When she has time she can follow a recipe pretty well. Here is a chicken breast with a mushroom and white wine sauce. Brown rice, asparagus and some of my freshly made whole wheat onion sourdough bread accompanied the meal.
Tarragon Chicken and Pea Penne
Nothing says spring like fresh peas. Unfortunately I don’t have fresh peas but these organic frozen peas sure were sweet. I made a quick and dirty dinner with whole wheat penne pasta. I cooked up some onions and garlic in olive oil, added some chopped chicken breast to it. Once that was almost cooked through in went a bunch of frozen peas. I made a sauce using a couple tablespoons of flour mixed with a cup or so of skim milk. This was added to the chicken and peas along with a half cup of fresh chopped tarragon from the garden. The cooked pasta was tossed with this mixture and topped with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano. It was YUMMY.
Whole Wheat Onion Sourdough
I felt in the mood to bake some bread. This was very similar to the whole wheat onion sourdough no-knead bread I made last fall. The proportions were probably a little bit different. It rose better this time and came out with a very nice texture. The crust was PERFECT baked in my Le Creuset iron pot. I split it quite deeply right down the middle just before baking and it sprang open just beautifully.
Rhubarb salad?
You bet! This salad turned out so good. Actually it has a lot more than rhubarb in it, but that is the secret ingredient that makes this dish very interesting. I started by chopping two large stalks of freshly picked rhubarb. In went one small red onion diced along with about a cup of chopped fresh asparagus. About 1.5 cups of cooked leftover brown rice was tossed in along with one can of drained and rinsed great northern beans. The whole shebang was flavored with the juice of one lime and half a lemon, salt and pepper to taste (a lot of pepper) and a good dose (~3 tbsp) of extra virgin olive oil. I love the tanginess and texture of the rhubarb pieces as you crunch down on them.
Barbie Bonanza
The weather was perfect this Memorial Day weekend for firing up the grill. We had some friends over last night to share in the BBQ bonanza. On the menu was a kalamata olive and walnut stuffed pork tenderloin, Jamaican jerk chicken kabobs, classic burgers on the grill, grilled asparagus, grilled vidalia onions and grilled potatoes.
First let’s talk pork. I started by brining the whole pork loin in a mixture of salt, sugar, whole bay leaves, whole cardamon, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, oregano and garlic. This was brined for about 3 hours. The pork was then cut open using a roll-cut technique to make a large flat open piece about 1/2 inch think. This was smeared with the kalamata olive and walnut stuffing.
Kalamata Olive and Walnut Stuffing
3/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted
1 tbsp capers
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp juice from olives
Juice from half a lemon
3/4 cup walnuts
a handful of cilantro
black pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
All the ingredients were blended finely in a food processor.
After the filling was spread evenly over the pork it was rolled up back into a tenderloin shape and tied securely with butcher’s twine. This was rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper before grilling.
Now for the chicken. I was inspired by Teresa from Running to Eat. This dish was so simple. I just made a Jamaican jerk inspired marinade and let the chicken soak for a couple hours. These were skewered and thrown on the BBQ.
Jamaican Jerk marinade
Juice of 2 limes
1 tsp freshly ground allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp freshly ground ginger
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
Juice of one small orange
3 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 tsp habanero hot sauce
The pork was grilled over a medium flame turning every so often until the inner temperature reached 165 F. It was taken off the fire and allowed to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
We cooked some burgers for the kids. These are simply flavored with seasoned salt. Asparagus got a quick grill after being tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper.
I just LOVE whole onions grilled slow over a fire. These vidalias already started out pretty sweet. They were almost like candy after grilling. The pork was stuffed perfectly.
And here’s a plate all assembled.
