Crispy Chicken Thighs, with Schmaltzy Viaigrette

I made this about a week or so ago - its a Cooking Light recipe - which almost always are excellent.  With this dish, you get all the richness of a roasted chicken, but it uses bone in thighs, instead of a whole bird.  The recipe uses the chicken fat from the cooked thighs ( the "Schmaltz" ) for a really nice, bright vinaigrette sauce over the finished thighs.  I used my cast iron saute pan for even heating, but if you use a steel pan, watch the heat so you don't scorch the fat.  Here is the recipe - this is a GREAT Fall, comfort food meal, that truly does serve 4 at about 420 calories per serving. ( 23g of fat, because of the thighs though)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup EVOO, divided
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 lb small Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into about 3/4 inch pieces
4 (6oz) skin on, bone in thighs
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper, divided
2 cups Brussels Sprouts, cut in half
1 1/2 cup rough chopped carrots
3 tbs finely chopped shallots
4 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbs light brown sugar

1) Pre heat oven to 450
2) Combine 1 to 2 tbs olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt and potatoes in a bowl, and toss to coat.  Line a 1/2 baking sheet with parchment paper, add potatoes, and bake at 450 for 15 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a fork.  Remove pan from oven, cover with foil to keep warm, and set aside.
3) Place a wire rack on another baking sheet.  Heat 1 - 2 tbs oil in a large cast iron skillet on medium high.  Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, add to hot skillet skin side down.  Cook about 8 minutes, or until skin gets crispy.  flip and cook 2 more minutes  ( chicken will NOT be cooked through) Reserve drippings in skillet. Place chicken on wire rack, and bake at 450 for about 10 more minutes, or until juices run clear, and temp is 165 degrees.
4) Return skillet to medium high heat.  Add remaining salt, and pepper, halved Brussels Sprouts, and carrots to drippings in the pan, cover, and cook about 8 minutes stirring frequently, until carrots are al dente, and the sprouts are browning.  Remove vegetables from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.  ( do NOT wipe out pan)
5) Place shallots in a small bowl.  Add vinegar to skillet, and scrape loose brown bits up.  Add this vinegar mixture, remaining oil ( should be at least 2 tbs or so) and brown sugar to shallots, and stir to combine.
6) Place 1 cup potatoes, 1/2 cup veggie mixture on plate.  Top with a thigh, and spoon shallot vinaigrette sauce over ( about 1.5 tbs or so)

Enjoy!

Oh, Man..... the PERFECT Summer Grilling Salad! Grilled Romaine, with Tomato and Corn Tumble.

So I died and went to heaven tonight.  Some of the women with whom my wife works out had been talking about grilling Romaine lettuce during exercise class last week.  She said to me - I think I pulled a recipe for that somewhere...... and lo and behold, in our massive recipe files - she found it!  Its from Better Homes and Gardens, June 2013 ( yeah I know - we save a ton of stuff!!  But in this case it was worth it!)  We did this salad ....... almost....... exactly to the recipe.   It called for grilling corn on the cob, but we were hungry, so I had a bag of frozen sweet white corn, and sauteed it in butter till slightly caramelized.  The finished product was crunchy and nicely charred, the dressing was amazing.  We gave it a 10 out of 10.  In fact, we are going to an outdoor cookout tomorrow night - I think I will bring it - it is the PERFECT company dish.  Especially one to bring and really wow your host.  Make the tumble and the dressing ahead of time - grill the lettuce for a couple of minutes and serve it at the party - guarantee it will be a hit! This will make 4 servings.  We served it with a grilled Rib Eye that we split, and it was plenty!  The flavor of the grilled Romaine really complimented the steak!

Here we go:

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen, or one ear's worth of grilled fresh corn
5 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tbs snipped green chives ( these grow like weeds in our garden)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 hearts of Romaine lettuce halved
1 cup grape and yellow grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup feta cheese

Sautee corn in butter till slightly caramelized if using frozen, grill fresh till slightly charred. Cut kernels from cob, and set aside.

