Monday, July 2, 2012

Chicken Marselena with Pepperoni Ala Dennis

One of my favorite blog reads is “A Culinary Journey With Chef Dennis” as he not only provides great recipes, photos, and stories about his past and current life, he also provides tips on cooking, photography, blogging, etc.  As he is a professional chef, I’m not surprised the he invents dishes such as the one we made recently.

Two of Bev’s favorite dishes are chicken pepperoni and chicken marsala, so when I saw Dennis’ creation combining the two, I knew it had to be made soon.  I followed his recipe as written, using a few additional baby bella shrooms and learned what a beurre manie was.  Please head over to his site for the recipe  and some excellent photos.

But before cooking the main course, we ate the salad course with our dinner guest, good friend Peggy, and it was Bev’s creation for the evening.  She had a cantelope from the store and some fresh picked blueberries that she wanted to use in a salad and after two on line searches, she found the salad recipe at the Cooking Channel site and the vinaigrette at the Fresh Market site.

Melon Salad with Prosciutto and Feta Cheese

4 cups cantaloupe, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup thinly sliced sweet onion
1/2 cup roughly chopped kalamata olives (pitted)
Handful fresh blueberries
2 ounces prosciutto ham, sliced in ribbons
2 teaspoons chiffonade* basil leaves
2 teaspoons chopped mint leaves
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Mix all ingredients and toss with enough Balsamic Vinaigrette to coat.

 Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 
1/4 cup canola oil 
1/4 cup olive oil 
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey 
1 clove of garlic, minced 
salt and pepper, to taste

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together vinegar, canola oil, olive oil, mustard, honey and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The salad was pretty good especially considering the diverse ingredients, but the dressing was such a brown color, I took my shots before adding it.  Bev wished she’d used the blueberry vinaigrette she’d seen in the paper that morning.

Now, back to the entrée with a couple of cooking shots - one with a steamed lens.

This is my plate.

We all thought it was delicious with a totally unique flavor and definitely a company worthy meal – thanks Dennis for a real winner.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Nothing

Two years ago:  Independence Day

Larry

6/21/12 meal date

10 comments:

  1. That chicken looks so good. I mixed up a balsamic vinaigrette the other day for a bean salad, and it also was so brown, I didn't snap the picture :(

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  2. thanks for the shout out Larry, I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed the dish, it really is a tasty combination!
    Have a safe and happy fourth my friend!

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  3. That salad looks and sounds wonderful. I'm saving that one. The balsamic dressing sounds very good, and I bet both it and the blueberry would be wonderful. I love, love, love chicken dishes dishes like that. I've got about 6 in my database and it looks like I'm about to add one more.

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  4. I love Chef Dennis's site too.. and you did him proud, I'm sure - everything looks fantastic.. can't wait to try Bev's salad!!

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  5. It looks like a wonderful dinner. As long as the dressing tasted good, the color doesn't matter much, right?

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  6. What a perfect meal. The salad sounds fresh and delicious for summer and the chicken does sound like a dish that would be enjoyed by guests.

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  7. You can't go wrong with Chef Dennis's recipes! The salad looks fab and the chicken sounds delicious! Have a Happy 4th!

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  8. I have never heard of this combination in a marsala recipe. But if you say so, it must be awesome! I'll have to try it some day! Hope you had a super 4th of July. My daughter and her husband spent their day on Lake Norris and because the 4th fell on Wednesday, we didn't make it up there for just the one day off for Bill who is now teaching summer school. The lakes in TN must be such a great respite from this heat!

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  9. Chicken marsala is one of my favorite ever chicken dishes and this crazy variation is just amazing sounding! I have bookmarked this and will absolutely be making this.

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  10. Larry and Bev, I used this salad recipe as part of a salad that I made and posted today that was combined with another salad posted by Sam of My Carolina Kitchen. Hope it meets your approval. It was easy to make sitting down at the kitchen table without a lot of standing so my back was very happy, not just my tummy! thanks, Roz

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