Chicken Marsala

I seem to be on this Italian kick as of late, and why not?  Italian food is one of the best home comfort foods that you can do.  There are so many easy and tasty dishes that you can make at home using simply, yet flavorful ingredients.  I really love this dish cause it's super easy to make and doesn't require a lot of prep or ingredients.  I don't think Lachlan and Jennifer are fans of food with alcohol, usually, but I think this is a good dish so I'm gonna feature it!  I like to marinate the chicken here vs. dredging it in flour cause I think you get a better flavor, and it's not as messy.  Serve this with simple white rice or some Parmesan polenta if you like.

For the Chicken:
4 - 6 oz Boneless Chicken Breasts
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbs Dry Vermouth
2 tsp Freshly Chopped Garlic
1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
1/2 tsp Turmeric
Pinch of Cheyenne
Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to Taste

For the Sauce:
1/2 Cup Marsala Wine
1 1/2 Cups Chicken Stock
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
Chopped Green Onions for Garnish

In a medium glass or plastic container, add olive oil, garlic, thyme, turmeric, Cheyenne, kosher salt and pepper and the vermouth.  Whisk to combine.  Add chicken pieces and coat all sides well.  Refrigerate overnight.  Bring chicken out for about 1/2 hour to come up to room temperature.  Place a large saute pan over medium high heat.  Add chicken and cook for about 2 minutes per side, transfer to the oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove chicken  from pan and set aside covered with foil to keep warm.  Place the pan back over medium high heat and delgaze with Marsala wine.  Scrap up the bits from the bottom of the pan and simmer for 2 minutes.  Add stock and reduce by half, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Finally add cream and simmer till thickened and can coat the back of a spoon, about 3 more minutes.  Return chicken to pan and simmer for a couple of minutes to warm through.  I like to remove the chicken and slice it on a bias into 1/3" slices.  Pour sauce over and serve with white rice and garnish with green onions.

Margherita Pizza



This is a very simple yet tasty pizza.  So the first time I tried to make a pizza dough it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped.  This time around I purchased some store made dough to make it a little easier.  The key to elevating your pizza is to use fresh buffalo mozzarella.  It has a more delicate flavor and texture.  Of course, you can always use the shredded kind since it's easier to find and cheaper.  Make sure to use fresh basil here, dried will not cut it.  Cooking times will vary depending on the dough you've either purchased or made.  Here I tell you to follow the packaging directions but if you are using handmade dough set your oven temperature to about 450 degrees and cook the pizza for 10 to 12 minutes.

For the Pizza:
1 Store Bough Pizza Dough or Fresh Handmade Dough
10 oz Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella or Shredded
10.5 oz Jar Tomato Puree
3 Tbs Fresh Chopped Basil
1 tsp Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Freshly Chopped Garlic
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt plus More
1/2 tsp Dried Basil
1/4 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper
1/4 tsp Dried Red Pepper Flakes

Pre-oven to package directions and prepare the dough to the same specifications.  In a bowl combine the tomato puree, salt, pepper, dried basil, red pepper flakes and sugar.  Pour in about 1/4 cup warm hot water and mix well.  Spread as much sauce as you like on top of dough and spread evenly.  Sprinkle half of the freshly chopped basil on top of the sauce, then about 1/4" sliced of the fresh mozzarella evenly over the dough.  Sprinkle some kosher salt and pepper over the fresh mozzarella and the remaining basil.  Bake the pizza according to package directions.  Remove from heat and slice .

Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies



Chocolate chip cookies are one of my favorite cookies.  Actually, it is my favorite cookie with ice cold milk.  They are super easy to make.  As you may have previously read in my blog, I am NOT a baker.  However, that doesn't mean I can't bake at all.  Cookies are actually pretty easy because usually they don't require any kneading or rising, blah blah.  Just start with the wet ingredients in a bowl and add the dry ingredients and hope for the best.  Cookies are really great to make cause you can get the whole fam involved in making them and hopefully have some fun in the process.  If you have leftover cookies to store, make sure it's in an air tight container and you can microwave the cookies for about 15 seconds to soften them up a bit.

For the Cookies:
2 Cups Bread or Cake Flour
1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter (1 Stick)
2 Eggs
1 tsp Madagascar Vanilla
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
Pinch of Kosher Salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a stand mixer cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed for about 5 minutes.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix for about 3 minutes more.  Mix together the dry ingredients and slowly add them to the wet mixture and beat for 5 minutes or until they come together to make a thick paste.  Add the chocolate chips and mix till evenly distributed.  Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop out some dough and roll into about 1" balls onto a baking dish lined with a non-stick silicon sheet.  Bake till done about 14 to 18 minutes, depending on size and your oven.  They will still be soft but will firm out after you let them cool.  I like my cookies still soft and gooey so I usually pull around 16 minutes.  You should get about 1 1/2 dozen cookies to 2 dozen depending on how small or large you make the cookies.  Grab a big cold glass of milk and enjoy!

