Tag Archives: american

Brown Sugar and Chili Dusted Bacon

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Firstly Happy Mother’s Day! I’m cooking dinner for everyone tonight but that is for a future post. The other night we grilled up some burgers and I decided to have some fun with the bacon. I have never baked bacon before but after making this recipe I have been converted. It is nowhere near as messy as pan frying bacon and the bacon turns out just as crispy. The clean up after is also a big plus. Cooking the bacon is simple, you preheat the oven to 375 F then bake it for 8 minutes a side. The brown sugar chili rub is very good, not over overpoweringly sweet and the subtle heat compliments the sweetness of the sugar and the saltiness of the bacon. If you are looking to spice up your bacon a bit give this recipe a try. Enjoy!

Brown Sugar and Chili Dusted Bacon

Butter Roasted Halibut

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It is currently halibut season and I decided to take full advantage. Using the butter roasting technique I learned in the cooking class I made butter roasted halibut. The best part about butter roasting is that it keeps the fish moist. To make this dish the first thing you need to do is season your fish. I used kosher salt, white pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, and dill. After seasoning the fist lightly sprinkle with canola or peanut oil, you need to use an oil that has a high smoking point. Next preheat the pan over high heat, then place a small amount of oil in the pan, enough to coat the pan. Place fish in pan and sear over high heat for 1 minute. Then turn down heat to medium high and cook until half way up the fish turns white. Flip the fist then add 3-4 Tbs of unsalted butter to pan. As the butter melts take a spoon and baste fish with butter for 3-4 minutes. With fish the cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of the pieces, the ones I used were ~2 inches thick. Once fish is done remove from pan and place on plate, covering with tin foil. use leftover butter in pan to saute vegetables. Be sure to take full advantage of the halibut that is available now, it is a delicious fish. Enjoy!

New York Strip Steaks With Green Peppercorn Sauce

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So after eating the enchiladas I made on Cinco de Mayo for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the last few days I decided I needed a change for dinner tonight. I went to the grocery store after work and just wandered around until something struck me. I walked past the meat case and saw some beautiful looking New York Strip Steaks. I Then came up with the idea to pair the steaks with a simple green peppercorn sauce. The sauce itself is very simple and you make it like you would an other pan sauce. The recipe I came up with makes enough for roughly 3 steaks so if you are cooking for more people you may need to tweak the recipe a bit. you can find the recipe by following the link below. Enjoy!

Green Peppercorn Sauce

Chicken with Wheat Beer Honey Reduction

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This dish is a very quick and easy chicken dish with a simple pan reduction. I used Double White from the Southampton Publick House to make the reduction. The wheat beer and honey pair well together and make the sauce’s consistency more of a glaze. From start to finish this meal takes about 30 minutes to prepare and uses ingredients that are staples in a pantry. If you do not have shallots you can substitute with onions. Give this recipe a shot and as always, Enjoy!

Chicken with Wheat Beer Honey Reduction

Garlic-Onion Stacks

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I wanted to make a new appetizer and saw this recipe on The Food Network. The onion stacks turned out alright I just do not think they are worth all the effort it takes to make this dish. You can find the recipe below. If you are a big garlic and onion lover you will enjoy this dish but again there is a lot of prep work and a lot of sitting time for this recipe. If you have the time try it out. Enjoy

Garlic-Onion Stacks

Smoky Poblano Mussels

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I have wanted to make a dish with mussels for the longest time. One of my future culinary goals is to perfect my own recipe for muscles marinara but I’m still working on developing a sauce that has the right mix of flavor and heat. In the meantime I wanted to make something just to get some practice with cooking mussels. I found a very simple recipe for muscles in a pablano pepper broth in Cooking light magazine and adapted to suit my tastes.

On important step in this recipe is to combine the ingredients for the broth and simmer then for 8-10 minutes before adding the muscles.

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This allows for the flavor of the sauce to develop and become more complex. After cooking the muscles you remove them from the pot and again reduce the broth until there is about 1 cup left then you pour it over the muscles. This recipe is very simple and is a great dish to try if you want to experiment with mussels.

