DINNER TIME! Lemon Garlic Chicken and Potatoes

We have a lot of chicken thighs frozen in our freezer. Letty had some leftover lemon garlic marinade. Taylor made for a quick, easy, and delicious dinner.

First, I better give you the marinade. I used leftover but use the juice of a lemon, 6 garlic cloves minced, a tablespoon of olive oil, a sprinkle of Kosher salt and pepper.  Use this as a rub on your chicken and, when you cook it, save the drippings...that's how we ended up with leftover marinade.

Take three thighs, put in a ziploc bag with the marinade (fresh or leftover...only difference is that the leftover also has chicken stock), and let sit in the fridge for 6 hours.

Dice up some yellow potatoes.

Put in a ziploc bag, sprinkle in about a quarter teaspoon of Kosher salt, a few sprinkles of black pepper, and a teaspoon of olive oil. Shake well in sealed bag.

Smear olive oil on a baking pan, put the potatoes in the bottom of the pan.

Put the thighs on top of the potatoes, skin side up. Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

I'm also cooking a little broccoli for the side. Prepare the same way as the potatoes and wrap in foil with a little opening at the top.

Put the baking dish with the potatoes and chicken in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes. Turn chicken, put back in oven for another 30 minutes. Put the broccoli in the oven at this time, also.

At the end of the second 30 minutes, turn the chicken skin side up again. Increase heat to 475 and cook for another 15 minutes to crisp the skin.

It should look like the picture above when done.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

DINNER TIME! Pasta, Peas, and Pancetta

Here's another dish I'll make when I'm maybe a bit pressed for time and want to get a quality, tasty, and nutritious dinner on the table for my family.

It's very easy to throw together using two pots, doesn't take a lot of time, and I don't get any complaints.

INGREDIENTS

20 oz. pasta (I'm using a half and half mix of farfalle and rainbow - arcobaleno - pasta)
4 oz. frozen peas
4 oz. cubed pancetta
3 tsp. shredded Parmesan
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. minced garlic
4 oz. heavy whipping cream

Boil peas and pasta in pot of salted water.

The pasta I'm using is thick, so it takes up to 12 minutes to be al dente. Depending on your choice, it could be a shorter boil time.

Strain out the water when done and put the pasta and peas back in the pot.

Heat up olive oil in a medium sauce pan on high for 3-4 minutes. When hot, add the pancetta. Add 1 tsp. of Parmesan. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Lower heat in sauce pan to medium/low. Cook another 5 minutes.

Turn off heat, add another teaspoon of Parmesan and stir thoroughly.  After 2-3 minutes off the heat, add the cream and garlic. Stir into the pancetta mix.  Add the sauce to the pasta in the pasta pot and stir.

Serve.

I'm also serving this with Clearman's toast.  Clearman's is a restaurant chain here in Southern California that runs the Northwood's Inn steakhouses, among others. They're famous for their garlic cheese toast.

They sell their spread in local supermarkets. Occasionally, I'll pick up a tub.

Clearman's toast is traditionally made with sourdough sandwich bread. Simply apply the spread liberally to the bread and stick under the broiler in your oven for 1 - 2 minutes...until it looks as done as the picture above.

This recipe serves three to four people with no leftovers. It's a quick, delicious, and easy-to-make dinner that's especially good for a midweek dinner when you don't have time, don't want to spend a lot on take out food, and not feel guilty about what you put on your family's dinner table.

Now that you've read this post, please take a minute to stop by the Musick Channel Garage Sale at Ebay and pick up some bargains from our over 30 years of collecting.

Thank you for your support.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

This Week's Menu: Grilled New York Steak with Garlicky Asparagus and Mushrooms

Garlic spices everything up this week, from our New York steaks to the asparagus and mushroom side dish.

Recipes below...

DINNER: Grilled New York Steak

SUPER SIDE: Garlicky Asparagus and Mushrooms

Darryl

Intercontinental Egg Scramble

I had a late lunch with an old high school friend recently. A very good dish of chilaquiles and eggs overlooking a harbor a bit north of Los Angeles.

The next morning, the mix of the eggs and tortilla chips stayed with me and helped inspire this dish, which pulls a bit from Mexico, France, and the good 'ol USA.

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs
1 merguez sausage
1/4 cup bacon bits (leftover from another breakfast)
6 leaves of spinach
1 teaspoon half and half.
1 stalk of broccolini or broccoli
2 tablespoons soft goat cheese
2 cloves fresh garlic
pinch of salt
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 corn tortillas

Cut the tortillas into small triangles.  Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saute pan on high heat. When very hot, cook the tortilla triangles until crispy. Remove and set on a plate with paper towels to drain and save for later.

