By request, four B&E Organic thighs, trimmed, with Sprinkle Plenty and smoked paprika. Note this is an update from a post here long ago. Over the years I have gone from boneless thighs to bone in but no skin to now bone-in with skin. And it is rather simple.
On foil in oven 400 CR for about 25 mins, then out and glazed with honey and apple cider vinegar, then under the broiler for about 5 mins more to finish.
As before with sugar snap peas, but used whole package this time, crispy fried some prochuitto first and removed, then some ginger, then the peas, added toasted sesame oil and black sesame seed at the end and the crispy prosciutto. Was very good.
Kathy made us Pomegranate Margaritas again, she is loving them, and we had some Gnarly Head with the meal, Listening to Classic Jazz. Very good.
Sunday Dinner 10 October 2021 Lamp Chops, Peppers and Eggplant, Duck Fat Potatoes
Six small chops from Sturgeon Creek Farm, Elliot, about 1.2 lbs total. With salt and Finessence.
Going back to our old favorite recipe for Spanish-Style Grilled Veggies with Breadcrumb Picada. Not going to do the grill, cold and dark out, and these peppers from Zacks are small, so can I do them in a grill pan? Cut the peppers in half and seeded, oiled and put skin side down in grill pan and let cook awhile and get some grill marks then removed.
Cut a bunch of tiny eggplants from From the Ground in half, oiled and then grilled cut side down to get some marks then flipped to finish cooking.
Made the toasted Panko bread crumbs with garlic from From the Ground again, and the lots of the dressing of parsley, parsley from our garden. Also used the dressing as board sauce on the chops. A bunch small potatoes, again from From the Ground, in duck fat in the big CI and then in oven at 425 CR for about 20 mins, with some sage from our garden.
A really delicious meal, everything local! With an Akiyoshi Red Wine Blend. Very good.
Using a pound of NFM “ground” wild salmon, dried with paper towels, then salt and lots of KH, cooked quickly in the grill pan. Not sure if that helps, but maybe the ridges add some extra sear.
Made a good sized batch of the chimichurri, with lots of our garden oregano, parsley and window sill basil. And a diced jalapeno. Pan fried a bit of prosciutto in butter then the sugar snap peas.
Kathy made us a good drink before, with proseco, then we had a light red with the meal.
We love wings but sadly our favorite wing place is shut down for the duration. So I have been eyeing a recipe in my file for baked wings that promise to be crispy as well. And when I ventured out to Market Basket I was able to get organic Bell & Evans chicken wings. We have learned, it does make a difference. It is not just because they are organic, I know that, but it is that the product is higher quality.
The recipe for Crispy Baked Chicken Wings is from Bon Appetite and I expect you can find it there. But summarizing, I spread out the wing on a plate, salted, let stand a bit, added a lot of David’s Devil Dust and let sit a while.
Then on to a wire rack and into the oven at 400 F convection roast for 40 minutes. Was perfect, these smaller wings were showing some nice crispness.
The sauce is sorta your standard Buffalo sauce, butter, cayenne or more David’s Devil Dust, salt and pepper and some hot sauce, like Frank’s. Tossed the wings in it just before serving.
I had some poblanos in the fridge so wanted to make up some Mexican Mac & Cheese. I blistered the poblanos, then removed skin, stems and seeds and cut into strips. Then slow cooked some onions in butter, added the roasted poblanos, sliced serrano, garlic and oregano. Then added some cooked penne, creme fraiche and queso fresca. Add some more pasta water if too dry.
The shishitos are wicked simple, wash and dry them then toss in a blistering hot skillet with a bit of oil, let them take on some color and then season with flaky sea salt. Done.
There you have it. Serve with a nice red wine, Cattoo reminds us of our cat Wavey, she must have been their model at some point. Or some beer, your choice. Not only an excellent fun meal, but the leftovers a few days later were every bit as good.
We were very lucky this day to get a delivery of fresh caught haddock from New England Fishmongers by Captain Tim himself. He placed it in a cooler on our front porch, all social distancing protocols properly observed.
We got hooked on cooking fish this way when we were up in Newfoundland in 2018 and had their wonderful fresh caught cod often. Its really simple, cut the fish up into bite sized pieces, salt & pepper, flour and then pan fry in a modest amount of oil. Hint: on the small pieces near the tail you can fold it in half, skin side in, set them carefully in the oil that way and they will stay folded.
I like to make my own tarter sauce, I use a really simple recipe from Rebecca Charles of the Perl Oyster Bar in NYC.
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup roughly chopped capers
1/4 cup chopped cornichons, plus 2 tbls of the juice
3 cups Hellmann’s mayonnaise
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper.
Just mix all of those together.
For a bit of crispyness I did some Crispy Kale, a simple version. Cut kale from the stem and then cut into moderate pieces, sprinkle with a bit of Diamond kosher salt and some David’s Devil Dust. Make sure the seasonings get evenly distributed, kale has wrinkles and folds that can fill up, then give it a good coat of oil and massage it in. Yes, hands work best, and the kale loves it.
Spread on parchment on a baking sheet and in the oven at 350 convection roast for 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it and give it good toss and turn about half way through. Go a little longer if necessary, but what you want is just crispy, not desiccated. I shut off the heat and leave the oven door ajar to keep them warm as the rest of the dinner comes together.
French Fries would be fun, but I have some lemon potatoes made a few nights ago that will be just fine. After a brief warm up in the microwave in a cast iron skillet they go to get a bit of fresh sear on them.
This is one of our all time favorites, good for a casual Friday night, especially if your favorite wing place is closed during the pandemic.
I usually get a pound of Bell & Evans chicken tenders, and while it is a bit of a pain, removing the “tender” tendon does improve the final product. And I cut the larger pieces in half. The process is to first salt them a bit and let them sit while you gather up the rest of what you need or work on the salad.
