Diego's Bloody Mary Mix

I enjoy a nice cold glass of tomato juice, but sometimes it seems rather bland and lifeless; so I started experimenting and came up with something with a little "kick" to it. I enjoy this drink in a glass of ice, and I especially enjoy it when it's blended about half and half with a nice vodka.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredient:

1 qt tomato juice
3 tbs lemon juice
1/2 C Worcestershire
3 tsp horesradish, extra hot
1/2 tsp Mexican hot sauce, extra hot - or suitable substitute

Method:

Mix, fridge, drink.

Pepperoni/Veggie Pizza

I remember when pizza was something few people knew about, let alone ate. Then back in the '50's, or '60's, a company by the name of "Jeno's" began selling boxes of pizza ingredients in the grocery stores and people began trying it out. There was absolutely no place to go buy a pizza: no "Pizza Hut," no "Round Table Pizza," nothing, nada, zilch.

A few months ago I took a class in low-temp, slow, cooking and the instructor spent just a brief amount of time on building pizzas. I had never thought much about making one, but since the class I've been thinking about it; so I went to one of those big-box stores where they sell pizza flour in bulk and purchased about 4 or 5 cups worth, picked up a few of the other ingredients, brought it all home and got busy.

Read more about this potentially award winning pizza here.

"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.