Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Happy Hump Day!

(Sorry for the delay in posts - I've had a lot going on lately. Trying to get everything ready for this move, work has been extraordinarily busy, and also my dad's had some health issues as of late and has been in the hospital since the weekend. He's doing better now but please say a prayer for him!)

Some of the best things in life are also the most simple. Take, for instance, last night's dinner: roasted (whole) chicken, macaroni and cheese and peas. Nothing fancy, but it does take skill, and when prepared correctly, it's one of my all-time favorite meals. There's just something enticing about  the smell of homemade roast chicken, not to mention it's the best comfort food ever, in my opinion. Additionally, a good roasted chicken doesn't take much for it to be delicious. This one in particular was only seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder and sage. Sage is KEY when making chicken - the two were just meant to be together! The skin was still crispy in some areas and had soaked up all the flavors of the spices and the chicken fat. The meat itself was tender and juicy (I think I've mentioned before that we prefer dark meat, which is why I love duck so much - it's basically all dark meat), and you could taste the flavors of the juices from the pan. My mouth is literally watering right now as I'm remembering it... mmm... moving on!

As for side dishes, we chose fairly easy ones, as well - macaroni and cheese and tiny green peas. (No, I did not intend for that to rhyme, it just happened.) Normally we go all out with our mac and cheese - I make mine the REAL way, making a roux by sauteéing onions with butter and flour, then adding milk and cheese to make the sauce. I like to use white cheese that melts easily, like Monterey Jack or mozzerella, sometimes with some Colby Jack. Occasionally I'll add breadcrumbs and pop it in the oven to brown the top and bake it all the way through. This was your basic kind that comes in a box, but it was (almost) as good. Mac and cheese is another great comfort food - how can you go wrong with pasta and cheese sauce? I'll tell you - you can't.

We only started eating a lot of peas within the last few years, but they've become a staple in our house. Baby back ribs? Have some peas with 'em. Fried chicken? How about a side of peas? They're easy to make and are a fun, tasty vegetable. They just need a little butter, salt and pepper, and they're good to go. The key is to not overcook them. If you buy the frozen peas (like we do), you only need to boil them long enough so that they thaw out, since you're going to put them back in the pot when you add your butter and spices. Of course, you can vary your seasonings if you would like, depending on your taste and preferences. Peas are pretty hard to mess up! We like the tiny green peas, which are smaller and slightly sweeter than normal peas. Personally, this was my favorite part of the meal. Everything was fabulous, of course, but for some reason the peas really hit home that night.

The quote I'll leave you with today is by Julia Child: "(But) my favorite dish remained the basic roast chicken. What a deceptively simple dish. I had come to believe that one can judge the quality of a cook by his or her roast chicken. Above all, it should taste like chicken: it should be so good that even a perfectly simple, buttery roast should be a delight." 

I believe that to be true. Have a great rest of your Wednesday!

Seafood for thought

Happy Friday, readers!

Last night Chris cooked another wonderful dinner consisting of herb-crusted tilapia with a lemon-butter buerre blanc sauce over egg noodles. Another simple, healthy, delicious dish. Tilapia is one of my favorite fish to eat - it's delicate and doesn't have too much of a fishy flavor. It's also extremely versatile, and is just as tasty when it's fried, baked, broiled or pan-seared.

Preparing the fish is quite easy. You can use any type of white, flaky fish, such as flounder or grouper, if you'd rather. Make a simple egg wash in which to dip your fish fillets, then dredge them in seasoned breadcrumbs. Pan fry the fish in some olive oil until each side is golden brown. It shouldn't take very long - approximately 3-6 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your fillets and how high your burner is.

As for the buerre blanc, don't let the name fool you; the name is literally French for "white butter," but it's so much more than that. I love the way Chris makes his version. He takes butter, lemon juice (the kind in the plastic lemon-shaped squeeze bottle), white wine (any kind will do, but preferably something sweet - we used the leftover Moscato), salt, pepper, garlic, and honey. First you reduce the wine down, then add your spices, butter, and finally the honey, to both thicken the sauce and add a little sweetness. You want your end result to be a thick, glossy sauce that you can pour easily.

