brunosdream

Yep, another roasted chicken recipe! I was deprived of a working oven for almost a year, so I’m making up for lost time by using my new oven to cook some of my favorite eats, and roasted chicken is one of them.

This dish is an adaptation from one of my mom’s recipes, poulet a l’estragon. In her recipe she used a compound butter w/ tarragon, shallots, lemon zest/juice. Rather than using a compound butter, I roasted 1 1/2 heads of garlic, squeezed out the cloves, then made a paste w/ chopped basil and tarragon, salt and pepper. I then rubbed the paste under the chicken skin, and air dried it, uncovered, in the fridge for 4 1/2 hours. The chicken was roasted at 425 degrees F for 50 minutes, on bed of what I call purple potatoes, which are officially Dutch Blue potatoes.

The chicken turned out beautifully and tastes really good! Since tomatoes are at their peak right now, I made a tomato salad w/ fresh corn, red onion, some basil and tarragon leaves, and a mustardy vinaigrette.

I’ll definitely be making this meal again!!

Bon Appetit!

Bruno

Roasted w/ baby purple potatoes; and red cabbage salad w/ granny smith apples, shallots, and tarragon vinaigrette. I like this version more than version #1. The potatoes get deliciously flavored by the chicken drippings, and the shallots in the cabbage salad are milder than the white onion I used in the first version. The rest of the recipe is the same. Some of the benefits of using a vinaigrette rather than a creamy salad dressing are: it’s lighter on hot summer days, the acidity keeps the apples from browning, and it softens the cabbage. In fact, the salad tasted even better after a few days in the fridge!

Cheers…

Bruno

Another summer of just taking it easy while getting my legs fixed up so I can start traveling again, and put a nice veggie garden in next year. Just herbs and flowers this year.

The flowers are beginning to pop open for some of nature’s pre-4th of July fireworks, and the herbs are adding depth to my weekly cooking projects.

My summer oasis…

Cheers!

Bruno

Pork tenderloin stuffed w/ Armagnac-soaked prunes and apricots, and sauteed crimini mushrooms; pan roasted w/ butternut squash and Granny Smith apples. Served w/ pan roasted baby potatoes, and merlot sauce w/ Italian black summer truffles.

There was a frost warning here last night, so I figured it was best to pick some basil leaves just in case. I picked what I needed yesterday for my dinner pizza, and what was left over I chopped up to put in some mango salsa. The oregano was harvested today to be dried for upcoming recipes this fall and winter. 

It was good year for basil. I was able to make 3 medium jars of pesto, and a bowl of pistou in addition to picking some leaves occasionally for various dished I needed it for. 

The zinnias and other flowers loved the wet summer we had here in St. Louis. I love it that they’re continuing to bloom and providing some nice color to the browning scenery in my yard.

That’s it for now. I hope your gardens were bountiful too this year. 

Cheers!

Bruno

Voila, summer is here! Taking it easy in the garden this year. I’m just growing herbs and flowers.

Strangely, the sage died out after flowering beautifully. The oregano and tarragon were harvested a month ago to use in various kitchen projects. I’ve already made pistou and pesto w/ the Genovese basil, and the Thai basil was snipped for a couple of dishes.

We’ve had a good amount of rain on a regular basis, so the flowers are looking really good.

Here are a few photos taken on July 13th:

Stay safe and have a great summer!

Bruno

My brother and sister-in-law went mushroom hunting in the forest near their home and found some treasure! Here are a few photos of their outing:

Happy Hunting…

Bruno

When I’m running errands around town, I’ll occasionally drive by a Jamaican BBQ place called Mi Hungry, but I’ve yet to try their food. One thing for sure is it has made me crave some jerk chicken. To satisfy that craving, my most recent cooking project was, you guessed it, delicious, aromatic, roasted jerk chicken! After removing the backbone and flattening out the chicken, I rubbed jerk seasoning under the skin, then let it air dry, uncovered, in the fridge for 5 hours for a crispier skin. 45 minutes in a 425-degree Fahrenheit oven, and my bird was ready! Served w/ jasmine rice enhanced w/ some lime juice/zest, and a cooling red cabbage slaw … it was heaven on earth!!

One of these days, I’ll travel to Jamaica for the real deal. Until then, this will have to suffice.

Bon Appetit!

Bruno

P.S. – A Cotes du Rhone blanc was a nice pairing for this meal.

Fall has definitely arrived in St. Louis. It was a good day to break out the table top wood-fired oven and practice my cooking skills on a beautiful, chilly afternoon. I made calzones in a cast iron skillet for the first time, as well as a few pizzas. The calzones were filled w/ goat cheese, shitake mushrooms, roasted broccoli, orange bell pepper and garlic. The pizzas were topped w/ a San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, pesto and chunks of crispy pork jowl bacon. It was a fun and delicious way to spend Halloween afternoon w/ a couple of friends. 

Cheers!

Bruno 

Well, these beautiful zinnias kind of make up for the crappy tomato season this year!

Better years ahead…

Bruno