Summery Chicken

Today was not a good day to roast chicken and have two burners going...and the dryer running. I was melting in the kitchen but it was all worth it! Today brought us a citrus-herb roasted chicken accompanied by a lemon-herb pearled couscous and sauteed (local!) squash. The chicken had a wonderful sweet citrus flavor. It was a nice change from the spicy creole seasoning kick I'm on. Every other bite you would get a burst of herbs. It's a fun summery recipe that would be great if you had a larger group of people to serve.

The spread! I love the color of the veggies in the cobalt Fiesta.

The dish looked so pretty pre and post baking.

It also smelled divine.

Ta-da!

Citrus and Herb Roasted Chicken

(Pinterest find! From thecomfortofcooking.com)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sugar
2 whole lemons, one juiced and one sliced
2 whole oranges, one juiced and one sliced
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
10-12 pieces (about 4 1/2 lbs.) bone-in chicken parts
1 medium onion (any kind), thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried thyme, or fresh chopped
1 tablespoon dried rosemary, or fresh chopped
Chopped fresh herbs (optional garnish)
Directions:
1. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, garlic, sugar, lemon juice, orange juice, Italian seasoning, paprika, onion powder, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.

2. Place chicken in a bag/tupperware container with the marinade, let sit at least one hour or overnight.

3. Place chicken, skin side up, and marinade in rimmed 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Arrange slices of lemon, orange and onion around and under the chicken. Sprinkle all over generously with thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.

4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake uncovered for about 1 hour, or until chicken is cooked and juices run clear. Remove parts to a serving platter and garnish with additional chopped fresh herbs, if desired.

And then for something sweet from my secret stash.

He'll never look in here.

City Picnic!

I told Mr. Lawyer to grab a wine class and join me on the balcony for an impromptu city picnic! While I miss my large porch, red picnic table, and spacious green yard that I had in Syracuse this city view did okay.

Wine, Cheese & Crackers, and a view!

(Oh, and a cute boy.)

Revamped Lefties

Ditch bun and make yourself a bbq platter! 

I'm getting pretty good at winging baked beans and I love it. I threw in some leftover jalapeno from our spicy dinner of doom, a good squirt of dijon mustard, and two spoonfuls of brown sugar.....no real measuring involved! Baked at 350 for 1.5 hours. Those jalapenos still have a mighty kick!

Gintervention!

As a dear friend said (hey Ryan!), it's time for a....

I picked up this cute little bottle on our trip to Upstate NY. I've pretty much exhausted the artisanal gin options at our local liquor store. It's heavy on the alcohol upfront and has a weird cinnamon tang on the back end. It definitely has a bite! I find it very intriguing. It is a bit rough and tumble, not a girly sipper drink. I like it but it doesn't crack my top three list (or my top 5 now that I think about it).

Beautiful Chard!

I wasn't wowed by this recipe. I had some technical issues with the rainbow chard and some flavor issues with the whole dish. But before we get into the breakdown lets admire this beautiful piece of produce. Isn't it just gorgeous?

When I added everything together the pieces of chard leaves gravitated towards each other and clumped up. It was impossible to evenly distribute it throughout the dish. Secondly the flavor was a little bland unless you got a hit of red pepper. A bite with the ricotta cheese helped the flavor so I added extra ricotta and mixed it up with the whole dish instead of just using it as a topping. When Mr. Lawyer  added some garlic powder to the leftovers that helped it out a little but overall it was very underwhelming. Sad story.

Orecchiette with Ricotta and Chard Pan Sauce

(from Better Homes & Garden)

Ingredients:

1 large bunch organic swiss or rainbow chard
3/4 pound dried orecchiette pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
crushed red pepper
2 ounces ricotta salata, asiago or pecorino cheese finely grated
1/4 cup fresh whole milk ricotta
sea salt and pepper
freshly grated Asiago
Directions:
1. Bring large pot of generously salted water to boiling. Separate chard stems from leaves; cut both into bite-sized pieces. Add orecchiette to boiling water. Set timer for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, for pan sauce, in large skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chard stems, cook 3-5 minutes, until crisp tender.
3. After 10 minutes, add chard leaves to cooked pasta; cook 2 minutes more. Drain, reserving about 1/4 cup of cooking liquid. Return pasta and chard to pot; place over lowest heat setting. Add chard stems and any residual oil to pasta, along with butter, crushed red pepper, and reserved cooking liquid. Grate in Asiago; toss. Season with pepper and nutmeg. Divide among bowls. Top each with about 1 tbsp. ricotta. Add sea salt, pepper, and additional Asiago to taste.

Creole Pulled Pork

I do love a good crock pot recipe that will feed you for days. I combined this crock pot love with my current obsession with creole seasoning and boom! Not cooking for at least three more days. I went with a five pound piece of meat and let it cook a smidgen longer. I swapped out the mix of paprika/salt/pepper for Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning and added a lot more than the recipe called for both before the cooking and after the meat shredding. It's not a saucy bbq but that's good because you can have it plain with the creole spices or customize it by added the desired amount of bbq sauce to your sandwich. I topped it off with asiago cheese and some spicy sriracha coleslaw (just add the desired amount of sriracha to mayo and throw in the shredded veggies). It's been a big hit and I haven't heard Mr. Lawyer complain about being hungry all weekend.

Creole Seasoned Pulled Pork

(from the Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
1 tablespoon molasses
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons paprika (or replace spices with creole seasoning)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 3-to-4-pound boneless pork shoulder
2 links andouille sausage
1/3 cup mayonnaise
8 soft sesame buns
Pickle slices and potato chips, for serving
Directions:
1. Whisk 1.5 cups water, the vinegar, ketchup, 1/4 cup mustard, the molasses and 1 tablespoon brown sugar in a 7-to-8-quart slow cooker.
2. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar, the paprika, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl or use an equal amount of creole seasoning. Rub all over the pork, then add to the slow cooker along with the sausage. Cover and cook on low, 8 hours.
3. Remove the pork and sausage and set aside to cool slightly. Skim off the excess fat from the cooking liquid, then strain into a large skillet and bring to a boil. Cook until reduced by one-third, about 15 minutes.
4. Shred the pork with a fork and coarsely chop the sausage. Toss the pork and sausage with enough of the reduced cooking liquid to moisten; season with salt or add more creole seasoning (I think I added in between 1 to 2 tablespoons).
5. Whisk the mayonnaise and the remaining 2 tablespoons mustard in a small bowl; spread on the buns. Fill with the pulled pork and pickle slices. Serve with potato chips.

A Spicy Kind of Night

As my 90 year old former co-worker use to say: this drink is hotter than the hinges of hell! I must have picked an amped out jalapeno because even seeded it was a beast! I was intrigued by the spicy citrus combination and we had a bunch of rum (leftover from our hurricane preparations) to use up so why not. It might have been luck of the jalapeno draw but the spiciness overpowered any pineapple flavor and I couldn't taste the rum at all. It's an intriguing recipe but it didn't wow me and won't be making a repeat performance! And then I spent the rest of the night rubbing my eyes with spicy jalapeno fingers. Fun times.

Pineapple-Jalapeno Daiquiris

(from the Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients:
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced and seeded (or maybe just half!)

2.5 cups fresh chopped pineapple

3/4 cup rum

3 tablespoons sugar

1 lime, juiced

1.5 cups ice

Directions:
1. Combine sliced jalapeno with pineapple in a shallow dish. Freeze until firm, about 3 hours.

2. Transfer the pineapple mixture to a blender and add the rum, sugar, lime juice, and ice. Puree until smooth.

3. Divide among four glasses and garnish with a jalapeno slice or cilantro sprig.

It burns!

Why are my lungs burning? Oh right, simmering jalapenos. This recipe was a little underwhelming. The flavor wasn't there for me. You could taste the jalapenos but the sweet orange flavor didn't pop. Of course we've been spoiled with some very flavorful and amazing salmon recipes lately: Sweet & Salty, Asian with Lime Drizzle, and Teriyaki with Sriracha Cream. I think that adding orange zest might have helped bring out the sweet orange flavor.

Jalapeno-Orange Glazed Salmon

(from wearenotmartha.com)

Ingredients:
2 jalapeños, 1 minced, 1 sliced
1/4 cup orange juice (and maybe some zest?!)
1/8 cup honey
2 salmon fillets
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Directions:
1) Put the minced jalapeño, orange juice, and honey in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for about 8-10 minutes until it thickens.
2) Brush the salmon lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. When the jalapeno-orange juice mixture is done simmering, brush about half of the mixture over the salmon.
3) Grill salmon on medium-medium low in frying pan for about 3 minutes on each side.
4) Remove salmon from pan and immediately put jalapeño rounds in grill pan. Turn heat to medium-high and grill until browned.
5) Brush salmon with the remaining jalapeno-orange mixture and top with grilled jalapeno rounds.

Little Colonel

This wasn't my type of drink but Mr. Lawyer is trying to use up the SoCo. It burns on the way down! But if you like that type of thing then this is for you. Mr. Lawyer said it was similar to a whiskey sour.

Little Colonel

(from the Ultimate Bar Book)

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces bourbon

1 ounce Southern Comfort

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

Orange and Peach slice

Directions:

1. Shake all the ingredients with ice. Strain into an ice filled glass. Garnish with the orange and peach slices.

Teriyaki Salmon

I've been craving salmon lately and was debating whether I should go with our favorite Asian Salmon with Lime Drizzle or experiment with a new recipe. Luckily my mind was made up when the Mother Unit forwarded me a recipe from her co-worker and blog stalker (Hey Mr. Patrick!). Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Cream Sauce was a hit and will rank as our favorite #2 salmon recipe. The sweetness of a the teriyaki cut the spiciness of the sriracha and made it very enjoyable. You could probably get away without adding the condensed milk to the cream sauce so you don't have a full can of the stuff sitting in your fridge like I currently do (I see some iced coffee in my future). There is a lot of the sriracha sauce leftover but Mr. Lawyer has plans to use it on his breakfast burrito. I thought it made a lot of teriyaki marinade so I reserved a little bit of it and added it to some stir-fried veggies (mushrooms, bok choy, and onion).

Wicket the Wok and I are getting along swimmingly nowadays. After 1+ year and many tears, he's wonderfully seasoned and nothing has stuck to him for months! 

Stir fry those veggies!

Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Cream Sauce

(from damndelicious.net)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons honey
2 salmon filets
Cooked jasmine rice, for serving
Sesame seeds, for garnish
Sliced green onions, for garnish
For the Sriracha cream sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2-3 tablespoons Sriracha
1 1/2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
Directions:
1. To make the Sriracha cream sauce, whisk together the mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons Sriracha and condensed milk in a small bowl. Taste for spiciness and add more Sriracha as needed; set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup water; set aside.
3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic powder, honey and 1 cup water; bring to a simmer.
4. Stir in the cornstarch mixture until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
5. In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine the teriyaki marinade and salmon filets; marinate for at least 30 minutes to overnight, turning the bag occasionally.
6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8x8 baking dish with nonstick spray.
7. Place the salmon filets along with the marinade onto the prepared baking dish and bake until the fish flakes easily with a fork, about 20 minutes.
8. Serve the salmon immediately with rice and a drizzle of the Sriracha cream sauce, garnished with sesame seeds and green onions