Miriam’s Stuffed Chicken

Baked chicken? Boring.  I ate a lot of baked chicken as a kid, and it was boring.  (Sorry dad). But stuffing baked chicken can be awesome.  It transforms a boring, bland and surprisingly tricky dish into a delicious and spiffy one.  This is the spirit behind the butcher counter pre-stuffed chicken: easy peasy elegance.  Except for the fact that every pre-stuffed chicken I’ve ever bought has suffered from vague cooking directions, watery chicken, and too much stuffing.  I’ve also screwed up a plethora of stuffed chicken recipes all on my own: over stuffing, over cooking, under cooking, simply falling apart.
Weeknight awesome

So tonight when I made an awesome stuffed chicken, it was a Eureka Moment. All of my past mistakes were made clear, resolved by serendipity and hindsight.  I had everything I needed, I treated the ingredients right, I listened to my gut when cooking, and I served right away.

Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under Chicken, Poultry, Weeknight

Karl’s Lightly Pickled Carrots and Spinach Salad

Eilene requested carrot salad and some kind of green thing as the vegetable to go with the chili dogs for her birthday meal. I had bought a bottle of Champaign vinegar for another meal a few weeks ago and that seemed like a likely place to start. Thinking about what herbs and spices would compliment this rather expensive ingredient, I started grabbing bottles out of my spice rack. This is what I came up with. Giving the carrots a bit of time to pickle a bit also seemed like an obvious idea.

Karl’s Lightly Pickled Carrots and Spinach Salad

Karl’s Lightly Pickled Carrots and Spinach Salad

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under California Fusion, Salads, Sauces and Spices, Side Dishes, Vegetables

Karl’s Chili Dogs

Jan and I were reminiscing about chili dogs the other day. Jan used to live only a mile away from Angelo’s in Fresno—a victim of eminent domain for the high speed rail—and in her mind the home of the ultimate chili dog. Eilene decided that she wanted chili dogs for her birthday meal—19 as of yesterday.

Karl’s Chili Dogs

Karl’s Chili Dogs

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under Beef, Broiling, California Fusion, Main Dishes, Sauces and Spices

Karl’s Boston Baked Beans

The kids are not coming over this week end, so Jan requested baked beans and hot dogs. Most Americans would grab a can of Van Camps  or Bush’s (Heintz, if you’re British) and be good to go. I decided that I wanted to make my own.

Karl’s Boston Baked Beans

Karl’s Boston Baked Beans

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Beans, California Fusion, Main Dishes, Pork

Jan’s Challahpeños

Jan and I were discussing what to have with the challah I was making. Jan wanted me to make super-mini challah in the mini-muffin pan. Jan piped up with you could put jalapeños in it and they would be  challahpeños! How far will this family go for a good pun? Apparently quite far.

Jan’s Challahpeños

Jan’s Challahpeños

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under bread, California Fusion, Side Dishes, Vegetarian

Karl’s Lamb and Apricot Kofta Stuffed Bell Peppers

I made challah this weekend and it was so successful that I had to make it again. The question was: What do I serve with it? After several rounds of bargaining, Jan and I settled on lamb stuffed bell peppers.

Karl’s Lamb and Apricot Kofta Stuffed Bell Peppers

Karl’s Lamb and Apricot Kofta Stuffed Bell Peppers

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Lamb, Main Dishes

Karl’s Challah Rolls

Adapted from a Leah Cooks Kosher recipe

Jan bought some salmon while she was in Seattle—a package of three different salmon for a tasting. She wanted it with fresh crackers for her birthday dinner. Miriam’s TMJ is so bad lately that she could not eat the crackers.  I decided to make challah, a very soft Jewish bread, for her to eat with her fish.

Karl’s Challah Rolls

Karl’s Challah Rolls

Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under bread, Side Dishes

Karl’s Honey Lemon & Herb Chicken and Roasties

Jan wanted “roasties” for dinner. I had thought that Eilene was going to eat out with her friends. Two hours before dinner, she announced that she was bringing two friends over for dinner. Roasties for two had suddenly become dinner for five. Time to get creative.

Karl’s Honey Lemon & Herb Chicken and Roasties

Karl’s Honey Lemon & Herb Chicken and Roasties

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under Chicken, Main Dishes, Potatoes, Poultry, Vegetables

Karl’s Herbed Flatbread

Adapted from a Mel’s Kitchen Café  recipe

Recently, Eilene asked me to make flat bread. My first attempt, with rosemary, came out thick and chewy.  It was OK, but not spectacular. I decided to try again only this time rolling the dough thinly and adding chives and lemon time. This was more of what I had in mind.

Karl’s Herbed Flatbread

Karl’s Herbed Flatbread

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under bread, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian

Appology

Earlier this week i said that I would post a roast pork with apples recipe. While the the pork came out incredibly tender—cut with a fork/melt in your mouth—my timing on the root vegetables was way off. While my diners told me they liked mushy vegetables, this dish needs more work.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized