- Well, I know you're in a pinch,
so this menu can be done in a snap.
Lobster Thermidor with mini-mincemeat turnovers to start,
chicken a la king with twice cooked new potatoes
for your second course,
and steak Diane and mint jellies for your main.
Do you set your own jellies, dear?
- Yes. (audience laughs)
- Good girl.
Recipe cards are on the counter there.
Bon appetit.
- [Babish] Hey, what's up guys?
Welcome back to "Binging with Babish."
With this week we are examining
the over-complicated, hyper-1950s,
three course feast from the first episode
of "WandaVision."
Like so many recipes of the era,
this one starts with a whole lot of butter,
specifically in the form of butter puff pastry,
which I think is gonna be perfect
for both the mincemeat turnovers
and the vol-au-vent for the chicken a la king.
If you want to see how to make
your own puff pastry from scratch,
click the link in the upper right-hand corner right now,
but you're probably better off buying this at the store
and saving your energy for everything that is to come.
So once you have finished painstakingly
making it from scratch,
or have just defrosted a couple sheets in the fridge,
we're ready to get started.
First step, the mint jellies,
that are confoundingly served with steak Diane.
We're starting out by hydrating one packet,
or half an ounce,
of unflavored gelatin in one cup of cool water.
While that hydrates we're gonna make
a sort of savory mint syrup (groans),
combining half a cup each water and white vinegar
in a large saucepan,
along with two tablespoons of sugar
that we're covering and bringing into a simmer.
Once a simmer has been reached,
we're gonna pop off the lid, give it a little tiny whisking,
to make sure that everything was dissolved,
and add a big handful of fresh stocks of mints,
which we're gonna allow to steep for 10 minutes
or until they look gross.
Now we're gonna pop in our hydrated gelatin, also gross,
whisk that until it's fully dissolved,
and add a couple drops of green food coloring.
Just so this stuff really, really reads as mint.
Then we are dividing evenly into the aspect molds
of our choice and refrigerating for at least four hours.
Already if you were trying to prepare
this meal last minute like Wanda,
you'd be in a lot of trouble.
Next step, something that can be made ahead
and chilled until ready to serve is the chicken a la king,
which I was very surprised to find out
is pretty much just chicken pot pie filling
with the addition of some pickled peppers.
So I'm browning up two large chicken breasts,
a couple of tablespoons of oil, wiping the pan clean,
adding two tablespoons of butter,
and sauteing eight ounces of white button mushrooms
thinly sliced.
But first I'm lightly salting them,
which is gonna help draw their moisture
during their roughly eight minute cook time.
Once the moisture has evaporated
and they're starting to brown,
I'm adding on one small chopped onion,
and a couple stalks of finely chopped celery,
which I'm gonna saute together for about three minutes.
Then I'm adding an additional two tablespoons
of unsalted butter, letting that melt,
then sprinkling a quarter cup of all-purpose flour
over everybody, mixing and cooking for about one minute,
until the raw flour smell has abated,
then adding a quarter cup of dry white wine,
and slowly adding a little bit at a time,
two cups of high quality chicken stock.
Adding a little bit at a time
and stirring constantly is gonna help prevent lumps.
Then over medium-high heat,
we are bringing this guy up to a rolling simmer
and adding the chicken back to the hot tub
along with any accumulated in juices.
Then we're simmering together for seven to eight minutes
until the chicken is cooked through
and the sauce has thickened to your desired consistency,
seasoning generously with kosher salt
and freshly ground pepper.
And then to cool things down
before this guy heads into the fridge,
we're gonna add a half cup of frozen peas,
as well as a third of a cup of thinly sliced
triple peas or pickled pimento peppers,
which we're also gonna mix together
with a quarter cup of heavy cream.
And that's all there is to it.
Like I said, very similar to a chicken pot pie filling.
I don't know why I grew up hearing about chicken a la king
all the time.
I don't know what I expected, but here it is.
Go ahead and fridge until ready to use.
Next step, mini-minced meat pies.
Now mincemeat is a term usually attributed
to a sweetened nuts and fruit mixture,
but being both a savory first course and 1950s New Jersey,
I just can't imagine that
that's what they were referring to.
So I'm taking it at its more literal interpretation,
minced meat.
