BBQ Game Hen

I recently found out that according to the US Department of Agriculture,

Cornish Game Hens are actually just little chickens. Bigger than fluffy yellow chicks
But small chickens non-the-less. It is interesting that here in the good old U S of A, we are willing to pay more for something that takes less time and food than the original. A full size chicken, or pullet, takes 42 days to mature. Game hens? Only 29 days. And because they are smaller, they take up less space. And they eat less. But we continue to pay more for them.
Why? Well, I like a game hen because it is just enough, when served with three sides, to feed my husband, my baby, and me. No left-overs. But there is some thought that the immature bird has a better flavor. Hmm, I'm not sold on this point.

Anyway, tonight for dinner, I made a BBQ Game Hen, with sweet potato, green beans with bacon, and tomato salad. (We are leaving town Friday, I'm trying to clean out the fridge.)

Begin by peeling the skin off the hen. The BBQ sauce will stop it from ever getting crispy, and wobbly chicken skin is GROSS! Next, thoroughly season, with salt and pepper, both inside and out. Place into a no-stickem sprayed casserole dish. Now it's time for the BBQ sauce.
Combine 1 cup ketchup with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce, 1 tsp. Soy Sauce, 1 tsp. Hot sauce, and 1 tsp. Garlic Powder.
Paint a thin layer of said sauce onto bird and place in a cold oven.
Turn oven on to 350 and set timer for 20 minutes.
Go read with your kid until the timer goes off.
Now pull the bird out and paint on another layer of the sauce.
Return to the oven and increase temp to 375, set timer for 15 minutes.
Wash your sweet potato. One large sweet potato will feed both my husband and me, so I only cook one. Wrap in cling wrap.
Chop 2 slices of bacon into 1/2 inch wide strips. Cut the direction where you end up with like 25 strips, not like 3. Put into sauce pan on low heat. Brown bacon, stirring occasionally. When crispy, add 1 can cut green beans. Cover. Leave alone on low.
Play tag with your kid until the timer goes off. You're it.
Repaint your bird again, return to oven and raise temp to 400. Set timer for 10 minutes.
Put sweet potato in microwave and turn on High for 7 minutes.
More tag. Now you kid is it.
When the timer goes off, paint your bird one more time, and reset timer for 10 more minutes.
Leave the sweet potato in the micro, though poke it to ensure it is pretty soft.
Slice up 2 tomatoes and 1/4 red onion. You want to go thick on the tomato and thin on the onion. Toss with olive oil and champagne vinegar.
Set the table.
Pull the hen and paint one last time. Leave in dish to rest while you plate.
Unwrap and split the sweet potato, give each person one half. Dot with butter and S&P.
Add a pile of green beans and tomatoes.
Now divide your hen down the middle and give each of you half.
Now eat dammit!

Lobster... Yep, Lobster! Pan Roasted!

Now I love me some lobster! But I am living on chef wages here, so it is not something I get to taste, let alone feast on, very often.
But this week lobster tails are only $3 at my local supermarket. Yes, I said $3 each. Now that is a bargin! I guess the store received a new shipment of live guys before the last had been sold, so to make room, they hacked the remnants of the last shipment into tails and claws. While I think claw meat is a little sweeter, I don't think it is worth $6.99/pound if the shell. It is just too hard to get to, and you don't get very much (those shells are heavy!).
So, I got three of said tails wrapped up and brought them home. (One more note, when you only buy tails there is way less of the "oh my god, I'm killing a live animal" feeling; and this is something I can live my life with a little less of.)
Once home, I sliced up 4 or 5 cloves of garlic and added them to a stainless pan with a few tablespoons of veg oil on Medium heat and let them infuse the oil for a few minutes, watching to be sure they didn't burn. In the meantime... I lay the tails legs up and with a good chef's knife, crack through the bottom shell on the tails. Next, I crack said tails open, so the meat is exposed. A little salt for seasoning, and then they go flesh down into the pan. I add 2-3 tablespoons of butter to the pan and put it into an oven that has been PREHEATED to 400 degrees.
The tails cook 4-5 minutes, or just until the butter starts to brown. Then remove from the oven an pull the tails out of the pan to a plate to rest.
Serve over couscous (from a box) and add a few spoons of the yummy sauce to each.
Delicious every time!

