new recipes

[Sonnie Layne]

Gods, may my heroes rest in silence of the mirth they encountered on the day of their passing to you.
May you always pass your blessings to their families and friends.
May we always acknowlege that they gave their lives for what we thought was a faithfulness to our security.
For these things in our loss I'd really appreciate a nice sunrise for those who've lost more than me. And so...

soldiers of the field
come home now revealed
of your tattered crosses
and your fellow soldier's
tossed remains.
come home and rest.


memorial day
2002
SCL

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[flatfloor]

Beautiful, sad.

[Sonnie Layne]

Here's a newcomer to my kitchen. It's taken me a few attempts to get this the way we like it here. Adapted from a recipe from Linda Fraser. Sounds like a bit of trouble, but really it's not. Make the sauce ahead and keep it in the fridge. Then it's a matter of just throwing things together. You'll need chicken broth/stock, the difference will come forth in another posting. I strongly recommend having your own stock on hand, but canned unsalted will do. Ditto the breadcrumbs. So easy to make, but if you don't have any uhhh, don't buy any, I'll follow this with a how-to for those that don't know.

4 servings. Note: I'm not one to skimp on serving size, I typically allow a serving to be something that will satiate a tile setter at the end of a day's work, not some shrunken up 2 oz strip that we'd put on a toothpick (or scratch awl) and nibble while mom cooks up something else.

gather the following:
For the bird;
4 whole chicken breasts, boned, skinned. This would be 8 split breasts if you buy them that way.
6 T all purpose flour
2 oz olive oil
Salt as desired
Pepper: dash of cayenne, 1T black and 1T white pepper. (a dash is half a pinch, Bud :) )

for the sauce;
1 T olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery finely chopped
1 red bell pepper seeded, cored, finely chopped (yes the red ones taste different, but we also want the colour in this recipe)
3 garlic cloves crushed and minced

*four Roma tomatoes, diced
*1/4 cup dry white wine
2/3 cup chicken broth (5 oz will work)
1 T tomato puree
1 T filtered honey (sugar will work)
1 T fresh basil (2 tsp dried)
1 T fresh parsley (2 tsp dried)
2 tsp fresh thyme (1 tsp dried)

* or one can (=~14oz) diced tomatoes with juice (read the label, get some with no additives)

and for assembly:
8 oz mozzarela, buy it pre-sliced
4 T fresh parmesian, grated
4 T fresh romano, grated
3 oz (volume) bread crumbs (a big handful)
2-3 oz Olive oil

Here we go: the sauce
Heat the pan first, medium
Add the oil, wait a minute for it to reach temp
Add onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic. Sautee 'til soft.
Add wine (if used), stir a minute to flash alcohol, then tomatoes, tomato paste, broth, honey and herbs.
Salt to taste.
Reduce heat to simmer after boil is reached. Simmer for half hour or longer to reduce to a thick sauce.

As I said, you can then store this sauce in the fridge for a day or so, when you get ready to finish assembly/baking. This is all the work.

For the chicken breasts, you want to flatten them to 1/4" or so using a mallet or rolling pin. Put the meat inside one of the plastic bags from the grocery first.
Mix the pepper, salt, flour and dust the flattened breasts, both sides with mix.
Begin preheating oven to 350.
Heat the skillet to med high, add oil, bring to temp, brown the breasts, both sides. 3-4 minutes. Keep these warm while you brown the remaining breasts.

In a large casserole or oven proof skillet put it all together thus:
one layer of chicken, then a dab of sauce, then the mozzarella, then the remaining sauce, the romano, and a final layer of chicken.
On top, the parmesian, bread crumbs, and drizzle the remaining olive oil.
Bake 20-30 minutes, until nicely gold/brown.

Makes a mouthful of great food, I like it served with just some crisp salad. Dry white wine is good with the dish, but it's flavourful enough to stand up to a red Zinfandel or light Merlot.

Bread crumbs: easy and breezy.

get some day old bread. You probably have some hanging around. I typically buy fresh Italian or French loafs and therefore always have some leftover. Tear it up into small pieces, like big pinches. Bake in oven at 250 for a couple hours while you're doin' something else. They need to be totally crisped. After, let them cool, and crumble them up. You can use the blender. Store in air tight bag in fridge. Alternatively you can, before baking, dust the crumbs with your choice of herbs. If you don't have much bread, ask your grocer's bakery dept., they'll have plenty.

for croutons, just don't grind them after baking.

I figure why buy 'em?

[John Bridge]

Hey Sonnie,

I've printed that one and turned it over to Patti. I'll let you know how she improves upon it. :D

The poem. Scribble it on my marker, will ya?

