Chef Brian Lee’s Twist On Thanksgiving

If you’re looking for a twist on a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year, Executive Chef Brian Lee with the Trump SoHo New York has a few recipes that he was happy to share with our Luxe Beat Magazine audience. Forget the turkey and try his Free Ranged Chicken Breast and Tea Bag recipe instead. Butternut Squash Soup, Potato Bread Stuffing and Kale Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette round out the rest of the meal, and yes, you can still have a slice of traditional pumpkin pie for dessert.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

4 cups diced butternut squash

1 cup diced carrots

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 cups thinly sliced onion

4 tablespoon of honey

2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

3 ea garlic cloves

3 ea sprigs of fresh thyme

1 cup white wine

8 cups Chicken Stock

½ cup Crème Freiche

 Method:

Preheat the soup pot, add oil, butternut squash, carrots, onions, ginger and garlic until the vegetables become translucent and soft. Add white wine and chicken stock Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer 20 minutes and remove thyme sprigs.

Working in batches, purée soup in blender with crème fraiche. Return soup to pot. Season soup with salt and pepper. Bring to simmer, thinning soup with more stock if necessary. Ladle into bowls.

Potato Bread Stuffing

Yield:10-12 portions

 Ingredients:

2 ea spanish onions, small dice

1 ¼ # diced potato bread and toasted

3 celery sticks, small dice

1 cup dried cranberries

1 pound bulk Italian sweet pork sausage

3 cup chicken stock

2 ea large eggs

2 tablespoon butter

1 cup white wine

3 cups chestnut, peeled, cooked toasted and coarsely crumbled

1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1- 1/2 teaspoons fresh sage, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Method:

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 2 1/2- to 3-quart shallow baking pan.

Spread bread cubes in a large shallow baking pan and toast them until they are golden brown.

Pour off and discard all but 2 tablespoons bacon fat from skillet, then sauté onions in fat over moderately high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add celery and sauté, stirring, 3 minutes, then transfer vegetables to bowl with dried cranberries.

Cook sausage (if using) in skillet, stirring and breaking up sausage with a fork or whisk, until meat is no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes, then transfer with slotted spoon to onion mixture.

Pour off any remaining fat from skillet. Add white wine (off heat), then deglaze skillet by simmering over moderate heat, stirring and scraping up any brown bits, 1 minute, and add to sausage mixture.

Increase oven temperature to 400°F.

Soak bread cubes in half-and-half in a bowl, tossing frequently, until liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Gently squeeze excess liquid from bread, then stir bread into sausage mixture, discarding remaining half-and-half. Stir together stock and eggs and add to stuffing, then stir in chestnuts, herbs, salt, and pepper until combined well.

Transfer stuffing to baking dish and cover with foil, then bake in upper third of oven 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake until top is crisp, about 20 minutes more.

Kale Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette

Yield: 8-10 portions

Ingredients:

2# Kale (cleaned and washed in ice water)

3ea Orange segments, seeded

1 cup Shredded Carrots

1 ea Red Pepper-Julienne

1 ea Yellow Pepper-Julienne

1 ea Orange Pepper-Julienne

1 ea Red onion- Fine Julienne

1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds

 

Carrot Ginger Vinaigrette

Yield: 2quarts

Ingredients:

1 c Carrots, diced

¼ c Miso paste

1/2 c Honey

1 c Water

¼ c Rice Vinegar

¼ c Soy Sauce

1 ea Whole Garlic

Free Ranged Chicken Breast and Tea Bag

Ingredients:

½ ea whole free range chicken (Frenched Breast and Boneless Thigh)

½ cup Sunchokes(Jerusalem Artichoke)-sliced ¼ inch thick, steamed and pan roasted

3 ea Green & White Asparagus-peeled and blanched and bundled with Holland leek strips

3 Tbsp Cooking oil

Pot of salted & buttered boiling water

 Method:

Heat the medium size pan and add oil, sauté off a piece of Frenched Breast and a Boneless thigh until the skin turns crispy and golden brown. Place the chicken breast on the half sheet pan with tea bag with fresh thyme, lemon peelings and lavender flowers and roast the chicken until they are cooked through (370 degree F in convection oven with high fan mode for about 10 minutes.)

Make the asparagus with leek tide with 3 white and 3 green asparagus and heat the bundle up with salted and buttered boiling water and cut into half. Once the bundle is ready, heat the medium size pan and add oil and caramelize the sunchokes in the medium heat until they are light brown and fork tender in texture.

Once all your ingredients are ready for the plating and decorating, get your plate that you will like to serve the chicken on and plate. You can also use different edible flowers to make the dish more colorful and seasonal.

 

Infuse Tea Bag made from Coffee Filter

Yield: 1 bag

Ingredients:

8 ea Fresh thyme sprigs

2 ea Lemon peelings

1 Tbsp Dried lavender flowers

1 ea Coffee filter

 

About Chef Brian Lee

Chef Lee is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and has held posts at New York’s iconic 21 Club restaurant, Four Seasons Restaurant in New York, and New York Hilton Midtown, among others. Born and raised in South Korea, Chef Lee was exposed to exceptional cuisine early on through his grandmother’s inspired dishes. An incredible chef, Chef Lee’s grandmother was evacuated from North Korea to South Korea during the Korean War, and in turn, merged traditional dishes from both regions to create something familiar, yet entirely new. The recipes were passed down to Chef Lee and, though his cuisine ranges in flavor and regional influence, these cherished flavors serve as a constant source of inspiration.

To read the Luxe Beat Magazine version of this article click on the title Chef Brian Lee’s Twist on Thanksgiving