Naan Bread Is Good Eats

Since trying Naan bread awhile back as part of a fellow bloggers recipe, it’s been in the house pretty well full time. And to think, I hadn’t even heard of it before then – it takes awhile for the latest to get out in the country to Greenback.

We’d had it as garlic cheese bread previously and since there was a little bowl of leftover garlic butter, I decided to try it for breakfast. Bev cooked and I just had it as my go to meal of cheese toast (but with the garlic butter this time) topped with a fried egg and sided with cottage cheese and tomatoes. The little muffin was left from her trip to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. Good good.


For lunch, I took two pieces of the Naan bread, topped each with homemade pimento cheese, and popped in the toaster oven until the cheese melted a little. I considered grilled cheese, but was afraid the Naan would get too done. Added a little sliced mater, lettuce, and chopped jalapeno (to go with the chipotle already in it).





This was too good and I may have gone a little heavy on the pimento cheese - but it was too good.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Chicken Galliano Ala Lea Ann

We haven’t been inventing many things, but we’re sure enjoying trying your creations and here comes another. When someone, whose recipes you have confidence in, says something like “I can’t even describe how good this is”, how could I not try it. When we bought our whole ham the other day, I had them cut about a dozen slices into prosciutto thickness and Bev found the Galliano liqueur (which I'd never heard of) so this was the right time to make this dish. I took a little taste of the Galliano and it sure was a flavor explosion in my mouth – the guy at the liquor store asked Bev if she was making Harvey Wallbangers. I’d never had one and so I borrowed some OJ from our neighbor and made us one – 1 oz vodka, ½ oz Galliano, 4 oz orange juice – the flavor from the Galliano is still a flavor explosion. Here’s a few comments from Wikipedia: “Galliano, is a sweet herbal liqueur created in 1896 by Italian distiller and brandy producer Arturo Vaccari of Livorno, Tuscany. Vaccari named the spirit after Giuseppe Galliano, an Italian hero of the First Italo–Ethiopian War at the end of the 19th century. Its vivid yellow color, currently derived from tartrazine (a lemon-yellow azo dye), symbolizes the Gold Rushes of the 1890s. The liqueur was made by blending local Italian ingredients (anise, lavender, mint) with herbs and plants from far away countries (vanilla, cinnamon, coriander). Vaccari chose yellow as the color of Galliano to symbolize the gold rush and named his creation in honor of Giuseppe Galliano, an Italian hero from the Abyssinian Italian colonial wars. Among the many ingredients in Galliano are star anise from China , Mediterranean anise, juniper, musk yarrow, ginger, lavender and peppermint as well as vanilla with its delicate aroma and cinnamon with its spicy touch. Vanilla is the most important ingredient in Galliano. Neutral alcohol is infused with the pressings from all herbs and plants with exception of vanilla. The liquid is distilled and then infused with pressed vanilla. In the final stage distilled water, refined sugar and pure neutral alcohol are blended with the base. 30% alcohol by volume, Galliano possesses a unique, complex, intense, yet mellow aroma. When drunk, a full smooth flavor fills the mouth. The fresh aniseed flavors balance the sweet vanilla ones.” The anise flavor stands out for me but it’s a pretty good drink. I made the chicken dish as Lea Ann’s recipe specifies and we sided it with some leftover pasta from a couple of days ago. Bev and her sister don’t care for goat cheese so I used herbed goat cheese on mine and herbed Boursin on theirs. I ended up with elephant breast so the rolls were pretty big. As a result I ended up adding the liquid, mushrooms, and chicken to the pan and cooking about 15 minutes with the lid on to get them to 165* internal. Check out Lea Ann’s site for cooking pictures as mine looked basically the same. Here’s my plate and it was delicious, just as Lea Ann described. I would definitely make this again and serve it to company. Thanks for posting Lea Ann. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by. Larry

County Ham For Supper And Breakfast

Bev has been craving country ham so we headed down to Benton’s County Ham the other day to fetch us some. I wish I could go down to the local dock and buy just off the boat seafood, or get fresh made sausages from the local butcher, etc, but Benton's is one of the little jewels of our area. I dare say, 90% of our population have never tasted old time country cured ham and bacon like they do it – it’s very different from Clifty Farms, Hormel, etc. She wanted to buy several slices and some ham hocks so after comparing prices we decided we’d just buy the whole ham. This way we’ll have plenty to use now, to freeze, and to give to the kids. The pretty center slices are further down in the pile.


