My favorite thing to do when this time of year arrives is to spend time in my kitchen, and my new kitchen is a chef's playground. I can't wait to get home each night after work, put on my apron and prepare something wonderful for the other fisherman and myself. I know that for a lot of you cooking is the last thing you want to do when you get home from work, but it has been my creative outlet for a long time and I love it. After staring at a computer screen all day, it is how I relax. And, after all, you do need to make dinner.
A complimentary combination of crisp, sweet fall apples, ripe pear, candied walnuts, blue cheese, red onion and greens tossed with a tangy dressing. Another tasty Teri salad!
Sublime Autumn Salad of Apple, Pear and Blue Cheese with Candied Walnuts
Serves 6-9
Can easily be halved if you are serving 2-4
Dressing
2 tablespoons sherry-wine vinegar
(If you don't have sherry-wine vinegar, use 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of dry sherry.) Don't ever use cooking sherry- nasty stuff!
2 tablespoons honey
One quarter (?) teaspoon salt
One quarter (?) teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One Third (1/3) cup extra virgin olive oil
10 cups mixed salad greens
4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
1 large Gala, Honey Crisp, Fiji, Red Delicious or Cortland apple- cut into three-quarter inch cubes
1 ripe Bartlett pear
2 ribs celery, sliced
One half (1/2) red onion, sliced thin
1 cup Candied Walnuts ' make your own or purchase them from the store
In medium sized bowl, whisk together the vinegar and sherry, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper. Gradually drizzle in the olive oil while whisking, until thick and well blended.
In large bowl, toss together the salad greens, blue cheese, apple, pear, celery and onion until well mixed.
Drizzle dressing over top of salad; toss to coat all ingredients evenly. Sprinkle with walnuts and serve immediately.
The holidays are right around the corner and to make a meal special, pour a nice glass of vino to compliment that beautiful meal you just prepared. Light a candle, pour a glass and dine!
AFFORDABLE AND FUN WINE SELECTIONS
Papio Pinot Grigio ' $5.00. A nice light, crisp, fun white wine with luscious citrus and melon flavors. Good with seafood and lighter chicken dishes and the apple pear salad.
Cline Red Truck Red Table Wine - $10. A fun label that is hard to miss: has an old red truck on it. A favorite Robl house red wine. Red Truck is a blended wine, full of cherry, blueberry and chocolate that is soft and smooth on the palate and compliments my roasted chicken, grilled salmon and pork dishes.
Until next time, have fun in the kitchen! Here come the holidays!
Sublime Autumn Salad of Apple, Pear
and Blue Cheese with Candied Walnuts
Serves 6-9; easily can be halved if you are serving 2-4
This is a complementary combination of crisp, sweet fall apple, ripe pear, candied walnuts, blue cheese, red onion and greens tossed with a tangy dressing.
Ingredients for dressing:
2 tablespoons sherry-wine vinegar
(If you don't have sherry-wine vinegar, use 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of dry sherry. Don't ever use cooking sherry.)
2 tablespoons honey
One-quarter teaspoon salt
One-quarter teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One-third cup extra virgin olive oil
Ingredients for salad:
10 cups mixed salad greens
4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
1 large Gala, Honey Crisp, Fiji, Red Delicious or Cortland apple ' cut into three-quarter inch cubes
1 ripe Bartlett pear, cut into inch-size pieces or thin slices
2 ribs celery, sliced
One-half red onion, sliced thin
1 cup candied walnuts ' make your own or purchase them from the store
Directions:
In medium sized bowl, whisk together the vinegar and sherry, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper. Gradually drizzle in the olive oil while whisking, until thick and well blended.
In large bowl, toss together the salad greens, blue cheese, apple, pear, celery and onion until well mixed.
Drizzle dressing over top of salad; toss to coat all ingredients evenly. Sprinkle with walnuts and serve immediately.
Beer Can Chicken Chased Indoors
Serves 4-6
Oven 400 degrees on convection oven
There is nothing like roast chicken. It is a perfect dish for any circumstance. The best chickens are free-range, organic. Although they cost a little more, they are definitely worth the difference in taste. I was inspired last weekend when I watched Emeril roast a chicken on a stake sort of set-up. I didn't think the carpenter I live with wanted to head out to the garage and fashion me something out of cedar to cook his dinner on, so I improvised. I adapted my beer can chicken recipe for the method Emeril used. Besides, it was too cold to grill that night.
Ingredients:
1 big, fat, free-range chicken, rinsed and patted dry with paper towels
1 can of cheap beer, half empty (save the remaining half to add to the pan before cooking)
One half stick of butter softened and mixed with your favorite spices and herbs. (Any combination of spices works well: garlic, pepper, paprika, Italian herbs, your favorite spice blend, but not too much salt.)
Directions:
It is important to get the chicken patted dry, as you are going to smear this seasoned butter all over the chicken, and it won't stay put unless the skin is dry. So, smear away. This will help make the chicken skin crispy and brown nicely.
In a big shallow roasting pan, nestle your chicken onto the half empty beer can in the middle of the pan. The beer will keep your bird moist.
Next, stick a big sprig of fresh rosemary into the beer can, up through the cavity of the chicken. It will infuse the chicken with an incredible subtle rosemary essence and smell great while roasting.
Veggies to add to the pan:
Alaska potatoes
Sweet Alaska carrots
Mushrooms
Pearl onions, or a sweet onion cut in eighths
Zucchini, squash, sweet potato, sweet peppers ' anything that will roast nicely and absorb all those great chicken drippings.
Cut up your favorite fall veggies in quarters so they are all about the same size, except the mushrooms and onions, which will cook a little quicker so they can remain whole. Dump them all into a big Ziploc bag, drizzle some olive oil over them in the bag and mix well.
Add your vegetable medley to the roasting pan with the chicken, spreading them evenly around the chicken.
Pour the rest of the beer into the bottom of the pan and sprinkle the veggies with salt and pepper. Take that extra little hunk of chicken fat that came off the chicken and add it to the veggies in the pan as well.
Park your soon-to-be masterpiece in that hot oven for one hour if you have a convection oven or one-and-a-half hours if you have a regular oven. The smell of it cooking will drive you crazy waiting for it to be done. Feel free to baste it while it is cooking and try to keep a little liquid in the bottom of the pan so you have some nice drippings to pour once the chicken is done and ready to serve. I just add a little extra water.
Gently stir the veggies a couple of times while cooking so they can absorb those chicken drippings.
When done, take the chicken out of the oven and let it rest about 5 minutes. To serve, carefully remove the chicken from the beer can (it will be hot!) and onto a platter. You might need a little kitchen assistance to do this.
Spoon the veggies around the chicken and pour the pan drippings over the entire platter of goodies.
Affordable, fun wine selections
The holidays are right around the corner and to make a meal special, pour a nice glass of vino to complement that beautiful meal you just prepared.
• Papio Pinot Grigio ' A nice light, crisp, fun white wine with luscious citrus and melon flavors. Good with seafood and lighter chicken dishes and the apple pear salad.
• Cline Red Truck Red Table Wine ' A fun label that is hard to miss: has an old red truck on it. Red Truck is a blended wine, full of cherry, blueberry and chocolate that is soft and smooth on the palate and compliments my roasted chicken, grilled salmon and pork dishes.
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