Chicken Pepperoni

On a recent episode of Chuck, Chuck was obsessed with cooking for his family. The dish he was preparing to make was called "Chicken Pepperoni." For some reason this fascinated me. I can't actually recall anything else that happened during this episode because I kept trying to imagine this dish in my mind. What could it be? Was it a whole chicken roasted with pepperoni stuck to the outside like a chicken larded with bacon? Was it a whole chicken roasted with pepperoni on the inside? Was it cubed up chicken breast which was fried up with chunks of pepperoni, onion, and bell pepper served with pasta?

The possibilities were endless.



This picture might suggest that we had a slight earthquake before dinner. Unfortunately (or fortunately I guess) this is just what happens when you try to do anything on our counter. Our spice arrangement is a little less than ideal and while I tried to pound out some chicken breasts this was the result in our designated spice area.

I'm open to any suggestions for a better storage option.



What I ended up doing for this mythical dish was thinly cutting some chicken breast, pounding it out, seasoning it lightly with salt and pepper, and stuffing it with whole basil leaves, fresh mozzarella and sliced pepperoni. I then rolled them up, seasoned the outside with salt, pepper, and olive oil and topped with bread crumbs before roasting in the oven.



I served it up with some perciatelli in tomato basil sauce. Perciatelli always looks like a good idea until you try to eat it. Because it's hollow all the way through you can't slurp it up like regular spaghetti. It's like trying to slurp up a straw.



We didn't get home until about 9:00 PM so it was not likely my most elaborate dinner to date. I opened this bottle of Silver Lining Chardonnay from King Ferry Winery which I got at last summer's 97th Street Greenmarket. Generally chardonnay is a wine I avoid. I've always hated it but my brother-in-law informed me that it is probably the oak it's aged in that I don't like. Wouldn't you know that after trying this unaged chardonnay I was quite impressed. Silver Lining is an appropriate name for the only chardonnay I've ever enjoyed.

Now I just need to find an untested recipe from movies and TV to try for tomorrow night to keep up this tradition.

I'm thinking Soylent Green.

M.L.T. (Mutton, Lettuce, and Tomato)

With two days behind us I thought we would have made better progress on the fridge. Still it remains pretty abundantly stocked. I've purchased a few minor ingredients to aid in the use of the leftovers but still the fridge seems to swell with food.



My first hit tonight was the leftover grilled half eggplant. I smashed up some garlic, rosemary, pine nuts, and olives with my mortar and pestle then added the cubed eggplant to make this form of grilled caponata to go with the half loaf of bread I pulled from the freezer.



For the main course I wanted to make an M.L.T. (a mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich). I'm not sure if this technically qualifies as I had to use lamb. I couldn't think of a place that would sell mutton that wouldn't be inconveniently located in the fifteenth century. If I do find a way back to the 1400's I'll also be sure to pick up some leeches. The ones around these days are no good for bloodletting.

I think I can still get away with calling it an M.L.T. If I think back to my "Truth in Menu" discussions at culinary school lies on menus are generally only done to fool people into believing things are better than they actually are. For example: would anyone be mad if the chuck steak they ordered was actually a ribeye?

For the M.L.T. I used up slices of the leftover lamb leg from Easter, lettuce, and tomato. For Jen I browned the sliced bread with a little olive oil then rubbed the slices with garlic clove. For me I had the bread au naturale. I was going to give my bread the same treatment but the bread was so fresh and soft when I cut it I opted for this route. I knew the untoasted bread would have reminded Jen too strongly that she was having a sandwich for dinner and that would not sit well with her.



I also made a garlic rosemary mayonnaise to go with the sandwiches and served it with Grillo's Pickles and Rick's Picks Phat Beets.

We decided it would be a good idea to watch the DVD of True Blood that we got in from Netflix while we ate our dinner. Let me offer a word of advice to you out there who may be looking to do the same:

Do not.

The Day After

This past weekend's in-law visit was proof that my eyes were bigger than my stomach (and much bigger than my wallet). This puts us in an exciting race against time to use up both the leftovers from this weekend's cooking along with the purchased items that we never got around to using. Everything that could be frozen has been frozen. Now it's just a matter of using up the remainders before they spoil. That means a series of uninspired (or peculiarly inspired) dishes are on the way.

Let the games begin.



I made a quick spread with the remaining grilled halibut and avocado which I added a little red onion, green onion, cayenne, paprika, and a drop of olive oil to. I served it up with some toasted rosemary bread leftover from our weekend's many lamb courses.



The red leaf lettuce (which I cleaned in anticipation of our guests but which we did not eat a single leaf of) was a top priority. I paired that up with some lemon, olive oil, pita and tabouli for this salad course.



I used up all the remaining grilled vegetables (except for one piece I saved for tomorrow) to make this pizza with mozzarella, ricotta, and fresh rosemary.



