Jerked Chicken

I have been busy with a new job since January and even though I have been cooking at home my blog posting has suffered. Last week I was on the road all week and this weekend I really wanted to do some "Home Cooking". With the weather in Portland, Oregon finally looking Spring-like I decided to fire up the grill and try a new favorite of mine. If you have followed my blog you will note that last year May I made a Jamaican Jerked Rib Eye Steak, this weekend I did one of those and then followed up with a Jerked Chicken. While the spices (Cinnamon, Ginger, Allspice, Cloves, Nutmeg) used sound like you are doing some Christmas baking the taste is anything but the Fruit Cake you got from your Mother. With these aromatic spices go ahead and toss in 3-4 Habanero peppers and you have some serious heat. If you haven't had one of these peppers raw just know that the heat quotient is roughly this: If heat equals strength and this is the World's Strongest Man Contest, the habanero chile can lift an 18-wheeler (300,000 scoville units). The serrano can lift a VW van. The jalapeño (5,000 scoville units) can lift a Vespa. If you want to simulate the heat just light a match, let it burn for 3 seconds, blow it out and then stick the match on your tongue.....nuff said.
This chicken is best if marinated overnight and it was awesome with some grilled asparagus, roasted cherry peppers (suprisingly hot) and a mixed vegetable salad. Try using hardwood charcoal with some fruit wood to produce some smoke (I used apple wood). About 30 minutes per side gets this done. Pair with a Red Stripe or a crisp and fruity Spanish Rose.

Penne All'Arrabbiata

The weather in Portland, Oregon still trying to decide if it is going to allow Spring to rear its head. I am aching for some sunshine and tonight's dinner really needed to be kicked up a notch to get me out of my funk. A lot of foods are familiar or provide comfort, but tonight's meal I wanted something that would give me an endorphin hit. What better to provide that than a Roman pasta sauce that takes Olive Oil, Garlic, Pepper flakes, Plum Tomatoes and little Parsley to a new level. A big fat splash of Olive Oil into a hot pan along with a handful of Red Pepper Flakes (1+ teaspoon ). Cook the peppers in the oil for a minute then add 4-5 cloves of Garlic, a large can of imported Italian Plum Tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes.

In case your aren't fluent in Italian, the name of this dish basically means "angry or enraged".....so it is going to be more than a little spicy-hey, at least I warned you.

These peasant sauces are so simple and so spectacular. If I owned a restaurant this dish would be on my permanent rotation.

Pair this with any wine that is red, rustic and Italian-Mangia!

Paella Valencia

Man, I sometimes forget how awesome this single pan meal can be. Last weekend I had some time to play around in the kitchen so I dug out my Paella pan and went to work.
The biggest hurdle for this dish is the prep it takes to throw it together just before you are ready to serve. That said, this is a dish that you can prep for in stages and the final presentation is spectacular.
The variations of meats and seafood you can throw into this are almost endless. I did a bastardized version of Paella Valencia.
Start with a soffritto of peppers, cilantro, onions, tomatoes and garlic. Brown your sausage and chicken and set aside. I took the soffritto, and four cups of rice and heated the mix in the Paella pan until it was starting to toast. Add six cups of broth and then layer in the chicken and sausage. Place this in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes then add the mussels, clams and shrimp and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Pull the Paella pan and place on a gas burner and crank the heat up high for a couple of minutes. This will produce the the dish with a toasty brown carmelized rice on the bottom of the pan that the Spanish call socarrot. Toss the pan with some chopped green olives and some parsley just before you pour a Rioja and sit down for dinner.

Lewis & Clark

Cedar Plank Roasted Wild Salmon

Some things are just meant to go together....like: Basil & Tomatoes, Peanut butter & Jelly, Hotdogs & Mustard, French Fries & Ketchup. In the Pacific Northwest the combination that goes together like Lewis & Clark is that of Roasted Salmon & Pinot Noir.

If you want to be even more specific you can add that the Salmon needs to be roasted on a Cedar or Alder Plank over an open fire (Weber is fine). The fresh Salmon is best when just seasoned with Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper and cooked for 12-15 minutes. The wood plank adds fantastic aromatic spice note to the dish. The Sineann Pinot Noir with its primal earthy nose and tart huckleberry/blueberry palate was a perfect foil for this succulent dish.

While I am pretty sure the Corp of Discovery wasn't having this for dinner while looking for the Northwest Passage, I am certain that they would have been happy to trade boiled venison and camas roots for what I had for dinner.

What Lewis & Clark wished they had for dinner

Sineann 2005 Resonance Vineyard Pinot Noir

Muffuletta

Muffuletta-Portland Style

It seems that since about Thanksgiving I have been eating like a bear getting ready for hibernation. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, My 50th B-day, and finally this past weekend the Super Bowl. Yikes, any more marathon caloric intake events and I am going to challenge Joey Chestnut at the Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest in 2009.

My group of friends are huge foodies and big time wine people as well. Our Super Bowl parties end up being more like a holiday cocktail party versus becoming a college like.... pretzel, chip, Bud Lite event that seems to be more the norm for this most hallowed American tradition.

Since I was hosting I wanted to do something a little over the top as far as food went. In the past I have made Chili, Cioppino and even a fantastic Paella. This year I wanted to make something fun, festive and basically something that I could do ahead of time (hey, I wanted to watch the game).

When I contemplate the words "fun", "festive" and "over the top" the first thing that comes to mind is New Orleans. Damn, that city has a complete grip on my foodie cerebral cortex. What isn't to like about a city that has great food, awesome cocktails, lax laws about public nudity and a place that virtually encourages public intoxication (no open container laws......and drinks to go are the norm)?
I am not sure, but it may be a law that you have to have at least a 16 oz. alcoholic beverage in your hand to even be allowed to walk up and down Bourbon Street. To be safe when I last visited I didn't want to offend any locals or break any laws so I made sure I had a beverage in my hand at all times.

Anyway, back to the Superbowl........ and what to make for a main course. In New Orleans there is a funky Italian deli called the Cental Grocery Co. that serves up my favorite sandwich on the planet...The Muffuletta. The locals call it a Muff-a-lotta, but however you pronounce it this sandwich it is an awesome collection of olive salad, genoa salami, ham, mortadella, provolone cheese and a great sicilian style round bread loaf.

The cold cuts and cheese are no sweat to come by. The bread and the olive salad took some work and I was lucky to have a good bakery nearby that actually sells a Sicilian round loaf that is very close to a muffuletta loaf.

As far as the Olive Salad is concerned I am sure there are as many recipes as there are recreations of this sandwich. All I know is that if you let this mixture sit for a few days before you use it you will be rewarded handsomely.

Olive Salad....I am so proud

Olive Salad

1 cup Green Olives w/Pimentos-chopped

1/2 cup Kalamata Olives-chopped

2 Tbsp. Capers

1 Carrot-fine dice

1 Celery Stick-fine dice

1 Jar Giardiniera (pickled cauliflower,celery, carrots, peppers, onion, etc.)-chopped

1/2 cup green onions- fine dice

1/2 cup Red Onion-fine dice

3-4 or 8 Garlic cloves-fine dice

Olive Oil-to cover

I sliced the round bread loaf in half and pulled out about 1/2 of the bread then started with a layer of Olive Salad and went with the provolone, ham, mortadella, salami, more provolone ( use your judgement...3-4 oz. of each makes a BIG sammy), some more Olive salad and topped with the bread. Wrap this bad boy in plastic wrap as tight as you can get it and let this sit for a couple of hours. For serving cut the sandwich into fourths, crack a cold beverage and enjoy the game.

Say Ahhhh!