While grilling corn, combine 3 tbs olive oil ( reserve the rest), the vinegar, mustard and chopped chives, and garlic.  Whisk well until emulsified.  ( One of those salad dressing makers with the internal mixer works really well here)

Combine cheese, corn and tomatoes in a small bowl.  Drizzle with some vinaigrette to coat.  Set aside.

Brush both sides of Romaine halves with remaining olive oil ( you might need a little more - don't be stingy here.)  Lightly sprinkle cut half with salt and fresh ground pepper.  Place heads on hot grill cut side up for about 1 minute to soften.  Flip and grill cut side down for about 2 - 3 minutes until lightly charred.  Tip:  DONT walk away, these cook really fast, depending on your grill.  Keep an eye on them, as they will go from perfect to burnt in about a nanosecond!

Place heads cut side up, and drizzle with remaining vinaigrette to tase.  Spoon corn , tomato and cheese mixture over the top - enjoy!!

Bon Apetit!

Sausage Ragu, with Polenta

Kudos to Cooking Light for this recipe - REALLY tasty, and fairly easy to make.  Total time to cook, about 25 minutes.  We just used off the shelf  Stop and Shop Italian Sausage links - very tasty, with lots of fennel.... yumm.

Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
12 oz Italian Sausage - chopped.  If you get links - squeeze out of the skin.
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped carrot
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 1/2 cups water, divided
1 15oz can  unsalted tomato sauce
2/3 cup polenta
1 oz parm cheese, grated ( about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley, for garnish

Directions:

Heat, oil in large, high sided skillet.  Crumble, and cook until browned, about 6 minutes or so.  Stir in pepper.  Remove sausage from pan, and remove pan from heat - do NOT wipe out pan.  Add onion, carrot and garlic to pan, Cook 7 - 9 minutes until tender ( add a splash of water if needed to help the carrots along), cook until tender.  Add sausage mixture, 1/2 cup water, and tomato sauce to pan, cook a couple of minutes .

While sausage is cooking, bring remaining 3 cups water to a boil in a medium sauce pan, and whisk in polenta.  Reduce heat, and cook for about 3 minutes until thickened, whisking frequently.

Serve pork mixture over polenta, garnish with parsely.

Enjoy!!

Cauliflower Fried Rice

Cauliflower Fried Rice!

Yummy Fried Rice, with no Rice!

So I made this the other night, while my wife is away on a biz trip.  Pretty simple recipe - no rice involved.  You can make it vegetarian, but I chose to add some Chicken.  I also took the time to dice and saute fresh carrots, instead of using the tasteless frozen peas/carrots combo.  I used a knife to dice up the cauliflower - I think a food processor would render it too fine.  It's good to be a little chunky.

So, here it is:

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower, cleaned, center cut out.  ( I quartered it and diced it by quarter, a little easier, than trying to dice the whole thing)
1 egg, beaten
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup carrots, diced fine ( about 3 medium sized)
2 stalks celery medium diced
1/2 c frozen peas
2 TBS soy sauce
1/2 TSP Sesame oil
Pea sized squirt of Ginger paste ( tubes available in the produce section)
3 Green onions, not the white parts.
2 TBS olive oil
1 pkg pre cooked chicken breast, diced fine ( optional)
Sriracha Sauce to taste ( optional - I like hot...lol)

Directions:

Dice fairly small.