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

The slow cooker is another one of those forgotten wonders. You get everything ready, you put it in, you go away. When you return- Voila! Dinner!

This does require a little more prep than some people are willing to put in, so I have also included a less-prep version.
Begin by turning on your slow cooker to get it heating up. If you have Medium as a heat setting option, use it. If you have Hi or Low, go with Hi. If you just have On, that is cool too.

More prep version:
Begin by cutting 1 1/2 # of beef steak, (sirloin, tri-tip, what ever is on sale) into 2" cubes. Season generously with Kosher salt (1 tsp), Pepper (1/2 tsp) , and garlic powder (1 tsp.), Rub it in good!
Next, heat a stainless skillet on high with 2 tblsp. vegetable oil. (If you only have non-stick pans, stick to the simple version below). When oil ripples, turn heat to medium and add cubes of beef. Now you don't want any of the cubes touching, so you may have to do more than one round here. When the beef 'releases' from the pan, roll each piece as to sear a new side. The beef wont let go of the pan unless it is ready to be turned. That is how you know it is ready, it lets go. If it is stuck, it is still searing, so leave it alone. Look for 30-45 seconds per side. I usually to 2 sides.
Add the seared cubes to your slow cooker. If you are doing more than one pan full, be sure to add more oil, about another tablespoon, each time.
Once all your beef is in the slow cooker we are ready to use our Fond.
Fond is the fancy name for those little bits stuck in your stainless skillet.
To get those little bits loose, we are going to de-glaze our pan with some red wine. It's winter here, so I am using a Beaujolais Nouveau, but just whatever medium bodied red you have and like. Simply return your pan to Hi for 15 seconds, then pour in 1 cup of the wine and reset the heat to Meduim. Use a wooden spoon to help loosen the yummies. Mix a slurry of 3 tblsp cornstarch mixed with 1/2 cup water (I usually do this in a coffee cup). Add to pan, stirring as you pour. Now add this mixture to your slow cooker. Finish as below.

Less Prep Version:
Put your raw cubes of beef into your slowcooker. Add 1 cup red wine. Mix a slurry of 3 tblsp cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. Add to slowcooker. STIR ALOT!

Continuing On:
Add 1 cup frozen peas, 1 cup frozen pearl onions, 4 small potatoes (peeled and 1" cubed), 2 sticks of celery (cut into bite size pieces), and 15 baby carrots (cut in thirds). Add 1/2 cup beef stock, 2 sprigs fresh thyme, 1 sprig fresh rosemary and 1 can diced tomatoes.
Close slowcooker.
Go away for at least 4 hours.
YUM!

Searing the beef adds alot of flavor both to the beef, and to the broth, by way of carmelization. It also helps the meat break down and become more tender faster.

Asian Chicken Salad

I'm not sure what makes this salad Asian. Perhaps the cabbage? Or the Turmeric? Or perhaps it is actually better described as chicken salad everyone will like.

Begin by slicing your chicken breast (1/2 breast per person) into long narrow, about 1 1/2 inch wide, strips. (This is for 2 breasts) Place into a bowl with 2 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp turmeric, salt, pepper, and oh let's say 1/2 tsp garlic powder. Stir well. Add t tblsp olive oil. This will help to keep the chicken moist as it cooks. Now let that hang out and "get happy" for about an hour.
Next, put 4 eggs in a pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Cover and turn off heat. Let sit for 15 min.

In the meantime, slice cabbage as thin as possible, more like shave it, until you have about 1 cup. Slice an avocado and two medium tomatoes.

Always buy the best tomatoes the store has. It is worth the extra 50 cents to get something great, instead of wasting the first 50 cents to get something with no flavor. In the summer, buy local, the rest of the year, look for on the vine "hot house." The vine will keep the sugars in the tomatoes from being used up so fast by the cells, and hot house means it grew in a green house.

Okay, now slice 1/4 cup of red onion, thin is key here as well. Thick onion is spicy, thin delicate onion is sweet and refreshing!

Now pour out the hot water from your eggs and fill the pot with cold water. Whack each egg on the narrow end and put back into the pot. Let sit another 5 minutes. This will make peeling the egg SOOO easy.

Now, mix your cabbage with 1/2 bag of romaine lettuce. I buy bagged lettuce because you only serve sandy greens once and your learn the value of machine washing.

