Recipes

Caribbean Mango Chicken

Ingredients:

*     1 (12-oz) jar Inspirations Mango Grilling Sauce.

*     1 ½ lb. Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs.

*     1-cup water

*     2 (5-oz) bags uncooked Spanish style yellow rice, or 2 cups plain white rice.

*     1 (15-oz) can pineapple chunks (keep juice)

*     1 (15.5-oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained, divided.

*     1 small red onion, diced (about 1 cup)

*     1 bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped, divided

*     1 (16-oz) jar Inspirations Mango Salsa, divided.

*     1 lime at room temperature.

Directions:

1. Pour the whole jar of Grilling Sauce into a large plastic zip-close bag.  Place Chicken Tenders into the bag and refrigerate overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove chicken from fridge to take off the chill as you prepare rice.

3. Pour water into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and add uncooked rice.  Add can of pineapple (including juice).

4. Reserve 2 Tbsp of beans and add remainder to rice mix.  Add onion.  Reserve ¼ cup chopped cilantro and add the rest to rice.  Mix rice mixture well to ensure that all rice is moistened and ingredients are well distributed.  Gently spread out evenly, but do not pack.

5. Pour bag of marinated chicken (with sauce) over top of rice mix and spread out evenly.

6. Spoon ½ jar of Mango Salsa on top of chicken.  Bake at 350°F for 60 to 75 minutes or until rice is cooked (it will expand).

7. Remove form oven.  Sprinkle reserved beans and cilantro on top of chicken.  Roll lime on a hard surface to loosen juices before cutting.  Squeeze juice out and sprinkle over entire dish.  Serve immediately with remaining Mango Salsa on the side, if desired.

WINE RECOMMENDATION:

With all of the wonderful fruit flavors bursting on the palate, try a Heron Hill semi-sweet Riesling from New York to pair with this dish...Perfect!

I'm pretty sure this recipe came from Hannaford.com  An excellent time for me to say I love shopping Hannaford and I absolutely enjoy the "Inspirations" magazine that they print.  Great articles and some very nice, first-rate recipes. 

Seafood Cioppino (Pronounced: Cha-peeno)

"Chip in"........ "Chip in"....... was a call heard on the World Famous Fisherman's Wharf in its early heyday before World War II. This was a call for San Francisco's mainly Italian immigrant fisherman coming home with their catch of Pacific seafood to donate a small portion of their catch for a communal fish stew prepared on the docks. Anything would do. A few clams or mussels. some red snapper, a crab or two, octopus, shrimp, some scallops, some halibut or flounder.....anything to add to the fragrant stew that would soon be served to the "Club" of San Francisco fisherman who would talk about the days catch and dunk San Francisco Sour Dough bread into the rich broth. Eventually the "broken" English cries of "chip in" turned into "chip-in-O". Hence the name "Cioppino". This is a rich seafood stew with not much care as to how it was assembled. This consisted of throwing the days catch into a big pot and pouring a tomato sauce into the pot with the shellfish and chunks of whatever fish was available. Let all these flavors enhance each other for awhile and you have the most flavorful stew that ever was. This is truly the "Soul" food of the San Francisco waterfront and probably one of San Francisco's favorite dishes. Make some for your family and friends! Remember to serve with plenty of napkins and maybe even a bib and a plastic tablecloth.

1 (1 ½ -inch) length fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thick slices

8 cloves garlic

2 med. Onions, chopped

2 TBSP EVOO

2 medium green-bell peppers (for a little more pizzazz, substitute 1 Poblano for 1 green) chopped

½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 (28 oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes in juice

1 TBSP tomato paste

2 (8 oz. bottles of clam juice…or equiv. fish stock)

3 chicken bouillon cubes

1 cup dry white wine (or red wine…it really doesn’t matter)

1 tsp dried oregano (little more won’t hurt)

¼ tsp. sea salt

¼ tsp. fresh ground pepper

2 ½ lbs. of seafood (I used 1 lbs. haddock, ¾ lbs. sea scallops, ¾ lbs. med. Shrimp) Note: What a wonderful opportunity to use fresh pike or perch fillets and much cheaper.  You can also toss in some mussels, clams, frogs, minnows or goldfish…pretty much anything that can swim (minus the hair or feathers).