Chop up the merguez sausage into small bits. Add another 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. 

Cook the sausage and spinach together until the spinach is well wilted.

Chop the garlic finely. Do the same with the broccolini. 

Add to the pan and stir until the broccolini begins to soften.

Add the bacon and goat cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted.

Put the eggs into a bowl. Add the half and half plus a pinch of salt and stir until well combined. 

Add the tortilla chops to the pan and pour the egg mixture over the top. Stir with a spatula until done.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Avoiding the Labor on Labor Day

We had triple digit temperatures and high humidity this weekend in L.A. so I was mostly trying not to get heatstroke.

Gardening chores were mostly of the mundane and easy variety like fertilizing and some light weeding. Since the front lawn is mostly a scorched brown, I was able to get away with weed whacking the few growing green spots on it, saving me from mowing for another couple of weeks. That will be this fall's number one project...aerating the lawn and overseeding with a heat and drought resistant mix.

I did have a chance to look around to see what I could harvest and anything else that needed attention. Pulling back the prickly canes of our dragonfruit showed a couple of beauties ripening against the wall (above). There's also a couple of greener fruit on the front of the plant.

I noticed something has been chewing on my newly sprouted zucchini plant, so I put a few more seeds in the soil and covered with a critter cage.

The spurge is always surging so I spent some time yanking it out too.

Bell peppers are almost ready to pick. These might be on the menu next weekend and I'm hoping to get a couple more harvests before they're done for the year too.

The sweet onions just won't stay good in the ground anymore, so I harvested the last of it too. The onions have been a very delicious addition to our summer menus.

Lastly, the garlic chives are blooming in our herb corner. Trying to decide whether I should let them propagate or cut off the flowers. They're delicious but the get fairly weedy.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Goin' Green With the Cheapskate

While I'm not above turning to a chemical solution when times get really bad, I try to avoid it as much as possible. I like to keep my gardening as green and organic as I can without giving away the farm to the pests waiting in the wings.

Some of the things I do to keep this space sustainable and in harmony with nature are listed below.

Since I don't have room for a compost heap, I practice "compost in place," such as when I deadhead the roses, throw them on the lawn, and use the lawnmower to mulch them into the grass.

And, while I sweep up the debris that lands on the patio, I leave the plant detritus in the planters to decompose naturally to provide nutrients for the soil.

The leaves and other green waste swept up goes into the green waste container, which is then picked up by our sanitation company to be turned into commercial compost.

I also recycle everything I can, such as using an old plastic shopping bag to line this hanging basket. It provides me a way to control just how much I want this planter to drain.

I have this can crusher in the garage that can crush six aluminum cans at once.

When this trash bin gets full of cans, I take it to the recycler to get more money for my garden.

Previously, I've posted about my sprinkler system, which is mainly a drip system on a timer that puts just enough water on the plants, saving that precious resource in this very drought prone area.

Some kitchen scraps can be thrown into your garden as well, composting and making the soil rich in nutrients. Coffee grounds, orange peels, and egg shells are some of the kitchen scraps that have found their way into the soil. No, someone didn't throw up on our chile plant, this is leftover wort from when I made some homebrewed beer earlier this year.

Finally, I like to use the least harmful methods of pest control I can. From building an inert barrier on the grape vine, to using naturally occurring controls such as sulphur and iron pellets, to manually pulling weeds when I can. Here, I'm using my own concoction of vinegar and garlic to spray the aphids on my rose bush.

Those of some of my eco-friendly ways of gardening, what methods to you use?

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Recipes for a Cheapskate..Cream of Bell Pepper Soup

My favorite soup. I always look forward to cooler weather and my wife making this soup.  It's so good.

Let's start by harvesting some fresh, bell peppers off of the vine. Our little plot of bell peppers have been very productive this year.

Along with the bell peppers, we'll add a couple of serranos for taste. They come from the garden too.

Chop up the peppers and throw into the blender.

Saute some chopped peppers, onions, and garlic in olive oil.

In a 5 quart pot, put some flour and water in as a thickener. Follow with some chicken broth.

Blend the peppers.

Add the peppers, temper in some heavy cream, and cook on low flame for 10-20 minutes. Serve with some tortilla chips and jack cheese.

For a more complete recipe, try this one at  the CD Kitchen

-Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved