Saturday, August 28, 2010

Weekend Cook: Pesto Stuffed Chicken Leg Quarters


Very moist farm-raised chicken with garlicky pesto, served up with steamed haricot vertes and a macaroni casserole.


Easy to do.  I peeled up the skin of the quarter, cut slits in the flesh and stuffed them with partially frozen pesto.  Easier to deal with pesto as a semi-solid, instead of having fresh pesto running everywhere.


Skin back on and ready to go on to a 300f Big Green Egg for about an hour.


Did up the drummies, too.  Cooked the chicken to 170f, and then quickly seared the skin.


Pretty, and looking delicious.


The drummies disappeared while I was putting the leg quarters under foil and a heavy towel to rest.


There's leftovers to deal with, so I'm thinking tacos or a warm salad.  I don't know why I haven't tried this before (stuffing a chicken leg) because it seems like an obvious way to end up with a dish that's both easy and "kicked up" for company.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Burlington Farmer's Market #16: Busier and Busier


This week we had lots of visitors and ran out of blue cheese, again.  I offered more meat specials than usual to run for the next few weeks, so that we can make room in the freezer for the pork and veal currently at the processors.

As a result we sold out of wanky (not meaty) beef ribs, regular meaty beef ribs, not-so-lean bacon, sorta lean bacon, veal heart, wanky veal shanks, ground veal, and pork cutlets -  all at prices that made everyone happy.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.


It was a peachy/plummy, tomatopalooza, flowerriffic, holiday shopping farmer's market, plus one sweet doggie!

Hope to see you at market.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Wheatless: Schar Buns


Almost forgot to give a shout out to the product that made hamburgers and sandwiches tasty for me again.


Yeah, they look weird, and you have to hollow them out or they are too cardboardy, and you have to microwave them for a few seconds to make them pliable, and an open package of buns becomes super-dry and inedible in only 3 days - but they work, there's no funny or funky flavors to ruin all that high-end sandwich-making effort.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Scene on Church Street: More Cows


After market on Saturday, we walked up Church Street to the Farmhouse Tap and Grill for a bite (where the old McDonald's used to be).  I got to see three more of the artsy-fancy cows.


I wish I was mobile enough to walk the length of the street to see them all before they are gone.


The restaurant is ironically, a sandwich/hamburger joint.  No seafood to be found (that day), and only a few unbready preparations.  Very much like the McDonald's it replaced.  Cool decor, though.

If they had a gluten-free menu, I'd be a regular - but I can't trust a restaurant that doesn't have both front and back of the house schooled to serve patrons with severe auto-immune allergies.  Our server was tops that day, and steered me towards safe foods on the menu.  I had the cheese plate, minus the bread.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Epic Fail: Poutine X Macaroni Cheese



This was one of those things that sounded better than it looked - or tasted.  I mean, poutine is good.  Macaroni cheese, also good.  Two good things must be great together - like peanut butter and chocolate.


Not at all like peanut butter and chocolate.  Wrong.  So wrong.  No recipe for this - but there's cheese, gravy and macaroni under that crumb topping.

It tasted like poutine, but it was so heavy - ironically, much like real poutine, only gummier.

For each handful of new recipes that work out, there's at least one of these non-starters; we have chickens to feed, so no culinary disaster has ever been wasted.  At least, they don't mind my cooking.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Monday Menu: Chicken Loco Moco


When I made loco moco last December, I was informed that I did it improperly.   In the real deal, the egg is  poached in the gravy, not fried separately.  I aimed to make it right!


I braised shiitakes and leeks, and used some homemade chicken stock for the gravy.  Got some brown sushi rice already going in the cooker.


Set the gravy to simmer, turn off the heat, put the egg in and covered for 3 minutes to set it. Turned the heat back on to low, flipped the egg over when it was showing white, and let it finish cooking.


Sunset photography again.

Rice on the bottom (check), leeks and shrooms (check) - oh, and I forgot!  The chicken burger from here is in there, too.  Topped with the poached egg and gravy goodness.  Not diet food by any stretch, and a bit heavy for 80f weather.  But, I've got the method down now.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Weekend Cook: Chicken Kabobs


(There's a test piece missing from each type, in about the same spot.)

Chicken kabobs on the grill two ways; an easy entree for 2 or appetizer for 4.


The marinade:

1 TB Vinegar
1 TB Maple Syrup
1 TB Sunflower Oil
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1/2 TB Minced Hot Chili Pepper -- it was about Serrano-level
Zest and Juice of one Lime


Toss with one pound of boneless chicken breast, cubed.  Refrigerate for 4 - 6 hours.  Soak four skewers in the meantime.


Preheat grill to medium, and get a ramekin of your favorite BBQ sauce on the side.  Grilling will take about twenty minutes in all, turning chicken on all four sides until done.

How to tell when that is?  Grab a chicken piece with tongs or a fork and twist.  If it comes apart, it's done.


When nearly finished, coat two kabobs with sauce.


Both were very moist.  The "plain" ones were citrusy, light, and summery; not very spicy, though.  More chilies next time.

The saucy ones?  Sweet Baby Ray balanced out the tartness, as a result they were super-yummy.  Even though Dan had taste-tested three separate recipes already, he said he couldn't stop eating these.