Kiev-style Chicken with Risotto

I'm so out of practice blogging that I forgot to snap a photo before I sat down to eat. So sorry. Dinner tonight was chicken breasts from Bramble Hollow Farm that I treated in the same manner as the classic, Chicken Kiev. I de-boned the breasts then pounded them thinly and wrapped the meat around a frozen log of compound butter which I made with some fresh dill, parsley and sorrel that I clipped out of the herb garden this rainy afternoon. The little stuffed packages then got dredged through flour, egg, and breadcrumbs before a gentle sauté and a few minutes in the oven. While the chicken cooked, I whipped up a risotto with some homemade chicken stock, arborio rice, a couple of chopped leeks, and some strips of fire-roasted sweet red pepper. I rounded out the meal with a head of broccoli that Dick cut this morning. We eat well.

Amanda LeClaire's Baby Shower

I did some food for a friend's baby shower this afternoon. Unfortunately, I didn't get many good photos, but I'll share the best ones with you here.


Little Phyllo Cups with Shredded Peppered Turkey Breast, Tomato Jam, and Alfalfa Sprouts

Cranberry & Feta Cream Cheese Pinwheels on Spinach Flatbread

Crisp Crudités with Cheese Slaw

Fresh Fruit Tray with Assorted Cheeses (no photo of the cheeses, sorry)

Mini Spinach and Gruyere Quiche Wedges

I didn't get photos of the whole spread which also included Chesapeake-Style Crab Cakes. I'll do better next time.

Curried Eggplant & Okra Stew

This was absolutely amazing! Sautéed cubed eggplant, onion, ginger, garlic, ripe jalapeño, and okra, all simmered in coconut milk with curry powder, tomatoes, and lashings of fresh basil. Sided by steamed basmati rice, this made a very satisfying late summer garden dinner.

Slow Roasted Pulled Pork BBQ

I started with a shoulder roast from our Bramble Hollow Farm hog. It rested in a molasses brine for three days before being placed over low indirect heat on the Weber grill about mid-day on September 5. After about 4-1/2 hours of smoking and roasting, my pork shoulder had that wonderful smokey caramelized outer crust. I let the pork rest for about 30 minutes before tearing into it with my hands, separating the meat from the funny jiggly parts. Once the meat was pulled apart into big hunks, I roughly chopped it into manageable bite-sized bits. This was good pig with plenty of crunchy outside bits evenly distributed throughout the moist tender meat.

Wednesdays, we do kid-friendly suppers because my niece and nephew, Sidney and Samuel, eat with us after Samuel's afternoon guitar lesson. Today was pizza day. We get our pizza dough from a local pizzaria here in town, New York Pizza, for $1.95 each. (Can't beat that, huh?) Then, we pan the dough up and top it with whatever we've got in the fridge or pantry. The pizza in the top photo was no sauce, olive oil, fresh garlic, slivered onion, diced bell & banana peppers, cherry tomatoes, slices of leftover new potatoes, basil & oregano, and parmesan & fresh mozzarella cheeses. The bottom photo is more traditional with red sauce, diced ham, sliced summer sausages, parmesan & fresh mozzarella. We put onions and peppers on half of the meat pie to please both kids and adults. This is good pizza, I tell you, and so easy to make.

Pecan-Crusted Salmon with Sorrel Sauce

Baked wild-caught salmon fillet with a crust of chopped pecans, fresh basil & tarragon, and butter, plated with a sauce of fresh sorrel, shallot, white wine, cream, and a squeeze of lime juice. The sides are steamed new potatoes that Dick dug yesterday morning and I cut a mess of chard just before I started cooking dinner. The chard is sautéed in a bit of olive oil with some julienned onion and the chopped chard stems. The general consensus was that this was a delicious supper in the little red kitchen.

I'm Not Afraid Of No Eggs

After a trying day at the Freakshow, the last thing a chef wants to do is come home and have to cook, and eat, a big ol' complicated supper. Today was one of those days. The remedy to this chef's ills was a quick, not so bulky, tasty meal to nourish his tortured spirit.

All the way home from work I kept thinking "omelet, omelet, omelet". Upon landing in the little red kitchen, I pulled my caddy of fresh cackleberries out of the fridge, ventured to the backyard herb patch with my kitchen shears, and shredded a couple of cheese odds-and-ends that were tossed aside in the cheese drawer of the icebox. I threw together a quick little salad of romaine, tomato, and avocado. Then, I chopped up a scallion with the herbs that I had just gathered; some dill, tarragon, chives, and parsley.

In just a very short time I had a simple and satisfying little meal ready for the eating. I'm not afraid of no eggs.