Thursday, September 24, 2015
Thursday, August 12, 2010
My Dad Can Also Cook
Most of the fathers I grew up around were able to cook. It may not have been done often but when they did it was amazing. My dad was one of the best cook. He could make something out of nothing and make it taste real good. Over the last few years, he has beacome a vegan and he has invented some dishes that you wouldn't be able tell is vegan. He is not chef, but he is driven by creating tasty meals for he and my mom. For example, my mom told me about a vegan cornbread that he made that was very impressive. She said it tasted just like regular cornbread! I tried to get the recipe, but he is one of those cooks that never writes anything down so he couldn't reproduce it for me, but that's how he cooks and my mom loves his food.
When I became a chef, I wanted to impress my parents with a good meal, but that became difficult for me when I got out of culinary school and they became vegans. I wanted to show them what I could do, but distance and time kept that from happening. My parents finally got to eat my food and was impressed. My dad enjoyed it but said it was a little spicy. My mom loved it. I was happy they could finally try my food. I was finally able to Add a Touch Of Gourmet To Their Everyday
When I became a chef, I wanted to impress my parents with a good meal, but that became difficult for me when I got out of culinary school and they became vegans. I wanted to show them what I could do, but distance and time kept that from happening. My parents finally got to eat my food and was impressed. My dad enjoyed it but said it was a little spicy. My mom loved it. I was happy they could finally try my food. I was finally able to Add a Touch Of Gourmet To Their Everyday
Thursday, May 6, 2010
A Tribute to Mom - Poached Pear and Berry Puree
Thanks to all of you who logged on to my blog. I appreciate you taking out the time to read my posts. I’ve had requests to post past dishes that I prepared for friends. If I’ve fixed something for you and you want to know how it was done, let me know and I will try to blog on that particular subject or item.
As you know, it’s time for Mother’s Day again. We get to honor them and give back what they have so selfishly given to us.
I was thinking about moms and cooking and I have noticed that moms with big families make some of the best cooks because they cook for so many. One reason is that they have to cook all the time because it is not very cost effective to eat out every day. Now, cooking daily can be tiresome, so they usually try to make extra so that they only have to cook one meal that will last a few days as opposed to making several meals to feed a lot of children. You got to have some clue as to what are doing in the kitchen to accomplish this task. Don’t get me wrong though…moms with small families can also hold their own too.
I’ve seen mothers who don’t have any culinary experience do some tasty things with food. Really it’s the love for food that really makes a difference on how the food tastes when it’s all said and done. How do I know? Think back…were kids always at your house eating or did you always have someone coming over to eat? If so, congratulations…your mom was probably THAT mom. I know when I was growing up people were always at the house. Everyone from pastors to friends, family, and friends of friends… pretty much anybody came to our house to eat. There were some particular dishes that my mom did some damage too: peach cobbler, blackberry dumplings, oh and you can’t forget the banana pudding! She also made vegetarian gumbo that people went crazy over. Do I know how to make it? Yes, and if I told you I might have to kill you! But seriously, all I’m saying is that my mom is one of the best cooks I know...I’m just saying.
Here is a dish I made for my parents when they came down last year. I want to share this recipe with you. It’s simple and healthy. My mom enjoyed it and I hope you will too.
Poached Pear and Berry Puree Recipe
2 green pears peeled
4 cups of water
1 lemon tea bag
1 tbsp of honey
1 pint of blackberries
½ cup of water from the poaching water
Mint
Serves 4 (depending on how hungry you are)
Bring water to a boil and add tea bag. Add pear and cook for seven minutes. Turn off heat. In a separate sauce pan add ½ cup water from the poaching water (the water from the pears and tea), blackberries, and honey. Bring this to a boil. Put the berry mixture into a blender to make a berry puree.
To plate cut the pears in half length wise. Place it facedown and make four slices in it. Add the berry puree on top. Use the mint for a garnish.
It tastes good and healthy because it’s all fruit.
o my mom Happy Mother’s Day and I love you.
To my mother-in-law and stepmother-in-law, Happy Mother’s Day to you too! Thanks for everything!
Also to my wife who I know will make the perfect mother one day, happy mother’s day to you. I love you so much.
From Chef Randal-- This is how you can add a sweet touch of gourmet to your everyday.
As you know, it’s time for Mother’s Day again. We get to honor them and give back what they have so selfishly given to us.
I was thinking about moms and cooking and I have noticed that moms with big families make some of the best cooks because they cook for so many. One reason is that they have to cook all the time because it is not very cost effective to eat out every day. Now, cooking daily can be tiresome, so they usually try to make extra so that they only have to cook one meal that will last a few days as opposed to making several meals to feed a lot of children. You got to have some clue as to what are doing in the kitchen to accomplish this task. Don’t get me wrong though…moms with small families can also hold their own too.
