"How to Cut Up a Chicken"

I've been thinking about our "hurry-up" world lately and how it offers thousands of products that have already been "processed" in some way, for our convenience, things like: sliced bread, shrink-wrapped fireplace wood, whole dinners in the frozen food section,julienned green beans, guacamole salsa, chicken thighs, chicken wings, chicken gizzards, etc., etc., etc.

That got me thinking about how my mother used to cut up a whole chicken and fry the whole thing in grease spooned out of a can in the cupboard; and that got me to wondering how the heck does one cut up a whole chicken without the pieces looking like they were produced with a chain saw; and that got me to thinking how much more simplified our world has become by using that new verb, "google."

Anyway - To see the vidio on how to cut a chicken quick, clean, and in less than 4 minutes, check out "HOW TO..." in the right hand column --->

"Pork Loin with Madeira and Mushrooms"

After watching "Cooks Country" on television I became interested enough to go to their website, register, order the magazine and see what unfolded.

In the magazine small, quicky recipes, are offered up in a "rip them out along the dotted line" format and that's where I found this recipe; so it is adapted from "Cooks Country," and it was quite good eats.

Read more about this recipe here.

"Fricassee de Poulet A L'Ancienne" aka: "Old Fashioned Chicken Fricassee with Wine-flavored Cream sauce, Onions, and Mushrooms"

This is a recipe I found in Julia Child's book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Yes, after seeing the movie, "Julie and Julia," I had to go get one at Costco. I know most guys probably didn't get into the movie like I did, but I'm a blogger and Julie was a blogger, and I like good food and Julia knew how to prepare some damn good food. They both had me with the purchase of the ticket.

The problem with this one though is this: the recipe is long and involved; so long and involved that it took the two of us about 2 - 2 1/2 hours to complete. I don't know how anyone could make this dish alone. Two hands are not enough.

Maybe someday I'll post the recipe here; but in the mean time, if you're interested you can google it and get some pretty close renditions out there in cyberspace. I looked, most of them leave out the preparation of the wine-flavored cream sauce, onions, and mushrooms.

And, by the way, this meal was TERRIFIC!!

"Cilantro Based Salmon Paste"

This last Sunday we had our kids and grandkids over for Honey-Ginger Grilled Salmon . We hadn't had it a while, so I thought it might be a treat, and it was.

One reason is that I found a salmon paste to dab on bite size pieces and it was highly received. I wasn't sure how it would go since it one primary ingredient is "olive oil, or some other type of flavorful oil that complements your recipe." I used extra-virgin oil.

Ingredients

1 1/2 C fresh cilantro (lightly chopped)
10 - 12 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
3/4 C oil (olive oil, or some other type of favorful oil that complements your recipe.

Method

In a food processor, combine the cilantro and salt. Process until the cilantro is finely chopped. Add the oil in a slow stream, mixing thoroughly. The paste should be refrigerated and used within a day or two.

I also added a teaspoon of lime juice.

At first, it had a highly "oily" taste, but after spending a couple hours in the refrigerator, it was tasty and aded a nice flavor to the fish. This paste "made the grade," and will be prepared any time we eat salmon in the future.

"Creole Sauteed Corn"

Cooks Country Magazine published this recipe in their recent August/September issue and I thought it looked like it would go great with some grilled chicken I have planned for dinner tonight. My aunts Dot and Fern are from Oklahoma visiting my mother, so I think they will like this side-dish.

The recipe calls for corn, bacon, scallioins, bell pepper, clove, parsely, thyme and just a touch of hot sauce.

I put it together earlier in the day and the first few spoonfuls were very flavorful.

Read more about this recipe here.

"Jim's Famous Hamburger"

We decided to do something different with a hamburger tonight, so in order to "pull it off," I went to my favorite recipe site, "Simply Recipes."

Immediately "Jim's Famous Hamburger" popped up and my real name being, Jim, I clicked on the link and had a look.

It looked good: rosemary; A-1 Steak Seasoning, with thick slices of avocado, tomato, and onion; with mayo, mustard, and catsup (to taste of course).

The only ingredient we didn't have was fresh rosemary, so my wife jumped down to the grocer (actually she drove down because she had a few other items to pick up) and brought some home.

The recipe called not only for a couple heaping tablespoons of chopped rosemary, but also a couple tablespoons of A-1 Steak Seasoning which we found a bottle of in the fridge. We have no idea how long we have had it because we never use the stuff.

After we got it all mixed and formed and grilled and eaten, we agreed these were probably the best grilled burgers we have ever had. Really! If you would like the full recipe, you can find it here, at Elise's site, Simply Recipes.

I didn't get a photo of the burger. Darn. They were so good; so I posted my hamburger sketch from flickr here instead. Maybe next time I'll get a honkin' good photo of these bad boys.