Tag Archives: Dijon mustard

Grilled Chicken with Pineapple Salad

I seem to break the cardinal rule of “never make a new dish to serve company” fairly often. I also always confess up front that this is a new dish; I am not sure how it’s going to come out or taste. I think I confess upfront just in case it’s not a hit; kind of a cop out isn’t it! Maybe I will turn over a new leaf and just pretend “Oh I make this all the time” yeah I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen.

I do take pride in making a family Sunday dinner. I actually take pride in making family dinner almost every night. When my kids came along no matter how hectic life got, we all sat down for more dinners together than not. I think that might be where the whole family being foodies came from.  I even have as part of my cooking class mission statement “Help bring your family together at the dinner table”

Last Sunday being Mother’s day I made my guys and in-laws a couple of new dishes that were on my list to make at some time during the week; which I never got around to doing, so Sunday dinner I made them both, a little worried that they didn’t necessarily “go together” I was making them both since I had bought all the ingredients and hoping for the best. They were both a hit and actually worked out really well together. I made a Roasted Tomato Panzanella salad and a Grilled Chicken with Pineapple Salad.

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Grilled Chicken

Because you are grilling, I suggest bone in skin on; they are more forgiving of not overcooking or drying out; however please use your favorite or what you have on hand

You can also make this on the stove or in your oven if you don’t have a grill

4-6 Chicken Thighs – bone in skin on (you can always remove the skin before you eat it)

Olive Oil

Kosher salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

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Grilled Pineapple Salad

Cut pineapple into spears

Grill 2-3 minutes per side or until charred. Remove from grill and cut into bite sized pieces

1-2 heads of radicchio

1 cup julienned carrots

2 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbs chopped parsley

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

Make the vinaigrette (you can do this ahead of time) whisk together the lemon juice, parsley, Dijon mustard and a drizzle of olive oil in a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper; add the chopped grilled pineapple, radicchio and carrots to the bowl. Toss and coat all ingredients in the vinaigrette.

Simple BBQ Pulled Pork and Easy Coleslaw

I am very grateful we built our dream home with an amazing kitchen several years ago. I am extremely happy I fought so hard to get my Viking stove. I cannot be totally positive but I do wonder if we would have been so adventurous with meals if we didn’t make the decisions we did.

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I am not saying we have made, eaten or even tried most of what is out there, but we have discovered some pretty awesome staples that we have added to our meal rotation.  Pulled Pork Sandwich with Coleslaw was something pretty foreign for us a few years back. Plus I am pretty much the only one that enjoys coleslaw, especially with my guys; they turned their noses up when I told them how to put the sandwich together;  actually I think the first time, I put them together and put the plate in front of them.  I had to do some convincing this is how they are supposed to be eaten – try it you might like it.  Voila’ success, we all thought, where have these been; all our lives!!!  It’s kind of funny my son has more pork to slaw ratio but my husband piles on the slaw.

My mother is visiting this week and I was totally surprised when she declared while bringing the fish taco up to her mouth that “here it goes the first fish taco I have ever eaten” I had NO idea she hadn’t tried them before. I will not share her exact age because she will read this and kill me, especially since she will still be here when I post this. But she is 70+ and loved her “first taco” I think that is pretty darn cool. I wonder if she too thought – damn where have these been all my life?

I hope by reading this you might try something a little outside your comfort zone, it would encourage it with kids especially, I have too many friends that have some serious picky eaters. I am very grateful my kids are on this food journey with me. I’m pretty sure; actually I’m positive that my beautiful daughter living in Japan is even more adventurous with food than I am. When she comes home she’ll have to share some recipes with her Mom.

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Simple Pulled Pork

3-4 lb. Pork Shoulder or Butt

Root Beer to cover

Place Pork in a slow cooker, cover with the Root Beer; cook on low all day, mine is on 9 hours while I am at work. When you get home, dump the liquid, put the pork back in the slow cooker and you should be able to take 2 forks and shred all of it. Add a container of your favorite BBQ sauce, I use Sweet Baby Rays. Turn the slow cooker on high for 15-20 minutes and serve.  You can add more sauce as needed.