I’ve seen mothers who don’t have any culinary experience do some tasty things with food. Really it’s the love for food that really makes a difference on how the food tastes when it’s all said and done. How do I know? Think back…were kids always at your house eating or did you always have someone coming over to eat? If so, congratulations…your mom was probably THAT mom. I know when I was growing up people were always at the house. Everyone from pastors to friends, family, and friends of friends… pretty much anybody came to our house to eat. There were some particular dishes that my mom did some damage too: peach cobbler, blackberry dumplings, oh and you can’t forget the banana pudding! She also made vegetarian gumbo that people went crazy over. Do I know how to make it? Yes, and if I told you I might have to kill you! But seriously, all I’m saying is that my mom is one of the best cooks I know...I’m just saying.
Here is a dish I made for my parents when they came down last year. I want to share this recipe with you. It’s simple and healthy. My mom enjoyed it and I hope you will too.
Poached Pear and Berry Puree Recipe
2 green pears peeled
4 cups of water
1 lemon tea bag
1 tbsp of honey
1 pint of blackberries
½ cup of water from the poaching water
Mint
Serves 4 (depending on how hungry you are)
Bring water to a boil and add tea bag. Add pear and cook for seven minutes. Turn off heat. In a separate sauce pan add ½ cup water from the poaching water (the water from the pears and tea), blackberries, and honey. Bring this to a boil. Put the berry mixture into a blender to make a berry puree.
To plate cut the pears in half length wise. Place it facedown and make four slices in it. Add the berry puree on top. Use the mint for a garnish.
It tastes good and healthy because it’s all fruit.
o my mom Happy Mother’s Day and I love you.
To my mother-in-law and stepmother-in-law, Happy Mother’s Day to you too! Thanks for everything!
Also to my wife who I know will make the perfect mother one day, happy mother’s day to you. I love you so much.
From Chef Randal-- This is how you can add a sweet touch of gourmet to your everyday.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Fresh Food vs. Pre-Packaged food
I started this blog in hopes you all would give me feed back and ask questions. This forum is open for any topics you might be interested in related to certain dishes that you want to know how make, different techniques, recipes and anything dealing with cooking.
When I started the blog I also had a vision to try to get people to eat healthier. I thought about how I was eating and I realized that when I cook at home, from scratch it’s a lot healthier for me and my wife…most of the time it’s simply because I know what is going into my food. The microwave is a great appliance, but I’ve found that having a microwave can hurt you as well…this convenience has a tendency to give us the excuse to zap some prepare/frozen/packaged food and call it a meal. After I got married, my wife and I had an apartment with no microwave in it. We didn’t miss it because we cooked almost every day. Leftover food we heated with the oven or stove, and had grown accustomed to the “slow way” of heating our food. By the way…the funny thing is we realized that when you heat food on the stove or the oven, the food stays hot longer than if you zap it in the microwave. One day my brother pointed out that it was odd that we didn’t have a microwave…and the following Christmas he bought us one that had a toaster also. Don’t get me wrong I was very grateful for it, but it got us out the habit of cooking. If you really think about it, having a microwave makes you lazier. Nowadays you can pretty much prepare all of your food via microwave…instead of cooking fresh, you might pop in a frozen dinner or some already prepared food…you know “Just Add Water!”
I think we can all agree that freshly cooked meals are best…both on taste and nutrition. Pre-packed meals have a lot of extra things added to it so it will last longer like additives, preservatives and a lot of other things you can’t pronounce. Most of these food items have a lot of sodium in them which is not good for you. Too much sodium we all know can lead to high blood pressure. On April 19, 2010, The Washington Post reported that the FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons. The article states that, “Most salt eaten by Americans -- 77 percent -- comes from processed foods, making it difficult for consumers to limit salt to healthy levels, experts say. We can't just rely on the individual to do something," said Cheryl Anderson, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who served on the Institute of Medicine committee. "Food manufacturers have to reduce the amount of sodium in foods.” Check the article out here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/19/AR2010041905049.html.
They believe it will save billions of dollars in healthcare just by reducing sodium intake. Isn’t that amazing…we can take charge of how much we consume if we good at home with fresh food!
Then there are other things that we just don’t even understand what it is. How many of you know what MSG is? Monosodium glutamate-- it’s another food additive that we can barely pronounce that’s no good for us. It simply enhances the flavor of the food, but for some people there are side effects! Have you ever gone out to eat had a wonderful meal that you wanted to duplicate? When you tried, more than likely you couldn’t get it just right. That’s because of chemicals in the food that they added...yes, restaurants have a lot of pre-made foods that they use so even though they call it “home cooking” it really isn’t. One ingredient that many restaurants use to make a sauce is stock (beef, veal, chicken, etc.). Some restaurants make there own and some use a “base”. Many chicken, beef or even vegetable “bases” use MSG. It’s basically a paste of flavoring. That’s just one of the reason you can’t reproduce some of these dishes. Do we really need MSG to enhance the flavor of the food? I think NOT!!
