Chicken Milanesa Richardo

Hungry for Milanasa but not wanting another dish with tomato sauce, for the moment, this dish was created.  Chicken Milanesa Richardo.

The elements of the pan sauce version of Richardo Sauce include:

 

Sweet banana pepper rings and a few pepperoncini added, chopped onion, garlic butter, and white wine.

You will need:

4 chicken breast (remove silver skin and pound out flat).

A plate of seasoned flour (I season mine with salt, pepper and smoked paprika).

2 eggs with a tad of water beaten smooth.

 A plate full of panko that has been processed in a blender, into a smaller grit.

4 large sweet banana peppers

1 cup white wine

Juice of one lemon

Garlic butter made by grating 4 cloves of garlic into 1/2 c. butter (melt cooking the garlic a bit).

A few handfuls of flour.

For the sauce start by softening the onions and peppers in a tad bit of olive oil (do this slowly and on med. heat). Coat the veg with a few handfuls of flour, brown the flour a bit. Stir in the garlic butter.  Next add the wine and lemon juice, thicken into a sauce. 

Handle the chicken as you would do for any breaded application- You know the drill- flour, egg wash, then crumbs.  Fry until golden, then drain.

It is nice served on a bed of wilted greens with the sauce dolloped on the side of the chicken.

Some people like a flash of red pepper flakes on the Richardo Sauce, as well.

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Cider Brined Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

Take a Iowan staple and elevate it with cider. I was born in Iowa, so I guess that means a vow to the Iowa camp. 

For my version, you will need 2 cups cider, water to cover the meat completely, lovage (or celery leaves), 2 cinnamon sticks, a few dashes of smoked paprika, 1 cup fine sea salt.

The cider brine adds a dimension of flavour and tenderises the meat, almost like biting a breaded fluffy cloud.

Cover and the meat in the brine and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

When done brining, pat the meat dry on kitchen towels.  Pound the meat flat. Do the ususal routine of flour, egg and in this case, panko.  The breading is only seasoned with pepper as the meat was brined in gobs of salt.

Shallow fry the breaded meat, until golden.  Serve with your favourite toppings and with a cold glass of, you guessed it, cider!

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MISS ISS I PP I Pot Roast Sans Packets

The Improbable Rise of Mississippi Roast 

I'm not known for using packets of anything, with very few exceptions. Here is a recipe I found on Pinterest that called for a packet of ranch dressing and au jus mix....Both definitely out for me.

I start with my garden and pick a large handful of each of these herbs:

Parsley

Dill

Lovage

Carry to your prep area, wash and dry, then set aside.

Then I carmelise a large onion.  Just use a smidge of oil and add sliced onions, sprinkle with a pinch of brown sugar.   Cook slowly, about 20 minutes with a stir now and again.  Place in a slow cooker.

Next, Brown both sides of a 3 lb. chuck roast in the same pan as the onions.  Place the roast on top of the onions in the slow cooker.  Deglaze the pan with 2 cups veg, or beef stock and a splash of Marsala, and a dab of Marmite.  Pour all this into the cooker. Next mix together dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, and smoker paprika, salt and pepper into 1/4 cup of cornstarch.  Put this mixture over the meat rubbing it in a bit.

Now comes the fresh herbs, grind them up in a food processor and put on the meat.  It is time to adorn the roast with 6 pepperoncinis chopped into rings. The shining glory on the top is a stick of butter. 

Slow cook for 8 hours.  Forget about it!

You will left with a tasty gravy ready to serve with the meat and over potatoes of your choice.  Garnish with a few more pepper rings for a bit of jestiness and color.

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Capers with Dandelions

The word is out about the health benefits of dandelions.  Here we will talk about the edible treatments of the flowers, buds.  In a future time we can discuss the benefits of the leaves and roots.  On another blog we made infused oil and hair rinse - Salve, Rinse, Repeat

The buds can be used as capers!  The capers shown here are pickled in a sweet and sour brine.

 I also used some flowers to make an infused syrup.  

Collect your flowers and buds.

 

Leave some for the bees!

 

 

Dry the flowers in a low heat oven.  As low as your oven will go.  Leave for a few hours, until dry.  

The buds will be placed in a jar waiting for the company of the rest of the ingredients.

For the caper brine:

1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. honey

Heat until bubbly and pour all at once into the jar with the buds.  Add a few pinches of juniper berries and a few pinches of pink peppercorns.  Let cool and then cover.  Put into the refrigerator to mature, about a week.  Use as you would use bought capers in dishes like chicken piccata. 

