Thanksgiving: Chicken wrapped in Bacon w/Mashed Potatoes

Alright, so in keeping with Thanksgiving's tendency to eat some sort of poultry I went with Chicken. I know it's not a Turkey, but since I am not cooking for a family and only myself, I tend to skimp on making massive meals like that. I'll have this split up in two parts to avoid confusion.


Chicken wrapped in Bacon:
3 Chicken Breasts
Bacon
Flour
Breadcrumbs
Ancho Chile Powder
Marjoram
Garlic Salt
Paprika
Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
Olive Oil

Alright, so assemble your ingredients. Set oven to 400 degrees BAKE.

Put your flour into a mixing bowl. I used about 2/3 cup of Flour. About the same amount of Breadcrumbs. Then however much of the spices as you want. A healthy dose of each if you ask me. After the fact, a little less Ancho Chile Powder couldn't hurt.

Now mix it thoroughly together.

Now that it looks amazing and smells like amazing, let's move to the Chicken.

Take out your Chicken Breasts, trim them if need be, and tenderize them. Well, tenderize might not be the best term to use. So just flatten them out. Use a tenderizer if you have one. I have two called Left Fist and Right Fist. Good times right there.

Now one at a time, place them in the Flour mixture.

Then flip.

Now on a cooking board, place out a strip of Bacon and put the Chicken on there. Make sure there is a little bit out at one end to being the wrapping part. You wrap it up from that end towards the other. You can wrap the Bacon under the Chicken if you want or use a toothpick as I did.

Now using a glass cooking dish, sprinkle in some Olive Oil. This is where you will put your Chicken once it is properly wrapped in Bacon. Feel free to add some more Flour mixture on top of them once they are ready for the oven.

Put in oven and set a timer for 45 minutes. It should take about this long, but each oven is different. Mine ended up taking about 1 hour.

Mashed Potatoes:
2.5 lb Gold Yukon Potatoes
Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
1/2 stick Butter
3/4 cup Milk (2%)

This was my first attempt at making Mashed Potatoes and I figured that this was a good time to try it out.

I began by boiling the Potatoes. So put them in a saucepan/pot that is large enough to at least mostly cover them with water. A dash of Sea Salt here does not hurt in the slightest.

I boiled them for about 45 minutes. The water in there turns a few shades darker while they boil.

Once done, I turned off the heat and used a strainer to strain the water out. I kept the Potatoes in the strainer as I cut up the Butter and put that in the still warm saucepan. This way it melts quite readily. I also added in the Milk. Then the Potatoes. I cut them up into small chunks using a fork and knife, then mashed further using the fork. I do not own a potato masher, so this is how I made do. Add Sea Salt and Pepper to taste.

Now just couple with the Chicken wrapped in Bacon and your dish is complete. Enjoy.

Root Vegetable Soup

Due to the cooler weather this past weekend, I feel that soup season is officially upon us. The first result of that decision was the Chef's Beef Stew I posted about yesterday. This recipe is what happens when I have free time and am very hungry, so enjoy the aftermath.

Ingredients:
1 Sweet Potato
4 Parsnips
5 Russet Potatoes
2 White Onions
3 Shallots
1/2 stick of Butter
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt

I started with the Shallots and White Onions.

I diced them up decently small. I also started a pot of water boiling with a beef bullion cube in it.

Now, I used the 1/2 stick of Butter and cut into several pieces and put in a large saucepan with the heat on at MEDIUM. Which of course I then dumped the diced up Shallots and White Onions in.

Once in, stir to make sure the Butter gets mixed around with the White Onions and Shallots. I kept the heat at MEDIUM to give me enough time to dice up the rest of the ingredients needed.

So I got the Sweet Potato, Russet Potatoes, and Parsnips out. I took 2 Sweet Potatoes out at first but once I started dicing everything up I decided that only 1 was needed. Sweet Potatoes do tend to be overpowering when coupled with regular Potatoes after all.

Once those were all diced up, I added those to the saucepan. The Onions and Shallots should have caramelized by now, but if not you should wait until they do to add the root vegetables.

Now add in about 1/2 the 'freshly made' beef stock. I would say about a 1/2 cup to 1 cup's worth. I didn't measure, so it's just a rough estimate.

I stirred it up and added some spices. I added in 2 pinches of Sea Salt coupled with a light sprinkling of the Ground Black Pepper. Quantity wise, about a 2:1 ratio of Ground Black Pepper to Sea Salt. Topped it all off with almost a 1/4 cup of Italian Herb Mix. The mix it all together and add the rest of the beef stock.

Let it come to a boil and then turn the heat down to just a bit below MEDIUM.

I let it cook for about 30 minutes, or until each of the ingredients were thoroughly cooked and feel soft.

Now you take a food processor or blender (I used a blender) and proceed to puree it like you're getting paid to. Then serve. Enjoy.

