Left Overs: Layer Up Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

We had quite a bit left over that night. While this doesn't look much, it spread to fill a good size of the dish. The next night, I mixed the sauce, vegetables & cheese crust, then mixed some panko bread crumbs with more cheese (I know!), chopped parsley, thyme, and rosemary. Once covered with the bread crumb mixture, I baked at 325F for 1/2 hours. The left overs were as enjoyable as the first time around!

Culinary Creations: Layered up Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

This recipe comes from my mother-in-law, and is one of my favorite things she makes. It's sort of like a pasta-free lasagna. Ingredients:

• 1 medium chicken, cooked (you can boil, roast, or buy pre-cooked - I like to use store bought rotisserie)
• 2 red onions
• 1 lb butternut squash
• 3 red peppers
• 1 large aubergine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp good quality fresh pesto
• 1.5 oz each butter & flour
• 1 pint milk
• 1 tbsp English mustard
• 8oz Gruyere (or Cheddar) cheese

Preheat oven to 450F. Chop onions, squash, peppers & aubergine. Put vegetables into large roasting tin, drizzle with oil & roast for 30-45 minutes until tender. I usually do 30 minutes, as it will cook for another half hour, and I like the vegetables to retain more of their shape.

Stir in pesto. Put veg mixture into a 2 litre (3.5 pint) ovenproof dish & arrange chicken on top.

Make a cheese sauce by putting the butter, flour & milk into a pan, then bringing to boil slowly, whisking. Stir in mustard. Simmer for 1 minute, until thickened. Grate the cheese. Take sauce off heat & add all but a handful of the cheese.

Pour sauce over chicken, sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Turn oven down to 350F. Put dish on a baking sheet & cook for 30-45 minutes, until bubbling & golden.

Serve with baguette and green salad. (Serves 6)

Variations:

• When making this, I didn't have 3 peppers, so used 1 pepper, 1 zucchini, and 1 yellow squash. You really could use anything that you have on hand, or substitute what you like.
• For a vegetarian version, substitute chicken with mushrooms. Artichokes would also go nicely in this dish. I would recommend using Lemon Thyme if making this with artichokes.
• I only had 1/2 pint of milk, so had to use 1/4 pint of whipping cream and 1/4 pint of half & half to make the pint. My method of measuring a pint: one of James's authentic pub pint glasses. This combination created a much thicker sauce, which was very nice and I would recommend if you want something richer, but I think next time I will make sure that I have enough milk.

Cooking with Friends: Cookin' Kuchen

My Aunt Barb, also known as Aunt Bubba due to my inability to say Barbara when I was first starting to talk, makes the best kuchen I've ever had. She was taught by her mother-in-law, who was from Germany. Though it can be made with any fruit, Plum Kuchen is my favorite. Last Tuesday night she had my mom and I over for dinner. After a nice roast chicken dinner that my mom had brought, we were treated to the pièce de résistance, a plum and apple kuchen. Here is a piece of full on plum glory, topped by fresh whipped cream...

If you're not familiar with kuchen, the word "Kuchen" itself is the German word for cake. The base of my Aunt's kuchen is cake based, as seen in the photo below, topped with a layer of fruit, then streusel topping. You'll notice the apple in this photo in the right side of the kuchen, she made one end of apple, which is James' favorite. RECIPE:

~ For the Base:

• 1 cup flour


• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 1 tbsp sugar


• 1/4 cup shortening


• 1 egg


• 1/4 cup milk

~ 3 cups (or more) of fruit

~ For Streusel Topping:

• 1 cup flour


• 1/2 cup sugar


• 1/2 tsp nutmeg


• 1/2 tsp cinnamon


• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter


• 1/8 tsp salt

Base: Sift together flour, baking powder, and 1 tbsp sugar. Cut in the shortening. Stir in combined egg and milk with a fork. Spread into a greased 10"x6"x2" pan. Brush with 2 tbsp melted butter. Arrange fruit on top. Cover with streusel mixture. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes, until fruit is tender. Cool to eat.

It is so good that you are guarantee with these results...

Creatures in My Garden: Toads

During the summer, we are inundated with toads. We've had several this summer, but this guy seems to keep coming back. Of course if could be different toads that look the same, but we're convinced this is the same toad. For two weeks straight we have been scooping him from our pool or removing him from the lanai. Despite the chlorine, he seems to like swimming in our pool. I've named him "Hammer Time" as when he's decided that he's had enough and wants to go back outside, he ends up on the track next to the screen. He starts trying the climb the screen for a way out, as seen above, but after a while he gives up and does this little sideways, back and forth dance reminiscent of MC Hammer in the "You Can't Touch This" video. That's when I give in, feeling sorry for the little guy and will put him outside. Or I should say have J do it. I've tried a few times unsuccessfully, but he seems to jump right on the net when J goes to remove him. We have two doors into our lanai, one that has a rubber barrier under the door to stop beasties from coming in, and the other with the barrier missing. The other weekend J put him outside of the door that did have a barrier, and we've not seen him since then. This could be down to the barrier, or the heron that's been stalking around here...

