Recipe #6 - Portuguese Fish Stew

This weeks recipe comes by request from one of my many followers.  As of the last blog, I couldn't decide what to make so this was suggested.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/portuguese-fish-stew-recipe/index.html

I've never cooked Portuguese food, never been to Portugal, don't know any Portuguese, but I do know where the country is on a map.  So knowing that was enough to give this recipe a try.  If you don't know where Portugal is, it's part of Europe on the Atlantic ocean, bordering Spain.

Spain has lots of airports.  Who knew?!  Maybe Spaniards do.  Are people from Spain called Spaniards or Spanish?  I'd prefer Spaniard and then I'd carry around a sword, grow a curly mustache and wear a hat with a feather it.  It's settled, I'm going to Spain.

Artists rendition of me as a Spaniard.  Where's my sword?

So there's your geography lesson for the day boys and girls.  Now on to the recipe.   

This is labeled as an "Easy" recipe and I'd have to say I'm categorize as such as well.  Let's start with the ingredients.

Bag o' clams, bag o' kale, sack o' taters, and package o' linguica are the main ingredients.  Also not pictured is fillet o' cod.  Package o' peeps have still not been eaten.

The instructions say to use a 4-6 qt pot so I pulled out my new Lodge cast iron 5 qt jobby job.  I cut up the linguica, onions, and garlic and got them all sauteing in the pot.

So far so good.  Mixing it up in the 5 qt pot.  Note the white background.

Then you add the potatoes.  Mix it up and cook for a few minutes.

Still in the 5 qt pot.  Starting to fill up.  No need to peel the potatoes.  Just wash and scrub them before slicing.

Now comes the 3 qts of chicken broth.  So if you're a math wiz like moi, the 3 qts of liquid are being added to a 5qt pot which should leave you with 2 qts of space for all the other stuff.   And we've already added the linguica, 2lbs potatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs.  So we probably have about 1qt of space left after adding the 3qts of broth and we still have to add the kale, clams, and fish.  So unless you want an overflowing pot I suggest you start this recipe with at least a 7 or 8qt stock pot or you'll end up have to switch pots in the middle of cooking like so.

Added 1.5 qts of chicken broth.  No way another 1.5 would fit comfortably in there. 

Here's the 8 qt.  My largest pot in the arsenal.  Look at the puny little red pot in the background.  You are not manly enough to handle the Portuguese stew that Tyler has envisioned.   You are so pretty but cannot handle the mammoth amount of stew that this recipe calls for.  Sometimes you have to chose function over fancifulness.

So I was a little pissed at Mr. Florence for saying you could use a 4-6 qt pot.  Maybe a 6 could squeeze it in but a 4 qt?!! Are you effing kidding me!  To help calm my recipe rage, I turned to my old friend, McCallan.

Macallan 12 year scotch whiskey, straight.  Smoky, oaky, burny, and delicious.

Now that we have the ingredients in the correct size pot you can add the chopped kale.

Chopped kale.  Not much to it.  Make sure to wash it well as it might contain dirt and things from the ground.

After the kale cooks for about 10 minutes or so you can add the clams.  Make sure they are scrub a dub dubbed, about 2 dozen clams in a tub.  No one likes a sandy clam so make sure your clam is clean.  And while I'm on the subject of clams, I was so concerned about finding this ingredient that I had a dream about them the night before I cooked.  Seriously, I would not make up such a thing.   I can't remember all the details but it had to with not being able to find little neck clams and lo and behold it took me 3 stores to eventually find them.  Thanks to Johnny's Foodmaster, the clams were discovered, bought, cleaned and cooked.  While the dish could have been made without them, I think they add that fishy quality to the broth and flavor profile of the dish.

The clams cook for about 10-15 minutes or until they open.  Then you add the fish.  I used cod fillet.  Drop the whole fillet in there.  It will break apart when it is cooked.

And for my next trick, ladies and gentlemen, I will pull a cod out of a pot!

