Peanut Butter Mashed Potatoes

Peanut Butter Mashed Potatoes

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

Trust me; this tastes much better than it sounds. This admission may get me into trouble, but I am a fan of Bravo’s Top Chef. This season the chefs were asked to run a steak house and prepare special dishes. One of the contestants, Lisa, made peanut butter mashed potatoes and the judges really wanted to hate them but all loved them. I could not find any recipe for these anywhere, so this is my version and I make no illusions to them being anything like the Top Chef finalist. So…that’s where the crazy idea to combine these things came from. I boiled redskin potatoes until they were soft enough to mash. I added about 2-3 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter, about 2 tablespoons of butter and enough milk to make the potatoes soft. I worried that the potatoes were going to be too sweet so I aslo added a chopped chipotle pepper. The combination of nutty, creamy, spicy was really really good! I was just as surprised as the judges, but in my search for a recipe I came across many recipes for an Irish candy which is made from mashed potatoes and peanut butter so I guess you can throw in this flavor combination along with Guiness as something the Irish perfected.
If you’re curious, I served this along side a fillet of wild caught sock-eye salmon which was delicious and some lovely bread from a local bakery here in Savannah called Back in the Day.

Country Bob Chicken

Country Bob Chicken and Country Bob Pork Kabobs

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

Mimi and I completed our Country Bob cook-off. I’ll let her blog about her meal, but will let you know hers is on the right - the pork kabobs. I chose to cook chicken. We also chose very different applications of the sauce and again I’ll leave hers to her. I took about a 1/2 cup of the country bob sauce, and about a 1/2 bottle of beer, and a good glug of honey, I also added a dash of pineapple juice. I heated the sauce and let it thicken and reduce down and I used it as a marinade and then a sauce for the chicken. Before adding the country bob concoction I salted and pepperd the chicken and rubbed it with a bit of olive oil. I let the chicken marinate for about 45 minutes and then threw it on the grill. The sauce made for a pretty tasty chicken I must admit, though I must also say that I won’t add country bob to my shelf if for no other reason than the second ingredient is high fructose corn syrup and I have eliminated that from my diet. I’d have to describe the sauce as something between A1 and Worsteshire sauce -so you wouldn’t want to use it straight. We enjoyed the contest and as usual thought of totally different and equally viable uses for the sauce. We served this along side a nice spinach salad and some quinoa that Mimi brought me from Colorado.

Blackened Catfish

My own version of blackened catfish

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

This dish is inspired by Mimi’s lunch the other day at Maye River Grille in Bluffton SC. We were graciously treated to lunch by my friend Doug and we all enjoyed our selections thoroughly. Mimi ordered the catfish and I thought to myself “I can do that.” So tonight, that’s just what I did. I seasoned the catfish with chili powder, old bay and paprika - also a dash of salt and pepper. I added the filets to a hot skillet and cooked for about 3 minutes per side. I served the catfish over a bed of wilted spinach with a side of mangos, tomatoes and goat cheese. YUM. Too bad Mimi wasn’t over tonight to give her opinion, but I tasted her lunch and I think my version was every bit as good as theirs.

Yeah-What She Said

I would like to clarify a few terms used in Diane’s last post.  When we say “Cavalcade of Fun,”  what we really mean is lying around on the couch watching tennis, or lying around on the couch watching “Friends” reruns, or lying around on the couch waiting to find out if the baseball game has been rained out.  I just didn’t want people thinking we were out doing productive things.  We avoid that whenever possible- at least I do.  But hey- I’m on vacation.

Country Bob Cook-off

Admitedly, Mimi and I have been slack as the cavalcade of fun has overtaken the time that we would normally spend cooking. We do have a project on the horizon. We received an offer from Country Bob to try his special sauce free and then blog about it. We got 2 bottles and we are in the process of planning our use for the sauce. I think Mimi has decided on pork and I have decided on chicken so stay tuned for that exciting cook-off.  We’ll be sure to have lots of pics of the process - so just hang tight - we’ll eventually pull ourselves away from televised coverage of Wimbledon and get back into the kitchen.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Originally uploaded by All Things Mimi

This was my second attempt at a rhubarb pie, and the result was every bit as scrumptiuous as the first!

