Savory Chicken Stew

Hi everyone cold and windy weekend after weekend so no fishing rough seas out there so stew it is to warm us up this is a lighter stew because I use chicken and white wine but very filing and will most definitely warm your bellies up!!
Savory stew
Chicken Rosemary Wine Stew
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pound boneless chicken breast cubed
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 ½ tablespoon tomato paste
3 carrots peeled and sliced
5 small potatoes cubed any kind you like
1 cup rutabaga cubed
8 oz. mushrooms
1 small onion finely chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley
2 rosemary springs
2 ½ cups low sodium chicken broth
2 ½ cup dry white wine
On medium high heat on stove top add ¼ cup oil to a Dutch oven. In mixing bowl mix flour, salt and pepper add chicken cubes to flour and coat chicken well.
Add chicken cubes to the Dutch oven but do not crowd the pan and braise chicken cubes in olive oil on both sides just until a nice crust forms on the chicken you may want to do this in two batches.
To the braise chicken add tomato paste, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, rutabaga, onion and parsley. Mix until chicken and veggies are well coated with the tomato paste. Add chicken broth, wine and rosemary. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 2 hours or until vegetables are fork tender.

Beer Maple Glazed Ham!

Just in time for the Holiday season and perfect for a winter meal! To celebrate the holidays we gather with family and fabulous foods some traditional and some not so traditional. The good old ham always a favorite but why not make it a little easier for you by buying a precooked/smoked ham there is nothing wrong with that. Three simple ingredients and you will have a fabulous and super delicious ham. What you will need.

Ingredients

Ingredients


Roasting pan, Precooked ham, 1/3 cup Pure maple syrup, 1 beer(any) and 30 cloves. with a sharp knife cut through the outside fat of the ham and push cloves into ham like you see below.
ham scored with cloves
Place ham on a rack in a roasted pan and pour 1 beer into the pan.
ham pouring beer
Brush the ham all over with maple syrup and repeat this step a few time while ham is cooking I did this twice while the ham was cooking.
ham   maple brusing
Preheat oven at 325 and bake 15 minutes per pound mine was 9 pounds so 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Beer Maple Glazed Ham
Serve with your favorite roasted vegetables. I love serving the main course all on one huge plate to pass around the table for everyone to serve themselves family Style! Bon Appetit!
Beer Maple Glazed Ham Plated

Thanksgiving Turkey with a new approach!

This week it’s all about turkey! Roasted turkey fried turkey and smoked turkey! We are trying to go a little bit healthier in my house for the holiday feasts. Having said that why not just buy the turkey breast all white meat much leaner. So I came up with the perfect combo for a rub using our fresh local grown oranges and ancho chili for a little kick and three fresh herbs. Let me tell you it’s fantastic I gave myself a pat on the back with this one and so moist and juicy it melts in your mouth.

After turkey roasted for an 1 hour brush the rub on.
Ancho Chili Citrus Rub Turkey Breast rub

Perfectly roasted let it rest for 20 minutes.
Ancho Chili Citrus Rub Turkey Breast

Pull out the citrus wedges and add additional rosemary to the sliced turkey for a colorful presentation.
Ancho Chili Citrus Rub Turkey Breast rub plated
Ancho Chili Citrus Rub Turkey Breast
1(6 to 7 pound) Turkey breast
2 oranges quartered plus juice of 1 orange to equal 1 tablespoon
1 rosemary clipping
4 basil leaves
1 fresh oregano clipping
1 large ancho chili pod mild
½ cup olive oil plus 2 tablespoons
3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon pepper
Preheat oven at 325 degrees. Rinse turkey breast well and pat dry with paper towels. Stuffed cavity of breast with orange pieces, rosemary, basil leaves and oregano.
Brush turkey breast with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place turkey breast in a roasting pan on a rack. Put about ½ inch of water in the pan. Place in oven.
Place Ancho chili pod in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes to softened the chili. Remove seeds and roughly chopped the chili.
Add to a food processor the chili, remaining olive oil, garlic cloves, red wine vinegar, and juice of 1 orange, seas salt, paprika and pepper. Pulse until forms a thick sauce.
After turkey has cooked for 1 hour remove from oven and cover with chili sauce using a brush. Return to turkey breast to oven and bake an additional 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours or according to package instructions.
Remove from oven place a loose piece of aluminum foil on top of turkey breast let rest 20 minutes before slicing.