For the syrup:

1 c. dried dandelion flowers
1 c. cane sugar
1 c. water

Bring the sugar and water to the boil.  Pour over the dried flowers in a jar.  Cool.  Cover and put in the refrigerator to infuse over night.  Strain.  This can be used in any dessert you want to try it on.

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Quest For More Mushroom - Mushroom Ketchup

Mushroom flavour is a great addition to juicy steaks, or a chicken dish.  Chunky slices of mushrooms and even a shaker of dried porcini powder add the desired effect.  Another way to capture mushroom essence is in a mushroom ketchup.  The "ketchup" turns out differently than I first thought, it has a consistency of Worchestershire sauce.  I was expecting a thick sauce, don't be surprised when it is very liquid-like.

500 grams or 2 punnets of chestnut mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. mixed spice

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

200 ml malt vinegar

2 tsp. brown sugar

 Layer the mushroom slices with salt in a large bowl and leave overnight.  Drain the mushroom juice.  Place the juice and the remaining ingredients in a pan and bring to a simmer.  Simmer for about 30 minutes.  Bottle and process in a hot water bath.

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Czech Smokey Garlic Soup

We have been seeing smoked garlic on offer around the UK, well around Shropshire anyway.  Tempting displays of the bulbs piled high in baskets at markets. If that isn't evocative enough, pick one up and sniff, they have a truly wonderful smell. You can use the garlic as it is normally used to instill a mild smokey flavour in your dishes.  I would say it is more mild in flavour than other smoked products such as cheese.  This sort of garlic is nice with a further roasting and then using as a spread eaten with a baguette, or added to sauces.  Another way to use it is in a soup as I have done.....Read on to find the recipe later.

They tend to cost a quid per bulb.

I wouldn't rule out smoking a batch at home.

There are several sources online that will tell you how:

One method

Another method

One more method

I made a Czech style soup with a good handful of cloves.  This soup provides you with all the good qualities of garlic.  Cesnecka, as it is called, is said to be a hangover cure.  Garlic and a good stock, or bone broth are well known to stave off a cold.

2 tbsp. olive oil, or butter, or bacon fat

2 shallot, diced

6 cloves smoked garlic, crushed

6 c. chicken, or beef stock

2 lrg. Potatoes, peeled and small diced

1 bunch of parsley, finely chopped

In a med. pot, cook the shallots and garlic in the oil, until translucent.  Add the stock and bring to a boil.  Then, add the potatoes and parsley, simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 min. Season with salt and pepper.

This soup is good garnished with croutons, bacon, grated cheese, or all of the above.

The garlic is showing up at all the grocery stores now, as well.  

Oh look, it costs a quid!

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Marmalade On Pancake Day

We are nearing the end of Seville orange season and Pancake day is coming up.  Why not combine the two?  

Seville oranges are in season and shipped to Britain from Andalusia for a short time in the winter months.  

Read more about them here:

Seville oranges

This is a basic recipe from The Beeb:

Marmalade recipe

I like to use muscavado sugar and a squeeze of lemon in mine. This adds a twist of flavour and a deep richness. Large shred adds even more of the bitter quality the oranges are known for. This is desirable in a good marmalade and gives you something to sink your teeth into.

The days before lent in Britain start with Pancake day.  I,however don't need an excuse to indulge in a pancake, or two any time of the year.

The pancakes come from a blog a few moons ago, on a previous blog of mine:

Staffordshire Oatcakes

 Sprinkle with icing sugar.  Adding more and varied fruit with a drizzle of maple syrup can't hurt either.

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Burns Night Starter

A haggis appetiser with a whisky glaze to start off Burns Night celebrations.  

 We found some haggis sausages, and then the dish was addressed.  I shouldn't wonder if this dish can be made with a traditional haggis in place of the sausages.

Brown the sausages on two sides, and then bang in an oven that was preheated to 180 deg. c. for 20 minutes. You will need a sausage for each person you are serving.

Squeeze the juice of an orange, I used an in season Seville orange. Stir in a tablespoon of dijon mustard, 3 tablespoons maple syrup and set aside.

When the sausages are done, drain off any fat.  Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup whisky, cook off the alcohol and add the orange juice mixture.  Reduce the liquid into a syrupy glaze.  Baste the sausages along the way.  Slice the sausages into medallions.

 Place each medallion on a Scottish oatcake.  Drizzle with the prepared glaze.

Garnish with roquette.

Don't forget the neeps and tatties!

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, 
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm......

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