  After the cod has cooked, you are ready to sit down to some Portuguese Fish Stew.  Tyler says to pair the stew with his Rustic Garlic Bread.  I also made this and it was excellent.  Only issue I had was slicing the loaf in half whereas the recipe says to cut a slit in the top and pour in the oil and herb mixture.  I spread the mixture on and cooked it that way.  Still quite excellent.

Serve in a shallow bowl to maximize your surface area of goodness.  I love how the linguica has found it's way into the clams.  Perfection!

Garlic Herb Bread.  So many herbs, so little bread.  Actually quite a lot of bread too but more herbs than I would have thought to use. 

In conclusion, I have to give this recipe excellent marks even though I will deduct half a plate for having to switch cooking vessels.  So if you do take on this Portuguese adventure, heed my advice and use a large pot or face the wrath of "small-pottedness" (Small-pottedness can be cured with a large pot and some Scotch or any preferred alcoholic substitute).   The flavors work well together, pairing the linguica and potatoes with clams and cod.  It's like a Portuguese party in my mouth and only some people are invited due to the amount of servings (6-8).   If you do not finish the stew it reheats well, but I advise eating all the clams since I'm not sure how they'd do in a microwave or even reheated in the pot.  Got to keep your clams fresh, cause once a clam goes bad.....ok enough with the clam jokes already.

Awarded 3.5 plates

3.5 plates.  I couldn't find a 3.5 plate graphic so pretend 1/2 plate is missing

and an angry cat

This is Ollie.  He was sitting across from me while I ate.  Not sure if he wanted some or just liked to stare me down.  Either way, he didn't look happy. 

Next up:

Chicken Frances (is this from France or made by a person named Frances?)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-francese-recipe/index.html

Recipe #5 - Dad's Meatloaf with Tomato Relish

So many recipes in so few days.  This is the 3rd recipe in just over 24 hours.  Saturday morning was the pancakes, Sat night Chicken Marsala, and now we're at Sunday night.  So I guess you guys know what I did last weekend.  Cooked, ate, cooked, ate, cooked and wait for it.....................ate.  I can't think of a much better way to spend a weekend.  Oh wait, I know.  Throw in the first 2 rounds of March Madness and this weekend was legend......wait for it again.............dary! (special thanks to Barney from How I met Your Mother.  If you've seen the show you know what I'm talking about.  If you haven't check it out.  One of my favorites.)

With all that now out of the way let's get cooking.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/dads-meatloaf-with-tomato-relish-recipe/index.html

Looking at the ingredients, I made my list and headed to the store.  The only stumbling block on this adventure was finding ground pork.  I've never used ground pork but assumed the super market for have it just like ground beef, turkey or chicken.  WRONG!  There I am walking up and down the meat section, carefully investigating the packages and none of them said ground pork.  The closest thing I could find was Pork Loin Cube Steak which looks like this:

(stock photo)  Looks like ground meat on top but don't be fooled like I was!

So for a non-seasoned pork cooker (wife does not dig on swine), this looked like ground pork.  I take it out of the package (at home not in the store) and realize that it's just tenderized pork loin.  So instead of throwing a tizzy, I toss the meat in the food processor and make my own ground pork.  Sometimes you have improvise.  When life gives your pork loin cubed steak, you make ground pork.

Most of the ingredients.  Hello Peeps, I see you. 

Before mixing up the meats, get chopping on the onion, garlic, peppers, and tomatoes.  It's a good idea to chop up all your veggies and herbs so they are ready when you need to toss them in the pan.   The culinary term for this is "mise en place" which is french for put in place.  I learned this from Chopped or Top Chef or one of the many other cooking shows I watch.  Do not confuse this with the term "Mieces to Pieces" which is what Mr. Jinks (pictured below) said on the Hanna-Barbera Huckleberry Hound show. 

