BBQ Chicken w Triple Sec Orange Marmalade, potato pancakes, broccoli
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Posted:Nov 26, 2013 6:29 pm
Last Updated:Nov 27, 2013 9:33 am
9665 Views
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Steamed the broccoli and used the sauce from the chicken to top it.
Grated the potatoes, then soaked the potatoes in water for 30 minutes to remove the starch. Let drain, put a TB or two or three of flour in with salt, pepper, minced garlic, diced onions, and Italian seasoning if you choose. Powdered Parm Romano cheese would be good and is optional.
For the chicken, I thinly sliced the chicken and coated with only a little of BBQ sauce, sprinkled very lightly with 4C Chiptole panko crumbs, lightly! very hot, then fried in the pan with olive oil, flipped it, and when almost done, put in some Triple Sec, an orange liqueur, and 1 large TB of orange marmalade. Stirred the sauce to melt the orange marmalade and coat the chicken. Flipped the chicken a few times to coat the sauce and serve, used the remainder of the sauce over the chicken and broccoli. If not enough sauce, put a little chicken broth in the pan with a sweet wine wine, turn on high and let it reduce a little. You want all the tasty fond in the bottom of the pan to come off and incorporate in the sauce.
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Morphing a Recipe
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Posted:Nov 24, 2013 10:24 am
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 1:43 pm
8710 Views
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As I stood in front of the stove this week, thinking all day and now getting ready to make chicken parm but ending up with a soy honey triple sec chicken with soy honey oriental vegetables and garlic bread (the Italian part!). WTF! This recipe will be posted this week as I don't remember it and will have to try to duplicate it again. Most things I post here are made only one time. Everything morphs into something else.
Flexibility? Easiness? Adaptability? Go With the Flow? Relaxed and Fun? Always trying to be enjoyable, playful, being me and not someone else.
Well, I started to type a recipe here and now for a Lemon Dill Barley Chicken soup I made on Friday. I first started the recipe by typing about getting the maximum out of a chicken, and then changed the title of the blog! to Getting the Maximum Out of a Chicken.
This is no different than I do in the kitchen. I start with an idea and morph into something else, as I did in the first paragraph.
And now I morphed into something else, morphing a recipe. Another time for writing about Getting the Maximum Out of a Chicken. Look for that blog in the next few days and hopefully you'll laugh when you see it knowing how it Morphed!
I stand in front of the stove wanting to make something, and it changes. How can I change this recipe to make it something different? or something better?
Very recently I posted a recipe for Shepard's Pie. I never made Shepard's Pie before but I wanted to make it better than I've tasted. So thought of seasoning the mashed potatoes on top, and putting a crust on the bottom, then what else can I season that goes into Shepard's Pie? the meat and the vegetables.
You will never succeed until you have failed!
Another blog morphing from this statement? No, not this time. Another subject for later.
When you cook/make something, look in the closet and see what you have. Try something different. Don't worry how it tastes, use common sense when you use it.
When was the last time you cleaned and went through all your food cabinets? ALL! including spices.
Go ahead and do it. Look at the foods. Look at every box or can you have. Try to think of some alternative uses for older stuff. Throw it out, or make a commitment to use it within the next week or two. Maybe use a box of cereal as a chicken coating or a topping for a dish, or use it in an egg pudding. Maybe using a food processor or a plastic bag and a rolling pin to crush it. Try using peannut butter in a sauce. Think about what you can make using peanut butter, in cookies?
This is how a recipe morphs. As I open the closet or refrigerator, I see older food and then start using it and thinking about what other foods or seasonings would go well with it.
I think about what I can do to make a recipe different.
What can I do to take a recipe up a notch.
How can I improve it.
How can I make it different.
Almost all my ideas start in front of the stove, seldom anywhere else. I go to make something, then make something else. Be exploratory!
This is all how a recipe morphs.
