Clay Pot Roasted Chicken

T (my son) and I decided to prepare a nice family style dinner. I bought a clay roasting pot from Ikea about 2 months ago and had never used it. In addition, I had a buy one (actually 2) and get one (actualy 2)coupon from Costco for whole chickens. Armed with the clay pot and 4 chickens, we went with the idea to roast a whole chicken.

T just returned from a long vacation on the island of Seychelle. He stayed with a family where he had the opportunity to learn to cook many of their recipes. He didn't write anything down but went only by memory. Using a blending of onions, garlic, lemon, various herbs, salt and pepper, we have Clay Pot Roasted Chicken.

Manufacturer recommeds soaking clay pot in water for at least 40minutes before first use.
T seasoned some fingerling potatoes with salt, pepper, parsley, lemon juice, a pinch of oregano and olive oil to cook with the chicken.
The clay pot was lined with parchment paper mainly to make cleanup easier and to assure that if there were leaks in the pot they would be minimalized.
Seasonings began with salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil
freshly ground pepper
herbs
Lots of onions and garlic to stuff the chicken
More onions and garlic
Clay pot removed from oven and ready for a Voila!


The chicken nicely browned in the covered clay pot. It was moist with a good consistency and very tasty. The aroma when the top of the pot was removed was fantastic. We actually didn't serve for about an hour after cooking was complete and the chicken held up without drying out and kept at a serving temperature.

So you all ask what influence Seychelle had on this chicken? I thought it was similar to anything we would do here. He added that in Seychelle, they would have cooked it with whole tomatoes, left out the potatoes and that's about it.

BBQ Competition Season Getting a Headstart

It has been a while since Four Q BBQ Team's last competition in October 2006 at Imperial Beach. We are now getting our gear ready to compete at this year's BBQ'n at the Autry 2007 event April 14th.

A pre-event backyard BBQ is planned a couple of weeks before the Autry competition where some of us local teams will get together to meet, greet and taste each other's foods. This will be a real treat in that during most competitions, we rarely get to taste what the other teams have prepared. In addition, we rarely get to see what the other team turn-in boxes look like.

Stay tuned for more posts on BBQ competition.

Weekend Dog Blogging- A Frontline Revolt

Ziggy hates his anti-flea treatments. As soon as he sees me getting the package out, he tries to run away and hide. Once I apply the contents of the the little packet, he heads straight for whatever couch or rug he feels he can go to in an attempt to remove the exogenous invader of his skin. I can imagine, it probably has a little sting but that has be a better solution than a flea infestation or routine baths which he also hates. Here's Ziggy.



Thank you Sweetnicks for hosting another Weekend Dog Blogging.

I apologize for the late post but Blogger put a post publish hold on my site because they thought I could be a spammer. To add insult to injury, they won't release my site for 2 days pending someone from Blogger actually looking at the site to see that it is ok. Go figure. Got to be a better way.

This is a cut and paste of their message.

Your blog is locked
Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. (What's a spam blog?) Since you're an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive.

We received your unlock request on March 4, 2007. On behalf of the robots, we apologize for locking your non-spam blog. Please be patient while we take a look at your blog and verify that it is not spam.

Find out more about how Blogger is fighting spam blogs.

Well today, 3/5/07, I received the following email from Blogger:

Hello,

Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so that
it will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of Blogger and
sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks for your
patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

I'm now able to post again. Patience and apologies they ask.

Pullet Award Winner 2007

Soul Fusion Kitchen Receives the Pullet Award for my rendition of Doro Wat- Ethiopian Chicken Stew.

Thank you to my friends at Peanut Butter Etouffee

Visit their site and check out all the other entrants.

Crab Cakes

I had a taste for crab cakes. I haven't made these in a while and noted that I had a can of lump crab meat in my refrigerator for a few months which needed to be used. The other ingredients are staples in my kitchen so preparing these didn't take much planning.

My recipe is adapted from the recipe straight off the Phillips Crab meat can. I tweak it with a few other ingredients listed in the recipe below. This time I also added some finely chopped celery.
Take care in combining the ingredients so you maintain lumps of the crab meat.

I use a large ice cream scoop to form the cakes. I first place the dome in the skillet and cook for about 30 sections before I flatten the domes. My own little quirk but it seems to me that the crab cakes have a little time to bind and I don't get as much flaking.



This crab cake recipe can also be used substituting a flaky type fish for the crab. Another little variation is to substitute Ritz crackers for the bread crumbs. This variation I got from one of my friends in Baltimore along with adding about a 1/4 tsp of tabasco sauce for a little mild heat.



Crab Cakes (or Fish Cakes)
Adapted from Phillips Crabmeat Canned Product Recipe
2002 (888-234-2722)

1 lb crab (or flaky fish) in a mixing bowl. Leave in large lumps

Second bowl- beat:
1 egg
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp seafood seasoning
1 tsp parsley flakes
¼ tsp dry mustard
1 heaping tbl mayonaise
1 heaping tsp prepared mustard (I use Dijon)
optional add 2 tbl diced onion and 1 clove diced garlic

Take 2 slices of toasted bread and crumble into small pieces (I use Japanese Panko bread instead of bread crumbs).
Mix bread with fish
Fold in egg-spice mixture with fish
Consistency shoud be moist but stays together.
Make patties- serving size
Use seasoned Flour mixture (add some seafood seasoning, cayenne, salt and pepper) to coat patties.

Coat skillet with Pam type coating or olive oill. Fry on each side til golden brown.

Lamb Feast For My Hubby And R

G made a special dinner request for lamb on Saturday night. He invited a good family friend and and left it up to me to do my thang. Well, as always, I dont need but just a small excuse to cook a big meal.