Top with the tomato, avocado, and red onion. I like to mix this in a separate bowl, then pour them over top of the lettuce and cabbage mix.

Now it's time to cook the chicken. Place a piece of foil onto a jelly-roll pan and add 4 tblsp vegetable oil, spread thin. Lay out chicken so it isn't touching. Put into a cold oven. Turn oven on to 450 degrees. Cook 10 min.

Top salad with chicken. Next pour olive oil over the whole thing, maybe 4 tblsps. Now squeeze 1/2 lemon over the top of that. Season with salt and pepper.
Ta-da!

How to bone a chicken breast

Here is a little How-To video on boning and skinning chicken breast.

First we skin: Simply run your fingers between the meat and the skin, pulling as you go.
Now the harder part, the bones:
Begin with the bones up, and meat down on cutting board. You want the point of the chicken pointing at you. Run a good boning knife along the keel bone toward you. Start with a shallow cut, then with each stoke of the knife, go a little deeper. Run your fingers through this groove to ensure there are no little attachments. Next, cut away from yourself, once again following the bone. Now continue to deepen your cuts, keeping your knife as close to the rib bones as possible until they fall away.
Now simply clean up your chicken breast by trimming off the extra fat.
Remember: Save all the stuff you cut off for soup by throwing it into a ziptop bag and freezing.

Remember The Casserole?

Ah, who could forget something so many of us grew up eating? I am a firm believer that the casserole will be the next hot restaurant item. Be it chicken and mushroom or tuna noodle, the casserole deserves a second audition.

The easiest casserole that is always amazing, I believe, is the afor-mentioned Chicken Casserole.

Begin by boning your chicken breast and adding your bones to your stash in the freezer. Next, slice your chicken into bite size strips. Place in a big bowl, you're going to be adding alot of stuff.

I say strips because cubed (square) chicken scares me. When was the last time you saw a chicken on a farm that was square? It's unnatural.

But anyway, take said chicken pieces and mix with 1 tsp paprika, some salt, and some pepper.

Now, add 1/2 cup frozen peas, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup of long grain rice, and 1 cup water. Moosh together.

Spray a casserole dish (that is now usually referred to as a glass cake pan) with no stickem spray. Pour in the goo. Top with 12 oz frozen spinach, I like the kind in the bag as it is easier to spread, but i guess the box kind would work in a pinch. Now top with those crispy onions from a can. French's I believe they are called.

Bake 1 hour at 375 degrees.
This is important: Don't preheat your oven and don't open to check it. If you must see what is going on in your oven, turn on the light and look through the little window. That is why both of these features are present on 99% of ovens. Opening the door, even quickly, lets out 20-30 degrees of heat. Then your oven crankes up to raise the temp, then shuts back off. This is the main cause of uneven heating. Whether your heat source is in the top or the bottom of your oven, that side of whatever you are cooking is going to get more heat than it needs.
So... Shut the door and wait for the timer.

What NOT to do, and What To Do!

So I thought I should add something you should NOT do if you are trying to cook like a chef's wife. Do not buy the knock-off salmon wellington in the freezer section and then say you made it.

It is un-edible. Always admit you purchased something (unless you know it's fabulous and no one can prove you didn't make it). Then, either it will be amazing, and everyone will say "oh how smart to buy this premade, it's great!" or "it's not your fault it's terrible, You didn't make it."

And Salmon Wellington is actually SOOOO easy to make!

Buy 1 box of puff pastry. It is in the freezer section, and trust me, no body makes this stuff. Thaw it in the fridge for like 2-3 hours. Dust a cutting board with some flour and unroll one sheet. Cut it into 4 pieces. Now take one of the pieces and roll it out until it is twice the size. Set it aside and repeat with the other pieces. Ditto to the second sheet.

In your food processor (you cannot do this with a knife, it is SOO much better with a food processor), add 1 stick of soft butter. The real stuff. Next in is 1 tblsp olive oil. Then add 1 container of baby bella shrooms. Add some salt and some fresh thyme. Pulse till creamy.

Now take out your WILD salmon.

A quick word on salmon: "Organic" salmon is code for farmed salmon. And "farmed" salmon is code for fish that has been living by eating other fishes crap. Literally. There are some fish that is okay farmed (like shrimp), salmon is NOT one of them. It is SUPER high in mercury and other yucky stuff. And I also don't eat Atlantic Salmon. I'm from Alaska. That is where I want my fish from too. The Pacific is WAYYY big, which I theorize waters down any pollution more than that puddle, the Atlantic.