Removing the fat and connective tissue
from about three pounds of chuck roast
and using a heavy cleaver
to thoroughly chop it into a course ground beef.
Now I have no idea what would normally go in one of these
turnovers in the '50s,
but my mind almost immediately went to a sort of beef stew.
So after browning the ground beef,
I'm sauteing some diced carrot, onion, and celery
for a good long while, like eight minutes.
Adding one clove of chopped garlic
and a tablespoon of tomato paste,
sauteing those together for an additional minute
just to kiss them with heat
before de-glazing with one cup of homemade beef broth.
Adding our browned ground back to the tub
and simmering together until the liquid has thickened
and almost evaporated, about 10 minutes.
Then I'm gonna hit it with a little shake of dried oregano,
pinch of dried thyme.
Season generously with kosher salt
and freshly ground pepper.
And I think a few generous gloves of worst chair sauce
will sufficiently transport this stew-y filling
back in time.
Now we've just got to let this cool completely,
and move on to the last element of this meal
that we can make ahead of time,
that being lobster Thermidor.
I've got four small lobster tails,
then let boil for about five, six minutes,
before shocking in an ice bath to cease cooking.
I know Wanda used whole lobsters,
but as an appetizer tails just work better.
Once we've patted them dry, using a sharp pair o'shears,
we're gonna snip out the thin membrane underneath the shell,
thus liberating the meats,
which we're gonna gently pop out and set aside,
reserving the shell for presentation.
Then we're gonna chop up the meat
into little bite-sized pieces
and turn it into a sort of lobster mac and cheese,
sans mac or cheese.
Toss that into a bowl and refrigerate
whilst we make the sauce.
Into a large saucepan goes four tablespoons
of unsalted butter,
which we're gonna bring to a bubble over medium-high heat
before adding one chopped shallot.
Sweating for a couple of minutes,
adding four tablespoons of all purpose flour,
whisking and cooking for two to three minutes
until the raw flour smell dissipates
and slowly adding one cup of whole milk,
whisking into a smooth paste after each addition.
This is gonna give us a thick bechamel sauce,
which we're gonna make even thicker and richer,
by effectively turning it into a custard.
Into a medium bowl goes one egg yolk
and a half cup of heavy cream,
which we're gonna whisk until smooth
before tempering with a few tablespoons of hot bechamel.
Whisking constantly so that the egg does not scramble.
Repeating three to four times
until the mixture is fully tempered,
and then adding it back to the pot.
Again whisking constantly,
and cooking over medium heat if necessary to thicken.
Then we're adding a half teaspoon of mustard powder
an eighth teaspoon of cayenne pepper,
one and a half teaspoons kosher salt,
and a half teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper.
Whisking until homogenous and allowing to cool completely
before adding about a half cup
of this bat (beep) crazy mixture to our lobster meat.
Tossing it around to make sure that it's evenly coated,
and spooning it back into the lobster shells.
Almost like a twice baked potato, but with lobster.
Then we're finishing things off with a generous pinch
of shredded Gruyere cheese.
Then these bad boys can be covered and fridged
until you're ready to eat them,
at which point you're gonna broil them until lightly brown.
Now we're getting down to the a la minute stuff.
First we're grabbing about a third
of our homemade puff pastry,
or one sheet of the store bought stuff,
and rolling it out to about a one quarter inch thickness,
which we are gonna cut into vol-au-vent,
or darling little pastry cups.
Now, as you can see, I started with a biscuit cutter
that was too small so I switched to a big one,
and hopefully there's enough pastry left
for me to cut out eight circles,
which I'm gonna place on a parchment lined baking sheet,
and using a slightly smaller biscuit cutter,
punching holes into half of them.
Then I'm grabbing one large egg beaten together
with one tablespoon of water,
brushing the disks down with egg wash,
and placing the rings on top,
giving everybody a generous brush down
before plopping in the fridge for at least one hour.
This will prevent the butter from melting too fast
and leaking out of your pastry.
Plus, it's another opportunity to give these guys
an extra egg brush down before heading
into a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven
for 20 to 25 minutes until puffed light brown
and ready to receive our chicken a la king.
Make sure you reserve the tops as snacks for the chef.
Next we're rolling out the remainder of our puff dough
to one sixth of an inch.
