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