Muscles Provencales

I was delighted to stumble across muscles in the frozen seafood department at the Food Lion. This opened the doors for one of my favorite meals, Muscles Provencales! This is a flexible seafood meal whose base is a delightful Tomato-Safron base. First, and most important is to make your own seafood stock. I use the shells from about a pound of shrimp. Of course, save the shelled shrimp to toss in later. My seafood Stock:Shells, from shrimp,1 large yellow onion, sliced or chopped1 carrot, roughly sliced or chopped1 celery stalk, roughly sliced or chopped2 tablespoons tomato paste (optional)2 sprigs thymeSeveral sprigs parsley1 bay leaf10 to 15 whole peppercorns1 teaspoons salt4 cups of water. Simmer for an hour. 30 minutes would be the minimum. Strain in a fine...

Prime Rib Chili

Post-Christmas Prime Rib Chili As previously noted, after Thanksgiving, on Friday I always make turkey enchiladas. So I thought…why not make a post Christmas meal, and since I always cook a Standing Rib Roast, I’ll incorporate that. Thus, Prime Rib Chili. I decided to pull back on the heat a bit so the meat could shine…and it did. I sliced off a thick steak after the Christmas meal, and set it aside. The next day I chopped it up to spoon size pieces. The next day I caramelized 1 onion with olive oil on the bottom of my crock pot, set on high. I added a diced yellow bell pepper, let that cook till soft and then added about 4 cloves of minced garlic. I cooked this for a few minutes until the garlic was fragrant. I ground in some fresh black...

Don’s Air Fried Naked Wings

Put a large package (app. 16 wings) of wings into your air frier. Dust with Creole or Cajun seasoning. I used Tony’s. Cook at 370° for 30 minutes. Caramelize half an onion in olive oil. Use a large skillet. Chop up a handful of red bell pepper, a large jalapeno and several cloves of garlic. Add the peppers, cook till soft with the onions, and then add the garlic for a minute. Pour in a bottle of Franks wing sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes or so. Add hot sauce if desired. I add about 1/4 cup of Cholula. Toss in the cooked wings. Only a quick stir is needed. I served this with a Mexican Street Corn...

Garlic Pesto Gnocchi

Tonight, a Baked Gnocchi Red Sauce with Chicken, Basil and Garlic. Tonight, a Baked Gnocchi Red Sauce with Chicken, Basil and Garlic. I loved tonight’s meal. It was a cold Friday, I had some peppers, chicken, garlic, onions and huge box of basil gnocchi. I wanted to make a red sauce gnocchi, but end it as a casserole kinda thing to share after this meal. My wonderful sous chef kicked in to help. So we cut two chicken breasts into small, bite-size pieces and pan seared them in olive oil. We removed them from the pan, and then did my usual red sauce, onions, bell peppers, sauteed and then added the garlic. To this we added a can of crushed tomatoes, a can of diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste. I wanted this to be a thick sauce. Then we added fresh...

Creamy Gnocchi and Mushrooms

Tonight (possible for the first time) I’m not writing up a main dish, but a side dish. Creamy Gnocchi and Mushrooms. It actually could serve as a main dish if you didn’t want a protein, but this was served with an air fried roasted chicken with asparagus.. But for this posting, we’ll focus on this absolutely delightful side to have on a cold, rainy Sunday evening. When planning this meal, I could see we had a rainy day ahead, so I went on Amazon and ordered my basil gnocchi. It’s amazing that we can actually do this, but I live in Colonial Beach, and I can’t just assume that I have anything other than regular potato gnocchi. Two days later it showed up. I found the basis of this recipe online, and tweaked it a bit. But I’m very...