He hates mieces to pieces (looks to be enjoying them here though).  Not sure what his take on "mise on place" is but I bet he likes to get his mieces in their plieces.

So once you have your mise en place you can start cooking the tomato relish.  

Onions, peppers, garlic, and bay leaves all getting to know each other.  "Nice to meet you peppers, my name is onion, and this is Mr. Bay Leave." 

After these cook down a bit you can add the tomatoes.  I had an issue with the tomatoes.  I never know what kind of tomatoes to get when the recipe just says "tomatoes."  Even my neighborhood stop and shop usually has at least 4-5 varieties.  I would be extremely overwhelmed in Whole Foods that I'd probably just give up, sit down in the product section, and sing a song like, "Yes we have no tomatoes, we have no tomatoes today!"  So anywho, I used tomatoes on the vine(pictured above) which ultimately worked but I wasn't happy with the way they cut.  Had sort of a mealy mushy texture.  I think a firmer tomato would have worked better but I couldn't tell in the final product.  

The relish with all of the ingredients.  Remove the bay leaves before using.  It doesn't say to in the recipe but I don't think you want to be crunching down on a bay leaf inside your meatloaf.

 

After cooking the relish, it's time to mash the the meats and spices, egg and stuff together.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of this because I didn't want to get raw beef, pork, egg, and stuff on my camera.  I should have had Robin come in and take a picture but she had her hands full with the little kiddo.  Maybe it's better there is no pic cause who really wants to look at mushy raw meat.  

Once the meat is mixed you can form it into a loaf on a greased cookie sheet or pan/tray thing.  

The loaf is covered with leftover relish and 3-4 slices of bacon.  I love bacon.  For those readers who do not eat pork, you could substitute the bacon with turkey bacon or just leave it off.   And since there is ground pork in the loaf, you could substitute that with ground turkey, chicken or use all ground beef. 

Cook until the loaf is firm.  No one like a mushy loaf.  Took about 90 minutes.  I might have overcooked it slightly but you don't want to mess with undercooked pork.  Just give it a poke after about an hour to test for firmness.  The loaf won't mind a poke here or there, just don't get all poke crazy like some of those facebook people who can't stop poking and you end up in year long poking wars.   

Finished loaf with crispy bacon.  Garnished with parsley flakes on a white serving tray. 

You'll want to let is rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.  I served it with velvety mashed potatoes (another Tyler recipe) and sauteed green beans (my own recipe).  

You can top the sliced meatloaf with the tomato relish.  Put a little on the potatoes and veggies too.  It's that good.

Overall an excellent dish that I would make again.  Took a a bit of time and hit a few minor roadblocks with the ingredients but it was well worth it.  Special thanks to Jenna, Dave, Robin and Ally for joining me on this adventure in meatloafing. 

This recipe is awarded my 4 clean plates

and one baby eating out of your hand .

Do not to put fingers in baby's mouth as she will bite.  This blogger is not responsible for lost fingers.

 

Next recipe : Undecided

So many to chose from.  Can you pick one out?

http://www.foodnetwork.com/tyler-florence/recipes/index.html

    

Recipe #4 - Chicken Marsala

It's Saturday night and the mood is right for some Chicken Marsala.  I've made this dish before with other recipes so let's see how Tyler handles this Italian restaurant staple.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-marsala-recipe/index.html

Right from the start I enjoyed the short list of ingredients.  I'm a big fan of recipes with 10 ingredients or less and this one has 10 so we're good there.

I can see you hiding peeps!  We really need to eat those, but if you know peeps like I know peeps,  once you open them you have to eat them all or they will go stale. 