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honey bbq chcken, mashed potatoe pancakes, tasty mixed vegetables
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Posted:Nov 22, 2013 6:08 am
Last Updated:Nov 26, 2013 6:21 pm
9150 Views
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This meal was quick, easy, tasty. After eating this meal, my gf said she was disappointed there was no more food as it was so good, she wanted to keep eating. I thought so also but nothing here was homnemade or fancy, all off the shelf ingredients. I was surprised.
Frozen mixed vegetables, defrosted, put in hot pan with olive oil, turn a little bit, add soy sauce and worchestershire sauce, this was very tasty.
Store bought Honey BBQ sauce, slice the chicken very thin, put lightly on both sides fo the chicken, sprinkled some 4C Chiptole panko bread crumbs on each side, this stuff is hot, go lightly, cook in the pan then flip and add just a touch of soy sauce, not that caramel flavored crap.
I wanted to make potatoe pancakes, grate the potatoes, but thought to speed dinner along, print the potatoes with a fork and put them in the microwave for 5 minutes, gf decided 8 minutes would be better, then 10 minutes, well, they turned to mashed potatoes when I put them in the food processor to grate them. So now I had to go into recovery mode. Sound familiar? In the bowl, I sprinkled in onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, Italian seasoning, mixed in, then added some white flour, not much otherwise it will be dry and doughy as if you were making gnochhi. I then made a small pattie with my hand, put them in a hot oiled pan, pressed them flatter with a spatula, flipped when heavily browned on one side, then brown on the other and serve wiht sour cream, ketchup, or eat as is
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Garlicky Garlic Bread up a notch!
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Posted:Nov 21, 2013 9:44 am
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 1:43 pm
8044 Views
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This recipe is not for everyone, sorry. I posted how to make garlic bread and now my gf wanted it every night for the past 3 nights! So it must be good. Too me, it's just food, good tasting food, nothing special. Garlic bread is something that I make but not often.
I was thinking how to make it better. So I have it now and it works.
But it's not for everyone because it requires making your own bread! Sorry.
I made used a bread maker for the kneading and first rise and then put it in my counter top convection oven for the 2nd rise and baking. To make real garlicky garlic bread, I put the ingredients into the bread maker and then before kneading, I put 2 Tb of olive oil in a small pan, heated it, and added 1 Tb garlic powder and several Tb of minced garlic and let that flavor the oil and added the oil and garlic to the bread mix in the bread maker. I also added chili powder and Italian seasoning to the oil for a more garlic Italian taste.
The bread recipe I use is either a bread recipe or a pizza dough recipe, any pizza dough recipe, except I also add 2 Tb of corn meal to the dough.
For the bread recipe, 2 cups bread flour, 1 cup light whole wheat flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 cup warm milk, 3/4 cup of warm water which I rise 1 Tb yeast in before adding it to the other ingredients. I use fresh refrigerated granulated yeast from the health food store.
I put it in my convection oven for 12 minutes at 150 then let it sit for an additonal 20 minutes before baking 40 minutes @ 400.
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Antipasto salad with garlic bread
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Posted:Nov 19, 2013 2:19 pm
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 1:43 pm
7964 Views
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A Pinoit Noir and garlic bread goes well with this antipasto, even a Sparkling Cider!
This is tasty, filling, quick, and easy to make. It makes two huge salads for 2 big appetites or 4-6 salads depending upon the size and can be used as a side salad. Boy was this salad good.
For the dressing, I used Wegman's Italian Parm salad dressing which I find to be the best. Wegman's is a northeast U.S. regional supermarket chain whose store brand items are superb and their prices are the lowest I found and only slightly more expensive than Bottom Dollar. Last week, Channel 3 Philly tv surveyed 151 items at 15 supermarkets and other than the limited choice of brands at Bottom Dollar, their store brand and a name brand, Wegman's was the lowest priced.