Then using a ruler for precision,
measuring out into four and a half inch squares,
which we're gonna place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Brush two adjoining edges with beaten egg,
fill with about two tablespoons of our mincemeat filling,
and crimp shut with a fork.
Brush down with a beaten egg, sprinkle with finishing salt,
fridge for one hour,
and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes
until lightly golden brown and puffed.
Next up, twice cooked new potatoes.
I've got three pounds of new potatoes
that I'm dropping into some boiling water.
Then I'm boiling them for about 15 minutes,
or until the potatoes showed no resistance
when stabbed with a paring knife.
I'm spreading them out on a rimmed baking sheet,
cool, patting them dry,
and then beginning to smash them.
You wanna smash them just enough
so that they're flattened out,
but not so much that they fall apart.
Then I'm squirting them liberally with vegetable oil,
giving them a generous pinch of kosher salt,
and a few enthusiastic twists
of freshly ground black pepper,
gently tossing them together to coat,
spreading out evenly,
scattering some fresh thyme across the top,
and roasting it 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes,
flipping halfway through until deeply golden brown
and crisp.
Next our final dish of the day, steak Diane.
And even though I have some beautiful filet mignons here,
this being the 1950s,
they're gonna get pounded with this tenderizer,
which is probably for the best because steaks of this era
were probably cooked well past a muddy gray medium well.
Once you are done a-pounding,
we're gonna season these with kosher salt
and freshly ground black pepper on both sides,
because despite their mistreatment,
they are still relatively thick.
And we are headed over to the stove top
where we've got a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil
preheating in a large stainless steel pan.
In go the steaks,
and we're gonna sear them about two minutes per side.
We just want a deep brown crust.
Go ahead and set those aside.
And gracefully, we've got some nice fond here,
out of which to make a delicious sauce.
Into the pan goes two tablespoons of cold, unsalted butter,
in which we're gonna saute one small minced shallot
about two to three minutes,
or until soft and lightly browned.
Then folks back in the 1950s loved flambe,
so we were adding one quarter cup of cognac,
far away from the flame,
allowing it to evaporate a little bit,
and then bringing it back over to the stove top,
tipping it for ignition.
(coughs) I said, ignition.
Incendio.
Flame on.
All right, it looks like I screwed that up.
No big deal.
We're adding a half cup of reduced concentrated beef broth,
two teaspoons Worcestershire sauce,
and two teaspoons of Dijon mustard.
Tiny whisking to combine,
and bring to a simmer over medium heat
for two to three minutes until it's slightly thickened.
Then we're adding a few dashes of Tabasco,
and half a cup of heavy cream.
Tiny whisking to homogeneity before adding the steaks
and their accumulated juices back to the pan.
I think that finishing cooking the steaks in the sauce
makes the steak Diane look really gross,
but once again it is period appropriate.
So we are simmering in the sauce for about five minutes
until the steaks are done.
And with that, we are ready to plate up.
We've got our freshly broiled lobster tail
with new potatoes.
(beep) That's not how it goes.
It's lobster Thermidor with mini-mincemeat turnovers
garnished with smoked paprika and chopped parsley.
Then it's chicken a la king spooned into our vol-au-vent,
surrounded by new potatoes and, insanely enough,
steak Diane with mint jelly.
Now we just need one more thing for accuracy.
There we go, thanks, Wanda.
- [Announcer] Now we can sample wares
prepared by witchy Wanda and her robotic beau, Vision.
Your dinner guests will swoon at the lobsters Thermidor.
- [Babish] Sorry, I'll stop that.
The lobster Thermidor is fine,
but lobster covered in cheese is just conceptually gross.
The mini-mincemeat turnovers are pretty good,
sorta like a gourmet beef stew Hot Pocket.
The chicken a la king is pretty much chicken pot pie filling
with spicy pickled peppers, so it's good.
I dig it.
And the twice cooked new potatoes are super-duper crispy.
And lastly, the steak Diane,
which is cooked to Dick Van Dyke perfection.
And it's okay but it does taste very dated,
like it was made with solid state machinery.
Perhaps a big bite with our mint jelly
will spruce things up a little bit.
No, that is really, truly gross.
If you ask me, the next time you're in a dinner party pinch,
you're better off serving them a big plate
of black and white breakfast.
Hmm, how very European.
(upbeat music)