The menu included Rack of Lamb with a parmesan/panko bread crumb/minced rosemary coating, Lamb Loin Chops, Grilled Asparagus Spears, Fingerling Potatoes, Caesar Salad and crusty bread.

This meal did not take long to prepare. It was actually quite quick to get it together. Seasonings included only salt, pepper and some fresh rosemary. An essential tool was my temperature probe to verify that the lamb was medium rare.

I'm not a very good photographer, but one thing I discovered is that my sink provided the greatest lighting effect for some of the photos. I was quite impressed with the look. By the way, the meal was fantastic with the lamb perfectly cooked.

















































Fingerling potatoes
Asparagus
Lamb Loin Chops
Rack of Lamb

Rosemary
Parmesan Cheese
Mustard Coating
Parmesan and Bread Crumb Coating
Crusty Bread
Grilled Asparagus
Grilled Lamb Loin Chops

Weekend Dog Blogging- Snoozing

This is Ziggy's favorite place under my desk while I spend hours online blogging and surfing the internet. My faithfull companion is always near and patiently waits for me to pamper him with attention and treats.

WDB is hosted by Sweetnicks every weekend.

2007 Pullet Surprise Entry for Poultry Excellence

My friends over at Peanut Butter Etouffee are sponsoring an event called the The 2007 Pullet Surprise for Poultry Excellence.

This event is in celebration of 10,000 visits to their site. All I have to do is post a poultry recipe which is one of my favorites and guaranteed to please. When I first read about this event my thoughts included two different chicken preps I wanted to showcase. One was chicken cooked in a clay baking dish and the other is obviously what I'm posting about, an Ethiopian inspired dish called "Doro Wat" or simply spicy braised chicken stew. May I confess that I had not made this dish prior to today. Weeks ago I did surf the net for recipes and info on how to prepare this dish. I did make my own Berbere, a hot pepper seasoning which is a combination of spices and heat used in many Ethiopian dishes. From many recipes I present my version of Doro Wat.



I adapted a recipe from Recipezaar for the berbere

Berbere
1 teaspoon Ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon Ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon Allspice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Ground coriander
2 tablespoons Salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground fenugreek seeds
1 1/4 cups Cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Grated nutmeg
1/2 cup Paprika
1/4 teaspoon Ground cloves
1 tsp Turmeric
1 teaspoon Fresh ground black pepper

Toast the ground spices together over a low heat for 4 to 5 minutes: ginger, cardamom, coriander, fenugreek, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and allspice. Shake or stir to prevent burning. Add the salt, cayenne pepper, paprika and fresh ground black pepper and continue toasting and stirring for 10 to 15 more minutes. Do not burn.

Store in tightly covered glass jar.
Refrigerated it is good for 5 or 6 months.

Makes 1 1/2 cups.

For the Doro Wat, I couldn't find single recipe so I improvised and came up with this one which rocks. It's not often that you taste something you cook and say "damn that's good". For this I did. For this I give a must make again and again-it was that good. Note it is not diet food. I used butter and ghee plus I kept the skin of the chicken on.



Doro Wat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew)

1 whole chicken halved
1 lemon- juiced
8 ounces Tomato paste
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 Stick butter
3 Tb Ghee
4 Hard boiled eggs (or more- one per serving)
3 medium size onions coarsely chopped
1 medium size bell pepper coarsely chopped
4 Cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon Ground black pepper
3 Tb prepared berbere

Make red pepper paste by combining tomato sauce, red wine, berbere. Reserve.

Score each chicken half slightly with a knife. Soak in lemon juice plus enough water to cover for about 15 minutes.



In a large stew pot, melt the butter and ghee, then saute the onions and garlic for about five minutes. Add bell pepper and saute about 3-5 minutes mores.


Add red pepper paste stirring occasionally while the mixture simmers about 15 minutes. Add enough water to keep mixutre a stew consistency.


Place chicken halves in pot coating well with the sauce. Continue to simmer, adding enough water to maintain the consistency of a thick soup. When chicken is half done, after about 20 minutes, put in the hard boiled eggs.



Cover and continue cooking until the chicken is tender. The dish is ready when the oil has risen to the top. Add black pepper and let sit until slightly cooled. Adjust to taste with salt.

Makes enough to serve 4 to 6.

Superbowl 2007 Throwdown Pictures

Menu for the event included pulled pork, chicken, brisket, jalapeno corn muffins, baked beans, potato salad, veggie plate, coleslaw and buns. Mr. B and I prepared the meats.
Chicken:
Left = Mr. B.
Right = Sylvie
Brisket
Left = Sylvie
Right = Mr. B
Pulled Pork
Left = Mr. B.
Right = Sylvie




See complete slideshow of event at my Flickr photos of the Low and Slow BBQ Throw Down event.

Low N Slow Throw Down Champion- Sylvie!

Lovely weekend. Not much time this morning to post about the BBQ Throwdown this past Superbowl weekend but I just wanted you all to know who won. At the top of the 4th quarter with the Colts outplaying the Bears, Sylvie was voted and named the Low N Slow Barbeque champion.


I want to thank my competitor, "Mr. B" for a fantastic weekend of cookin'.

Photos and more commentary on the event to follow.

Superbowl Party Weekend

This is going to be a hard core, meat packed weekend of BBQing. I've got two pork butts, one large brisket, tri-tip and a Costco pack of chicken thighs just waiting for my special touch with some low and slow heat. Vegetarians and red meat/pork restricted folks you are forwarned- there is nothing healthy about what I'm posting about or ingesting this weekend other than red wine.