Fish Gravy

We ate at Cat Cora’s last week. We had lamb and fisherman’s soup. But we noticed a fish gravy on the menu and it got us wondering. Is there something better we can put on our fish? Tonight Don cooked up a fish gravy that ABSOLUTELY was one of the best things to come out of the kitchen in the past year. Fire up your grill, a handful of hickory chips on one side loosely wrapped in aluminum foil Ingredients Fish. About a pound of fresh grouper or mahi works well for a dinner for two. Hickory chips California olive oil Sweet onion Minced garlic Sun dried tomatoes Cocoanut milk Tony’s Cajun Seasoning Turmeric Powder Curry powder Directions Heat a skillet on the stove. In the olive oil, add some minced sun dried tomatoes, garlic and onions, simmer for...

Rack of lamb

Don’s been working on perfecting his Rack ‘O Lamb this summer, and tonight he finally nailed it. Ingredients A rack of lamb. This is a 8 rack (lambs have 16 ribs) from the local store, not some huge export from New Zealand. The rub, all measurements are estimated. These are the ingredients we use, but just kind of grind them into a bowl till it looks right. Lamb Rub 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper 1/4 teaspoon oregano 1/4 teaspoon dry basil 1/4 teaspoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon rosemary Olive oil (we use California Olive oil now…great flavor) Hickory chips Some recipes would add kosher salt, but we leave the salt input to the garlic salt Directions Rub the rack down with the lamb rub, put in a gallon sized zip lock. Pour...

Tom’s BBQ Sauce

This is a sauce that was a standard when I was growing up. It came from our uncle, Tom Nuggent, former head coach for FSU and the University of Maryland. It’s one of the few recipes that I got from my mom after heading off to college. I asked her to write down the recipe. She mailed it to me. Almost 30 years later we’re unloading boxes from our last move and found this index card. Priceless. The very THOUGHT that you could make your own BBQ sauce led me create our sauce about 10 years ago, which is the first recipe on ‘Foley Island Recipes.” Tonight we had a dinner party, I cooked Chicken and Pork on the Orion, and for the first time in 20 odd years, I made Tom’s sauce. It was great…everything I remembered. How cool is that,...

Chicken-Andouille Casserole

This is another Emril-based Casserole. Again, the plan is to cook bulk comfort food that is ‘sort-of’ healthy, but something that will freeze well in the vacuum bags. We generally have most of this stuff laying around, except the sausage. Plan on serving this with a nice bright veggie, or at least a healthy salad, because it is kind of ‘heavy.’ It may have onions, artichokes, but the veggies are lost in the meat and sauce. Ingredients 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon Essence, recipe follows (this makes a great quick rub, so we usually have some of this pre-made) 2 to 2 1/2 pounds chicken. We use leg quarters split (4), breasts are fine (3 or 4)…or whole cut up fryer. 1/2 dry bread crumbs 1/4 cup grated Parmesan 1 tablespoon...

Southwest Chicken Casserole

This is based off an Emeril Lagassee recipe, with a few of my own revisions. While the ingredient list seems long, we usually have the majority of these things laying around. I’m going to include Emeril’s recipe for his Southwest seasoning, and even though we have all of the stuff to make it, I just buy his at the store. If you want to see his ORIGINAL recipe, go to www.foodnetwork.com and search for ‘Cowboy Chicken Casserole.’ I leave off the whole butter/mushroom/flour/milk thing, and then put in much less cheese and cut the chicken ‘poaching’ time WAY down. There are a couple other small changes too. I leave out the salt as well. We use corn tortilla chips instead of flour-based ones.  The corn tortillas give it a nice...

Don’s Parm Chicken Alfredo

Don has been cooking his ‘pasta’ for years, but hasn’t posted it because in never quite felt complete. In the past month he’s cooked two versions of it which were home runs. While not exactly his ‘usual’ as the base, the thought is certainly there. Ingredients: Two or three chicken breasts Vigo parm bread crumbs Craft grated parm/assagio cheese (refrigerated) Vegetable or olive oil Fresh ground pepper Margerine (we like Earth Balance) Dried or Fresh basil Milk (we use 2%) Pasta (we like Barella’s Angel Hair Plus multi-grain) Corn starch 2 whisked Eggs Instructions: Cook the chicken. Put a thin amount of oil in a large skillet and bring it up to heat. Put your chicken breast down on a cutting board, one at a time, cover...