Chicken & Potatoes…

Summer is over, time for some hearty eating. I love the changing of seasons, especially when it turns to autumn. The leaves changing colors is one of my favorite parts about autumn, especially when I travel upstate on the weekend to the in-laws, Bear Mountain is beautiful this time of year. I also like the change of fashion, getting to wear sweaters, jackets, over coats, scarfs, boots, etc. The hearty foods, chili’s, stews, heavier beer, football. I love everything about it.

The other night I made some chicken and potatoes, and to keep it a little light I made a salad to go along with it. I used skinless chicken thighs, and some organic potatoes. Set the oven to 425° and while thats heating up chop your potatoes. Use a glass pan, put the chicken and potatoes in together and cover both with whatever kind of marinade you want to use. I used a lemon garlic marinade. Use some black pepper, a tiny bit of salt, then finely chop up some fresh sage and rosemary, sprinkle it over everything and then mix around – don’t be shy with the spices. Then top it off with some thyme. The oven should now be ready, before you put it in the oven give it one more light sprinkle of pepper, now set it on the middle rack. It should cook for about 35-40 minutes for that nice brown slightly crispy look, and turning the chicken once in between.

Look at that? Make sure you’re careful when turning over the chicken, but it’s so worth it, I mean look at that? Too bad we have no left overs. The chicken was still soft and tender, yet had some crispy bits around the edges of the meat. The potatoes, soft and flavored by the marinade, with a the skin nice and crispy almost potato chip like. No wonder there wasn’t any leftovers.
For a while I stopped eating salad because it became boring to eat. I was never a huge fan of dressing, but with my new found love of cooking, I have begun to let myself go and try everything at least once, to really see what flavors will work together and what won’t. Salad has become fun again to eat. What I made with this meal was a mixed green salad, with some fresh arugula, grape tomatoes and mango. Dress it some extra virgin olive oil, squeeze half a fresh lime, some black pepper and mix. Then top it off with some manchego cheese shavings. Serve and Enjoy!

Julio Child Strikes Again…

I hope everyone had a great weekend, mine was quite relaxing. I got to do some more cooking! On Saturday I felt like cooking so I said I would make dinner for everyone. Everyone being my wife’s parents. At first I couldn’t believe I was asking to make dinner, I mean really? Something has happened to me, I even caught myself watching the cooking channel this past weekend. Wanting to cook has never been so much fun. There I said it. That being said, here is what I served up – and yes I took advantage of the nice white plates her parents have to make a show of the food – baked chicken, with honey due melon salsa and on the side black bean and cheese quesadilla with fresh guacamole.

This is just too much fun! I mean look at that… I’m taking back to saturday, when after everyone sat down to see this meal presented before them, they weren’t only taken by the beauty of the presentation… Once they devoured its beauty, all you heard was silence. It’s these moments that make me want to cook more. Not only does it look delicious, it was delicious. But I’m going to let you in on how to make this deliciousness.

One nice honey due melon will make a lot of salsa. Don’t expect me to give you amount sizes because I don’t measure, and sometimes things due get too oily or spicy. But that how I learn to make adjustments. So you want to dice the melon into little cubes. Then you will want to dice up some red onion, a serrano pepper (keep some of the seeds, not all), and some cilantro. Give it some olive oil, squeeze fresh lemon, a little black pepper and then toss together.

Now we have some nice fruit salsa to top off the chicken. Before we make the guacamole lets put the chicken in the oven. I used boneless/skinless chicken breast, gave them a coat of olive and some black pepper. I used the broiler in the oven to cook the chicken, so it only takes about 10-15 minutes to cook. So while that cooks, between having to turn the chicken over once – don’t forget to do that – we will make the guacamole.

WoW, look at that… It looks like I made it from scratch. Here’s the secret; go down to Whole Foods get yourself some fresh salsa and if they have a pineapple or mango one, get that too. Get some nice hass avocados, dice them into nice chunky cubes, so that when you smash everything together you still have some pieces of avocado – I always like that. Make sure you squeeze some fresh lemon, add some cilantro – don’t be afraid to use a lot, add the Whole Foods fresh salsa, and little bit of black pepper, mash and blend. Save some cilantro so you can garnish the plate for that fine restaurant look. A great light meal to end the summer. Now onto some hearty eating for the fall.

Introducing Julio Child…

So recently my wife turned me onto Epicurious, and ever since, I’ve been having a blast in the kitchen. I was never much of a cook, because I always saw cooking as a chore, rather than another form of art. At first my palette was very limited to what I cooked and how I would cook. I would cook easy foods, mainly ones that only needed to be turned over once in a pan. But eating the same thing all the time gets boring. Once epicurious had an app for my phone, it changed everything. Being able to find a quick recipe for the nights dinner take a mere five minutes, and I have a great supermarket right around the corner for every great ingredient I need.

I’m no Andrew Zimmerman or a Top Chef, so don’t expect me to write elaborate articles on how the food taste and or how to describe the different flavors. What I do know, is that the recipes I do use, and get can always be found on epicurious. That being said, this is one of my favorite new dishes, and a very simple one to make. (My wife joking around at dinner call me Julio Child in reference to Julia Child, master chief).

Get yourself a nice brick of manchego cheese, it’s a Spanish cheese usually aged about a year. I was never into cheese that much, but this is a great cheese to begin your quest into the world of cheese. It’s not too strong, buttery, a little flakey and leaves a nice subtle after taste. It can be paired with almost anything, put it on salad, eat it with fruit, whatever you can think of. Now get yourself some Membrillo quince paste.

Membrillo is a sweet quince paste, and if you’ve never had it before, you are missing out on some serious deliciousness. Especially when you pair it with manchego cheese, its like that scene from Ratatouille, an Explosion of flavor! Now you can spread the quince paste over a piece of cheese and nibble on that – enjoy – while you finish making the plate.

Get yourself a nice medium-sized loaf of bread, a baguette or a whole wheat loaf if you’re feeling healthy. Slice the bread into nice thin slices and toast them on a skillet rather a toaster. Toast them on both sides until they nicely brown, but not burnt. Now you can either spread the paste on the bread and put the cheese on top, or how I like to do it, the cheese on the bread and spread the paste over the cheese. Like any art form there are many ways of creating your art. Food and cooking are no different, so go create and then enjoy your creations.