As we were discussing dinner, I told Bev I thought I had a plan, but she quickly advised she wanted ham biscuits. She had to twist my arm, but I finally agreed to garlic cheese biscuits and fried country ham. I always have it cut fairly thin, a heavy 1/16”, so it can be cooked quickly and remain soft and moist – too often, it’s cooked into something more like cardboard that can be held by one corner and will still stick straight out – not the way I like it. Since the virtual end of Trichinosis, I think all it needs is a good warming up.



The finished plate of ham.


The garlic cheese biscuits were made with Bisquick using the following recipe.

From Red Lobster

2 cups Bisquick
¾ cups Milk
¾-1 cup Shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup Margarine (or butter), melted
1/8-1/4 tsp Garlic powder
Some chopped Parsley

· Preheat oven to 450 F.
· Mix Bisquick, milk, and cheese just until soft dough forms. Beat vigorously 30 seconds.
· Drop by spoonful (about ¼ cup) on un-greased cookie sheet.
· Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
· Mix margarine and garlic powder.

Remove biscuits from oven and brush with margarine mixture while still on pan and sprinkle with parsley.


For the sandwich, it was the ham, a slice of tomato and some homemade chipotle pimento cheese – I think Bev's plan was a hit.


And now for breakfast. I saved the pan drippings from last night’s supper and fried up some more country ham for breakfast. After frying, I made a little red eye gravy by adding 1/2 cup of black coffee to the pan drippings and brought it to a boil - scraping up all of the brown bits.

I topped a leftover biscuit with the gravy and sided it with a scramble using some of Bev’s homemade pimento cheese and a couple slices of ham. Gravy made with black coffee doesn't have a particularly pleasing color.



It was a delicious good ole fashion (except for the pimento cheese) country breakfast and I ate early so I was bolstered for another morning of doing battle with the Bradford Pear.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Breakfast Mac & Cheese – Instant Replay & Bev's Pimento Cheese

We had one more serving of leftover mac & cheese and I decided another breakfast meal would be a fitting end to it. I’d seen some smoked bologna in the meat drawer and my plan was to slice and fry it then top with the macaroni then an egg, but alas it was past it’s expiration date – the pups will enjoy it. But I did discover the leftover Italian sausage from the manicotti dinner so I nuked it along with the pasta. It felt like a two egg morning and here’s the dish – this may be my new go to breakfast.




PIMENTO CHEESE

We both really like homemade pimento cheese, and just can't eat the store bought stuff, so Bev decided to make up a batch. She decided she would deviate from her normal ingredients and kick it up a little. She doesn’t have a recipe and just makes it to taste, but here are the ingredients:

· Shredded cheddar cheese – half each sharp and mild – she used the food processor shredding blade for this
· About 10oz of diced roasted red peppers*
· About 6oz jar of diced pimentos
· Mayonnaise
· Garlic powder
· A couple of diced chipotle’s in adobo*

* - the new items to kick it up.

She first tried a little in a bowl with slaw dressing, but it was sweeter than we like, so she stayed with mayo. The thing that made the big difference was the chipotle and I really liked the flavor, with a little heat, that it brought to the party - she just added until we both liked it. If you like pimento cheese and you like the chipotle flavor, this might be right up your alley. Another step toward expanding our culinary horizons.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Creamy Grilled Chicken Piccata Ala Steph

This is the second meal in a week we’ve copied from Steph over at Plain Chicken but I just love creamy pasta sauce, haven’t had any in a while, and her picture made it look delicious, so I had to make it. Here’s the recipe link. I just followed her recipe except I used bone-in breasts as that’s what was in the freezer and only had 5 hours available to marinate. Also we used angel hair pasta as its Bev’s favorite. Here’s my plate.


I love a lemon-butter-garlic-caper sauce on fish or chicken or pasta, but making it a cream sauce takes it over the top. And the chicken marinade ingredients were a perfect compliment. This is a definite keeper recipe – great job Steph and I’m looking forward to the next one. Check out Steph’s post as her photos are much better than mine.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Stewed Okra And Tomatoes

Our tomatoes, like many in the area are doing terrible. Were aren’t getting the volumes we usually get as many are rotting on the vine and the ones we pick quickly develop disease issues that must be cut out. As a result our tomato canning has been limited and we’re finding other uses for them, such as the pasta sauce the other day and the stewed okra and tomatoes for this meal.