Quick Cole Slaw

1 bag of tri-colored coleslaw

1 cup of Mayo

¼ cup Dijon mustard

1 Tbs cider vinegar

1 lemon juiced

Pinch of sugar

1/2 tsp celery seed

Several dashes of hot sauce

Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

Combine all the above ingredients; add to the coleslaw and let set for 10-15 minutes until it melds.

Create your delicious sandwich, get some nice hearty rolls and add a scoop of pork and a scoop of slaw. You are going to need a few napkins

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Enjoy!

Lobster Cakes

Last week was a long busy week.  So the weather being perfect on Friday we decided to chill out on the patio with no real plans.  I was on my way to the patio when my mother-in-law and niece stopped over for a minute; yeah right!  I opened a bottle of wine and that was it. When my son got out of the shower he came out; when my husband got home he did not even go into the house, just walked right over sat right down work clothes and all.  After a couple of glasses they called my father-in-law to see if he wanted to walk over; they live next door. It was obvious we were all going nowhere fast.

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Now to feed everyone without spending time doing it!  I had no intention of “making” dinner remember we were chilling out tonight. I decided this was a great opportunity to get rid of some of the fruit that was going to go bad if not eaten soon.  It amazes me that fresh strawberries can be in plain sight when you open the fridge but my guys won’t eat them.  Same goes for all fruit that requires effort in my house, as soon as I peel, slice, wash etc. they can’t get enough of them but until I do, they sit! I grabbed a platter and a bunch of small bowls and washed and cleaned, grapes, cherry’s, strawberries and blueberries.  The bowls all came back empty except for the blueberries, not a lot of flavor.

Our patio guests were still sticking around so for the next round I brought out caprese salad, I used up the last of my tomatoes, some leftover mozzarella and luckily I had a leftover French baguette so I crisped up some crostini’s.  Still outside and another bottle of wine opened. I brought out various cheese, some leftover ham slices and crackers.  The mosquitos (NH’s state bird) finally drove us inside around 7:30.  I believe another bottle of wine was opened.  I had some leftover salsa and a half eaten bag of chips.  Had is the optimum word.  Everything I brought out they ate.  Last but not least I had made up and froze some lobster cakes a week or so ago from leftover lobster, yes we had lobsters we could not eat. I heated up the oven threw them in a bit and made a quick dipping sauce from mayo, sweet relish and Frank’s hot sauce.  My in-laws kept commenting that my fridge has a better variety of stuff versus theirs.

They all wanted to know when I would be cleaning out my fridge again so they could all come and sit for a spell. stairs 009 stairs 014 stairs 021 stairs 025 stairs 029

 

 

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Lobster Cakes

2 fresh Maine lobster meat cut up in nice size pieces

1 large egg

¼ cup mayo

1½ tsp Dijon mustard

1½ tsp Old Bay seasoning

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

Kosher Salt

1¼ cups fresh breadcrumbs from white bread

1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

1 Tbs unsalted butter

Place lobster in a medium bowl and set aside

In a small bowl whisk the egg, mayo, mustard, old bay, lemon juice, Worcestershire and ¼ tsp salt. Scrape mixture over the lobster and mix gently, do not over mix.

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and the parsley over the mixture and mix them thoroughly but gently, you don’t want to turn this into mash it should be loose.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 3 hours.

Shape the mixture into 7 to 9 cakes about 1 inch thick. In 12 inch skillet heat the butter and a little olive oil over medium heat. When the butter is frothy, add the cakes to the pan.

Cook until dark golden brown about 4 minutes. Flip the cakes, reduce the heat to medium low and continue cooking until the other side is well browned. 4-5 minutes.

Serve with salsa or another condiment. Again I made a quick mayo, relish, hot sauce that was a huge hit; remember they ate all of the salsa earlier.

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