Guest CHEF G's TASTY CHICKEN SALAD Nothing fancy, just really delicious chicken salad. For this preparation I used dill-brined chicken breasts that I recently cooked, but you can cook the chicken any way you desire - seared, grilled, poached, baked, etc. Just make sure that's it's cooked all the way through. And don't be timid about adjusting, adding, or omitting ingredients to suit your personal…
Guest Chef G's GARLIC AÏOLI First, what is Aïoli? Aïoli is a garlicky Provençal (French) sauce similar to mayonnaise made by pounding garlic with oil, salt and egg yolks until it's emulsified into a thick, creamy culinary delight. Take out the garlic and add mustard and you have a basic mayonnaise. This simple, basic Aïoli recipe produces a very silky, garlic-spiced sauce with a very…
Carne Asada Burrito “Ready to Roll” Tonight was the first night after the rains totaled our patio roof that we could get back outside. We didn’t need one, but I built a fire anyway. I call it “Fire for Effect”. And Patti’s tiny and always cold. I found citrus marinated carne asada at the Mexican market on sale and I could not resist. With the…
Bourbon Street Chicken We were gifted with some really nice bourbon. We don’t drink it, unless we’re in New Orleans, where it’s a rule, so we decided to cook with some. Like wine if it’s good enough to drink, it’s just right to use in cooking. Patti’s favorite part of the chicken is dark meat and she created a really enjoyable marinade. She used white…
Guest CHEF G'S SEARED DUCK BREAST w/ SPICED ORANGE MARMALADE I had a sudden craving for duck and fruit...so THIS happened! Seared duck breast is one of my all-time favorite foods, and it pairs really well with a sweet orange sauce. I hadn't prepared a marmalade glaze in quite some time, so I amped it up a bit with fresh ginger, fennel, and cayenne…
CHEF G's LEMON-GARLIC BUTTER CREAM SAUCE FOR PASTA AND SEAFOOD The pictured dish is - - - Chef G's Lemon-Garlic Butter Penne w/ Squid, Calamari Rings, Gulf Shrimp, & Steamed Lobster Claws ===================== A few years ago I was asked to try and recreate a seafood pasta dish served by one of the staff chefs at Walt Disney World in Orlando (Florida). He tried to…
Bacon Squares We love bacon and have discovered Zaycon Fresh Bacon. Some of the best we have ever had. Thick sliced and flavor packed. I like to pile so much onto burgers and sandwiches and it is always falling out or off. The dogs love that part. We like bacon in every bite of the whole sandwich and this makes that happen easily. So, think…
CHEF G's NACHO CHEESE SAUCE Have you ever tried to make a cheese sauce for nachos or fondue and it breaks apart and tastes grainy? Well Chef G is going to share with you a recipe and tips that will have you boasting and saying to folks, "This is NACHO cheese sauce, it's mine!" I know that's corny, but I made you smile, huh? I…
Sweep the Kitchen Hot Sauce We always enjoy cooking at the Murrieta Farmer’s Market on our Louisiana Wood Pellet Grill. The people are great and we always come home with lots of fresh fruit and veggies. Mike and Linda of Engle Farms sent home boxes of beautiful tomatoes, tomatillos and fragrant fresh basil, plus a huge assortment of fresh peppers. I had all kinds of…
Fiery Cowboy Pizza Ken wanted a really spicy, meaty pizza and the best way to make it was with some leftover “Fiery Chuck Roast” and lots of shredded pepper jack cheese that we cold smoked last week. We used enchilada sauce instead of tomato sauce to continue our south of the border flavor and ready made pizza crust to make it easy. We used some…
G's ROASTED LEMON ZEST POWDER This is pretty cool, and really simple. I wanted to add a touch of lemon flavor to a corn flour coating for fried fish, so I prepared a small batch of powdered lemon zest. What you get is a fragrant powder that doesn’t have the tart punch of fresh zest, but makes up for it with a toasted dimension that…
Kitchen Sink Brownies Patti was having some of her Ladies’ Group coming over for lunch. They wanted a cool, crisp healthy salad…followed by a decadent, very chocolaty dessert. To make it easy Patti used a package brownie mix with lots of mix-ins. The girls just wanted a sliver of the browning, huge slivers. LOL! It was a rich, crunchy and dense dessert. And one of…