I had some spring greens which I cut in small bite size pieces. You can mix some escarole with this or any other leafy lettuce. I then coarsely grated a carrot on each, diced a hard boil egg, one tomato, saute a little fresh garlic in olive oil and topped the salad, cut a vidalia onion, you can use a red onion, and I used 1/4 lb of each meat for both salads, all coarsely chopped into small bite size pieces, ham cappicola, genoa salami, mesquite turkey, cajun can be substituted, optional is proscuitto or any other meat you'd like. I cut some small bite pieces of extra sharp cheddar cheese and a sharp provolone. The sharp provolone is important as it's a harder cheese than the sliced provolone you would use on sandwiches besides being sharp. You could also coarsely grate an Asiago, or a parm romano cheese on top. I then topped this with Wegman's Parm Italian dressing.
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Garlic bread
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Posted:Nov 19, 2013 8:40 am
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 1:43 pm
7813 Views
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Garlic bread is simple to make and it's versatile, so quick and easy and can be used for a sandwich to take it up a notch. Food, Sex, always trying to take it up a notch and making it better for my partners!
I slice some bread, preferably thick, put some olive oil and butter in a frying pan, when hot, turn it down to low, add oregano, garlic powder, chili powder, and minced garlic and put the bread in, let it sit for 10 seconds, then flip it, moving it around to absorb all the oil, butter, seasonings, then flip again if it hasn't absorbed all of it. Let it sit until browned the way you like it on side then flip it. You ate trying to toast the bread. If the heat is too high, you will burn the bread rather than toasting it.
This should be served warm or hot so time it carefully to your meal.
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brining a chicken or turkey
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Posted:Nov 12, 2013 6:31 pm
Last Updated:May 4, 2014 12:23 pm
8158 Views
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If you’ve been following my blog, I never cook a turkey, nor a whole chicken, without brining it. A brine is a solution of water and salt. I add the seasonings to this. By brining poultry, or meat, you will get a very very moist turkey that is not dry! Plus by brining, any seasonings/flavors you add to the brine, will be absorbed into the meat. However, brining takes time so you have to prepare ahead of time. Put the bird into a brine solution in the morning before you leave for work, then someone will have to be home to put it in the oven. For a 6 lb. chicken, it takes 2-2 ½ hours at 350, then let it sit for 15 minutes so the juices flow back into the meat. It took me 2 hours at 350 to cook a 6 lb chicken in a countertop rectangular convection oven. Then wow! Before cooking, I brined the chicken for 6 hours, you could do less time, then put the bird on a roasting tray. I put a coating of canola oil on the skin. I cut a slit in the breast skin and sprinkled some seasoning there, thought no completely necessary. I put around the bird, cauliflower, quartered onions, peeled cloves of garlic, mixed vegetables, quartered white potatoes. All the juices of the bird was infused in the vegetables and the potatoes needing nothing to eat! Wow, everything was so succulent and tasty.
You could put some vegetables under the skin, garlic, onions, if you choose.
If you are use to supermarket rotisseriee chickens, try this. It is so so delicious, so juicy.
For a 6 lb chicken, make a brine, 6 qts of water, 1/3 cup table salt or 2/3 cup kosher salt, 1/3 cup of sugar, 5 Tb Creole seasoning, 3 Tb Tabasco, 2 Tb garlic powder, juice of 1 lemon. Brine for 2- 12 hours, preferably 4 hours or more.
For a turkey, 12-17 lbs, use 2 gallons water plus 1 cup of table salt or 2 cups kosher salt, brine for 6-12 hours. For a 18-25 lb turkey, use 3 gallons of water and 1 ½ cups of salt or 3 cups of kosher salt.
For a spicy seasoning mix to be used underneath the bird, I put it in an empty seasoning container.
1 Tb black pepper (or less)
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp white pepper (Optional)
1 Tb garlic powder
2 tsp onion salt
1 tsp celery salt, not celery seed! But celery seed can be substituted
1 Tb oregano
If you want a Mediterranean or Indian chicken, consider using a variety of cumin, curry, coriander, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, chili powder; or use Italian spices with a lemon.
