Coq Au Vin over Rosemary Grit Cakes

Got the Coq Au Vin recipe from dad, and made a few changes (added more wine!!). I actually started with a whole fryer chicken and quartered it myself.

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon - cut in 1 inch squares

1 package of button mushrooms

2 cups of pearl onions

1- 4lb cut up chicken

Salt and Pepper

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 750 ml bottle of Pinot Noir ( I used Barefoot, $6.00 but decent and drinkable)

2 oz of tomato paste

1 bay leaf

Directions:

Put bacon squares in a cast iron pan and render until crispy, but still tender. Remove from pan and save bacon for later.

Slice mushrooms in half, and place mushrooms and pearl onions in the bottom of a crockpot.

Shake salt and pepper on the chicken, and brown in the bacon renderings over medium to medium high heat, about 10 minutes. You might want to do this in two batches, as to not overcrowd the pan. Place the chicken in the crock pot on top of the mushrooms and onions when it is browned.

Reduce heat to a little lower than medium and add the chopped carrots and onions together. Stir to soak up the bacon goodness. Let them cook about 5 minutes, until the onions start to turn translucent. Add the garlic and stir for one minute. Add the bottle of wine, tomato paste and bay leaf and increase heat to medium high to bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the tomato paste.

Once mixture has started boiling, pour over chicken in the crock pot and cook out low for 8 hours.

Remove from crockpot and sprinkle with bacon.

Rosemary Grit Cakes:

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon rosemary

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons powdered garlic

1 tablespoon dried, chopped onions

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup Quaker quick cooking canister of grits

buttermilk, two eggs and cornmeal for breading

Bring the milk, rosemary, pepper flakes, garlic and onions just to a boil over medium heat. Once it starts to boil, stir in the grits and cheese. Stir constantly, so grits don't burn the bottom of the pan. Stir for about 2 minutes, adding more milk if need be, but mixture should be very thick, not soupy or creamy.

When grits have "risen", pour into a a 9 x 5 loaf pan and spread out to about 1 inch thick. Let cook, and place in the refrigerator until 20 minutes before Coq Au Vin is ready.

Remove grit cakes from fridge and cut in half (there should be two equal squares). Cut the squares diagonally.

Dredge the triangles in the cornmeal and set aside.

Mix two eggs and a splash of buttermilk.

Dredge the cornmeal covered triangles in the eggwash and then back in the cornmeal to coat.

Drop in a 375 degree oil until mixture turns golden brown.

Put two triangles on a plate and top with Coq Au Vin and juice.

Madeariman Bar & Restaurant

While in Anguilla, on Shoal Bay Beach, we went to Madeariman for lunch. Madeariman is beach front and the food is amazing! So fresh with large, very generous portions. It's a casual place at lunch due to the fact that many people, like us, come in straight from the beach.

The tuna tartare was fabulous - very bright and light. We also had the lobster pizza. I am pretty sure there was well over a pound of lobster on our pizza. It was out of this world - the pizza really complimented the lobster, which was the true star. The mahi mahi skewers we ordered were delicious. The presentation was fun and impressive. It was served with rice and a great eggplant ragout type side.

Our service was pretty good although our waitress was real sassy and clearly was more attentive to the guys. Oh well. With views and food like Madeariman has, I can take a little sass :).

Pizza Bianca with Arugula, Bacon & Mushrooms

Hubby & I really wanted pizza Thursday night but didn't want the calories of a delivered pizza. So this delicious recipe from the December 07 issue of Cooking Light was just what the doctor ordered!

In the interest of full disclosure, I actually did not make the crust myself like the recipe calls for. I picked up a bag of garlic & herb pizza dough from Trader Joe's. I also do not have a circular pizza pan, so I made it using a rectangular cookie sheet. It worked just fine. This is a good recipe though I upped the amount or ricotta from 1/2 cup to a little over a cup, and 3 pieces of bacon instead of 2. And definitely a little more than 1/3 a cup of the mozzarella cheese that the recipe called for. I also think next time I would increase the amount of onion.

Overall though this was wonderful.

