Big Man, Little Kitchen

Fish week continues with more cod. This time I placed the cod in parchment paper and grilled at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Wow – the cod came out perfect! Moist, flaky and full of flavor. I made the cod 3 ways – Greek style, Thai style and plain. Something to please everyone.First gather up the cod and cut into similar size pieces. You want them to cook evenly. For the Greek style – season with salt, pepper and olive oil. I used Kaldi Saganaki Anise, Black Olives & Capers Cooking Sauce for the marinade. (I found this at Hy-Vee) Add about a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice and it is ready to wrap.For the Thai style I used Thai Kitchens Spicy Thai Mango sauce. Same thing here – season with salt, pepper and olive oil. Add sauce and fresh lemon juice.Wrap the fillets in parchment paper and place on a jelly roll pan. To help the paper seal, brush the edges with egg wash. Now just place on a preheated grill for about 20 minutes and you will have a delicious fish dinner!!For one of the sides I grilled some asparagus seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil. The other side was a sweet and spicy rice. I cooked the rice in coconut milk and added some mango salsa – tasty!

I love summertime! Cheers!

So our weekend ritual includes watching The Kitchen (on Food Network) while drinking coffee and getting ready for the day. On this episode the hosts were showing some of their Chef tricks to make great food easy. Geoffrey Zakarian had tips on making a pan sauce that looked awesome so of course I had to try this. The sauce only takes a minute or two and is seriously tasty!!First preheat the oven to 450 degrees to roast the chicken. Be sure to salt and pepper the chicken before cooking. That is all the seasoning you need here.Nest step is to heat some oil in an oven proof pan over med-high heat. When good and hot place the chicken in the pan and cook for about 6 minutes, until golden brown. Flip the chicken and place in the oven.Your chicken will come out golden brown. Cook for 7-12 minutes, until internal temp hits 155. The chicken will finish cooking while you make the sauce. Remove the chicken from the pan and place on a cutting board. Return the pan to the stove over med-high heat. You want the pan to be HOT to make the sauce. (coming out of a 450 degree oven helps:)While the chicken is in the oven, gather all the goodies for the sauce. I used basil, shallots, salt, pepper, white wine, chicken broth and butter.First toss in the shallots and cook for about 45 seconds. It won’t take long since the pan is good and hot. Next add the salt and pepper and give it a quick stir. Pour in some wine (about 1/2 cup) to deglaze the pan. Be sure to scrape all the bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the fresh basil and stir, about 20 seconds. Pour in some stock, again about half a cup. You do not want to add too much liquid or you will spend time cooking it down.

Add juice from one lemon and 2 T of butter. Cook and stir until thickened a bit then pour it over the chicken. You now have great supper in less than an hour. We served this up with a side of mixed greens. Cheers!!

For the Chicken

2 chicken breasts
2 T oil
salt
Pepepr

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Add oil to oven proof pan and heat to medium high.
Add chicken (skin side down,if not skinles) and cook for 6 minutes
Flip chicken and put in oven. Cook 7-12 minutes, until internal temp hits 155 degrees.
Remove to cutting board to rest while making the sauce

For the sauce

1 shallot
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
salt
pepper
2 T fresh basil, parsley or thyme
2 T butter

Directions
Place pan on stove over med-high heat. Add shallots and cook about 45 seconds
Add salt and pepper and give a quick stir
Add wine to deglaze pan, be sure to scrape all bits from the bottom of the pan
Add fresh herbs and cook about 20 seconds
Add stock and lemon juice, stirring
Add butter and cook down to desired consistency

Time for a nice fish supper. Kris and I both love cod so I was thinking of a new way to cook it. I was looking through the fridge and found some thin sliced prosciutto and thought wrapping the cod sounded like a good idea. Well it turned out great and was really easy. Just salt and pepper the cod, wrap in a couple slices of prosciutto and cook in the skillet for 4-5 minutes per side.To go along with the cod I cooked some bacon until almost crisp then added a few handfuls of mixed greens. Cooked these down until tender and this made a great base to plate the fish on.For the side I just sauteed some fresh green beans in olive oil and supper was served! This is a great meal for any night of the week. Doesn’t take much time. looks and tastes great!

Cheers!

It has been awhile since our last post but we are back for now! Breakfast is one of our favorite meals and eggs benedict is one of the best. While on vacation in the Florida Keys, Kris ordered the eggs benny (gluten free style – no muffin) and the waitress suggested using a fried tomato instead. Well this turned out to be a great idea that we brought home to our kitchen. Thanks Blue Heaven.The most important part of this meal is the hollandaise sauce, of course! Once you make this version you will ditch the dry packet mix. With only a few ingredients you can whip up a great hollandaise sauce. Egg yolks, lemon juice, butter, salt and cayenne pepper is all you need. (recipe below)When making this dish gluten free, you need a good base to replace the muffin. Grab a large beef steak tomato and grill it for a couple minutes on each side. Do not overcook or the tomato will get too soft.Instead of the standard piece of Canadian bacon, I like to use a thick slice of black forest ham. Heat through on medium high heat for a couple minutes a side. Now on to the eggs.Poached eggs can be tricky to make and, if you need a lot of them, time consuming. Well Kris found this hack online and we have a new way to poach! With this method you can cook up a lot of eggs at once. Just add 1T of water to a muffin cup, top with the egg and bake at 350 degrees for 13 minutes. Timing may be different in your oven so experiment with the time to get the egg to your liking. Now just remove the egg with a slotted spoon and serve. The water actually rises to the top during cooking so it may look like the egg whites are not done but trust me, they are done and the yolk will be runny and smooth.We served some hash browns on the side for a better the restaurant breakfast! Cheers!

Hollandaise Sauce – 

Ingredients
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
Pinch cayenne
Pinch salt

Directions:

Vigorously whisk the egg yolks and lemon juice together in a stainless steel bowl and until the mixture is thickened and doubled in volume.
Place the bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water (or use a double boiler,) the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Continue to whisk rapidly. Be careful not to let the eggs get too hot or they will scramble.

Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and continue to whisk until the sauce is thickened and doubled in volume. Remove from heat, whisk in cayenne and salt. Cover and place in a warm spot until ready to use for the eggs benedict. If the sauce gets too thick, whisk in a few drops of warm water before serving.