For dessert: grilled pineapple with maple syrup and cayenne pepper. A nice vaguely healthy dessert.

If it wasn't followed by heaping servings of Easter candy.

Somewhat healthy eating may have to wait for a resurgence until May.

Lamb of Good

Sadly last night's grilled meats did cause Jen's mom to have nightmares. I imagine the nightmares must be similar to the ones that Ebenezer Scrooge has in "A Christmas Carol." Particularly the Muppets version.



Diane claims that the nightmares are more like people chasing her and stuff. If it was anything like the Muppet Christmas Carol that would be great. I would be going out of my way to consume grilled meats every night -- even more than I already do!



This morning Jen woke up incredibly early to begin baking and the table was set and ready for breakfast before anyone else was awake.



Jen woke up early specifically to make her hot cross buns. This was her best batch yet. The best part about it was that we finally used up the remaining confectioners sugar. Now, for the first time in four years we must actually restock our pantry with fresh confectioners sugar. For all we know they may not even make confectioners sugar any more.



Before Jen's mom and sister had to leave for the airport we managed to dye Easter eggs. My only contribution to the dying was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle egg over to the right. I don't know if you can tell from that picture but that's Raphael and he is "cool but rude." If it had been Michaelangelo it would have been clear because you'd be able to see that he was "a party dude."



While dinner cooked we had this salad of red leaf lettuce, marcona almond crusted goat cheese, and baby heirloom tomatoes. This is as close to healthy as we got this weekend. While eating the salad we agreed that health needed to be a primary focus next week as this week has been loaded with heavy, rich holiday foods.



While dinner cooked I also enjoyed this seasonal spring lager from Magic Hat Brewing Company. For some reason it's called Vinyl and the word "lager" is written upside down across some strange pixie's wings. I guess it's to be expected from those hippies up in Vermont who plaster their bottles with all sorts of copy about the "ancient ritual of brewing" and the like.



Last night, while the grill was hot, I seared this nice piece of lamb leg which I studded with rosemary and garlic. It's yawn-inducing but rosemary and garlic are really the best accompaniment to a nice leg of lamb. One cliche that I can't fly with is that of mint jelly. In general I just don't like mint. Certainly not as an accompaniment to anything savory. Instead I used this red pepper relish. I also cleverly cooked extra grilled asparagus and mashed potatoes last night which I utilized for tonight's dinner making this evening's Easter feast a snap to make.



Jen's mom brought a tremendous amount of Easter candy for us. Combined with the Easter candy my parents had given us a few weeks ago and the extra Easter candy we purchased at the local market made for an exceptionally unhealthy dessert. There were a good number of Canadian and British candies in the mix that we tackled first tonight.

It's hard to find a good Easter movie or music to listen to. I tried Blossom Dearie, Schoolhouse Rock, "Songs in the Key of Springfield," and Jesus Christ Superstar. The latter was probably the most appropriate. However, whilst eating our candy we watched the season opener between the Red Sox and the Yankees. It would have been impossible to avoid anyway with everyone on Facebook and Twitter yammering on about it anyway.

Go my favorite sports team, go!

Mixed Grill Nightmare

Jen's mom says that grilled meats give her nightmares. It's not that she doesn't like grilled meats, it's just that she's conducted a scientific experiment and determined that every time she's consumed grilled meats in the past year-and-a-half she has had nightmares.

I know this because Jen's mom and sister Lauren were in town to visit us. Unlucky for her mother I only discovered this nightmare information after I'd purchased all the ingredients for a mega-grilled dinner.

The show must go on.



I started by grilling some eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, spring onions, treviso, red and yellow peppers, portobella, and asparagus. I was assured that this was not a problem as vegetables did not contribute to any uneasy dreams. Scientific data was cited from Diane's experimentation journal.



A month ago Jen and I compiled a list of all the things that we wanted to grill this season (now that we actually could). I think I might have knocked most of them off the list in one dinner.

I grilled up a half chicken, a nice fillet of halibut, scallops, shrimp, and an entire rack of lamb.



Lauren made the mashed potatoes. We used yukon gold and red bliss potatoes with the skins on. Lauren refused to use the delicious Kerrygold Irish butter because she is suspicious of butter from another country. I'm not exactly sure what she expected the major difference to be in a butter made from Irish cows versus American cows but I humored her and allowed her to use only the American butter in the fridge.

(I didn't tell her about the healthy scoop of Irish butter I put into the potatoes -- I just didn't have the heart.)





I even grilled an entire pineapple as if all the rest of this weren't excessive enough for a meal for four.



We opened a bottle of the Tabor Hill Classic Demi-Sec from Michigan for dinner. This is the wine they serve at the White House! It's a very tasty wine but extremely sweet. I stuck to beer throughout the meal.

Now it's just a waiting game to see if Jen's mom has nightmares tonight.

The experimentation continues.