Pizza Bianca with Arugula, Bacon & Mushrooms

Crust:
1 package active dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces), divided
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Cooking spray
2 teaspoons yellow cornmeal

Topping:
2 slices center-cut bacon
1/2 cup thinly sliced white onion
1 (8-ounce) package whole button mushrooms, quartered
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta
2 cups baby arugula
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese

To prepare dough, dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Stir 1 1/4 cups flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt into yeast mixture to form a soft dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands.

Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning dough to coat. Cover; let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.)

Punch dough down; cover and let rest 5 minutes. Roll dough into a 14-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Place dough on a pizza pan or baking sheet coated with cooking spray and sprinkled with cornmeal. Crimp edges of dough with fingers to form a rim.

Preheat oven to 450°.

To prepare topping, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet, reserving 2 teaspoons of bacon drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside.

Add onion and mushrooms to pan; cook 10 minutes or until tender and moisture evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.

Drizzle oil over dough; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Place pan on lowest oven rack; bake at 450° for 10 minutes or until golden-brown. Remove from oven; spread ricotta evenly over crust, leaving a 1/2-inch rim. Arrange onion mixture and arugula evenly over ricotta. Sprinkle with bacon, mozzarella, and Parmesan.

Bake an additional 10 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Cut into wedges.

Parmesan Basil Lemon Wafers (Frico)

Thursday night we were opening a bottle of champagne and cutting up some gouda and we realized we did not have any type of cracker. I remembered that I had this Giada De Laurentiis recipe for Parmesan, Basil Lemon Wafers.

This 3 ingredient recipe could not get any easier. I was a little unsure how these would turn out and even more unsure if this would be something that Hubby would like. But they were fantastic! For three ingredients, they tasted very rich and very much like an indulgence. The lemon is just enough to add a bit of brightness to these so that they aren't too heavy.

This is a great low carb or gluten free alternative to crackers.

Parmesan Basil Lemon Wafers (Frico)
1 cup shredded Parmesan
2 tablespoons shredded basil leaves
1/2 tablespoon grated lemon zest
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Transfer a heaping tablespoon of Parmesan mixture onto a silicone or parchment-lined baking sheet and lightly pat down. A silicone baking sheet is highly recommended for this recipe. Repeat with the remaining cheese mixture, spacing the spoonfuls about 1/2-inch apart.

Bake for 3 to 5 minutes or until golden and crisp. Cool and use a flat spatula to transfer from lined baking sheet.

Walnut Red Pepper Dip

We call this red pepper hummus, but, it is really walnut red pepper dip. My mama made this one weekend we came in town in an effort to make healthier dips with all of us trying to be more healthy. It was fantastic and Hubby loved it too, so I knew I had to have the recipe. I have made it almost every week since then. It's very simple, and each batch lasts us most of the week.

The recipe is from Sunset magazine, from their December 07 issue. This is a light, but filling dip that I usually serve with strips of yellow, orange or red pepper. I have also done pita chips with this as well. The lemon juice keeps it bright, and the cumin adds a tad bit of underlying smokiness. Filling half of a bright colored pepper with this dip, also makes for pretty presentation.

I find that this dip is best served cold.

Enjoy!

Walnut Red Pepper Dip

2 cups shelled walnuts

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp sugar (I juse 1 tsp)

1/2 tsp salt

1 (12 oz) jar roasted red peppers, drained

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

2 teaspoons lemon juice

In a food processor, process walnuts, cumin, sugar and salt until walnuts are finely ground. Add peppers, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. Whirl until smooth.

Basil Pesto

When Hubby and I were at Trader Joe's on Sunday, I once again spotted the basil plants that I eye every time we go in there. I had resisted purchasing one up until then due to the fact that though God blessed me with many gifts, a green thumb was not one of them. Seriously. No exaggeration here. Anyways, I bought one.

Of course that meant finding lots of recipes that require basil (let's pretend this plant will last more than a week).

I found this recipe online at Simply Recipes.

Very simple and wonderful! I actually halved the recipe because there is only 2 of us and I did not want to have to freeze it. Hubby was making a crab and corn chowder, so I cut up a piece of focaccia and spread them with the pesto. Popped them in the oven on 400 degrees and they were amazing!

Basil Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts (I used walnuts)
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Special equipment needed: A food processor

Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.)

Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1 cup.