One of the ingredients I wrestled with was Chicken Stock or Chicken Broth.  The recipe calls for stock so there I was in the stock/broth isle with a container of stock in my left hand and a can of broth in my right.  The stock cost $3 while the broth was $1.  So what makes stock worth $2 more?  I figured they were pretty much the same so I went with the broth.  And I was sort of right.  I found out later that they both start with the same basic ingrendients, vegetables, water, herbs.  Broth is enriched with a chicken or meat while stock uses bones.  They say that stock gives your food a richer "mouth feel" and more body.  My mouth feels fine and my body is ok, even though I could lose about 10lbs.  If you want to read more on the subject check out this fellow blogspotter:

http://mmmthatsgood.blogspot.com/2008/05/stock-vs-broth.html

Another recipe change or more of a time saver is to buy thin sliced chicken breasts.

Good thing they are fresh.  I hate it when the package says spoiled chicken breasts.

But if you like pounding meat, by all means get regular non sliced chicken breasts and pound away to your hearts content.  

Either way, dredge those bad boys in the the flour mixture and cook in a hot pan with olive until brown on both sides like so.

I used my trusty cast iron skillet.  You can use whatever pan you like.  Notice the color tones of the chicken.  Reminds me of cooked  chicken.

Put the chicken aside and add your prosciutto

Sliced prosciutto on a bamboo cutting board.  I love the smell of bamboo in the morning.

cook for a bit, then add the shrooms

I used these baby bella which are baby porta bella's?  The recipe calls for crimini or porcini mushrooms but stop and shop didn't have a gourmet mushroom selection so it was either these or plain old white mushrooms.  I like the meatiness of the bella's so thes are my "go to" mushrooms when I can't find fancy ones.

Mushrooms and prosciutto haanging out together. 

  

Cook it all up with the Marsala, butter, chicken "broth", and season with salt and pepper.   Then add the chicken back to the pan to heat and mix up with the sauce and goodies.  

At this point I wish the internet had smellonet so you could smell the amazingness coming off this pan. 

And that's it!  The easiest dish I've made so far and one of the tastiest.  I paired it with linguini.  To plate, put a serving size of cooked pasta in the sauce to coat.  This infuses the flavor in the pasta plus heats it up if it's been sitting for a while.  

Don't forget the chopped parslay for garnish.  I used to think garnish was stupid and waste of money but it really adds color and texture to the dish. 

Ally liked it.  My wife and Michelle enjoyed it as well.  Just as good if not better than most Italian restaurants.

I almost forgot to give this dish my new rating of 4 clean plates and an easy button

Next up:  Dad's Meatloaf with Tomato Relish

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/dads-meatloaf-with-tomato-relish-recipe/index.html

Recipe #3 - Banana and Pecan Pancakes with Maple Butter

So if you've been following my blogs, you will recall that I said I'd be making Chicken Marsala next, and you'd be correct in that.  But before I get to that, which I did make on Saturday night, I decided to try my hand at one of Tyler's breakfast recipes.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/banana-and-pecan-pancakes-with-maple-butter-recipe/index.html

I love pancakes, and bananas and pecans so this seemed like a perfect recipe.  I've made pancakes before but none of them were as advanced as these.  One of the new steps was making my own flavored butter, which as you'll see if much easier than you might think.

Ingredients. Love the honey bear.  Honey tastes better from a plastic bear. 

The standard with most pancake recipes is mixing up the wet and dry ingredients separately and then combining them for the batter.

The wet:  buttermilk, eggs, vanilla.  Mix it all up good like you know you should.

 So once you get the wet and dry done, you got to mix it all together like so.  

Very important to cradle the batter whilst mixing it.  Not important to wear blue striped pants, orange t-shirt, and fancy yellow apron, but it does add to the flair of the atmosphere.

I should take a step back here and mention that before getting involved with the pancakes it's important to make the maple butter since it's supposed to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, since you can' just give it a chill pill.  So the butter is pretty straight forward.  My advice is to make sure your butter is soft enough to mix with the honey and maple.

Mixing the 100% pure maple syrup with the butter.  Don't even think about buying the imitation table syrup because it's cheaper.  You need the maple.  You want the maple.  The maple wants you. 

And after it's all mixed you wrap it up like a joint in some parchment paper.  

