Chicken Scaloppini with a Shiitake Sake Sauce and Crispy Noodle Cake

  

     
Last weekend, I read an essay in the Sunday New York Times by a woman breaking up with her boyfriend.  What made the article different, and likely attracted the attention of the editors, was that the woman was breaking up with a woman that was gender transitioning to a man.  This wasn't a surprise to the woman, indeed, she was helping her partner throughout the process.  But, in the end, the relationship did not survive and the author was left with regret, guilt and relief.  Such a story may be normal fare in New York City, but is not something that usually attracts my attention.  I was struck however by her honesty.  She wasn't advocating a position one way or the other, right or wrong on substance, she was just communicating her emotions, confused and contradicting as they were.
  
A similarly confused outlook can be found in some cooking.  Even eyebrow raising "transitioning" language can be found in recipes such as Tal Ronnen's chicken scaloppini with shiitake sauce.  He has a vegan cookbook entitled The Conscious Cook and celebrity fans from Ellen DeGeneres to Oprah Winfrey.  He suggests preparing meals with ingredients like faux chicken stock and Earth Balance, which apparently is a butter substitute favored by vegans who eschew eating animals or animal products.  Ironically, this leads them into troubling products like Earth Balance, which is made in part from palm oil.  Unfortunately, palm oil and the slash-and-burn produced palm plantations of southeast Asia are one of the prime threats to endangered species habitat destruction and climate threatening carbon emissions.  So, while vegans are trying to spare animals by not eating them, their product choices are encouraging the destruction of virgin rain forests and the Orangutans and other endangered species within them.  Sounds about as confused as life in New York City.  And if going not only to a vegetarian but all the way to a vegan diet is too much, then there are products like Gardein, "a great transitional food for meat-eaters" according to Ronnen.  I can certainly agree that a mixture of plant-based proteins with a meaty texture would take quite a transition to adopt, but I won't be facing such a choice or experience.
     
What does all this tell us about how to cook?  Certainly, cooking is honest.  It is an honest reflection of the ingredients we use and the techniques we employ.  The results can be simple or confused, but they are ours, an expression of who we are and the choices we make.  Cooking can also be delicious, even from cooks with friends like Oprah and Ellen.  I personally am all for real chicken, stock and butter.  But Ronnen's ideas of using a precooked asian noodle base and sake as the wine component of the shiitake sauce are terrific.  Thus, we shouldn't close our eyes to inspiration from even the most foreign sources, and we should always feel comfortable to make it our own, as I did here.  If you want the vegan version, Ronnen's cookbook is out there, but I'm sure you will like the more traditional and yet very tasty version here.  Serves 2.
    
Ingredients:
2 small nests of cellophane bean noodles
6 tbsp olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved lengthwise into thin scaloppini
1/4 cup flour
1 cup dry sake
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
2 tbsp butter

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup packed pea shoots

1 tbsp minced chives

salt/pepper

     

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.  Bring a medium pot of water almost to a boil and then turn off the heat.  Add the noodles and allow to soak for ten minutes.  Remove the noodles to a strainer and press to drain any extra moisture.  In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, add 2 tbsp of oil.  Place two 3" round ring molds in the pan and when the oil is heated add noodles to each to form a little cake.  Fry until browned and crisp on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.  Remove to a paper towel lined plate and put in the oven to keep warm.
Wipe out the oil used for the noodle cakes and add 2 more tbsp of oil.  Season the chicken scaloppini with salt and pepper and dredge through the flour.  Cook the chicken, browning on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.  Remove the chicken to a plate in the oven.  Add the mushrooms to the pan, along with more olive oil if needed.  Saute the mushrooms until softened and lightly browned, about 4 minutes.  Add the sake and deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits.  Simmer down the sake until it is reduced by half.  Add 1/2 cup of the chicken stock and simmer for 2 more minutes.  Turn the heat down to low to keep the sauce warm and whisk in the butter.  Adjust the seasoning as desired.  In a small pan over medium-high heat add 1 tbsp of oil.  When hot, add the garlic and release the flavors for 30 seconds.  Add the remaining 1/4 cup of chicken stock and the pea shoots.  Saute for 3 minutes.  Meanwhile, return the chicken to the sake sauce to reheat.  Plate the noodle cakes, top each with half of the pea shoots, and then the chicken, and then the mushrooms spooned out on top.  Add sauce in a desired amount and sprinkle with chives.  Serve.