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Carrot Coleslaw with Triple Sec infused Raisins
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Posted:Nov 8, 2013 5:22 pm
Last Updated:May 4, 2014 9:19 am
8273 Views
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I had a quarter of a head of cabbage and I wanted to make coleslaw. I also really enjoy a shredded carrot slaw that I've never posted on here!Anyway, whenever I make coleslaw, I always shred carrots in it for the color and the health benefits. I shredded two carrots into the shredded coleslaw mix. My preference is very fine coleslaw. I then put a dab of mayonnaise, a dab of sour cream, optional bunttermilk, it really adds something to coleslaw, black pepper, cumin, celery seed,mustard, pickle juice from my homemade sour garlic dill pickles, and little it of sugar for sweetness.
Before I made this, I put some raisins in a small pot, added some Triple Sec liqueur, and turned the heat on just to warm the Triple sec. The raisins then plumped up and absorbed the Triple Sec. I mixed in the raisins and remaining Triple Sec in the coleslaw. Wow! I wanted to make an adult version of a coleslaw and the Triple Sec worked out well. I gave my girlfriend the identical two coleslaws,k one with the Triple Sec, and one without the Triple Sec. In a blind taste test, she chose the Triple Sec coleslaw hands down.
Who would have ever thought!
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Mango smoothie
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Posted:Nov 1, 2013 5:53 pm
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 1:43 pm
8571 Views
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This recipe came from Cooking Light. I made 2 changes, I did not use cardamom as the spice, and I prefer to use vanilla yogurt for all my smoothies rather than plain.
If it wasn't good, I wouldn't be posting it unless I note a reason for such.
My gf and I use smoothies as an after dinner dessert rather than ice cream. We still have ice cream on some other nights unless I make another dessert.
1 1/2 cups of 2% or whole milk for the richness
1 cup of vanilla yogurt
1/2 to 1 mango, grated, then I like to partially freeze this to make the smoothie colder, I freeze it in my Ninja blender
1 banana, I freeze this after taking off the peel, otherwise the peel sticks to the banana, you can remove the peel and then lie the banana on top of the peel in the freezer.
optional honey or sugar for sweetness, the problem with using honey in smoothies, it doesn't dissolve because the smoothie is too cold! Unfortunately sugar is better, and better yet, confectioners sugar because it's so fine.
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When a Chain is not a Chain
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Posted:Oct 31, 2013 5:31 pm
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 1:43 pm
8593 Views
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Tonight my girlfriend and I ate at Houlihan's. We eat there 2-4 times a year. Wow, what a good meal we had.
This is not your usual chain where the food comes from a commissary. Everything is made here except the lettuce comes in already shredded and bagged. You can taste the freshness of the food that has been made on the premises. It's a chain but the quality of the food rivals many single location restaurants.
We got there at 4pm and from 3:30pm-5pm Mon-Fri they have early bird specials that include soup or salad, entree, dessert, and unlimited beverages for $14.49, $15.49, and $16.49.
She chose the pot roast and onion soup and cheesecake, I chose the chicken stir fry, spring green salad with Caesar dressing, and cheesecake. We shared one cheesecake and brought the other one home for tomorrow's dessert.
She said the onion soup was good, but the pot roast was great. It was tender, juice, just broke apart. This was seved with a nice selection of steamed mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, and onion straws.
I started with a spring green salad with fresh in house Caesar dressing. I've never had a Caesar dressing taste so good. I had the chicken stir fry and boy was that excellent. I always enjoy the opportunity to eat with chop sticks. I use to eat with them every night. I find eating with chop sticks to be relaxing. It slows me down as an eater so I enjoy the food and the time eating more. Dinner takes a long time to prepare and then it's over with in minutes. Something seems sad about that.
For dessert, we shared one slice of the cheesecake as it was huge and easily could satisfy two.