Warning :  Do not attempt to smoke the maple butter.  Will only melt and make a mess.  At least that's what I assume will happen since I've never tried it, as far as I can remember.  

Now while that chills, you can get back to the pancakes.  Heat up the griddle or pan.   I use an electric griddle which I highly recommend. 

Using a pancake pen that the wife bought me for valentines day.  Works well when using the Star Wars pancake molds. 

After the pancake sets on one side (look for air bubble things) put a few banana slices in like so.

My spatula skills are so fast the camera can't capture the ninja quickness. 

Then comes the hard part.  Flipping it over without having the bananas fly across the room or the batter making a huge mess.  If you are a pancake master like myself it will look like this.

Once again, the speed of my mad skillz is too much for the Nikon D3100!

Since you can only make a few at a time, keep them warm on a tray or plate in the oven.  After you've made them all, take 2 or 3 pancakes, place a slice of maple butter between them, and put them in the oven for like a minute to melt the butter.  Top with confectioners sugar and candied nuts and you're ready to eat!

Finished product topped with confectioners, banana slices and 1 candied walnut.  (Recipe calls for candied pecans but I didn't feel like spending $3.99 for them when I already had candied walnuts on hand.)

These were fantastic pancakes and I strongly recommend you try them.  Recipe was easy to follow and there weren't any strange ingredients like flour from the far reaches of the Madagascar coast line (east not west).  If you're wondering what they tasted like, think banana bread with pecans topped with creamy maple butter goodness.  Pair these with some bacon, juice and coffee and you've got yourself a delectable breakfast treat.

Once again I give this recipe my four plates or approval

 

and 1 happy honey bear baby

"Where's my hotcakes?!"

Next recipe :  Chicken Marsala  (I promise.  It's already done.  I just need to blog about it.  Stay tuned!)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-marsala-recipe/index.html

 

Recipe #2 - Fried Chicken

Welcome back to the second recipe - Fried Chicken.  First off let me state I'm not one that gets a hankering for fried chicken.  I'm never like, "I could really go for some fried chicken right about now."  And my most recent fried chicken has probably been McDonalds Chicken Selects which I might have once or twice a year.  So I'm not a fried chicken expert and this was my first attempt at cooking it.

One of the problems I faced going into this recipe was what vessel to cook the chicken in.  I don't own a Fry Daddy 5000 or a 3000 for that matter.  The only thing I had that might of worked was a large stock pot but I didn't think it was wide enough.  So yesterday afternoon, a mere 3 hours before undertaking this feat, I decided to see what Target had for dutch ovens.  I've wanted to get one for a while now and since I knew I'd use it for more than just this recipe I decided it was worth it.  I'm not saying you have to go out and buy a dutch oven to make this recipe, it's just what I did and I think it helps.

By now you're probably saying to yourself, "get on with the recipe already," "where are all the cool pictures?", "too many words, I don't have time to read all this...", and so on.  Ok, enough already, let's get cooking.

Here is the recipe if you want to follow along:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/fried-chicken-recipe3/index.html

Most of the ingredients, minus the chicken. (No peeps were harmed in the making of this chicken.)

 
The recipe calls for a 3-4 lb chicken cut up into pieces.  Unless you enjoy and are good at butchering chicken (I'm not), save yourself some time and buy a whole chicken already cut up.  You could also just buy the pieces you enjoy.  I bought an few extra legs cause I'm a leg man and I wanted to have enough to share with those not available to be here.  The chicken pieces go into a water salt bath and sit overnight or at least two hours.  I did it overnight.  When you've waited 2 hours or overnight or anywhere in between it's time to make up the flour mixture.

Mountain of spicy goodness

 I didn't make any changes to the recipe for this.  Mix it all up with a fork or a whisk and you're almost ready.  Make sure you have a deep and wide enough bowl or be prepared to cleanup flour and spices from all corners of your kitchen, which I had to anyways cause somehow it got on my new slippers and I tracked it around the floor.

