Spinakopita Pie
For our Saturday Dinner Date we created a meal that I had never prepared before, Spinakopita Pie. My fellow weekend chef partner and full-time fiancé suggested a recipe from Bonappetit (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/spanakopita-pie). As there was no phyllo dough to be found in Colonial Beach, I took a different route and used Puff Pastry, thus I created more of a Spinakopita casserole. But I’d like to think the final flavors were very much spot-on. Three other deviations included using a bag of baby spinach and cooking the meal in a glass baking dish instead of a spring pan. My biggest moment of going rouge involved the addition of a couple handfuls of finely chopped smoked chicken. Because…well…why not. Also, instead of using feta...
Roast Chicken with Fresh Thyme and Honey Jus.
This week’s Saturday night dinner date once again draws from My Wild Atlantic Kitchen, a great cookbook that my fiancé, Carolyn Flynn and I picked up while vacationing in Ireland this Summer. This time we enjoyed Roast Chicken with Fresh Thyme and Honey Jus. This reminded me a bit of my favorite meal when I was growing up, Honey Fried Chicken. Ingredients Serves 4 Roast Chicken: • 1 organic whole chicken (4 1/2 lb) • 3/oz butter • Bunch of fresh thyme • Cracked black pepper Fresh Thyme & Honey Jus: • 2 tbsp white wine vinegar • 2fl oz chicken stock (p370) • 2 tbsp Vermouth • 1/2 tsp flour or starch mixed with 1 tbsp water (optional) • 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves • 1-3 tsp honey • Sea salt and cracked black pepper Directions Preheat the oven to 400F. Pat...
Rack of Lamb with Puy Lintels and Red Wine Sauce
Once again, we flip through the pages of My Wild Atlantic Kitchen to find our Saturday Night Dinner Date recipe. Co-chef and pretty girlfriend Carolyn Flynn suggested this evening’s meal, Rack of Lamb with Puy Lintels and Red Wine Sauce. Unfortunately for me, there was neither a rack of lamb nor Puy lintels to be found anywhere remotely close to Colonial Beach, so I had to settle with a lamb steak and generic lentils, but I’d like to think the flavor profile was similar. I began with the sauce. The foundation is a brown sauce. To that end I browned a couple tablespoons of flour in some butter, added some minced leeks, then some garlic. After that melded, I added a couple fine minced carrots, a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, a couple minced mushrooms and a...
Air Fried Zucchini Sticks
My typical approach to zucchini spears is to grill them…maybe with a splash of balsamic vinegar or seasoned with Montreal Chicken Seasoning. Tonight I wanted to try air frying. I took about 1/4 cup of flour (almond flour for those avoiding gluten), mixed with about half a teaspoon of onion powder, the same with garlic powder, the same with Tony’s cajun seasoning and once again with pepper. I fine-grated about a cup of Parmesan cheese and stirred it into the mix. I cracked an egg into a bowl and whisked it well. Having cut one zucchini into eight wedges, I cut those in half to make them shorter. Then I dipped egg, rolled and press this into the flour/parm mix, and then placed them into my air fryer. One zucchini filled up one tray. I spritzed a little...
Air Fried Chicken with Don’s Noilly Prat Sauce
I’m clearly going to admit that I’m obsessed with perfecting this who Noilly Prat recipe. After massaging the recipe last night for a perfect dinner…I really wanted to go a step further. Then my long-time creative director Mike Mrak pushed me a bit. So, I ate my leftover Salmon dinner for lunch and decided to have more fun with the recipe. I air-fried three chicken leg quarters with my usual rub, and then topped it off with my latest version of a Noilly Prat sauce. And I served it with some steamed broccoli, which was a perfect sponge for the sauce. What changed? In a sauce pan, melt 2 tablespoons Kerrygold butter. Add a minced shallot and cook over medium heat for a few minutes. Add two tablespoons of minced garlic and and took to bring up the flavor, but not...
Pan Seared Seasoned Salmon with Don’s Noilly Prat Sauce
While we dive into My Wild Atlantic Kitchen once more for this Saturday night’s dinner date, there is one major substitution on my part, as well as a reimagined Noilly Prat sauce, so my apologies to author and chef Maura O’Connel Foley. This week’s recipe is Scallops with Noilly Prat & Mushroom Sauce. But I substituted salmon for the scallops. My dinner partner and pretty girlfriend, Carolyn Flynn stuck with Maura’s recipe and cooked with scallops. This was a virtual/zoom date as we are wont to do on Saturday nights when we can’t be together. I pan-seared the seasoned saalmon on the stove top, deciding not to finish it in the oven, instead opting to cook it hot and fast for a crisp pan sear and a warm pink middle. My favorite pan for this is my 13” cast iron...