I learned this from my father: it’s cheaper to eat right now, compared to what it will cost you in the long run. With that statement all he was saying is that it might cost more to eat healthier now, but how much will it cost you in the future if you continue to eat the way you do? Medical treatment and prescription drugs are what he was referring to regarding cost in the long run. I just had an epiphany…if we love someone we should help them out with their eating habits, but we need to do it in a loving way so it doesn’t hurt their feelings. My dad told me I need to get my eating right awhile back but I didn’t listen. Now I have high blood pressure. It could have been prevented when he told me to eat right years ago when I was living Houston. We all need to develop good eating habits now so we can pass them on to our children.
Don’t get me wrong, a nice piece of cake doesn’t hurt every once in a while, but what you do (activity) after you eat the cake does. That’s the next piece of the puzzle…If you don’t workout or have some kind of activity to burn some of the calories off, then at least cut back on your meal calories. Then you wouldn’t have so many calories going in your body. I learned this from my trainer. He’s the best in Austin and he told me that he can eat whatever he wants because he works hard enough too. I’m just paraphrasing. He’s right he does work hard. I have seen him do the same workout the younger football players do, but better. These athletes are coming out of college and have played four years in college (besides their earlier years) and I’ve seen him lift more weights with more ease than people who are years younger than him. He eats right, but he also eats food he that he wouldn’t generally let you eat if he trained you! If you asked him why you couldn’t eat the food he eats, he’ll state that “it’s simply that you’re not at that point yet”…the reality of it is, if we were we wouldn’t need him…and that’s so true. His diet requires you to cook fresh food or have it prepared in advance so you can heat it up. But it’s still fresh…nothing boxed up or freeze dried. If you ever want to meet A.B. (aka Anthony Brown) let me know. Kerry Knox of Physiques Unlimited is also an awesome trainer. They have similar styles and I have worked with both of them and gotten awesome results…and have seen some remarkable transformations! It is all about their eating habits and exercise regimen. Kerry cooks his food from scratch. He is also in excellent physical condition! For you, microwave-lovers, he uses a microwave to heat up the food he has already made from scratch…
If you would take the time to learn how to cook or even get a personal chef to cook for you, your meals will be healthier. If you are lacking on time or motivation, you can get a personal chef to come in and make enough meals to last you and your family a week or two…I personally would suggest a week to make sure your meals are fresh. Some meals can be frozen also for later consumption. If you hire someone to make your meals on a daily basis (a personal chef) or decide to cook for yourself, that’s good. You’ll find that it’s really not that inconvenient to eat healthier.
We’re striving for a healthier lifestyle. I hope you’ll join me!
From Chef Randal THIS is how you can add a touch of gourmet to your everyday!
When I started the blog I also had a vision to try to get people to eat healthier. I thought about how I was eating and I realized that when I cook at home, from scratch it’s a lot healthier for me and my wife…most of the time it’s simply because I know what is going into my food. The microwave is a great appliance, but I’ve found that having a microwave can hurt you as well…this convenience has a tendency to give us the excuse to zap some prepare/frozen/packaged food and call it a meal. After I got married, my wife and I had an apartment with no microwave in it. We didn’t miss it because we cooked almost every day. Leftover food we heated with the oven or stove, and had grown accustomed to the “slow way” of heating our food. By the way…the funny thing is we realized that when you heat food on the stove or the oven, the food stays hot longer than if you zap it in the microwave. One day my brother pointed out that it was odd that we didn’t have a microwave…and the following Christmas he bought us one that had a toaster also. Don’t get me wrong I was very grateful for it, but it got us out the habit of cooking. If you really think about it, having a microwave makes you lazier. Nowadays you can pretty much prepare all of your food via microwave…instead of cooking fresh, you might pop in a frozen dinner or some already prepared food…you know “Just Add Water!”
I think we can all agree that freshly cooked meals are best…both on taste and nutrition. Pre-packed meals have a lot of extra things added to it so it will last longer like additives, preservatives and a lot of other things you can’t pronounce. Most of these food items have a lot of sodium in them which is not good for you. Too much sodium we all know can lead to high blood pressure. On April 19, 2010, The Washington Post reported that the FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons. The article states that, “Most salt eaten by Americans -- 77 percent -- comes from processed foods, making it difficult for consumers to limit salt to healthy levels, experts say. We can't just rely on the individual to do something," said Cheryl Anderson, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who served on the Institute of Medicine committee. "Food manufacturers have to reduce the amount of sodium in foods.” Check the article out here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/19/AR2010041905049.html.