After the mixture is ready, get the buttermilk and Srirachi ready to go for the dipping.  Here I only used 1 tablespoon of the chili sauce to keep in on the milder side.  Adjust according to desired heat level.  Now on to the fun part, assembling the chicken.

Get your ducks, or in this case chicken in a row to facilitate the dipping breading dipping mixture process.

Pictured from left to right (buttermilk, flour, chicken, and more chicken).  Microwave shows 5:10pm.  Not necessary to cook at this time.

 

After coating the chicken which is very messy and fun, you will end up with something that looks like this.  

Coated chicken.  Some legs, thighs, wings, and maybe a breast or two.

At this time you have to get the oil together.  Not much to it.  Just pour enough oil in a pot or in this case a dutch oven so it comes up about halfway.  Leave enough room for the oil to rise when you add the chicken.  I think I learned that law of displacement or something like that back in school when a person gets into a tub of water and the water rises.  Same thing here except the person is chicken pieces and the water is oil. 

Dutch oven with vegetable oil (recipe calls for peanut oil but that stuff is mad expensive so I opted for this and it worked well), rosemary, thyme, sage, and garlic.  Also note the thermometer.  Very important for getting the correct temperature for frying.  Around 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

WARNING!!  When cooking with large amounts of hot oil there is a risk of the oil catching fire and burning stuff  (happened on Top Chef last week).  I had this handy dandy fire extinguisher ready just in case that happened.   It also made the wife feel better about this cooking adventure. 

 And now the waiting game begins.  

280 degrees (about 15 minutes in)

300....almost there.

350!!!!!!!!  Nice job being patient.

Now it's time to add the chicken in small batches.  Depends on the size of your cooking vessel. I was able to do about 5 pieces at a time.  They cook for about 12-14 minutes depending on size.  The breasts took a little longer.  If you're paranoid about undercooked chicken, like myself, you can use a meat thermometer to check the chicken after removing it from the oil.  Internal temp should be 160 degrees. 

Oil will be all bubbly and temperature will drop after adding the chicken.  You might have to turn up the burner to keep the temp around 300.  I had to but I think I also overcooked a few pieces that way.  If you do, you can just call them "extra crispy."

Remove cooked chicken and place on paper towels to soak up the oil.  

You can also use a dish towel or brown paper bag.  If you can see through the paper then you know it's ready.  You can also rub the chicken on the wall and if you can see through the wall it's really done.

To keep the chicken warm while cooking the batches I suggest putting them on a rack in the oven.  

Pictured from left front to right back -Extra crispy wing, breast, leg......did you seriously think I'd go through each piece of chicken and tell you what it is and how crispy it is?

I forgot to mention that I cooked up mashed potatoes and collard greens (pictured below) before and during this process to accompany the chicken. 

First attempt at collard greens.  Pretty easy to make, takes about 2 hours.  Was initially a little grossed out by using a ham hock (reddish thing on left of pot under the greens....better you don't see it) so I initially bought salt pork.  I went back to store and bought a smoked ham hock after coming to terms with myself and the need for this key ingredient.    Any suggestions for the salt pork?

And after a few hours in the kitchen I ended up with this.

Winner winner chicken dinner!

   This was another excellent recipe from the man, the myth and the legend but I'd like to take some credit for executing it.  The flavor or the chicken was complex and mildly spicy (is than oxymoron?) with a flavorful (I need a thesaurus) crispy crunchy coating.  The chicken was moist and juicy and had me coming back for more.  This recipe once again receives my 4 clean plates of approval and the new 1 sleeping baby award.

disclaimer:  Chicken is not guaranteed to put babies to sleep.  Watching you make the chicken which can take a while does put baby to sleep.   Do not poke babies while sleeping. 

Special thanks to my wife for keeping Ally at bay while I was adventuring in the kitchen. 



Next up: Chicken Marsala

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-marsala-recipe/index.html