Root Vegetable Salad

This recipe has been bouncing around inside my head for the past couple weeks and I finally found Parsnips so cooking had to happen! It's my first time cooking something like this, so this should be fun!

Ingredients:
5 Parsnips
10 Carrots
7 Red Potatoes
Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Italian Herb Mix
Olive Oil

Turn your oven to 400 degrees BAKE. Make sure it's empty.

Now this recipe I began by finding Parsnips at the grocery store for once! I then gathered everything together.

I went in order Parsnips first, Carrots second, and Potatoes third. By that, I mean I cut them into large pieces as evidenced by the cut up Parsnips in this picture.

I did my best to mix them up and ended up having enough cut to fill two entire glass cooking dishes with the ingredients.

I then poured on a heavy dose of Olive Oil. On top of that I added 2 pinches of Sea Salt, 3 of Ground Black Pepper, and 1 large pinch of Italian Herb Mix. This is per glass dish. Then they went into the oven. Yes, I was cooking these at the same time as I was cooking Sweet Potato Fries.

They should cook for about 45 minutes.

Take them out and use a spatula to serve. I dusted with some Italian Herb Mix. Enjoy.

Beef Irish Stew

So the other day I threw together a vegetable irish style soup stew thing and that got me thinking about trying the real deal. So today that is just what I did. I really wanted to get lamb meat for the stew, however I could not find any worth getting this week so I chose beef as a replacement. I think it turned out quite well and was a delicious lunch for me today.

Ingredients:
1 lb Beef Stew Meat
1/3 cup Shallots, diced
6 Garlic Cloves, diced
6 Scallions, diced
3 Leeks, sliced
6 Celery Stalks, sliced
10 Carrots, sliced
15 sm Potatoes, halved and quartered
1 can Guinness beer
3 cups Beef Broth
1 can Tomato Paste
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Fennel Powder
Fenugreek Powder
Sweet Paprika
1/4 stick Butter
Lowry's Seasoning

I began this recipe by gathering my ingredients.

I then proceeded to slice up the Carrots first. They got the first mixing bowl, which I then added the sliced Celery Stalks and Leeks while topping off with the sliced Scallions.

In another bowl, I put the diced up Shallots and Garlic Cloves.

The third bowl got the halved and quartered Potatoes.

I put a pot on the stove and that is where I put the 3 cups or so of water and a beef bullion cube to make the beef broth. Put the heat on high and mostly cover. It should be ready in a few minutes.

Now, I put this to the side for a second while I threw the meat into the large saucepot with the Butter and a healthy dash of Lowry's. Once the meat was done browing, I took it out into a bowl on the side. Using the liquid still in there, I put in the Garlic Cloves and Shallots. Mix together quite well.

Once the Shallots have begun to caramalize and turn translucent, put the meat back in there.

I let this go for about a minute. Then the vegetable medly bowl had it's contents put into the mix. Then of course mixed together.

Next were the Potatoes. Mix together.

I put in about 1/2 the beef broth. At this point I added the can of Tomato Paste.

Mix it together and add the rest of the beef broth.

Now add the can of delicious Guinness beer. Any stout would do, but Guinness is great so why not that one!

Now let the stew come to a boil, reduce heat to just above simmering and let cook for about an hour.

Taste test at the end to make sure it's done, if not let cook more. Enjoy.

Vegetable Irish Stew..or Soup?

Today I made a nice delicious dish of Irish Stew. Well, somewhat. That is the inspiration I had for it, along with the chilly weather we are getting here this weekend. I could just call it a Vegetable Stew but I like giving credit to the Irish for my inspiration. Cheers.


Ingredients:
1 Red Onion
1.5 lb Potatoes
1 lb Carrots
1 cup Scallions
1.5 cup Pearl Barley
Flax Seed
Rosemary
Sage
Parsley
Fennel Powder
Fenugreek Powder
Sweet Paprika
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Butter
2 qt Beef Stock

I began by gathering some of my ingredients. This really was a throw together as I found things in the fridge.

I then diced up the Red Onion and put that in the slow cooker along with about a half stick of Butter.

On top of that I put in the Sage Leaves, Parsley, and Rosemary. I also turned the heat on HIGH at this point.

On top of this, I added in the Pearl Barley and a half handful of Flax seeds.

Now, I chopped the Potatoes, Carrots, and Scallions up beforehand and only now get to putting them in. I like order, so I went with sliced Carrots first.

Then the Potatoes and Scallions.

Now I put on the spices. A dusting of each and a larger dusting of Italian Herb Mix.

Finally, I poured in my 2 qt container of Beef Stock.

Cover and let cook on High for about 3 hours or so. Then mix it up together.

Check on it about an hour after that. Taste test to see how the Carrots are doing. Carrots take longer to cook than the Potatoes, so you'll know all is done by tasting the Carrots.

If it's not done, then let it cook some more. Otherwise, just serve!