There were five of us brothers. All served in the military. Two now rest in national cemetaries and another is on the verge. (Not me :) )

[Sonnie Layne]

Must apologize for the misled first post to this topic. My intent of course was to post some nummy and easy recipes.

Somewhere between Enter and Delete, my heart skipped a beat and brought out some realism of what Memorial Day is about. I lost two cousins, both chopper gunmen in asia. We've all losses, I know. I've even had greater, but this day somehow means something more since 9/11.

Can't reason why this would be, maybe because during the whole time we lost souls in that war I never saw the flag at half staff.

Now we have insurance agents willing to give you a bumper sticker impressioning the flag flying half. Oh, and by the way, while you're here let us quote you on your insurance needs. No purchase necessary, quantities limited to demand.

I remember the shore, where we sat on the pier and watched the gulls land mullett. And the tide would come in and make our bottoms wet from beneath the boardwalk. We'd laugh at the feel, a sharing only brothers could know.

We had a name for the one hugemongous MF that always got away.

I forget his name in his absense.

Then you left our baited lure for the likes of (yuckk) girls. I never ascertained the difference. But on occasion you'd come back to the dock and share a moment of your leisure (with your homme d'jour) just because you loved me.

Then you said you had to go away for a while, because someone said so.

I still see your reflection in the water that dances on top of the wharf at high tide.

I now see a ripple in the crest of moon-high tide amidst the reeds. Is it you? Are you there, busy with the girls? I cast my lure, the way you taught me, to see... plunge it a bit beneath the surface, let it rise slowly, then plunge again... will you bite?

No, I guess you're smarter than that, eh?

Hope you're well. Fish ain't bitin'. Tide is warm under the pier. Takes longer for the pants to dry now, tho'.

Now to the next recipe...

[Sonnie Layne]

So, tonight, I got home a bit early. Hungry as hell and my girl was just getting in from the gym (read also hungry). As we've both sworn to our old testament of not eating past 7pm, we had to swarm up something out of the fridge... here goes the evening's cooking saga. Didn't turn out half bad. (she says excellent, but she's blonde)

I had on hand the following:

A bit of lamb shank, maybe handful.

a third of a loaf of italian bread.

A batch of fresh aspargus

8oz of mushrooms.

Makings for Hollandaise, but I used the packaged stuff...

mayonaisse, lemon, olive oil. But we'll get into that later.


What I did:

Split the bread lengthwise into two nice fat pans.
Toast them in an oven for oh... twenty minutes or so. They don't have to be toasted through.

Take the asparagus tips, steam them.

Mushrooms, coarsely sliced, sautee them in half stick of butter with 1 tsp thyme. when browned kinda, splash in about an ounce or two of heavy red wine. Save the rest for drinking with the meal.

Remove steamed asparagii.

Remove baked bread and spread: mushrooms with sauce, asparagii, hollandaise sauce, a handfull of meat (we were fortunate to have lamb shank, but would have preferred crab, shrimp or mussell) sautee'd mushrooms, romano, bread crumbs and olive oil. Set to bake at 400 for 15 minutes. If you can eat one half this open-faced french loaf you're a better man than me. Or at least meaner... :)

Don't know what to call it. Just call it...

Often!

Fill in the ingredients you have in your fridge.


Cami,,,, where are you?

[John Bridge]

I was going to keep it to myself, but this seems fitting.

My brother Bob, the old mud man, passed away last night. He was extremely sick, and it wasn't a surprise. His doctors originally gave him 18 months to 2 years. That was thirteen years ago.

So once there were five. Now there are two. And there's one less "mud man" in the world. :)

Here's Bob with my wife Patti a couple summers ago.


http://johnbridge.com/BobElaine/patti-bob.jpg


Robert Cecil Bridge 1922-2002

Tile on, bro.

[Edited by John Bridge on 05-23-2002 at 06:20 PM]

[Sonnie Layne]

even if expected and a long illness, I know there's a loss.

Tough old coot to outlive the guidelines, eh? One less mudman, but I'm still striving, by golly... maybe the count will equal out someway yet! ;)

Have peace with it all, mi amigo... and carry on as only you can do.

[Cami A]

Sorry to hear about your brother, John. Just because you know it's going to happen doesn't make it any easier.




I'm here, Sonnie, but Jack wears the apron all summer, and he hates it when I'm in "his" space, so I try not to think about cooking and baking. I do no cooking from May - October. I did have some sauteed morels last night as a treat, though. Mmmmm....

[Sonnie Layne]

Hehe, I do understand that, Cami... I used to draw a line between the bar/island and the main kitchen area. That is, before I realized how much help could be had by just chopping and grating, etc. Now, when I take a Sunday off I'll sometimes just spend half the day doing all that chopping and stuff, then when it comes time to whip it all into place it's much easier.

