Father Feeds Flock!!!

I've you've read my blog before, you probably know that I like Jamie Oliver recipes.  As a matter of fact, my favorite recipe of all time...Sorry Mom, is Joliver's proper chicken caesar salad.  I've made it several times, for several people. The key to that salad is to cook the chicken on top of the bread so that the juices drip down and soak into the croutons.  Delicious! I wanted to try a salmon version, but salmon doesn't have wonderful juice to soak the bread, so I came up with a plan B. First off, as always, I started with rosemary bacon. mmmmm...bacon. in a mortar and pestle, I put garlic and anchovy filets. I made this paste as the base of the dressing. I used lemon juice, olive oil, sour cream and the garlic-chovy paste to make the dressing.  Mix it up and let it sit in the fridge. I like to add the crumbled bacon to the dressing as it chills, as I think it adds a different dimension of flavor as oppo...

I wanted to do something a bit special for 4th of July, but I'm a bit  busy with work so I didn't have much time to plan and prepare. So I settled on burgers, but I wanted to do it a bit different than the norm. I got ground chicken and turkey and mixed it together with hoisin & soy sauce and a little chili paste.  After mixing it together, I let it chill out for a  bit in the fridge to marinate the flavors. The burger fixins were pretty standard (tomato, red onion, romaine lettuce and pickle), I also added some jalapenos and banana peppers from our garden.  I didn't stop there. I quartered some radishes and served with carrots. I wanted chips, but needed an element that was out of the ordinary.  So I got some purple potatoes and sliced them carefully in the madeline and fried them in the  trusty fry daddy. Plated along side a Shiner Hefeweizen and this holiday meal was complete.  With a small prayer...

So the Dutchess is finally rubbing off on me, and I think I have come around to the whole "being healthier" thang. Since culinary school has added even more to my spare tire, I can almost start my own tire business. I hope to find a good mix of still eating food and moving MUCH more. So hopefully FFF will include a lot more healthy inspiration,  without resorting to "rabbit food".  After all, our bodies need fats and carbs too, just not as much as we are used to. I found this recipe in the Food Network magazine. I pretty much stayed with the recipe and just plated it differently, which didn't showcase the fennel or carrots as much as the photo included with the recipe. I mise en place'd all the needed ingredients which included:  fennel quarters,  carrots, green beans, scallions, a head of garlic, basil, parsley and fennel fronds. First up was blanching the fennel and carrots to soften them. Remove them and set...

I haven't blogged in a while so I came up with this meal so  that I could pull out the camera and let you guys peer into my culinary adventures. I looked through some cook books and came across a Tyler Florence recipe for veal piccata.  The Dutchess doesn't do veal, so I changed it to chicken. First I split, then pounded the chicken breasts. I dredged it in seasoned flour... Then a quick egg bath. Next they went, one at a time, into the cast iron till they were golden brown. I put them in the microwave, not turned on, to help keep them warm while the other 2 cooked. I cooked some pasta, and started to make the sauce. The photo isn't too appealing, but make no mistake, this was delicious.  I deglazed the cast iron with  white wine, lemon juice and capers and reduced it to concentrate the flavor. I plated, on our new white plates, simply by mounding the pasta then placing the chicken on it...

In the interest of full disclosure I must mention that I was contacted by Wendy's and provided a salad to sample. I also have some blog posts on DallasFoodNerd.com, one of the posts there is my review of Snappy Salads.  Someone at Wendy's reached out to me to see if I would be interested in receiving a sample before the product was released.  I like free food, so of course, I accepted. The day came and the sample was delivered to my house.  I have eaten at Wendy's many times and I find it overall to be hot, fresh and one of the better choices for fast food convenience.  They have always had many choices such as baked potatoes, chili and salads. This is the 3rd consecutive year that this salad has been offered for a limited time only. I'm a fan of Wendy's.  Does that mean that anything they make, or send to  me will be great?  Of course not.  A few dollars for the cost of a salad isn't even close to enoug...

I wanted to make bacon wrapped scallops so I searched for something to go along with it.  I found it in a Cook's Illustrated magazine. Tomato Gratin! Slice some plumb tomatoes.  Combine with salt and sugar and place in a bowl for 30 minutes.  Use a salad spinner to get rid of excess moisture. I made the topping which included parmesan cheese, panko bread crumbs,  evoo and s/p. Saute the onions, garlic and thyme.  Place this in the bottom of a baking dish. Layer the tomatoes on top of the onion mixture. Bake for 10 minutes, till tender and bubbly. I took scallops and wrapped them in bacon, and made kabobs. I let it rest to allow the bacon flavor seep into them. After 15 minutes, take the tomatoes out and top them evenly with the panko/parmesan mixture and  cook for an additional 10 minutes. I grilled some lemon halves with the kabobs. The summer tomato gratin turned out great. ...

Dutchess' grandmother and aunt came to visit so I pulled out some recipe cards from culinary school to impress them.   The first day I made chicken caesar salad and key lime pie.  For day 2 I made coq au vin, mushroom risotto, glazed turnips and tres leches cake (not pictured). I originally was going to just do glazed turnips, but Aunt Susan mentioned that she did not like turnips, so I added the carrots. At dinner, we served family style (I normally plate up, but  for some reason I brought the food to the table for serving), aunt susan took some of both onto her plate.  I noticed at the end that even the turnips were gone.  I take this as a huge compliment, and I appreciate her adventurousness to try them. Coq Au Vin is chicken braised in red wine with mushroom, pearl onions and croutons.  The taste is amazing.  The chicken was tender and juicy and the red wine sauce with the veggies was absolutely delicious. Whi...