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Friday night dinner - Shepards Pie
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Posted:Oct 27, 2013 7:12 am
Last Updated:Nov 24, 2013 9:20 am
8741 Views
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Friday I made Shepard's Pie for the first time, without a recipe, and with only an idea. Problem I have with Shepard's Pie, they are nothing really special and the ones I've tasted, are ok. And with my usual desire, I wanted to make this really good and the Wow effect. It didn't happen. It was good but no wow effect. I have two ideas that would have possibly given it the wow effect. The addition of cheese with the vegetables, and a sauce inside, and possibly the addition of a little bit of ricotta cheese. The sauce I'll make next time will be similar to a chicken pot pie sauce, chicken broth, butter, heavy cream, seasonings such as Italian seasoning, nutmeg, curry, cooked in a pot to thicken, maybe with the addition of flour as a thickening agent.
For the crust, I made a standard pie crust, 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/3 cup of Crisco shortening (Crisco is a must, do not substitute any other shortening. I haven't found any I've had similar results), 2-3 Tb water, and Italian seasoning! I baked this at 425 for 20 minutes in a 1 1/2 qt baking dish (I think, the dish is upstairs in the closet).
I defrosted frozen mixed vegetables, put this in a frying pan with olive oil, melted butter, then added some balsamic vinegar, with Italian seasoning, chili powder, curry, cumin.
I made mashed potatoes, boiled them whole until they were soft, put them in a pot, added some heavy cream, butter, salt, curry, chili powder, and beat them until fairly fluffy. Next time I may add some cheddar cheese at the end and mix this in, besides grating cheddar cheese into the vegetables in the baking dish.
I cooked ground turkey, seasoned this with worchestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, curry, cumin, Italian seasonings, then put this in the baked pie crust int he baking dish, put the mixed vegetables on top, then the mashed potatoes on top of that.
I baked it at 400 for 30 minutes because I made this at lunch time and needed to reheat this for dinner.
The disappointment, I didn't season it enough; and it was too dry, thus the need for a sauce.
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Turkey Burgers
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Posted:Oct 25, 2013 8:17 am
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 1:43 pm
8187 Views
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Turkey burgers have so little fat, they are tasteless compared to a hamburger aka beef burger.
I took a pound of ground turkey, cut it with the knife in lines, horizontal, vertical, and diagonal, don't know if that's necessary, it may not be. I then seasoned the meat with worchestershire sauce, you can use steak sauce also, balasamic vinegar, italian seasoning, cumin, curry, chili powder, and diced onions. I then mixed this and put in a hot oiled pan. I did a medium heat, too high it will burn the outside of the burgers and not cook the inside, also preferable to cover as the inside will cook faster. At the end I topped with crumbled blue cheese but a sharp cheddar cheese would work well. I then covered this to melt the cheese.
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Fanned herb oil baked potatoes
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Posted:Oct 25, 2013 8:12 am
Last Updated:Feb 19, 2016 9:37 am
8171 Views
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I took a large potato, I like to use eastern potatoes because they are moister than Idaho though they have a thinner skin. If you like a nice chewy skin, Idaho are good choice but they tend to be a very dry potato.
I cut very thin slits in the potato lengthwise, almost to the bottom but not threw the potato, and carefully bent the potato outward without breaking! Put the potato in a baking dish and make a vinaigrette of olive oil, Italian seasoning, chili powder, garlic powder, fresh minced garlic, and pour it in the slits of the potato. As the potato bakes and softens, take the potato out and bend it further. It will now bend even further, then pour the vinaigrette that's in the baking dish or extra vinaigrette into the slits. When done, about an hour, remove and pour the juices in the bottom of the baking dish over the potatoes.
The longer you leave the potatoes in the baking dish, the crisper the pieces will be.
This is a great addition as you can change the taste of the vinaigrette, you can vary the thickness of the slices, even paper thin for really crispy potatoes. And it looks real pretty! Though Idaho potatoes are a dry potato, they may be fine in this dish because of the herbed oil.
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