This time I used strawberry instead of raspberry, and I cheated and used a store bought crust. But the results were amazing.

Read the whole post here.

Steelhead trout, feta and pesto pizza

Steelhead trout, feta and pesto pizza

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

Well, the cavalvade of fun part ? I can’t remember what part - maybe 3, who’s counting, got into full swing yesterday when Mimi and I finally got back in the kitchen together. We didn’t plan this meal in advance, just used what was around the house, but we created a pretty great pizza. I still had some of the steelhead trout in the freezer so I took that out to thaw. I also have a basil plant taking over my front porch - so we put our heads together and came up with this pizza. It was great! Seriously good flavors here - the moral - don’t be afraid to put fish on a pizza We made a simple pesto and then just started layering the toppings - we got artsy with the fish and made a pinwheel design from the thinly sliced trout. The dough was a very simple dough that you don’t have to let rise at all and its very easy to work with.

Fathers Day Dinner

Fathers Day dinner

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

Well after bruised thumbs and broken eggs, fathers day dinner turned out to be lovely. I marinated the chicken in a very basic way - just salt, pepper and paprika and then I rubbed them down with oilve oil - the sweet potato salad was really good, but missing something I couldn’t quite put my finger on - Mom suggested it was maybe cinnamon (I’ll try it next time) - anyway - it was pretty easy - I sliced a large sweet onion and carmelized it in pan with a bit of olive oil - when the onions are tender and brown add about a 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and a heaping tablespoon of dijon mustard and let it heat through - remove from the heat and add a heaping tablespoon of honey - and set the whole thing aside to cool. Slice 3 sweet potatoes in 1/2 inch medallions - sprinkle each side with salt and pepper and brush with olive oil; grill for about 3-4 minutes per side (just throw it on with the chicken) and then add to the onion mixture. (Yum). You’ve already read about the key lime pie and I will admit - even though I am in particular hurry to squeeze that many key limes again - it was the best key lime pie I have had in recent memory.

Cheers

Pie Interrupted

If you saw my previous post you know already that I got a stash of key limes from the farmers market. I decided to make a key lime pie for father’s day. Let me say that this didn’t seem out of the realm of possiblity. If you don’t know anything about key limes, they are delicious tart little things and when I say little, I mean little. So juicing them is no fun at all, especially if, like me, you don’t have a juicer. Now I had a big pile of limes and intended to make 2 pies, one for father’s day, one for book club since you only need 1/2 cup of the juice…that was pie in the sky (forgive the pun.) I only got 1/2 cup from the whole batch!

Here’s the first step (it took me a couple of days and one very swollen thumb from squeezing): Pie interrupted Part I:

Limes finally squeezed, it was time to add the condensed milk and the egg yolks: Pie interrupted part II

How do you get eggs out of a woven carpet? I’ll let you know if/when I do.

I finally got the pie in the oven and its cooling in the fridge until I go to my parents house - It darn-tooten better be the best darn key lime pie ever….stay tuned.

Key Lime juice should cost $1 million

Key Limes

Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

Continuing to use the goodies brought to me by my parents from the DeKalb Farmer’s Market, I decided to make a key lime pie for fathers day dinner tomorrow. If you have never seen a key like and can’t quite get the scale from the picture - those tiles are 2″ square - so you see, they are very small.

I have so far juiced about 1/2 of them - there were double what’s in the picture now and I have a grand total of 1/3 cup of juice and I had to stop because one of my thumbs is now much larger than its normal size from all the squeezing. I need to get to a 1/2 cup to make the pie and I was planning to make 2 pies, but I don’t know if I can get to a full cup of juice without some sort of trick.

Any ideas on how to make the job easier - I don’t have a juicer, obviously and I did already discover they are easier to juice at room temperature.

All I have to say is - this pie better be good!