Jeffery Deaver

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 thick pork chops, with bone in
3 cups French bread, cubed and toasted
½ stick of unsalted butter
¼ cup chicken stock
4 tablespoons chopped dried cherries
4 tablespoons chopped raisins
¼ teaspoon each, sage and rosemary, crushed
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
Pinch of salt and pepper
1/3 cup kirsch
Additional melted butter
Additional chicken stock
Whole dried cherries and raisins for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Slice slits into the pork chops to the bone.

3. In a sauce pan, heat butter over low to medium heat (it burns easily!) and slowly cook the onions, cherries and raisins until soft.

4. Off the heat. Add to the pan the bread cubes, chicken broth, spices and salt and pepper, and mix.

5. Stuff mixture into the slits in the pork chops, secure with toothpicks.

6. In an ovenproof cast-iron skillet, heat the oil and brown the pork chops.

7. Add to baking dish and brush with additional butter.

8. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes until done (internal temperature 160 degrees F).

9. Remove chops to serving plate.

10. Deglaze skillet over low heat with kirsch (careful, it can catch fire!) and chicken stock. Pour over the chops, garnish with additional cherries and raisins.

Ingredients: 

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cumin powder
3 tablespoons crushed sage
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Olive oil as needed
1 cup Vidalia or sweet onion, diced
1 cup green pepper, diced
2 cups sweet potatoes or yams, cut in 1 inch cubes.
2 tablespoons fresh Cilantro, chopped
Cholula hot sauce
15-ounce can of coconut milk, opened (Ha—just seeing if you’re awake)
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons light rum (it should be cold)
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

1. Combine the flour, cumin powder, sage, salt and pepper in a bowl.

2. Dredge chicken in flour mixture.

3. Heat about 2 tablespoons oil in a large Dutch oven. Add chicken thighs two or three at a time and brown thoroughly—about ten minutes per side. Remove chicken.

4. Add more oil and sauté the onion and bell pepper until tender.

5. Return chicken to pan, add coconut milk, chicken stock and sweet potatoes. Add hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

6. Cook covered for 35-45 minutes, until the chicken and sweet potatoes are fork tender.

7. To thicken sauce, if necessary, add 1 tablespoon of the corn starch-rum mixture and cook, stirring constantly. Repeat if necessary.

There are three required accompaniments for this dish: Rice, rice and rice.

The purple variety of asparagus is sweeter and more tender than green or white. You don’t need to trim much of the base, perhaps just ¼ inch or so. Make the sauce first because the asparagus should cook very quickly.

Ingredients:

16 stalks purple asparagus
½ cup white vermouth
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Cayenne pepper
Salt

Instructions for Hollandaise:

1. Whisk egg yolks and lemon juice together in the top pan of a double boiler or a stainless steel bowl and until the mixture is thickened and roughly double the volume.

2. Place the pan on the double boiler or, if using the stainless bowl, atop a saucepan smaller, containing water, smaller than the bowl; the water should not touch the pan; it’s the steam that does the cooking.

3. Turn heat to low and whisk rapidly as the eggs cook. If they get too hot, they’re scramble and while that would make a good snack, you’d have to start all over again. So, remember: low heat, constant whisking.

4. Slowly drizzle in the butter and continue whisking until the sauce is thickened and doubled in volume. Remove from heat, add a pinch of cayenne and pinch of salt.

Instructions for Asparagus

1. Add the vermouth and water in the bottom of a vegetable steamer.

2. Bring the liquid to a boil.

3. Add the asparagus.

4. Steam for 3-5 minutes until cooked but still crispy.

5. Place on serving platter, sprinkle with salt and pepper and add a small amount of hollandaise .

Ingredients:

4 veal cutlets
1 cup all-purpose flour
Butter as needed
Olive oil as needed
2 tablespoons shallots, sliced thin
1 clove of garlic, minced
12 ounces beef or veal stock
1/2 cup sherry
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces white seedless grapes
4 sprigs fresh parsley
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

1. Dredge the cutlets in the flour then season with salt and pepper. Sauté in two tablespoons each of butter and oil. Cook until crispy, just a few minutes. Remember the small-batch rule. Set aside in a warming oven.

2. In the same pan in which you’ve sautéed the cutlets, combine one tablespoon each of butter and oil and cook, over low heat, the shallots and garlic until translucent. Add the stock and sherry and bring to a boil, scraping the pan. Reduce the liquid by half.