Process

1.    Drop ginger and garlic in food processor…pulse, pulse, pulse

2.    Heat oil in large stock pot, add ginger, garlic, onion, peppers, and pepper flakes.  Sauté until tender…4-6 minutes

3.    Remove tomatoes from can…(save juice) coarsely chop tomatoes, add to pot with juice, fish stock, wine, oregano, salt, pepper, and bouillon cubes.  Reduce heat to simmer, low (uncovered).  [From this point, if you wish, you can stop here and let it cool, then refrigerate up to two days (I suppose it could be frozen as well)].

4.    Once the broth has simmered 12-15 minutes, add the fish (or whatever), stir lightly, partially covered and cook until seafood is firm and cooked through. Ladle into bowls and serve with a crusty bread.

 WINE RECOMMENDATION:

I have to lean towards a lighter styled Italian Chianti or Beaujolais Villages.  These fisherman on the docks would not have had any "fancy" wine kicking around...probably some "home made" red was passed around and enjoyed...so, who the heck am I to break with that tradition. Salute!

Larry’s Hearty Breakfast Omelet

(Pictured above)  1/2 serving

You will need:

Large mixing bowl, whisk, and 9x13x2 “greased” baking dish.  Large non-stick fry pan & spatula for home fries. Cutting board and a sharp knife for chopping and dicing.

Pre-heat oven to 375

10-12 eggs

1 med-lrg onion chopped

16 oz.  ½ and ½

2 Tbl grape seed oil (you can use butter or evoo)

1 package (20 oz.) shredded home fries

1 package ( 8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 tsp. Baking powder

1 Tbl Italian seasoning

½ Tbl paprika

1 cup sliced mushrooms

½ cup sliced black olives

1 – 2 cups cooked, diced ham

Salt & pepper

Start to sauté mushrooms and onion in oil over med-low flame (until the mushrooms have given off their liquid).  Add home fries and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Crack eggs into mixing bowl and add baking powder whisk briskly, add ½ and ½, cheese, olives, seasonings and ham.  Mix a bit and pour into greased baking dish. 

Once lightly browned add 2/3  – ¾  of the home fry, ham and onion mixture into the batter and spread evenly throughout.  Bake 45-50 minutes at 375.

To kick it up a notch add 1 diced poblano pepper or 1 can diced chilies.  And, if you’re not headed off to work…serve this with some hot garlic toast (yes, garlic toast for breakfast…you heard me) and life…is…good!  This is perfect to serve with the Praline French Toast for a very, very, tasty brunch menu.

FRENCH TOAST WITH PRALINE TOPPING:

2 loaves French bread - sliced 1" pieces  
1 tsp. butter - for coating the casserole dish
2 Tbls. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Allspice
8 eggs
2 .5 cups half and half
2 Tbls. vanilla extract
1 portion of Praline Topping (recipe follows)

1. Slice the French bread into 1 inch thick slices. Arrange in layers in a buttered 9"x13" casserole dish.

2. Combine the sugar, cinnamon and allspice in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, half & half and milk to the sugar mixture and whisk until smooth.  

3. Dip bread into mixture and arranged overlapping in a greased (buttered) casserole dish. Pour the remaining mixture over the bread. Cover and reserve cold, minimum 30 minutes (over-night is best).

4. When ready to bake, top with the Praline topping and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until set in the middle. Serve hot.

·         I pour/spread the praline mixture on top and then refrigerate the dish overnight.

Praline Topping

2 cups chopped pecans or chopped walnuts
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbls. Maple syrup
1 Tbls. cinnamon
1 stick butter (softened or melted)

Mix all ingredients and carefully spread over the battered toast.