They believe it will save billions of dollars in healthcare just by reducing sodium intake. Isn’t that amazing…we can take charge of how much we consume if we good at home with fresh food!
Then there are other things that we just don’t even understand what it is. How many of you know what MSG is? Monosodium glutamate-- it’s another food additive that we can barely pronounce that’s no good for us. It simply enhances the flavor of the food, but for some people there are side effects! Have you ever gone out to eat had a wonderful meal that you wanted to duplicate? When you tried, more than likely you couldn’t get it just right. That’s because of chemicals in the food that they added...yes, restaurants have a lot of pre-made foods that they use so even though they call it “home cooking” it really isn’t. One ingredient that many restaurants use to make a sauce is stock (beef, veal, chicken, etc.). Some restaurants make there own and some use a “base”. Many chicken, beef or even vegetable “bases” use MSG. It’s basically a paste of flavoring. That’s just one of the reason you can’t reproduce some of these dishes. Do we really need MSG to enhance the flavor of the food? I think NOT!!
I learned this from my father: it’s cheaper to eat right now, compared to what it will cost you in the long run. With that statement all he was saying is that it might cost more to eat healthier now, but how much will it cost you in the future if you continue to eat the way you do? Medical treatment and prescription drugs are what he was referring to regarding cost in the long run. I just had an epiphany…if we love someone we should help them out with their eating habits, but we need to do it in a loving way so it doesn’t hurt their feelings. My dad told me I need to get my eating right awhile back but I didn’t listen. Now I have high blood pressure. It could have been prevented when he told me to eat right years ago when I was living Houston. We all need to develop good eating habits now so we can pass them on to our children.
Don’t get me wrong, a nice piece of cake doesn’t hurt every once in a while, but what you do (activity) after you eat the cake does. That’s the next piece of the puzzle…If you don’t workout or have some kind of activity to burn some of the calories off, then at least cut back on your meal calories. Then you wouldn’t have so many calories going in your body. I learned this from my trainer. He’s the best in Austin and he told me that he can eat whatever he wants because he works hard enough too. I’m just paraphrasing. He’s right he does work hard. I have seen him do the same workout the younger football players do, but better. These athletes are coming out of college and have played four years in college (besides their earlier years) and I’ve seen him lift more weights with more ease than people who are years younger than him. He eats right, but he also eats food he that he wouldn’t generally let you eat if he trained you! If you asked him why you couldn’t eat the food he eats, he’ll state that “it’s simply that you’re not at that point yet”…the reality of it is, if we were we wouldn’t need him…and that’s so true. His diet requires you to cook fresh food or have it prepared in advance so you can heat it up. But it’s still fresh…nothing boxed up or freeze dried. If you ever want to meet A.B. (aka Anthony Brown) let me know. Kerry Knox of Physiques Unlimited is also an awesome trainer. They have similar styles and I have worked with both of them and gotten awesome results…and have seen some remarkable transformations! It is all about their eating habits and exercise regimen. Kerry cooks his food from scratch. He is also in excellent physical condition! For you, microwave-lovers, he uses a microwave to heat up the food he has already made from scratch…
If you would take the time to learn how to cook or even get a personal chef to cook for you, your meals will be healthier. If you are lacking on time or motivation, you can get a personal chef to come in and make enough meals to last you and your family a week or two…I personally would suggest a week to make sure your meals are fresh. Some meals can be frozen also for later consumption. If you hire someone to make your meals on a daily basis (a personal chef) or decide to cook for yourself, that’s good. You’ll find that it’s really not that inconvenient to eat healthier.
We’re striving for a healthier lifestyle. I hope you’ll join me!
From Chef Randal THIS is how you can add a touch of gourmet to your everyday!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Grocery Store Trap!
I was talking to a friend the other day and she was telling us a story about how she and her boyfriend were cooking dinner and wanted to make chicken parmesan. He went to the store while she was at work and when she arrived at home, they started cooking. By the time she finished with her story, they had only eaten breaded chicken and noodles. Her boyfriend forgot to buy the parmesan and the tomato sauce….can’t have chicken parmesan without those two critical ingrediants! She said he had gotten caught up in the store and bought a bunch of other stuff that they really didn’t need and forgot to buy the parmesan and sauce. I thought her story rang so true for some many of us…people DO forget to buy specific items when they are grocery shopping. I totally agreed with her and thought to discuss this topic. We all do it (including myself) so I figured everyone could relate to this one.