JJ still jokes about that line. She now claims that once she's caught in the kitchen (we have a small little sit-down-at-table in there at the far end) she cant' get up to even leave. Well...fact is I'll let her get up to pour us another glass of wine ;).

May to October, why is that? Outdoor cooking season? If so, I'm envious. Not for the time off, for the outdoor cooking.

Now, it's getting on boiling season for southern crustaceans. Anybody ready for that? Get the corn, new potatoes, garlic, onion and lemon ready. If you want a good recipe, let me know.

[Cami A]

Outdoor cooking season? No...but that would be great...Those are the months that the restaurant is open full time. I empty out the frig in the "kitchenette" and use the table as a desk and the sink as a file drawer.

Already fed 142 kids breakfast this morning.... :D

[flatfloor]

C'mon Cami how much work is it to rip open a 50 lb barrel of corn flakes, scoop them into throwaway plastic bowls and squirt 5 gallons of milk from a backpack dipenser into the bowls? :D

Note-Package of dehydrated bananas cost extra. Yum!

[Sonnie Layne]

Geez, too bad...

Somehow never caught on that you had a restaurant. Too much work, really HARD work, too!

you mix your pancake batter in 55 gal drums, I'd bet.

[flatfloor]

Ever hear of Beer Can or Butt Can Chicken? Sounds like a lot of fuss, very little reward.

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:Mjz-0EGXIkkC:www.orlandosentinel.com/media/photo/2001

[Sonnie Layne]

Jim,

Yes I'll admit to having done it a few times, just for kicks and the company. You're right, not much reward. Principle is to roast the bird from outside, steam from inside, resulting in remarkably moist meat. To add to it, I was taught to glaze and finish the bird on the grill, further sealing in the juices. One big problem is to find a small roasting hen, poussin, (1-2 pounds).

However, my experience shows it's a big let down if you want the malty flavour to show through. First off, there's not an exceptionally malty brew available in cans as far as I know, leaving you to can your own from a bottle of, say, hefeweisen or bock. Popular at the fishing camp, where the only potable liquid you have is beer :D .

I say, first get the malted brew of choice. A couple of pints of...uhhh, well, Two Monks would be good, or an ale perhaps Negra Modelo. Let it go flat. Cut the bird into 8 pieces, slash through the skin in a good number of places, wedge your garlic in these slits. Then put it in a covered refrigerated dish to marinate in the beer for 1-24 hours. I use plastic bags for marinade because it takes less sauce after expelling the air. Take it out and cook as you wish. The malt will be more apparent and depending on your method and materials, the meat will be as moist.

For the best moistest chicken, I'll add this trick to the menu...

Clean and rinse the bird.

Select a pan/pot/vessel (not a plastic bag) large enough to hold the bird submerged (hint, you can place a little weight to hold her down under). Fill the vessle with brined ice water. As much salt as the water will dissolve. COLD, ICE, SALTY, got it?

Put the bird (cut-up or whole, depending on how you intend to cook it, into vessel. Put in fridge overnight or 24 hours.

Remove bird, rinse, let rise to room temp and cook as you wish (watch the salt in your recipe/sauce/whatever, you won't need to be adding any).

Moist moist moist. This works especially well when slow roasting, you won't have to baste. uhhh, of course I've never tried it with salty beer... ;).

[Cami A]

We mix up pancake batter in those 5 gallon buckets you all covet...Blueberry pancakes get mixed in smaller batches so the batter doesn't turn blue. French toast, homemade sausage gravy and biscuits, cinnamon rolls, blah, blah, blah....


And that's oatmeal, not cornflakes.... :D

[John Bridge]

Thank you all for your sympathy, but there's humor here too. I got an email from Jim Buckley in which he repeated Bob's name as I had listed it. "Robert Clayton Bridge." Turns out "Clayton" is the name of Bob's twin brother Harold who died twelve years ago. Bob's middle name is "Cecil"! Had to straighten that out. He'd have my ass. :D

Harold was also a mud man. He's the guy who got me going in the trade. Enough of that. I shouldn't have invaded this thread with this issue.

On the subject of butt-cooked chicken. The times I've been around when it came out dry and tasteless have been when the cookers have drained off the brew and replaced it with water. I think any old brew is better than water! :D

I got the video, Sonnie. (Trowel and Error)

[Sonnie Layne]

And indeed it is butt cooked as it appears from a bystander.

No need for you to think you've ingressed this topic. It is after all, yours. And I thank you for the opportunity to make an ass of myself on occasion.

Da poet

[flatfloor]

I think we're on another tangent! :D

[Sonnie Layne]

no surprise, eh :D