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

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.

To satisfy my craving for pork with peppers and onions…

Pork Rojo

Rojo sauce ingredients:

2 New Mexico chiles (rehydrated)

1 chipotle chile (rehydrated)

2 Fresno chiles (fresh)

4 cloves garlic (pressed)

1/4 cup small basil leaves (Thai and Genovese)

3/4 tablespoon dried oregano

3 Roma tomatoes (diced)

Procedure:

Puree’ all ingredients in food processor until smooth.

Pork Rojo ingredients:

2 pork tenderloins (approx. 2 1/2 pounds total weight)

4 bell peppers (3 orange, 1 red)

1 large yellow onion

10 ounces crimini mushrooms

Procedure:

1) Julienne the onion and bell peppers.

2) Slice the mushrooms.

3) Trim the tenderloins; slice each tenderloin in half lengthwise, then slice crosswise into large pieces.

4) In a large frying pan, brown pork pieces on all sides, then place in a bowl and spoon on some rojo sauce until all pork pieces are lightly coated. (Save remaining sauce for other uses)

5) Sauté the mushrooms, peppers and onions until mushrooms release their juices and onions start becoming translucent.

6) Return pork to the pan and simmer everything until liquid reduces by half (approx. 15 minutes).

7) Serve over brown rice.

Yield: Approx. 4 to 6 servings (depending on your hunger level)

Happy cooking!

Bruno

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

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.

Every week during this pandemic, I have been doing a cooking project to feed my belly w/ good eats. Lately, because of the frigid weather I’ve been craving richer, heavier meals (think creamy pasta). The last few days have been spring-like, so my cravings have turned to lighter fare. One of my favorite ways to find new recipes is to look at images on the internet of what I’m craving, and if the image is mouth-watering, hopefully I’ll find a link to the recipe. Here’s a link to the original recipe by Gemma: Basque Roast Chicken (Chicken Basque Style Recipe) | Caribbean Green Living.

My add-ons, substitutions and omissions: I did not use the Noubess seasoning; substituted the whole chicken w/ 3 1/2 pounds of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs; used 6 Roma tomatoes (quartered), instead of the canned tomatoes; only used 6 cloves of garlic (pressed); and added 2 large carrots (sliced), and 3 jalapenos (quartered lengthwise and sliced). Total cooking time was 57 minutes. I loosely tented the chicken w/ foil after 30 minutes (removing the foil for the last 15 minutes) and turned on the broiler for the final 2 minutes. It was delicious served over fragrant jasmine rice.

Happy cooking!

Bruno

I decided to host Thanksgiving for a few friends this year. An unusual lasagna recipe caught my eyes, so I decided to give it a try for our holiday meal. I made a few slight variations from the original recipe, such as using shitake mushrooms, and parmesan instead of mozzarella. Also, I have two layers of the filling, instead of just one. The finished product was apparently a hit because my friends asked for the recipe. Sylvia Fountaine is the recipe creator. Click here for her original recipe: Polenta Lasagna with Smoky Red Pepper Sauce! – Feasting At Home.

For dessert, we enjoyed one of my favorite childhood treats, Apple Brown Betty, which was a perfect match for the Haut-Armagnac being poured. 

Here are a few pics of the food…

Happy Holidays!

Bruno

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