DINNER TIME! Herb Crusted Pan Fried Chicken

I've got some time on my hands today, let me cook some dinner for the family. This week, we've had burgers, pasta, and sushi. Haven't had any chicken in a bit, let me see what I can throw together.

We buy big packs of chicken thighs from Costco and keep them in the freezer. They come in perforated pouches, you can just tear one off, thaw it out, and leave the rest frozen for next time.

I've thawed out my pouch, and now I'm ready to go...

INGREDIENTS

3 - Chicken thighs (we like to leave the skin on )
1 tsp - salt
1 tsp - pepper
1 tsp - herb pepper
1/2 tsp - marjoram
1/2 tsp - mustard powder
flour

Heat up some oil in a skillet. I'm using some lard plus some leftover bacon fat from breakfast. Heat it on high for about 4 minutes until very hot. 

Sprinkle salt, pepper, herb pepper, marjoran, and mustard powder on each side of chicken.  Sprinkle just a light dusting of flour on each side, too.

Turn heat down just a tiny bit.  If you have a spatter guard, have it handy.

Cook chicken on almost high heat, 3 minute per side. 

Turn heat down to medium-low and cook for another 8 minutes per side.

We're serving ours with some hand-mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.

It's very delicious but my wife is saying "next time, roast it, moron," because even with the spatter guard, there is a bit of cleanup to do.

Stop by the Musick Channel Garage Sale to pick up some treasures from our stash of over thirty years of collecting, like these great Liberty Falls collectibles which would look great under your Christmas tree.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - 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

Now You Tell Me...

Here is our potted jalapeño plant. I'm really looking forward to the taste and heat it will add to our late summer dishes.

Notice anything unusual about it?

I didn't either for a long time but there is.

There are two plants in the pot. Even when you look at the surface of the soil, it looks like it's all coming from a common root but, as you can see above, there are two different leaves. It helps that one of the plants foliage is turning purple.

My wife tells me this is a volunteer from an epazote plant (Dysphania ambrosioides) that she planted last year. Some of the seeds must have blown over into this pot.

Epazote, my Mexican wife told me after 26 years of marriage, is used in Mexico to add with beans as a carminative...that is, mixed with the beans, it cuts down on the intestinal gas much like a natural version of Beano.

After all these years, now she tells me...

Another difference is the flowers. Here are the flowers from the jalapeño.

Here are the flowers from the epazote.

It'll be nice to mix this with the jalapeño, the chiles, and the beans we're sure to cook later on.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Recipes for a Cheapskate: Grilled Buttermilk Herb Chicken

I'm picking two ears of corn, two zucchini, a handful of oregano (that I dried last week), Rosemary, and garlic chives

Now I need to incorporate all of this into a meal.

First, I'm using chicken thighs for the primary portion of the meal. I'm soaking them in buttermilk for 4 hours first. 

Next, I crush up all the herbs and mix with a cup of flower.

I Take the zucchini, slice up, put into a plastic bag with salt, pepper, a tablespoon of olive oil, and a half teaspoon of hot mustard.  I close the bag and toss it all up before wrapping in foil.

I dredge the chicken in the herb/flour mixture, pick a couple of ears of corn, and then toss everything on the indirect side of the barbecue and cover with the lid.

Cook for 20 minutes, then put the chicken over the direct heat of the coals for 3 minutes on each side, then serve.

Darryl
Copyrights 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

A New Month and Some Old Chores

A touch late today but worked up a nice sweat in the garden this weekend, starting with mowing the lawn. I like to do the hardest chore first. Then, each chore after that get progressively easier and more enjoyable.

The lavender is getting rangy so I need to give it a trim.

No big trick to it except that you want to try to avoid the bees that swarm all over it. Luckily, most of the bloom is done so no bees today. In bloom, you'd want to do it early in the morning before the bees start their pollen runs.

The zucchini is putting out fruit. Need more? Wait a few hours and we'll harvest again.

Not only do we grow veggies and fruit but we've got quite a few herbs in the garden too. Here, you see the oregano overflowing into the walkway.

I trim it back, put it on top of our fire pit's grate, and let it sit in the sun a few days to dry out.

It's also time to treat the grapes and the front yard roses with sulfur dust again to fight off mold and fungus. Soon, I'll be draping the wildlife netting over the grapes to keep the critters from eating them.

Lastly, I'll fertilize before calling it a day.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Meet The New Neighborhood Transplants

Our seeds have been sprouting and growing in their peat plugs for a month. Now, it's time to transplant as the warmer days of March have arrived.

Each transplant is pretty easy, it's just that I have to do it 72 times. The soil is prepped, just stick in a trowel and dig a little hole.

Insert the plant plug.

Make sure it's straight, like the onion above.

Cover with soil.

That's it, water it in and you're done.

Here's our new vegetable list for 2013...

Radishes
Tomatoes (two heirloom varieties)
Onions
Lettuce
Bell Peppers
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Corn (two varieties)
Jalapeno
Basil

Stay tuned to see how they turn out!

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Changing of the Guard in Southern California

The last two plants to bloom for 2012... an orange begonia and our Christmas cactus which, of course, blooms at this time each year.

While Mrs. Cheapskate inspects the chile peppers, let's see what the garden has for us this weekend.

These chiles are almost black but should soon turn red.

The lavender makes an end-of-the-year stand.

And, finally, our phaleanopsis is showing signs of cold shock so we'll move it inside for the winter.

After our super short Southern California winter, we'll put it back outside, probably sometime in February.  Not much to do in the garden right now...I have a repair to make on our wooden berm that protects the front yard rose garden, then in about a month, it'll be time to prune the roses.

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - 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

Recipe for a Cheapskate...Sausage and Eggs - Garden Style

A lot of you enjoyed my earlier post on garlic chives.  Here is my favorite way to use them.

Cut a couple of leaves.

Rinse.

Chop up some sausage (I'm using Trader Joe's Chicken Andouille Sausage). Heat up in non-stick skillet (I spray with olive oil first at medium to low). Chop up your chives and throw on top of sausage. Mix two eggs in a bowl with a 1/2 teaspoon of milk and salt. 

Turn heat on skillet. to medium-high.When sausage starts to sizzle, pour egg mixture on top. Sprinkle about a tablespoon worth of shredded cheese on top. Scramble vigorously until almost done.  Plate it and wait 3 or 4 minutes for it to finish cooking.

Then enjoy!

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Herbal Essence

Not much to do in the garden this week except to relax and enjoy it a bit. I'll have some more work to do next week.

Today, I'll give you a tour of my wife's herb garden. Not really a specific garden...we just grow them wherever they fit. Above is some basil, which is always good on pizza and pasta.

Speaking of pizza, we've got a couple of plants of oregano which also adds some good flavor to my salsa.

Here's some mint in bloom. Good with tea and a prime ingredient of albondigas.

Marjoram and another oregano on side...

...and thyme on the other.

We'll spice things up with some hot peppers, which are just starting to come in.

 

Darryl
Copyright 2012-Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.