In my opinion there are two times when you should never go shopping: when you are hungry and when you have time on your hands. When you are hungry it’s never a good idea because everything in the store looks good and I mean EVERYTHING! Things you wouldn’t normally buy or eat look appetizing and you get distracted from the items you are supposed to buy for your meal(s). When you have extra time on your hands there’s a tendency walk around the store with no kind of urgency at all...you end up "window shopping". You see things you want to try and then find yourself at risk for being a sucker to the marketing geniuses who use the words like ”New”, “Improved”, or “For a Limited Time only”. The word NEW always gets you sooner or later. I, myself have fallen victim to this IMPULSE BUYING! I don’t know why, but there is something in us that causes us to always have to be the first to try something. Even if your intention is to only spend $50 when you go grocery shopping, you find yourself spending twice as much when you get caught up in these traps. It’s all about advertising anyway, right? They word things and display them in ways to get you interested. The same way when you look at a menu… if it sounds good (from reading the entrée descriptions) you are more likely to order it. Don’t go to the grocery store hungry or with extra time on your hands. You’ll mess up every time!
With one simple solution we can fix this problem of forgetting key grocery items, over spending, and buying food that isn’t good for us. Here are my suggestions:
(1) Just like taking inventory at work, take an inventory at home find out what you actually need and make a list based on that. Also, you can take an inventory of your recipe if you are using one. By making a list and being focused, you can be in and out of the store in no time.
(2) Pick a time of day when you know you shouldn’t be hungry to shop. If you aren’t hungry, you probably won’t get as distracted by the cookie isle…I’m just saying…
(3) Organize your list from the back of the store to the front. What I mean by this is, by shopping at the back of the store first and making your way forward, you won’t need to go back after you get to front of the store. This only works if you stick to your list! Make sure you go the store you usually go to for this to apply. All grocery stores aren’t set up the same way. All you need to do take your recipe or inventory and arrange it based on your store of choice and you can be done shopping quickly. You should never have to be in a store for two hours shopping for food.
Let me give you an example. A few blogs ago, I showed you how to make salmon croquettes. The following items are in the salmon croquette recipe:
Salmon, bread crumbs, celery, mayo, lemon for lemon juice, onion.
For the grocery store where I shop, my list would look like the following:
Bread crumbs
Mayo
Salmon
Lemons, celery, onions
My bread crumbs are in the middle back part of the store so I’ll pick that up first. Then, mayo-- that’s on the way to pick up the salmon. The rest are veggies so they are in the produce section closer to the front. After a few quick stops, I have everything I need for this recipe. If you are doing an entire meal, this same process would work too just be sure to group items that are in the same location together on the list so you eliminate that back and forth shopping that increases the chance for distraction.
These tips can make it an in and out shopping experience and you’ll arrive home with EVERYTHING you NEED and hopefully very little of what you don’t need.
From Chef Randal…this is how you can add a touch of gourmet to your everyday.
In my opinion there are two times when you should never go shopping: when you are hungry and when you have time on your hands. When you are hungry it’s never a good idea because everything in the store looks good and I mean EVERYTHING! Things you wouldn’t normally buy or eat look appetizing and you get distracted from the items you are supposed to buy for your meal(s). When you have extra time on your hands there’s a tendency walk around the store with no kind of urgency at all...you end up "window shopping". You see things you want to try and then find yourself at risk for being a sucker to the marketing geniuses who use the words like ”New”, “Improved”, or “For a Limited Time only”. The word NEW always gets you sooner or later. I, myself have fallen victim to this IMPULSE BUYING! I don’t know why, but there is something in us that causes us to always have to be the first to try something. Even if your intention is to only spend $50 when you go grocery shopping, you find yourself spending twice as much when you get caught up in these traps. It’s all about advertising anyway, right? They word things and display them in ways to get you interested. The same way when you look at a menu… if it sounds good (from reading the entrée descriptions) you are more likely to order it. Don’t go to the grocery store hungry or with extra time on your hands. You’ll mess up every time!
With one simple solution we can fix this problem of forgetting key grocery items, over spending, and buying food that isn’t good for us. Here are my suggestions:
(1) Just like taking inventory at work, take an inventory at home find out what you actually need and make a list based on that. Also, you can take an inventory of your recipe if you are using one. By making a list and being focused, you can be in and out of the store in no time.
(2) Pick a time of day when you know you shouldn’t be hungry to shop. If you aren’t hungry, you probably won’t get as distracted by the cookie isle…I’m just saying…
(3) Organize your list from the back of the store to the front. What I mean by this is, by shopping at the back of the store first and making your way forward, you won’t need to go back after you get to front of the store. This only works if you stick to your list! Make sure you go the store you usually go to for this to apply. All grocery stores aren’t set up the same way. All you need to do take your recipe or inventory and arrange it based on your store of choice and you can be done shopping quickly. You should never have to be in a store for two hours shopping for food.
Let me give you an example. A few blogs ago, I showed you how to make salmon croquettes. The following items are in the salmon croquette recipe:
Salmon, bread crumbs, celery, mayo, lemon for lemon juice, onion.
