini.)
• Place the egg, water, cumin, rosemary and salt and pepper in a mixing bowl, and beat well. Place the bread crumbs on a flat dish.
• Dip the pork slices in the egg mixture to coat and then dip in the bread crumbs. Pat lightly with the flat side of a kitchen knife to help the crumbs to adhere.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the garlic and onions. Cook, stirring for one minute; do not brown. Add the tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
• In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and place as many cutlets as possible in one layer. When the slices are golden brown on one side, about 3 minutes, cook on the other side for 3 minutes. As the pieces are done, transfer them to a heated platter. Add more oil, if necessary, to the skillet, and continue cooking the rest of the slices in the same manner.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a baking dish large enough to hold the cutlets in one layer, spoon a little sauce over the bottom, add the cutlets, spoon more tomato sauce on top and cover each cutlet with mozzarella cheese. Add the remaining sauce. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the dish and bake until piping hot and cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

CHICKEN BREASTS WITH PEPPERS, TOMATOES AND SAFFRON

Steps:

• Heat the oil over medium high heat in a skillet. Add the peppers, onions, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, about 3 minutes or until crisp tender. Then add the tomatoes and saffron. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet large enough to hold the chicken breasts in one layer. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Turn the pieces, reduce the heat and cook about 5 minutes or until done. Do not overcook. Transfer the chicken to a warm platter and keep it warm.
• Add the shallots to the skillet and cook until wilted. Do not brown. Pour in the wine and scrape the bottom with a wooden spatula to dissolve any brown particles that may cling to the bottom of the skillet. Reduce the wine almost completely and add the chicken broth. Let this cook until it is almost totally reduced. Add the chicken breasts and any liquid that may have accumulated. Add the pepper and tomato mixture, bring to a simmer and add the parsley. Serve with rice.

CHICKEN BREASTS WITH LEMON

Steps:

• Season flour with salt and pepper, and dredge the chicken all over. Remove the excess flour.
• Heat the oil in a heavy skillet large enough to hold the chicken pieces in one layer. Add chicken and cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Flip the chicken and cook for 5 minutes more, or until cooked through. Carefully remove the oil from the skillet, leaving the chicken. Discard the oil.
• Add the thyme, shallots and garlic, and cook for about a minute. Do not burn the garlic. Add the lemon rind, the lemon juice and the broth.
• Scrape the skillet to dissolve the brown particles that cling to the bottom. Add the butter, and cook for 3 minutes longer. Serve immediately.

PIERRE FRANEY'S HAMBURGER WITH EGG AND ANCHOVY

Steps:

• Divide the meat into four equal portions. Shape each portion into balls and then flatten into patties, like broad hamburgers, about four inches across and half-an-inch thick. Sprinkle the meat on both sides with salt and pepper.
• The hamburger may be cooked on a hot grill - such as a barbecue grill, under a hot broiler or in a very hot skillet - without additional fat. Turn once while cooking and cook to the desired degree of doneness. Cook two to five minutes on each side according to taste. Transfer the patties to each of four plates.
• Heat one teaspoon of butter at a time in one or more small skillets and add one egg to each skillet. Cook them without turning until the white is firm and the yolk remains soft and runny. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then slip each, yolk side up, onto each patty.
• Use the anchovy fillets, either split in half lengthwise or whole. Arrange the halved or whole fillets around the yolks in a triangular fashion.
• Heat the four tablespoons of butter until they are foamy and add the capers and parsley. When the foaming starts to subside and the butter begins to brown, pour equal amounts of the sauce over each serving and serve hot.

FRESH TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onions and garlic. Cook, stirring, until they are wilted.
• Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes. Stir in the butter and basil.

SAUSAGE-STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Place one chicken breast half at a time between sheets of plastic wrap, wax paper or, preferably, split-open plastic bags. Pound the breasts with a flat, heavy mallet, making them flat, but do not break the flesh of the breasts.
• Shape one-quarter pound of the sausage meat at a time into an oval. Place the sausage in the middle of a breast half and wrap to enclose it thoroughly, envelope fashion. Repeat with remaining sausage meat and breast halves.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dredge lightly in flour and shake off excess.
• Heat the butter in a heavy skillet and add the chicken rolls. Cook, turning as often as necessary to brown lightly on all sides, about five minutes.
• Remove the chicken rolls to a baking dish.
• Add the onion and garlic to the skillet. Cook, stirring, until wilted. Add the wine and cook down until the wine is reduced by half.
• Add the bay leaf, thyme, tomatoes and tomato paste and stir to blend. Cook about one minute and add the chicken broth. Cook down about five minutes and pour the sauce over the chicken rolls.
• Place in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

LASAGNA WITH TURKEY AND FRESH TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• To make the sauce, core the tomatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Put the tomatoes in a food processor and blend until coarsely chopped. There should be about 4 cups.
• Heat the oil in a skillet and add the garlic. Cook briefly but do not brown. Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• To prepare the lasagna, heat the oil in a nonstick skillet and add the turkey meat. Cook, stirring to break up the particles of the meat, until lightly browned.
• Add the garlic, stir and add the wine. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until the wine is evaporated. Add the tomato sauce, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cook the lasagna in salted water, according to instructions on the package, adding the lasagna strips one at a time. Cook until tender. Add the cold water to cool. Drain, and spread the strips one at a time on a damp cloth.
• Lightly grease a 2-quart oblong baking dish. Add a layer of lasagna.
• Beat the ricotta with the hot water to make it spreadable. Spread about one-third of the ricotta over the lasagna. Spread a layer of the meat sauce over this and sprinkle on about a quarter of the Parmesan cheese.
• Continue making layers, ending with a layer of lasagna. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Pour the melted butter over all and bake for 15 minutes or until the lasagna is piping hot and bubbling.