Roasted Chicken

Or we could call it It Takes a Village Roast Chicken.  For whatever reason, I wanted to roast a whole chicken.  The $4.99 chicken-in-a-plastic-container wasn't enough.  No, I needed to make a mess of the kitchen.  Good thing I like to clean up.

I put a request for help on facebook.  I had so much help that I didn't even need the other sites.  We had everything we needed from friends.  I started with this recipe:

1 (3 pound) whole chicken, rinsed
1 small onion, quartered
1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
I added lemon, garlic, and an apple.     

My friend Tamara wrote this:
Take a dull knife, like a butter knife and lift the skin off the breast, slicing through the membrane. Make a marinade of rosemary, olive oil, lemon, sea salt, garlic and pepper in the blender. Pour 3/4 of the mixture under the skin, into the cavity. Pour the remaining 1/4 onto the outside of the bird. Cook. Eat.

Other great friends sent links, ideas, and advice.  Like make sure the chicken is dead.  And plucked.  Excellent advice.









We cooked it to:






Tamara,  it was MAGNIFICENT.  While it's a little messy, it sure beats the store-bought stuff. 

Cheers to Christmas vacation!

Green beans

I love vegetables.  I love farmers' markets.  I have fresh green beans, pine nuts, and feta cheese.  Together, it all sounds really good to me.  So this recipe is adapted from several other recipes.  Yum.  

Ingredients
1/3 pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed, blanched in boiling salted water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Sprinkle of feta cheese

Directions
 
Drain green beans well and pat dry.

Toast the pine nuts. When toasted, add the green beans with a little butter and toss to coat evenly. Cook just enough to warm through, about 1 minute. Add the lemon juice, sprinkle with feta cheese, and serve immediately.

Chopped Salad

I originally posted this in 2008. It's still delicious.  We had it last night with some ribeyes.

Salads I think are the most overlooked component of a good meal. When we lived in San Diego, one of our very favorite restaurants was Sammy's Wood Fired Pizza. The name was a misnomer, as some of the BEST items on the menu were salads. And pasta. But salads are the focus here. I loved their chopped salad and worked to replicate it, just as deliciously but not as much work. So here is my very best knock off. Enjoy.

Salad

* 1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped (for two people 1/3 - 1/2 head is PLENTY)
* 12 leaves basil (or more) chopped (I use way more ...)
* 3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
* 1/2 cup salami, cut into thin strips (optional)
* 2 tablespoons scallion, chopped (optional)
* Black olives (optional)

From 2012-08-04

I can't replicate the dressing but I can do one better. (Paul) Newman's Own Dressing Classic Oil and Vinegar is the best for it. Using sparingly. This salad doesn't keep so eat up!

Mustard Marinated Flank Steak

I needed to create a marinade for a flank steak and I was limited to what I had on hand at our cottage. Below is the marinade I create with the ingredients in my cupboard.

Mustard Marinated Flank Steak

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons coarse mustard

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Place all the ingredients into a zip-lok bag and let the meat marinate overnight.

Prepare a fire in a grill. Remove the steak from the back and discard the marinade. Place the steak on the grill and cook for 10-12 minutes (medium rare). Turn the steak once while cooking. Remove from the grill when done and place on a cutting board.

Cover the steak with foil and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes. Cut along the grain of the steak and serve at once.

Cook's Notes: This was a very good marinade. I cooked the steak for ~12 minutes, turning it once after about 6 minutes.

Burgers

We are tired.  We have been up north all weekend so "the royal we" didn't feel much like cooking.  So burgers on the grill it is.

Courtesy of Allrecipes.com

1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
4 hamburger buns, split

Per others' reviews, we skipped the salt.   We grilled some buns, baked some crinkly fries, and put oranges in our Oberons!   Happy summer cooking.  Cheers!

Sesame Honey Grilled Shrimp

We had a Surf & Turf themed dinner just East of the Equator last night. The turf part was easy enough: I took two beautiful ribeye out of the fridge about an hour before I put them on the grill and we seasoned them with Montreal Steak Seasoning. As for the surf, Deirdre and I have been on a bit of a shrimp kick the past few weeks. We scoured the internet for some new recipes and we found a recipe that looked very good.

From East of the Equator, Summer 2011

Here is the recipe:

Sesame Honey Grilled Shrimp

- 1/2 cup sesame oil

- 1/4 cup honey

- 2 1/2 tablespoons of lime juice

- 1/2 tsp. ginger

- 1/2 tsp. minced garlic

- 1lb uncooked lg. shrimp, peeled and drained

- 5-6 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for an hour.

Mix first 6 ingredients in large bowl. Season with salt. Add shrimp, turning to coat marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Prepare barbecue (medium high heat). Remove the skewers from the water and remove shrimp from marinade. Skewer the shrimp, placing 5-6 shrimp on each skewer. Place the skewered shrimp on the grill shrimp until done, 3-4 minutes approximately each side.

Cook's Notes: We marinated the shrimp for 90 minutes and they turned out great. This recipe uses a lot of sesame oil, but the flavor of the shrimp is amazing. Because of the honey, the shrimp sort of carmelized, so the shrimp did not have much of a pink color when they were done. If you like any of the ingredients in this recipe, you gotta try this recipe.

Saturday night Surf and Cluck Dinner

It has been a little slow at the Cafe recently. Work has been getting in the way of my blogging, but it does pay for our slice of paradise on Lake Huron. Speaking of East of the Equator, we had a Surf and Cluck dinner last night: Margarita Grilled Shrimp and Cajun Chicken.

From East of the Equator, Summer 2011

 Here are the recipes:

Margarita Grilled Shrimp

Ingredients:

- 1lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined - 3 T fresh chopped cilantro

- 2 cloves garlic, minced - 1/4 t ground red pepper

- 2 T fresh lime juice - 1/4 t salt (optional)

- 3 T olive oil - 5-6 bamboo skewers, soaked in water

- 2 T tequila for 1 hour

1. Combine the shrimp, garlic lime juice, olive oil, tequila, cilantro, red pepper and salt in a bowl and mix. Cover and place in a refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.

2. Prepare an outdoor grill. When the charcoal is ready, drain the marinade from the shrimp and discard. Thread the shrimp on the skewers,

3. Cook the shrimp on the grill until the shrimp turn pink, 3-4 minutes per side

Cook's Notes: I cooked the shrimpies for ~ 6 minutes and they turned out great. next time, I will add more red pepper. This recipe is a keeper.

Cajun Chicken

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup olive oil - Garlic powder to taste

- 2 1/2 t Cajun seasoning - 2 1/2 t lemon pepper

- 2 1/2 t dried Italian seasoning - 4 skinless chicken breasts

1. In a shallow bowl, mix the oil, Cajun seasoning, Italian seasoning, garlic powder and lemon pepper. Place the chicken in the dish and turn the breasts to coat them in the marinade. Cover and place in a refrigerator for 1 hour.

2. Prepare an outdoor grill. When the charcoal is ready, remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade.

3. Place the chicken breasts on the grill and cook until done, 8-10 minutes per side.

Cook's Notes: This was an incredibly easy dish to make and it was delicious. For Cajun seasoning, I used Emeril's Essence. Also, I had never heard of "Italian seasoning" until I saw this recipe. Conveniently, I found a bottle of Italian Seasoning at Meijers. After the chicken was done, I placed the breasts on a plate and covered them with aluminum foil and I allowed the chicken to rest for 10 minutes before I served them. I will definitely make this recipe again!


We washed it down with a delightful wine.  

From East of the Equator, Summer 2011

Cheers from East of the Equator!

Good Friday Dinner

Deirdre here ... this Easter weekend while joyful, has been slightly truncated.  Paul and I had Friday off and invited Ann Marie (our fave college student and Samson's BFF) here for dinner and an escape from the dorms.   Paul was heading back to Grosse Pointe on Saturday for a quick visit with his parents, and Ann Marie went along to see her family.  We celebrated Friday with a magnificent menu of baked scallops and crab legs.  

What is delightful and inspiring all in one thought is that Paul doesn't eat seafood.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zero. Zilch.  But the guy can hack, toss, bake and boil this stuff better than any restaurant or professional chef that I have ever met.  And having Ann Marie in the kitchen with him is like having Emeril Lagasse and Rachel Ray cooking feasts.  People, it's crazy.  Crazy good.  

Along with the baked scallops, we boiled crab legs.  We bought the legs when we were in Sam's Club shopping one afternoon and threw them in the freezer, knowing that Good Friday was fast approaching.   The easiest (and most delicious) way that we have found to cook them is to hack 'em up and throw them in a pot of boiling water.  Along with drawn butter, fresh lemons and our favorite wine from Art of the Table, the meal was a smashing success.  

People sometimes wonder why I post in the cooking blog.  Really since boiling water is easily a stretch, should I even be posting?  In my defense, I do make the salad, set the table, do the dishes and people, take the pictures!  What's a great blog without some awesome pics?  We all have our gifts.   Tonight is Paul's Rack of Lamb.  Stay tuned.  And Happy Easter.  

Some good eats

We are busy preparing for the holiday feast, our favorite time of the year, Thanksgiving. We did some prep work with our weekly visit to Art of the Table to pick up some goodies. This year, Paul is going to brine a turkey breast. We picked up a couple of different brines from Amy; one is a traditional brine with sage, rosemary and juniper berries; the other is a herby brine with coriander, lavender, tarragon and lemon peel. Doesn't that sound heavenly? They are made by Golden Fig Epicurean Delights. Of course, there will be a full report to follow and I imagine that it will be glowing.

We also took Amy's recommendation of a delicious 2005 pinot Balletto from Sonoma to accompany our turkey. I like white wine well enough but we were thinking crazy and decided on a red. Crazy. Crazy good.

Tonight, we are taking it culinarily easy with a couple of rib eyes on the grill. While resting, we put a bit of gorgonzola cheese on top to give the steak a zing.

Happy eats!

Sunday Dinner

Tonight, I am making a pot of chili. As the evenings are starting to cool down here, a hot bowl of chili sounded like a great idea for dinner. I found basics of this recipe a few years ago and I have modified it a little. One modification I made was to add a pound of pork sausage instead of three pounds of ground chuck.


Paul's Chili

2 large onions, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 carrots, sliced
3 lbs boneless beef chuck, ground coarse (cut back if adding sausage)
lb pork sausage (optional)
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon crumbled dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried hot red pepper flakes
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 1/4 cups beef broth
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot cook the onions in the olive oil over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are softened. Once the onions are softened, add the garlic and carrots, then cook and stir the mixture for 1 minute. Add the beef and cook it over moderate heat, stirring and breaking up any lumps, until the beef is no longer pink. Add the chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, and the red pepper flakes, then cook and stir the mixture for 1 minute. Add the tomato sauce, beef broth, cider vinegar and bring the mixture to a boil. After the mixture begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally for 50 to 60 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and cook for 15 more minutes.

Serves 6

Follow up recipe - Pork Tenderloin

Last week, we decided to cook dinner in our new kitchen and invited our friend, Deb to join us. Since Deb has done so much to help us - recommended the Deb Memorial Pocket Door and all the painting, it was only right that she was our first guest. We had a pork tenderloin to cook, no time to marinate it so we put out an SOS to our friends and cooks extraordinaire - Lisa and Jen.

Both responded immediately with fantastico recipes. Since we wanted a recipe with few ingredients and no marinade, we choose a recipe from Lisa. Holy cow was it GOOD. And with the cost of food, pork is so affordable. We will most definitely make this again.

Mustard-Crusted Pork Roast

4-5 lb boneless pork loin roast

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 TBS dried rosemary

1/2 cup coarse grain mustard

8 cloves garlic - mashed or minced

3 TBS olive oil

3 TBS Balsamic Vinegar

Place pork in greased roasting pan. Rub w/salt, pepper, rosemary. Combine next 4 ingredients and spread evenly over pork. Bake at 375 uncovered for 1 to 1 1/4 hours (or until pork internal temperature registers 160 degrees

New meal in the Convection Oven

Well, we are smoking...ha! Our first meal from the kitchen was terrific. We made a pork chop meal in a 2 quart Pyrex container. The pork chops were dirt cheap at Meijer, a place were we are doing a lot more shopping. Along with some chili sauce, a little brown sugar, sliced onions and lemon, the chops cooked for about 45 minutes, and rested for about 10. They were absolutely delicious. I have some extra for lunch.

Along with the rest of world, we are conscious of where we shop, going local as much as possible. Meijer has amazing produce, far better than our local (and very high priced D & W), an excellent selection of dry goods and milk/yogurt products and all the bottle and can beverages known to man. A far better selection than Sam's Club and lower prices than D & W. And we are supporting a local business. We keep our membership to Sam's Club for the lower gas price - and that is significant, and we buy staples there as well.

We were going to do the chicken enchiladas tonight but our neighbors Dennis and Amy are doing a final hurrah for the summer - some brats on the grill, a couple of cold Oberon and Founder's Ale and some fellowship. We have later in the week with rain coming to cook indoors.

Cheers from the Cafe!

What's cooking?

Well tonight, it's going to be ribeyes on the grill, along with asparagus and corn. Paul has become the corn grilling man. He wraps it in tin foil and it is JUST perfect.

Our friends at Art of the Table recommended a unique bottle of zinfandel for our ribeyes.
Since they have never steered us wrong, we immediately obliged. We will post a review of the wine post Saturday meal.

It is so wonderful to be cooking again. We have work space in the kitchen, the weather is nothing short of perfect and those bag o'salads are coming in quite handy. With the convection oven installed, we have some flexibility for meals. Whew. And when the rest of the appliances are installed, the possibilities will be endless.

My favorite Salad

Deirdre posting...

Salads I think are the most overlooked component of a good meal. When we lived in San Diego, one of my very favorite restaurants was Sammy's Wood Fired Pizza. The name was a misnomer, as some of the BEST items on the menu were salads. And pasta. But salads are the focus here. I loved their chopped salad and worked to replicate it, just as deliciously but not as much work. So here is my very best knock off. Enjoy.

Salad

* 1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
* 12 leaves basil (or more) chopped
* 3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
* 1/2 cup salami, cut into thin strips (optional)
* 2 tablespoons scallion, chopped

I can't replicate the dressing but I can do one better. (Paul) Newman's Own Dressing is the best for it. Using sparingly. This salad doesn't keep so use it up! Eat up, too.

Perfection

With the bathroom on a mini hiatus, Paul decided to cook tonight. He is making Chicken Provencale since it has been over a week since he made it. :) I think that we are having rice, steamed asparagus and a salad.

This is one of my favorite meals and Paul continues to tweak and experiment. I encourage you to try it!

Chicken despite disrupted Chi

Dinner was a joy. We were sitting around this morning in sub zero temperatures, drinking coffee and enjoying the fire in our fireplace. I said to Paul, "I think I would like chicken for dinner." And despite our Chi being completely displaced, Paul obliged. Chicken with Lemon and Capers. Chicken pan friend with a magnificent sauce of lemon, butter, white wine and capers. Oh, magnifique! A little chicken and herbed cous cous and a salad, it was perfect for a bitterly cold winter night.

The recipe is in the Group list. Email me if you need it!

Friday Night's Dinner

Dee and I woke up to our first significant snow fall on Friday morning. 3-4 inches of the fluffy white stuff was on the ground when we awoke. The roads were a little messy Friday morning, so I waited until the afternoon to go shopping for the ingredients I need for making the meals for the weekend. I had set the menus for the weekend, but by the time we approached cocktail hour Friday night, I felt like Chinese food. There is a great Chinese take out restaurant at the Breton Village Mall near our home, Grand Lakes Chinese Restaurant. This is a typical Chinese take out joint, were the man and woman who run the place speak to each other in Mandarin and then speak to you in English. Their menu is extensive and the meals we have picked up there have always been nothing short of fantastic. One recurring theme at Grand Lakes Chinese is that whenever we call or a take out order the voice on the other end of the phone tells us, "Your order will be ready in 10 minutes." Thus, Dee and I adopted the term for a meal from this restaurant as "10 Minute." Last night, we had "10 Minute" which was a euphemism for Hunan Beef, extra spicy, with Boiled Dumplings (also known as Pot Sticker) with Sesame Sauce. Dinner was great and my fortune cookie said, "You will set foot on the soils of many countries." Rather accurate, eh?

And yes, Hunan Beef goes down extremely well with Founders IPA!