For the grocery store where I shop, my list would look like the following:
Bread crumbs
Mayo
Salmon
Lemons, celery, onions
My bread crumbs are in the middle back part of the store so I’ll pick that up first. Then, mayo-- that’s on the way to pick up the salmon. The rest are veggies so they are in the produce section closer to the front. After a few quick stops, I have everything I need for this recipe. If you are doing an entire meal, this same process would work too just be sure to group items that are in the same location together on the list so you eliminate that back and forth shopping that increases the chance for distraction.
These tips can make it an in and out shopping experience and you’ll arrive home with EVERYTHING you NEED and hopefully very little of what you don’t need.
From Chef Randal…this is how you can add a touch of gourmet to your everyday.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Roasted Red Pepper Stuffed Chicken
By now you should know (if you clicked on the link I gave you) I was featured in a local Austin magazine. Thank you to Ujima for featuring me this month and introducing me to the larger Austin community. I don’t know what will come of this, only God knows, but I really appreciate them for giving me a chance to shine. This Ujima project is a wonderful endeavor that is great for the Austin community…more specifically the Black community. We ALL need to support them!
The following dish is something I came up with several years ago while living in Houston. My wife had decided to do Mary Kay on the side and she had her coming out party. Since this was for my wife I couldn’t let her have crappy food for her event. About 20 to 30 women were there to support her and since it was around dinnertime, I decided to do a meal instead of appetizers. Also, around this time I started thinking about catering and wanted to try some of my dishes out on people outside of family. The coming out party was a hit. The ladies all had a great time and my wife sold quite a bit of product. To this day, I still get requests for this dish. In fact, our friend in Houston, the one who threatened me for not posting regularly, specifically requested I post about my stuffed chicken.
The dish is fairly easy to make but will require you getting your hands a little dirty. The end result will be great and well worth it.
Roasted Red pepper Stuffed Chicken Breast with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
½ cup roasted red peppers, diced
½ cup Parmesan cheese
Spinach
Salt
Black pepper
Paprika
Olive oil
Preheat oven to 350 F.
First, pound each piece of chicken in a Ziploc bag to flatten it. The bag will ensure the chicken doesn’t splatter while you pound it out…plus, it makes it easier to clean up. Pound until it’s evenly flat then salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.
In a bowl, mix together diced roasted red peppers, parmesan cheese, black pepper, and paprika. If you prefer, mix in the spinach (chopped first). I don’t do that, I add the spinach leaves on top of the mixture...but we’ll get there. Lay the chicken breast skin side down, then take the red pepper mix and spread evenly across the breast.
Place the spinach leaves and lay it on top of the mix.
Finally, roll the chicken up making sure it stays tight. To keep it in place you can use a tooth pick or a skewer stick. Set it aside and do the same thing for the other chicken breast.
Heat a pan with olive oil on medium heat. Once the oil is hot (not too hot that it smokes put the chicken in seam side down first. This will brown and seal it…cook for about three minutes. Rotate the chicken breast until all of the sides are brown.
Once done put the chicken on a cookie sheet and place it in the oven for 20 minutes. While that’s in the oven, prepare the sauce.
Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
½ Roasted red peppers
1 cup of heavy cream
½ cup chicken stock
Juice from ½ of a lemon
Lemon zest
½ cup White wine
1 garlic clove, minced
Cayenne pepper
Using the same pan that you cooked the chicken in, add about a tablespoon of olive oil. If you have some in there already pour it out. Your just want enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the minced garlic, but make sure it doesn’t brown. If you have any spinach left in the pan (after cooking the chicken), remove it. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan. For those who don’t believe that alcohol cooks out when heated, you can use water to deglaze the pan. When you deglaze, you are basically taking the flavors that are stuck to the bottom of your pan and making it a part of your sauce or dish. To help the wine or water out, you can use a spoon or whisk to loosen the food from the bottom of the pan. Once you have deglazed the pan, allow the volume of the liquid in the pan to reduce by half, and then add the chicken stock. Let the chicken stock reduce to half its original volume as well. This reduction allows the flavors to concentrate. Add the peppers, lemon juice and lemon zest to the pan.
Stir and finally, add the heavy cream. Again, reduce the sauce until it has a nice coat on the back of a spoon.
Depending on how much heat you want to your sauce, add cayenne pepper to your likeness. Watch out for the salt because most stocks already have salt in them so you may not need to add salt to your sauce. Just taste it…it’s always better to under salt in the beginning and add it later. If it needs salt after you taste it, add it last and be careful. At this point the sauce should be simmering and the chicken should be ready to come out of the oven. Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature in the chicken. It should read 165F.
If it doesn’t put it back the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Check the temperature again. Once the chicken is to temp, you can be confident that it’s done. Allow it to rest for about seven minutes before you cut it. This allows all the juices to flow back through the meat.
I used linguine for my pasta, but you can use whatever you want. I’m not going to tell you how to cook it here. You can use whole wheat pasta, multigrain, or white pasta, etc. or you could eat this with rice…. Just use the direction on the package it comes in.
After the chicken has rested, the sauce is coating the spoon, and the pasta is done, it will be time to plate. Cut the chicken into about four pieces. Add the pasta, chicken, and whatever vegetable you choose, and ladle the sauce over the chicken and the pasta.
In the pictures, I used broccoli as the vegetable. I’m assuming everyone knows how to cook it…if you need those instructions, let me know.
In my opinion this dish is fairly easy to make and I sincerely hope you can duplicate the recipe to your liking. Let me know if you make it and how it comes out. Let me know if you need any help. You can always email me at randalharrington@yahoo.com.
From Chef Randal-- this how you can add a touch of gourmet to your everyday.
The following dish is something I came up with several years ago while living in Houston. My wife had decided to do Mary Kay on the side and she had her coming out party. Since this was for my wife I couldn’t let her have crappy food for her event. About 20 to 30 women were there to support her and since it was around dinnertime, I decided to do a meal instead of appetizers. Also, around this time I started thinking about catering and wanted to try some of my dishes out on people outside of family. The coming out party was a hit. The ladies all had a great time and my wife sold quite a bit of product. To this day, I still get requests for this dish. In fact, our friend in Houston, the one who threatened me for not posting regularly, specifically requested I post about my stuffed chicken.
The dish is fairly easy to make but will require you getting your hands a little dirty. The end result will be great and well worth it.
Roasted Red pepper Stuffed Chicken Breast with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
½ cup roasted red peppers, diced
½ cup Parmesan cheese
Spinach
Salt
Black pepper
Paprika
Olive oil
Preheat oven to 350 F.
First, pound each piece of chicken in a Ziploc bag to flatten it. The bag will ensure the chicken doesn’t splatter while you pound it out…plus, it makes it easier to clean up. Pound until it’s evenly flat then salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.
In a bowl, mix together diced roasted red peppers, parmesan cheese, black pepper, and paprika. If you prefer, mix in the spinach (chopped first). I don’t do that, I add the spinach leaves on top of the mixture...but we’ll get there. Lay the chicken breast skin side down, then take the red pepper mix and spread evenly across the breast.
Place the spinach leaves and lay it on top of the mix.
Heat a pan with olive oil on medium heat. Once the oil is hot (not too hot that it smokes put the chicken in seam side down first. This will brown and seal it…cook for about three minutes. Rotate the chicken breast until all of the sides are brown.
Once done put the chicken on a cookie sheet and place it in the oven for 20 minutes. While that’s in the oven, prepare the sauce.
Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
½ Roasted red peppers
1 cup of heavy cream
½ cup chicken stock
Juice from ½ of a lemon
Lemon zest
½ cup White wine
1 garlic clove, minced
Cayenne pepper
Using the same pan that you cooked the chicken in, add about a tablespoon of olive oil. If you have some in there already pour it out. Your just want enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the minced garlic, but make sure it doesn’t brown. If you have any spinach left in the pan (after cooking the chicken), remove it. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan. For those who don’t believe that alcohol cooks out when heated, you can use water to deglaze the pan. When you deglaze, you are basically taking the flavors that are stuck to the bottom of your pan and making it a part of your sauce or dish. To help the wine or water out, you can use a spoon or whisk to loosen the food from the bottom of the pan. Once you have deglazed the pan, allow the volume of the liquid in the pan to reduce by half, and then add the chicken stock. Let the chicken stock reduce to half its original volume as well. This reduction allows the flavors to concentrate. Add the peppers, lemon juice and lemon zest to the pan.
Stir and finally, add the heavy cream. Again, reduce the sauce until it has a nice coat on the back of a spoon.
Depending on how much heat you want to your sauce, add cayenne pepper to your likeness. Watch out for the salt because most stocks already have salt in them so you may not need to add salt to your sauce. Just taste it…it’s always better to under salt in the beginning and add it later. If it needs salt after you taste it, add it last and be careful. At this point the sauce should be simmering and the chicken should be ready to come out of the oven. Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature in the chicken. It should read 165F.
If it doesn’t put it back the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Check the temperature again. Once the chicken is to temp, you can be confident that it’s done. Allow it to rest for about seven minutes before you cut it. This allows all the juices to flow back through the meat.
I used linguine for my pasta, but you can use whatever you want. I’m not going to tell you how to cook it here. You can use whole wheat pasta, multigrain, or white pasta, etc. or you could eat this with rice…. Just use the direction on the package it comes in.
After the chicken has rested, the sauce is coating the spoon, and the pasta is done, it will be time to plate. Cut the chicken into about four pieces. Add the pasta, chicken, and whatever vegetable you choose, and ladle the sauce over the chicken and the pasta.
In the pictures, I used broccoli as the vegetable. I’m assuming everyone knows how to cook it…if you need those instructions, let me know.
In my opinion this dish is fairly easy to make and I sincerely hope you can duplicate the recipe to your liking. Let me know if you make it and how it comes out. Let me know if you need any help. You can always email me at randalharrington@yahoo.com.
From Chef Randal-- this how you can add a touch of gourmet to your everyday.
Photos by Nikesha Harrington
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Adventurers
Hello-Hello, I was supposed to blog at least once a week, but I haven’t done that and got into trouble. So I’m going to make an effort to give the people what they want at least before our friend in Houston strings me up.
Before I get started, check out this link: http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=34216&pre=1
I'll talk more about it later!
This past weekend I catered an event for my sister who is the Adventurer and Eager Beaver Director at our church, the Alpha Seventh-Day Adventist Church. This group is similar to Girls' Scouts or Boys Scouts, but for the little ones and originated out of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (but anyone can join and we encourage you to do so if you have young children).
Anyway, she had a fashion show to raise money for her kids and at the end of the event she had refreshments. Naturally she asked her baby brother to help. She wanted everything to be really nice…and of course I couldn't say no to my sister. We went over a few menu options, but she had other stuff to do in preparation for the event and didn’t want to be bothered with menu planning. I took over that and came up with a few options that would be cost effective and tasty…and definitely look good!
Menu:
Veggie pinwheels
Hot Spinach and Artichoke dip
Deviled eggs
Salmon Croquettes
Assorted cupcakes
Orange Lemonade and Strawberry Lemonade
We got everything set up before the event started and had time to enjoy the kids too.
Refreshments came after the event, but I wanted everything set up and ready to go. If you’ve never been to a fashion show where kids are the spotlight, I highly recommend it. Talk about cuteness everywhere. My sister did a great job along with her team and the kids were outstanding. Not one of them got stage fright. Everyone was really proud of them. My brother was MC that night and kept everyone laughing. I didn't post any pictures of the kids here since I didn't have their parent's permission to do so.
Thanks to my staff who always handles things in a fabulous manner. My mother-in–law stepped in big time with decorations and helped my wife and me with the cupcakes and my brother-in-law stepped in at the last minute and made sure all of the platters stayed full as everyone served themselves. Thanks guys! I couldn’t have done it as well without you. For the assorted cupcakes we decided on lemon, chocolate, red velvet, and coconut cake.
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Once the event was over, everyone came out and got in line for the food. Everyone seemed to enjoy the set up and the food. I appreciate all of the compliments we received. It made me feel as if my job was done properly. I got positive comments on everything, but the big hits were the cupcakes and the salmon croquettes. Specifically, the coconut cupcakes…those were quickly consumed and gone.
The cupcakes looked really good. The Adventurers are awarded honors for various things like learning about the bible or gardening or animals throughout the year. We used those honors to decorate the cupcakes.
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Since the croquettes were such a hit, I'll share the recipe with you. For those of you who tasted my croquettes, this recipe probably won’t taste EXACTLY like mine...come on now, I can’t give you all my secrets! However, I’m more than happy to make them for you. Ready to cook? Here we go.
Chef Randal’s Salmon Croquettes
8oz. of cooked salmon
¼ cup diced celery
¼ cup diced onions
½ cup bread crumbs
¾ cup of mayo
Spoonful of mustard
For seasonings, it would be easier to buy Old Bay Seasonings, but I used the following:
Cayenne (be careful because it can get to hot)
Paprika
Granulated garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Pan non-stick cooking spray
1 cup bread crumbs to coat before cooking
Set oven on 350F
Crumble the cooked salmon into small pieces, add all the ingredients and mix with gloved hands or use a spoon. Make sure you have everything mixed well. You can either cook it immediately or let it sit covered in the fridge for about 2 hours. Form each patty using an ice cream scoop so the size is consistent or you can just eyeball it. Get a frying pan and put it on medium heat, coat it lightly using the Pan cooking spray. While that heats up (not too hot), take each croquette ball, flatten it out into the shape of a patty, and coat it with bread crumbs. Cook on each side till brown, remove from the skillet, and immediately place them on a cookie sheet. Continue cooking in the 350F oven for 15 minutes.
When you make this let me know how it turns out. It can be done for breakfast, lunch or dinner. For dinner you can serve it with squash medley and mashed potatoes. For breakfast this would go great with grits and herb biscuits.
From Chef Randal--this is how you can add a touch of gourmet to your everyday.
Photos by Nikesha Harrington
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