Moules, Camp-Style

My friend Fitz and I picked these Mussels on a camping trip in Penobscot Bay, Maine, but Mussels are available at most good grocery stores and are relatively cheap shellfish and very easy to make. 

Mussels in NYC are usually about 6 dollars per pound, and one pound makes two large appetizer-portions, or one large dinner portion--especially when served over linguini. The pots of mussels pictured above served a dozen people -- you won't usually need as many as I had here. Also, you'll notice my mussels are covered in barnacles... yours probably won't be. That's fine. Better, even. 

The recipe is very easy; I made these mussels out on an island in Maine with very limited ingredients, beer and garlic to be exact, and they were delicious. But If I were home, I would have used:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or finely chopped
• 1 to 1.5 cups of pinot grigio. (If you have a beer in your fridge, and forgot to buy the white wine, a beer works fine, but if you want to serve the Moules over spaghetti or linguini, it works best to use wine, which makes a delicious sauce)

-Clean all the mussels. Do your best to get all the silt off the outside, as you don't want your 'broth' at the end to be all sandy. 

-Put them in a pot. As you can see above, it doesn't matter if the pot is all the way full, but if the pot IS full, you might want to cook the mussels for an extra few minutes.

-Sprinkle the onions and garlic on the top of the mussels, and give the pot a small shake. Then pour the wine or the beer over the mussels, garlic and onions. 

-Cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes. When the mussels are open, that means they're done cooking. for a fuller pot and a larger quantity of mussels, 20 minutes is a good cook time, but for a pound or so, 15 mins should do it. 

"French Gumbo"

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (dry) rice
• 1.5 cups chopped onions
• 1-2 cups chopped mushrooms (depending on preference; mushrooms aren't necessary for recipe)
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, depending on what you like (I use 3 big cloves) minced or chopped fine.
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 3-3.5 cups chicken broth
• 1 breast of chicken per person, cubed to 1 inch. 
• 10 oz frozen peas
• 3 tbs fresh parsley, or 2 tbs dried parsley

Directions:

The beauty of this recipe is its simplicity, but there's two ways this dish could come out; if you want "risotto" style rice use 4 cups of broth, but for more of a style of rice, use 3 cups broth. 

-Lightly brown the rice in 1 tbs butter and 1 tbs olive oil (in a large saucepan or "pasta pot"--this will be the pot in which you cook this whole dish so its gotta be big enough- at least a gallon).  If you want to use mushrooms, cook them for 5-10 mins in their own frying pan before browning the rice. (to brown the rice, just keep stirring it in the oil for at least 5 mins with pretty high heat. if its smoking, the heat is too high)

-Add the onions, garlic, wine, thyme, pepper and mushrooms; cook for at least 2 minutes, or until most of the liquid is gone. 

-stir in one cup of broth. cook for 5 mins. 

-once a lot of the liquid has evaporated, add another cup of broth. cook five mins, stirring. 

(for risotto, repeat with a third cup of broth)

-Let the liquid cook down again, and add the (raw) chicken, peas and the last cup of broth. Stir, Cover and turn down to medium heat. 

-After about 10-13 minutes add the parsley, and keep stirring until all the liquid has soaked into the rice (at this point, the rice ought to be a nice 'al dente'). If the rice and the chicken, for some reason, are still undercooked, add broth 1/3 cup at a time and stir occasionally. 

Amazing Oatmeal Cookies

Shopping list:

• 2 sticks butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• vanilla
• flour
• baking soda
• baking powder
• salt
• 2 cups oats (I like Quaker brand)
• optional: Chocolate chips, coconut flakes. 

Directions:
-Cream two sticks of butter (beat with a fork until soft)
-Once the butter is soft add:
 2 cups of brown sugar
 1/4-1/3 cup of maple syrup (the good stuff)
 2 eggs
 1 huge tsp of vanilla


-In a separate bowl mix:
 2 cups of flour
 1/2 tsp baking soda
 1 tsp baking powder
 2/3 tsp salt


-Little by little (one third at a time), turn the flour mixture into the butter mixture. (don't "stir," "lift and fold" the dough. You do want it well-mixed, though.)
-Slowly add 2 cups of oats and 1 cup of raisins. Add 2/3 cup chocolate chips and/or coconut flakes if desired. 


The best batch of these cookies I have ever made were the result of letting the dough sit in the fridge for 24 hours... But the cookies will be delicious w/o letting the dough cool/collide. 


Set the oven at 375; 
Cold dough: Place the dough balls at least 1.5 inches apart. Press down on the balls to compress them by one third. Cook at least 15-16 mins or until golden brown
Room temp dough: Place the dough balls at least 1.5 inches apart, give a small press on top of each ball. Bake 12-13 mins or until golden brown.

Chicken Cordon Bleu in Mushroom Sauce

Shopping list:

• One breast boneless, skinless chicken per mouth to feed. 
• Bread crumbs
• Half pound of sliced ham
• 1 package of Swiss cheese
• 2.5 cups chopped portobello mushrooms
• half cup diced onion
• 1 tbs butter
• 1 tbs flour
• 1 pinch of thyme
• 1 dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1-2 cloves garlic

Directions:

-Preheat the oven to 350

-Cut off the rib meat from the breast (keep this, this cut just makes the chicken easier to pound) 

-Pound the chicken flat using wax paper on top and bottom of chicken 

     -the flatter (and more even) the chicken is, the easier it is to roll up with the cheese and ham. 