Gardening: Birds of Paradise

In my neighborhood, the houses are so close together that you can carry on a conversation with the next door neighbor while you're both sitting at your own kitchen tables. This really doesn't bother me, apart for my back yard. When I'm out in my lanai or pool, I'd like to have total privacy. A year or so after moving in we started planting things around the lanai that would grow tall and thick enough to give us some privacy.

You can see in this photo how close the neighbor's lanai is. At one point, there is only about a foot of land separating them. We wanted something that would be drought tolerant, giving us a tropical feel so we planted two white Birds of Paradise on the corners with a Rubber Tree in between. In the course of about 6 months, they shot up to almost the height you see in this photo.

Here is a close up of the combination. We liked it so much that we've planted the same arrangement on the other corner of the lanai. It doesn't get as much sun as the other side, so is slower growing.
Here are a few "Birds" getting ready to bloom.

Here is one that is blooming. We didn't have any blooms at all the first two years that we had them, and this year it really seems to be taking off.

This is a shot of regular Bird of Paradise that we have. It doesn't get as tall as the white ones, but we love the colors.

Culinary Creations: Baked Chicken Alfredo with Bacon and Mushrooms

This wasn't exactly the most original thing I've ever made, but it was a good use of things I had in my kitchen: Jar of Alfredo Sauce, Mushrooms, Bacon, and Chicken.

I started off by sauteing the bacon. Once bacon was finished and removed, I then cooked the mushrooms in the left over bacon fat and a little bit of olive oil. Next I added the chicken pieces (I was using tenderloin cutlets), scattered the bacon over the chicken, poured the jar of sauce over the mixture, along with 1/2 cup of white wine. This was baked in my oven, uncovered, at 350F for 35 minutes. After cooking, I garnished with small basil leaves that were left-over from the basil I used in the salad.

To serve, I had a bowl of cooked plain, corkscrew pasta to spoon the sauce over.

I also made a simple salad of lettuce and fresh basil leaves from my garden, dressed with my homemade vinaigrette. Please note my uber fancy jar. Yes, that is an authentic Branston Pickle jar. Unfortunately even after 4 washings, it still retained some of the pickle smell, which slightly altered the taste of the dressing. Not sure if you could tell if you didn't know, but I could...

Culinary Creations: Jerk Pork

Jerk chicken or pork is one of my favorite foods. There was a Jamaican BBQ restaurant in Sarasota that had the best Jerk Chicken. Sadly they closed, leaving me on the quest of trying to come up with something nearly as nice as what they served. While I'm not quite there yet, this version isn't bad. I take a "Boston Butt Roast" (i know, not very appetizing) and marinate* it over night. When ready to cook, I put chopped onion, celery, and sometimes carrots in my slow cooker, and heat on low for 30 minutes. While the slow cooker is heating, take out the marinated pork, allowing it to come to room temperature.

~ When ready to cook, place in the slow cooker, fat side up. Score fat and stuff with garlic cloves, thyme, and rosemary.

~ Place the lid on the slow cooker and allow to cook for 6-8 hours. Usually around 6 hours I will check with a fork. If it starts falling apart, it is done.

~ Remove pork to plate, allowing to cool 15-20 minutes. Remove 1 cup of the liquid, leaving the rest in the slow cooker. Using fork and knife, pull pork apart. Return meat to the cooking liquid in the slow cooker. Stir well allowing meat to absorb liquid. At this point, you can do one of two things**: either add some dry jerk seasoning to flavor - or if you have a liquid jerk sauce (maybe even a jerk BBQ sauce), add to taste. Turn slow cooker to "keep warm" allowing flavors to meld.

~ I usually like to serve with rice, either Zatarain's Caribbean Rice or Black Eye Peas and Rice. On this occasion I went with Zatarain's. I used the one cup of the cooking liquid from the pork and cooked the rice per box instructions, adding chopped carrots, celery, and peas.

* Busha Browne's Spicy Jerk Sauce is my favorite jerk marinade. If you find it too vinegary, use the paste. If the paste is too spicy for your liking, mix with Greek yogurt to taste.

** I used a dry jerk seasoning and then served with South Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce. My favorite liquid sauce is Levi Root's Reggae Reggae Jerk Sauce, which I believe is only available in the UK and Ireland at this time. It is absolute bliss when I can get my hands on a bottle of the stuff! Another good jerk BBQ sauce is Walkerswood Spicy Jamaican Jerk Barbecue Sauce, which is readily available in the US, well, Florida at least.

For more info on Levi Roots and his sublime sauce, please click the following link: http://www.reggae-reggae.co.uk/index.cfm

For more info on Walkerswood's luscious products, please click the following link: http://www.walkerswood.com/