Heat olive oil in large saute pan till hot.  Add onion, garlic and carrots and celery,  saute till tender, about 5 minutes or so.  While that is cooking, mince the cauliflower, fairly fine.  Add to pan, and cook for about 8 minutes or so, stirring constantly.  Cauliflower should be fairly soft.  Add the egg, and cook for another few minutes, till cooked.  Add soy sauce, sesame oil, peas, ginger, and green onions, and chicken if you wish.  Cook till soft and fragrant - probably another 5 minutes or so.  Serve garnished with green onion

Saute till cooked and soft

Blue Apron test

Ok, so I decided to join the prepared meal revolution.  Lynne signed us up for Blue Apron.  I had a co-worker ask me - " so you are a chef... (cook, but that's ok, most don't understand the distinction), and you are getting prepared meals sent to you?"  I was like - yeah - it's ok.  Be interesting to try.  Sooooo, we signed up.  Three meals a week for sixty bucks a week.  Lynne and I tend to sit on Sunday, and go through recipes, etc to decide what we want to eat for the week, then shop for the ingredients.... and hope we feel like making it all as we go.  We are both VERY busy, and some nights, to be frank, we just don't feel like cooking.  I paint at night, she is working on a blog... just  a lot going on.  So, we plan on seven meals, and make maybe three or four.  The rest ends up in the trash after a week or so.  So we thought we would try Blue Apron for Sat, Sun, Mon - when we usually actually DO cook ( Pasta Vita/ salads/ omelets the other nights).

So, Blue Apron....the first box came on a Friday - thank God I went home for lunch, cause the box was sitting on my thousand degree porch in the sun when I got there....  Was well packed, in a lunar insulated envelope ....lol... with two HUGE ice packs.  Meat was still cold, produce, on top was still cool.  Unpacked it all, and stuffed in the fridge.  The first night, we made pan seared Salmon, with Miso Soba noddle salad, with Fairy Tale Eggplant and Baby Greens.

Prep done

All the ingredients come in cool little containers - well marked, and well packaged.   It came with a recipe card, with pictures, and VERY explicit instructions.  I followed the recipe EXACTLY.... which, I have to say, was INCREDIBLY difficult for me.... cause I NEVER follow ANY recipe... I always..... improvise.  But this time I followed it ... almost... exactly....

Making the salad

Dressing

Changes I made:  I mixed the salad ingredients one step early.  I boiled the water for the noodles later than it said...I should have cut the cucumber thinner than it said... I would have diced the egg plant larger than it said.... other than that- it was easy peasey...
making the salad was easy... and the dressing was fantastic....

Holy Crap, this was HOT

Over all, I would give the meal an A- for taste, ease of making, and ingredients.  It truly is amazing the freshness of the ingredients.  the Gochulang - which I have never used was HOT!!  Used about 1/3 for the dressing. If we had used it all, would have blown our heads off!!!! - Will use the rest in SOMETHING for sure... and here we have the best benefit to this program:  NO WASTE!!

One thing to add - I am a fish snob - and this Salmon was AMAZING!!  Not fishy, fresh, not farm raised.... I would NEVER eat salmon from a source I did'nt know... and this was really good...

 They send you ONLY what you need - so there is no waste...  You don't have to spend 3 bucks on a bunch of something fresh you are only going to use a tablespoon of.   We have spent $60 bucks on the ingredients to ONE meal - and this is THREE.  The waste is the key, and there is none!!    Very easy to follow instructions, minimal equipment needed - a good non stick 10" frying pan is about it....

Final Product

Time wise, they pretty much hit it on the head - 15 min or so prep, 20 cooking... takes about 45 min total...   You can plate it to look restaurant quality... it's really that good.
I would give this an A so far....two more meals to go...

This is a home run, because, you can cook things outside your comfort zone, that taste amazing, without wasting a ton of money on excess ingredients....  It's not like the stores that sell pre made meals - you have to COOK.... there just is no waste..  HOME RUN!!! in my book.  Gets you out of your comfort zone for ingredients and techniques... and makes tasty meals.... yup.
.