So, you want your salmon to be about 3/4 th's of the size of one of your puff pastry squares.
Put down a few spoons of your shroom mix, then put the salmon on that. Now pause and season your fish. Fresh Alaskan Salmon is not fishy. But it does need some flavor development from a little Kosher Salt and Fresh Pepper. Okay, now put a few more spoons of the shrooms on top.

Now get your finger wet and trace around the edge of the dough, then place another square of the puff pastry on top. Squoosh the edges together to seal.

Repeat with the three remaining fish and pastry.

Now put the four little packages onto a greased cookie sheet, not too close together.

Paint em' with a scrambled egg.

Bake at 400 for 30-40 min or till golden and yummy.

Let cool about 5 min before service to avoid burning your face off.

And be sure to tell EVERYONE you made em!

Veal Milianese

I think we are the only people in Charlotte that cook veal at home. It is always on sale here! So we eat alot of it!

This is super easy and fast, but looks fancy.
Preheat your oven to 400.

You need veal scallopini, (or you need boneless veal chops that you pound to 1/4 inch thick in a ziptop bag). About 3/4 of a pound per person.
This is a 3 step process. Flour, Egg, Crumbs-
Mix about 1/2 cup AP flour with 1 tsp kosher salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and spread it out on a plate.

My trick is to put a piece of plastic wrap onto the plate, then you just roll up the garbage and throw it away, and never end up with paste in your sink.

In a bowl next to that, crack and scramble 2 eggs.

On another plate next to that, (also wrapped with plastic) mix 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese with 1 cup Panko bread crumbs and 1/2 cup italian bread crumbs.

Panko is japanese bread crumb. It makes everything better! And anywhere that sells bread crumbs has it. And don't bother making your own bread crumbs, no one will be able to tell.

Heat an 8-10" skillet on Med Hi with about 1/4 inch of olive oil mixed with about half as much vegitable oil.

So, first we go into the flour, then QUICKLY through the egg, then smoosh into the crumb mix. you want a good coating, so push a little! Then into the pan. Only cook one at a time.

Turn OFF you oven!

We want like 3 minutes on each side. A nice golden brown color. Then put onto a cookie sheet and into that Hot, but off, oven.

Repeat!

While those three minutes per side are going by, grab a red onion and slice it as this as you can. Then for each serving, a small tomato, and cut this into 6-8 pieces. Toss together. Add oh, let's say 2 tblsp of EVOO and some Salt and Pepper.

To plate: Put down the veal, top with the salad, squeeze 1/2 lemon over all.

YUM! This is killer with the Near East Couscouseses (or whatever the plural of couscous is).

A Chicken Soup To Be Proud Of

My son and I both have the sniffles. We need a good dose of Jewish Penicillin, aka Chicken Soup.

Begin with your largest pot. Add the chicken bones you have been saving when you buy your breasts "split" for half the price of boneless.

What? You haven't been buying your chicken on the bone for $1.29/# and then taking 5 seconds to make it the same as the $4.99/# stuff? Uugh, more on that later. If you don't have the bones from 5-6 chicken breasts, a 2# pack of chicken wings (or thighs or drummetts or whatever is on sale on the bone) will do. The bones are crucial here! They are full not only of flavor, but also gelatin. This is going to make your soup fill you up as well as give you a nice mouth texture and a method to carry nutrients.

Back to the soup. Add 4 whole carrots. You don't need to peel or cut them, just a good rinsing and trimming of the tops. Then break them in two and toss em in. Next take a medium onion, paper and all, and cut into 4 pieces. Any direction. Toss that in. Add one head of garlic that has been cut across the cloves, again paper and all. 2-3 sticks of celery go in as well. Cover with water. Add 15-20 whole peppercorns, 2 sprigs rosemary and if you have it, some thyme. Now here is the secret ingredient: 1 big Vegetable Bouillon Cube.
NO SALT
Cook on high till boiling, then reduce to med-low or med, just enough to keep a simmer going. Cook 2 hours. No need to stir or skim or anything.

Now add one whole tomato.

Cook another 45 min.

Strain everything out.

Poof! Amazing Chicken Soup!