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So, a Sunday struggle after a large Saturday night led me to the grocery store. With no real plan, idea, or inspiration I just started aimlessly putting things in my shopping cart. Luckily the friendly butcher was aiding my decisions on what was on sale. 45 min later, I walked out with a 6 pound chicken.
I actually had wanted to roast a chicken for a while, so this bird was going to get the full treatment. Starting off with a brine, I wanted to inject as much spring/summer flavor into it as possible. I started simple, then kept layering flavors in...
Water
salt
pomegranate balsamic vinegar
mustard seeds
chili flakes
honey
bay leaf
lemon peel
The chicken sat in the brine for about 18 hours (it took a bit longer for the brine to cool than expected).
Now, building this meal... Thankfully, corn is coming back into season. A roasted corn salad sounded splendid. Adding a roast anaheim pepper, grilled green onions, cilantro, avocado, jalepeno, salt, white pepper, lemon olive oil, and some white balsamic made this salad a hit. Also, a last minute addition, some ciabatta croutons which were soaked in the chicken jus.
Now, on to the roast! After the brine, the chicken was stuffed with wedges of orange, lime and lemon which I tossed in a bit of salt, olive oil, and pomegranate balsamic. I made an herb butter with parsley, salt and lemon olive oil. This was not just rubbed onto the whole chicken, but also in the cavity between the skin and the breasts. The remaining wedges of citrus were placed around the chicken in the pan along with a leek.
Using the Julia Child's method (425* for 15 min, then lowering to 350*), the bird was perfect and juicy at 2 hrs.
Got distracted by the basketball game, so the pic was taken with the legs off... but, i think it still looks great.
Adding a nice spinach salad, Italian red wine, and great company, everyone was happy. A new keeper.
Now, what to make with the stock??
After a couple days of eating lots of greasy food, it was time to put away the butter and pork products. Luckily, ahi was on sale. In a daze of confusion, I randomly grabbed ingredients from the store and hoped that I could make order out of chaos come dinner time. So, I laid out and prepped all my ingredients hoping for a spark. Sugar snap peas, green onions, ginger, ahi, and a salad. The peas, onions and ginger went into a hot pan with some peanut oil and soy sauce. Quickly realizing that I didn't have any sesame seeds, I decided I would dredge the ahi in a miso paste sauce (white miso paste, soy sauce, and a touch of sirracha). Some of this mixture was added to the greens. After dredging, the fish got covered in panko bread crumbs and then seared. Couple minutes a side and my ahi was perfectly rare.
The nice meal. Center cut pork chops. A huge can of macadamia nuts. Fresh Pineapple. Green beans. Rum.
The idea was macadamia crusted pork chops. Then it built from there.
First, laboriously crushing enough macadamias to cover 8 pork chops. To coat the pork, I made a butter with paprika, chili oil, vanilla extract and salt. The chops were dredged in the butter, then coated with a generous helping of macadamia nuts which were also tossed with some fresh ginger. Roasted for 30 min at 350* (note, lower the temp and roast for 40 min).
Now, for the salsa. Fresh pineapple, jalepeno, cilantro, limes, a little salt, cane sugar, and chili oil. This was blended and left in the fridge to cool.
Once the chops were out, I got inspired and decided they needed a little warm glaze on top to contrast the coolness of the salsa underneath. So, i deglazed the roasting pan with Mount Gay rum, vanilla extract, and some butter and sugar. Tasty.
To complete the meal ginger scented rice, and some green beans tossed in the glazing pan. A perfect paring. Add red wine, great friends, and the Hawaiian breeze and you get nothing happier.
Kellan's Kitchen recently got a chance to relocate to the Aloha state. With knives packed and ambitions high, I was set out to use many of the wonderful tropical flavors Hawaii has to offer. We had an incredible house, right on the ocean, complete with a pool & a killer kitchen. Dinners were lively and lengthy given that we were all sitting around a big round table. Truly how I like to eat!
Upon arrival, I was so anxious I couldn't contain myself. I was so stoked to visit the grocery store and see if I could land some fresh fish & seafood. Sadly, I forgot that due to being an Island state, produce and meat were extremely expensive. So, improvisation happened.
The first night shrimp was the main ingredient. So to accompany, I picked up some local portugese sausage, a staple in Hawaiian cuisine, some sweet Ewa onions, coconut milk, cilantro, and limes. I deided I was going to make shrimp 2 ways with some flavored rice. The first one, almost a taste of the south, was shrimp cooked with the portugese sausage, and sweet onions. The 2nd was coconut shrimp with cilantro and lime.
Meal turned out fabulous. The coconut shrimp was the winner of the night. A little tweak and this recipe is a definite repeat in the summer.