We usually just cook the tomatoes and okra along with onions and green peppers, but I wanted to kick them up and so I searched the web and came up with several recipes, including some for gumbo. So I took a few things from them and came up with this one.

Ingredients
· 4 slices bacon
· 2 medium onions, diced
· 2 medium bell peppers, diced
· 1 jalapeno finely diced, with seeds
· 4 medium cloves garlic, minced
· 2 quarts cooked fresh tomatoes
· 2 teaspoon chicken base
· 2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
· ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
· 2 tsp dried basil
· 2 tsp dried thyme
· 2 bay leaves
· 3 teaspoons Emeril’s Essence (w/ double cayenne)
· 2½ pounds sliced okra
· 3 tsp kosher salt

Directions

In a large pot, cook down tomatoes until you can tell you have about 2 quarts (or use two quarts of canned or less to your taste). Meanwhile, dice and render bacon in a sauté pan, cooking until crisp. Remove from pan, reserving drippings in the pan. Add onion, sweet pepper, jalapeno, and garlic to the pan with bacon fat and saute over medium heat until tender. When tomatoes are ready, add sauteed items and all remaining ingredients, except okra, to the pot and bring to a boil, stirring to avoid burning. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes (less for canned tomatoes), stirring occasionally. Add okra and let stew until tender. If using canned tomatoes, you can do everything in the same pot and add the tomatoes after the veggies are sauteed.


This is the recipe we ended with not the one to start – for example we doubled the tomatoes because Bev likes lots. We usually just eat it in a bowl, but I suggested we have it over some rice tonight. Bev initially agreed, but later said she’d really rather have it over macaroni and since it’s a lot like pasta sauce, it made sense to me, plus I’ll nearly always take pasta over rice.

We sided it with some smoked chicken thighs we had in the freezer from the last BBQ day. I let them thaw to a cool temperature then nuked to warm the inside a little. I, then, tossed them on the grill and when the skin was crispy I brushed with some Pee Dee Rivers Swamp Sauce (BBQ sauce). I need to start putting BBQ sauce on everything – I must have 15 varieties that I bought just to try.

Here’s my plate. I added some pasta to the bowl, then topped with okra and grated parmesan.


After a little mixing.


Bev advised I did it wrong and fixed it by dumping the macaroni in with the okra – why didn’t I think of that. She's a big fan of turning hers into one dish meals by adding the meat to whatever. She did this for this meal and kept commenting how much she liked the smoky chicken flavor.


The stewed okra turned out to be the best we’ve made with a nice heat, but just a little too much herbage for eating alone - but perfect over the pasta. I believe I’d cut the basil and thyme to 1½ tsps each for eating without the pasta or rice.

When I smoke chicken that I know is going into the freezer for reheating, I cook it to a lower temperature so it won’t be over cooked during reheating. For instance I pull the breasts off about 160* and the thighs at 170*. This gives me about 10 degrees to play with for heat carryover after pulling and additional cooking during reheating – which makes them come out just right.

We have a big pot of the stewed okra left so I can envision it for the next several lunches – I doubt I will add an egg and turn it into a breakfast though.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

Macaroni & Cheese – It’s What For Breakfast

The dish I eat for breakfast more than any other is a fried egg on a piece of cheese toast and it got me thinking. Pasta is basically flour and liquid and bread is basically flour and liquid therefore pasta and bread must be the same thing in a little different form. With that logic in hand, pasta and melted cheese and toasted bread with melted cheese are all but the same. Therefore,



I added a little diced venison salami to kick it up a notch. First time for this dish and it won't be the last. Kinda like cheesy grits or a cheesy mashed potato cake - cheesy starch with an egg on top, so it's not such a stretch.

Check this out - call up a map of the southeastern United States and look at the locations of Charleston, SC, Atlanta, and Knoxville, Tn then tell me if this newspaper story makes any sense to you - a plane going from Charleston to Atlanta was diverted to Knoxville for an emergency landing. I can only figure the emergency was that the pilot got lost. :-)

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry