Thursday, May 10, 2012

Herb and Garlic Butter Rubbed Chicken

Finished Dishes

Close up on the finished chicken

Pre-cook chicken rubbed and ready to cook.

Herb and Garlic Butter Rubbed Chicken With Homemade Stuffing and Vegetable Caserole

You will need:
1 handful of fresh thyme
1 handful of fresh parsley
4 cloves fresh garlic
1 stick of butter salted
Olive Oil
1 whole chicken
1 baguette
1 whole red onion
3 yellow squash
4 cups of snow peas
½ cup of shredded cheese
Salt and pepper

Begin by finely chopping your herbs and garlic.  Divide your herbs and garlic in half.  In a microwave safe bowl heat a cold stick of butter for 1 minute.  Keep the butter in the bowl.  Add half of the herbs and garlic to the bowl of butter and mix with a whisk, then place in the fridge.  Add the rest of the herbs and garlic to a large mixing bowl.  Rip your baguette in half.  Begin tearing half of the baguette into a food processor.  Then process your bread and add to the bowl.  Continue with the remaining baguette and add to the bowl.  Now drizzle the bread crumbs with olive oil.  Mix the bowl contents, drizzle and again and mix again.

Preheat the oven to 350

Now that the butter has had a chance to chill remove from the fridge.  Now get out the chicken.  Remove the gizzards and neck from the bird cavity.  Give the bird a rinse.  Now its time to rub the bird.  First we are going to rub under the skin.  Place your fingers up under the skin in between the meat and skin and loosen it all up.  Now liberally rub under the skin.  Try to get under the drum sticks too.  Now it’s stuffing time.  Stuff the bird with as much stuffing as you can fit in there.  You should have less than ½ a cup of stuffing left over.  After the bird is stuffed, you can rub the outside of the bird.

Put in the oven uncovered for 1 and ½ hours or until internal temp has reached 180.
Vegetable casserole

Cut one red onion and 3 yellow squash.  Add red onion yellow squash and snow peas to a mixing bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil, shake a good bit of salt to taste, and fresh ground pepper, mix up with some shredded cheese, add to a casserole dish and bake for 1 hour.

Plate it all up and enjoy!


Thursday, May 3, 2012

Bourbon Pineapple Glazed Pork Chops

The finished dish.

The glaze cooking.

The magical ingredients.

Grilled Pork Chops with Bourbon Pineapple Glaze

You will need:
1 whole red onion
½ fresh pineapple
2 large cloves of garlic
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup bourbon
1 Handful of fresh rosemary

Let’s get started.  You will begin by chopping the red onion and the fresh pineapple.  Chop both the onion and pineapple into bite size pieces.  Place the onion and half of the chopped pineapple into your food processor.  Dice 2 large cloves of garlic and add to the food processor.  De-stem your fresh rosemary and add to the food processor.  Add 1 cup of brown sugar to the food processor.  Now blend finely the entire contents.

Next combine the pureed ingredients along with the bourbon into a sauce pan.  Heat to a rolling boil, reduce to medium heat and continue to cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and let cool.  I placed mine in the freezer because I was pressed for time.  When your glaze has cooled it is ready to marinate your pork chops.  Next you will need to violently stab your pork chops with a fork on both sides.  Then combine in a bag or tuperware container with the glaze.  Marinate for at least an hour. 

About a half hour before you are ready to grill your pork chops get your grill ready.  I use charcoal so it takes me the whole half hour to get it ready.  Grill the pork chops till internal temp has reached 170 degrees or until you are sure they are fully cooked.

For my side dish I chose a very simple side, grilled corn on the cob in the husks.  I begin by unsheathing the corn from the husks, but make sure you don’t rip off the husks.  Then I take a stick of butter and rub it all over the corn.  Then close up the corn in the husks and grill. 

Plate up and enjoy.

Taste analysis:
If you like bourbon flavor, then this is the dish for you.  The pineapple and bourbon balance well.  It's not too heavy on the garlic flavor or the rosemary. I would definitely marinate the chops overnight if I was to do it again.  Overall it was pretty good.


We're back!

Well, at least Jeremy is...  I, Jeremy, have had this idea for a recipe up my sleeve for some time now.  So here goes the preview.  The wife likes when I grill.  I like when I grill, and tonight she wanted to grill some pork chops.  The sweet sweet recipe I've been cooking up in my mind is a pork chop recipe.  The ingredients are bourbon, brown sugar, rosemary, garlic, fresh pineapple, and pork chop.  You can use your imagination.