     -Hint: keep lifting and replacing the wax paper as the chicken flattens out. This will avoid tears.

-Lay the pounded chicken flat on a plate, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then lay one piece of cheese, then one piece of ham on the chicken. You may need to use more than one piece of ham/cheese, depending on the size of your pieces of chicken (nearly the whole piece of chicken should be covered in a layer of cheese/ham)

-Get a few toothpicks ready before rolling the chicken; pinch the chicken, ham and cheese at one end and roll it up like a sleeping bag. The tighter the roll, the better it will look and the easier it is to pin together. 

-Pin together the roll 2-3 toothpicks; it's good to "close" the roll as best you can, so the cheese doesn't ooze out while baking. 

-Cover the whole roll with a thin layer of breadcrumbs and lay in a baking dish. 

-Repeat with all other chicken. (duh)

-Bake the chicken as is for at least 30 minutes. once you put the chicken in the oven, start working on the sauce. Now is also a good time to start the rice, if you want it. I'm not going to tell you how to cook rice, it's on the box, dummy. 

-Once the chicken has been in the oven for half an hour, put one more palm-sized piece of cheese on top of each roll. bake another 3-5 mins. 

The Sauce (which is not entirely necessary for the dish to be delicious):

-cook the onions in a tbs of olive oil for at least five minutes on medium heat. 

-add the mushrooms and clove or two of crushed garlic to the onions, cook for 4-5 more mins. 

-pour in the wine, bring mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat a bit and keep cooking until the liquid has reduced by half. 

-add either a half cup of water a chicken stock cube, or 2/3 cup of chicken broth. you can raise the heat a bit now. Cook for another 5-7 mins.

-you want the mushrooms to soften up nicely, so if the mushrooms are soft and you have the desired creaminess, you can keep on a "warm" heat until ready to serve. But if you want the sauce thinner you can add more water or broth, and if you want it thicker, sprinkle flour little by little, while stirring.  

Chicken Parmigiana

(Picture to come, next time I make chicken parm)
Shopping List:
One breast boneless, skinless chicken per mouth to feed. 
Bread crumbs
2 eggs
Olive Oil
One large bottle of Pasta sauce (I prefer "basil" flavored) for every 3-4 servings of chicken
Fresh basil, or dry; fresh is better. 
1 wedge or bag of Cheese. (I use both mozzarella and parmesan. Mozz is creamier, parm is a little stronger in flavor.)
You might also want a salad or pasta to go on the side. An easy salad is baby arugula, chopped tomatoes, a little parmesan cheese, and olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. (dress salad at table) 
Salt & papper


Directions:
-Cut off the rib meat along the "seam" and pound the chicken flat, one piece at a time; it helps to sandwich it between wax paper, and the best pounding tools are an empty wine bottle or a coffee mug. 
-Beat two eggs, beat in some ground pepper.
-spread a thin layer of bread crumbs out on a plate
-submerge one piece of chicken in the egg, and then hold the chicken over the bowl, allowing excess egg to drip off. 
-lay the chicken on the bed of breadcrumbs, then cover the top side with a thin layer of crumbs. The key is to cover each piece of chicken thoroughly with bread crumbs. set aside the breaded breast, and repeat until all the chicken is egged and breaded. 
-Once all the chicken is breaded, heat up a skillet. (also preheat the over to 350) On a scale of 1-5, the heat should be about "3.5" but allow the skillet some time to heat up, then add about a tbs of olive oil-- it doesn't matter if the olive oil is "extra virgin" or "elizabeth taylor."
-Brown the chicken. This procedure should take about 3-4 minutes per side, and you will probably not be able to fit all the chicken in the first pan-load, especially if you're cooking for more than two people. Never let the chicken overlap. 
-Take out an oven pan, at least one inch deep, and pour out no more than 1/3 of the bottle, to cover the bottom of the pan. Lay the browned chicken in the pan, at this time its ok if the chicken overlaps, but its not preferable. Continue to brown the other pieces of chicken and lay them in the oven pan. 
-Put a heaping spoonful of sauce on each piece of chicken, and spread it around so the whole piece is covered. add some basil, dry or fresh, on top of each piece. 
-Now the cheese. I like to use a 50/50 blend of mozzarella and parmesan. Use as much or as little cheese as you like. If using mozzarella, its not necessary that its shredded, but "sliced thin" is important. 
-If you have extra sauce, pour it in between the pieces of chicken, and GENTLY shake the pan so the pieces of chicken are sitting nicely in a bath of sauce. The chicken cooks in the oven for anywhere from 22-28 minutes, but because it cooks IN SAUCE the chicken wont dry out; the amount of time you leave it in the oven is designated by how much sauce you use-- fully submerged chicken can cook for up to 30 mins.