Father Feeds Flock!!!

JLiver's book "Meals in Minutes" strikes again! First I crisped up the chicken in the cast iron, while I made the  jerk sauce (scallions, ground nutmeg, allspice, clove, garlic, thyme,  honey, bay leave and white wine vinegar - I left out the scotch bonnet chili and rum). I went rouge and roasted corn with mayonnaise on the grill. Brown rice and black beans were cooked in chicken stock  with scallions and cinnamon stick. A chopped salad with endive, romaine, red pepper and alfalfa sprouts was dressed simply with olive oil and the juice of 2 limes. This is in my top 10 delicious meals I've made.   The jerk sauce had tons of flavor, but was not hot and spicy like traditional jerk sauce. The chicken was nice and crispy, and made perfect with the addition of the jerk. The rice and beans were nice and hearty, the corn was good as always, even without the parmesan cheese as I usually do. The flock was fed with a...

I saw these in Cook's Country magazine, at least a version of what I eventually made.  I got merely the idea and a special trick from the magazine, the rest was from my food crush, JLiver! The few tricks from the recipe involved the pepperoni.  First, you microwave the pepperoni to render the fat (pepperoni oil). Separate and maintain oil and pepperoni. Then I created JLiver's homemade pizza dough, with another trick. I took the pepperoni oil and added it to the dough ingredients.  As always, let the dough double in size. Then I rolled it out to a thin sheet and used my new pizza cutter to cut rectangles. The basic setup is a few halved balls of mozzerella, the microwaved pepperoni, and a leaf of garden basil (not shown, as I made a few for Zachary sans basil). I rolled the rectangles up to create the rolls. Instead of an egg wash, I used the liquid from the mozz balls to make sure the sesame seeds stuck. ...

I have started an entry level position in the food industry in advance of starting culinary school this summer.  Please go to Facebook and like us! I'm one of the kitchen managers at the new Rusty Taco.  Come by and see what we're all about!!! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rusty-Taco-The-Colony/435812759762079

Ok, so I think its time to admit that I have a food crush on Jamie Oliver!!! I don't think I've ever been disappointed when I have followed one of his joints. Since I have to work on mother's day, we celebrated today, saturday. The Dutchess got an orchid, an electronic blooming flower and 3 cool necklaces. To top it off I did what any aspiring chef would do...I made her a (semi) fancy dinner. I pulled out my christmas gift, J-Livers book "Meals in Minutes". After flipping through several pages, I landed on a winner, Tasty crusted cod, my mashy peas, tartar sauce and warm garden salad. We went to Kroger Marketplace to gather ingredients.  The cod did not look good, so I chose orange roughy. This recipe kept me pretty busy, so there aren't many photos, but I got the most important ones...the crusted fish, and the completed plate. So the fish is slightly cooked with olive oil, s/p and fennel seeds. Meanwhile, I started to cook th...

I had dinner with some friends of this weekend. I promised her that I wouldn't blog about her, so lets just call  her Suzy!  Now, "Suzy" is a great cook, and I have enjoyed many meals over the years courtesy of her hands.  She did not ruin her winning streak, and cooked a red snapper wrapped in a parchment pouch with herbs and lemons.  It was so good, that it inspired me to use this method for my flock, the very next day. I repeat, the following photos are NOT from "Suzy", hers looked much better.  These photos are instead, my version of  Tilapia  En Papillote with Polenta and Arugela with Mango Sauce. I'm proud to say that I was able to whip this one up from items I  had in the garden, pantry and freezer.  Frozen tilapia is awesome to  have around, a few minutes thawing in some warm water, and fresh seafood. I choose oregano and sage for the herbs, and I rested the fish on  a leaf of kale. ...