Dans Gourmet Restoration

This is a recipe boiled down from one that I got that sounded good, but I had a really  rough time with - even though the finished product was amazing.  Temperatures were off,  ( could be my 20 year old stove) and sauces didn’t thicken – but wow, what a great taste.  So, here is the simplified version: The secret to this recipe is the marinade – which is totally amazing!  It goes both below and above the skin of the bird, which is then refrigerated for 6 – 24 hours.  I stuck my bird in the fridge for about 18 hours or so – I made the marinade the night before and cooked the next day.  The original recipe called for vertical roasting, but I didn’t have a beer can cooker or vertical roaster, so I left the bird right side up on a roasting rack.  Came out fine, moist, crispy on the outside, totally awesome!  Here it goes – it is actually a pretty simple dish this way: Marinade mix: 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil 1/3 cup tightly packed fresh mint leaves, chopped (one whole package from the st

We have the world's most sensitive smoke detector (add in the fact that it's extremely old school and sounds like a classroom bell). This doesn't really blend well with the fact that, while our vegetables are broiling (more on this later), I'm grading papers. And the grill won't light. But anyways, on to the recipe. I always thought I'd hate lamb-- too cute, too exotic-- as a kid. I worked at a Lebanese restaurant where lamb was abundant, cleverly disguised as ground beef for gyros, and was hooked. It's incredibly versatile (spicy, sweet, savory), and is surprisingly cheap (enough lamb chops to feed 3 people was $9, for a premium cut). It tastes deliciously exotic while being extremely simple to prepare-- a little but of cumin, garlic, and curry and you're on your way to faraway lands. This spiced recipe harolds the spicy gyro meat that most people are familiar with, which is a more comfortable introduction to a cut that makes most people a lit

For those of you who DON'T want diet food, I have a very delicious and accordingly waistline-unfriendly lobster dish. If you want something absolutely decadent (read: Valentine's Day) but don't want to spring for ho-hum, expensive lobster, fresh lobster meat can be purchased in 6-oz containers (entirely claw meat, and entirely enough for two people) for about $10. This recipe is super quick but tastes like it took forever. There's one catch: don't leave it unattended! The mixture of butter, cream, and egg yolks will curdle in no time. To start, melt 1/2 stick butter in a skillet. Add the lobster meat, cook over medium-low for about two minutes. Add two tablespoons of cooking sherry and three tablespoons of brandy, cook for another two minutes. Remove the lobster with a slotted spoon, set aside. Add a cup and a half of heavy cream, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of cayenne, and a dash of red pepper flakes. Stir occasionally until mixture is reduced to about a cu

 2008 Murphy-Goode The Fume  Another week, come and gone!  Boy time does fly sometimes.  Decided to make another recipe from Cook’s Illustrated magazine – Linguini al Limone…..  it awesome. Creamy, just the right hint of lemon without over doing it....  Needed a good wine to go with it, and happened upon a new version of an old favorite – Murphy-Goode Sauvignon Blanc.  I love Murphy-Goode wines!  They are always consistent, and always good.  I have been to the vineyard in the Alexander River Valley , several times.  This wine used to be labeled as a Fume Blanc, (FB is really Sauvignon Blanc), but now is simple called “The Fume”   It is a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, but not your typical, grassy acidic SB at all.  It was a little tight initially, because I had it a tad too cold, and seemed VERY subtle at first.  Bone dry, nice citrus flavors of pineapple and tangerine, with a very light finish initially.  When it warmed up, the tangerine really came out, and the finish was incredible – V

 Home made Chili  - yum!  Ok, here is an amazing chili I made for the Super Bowl – even though only Lynne and I were watching…. Well, only I was watching, because she made me go in the other room…. No fire, no couch, no dog…. Just me and a 13” tv….. oh well.   To top it off, I think the spots were awful this year… anyway, this is a recipe I adapted from Cook’s Illustrated – made quite a few changes actually.   Came out unbelievably well – nothing like home made chili paste….. pan toasted chili’s…. yum. The house smelled amazing.   This is a fairly labor intensive dish – not difficult, just time consuming.   Takes a good 3 hours to make,  about 1 hour of labor, and 2 cooking, with quite a bit of chopping, and food processing – but WELL worth it!  This is the first time I have made my own chili paste - will DEFINATELY be making it again! So, here we go!   Ingredients: Table salt 1.5 lbs dried pinto beans, (about 1.5 cups) rinsed well 6 dried ancho, or New Mexico chilies – stems and se

 Made an incredible accidental discovery – Cook’s Illustrated magazine.   Sent in for a free issue, and got 3 great recipe’s from it.   This one was the first that we made – fairly simple, really unusual, and REALLY good!   I HIGHLY recommend subscribing to this magazine if you love to cook – great recipes, equipment reviews, and general cooking advice.  Final Product, with corn and green onions   Here is the recipe:  Ingredients: 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of excess fat (and the tenderloin if still attached)   Cut in ½ if need be to keep to no more than 1 inch thick. ½   tsp fresh ground sea salt 1 cup roughly chopped almonds (use a blender or food processor – chop to a course ground meal consistency)  4 tbs (1/2 stick) butter, cut into 4 pieces  1 medium shallot minched 1 cup Panko bread crumbs (do NOT use regular – Panko are Japanese style, big and crunchy) 2 tsb lemon zest (from one lemon) cut remaining lemon into wedges, and reserve. 1 tsp freshly mi

Root:1 2008 Carmenere Colchagua Valley, Chile Ok, I originally promised to include some wine critiques and pairing info with the blog, and I am officially starting this week.  My thought is to pick a wine a week, under $15 bucks to highlight.  There is so much good wine out there at this price point – or less!  These are great wines to drink, and also great wines to bring to someone’s house as a gift – even if they are big wine drinkers! So, to start our world wide search for great wines under 15 bucks, we are going to go to the Colchagua Valley of Chile.  Chile produces some awesome wine, and the Colchagua Valley was picked by Wine Enthusiast magazine as the best wine region in the world in 2005.  After about a half hour of my favorite thing – wine shopping - I decided to go with a Carmenere, by  Root: 1.  Carmenere is to Chile what Malbec is to Argentina , or Merlot to France .  It was introduced to the region in the 1800’s by France , and is now one of the primary grapes of the

So begins the teaching semester, and so begins me not feeling like cooking, ever. Jereme is useless in the kitchen (sorry), and pasta gets old...in fact, after a long day of snow plowing, I'm eating ice cream. For dinner. So, anyways, I've been coming up with "how much crap can I throw in a pan in 15 minutes?" recipes. We had: two Omaha Steaks chicken breasts, a jar of sundried tomatoes, and a little bit of leftover half and half. To start, cook a couple of thin-sliced chicken breasts with three large cloves of garlic (chopped) in olive oil in a large skillet. When the chicken is almost entirely cooked through, add about 1/4 cup of sundried tomatoes, including oil, as well as a pinch of oregano and basil. Simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Add about 1/2 cup of cream, stir until thick enough to coat spoon and a medium tan color (this is due to the slight carmelizing of the tomatoes). And...that's it. These are super easy, and fantastic when topped with fre