Herbed Mushrooms with White Wine

This is a great side dish for chicken or beef dishes.  It’s quick, simple & delicious!

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 pounds fresh mushrooms
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place mushrooms in the skillet, season with Italian seasoning, and cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Mix the wine and garlic into the skillet, and continue cooking until most of the wine has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with chives. Continue cooking 1 minute.

Beef and Horseradish Salad

Flank Steak is one of those universal pieces of beef that can perform many duties.  It can be used as a substitute for shirt/hanger steak when making Fajitas and it takes marinade very well.  The only caution about Flank Steak is it gets tough the longer you cook it.  If you like your meat well done, Flank Steak is not the cut for you…

1 pound flank steak
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups julienne red onions
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
3 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup grated horseradish
Juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
4 cups assorted baby greens
2/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons chopped chives

Preheat the grill. Season the flank steak with salt, peper and olive oil.

Place the steak on the grill and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side for medium-rare.

Remove the steak from the grill and slice into 1-inch slices.

Toss the beef with the red onions, parsley and green onions. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, garlic, horseradish, lemon juice, Dijon, Worcestershire, and Tabasco. Mix thoroughly.

Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate the dressing for 1 hour.

Toss the greens with the dressing and mound in the center of the plate. Arrange the steak and onions around the greens.

Garnish with the cheese and chives.

Roasted Chicken and Vegatables

You can’t go wrong with chicken.  Fried, Grilled, Poached or Roasted , it all hits the spot!  I love fixing a big Sunday Dinner and enjoying it with family and friends.  One of my favorite chicken recipes is a simple roasted chicken dish.

Each part of the chicken cooks differently and has a different flavor.  For my money I don’t think you can go wrong with legs and thighs.  I know breast meat is “leaner” but it’s also lacking a lot of flavor, dries out easily and is over priced…

Give me a nicely roasted thigh any day!  Be sure to brine the meat for even more flavor.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup kosher salt
2 TB of Adobo Seasoning
2 TB of your favorite dried herb (I like Thyme)
2 TSP Onion Powder
2 TSP Garlic Powder

Chicken leg quarters (one per person) or individual legs/thighs.

2 medium Onions quartered
3 pounds Fingering Potatoes washed (or larger potatoes quartered)
8oz Mini-Bella mushrooms quartered
5 Carrots peeled/roughly chopped
2 Bell Peppers chopped & seeded
(Substitute any vegetable you prefer)

Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION:

  1. Mix the brine well. Soak the chicken in the brine for 4-6 hours in a non metal container covered in the fridge.
  2. Pre-heat your oven to 400-degrees and prep the vegetables.
  3. Combine your vegetables with a little oil.  Add salt/pepper to taste & set aside.
  4. On your stove heat a small amount of oil in a dutch oven or other heavy pot.
  5. Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry with paper towels.
  6. Once the oil begins to smoke place the chicken in the pot skin side down.  This will enhance the browning process of the chicken and add more flavor the roasting vegetables.
  7. Brown the chicken on both sides and remove to a plate.
  8. Add the mixed vegetables and place the browned chicken pieces on top.
  9. Please in the 400-degree oven (uncovered) for 35-40 minutes or until the chicken juices run clear.
  10. Let rest for 10 minutes and enjoy!

My Kindle – Finale

Continued from part 2

Back in December I started writing about the new amazon Kindle eBook reader I purchased.  It’s been about 6 weeks and I thought I would do a follow-up post.

Although I have not had as much time to read as I would have liked, I’ve spent considerable time with the Kindle in a lot of different environments.  My favorite place to read is the comfy leather chair in my living room illuminated by a 40w bulb in the Pharmacy Floor Lamp.

When not curling up with the Kindle at home I’ve done some reading while riding in a car, enjoying a quiet lunch at the cafe near the office and in my second home, the hotel.  The Kindle performed well everywhere and the wireless connectivity never missed a beat.

By making use of the ample storage in the Kindle I always have something available to read.  Fiction, history, newspapers and technical manuals have all found their place on the device.  I currently have around 200 titles loaded and I’m not even close to making a dent in the memory.

If you are looking for some classic reading you can’t go wrong with Project Gutenberg.  All of the titles here are public domain (free).  You get what you pay for though as several titles I have obtained from here had some typo & formatting issues.  Overall it’s a great place to pickup some good reading materials.

Another tool I have found for the Kindle (and just about every other eReader out there) is a software application called Calibre.  Calibre is an eBook Management tool that allows you to catalog, edit and convert electronic documentation into the format needed for your particular eBook reader.  You can use Calibre to upload and download books to/from your devcice as well.  it’s an OUTSTANDING piece of software that the developer, Kovid Goyal, offers for FREE!  If you like the software you are encouraged to make a donation to help with future development.

I hope this brief 3-part review of the Kindle gives you additional information on this amazing piece of technology.  If you love to read you’ll love the Kindle!

One Noodle at a Time in Tokyo

NOT far from Waseda University in Tokyo, around the corner from a 7-Eleven, down a tidy alley, lies a ramen shop that doesn’t look like a ramen shop. In fact, Ganko, as it’s called, doesn’t look like anything at all. There’s no sign, no windows, only a raggedy black tarp set like a tent against a tiled wall, with a white animal bone dangling from a chain to signal (somehow) what lies within. [MORE]