Dijon Chicken made with a homemade Dijon Mustard
First, buy some Black Mustard seeds. Soak them overnight. Drain. Put them in a mortal and pastel an break down the husks. Allow about 20 minutes of this. Then add a tablespoon of white wine vinegar, one of white whine and one of apple cider vinegar. Add about a tablespoon of mustard powder and a bit of salt. To bring down the bitterness, put in about 1 tsp of agave. Continue to grind/blend. Put this in a sieve and press down for a fine Dijon. Set this aside. A day or two would be fine for most uses, but since we’re cooking with it, just give it a few hours. In a skillet, melt a couple tablespoons of butter and bring to heat. Pound down 3 chicken breasts. Add to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Add about 1/4 cup of white wine. Flip after a few...
Five Guys burger and fries
I had the hankering for a Five Guys burger today. The restaurant was founded in Alexandria VA back in the late 80’s and I enjoyed my first one in the 2010’s in Merritt Island Florida. The last one I had was a few years ago in Dahlgren Virginia. I didn’t want to drive to Dahlgren, and I certainly didn’t want to pay the $34 for two meals. I am the child of Depression-era parents. So I spent the day researching how to replicate the burger AND the fries. This is what I do now. I love being retired. So I picked up my ingredients at our Food Lion, and at dinnertime I dove in. First I heated a pot of salted water and I added my think sliced potatoes. Big mistake. I should have just put them in water to remove the starch. But Food Lion only had...
Beef & Cheddar Sandwich
While trying to figure out what to do with my remaining thin sliced, deli-cut Angus top round roast beef, I came across a series of videos on YouTube of people replicating Arby’s Beef & Cheddar. So I thought I’d give it a shot. First, I toasted a couple slices of sourdough with a little butter. I turned off thee heat on the skillet, set the toast aside and tossed in about 1/3 LB of my roast beef, just to warm it slightly. Meanwhile, to make my Arby Sauce I mixed ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and a splash of apple cider vinegar. To make the cheese sauce I melted a couple tablespoons of butter, mixed in a couple tablespoons of flour. After blended, I added about 1/4 cup of milk. So, a Béchamel sauce. Once well mixed, I added 3 slices of chopped up...
Shrimp Pasta with basil and feta.
I’m leaning into a classic tonight. A simple meal of basil shrimp and pasta. My garden basil is looking stressed because of the heat, so I wanted to celebrate it a bit. Cook the shrimp in olive oil, black pepper, dried basil. Boil a pot of water with a bit of virgin olive oil. Toss in some angel hair pasta. Dice up the fresh garden basil and grate some parmigiano reggiano. Drain the pasta, toss in some Kerrigold butter, stir in garlic and the basil while it is hot so it ‘cooks’ a bit. Crush in black pepper. Add half the parm and mix well. Plate the pasta. Top with the remaining parmigiano reggiano. Add the cooked shrimp. Dust with feta cheese crumbles. It doesn’t get much better than...
Not your everyday Roast Beef Sandwich!
The star of this sandwich is the sauce. A 2-1-1 ratio mix of Duke’s Mayo, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce. But first, caramelize some thin sliced red onion in a mix of olive oil and butter. Toss in some diced red bell pepper at the end Two slices of sourdough bread go down on a plate. Both get a smear of the sauce. The 3 slices of Swiss cheese go down. Place about 1/3 LB of thin sliced (#1) deli-cut Angus Roast Beef. Drizzle on a little sauce. Spoon on the onion/pepper mix. If you like, add some lettuce. Arugula works well. I put on a mix ot romaine and basil.Roll on the top bread and brush with a butter/garlic powder mix. This goes into the skillet on a medium low heat, butter side down. Brush on the remaining butter/garlic. Cover and cook till the...
Blackened Fish Tacos with a Black Bean Sauce
Start early with the black beans. Saute some onions and red bell peppers in some olive oil. Add turmeric, black pepper and whatever seasonings you like. Garlic, cayenne. Whatever. Cook this over low heat for about half an hour. A bit of cumin is good too. We blackened some haddock with paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, Himalayan pink salt, Flat Iron Pepper, Italian Seasoning, Cayenne Pepper and Kevin’s Creole Seasoning. This was pan seared on a medium high heat in a skillet. It was too hot to cook out on the Blackstone tonight. Meanwhile we made a simple sauce of yogurt and hot sauce with a little lemon juice. Just before the fish was done, we toasted a pile of tortillas in the air fryer. Construction was… TortillaBlack Bean mixPico de...