I set up one small pan with flour in it, then a bowl with two eggs beaten, and another small pan with 1 cup of panko, 3 tablespoons Sprinkle Plenty, and 1 of David’s Devil Dust. Heat up some oil in a large skillet and you are ready to go. Lightly flour each piece, then dip in egg, and then roll in the panko with the seasonings. Add to skillet but do them in batches so the heat stays up. But do watch the heat, these pieces are small and you can burn them. Remove to a serving platter when done, about 3-4 minutes.
I usually make a blue cheese sort of dip to go with them, Some diced red onion, some scallion, a bit of mushed garlic and salt, and grated blue cheese mixed in to creme fraiche, Greek yogurt with a dash of black pepper.
Looking for something to do on the salad tonight. I have very little Romaine left so used boxed greens. Made a dressing based on something I found in one of my notebooks, a rift on something Rick Bayless did. A creamy dressing, made with some mayo, some Worcestershire sauce, some smushed garlic & salt. I chopped up an avocado, and some red grape tomatoes. I dressed the greens, topped with veggies, a grind of black pepper and a squeeze of lime. And a bit of grated Ricotta Salata to finish it off. Came out quite nice.
And be sure to have some Frank’s Red Hot to splash on the tenders.
Beer works good with this but tonight we had a variety of almost empty wines to finish up.
This is a recipe I came across long ago in Cooking Light and have been making a variation of with Pepper Coast Products. The original calls for herbes de Provence. We have a blend we are working on but, sorry, we have not put that one on the market. However Finessence makes a mighty good Mediterranean seasoning that that you can get from us.
Start with 4 medium chicken breasts, if you can find them. I was lucky this time and was able to get Bell & Evans breasts that were 6 1/2 oz. Often they tend to run much larger, around 9-10 oz. You might want to consider cutting those larger ones in half horizontally. You can pound them a bit to make them more equal thickness but this is optional. Season with Diamond kosher salt and a generous coat of Finessence. You be the judge of how much, but the heat in Finessence is restrained so most people will find it tolerable.
Cook the beasts in a large skillet in oil for about 6 minutes a side and remove to a plate to keep warm.
Next make a sauce in the pan. Add some minced garlic, cook briefly then add about a cup of chicken broth and some more Finessence and loosen up the brown bits on the skillet. Cook until the mixture is reduced by about a half. Then remove from heat and stir in some unsalted butter and lemon juice.
Serve sauce over chicken and garnish with thyme sprigs. (I did not have any fresh thyme this night so used a bit of dry. )
This night I has some nice looking fat asparagus. I have come to prefer the fat ones, they cook nicely with lots of flavor. My simple method is to remove a bit off the butt, I still snap them, then wash and placed in a large non-stick skillet. Sprinkle with Diamond kosher salt, add a good splash of good extra-virgin olive oil and some balsamic vinegar and then turn the heat on.
I keep an eye on the while cooking the chicken and keep their butts to the fire so to speak to keep them cooking evenly. That is I move the butts toward the center of the pan and slide the pan off center. When done I toss some lemon zest curls over them, a bit of lemon juice and some Maldon Flake salt.
I had been eyeing this recipe in the Cook’s Illustrated Annual for 2018 and now that we are hunkered down at home I have more time to organize meals and give them a try. I had some shrimp, and a pound of cod as called for. Cooked up in the Big Blue Dutch Oven. Interesting method here, make the stock and veggies, add coconut milk, bring to a boil and add fish, shut off the heat and cover. That’s it. Cooks perfectly.
The dollops of red you see in there are a salsa made with pickled red cherry chiles from a jar. They promised it would be a hit, and they are right, wonderful hot chile taste but nicely balanced.
To go along with this I made up a kale salad, some organic purple kale torn, a bit of salt and some oil rubbed on it to soften. A dressing with anchovy paste and mustard with the oil and vinegar, and then topped with some crumbled feta and pomegranate seeds. Just a bit of dressing.
Some nice crusty toasted French Bread from a local bakery, one of our favorite wines, Kungfu Girl Riesling, and extra sauce on the side.
Looks like we are going to be socially distant for a long while, but that does not mean we can’t have some nice meals.
Using the Rana Asparagus & Mozzarella Ravioli. Very nice taste and cooks up in 4 minutes.
I am thinking of a dish we have made often, called Sea Hawk pasta that we made often on our small sail boat. But want to be restrained and let the pasta shine.
I sliced yellow and green summer squash thin, quickly sauteed in a bit of oil, then added some capers. Then when they were tender half of three heirloom tomatoes diced. Then some smoked Coho Salmon broken up. Had some dill in fridge to add. Squash was just slightly cooked, the other just warmed a bit. Served in pasta bowls, warmed. veggies on bottom, ravioli tossed in EVOO before being placed on top. Add a bit more dill weed and some fresh ground pepper and you are ready to eat.
With Butter chardonnay.
Kathy was doubtful when I was fixing it, but delighted when she tasted it. A big hit.
Used the shiitake and oyster mushrooms we got at the farmer’s market Sunday in a clear broth mushroom soup from Cooking Light. It calls for three cups of mushrooms, I only had two but it still worked nicely. I used lots more vegetables (1/4 cup each) and more herbs than called for. And more fat.
Four B&E Chicken breasts with Feather Dustings, using the recipe from Gourmet with the shaved zucchini pappardelle. Fun, nice, but I think the chicken breasts need to be thinner, these were about 1 lb each. Pound them next time? It calls for skin on but I have never tried that. Zucchini was organic from New York.
Usual on caprese, using tomatoes we bought Sunday at the farmer’s market.
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