Meat Lasagna with Pesto Bechamel

Lasagna night.  Not often we have it since its kinda labor intensive and you always have so much.  I usually just make a basic lasagna with meat sauce but I decided to change it up a bit (like I seem to always do) by adding in a bechamel sauce.  And I couldn't stop there so why not add some pesto?  Both are super easy to make (mind you the clean up not so much) and I love pesto, it's my go to spread for so many things.  The key to a great lasagna is to make sure to have even layers throughout. 

For the Lasagna:

16 Strips of Dried Lasagna

1 Lb Ground Beef

1 - 23 oz Jar Prego Marinara Sauce (Or Your Favorite)

8 oz Ricotta

4 Cups Grated Mozzarella Cheese

2 Cups Milk

1 Cup Homemade or Store Bought Basil Pesto

3 Tbs Freshly Grated Parmagiano Reggiano Cheese

3 Tbs Unsalted Butter

3 Tbs All-purpose Flour

2 Tbs Honey

1 Dried Bay Leaf

1/4 tsp Dried Red Pepper Flakes

Freshly Grated Nutmeg

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to Taste

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.  Bring water to a boil in a large stock pot with a good handful of salt in it.  In a large skillet over medium high heat add the ground beef.  Season well with kosher salt and pepper.  I use 80/20 beef so no oil is needed.  Cook till lightly brown, about 6 minutes.  Drain the fat, and add the marinara sauce, honey and red pepper flakes.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, add pasta to the boiling salted water and cook according to package directions.  While the pasta is cooking, melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat.  Add flour and cook for about a minute.  Slowly add milk in and whisk till no lumps remain.  Add dried bay leaf, some kosher salt and pepper and a little freshly grated nutmeg.  Simmer til thickened and can coat the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat and add in pesto sauce, mix well.  Drain pasta when finished and prepare to assemble.

In a large baking dish pour a little bit of the pesto sauce on the bottom of the pan.  Layer some pasta noodles (about 4 should be sufficient), then spread half of the meat sauce, crumble some of the ricotta around evenly around, 1/4 of the mozzarella and then layer with 4 more pasta noodles.  This time ladle some of the pesto bechamel, evenly spread it around, and 1/4 of the mozzarella and layer 4 more noodles.  Spread the remaining meat sauce, the ricotta and 1/4 more of the mozzarella.  Layer the final 4 pasta noodles, the remaining bechamel and mozzarella.  Top with the grated parmigiano reggiano and wrap some foil on the top.  Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and slice into even serving pieces.  Serve hot.

Soy & Lemongrass Marinated Sirloins

Exciting day!  So Jennifer just got us a brand new camera and I couldn't wait to start trying to make some great dishes to test my horrible artistic skills on!  Honestly, I have no idea how to use this thing.  It took me a whole day to finally get this good of a pic, and I still need to fine tune the angles.  But, it looks pretty good though, huh?  I started this blog with steak and decided it was fitting to make steak for starting to use a new camera.  I really like this recipe cause their are a few applications you can use the steaks on.  Serve it simply with rice.  Or maybe on a nice salad with fresh mango's and perhaps some soy ginger dressing.  Make sure you marinate the meat for at least 4 to 6 hours, but overnight is best.  Just be sure to turn the steaks often to marinate evenly.

For the Steaks:

2 - 10 oz Sirloins

1/3 Cup Soy Sauce

3 Green Onions, Chopped Fine

1 Shallot, Peeled and Diced

1 oz Chopped Fresh Lemon Grass

1 Heaping Tbs Hoisin Sauce

1 Tbs Granulated Sugar

2 tsp Freshly Grated Ginger

1 tsp Sambal Olek

1 tsp Freshly Chopped Garlic

1/2 tsp Fish Sauce

Place steaks in a small medium sized container or plastic zip lock bag.  Combine remaining ingredients well and pour over steaks.  Marinate in the fridge for up to 24 hours, making sure to turn the meat often so the steaks absorb the marinate evenly.  Remove the steaks and allow to sit at room temperature for about a half hour so they will cook evenly.  Set a grill pan over medium high heat.  Cook steaks for about 5 minutes per side side for medium rare to medium doneness.  Allow to rest for a few minutes for juices to settle and slice against the grain.  Serve hot with your favorite side or simple white rice.