Dan's Crab Cakes with Spicy Remoulade Sauce

This is a favorite of Lynne and I  - always good.  Serve it with boiled baby reds ( or tri colors in this case) and home made slaw.... yum

Dans Crab Cakes with Remoulade Sauce: (Serves 6 dinner portions)

In a large stainless bowl:

·          

·         1lb fresh crab meat ( I use claw - it's fine, and it's not worth spending 10 bucks more for lump - really doesn't make that much of a difference)

·         4 cloves garlic minced

·         1 shallot minced

·         3/4 cup frozen tri color pepper strips, minced when frozen

·         2 tbs butter

·         (combine last 4 ingredients in a fry pan, and saute till translucent,  then add to bowl with crab meat)

·         1/4 cup mayo

·         1 egg, beaten in a cup

·         2 tsp dill

·         3/4 cup parm cheese

·         3/4 cup bread crumbs

·         3 tbs old bay seasoning

·         1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

·         1/4 tsp ( to taste ) cayenne

·         3/4 tsp garlic powder

·         3/4 tsp celery salt

·         1 cup panko bread crumbs

Mix mixture in bowl until will mixed.  Let stand for an hour or so to let flavors blend.  When ready to cook, use 6 or 7 tbs of lite olive oil, and heat in fry pan till simmering.  While heating, form cakes into 3inch wide, by about 3/4 inch high patties.  Put panko crumbs on a plate, and coat each patty with the panko crumbs.  Fry for about 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown and crispy.  I often mix black pepper, garlic powder and parmesan cheese in with the crumbs.  Serve hot with Remoulade or Tartar sauce.  Serves 4.

Dan's Remoulade Sauce:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine:

·         3/4 cup mayo

·         2 tbs dijon mustard

·         1 tsp paprika

·         2 tsp horse radish

·         2 tbs chopped bread and butter pickles

·         1.5 tsp tobasco

·         1 tsp garlic powder

·         1.5 tbs capers, minced

·         2 shakes Worcestershire

·         2 tbs lemon juice

Whisk all ingredients together, and let sit in the fridge for at least one hour to blend flavors.

Poached Coconut Curry Mahi Mahi with Mango Pineapple Salsa and Coconut Rice

Made this last night - super simple, and really tasty.  The salsa was a little sweet, a little spicy - and a fantastic compliment to the fish.  The fish is simply poached in a foil pouch on the grill, in coconut milk, with a little red curry paste in it, and a few extra pieces of fruit in there.  I just bought the pre peeled fruit in the produce section of my market. The coconut rice simply replaces half the water with coconut milk - perfect with Jasmine rice.


Ingredients:

1 can coconut milk, stirred, and divided in half.
4 small Mahi Mahi fillets
2 cups mango chunks
2 cups pineapple chunks
1/2 sweet red pepper, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs brown sugar
3 tbs white wine
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes ( to taste)
1 tsp red curry paste
1tsp fish sauce
1/4 cup sliced green onions, divided.

Directions:

For the fish:

Lay two pieces of foil, about 18" long on the counter.  Lay fish fillets in center, season with salt and pepper.  Fold edges of the foil op to make a "boat".  Add 1/2 can coconut milk, red curry paste, fish sauce and a few mango/pineapple chunks.  Carefully fold edges of the foil over the fish, to make an tight seal.  Wrap another piece of foil around it if you have to, but this is an important step.  Place on pre heated grill on med high heat, and cook for about 12 minutes.


While fish is cooking, start the salsa and the rice.

For the Salsa:
In a small sautee pan, heat olive oil.  Add onions, and cook till they start to get translucent - about 3 minutes.  Add diced red peppers and cook for another couple of minutes till tender.  Add fruit, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes, the white wine, and some of the green onion slices.  Stir until heated through, but not boiling hot.

Prepare the Jasmine Rice as directed on package, but substitute 1/2 of the water for coconut milk.  You can add a little sugar to it to sweeten it up, but I didn't and it was fine.

CAREFULLY open foil packet with fish - it will be steaming hot, and very easy to get burned, so go slowly.  Place fish over rice, spoon some sauce from the packet  over fish and rice.  Top with salsa, and garnish with green onion slices.  I added some sauteed green beans to mine for a pop of color, and a veggie.

Enjoy!