The picture above is a little dark, so let me tell you that this was absolutely heavenly. Tilapia that's cooked properly falls apart with just the touch of a fork, no knives necessary. This fish was moist and perfectly flaky, and had a nice crust from the breadcrumbs. The sauce was tangy yet sweet and complimented the texture and delicacy of the tilapia. We used egg noodles as a base but you could use rice if you prefer. I love egg noodles with just about anything (one of my favorite comfort foods as a child), and they were especially delicious with the buerre blanc sauce drizzled over them.

My  hopes for this blog were to share some of my favorite homemade dishes, in addition to reviewing restaurants, and I hope the past two posts have inspired you to try something new. Food should be more than just sustenance, it should be something you enjoy. Here's your food-related quote of the day, from the famous Julia Child (I found it relevant because of the buerre blanc): "In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport."

Have a wonderful, safe and satisfying weekend!

Home Cooking at its Finest

Today I thought I would share a dish that my wonderful fiance made for dinner Saturday night. He is an amazing chef and has been cooking for around 17 years. I think I mentioned this in my first post but we actually met at a restaurant, the Bridge Tender, when he was running the lunch shift and I waited tables after I graduated from UNCW. Over the past 10 years he has opened my eyes to the world of food and helped me realize that it is one of my biggest passions in life. We all have to eat to survive, so why not enjoy it? This dish in particular was incredible, and also fairly simple and healthy - pork tenderloin with Jasmine rice and stir-fried squash and zucchini (see above photo).

The pork was seasoned lightly with garlic, salt and black pepper, and roasted in the oven at 350 for approximately 45 minutes (until the internal temperature reached 145-150 degrees). It was very moist and the seasonings enhanced the pork flavor beautifully. What really made it stand out was the sauce. We had a bottle of Korean BBQ sauce (you can find it in your local Asian markets, but we got ours at Harris Teeter) and it was fine all by itself, but seemed to be missing something. Chris used a cup and a half of sauce and added 1/4 cup of honey and reduced it down to make it a thick, syrupy glaze. The sweetness from the honey helped combat some of the heat and made it absolutely delectable. I could put that glaze on just about anything and it would be delicious, but I really want to try it on ribs or chicken wings (love chicken wings!).

The veggies were also quite simple. He sliced squash, zucchini and red onions and sauteed them on medium to med-high heat with a tablespoon of vegetable oil, salt, pepper and powdered ginger, and finished it off with a dash of soy sauce. (You can do this with a variety of vegetables and make a quick and healthy side dish in minutes!) I never liked squash or zucchini when I was younger but I can eat them all day long when he makes them! Be sure to cook them long enough so that they're tender but still firm - that will help with the bitterness, as will the seasonings.

If you've never had Jasmine rice, go out and buy a bag RIGHT NOW. I promise it will change your life! Since trying it we've never gone back to regular white rice. It is healthier than most normal white rices and has a sweet, fragrant aroma when it's cooking. We have a rice cooker, which makes cooking rice extremely easy, so if you like rice and want a quick side dish, invest the money and get one. They're not very expensive and you will wind up with perfectly cooked rice every time. Jasmine rice is has a flavor similar to the sushi-grade sticky rice, and all you really need to add to it is a little butter, salt and pepper. It's our go-to starch when we make dinner, so I'm sure you'll see a lot of it on here!

I don't normally imbibe but I bought a bottle of Moscato by the Naked Grape and figured it would be a perfect compliment to the pork. Moscato is a wine made from Muscat grapes that is generally labeled as a dessert wine. It can range from dry to sweet and can be paired with fish, chicken, spicy cuisines or light desserts. I have been drinking Moscato wines for several years but this is one of the best that I've tried, and it's not too pricey, either. The spiciness of this glaze was the perfect foil to the sweetness of this particular Moscato, and the pork itself was the ideal food with which to pair a wine like this. All in all this was one of the best meals I've had in a long time, and that's saying something (since every meal Chris makes is better than the last). If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

I'll leave you all with this quote: "Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul." - Dorothy Day

Happy eating!