Smokey Pablano Mussels

Stout Macaroni and Cheese

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For Some reason I have been experimenting with cooking with beer a lot recently. I wanted to make mac and cheese and saw a recipe that used hot turkey sausage and Guinness in mac and cheese and adapted some of what they did for this dish. A warning in advance, while this recipe is delicious it does not taste like your traditional mac and cheese. Depending on how hot the sausage is that you use it could have some heat to it. Also the stout gives this dish a very distinctive finish. I will walk you through the recipe in this post, you can find the full recipe by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.

Heat a large saucepan over high heat, add oil and swirl to coat pan then reduce heat to medium. Remove casings sausages and add sausage and onion to pan. Cook for 6 min, stirring to crumble up sausage.

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Add flour, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook for an additional minute.

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Add beer and bring to a boil. Cook mixture for 3 min until thick and bubbly, stirring continuously.

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Remove from heat and add cheddar, Velveeta, and milk; stir until smooth. Then add pasta and mix in.

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Divide mixture evenly among 4 ceramic gratin dishes sprinkle with panko bread crumbs and bake at 450 for 10 min. You could also put mac and cheese in a casserole dish and serve family style, timing will remain the same. Enjoy and find the full recipe below.

Stout Macaroni and Cheese

Poached Shrimp in Old Bay Butter

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This shrimp recipe is very simple and very quick to prepare and makes for a great appetizer. You can also use the Old Bay Butter to toss steamed crabs in before you serve them.

To Poach the shrimp you combine water, wine, pickling spice, garlic, and parsley in a pot then bring mixture to a boil. The measurements for each ingredient is going to depend on the size of the pot you are using. I just eyeballed everything until it looked right. Let the mixture boil for 4-5 mins to allow the flavors to develop. (see picture below)

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After mixture has boiled remove pot from heat and add shrimp. Poach the shrimp for ~ 5 min until the shrimp are pink and firm. Then remove the shrimp from the poaching liquid and set aside (See pictures below)

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Next melt butter in a small sauce pan. After butter melts add sherry and Old Bay. Simmer for 30 seconds to cook off alcohol in sherry. Add shrimp and coat with butter sauce then serve and enjoy. The shrimp should be lightly coated with the Old Bay Butter, not soaked in it. This dish is very quick and simple and a fun alternative to traditional steamed shrimp. To see a full list of ingredients and approximate measurement follow the link to the recipe page. Enjoy!

Poached Shrimp in Old Bay Butter

Pan Cooked Chicken in Pale Ale Bacon Reduction Sauce

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Pale Ale chicken

Tonight I continued my series in cooking with beer. The beer featured in this recipe is the Blue Heron pale ale from the Mendocino Brewing Company in Saratoga Springs, NY. I chose their pale ale because I thought its flavor would work better with chicken. Their beer is also great for drinking. The pale ale very good but my favorite beer the have is the red tail ale.

The recipe for the sauce has the same proportions for many of the other pan sauces I have made. You can get creative and switch out different ingredients to build new flavors.  Their pale ale and the bacon in this sauce worked great with each other and built a very complex flavor into the sauce. You can also use this sauce with beef or pork. However if you are making it for beef substitute beef broth for the chicken broth. You can find the recipe below as well as a link to the Mendocino Brewing Company’s website.

Pan Cooked Chicken in Pale Ale Bacon Reduction Sauce

Mendocino Brewing Company

Salmon with Maple Bourbon Glaze

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This past weekend I went to my good friend Bill’s bachelor party. We went to a cabin in western PA and the weekend was full of good times,drinks, and food. While we were cooking dinner I decided to make a sauce using whatever I could find in the kitchen. I combined 1 cup bourbon, 1 3/4 cups maple syrup, 1/2 cup sugar then salt, pepper, and cinnamon to taste. I simmered the sauce for ~25 min for it to reduce then poured it over the salmon after it was finished cooking. I also have to give credit to John for cooking the salmon perfectly.