Macy’s Great American Grilling Guru competition

As you know I enter a lot of recipe contests and some are cook-offs. I was super excited to make the semi-finals for this cooking competition where we competed in Charlotte,NC this time and our judge was celebrity Iron Chef Cat Cora and what a treat to grill my Shrimp & Apricot Pork Tenderloin with a jalapeno apricot creamy sauce and have Cat judge it and she loved it but all three dishes were fantastic it was a hard decision for her. Although I didn’t win to go on to the finals I had a great experience and tons of fun! On to the next one…
ME BEFORE SHOWDOWN WITH BIG KNIFE_CROP

Me before the showdown with the other two

Me at the cook off in action

Me at the cook off rolling my pork tenderloin

Me at the cook off with host while prepping explaining my ingredients

Me at the cook off plating my dish

Me presenting my dish to Cat Cora at the showdown

Shrimp & Apricot Stuffed Grilled Pork Tenderloin with a Jalapeño Apricot Cream Sauce

Shrimp & Apricot Stuffed Grilled Pork Tenderloin with a Jalapeno Apricot Cream Sauce

Shrimp & Apricot Stuffed Grilled Pork Tenderloin with a Jalapeño Apricot Cream Sauce

1 ½ pound extra lean pork center cut filet butterflied (pork tenderloin)
1 cup Garlic & Cheese Croutons finely crushed
6 dried apricots finely chopped
4 oz. cooked salad shrimp thawed and finely chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley finely chopped
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons butter melted
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh thyme finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary finely chopped
Sauce-
1 small jalapeno deseeded and chopped fine
½ cup apricot spreadable fruit
½ cup regular cream
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Extras –
4(10 inches) long pieces cooking twine

Preheat grill on medium high heat.
Open up the butterflied pork tenderloin and lay flat on a clean cutting board.
In a medium bowl add the next 8 ingredients mix until well incorporated. Take the shrimp & apricot mixture and spread evenly in the middle of pork tenderloin leaving a 2 inch border on the long side of tenderloin and a 3 inch border on the short side of the tenderloin. Starting with the short end of the tenderloin roll tenderloin over stuffing. Wrap and tie the pork tenderloin with the cooking twine to keep tenderloin together.
In a small mixing bowl mix together the thyme and rosemary. Brush the pork tenderloin with olive oil to coat tenderloin well to prevent sticking sprinkle thyme and rosemary all over the tenderloin. Place tenderloin seemed side down first on hot grill close the lid and cook 40 minutes turning it every 10 minutes to cook tenderloin evenly on all sides. Remove from grill let rest 10 minutes.
In a small sauce pan add jalapeno, spreadable fruit, cream, salt & Pepper. Cook on medium heat on the side burner of the grill. Whisk until sauce comes to a light boil and cook a 2 to 3 minutes until it becomes a smooth sauce.
Cut twine off the pork tenderloin and slice into 10 pieces. Drizzle sauce over pork. Serve immediately.

Fishing adventures that are sure to end with an Off the Hook recipes! Season#2 final episode!


Hoisin Snapper with Orange Rice and Black Beans
2 (6oz) snapper filet with skin
Sea salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 orange zest & segments
2 tablespoon parsley chopped fine
2 tablespoon hoisin sauce
½ cup rice
In a small bowl mix hoisin sauce with 1 tablespoon parsley and set aside. On stove top cook rice according to package instructions. Add to rice orange zest, butter and the remaining tablespoon butter mix well cover and keep warm.
Season snapper on both sides with sea salt. In a frying pan on high heat add oil and cook snapper filet skin side down approximately 4 minutes to get a nice crispy skin. Remove any excess oil from the pan and turn on broiler.
Brush hoisin sauce over flesh of fish and broil in oven for 4 minutes.
Plate filet on top of rice and garnish with orange segments.