Pan seared cod with spinach and a hollandaise sauce

This Saturday’s Dinner Date loosely draws from My Wild Atlantic Kitchen, once again. My partner and adorable co-chef Carolyn Flynn was flipping through some potential options when she mentioned a Mousseline Sauce (a hollandaise based sauce) that went with a prawn and spinach pastry. My brain locked on the words ‘spinach’ and ‘hollandaise’. I had never thought to put hollandaise sauce on anything but tight pile of poached eggs, Canadian bacon and an English muffin. But a hollandaise sauce on a white fish what stuck in my head. So tonight, via our zoom link, we prepared our dinners. My take was a pan seared seasoned cod, served on a bed of wilted spinach, topped with a hollandaise sauce. I rubbed the cod with a pepper, onion powder,...

Beef Stroganoff 2.0

On a rainy, overcast day my body wanted some warm comfort food. Recently my kitchen has produced some great cold-weather meals including Chili, Guinness Beef Stew and Irish Fish Soup. Tonight I had a hankering for a classic comfort food that I haven’t made in years. Because I’m me…I wanted to elevate the traditional Beef Stroganoff. A bit. My version includes bacon, lots of white wine, tomato paste and a yet-to-be named processed cheese food. This whole meal was prepared in my 16″ iron skillet. First step was bacon. I had some in my freezer. So with a little olive oil , I cooked about 4 strips, cut in half. Put the bacon on some paper towel on the side. To the bacon drippings I added a thin-sliced sirloin (placed in the freezer while the...

Wild Atlantic Seafood Soup

For our weekly Saturday night dinner day, my pretty Irish lass suggested a meal from our favorite cookbook, My Wild Atlantic Kitchen. So we set our sights on Wild Atlantic Seafood Soup. I took a HUGE detour on this recipe for 2 reasons. #1, I live in a town with few options at the store #2, I don’t like fennel, star anise or tarragon I’ll run the recipe in full, but will note my departures with (*). Ingredients • 2 tbsp olive • 2oz butter • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped • 6 shallots, finely chopped (*used four) • 1 leek, washed and finely chopped • 1 fennel bulb, finely chopped (*used ½ if the bulb) • 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped • 1 tbsp tomato puree (*half a can of tomato paste) • 1140m1 / 2 pints shellfish stock (*I made my standard stock, water,...

Irish Pub Style Guiness Beef Stew

With the temperatures dipping into the 20s in both Colonial Beach I decided to go a heart warming soup/stew route. This recipe is a bit of a hybrid between My Wild Atlantic Kitchen and The Daring Gourmet. Irish pub-style Guinness Beef Stew • 6 slices bacon ,diced• 2 pounds beef chuck• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (with pepper, salt if you like,)• 2 medium-large yellow onions ,chopped• 4 cloves garlic ,minced• 3 medium firm red potatoes, cut into bit-sized chunks• 2 large carrots ,chopped in 1/2 inch pieces• 2 ribs celery ,chopped in 1/2 inch pieces• 1 bottle (1 pint or 16 ounces) Guinness Extra Stout• 1 cup strong beef broth• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce• 1/4 cup tomato paste• 2 teaspoon fresh thyme• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper• 2 bay leaves•...

Albequreque International Balloon Festival 2022

October in Albequreque is all about the launching of hundreds of hot air balloons. It’s a wonderous thing to see. It was amazing to see the logistics of getting 500 balloons airborne in the early morning. If you have an open spot on your bucket list, put this on...