Salmon with Onion Gastrique

Salmon with Onion Gastrique

Saturday night’s dinner with honey Carolyn Flynn was one for the books. In fact, it came from a book, the National Parks Cookbook. This time it was a splendid meal called “Wild-Caught Copper River Red Salmon with Onion Gastrique. I made a few changes, and scaled it down. While we have portabelas and white mushrooms here in Colonial Beach, often there isn’t much more of an option. These mushrooms add so much to a meal. Lacking said Copper River Red Salmon, I made mine with Coho Salmon. I was cooking for myself, so I halved the recipe. But this is the full recipe: INGREDIENTS FOR ONION GASTRIQUE1 cup red wine vinegar1 cup sugar. This is crazy. I used a tablespoon of agave.2 white onions, thinly sliced FOR DANDELION PISTOU1 bunch dandelion greens,...

The Perfect Breakfast Sandwich

The Perfect Breakfast Sandwich

This almost seems too silly to post. But I’m going to do it anyway. Because it was SUCH a good breakfast this morning. This is using my Hamilton Beach Sandwich Maker. I have a skinny loaf of Italian Bread, and I tried it on a breakfast sandwich. It was OK, but I knew it could be better. So this morning I did the following…(spoiler alert, BEST BREAKFAST SANDWICH I’ve made). I didn’t know it would be so good, so I only have the final photo and not my process photo. Bottom Section: 1/2″ slice of Italian bread, with Kerrygold butter (not much) spread on the bottom. Then some mayo on top, with some dry basil and a hint of garlic powder. On top of this is a slice of cooked bacon cut up in 3 pieces. On this I put a slice of cheddar. Middle...

Small batch Zesty Chicken Rigatoni

Small batch Zesty Chicken Rigatoni

Zesty Chicken Rigatoni with Broccoli. This began as a left-over meal for a cold, rainy Spring evening. I was inspired to do something Italian. But then it turned out to be a wonderful meal that I wanted to write-up to include on my food blog. My goal was to make a micro-sauce. Usually my ‘one can’ sauce is a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes. Tonight I worked off a 16 oz can of tomato sauce. A portion for 2 meals. I’m using leftover Tandoori chicken, but any or no chicken is fine. For this I used the meat of one chicken thigh. You could throw in some chicken (my usual style) into the onions before adding the garlic. Even a cup of ground chicken would be enough. This is a small sauce batch. Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil, toss in a some diced...

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken

Dinner tonight is my take (and my first attempt) at Tandoori Chicken. Lacking a Tandoor, I cooked it on my grill. It was actually a very simple meal. You work up your marinade in a couple minutes, skin and toss in the chicken (I used leg quarters), marinade overnight if you can (I did 3 hours) and grill. I think pan frying in cast iron and finishing in the oven would be good too. I served mine with sliced cucumbers in a tzatziki sauce. MARINADE INGREDIENTS: Dinner tonight is my take (and my first attempt) at Tandoori Chicken. Lacking a Tandoor, I cooked it on my grill. It was actually a very simple meal. You work up your marinade in a couple minutes, skin and toss in the chicken (I used leg quarters), marinade overnight if you can (I did 3 hours) and grill. I...

Broccoli in Garlic Sauce

Broccoli in Garlic Sauce

Broccoli for dinner! After the Colonial Beach Sip-N-Stroll/Art Walk, I wanted a quick, simple dinner. I looked in my fridge, which pretty much only had stuff in the veggie drawer (I didn’t plan very well today) and decided to go vegan (if you don’t count the fish sauce). Asian Broccoli on Jasmine Rice. INGREDIENTS:1 medium-large crown of broccoli3-4 garlic cloves1 small thumb of ginger (about the same amount as the garlic)1/2 a chili. I had a jalapeno.1 1/2 cup water or stock for rice, 1 cup for sauce1/2 teaspoon onion powder1/4 cup soy sauce1 tablespoons sugar (I used agave)2 teaspoons mustard2 tablespoons fish sauce1-2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil2-3 tablespoons cornstarchPepperOlive oil1 cup white rice, I like jasmine DIRECTIONS: Get the...

Tuscan Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes

Tuscan Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes

Tonight, a truly STUNNING meal, Tuscan Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes served on Shirataki noodles. I was out and about this weekend, so when I came home Sunday night, I wanted a nice robust, but healthy meal. So after a bit of research, I came up with this. I generally followed classic Tuscan Chicken recipes, but I used half and half instead of heavy cream (heavy cream doesn’t sit well with me), almond flour instead of regular flour and chicken leg quarters instead of chicken breasts. For the Chicken: • 3 chicken leg quarters, separated • 1 large egg • 3 tbsp plain – all-purpose flour (I used almond flour) • ¼ tsp salt • ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper • ½ tsp dried oregano • ½ tsp dried thyme • ½ tsp paprika • ¼ tsp garlic salt • 2 tbsp olive oil...