Cod Provencale

Saturday night’s dinner brings us another interpretation of a wonderful recipe from My Wild Atlantic Kitchen, an Irish cookbook by Maura O’Connell Foley…Cod Provencale.I love Mediterranean style cooking, and this meal falls squarely in the realm.Ingredients• 2 cod fillets• Soft white breadcrumbs (I put a frozen hamburger bun in a food processor for a couple seconds)• Kerrygold butter• Garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped• Kerrygold butter• 1 tbsp olive oil• 6 shallots, finely chopped (I used ¼ of sweet onion)• 2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped or good quality tinned tomatoes• 3 tsp tomato puree (I left this off)• 1/4 cup apple juice• 1 mild red chilli, split, deseeded and finely chopped (I used 1 habanero)• Black pepper• oregano and or...

Air Fried Baby Back Ribs

I had a hankering for ribs tonight. But there was a storm coming in, so I decided to do something new. Ribs in the Air Fryer.I put my standard rub on the ribs (mostly onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, sea salt, paprika, basil and whatever feels good at the moment). I cut the ribs into individual ribs, which I never do on a grill. And then I air fried them (you are looking at one rack of baby back ribs) for 22 minutes at5 280°.After that, I brushed on my BBQ sauce and cooked them for another 22 minutes. I left them bone down the whole time.I served them with a few lines of BBQ sauce and joined it with a simple salad.These were great, with a nice ‘bite’. Not ‘fall of the bone’ but sometimes I think that is an over-rated attribute....

Haddock in a Ginger and Garlic Crust with Thai Dipping Sauce

For tonight’s Saturday Night Dinner we continue to explore the Irish cookbook My Wild Atlantic Kitchen. This recipe, Monkfish in a Garlic & Ginger Crust with Thai Dipping Sauce, originally requires monkfish. Needless to say, the local Food Lion doesn’t carry monkfish. But they do have cod and haddock, both of which would work with this, so I went with haddock. I think might even be great with salmon. This is my interpretation of the meal. I’m cooking for one person, so I halved the recipe. For instance, instead of 2 lbs of fish, I used 1 lbsIngredients2 lb sturdy white fish• Fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped (I used two heaping tablespoons of ginger puree)• 4 garlic cloves, peeled• 2 tbsp olive oil• 3 tbsp plain white flour, with 1...

Don goes to Ireland

In June, 2022, I flew to Ireland, a place I’ve always wanted to go. I spent two weeks exploring the island (and a little bit of Scotland). Initially I’m just going to dump a pile of photos here, and then slowly spend some time building the narrative around the trip. We start with the Delphi Valley, where I spent the first week of my adventure. After Delphi A week in Delphi Valley was wonderful. Now the journey...

Smoked Chicken/Turkey and Pork

I love smoking meat. I usually fire up my smoker once a month to fill my fridge and freezer for the next couple/few weeks. Tonight, I did two turkey legs, three chicken leg quarters, a pork loin and two pork chops. While the lump charcoal heats and the wood chips (apple and a little hickory) soak, I put a rub on the meat. My standard rub is: Garlic powder Onion powder Sea Salt Black Pepper Paprika I don’t use cumin, unless it’s for ribs. I often will mix in some pre-made blend, such as Toni’s Cajun, or Montreal Steak. Depending what I have around. Tonight I used a fair amount of Mrs. Dash. My goal is to usually smoke my meat for 2 hours and then to finish over a low gas grill. If I’m doing a Boston Butt, I start that 4 hours earlier. For this mix, 2 hours and...