3. Whisk in the cream and bring to boil again. Lower heat and cook until thick.

4. Cut the grapes in half and in a separate sauté pan cook them in over medium heat in one tablespoon each butter and oil until soft.

5. Place cutlets on plate, top with grapes and pour sauce over the top. Garnish with the parsley.

This dish actually does have historical French roots. It dates to Napoleon III’s era and was created by Adolphe Dugléré, at one time the chef de cuisine for the Rothschild family and later the owner of the famous Café Anglais in Paris. No one is quite sure which Anna the dish was named after, but Jacob Swann’s money is on the 19^th-century Parisian courtesan Anna Deslions because if you’ve seen her picture, as he has, you’d vote for her too.

M. Dugléré might not approve of Jacob Swann’s finishing addition, but it enhances the flavors quite well. And, of course, it’s a very risky idea to criticize Mr. Swann.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and sliced as thinly as you can (go for 1/8 inch)
Salt
Pepper
Allspice
¾ cup crème fraîche
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Pat dry the potatoes.

3. Melt butter in saucepan.

4. Generously brush a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with butter from the top layers of the saucepan, avoiding the butter solids.

5. Cover the bottom of the skillet with an overlapping layer of potato slices.

6. Brush this layer with more butter. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a small pinch of allspice. Build another layer of potatoes and sprinkle with the seasonings. Repeat until you’ve used all the potatoes. Pour any remaining butter-oil on the top.

7. Cook over low heat until potatoes are golden on the bottom and crisp around the outside, about 20 to 25 minutes. Shake occasionally to keep the potatoes from sticking or dislodge with a spatula.

8. Place a plate or lid over the potatoes and carefully invert, so that they drop from the skillet.

9. Brush skillet with more butter and slid the potatoes, now inverted, back into it.

10. Bake until crisp, about 20-25 minutes.

11. Whisk together the crème fraîche and maple syrup in a small bowl.

12. When they’re done, slide the potatoes onto a cutting board and slice into wedges. Place on each guest’s plate and, just before serving, add a dollop of the crème fraîche, whatever a dollop is.

The elegant name (meaning “blue ribbon”) suggests a dish that might have been served to Charles d’Albret, leader of the French army, the night before his defeat by Henry V at Agincourt in 1415. Nor is it unreasonable to speculate that this was Marie Antoinette’s last meal. However, the truth: chicken cordon bleu is an American creation from the flower-child era, first appearing in the late 1960s. Far out.

It’s traditionally served with a white wine cream or a cheese sauce. Mr. Swann likes it simpler, however, moistened only with a little demi-glaze. He’s okay with your making that from a prepared mix.

Ingredients: 

4 boneless, skinned chicken breasts, with the tenderloins removed
4 slices of thinly sliced black forest ham, a little smaller than the size of the chicken breasts when pounded flat
4 thin slices Emmenthal cheese, ditto the size
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon paprika
Butter as needed
Oil as needed
Salt
Pepper
1 cup chicken demi-glaze made from a prepared package like that sold by More Than Gourmet
Sprigs of fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place chicken between sheets of wax paper and pound to ¼-inch thickness (Mr. Swann uses the side of a hammer or hatchet—one reserved exclusively for cooking, by the way).

3. Place a slice of ham on the chicken and then a slice of cheese over the ham. Roll up the chicken breast with the cheese and ham on the inside and secure with toothpicks. Get as tight a seal as you can—escaping cheese is a sign of careless preparation.

4. Mix the flour, paprika, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Coat the chicken breasts on all sides with the resulting mixture.

5. Heat about three tablespoons each of oil and butter in a skillet over medium high heat. If the pan isn’t large enough for all four breasts, work in batches. (Remember this for all of Mr. Swann’s recipes involving sautéing; the small batch rule is quite important in his culinary world, lest you end up steaming. Very bad.) Cook the breasts until browned on all sides.

6. Place the browned chicken in a buttered baking disk.

7. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the flesh of the chicken is no longer pink—but don’t overcook. The rule is 165 degrees F, tops, for the internal temperature.

8. While the dish is baking, prepare demi-glaze according to instructions.

9. Place on serving platter, remove toothpicks, especially if you have litigious guests, and drizzle on a bit of demi-glaze. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with whatever else you want. It’s your dinner party, after all.