I've Been Again.....

.......to Bennigans!!  This recipe is an old throwback to my younger days when I worked at Bennigans!  I have to say that it was one of my most favorite jobs!  I was a waitress and it was the first of the Bennigan's/Chili's/Applebee's type of restaurant....and every day at 5 pm the line of people wanting to get in was wrapped around the restaurant!  The wait staff had to wear hats...and I had such a great time making and finding fun hats to wear.  Oh....sorry.....back to the recipe!

They had two versions....Smothered Steak and Smothered Chicken.  Both meats were grilled, topped with sauteed mushrooms and onions, then covered in cheese and baked to bubbling perfection.  It was one of my favorite things on our menu!  I've seen a few recipes on the internet...most call for bacon...and I can assure you there was no bacon in these smothered dishes.  This is the closest I've come to what I used to order almost every time I went in....that is, if I didn't order the nachos!!!

I had several chicken breasts that I'd bought at Harris Teeter (TIP:  They are ALWAYS $1.99 a pound in the butcher's case...always).  I sliced them into cutlets...

....sprinkled them with salt and pepper, then I put them into a hot grill pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  I cooked them long enough to get nice grill marks.

Then I set them aside in separate baking dishes and melted some butter in the pan and added diced shallots and mushrooms...

I sauteed them long enough to soften them, then added some Madeira wine...

...and let the alcohol cook off until it thick and bubbly...

...then I spooned them over the chicken......

....and topped it with Muenster cheese, which is mild, smooth and melts beautifully!

Then I put them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes....just long enough to melt the cheese and get the buttery sauce bubbling around the edges.

It was delicious, served with roasted asparagus.....and a Vidal Blanc.  Thanks for the memories, Bennigan's.....we miss you around these parts!

Roasted Tomato Soup....with Roasted Garlic!!!

It's one of my favorite things about the month of July......it used to be my birthday, but that was a long time ago.  Now it's those bright red fruit you find on the vegetable aisle....tomatoes!

When I was young my Dad grew at least 10 vines and my Mom made canned tomato sauces, tomato juice with them.  Me?  I liked the ones Dad called the "Big Boy".....that was the name of the tomato.  One slice would fit on a slice of bread to ensure a taste in every bite!  Tomato....mayonnaise......bread......yumm!  If I wasn't in a hurry to taste it, I'd add lettuce and sometimes bacon!  Mom liked her "open face" sandwiches....one slice of bread toasted with a slice of cheese and a slice of tomato........then cooked bacon once it was done.  I need one of those....

But as the vines started slowing down production, we knew fall was around the corner and the first taste of fall was...................Momma's Tomato Soup!

I still make it now and then, although not as often as I'd like....but then I don't grow tomatoes anymore either....another story!  But while I was at Harris Teeter the other day, I noticed huge bags of tomatoes on the clearance rack.  There wasn't a thing wrong with them.....just more ripe than the others, so I thought.......soup!!!

I brought them all home and sliced them (I don't bother with skinning them, but you can)....drizzle them with olive oil, salt and pepper and place them on a baking sheet to bake at 375 degrees until them just start to brown. 

 

This time I decided to add a head of garlic to the pan....I just drizzled some olive oil over it and wrapped it in some aluminum foil and set it in the corner!

 

 

Once the tomatoes were done l let them cool just a bit before putting them into the blender and squeezed the garlic out of the head.

 

 

 

I added them to the tomatoes in the blender.....

 

 

 

Wanna see?

 

 

 

Then whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.........easy peasy!

 

 

 

Next make sure you taste the soup.....depending on the tomatoes, you may need a little sugar or a little cream.....to tame the acidity.  Mine needed cream.......

 

 

 

And then you eat it.........well, not before making it look pretty and taking lots and lots of pictures.  OK, only four........

 

 

......and then I ate it..............

 

 

Next year I'm growing tomaotes...........

 

















Dangling the Carrot.....

I've always loved them......I've heard your skin will actually turn orange if you eat too many of them, but I don't know that to be true.  I even think it has a name....carotenosis!  No, really!  Now that I'm on the Weight Watchers diet, I eat a lot of them.

The other day I saw a picture of some roasted carrots on Pinterest and I knew I had to have them!  I read the recipe, closed the browser and this is what happened.

I washed and trimmed the fresh carrots (Harris Teeter has the young ones....with the tops still on, which keeps them fresher!).

In a separate bowl I mixed fresh garlic (3 cloves...or so), fresh thyme leaves (ummm....at least 1 tablespoon..maybe more), lemon zest (half a lemon.....no juice!), olive oil and dijon mustard (I prefer the good stuff...Maille...about 1.5 tablespoons!).

Now it's time to get your hands dirty!  Dirty?  Ain't nothin' dirty about anything with garlic in it...and mustard...and herbs....nothin'!  Slap that stuff on top of the carrots.....

...and toss!

Then bake them at 400 degrees until they are baked golden brown....about 20 minutes.  Fresh chopped parsley.....voila!

Menu

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Cabbage Roasted with Garlic/Olive Oil

These danged carrots!!!

Nice glass of Chardonnay.....your choice!

WINE-ing and DINE-ing.....

We recently made a trip up to the cabin for a special open house at Chateau Morrissette....our fave place to go when up there! 

We had a wonderful time....they had an amazing spread of foods made with their wines....we also enjoyed trying out some of their newest wines.

The we headed over to the restaurant to relax, enjoy the views and to enjoy some of their amazing appetizers.  We typically grap a bottle or two of wine, some crackers and cheeses, then hang out on the veranda at the winery and sip, enjoying the views.

The dining at the restaurant is wonderful....and the wine is only slightly higher than buying it at the winery!  And the food is ahhhhhhh...mazing (yea...no pics....we were busy eating!)  I promise to get pics the next time we're up there!

Inside the restaurant is beautiful....

If the weather isn't so nice outside, the options for eating inside are awesome!  You can sit at a high top and have a glass of wine with some appetizers, or melt in to the sofa in front of a blazing fire!  There is also a huge dining room where they have all kids of great events, along with more intimate, cozy rooms that are beautiful!

There is also a beautiful terrace with the most beautiful view....but it was a bit windy the day were were there!

We were pretty stuffed, so we headed back to the cabin....we decided to have a pretty light dinner later on.....chicken with mango salso and baked zucchini and squash with red peppers and garlic.

We started off by making the salsa....we diced mango and green onions.  Then we added tomatoes, cilantro, and chili powder...

Meanwhile, we had a couple of bottles of Our Dog Blue chillin' in the freezer, the perfect pairing for our dinner!

Melinda was busy with our side dish, which was layered zucchini, squash, garlic and red peppers, salted and peppered and roasted in the oven.

Meanwhile, I grilled the chicken on my new grill pan.  They had been marinated in garlic, lime zest, salt, pepper and olive oil.

It was quite a colorful meal, but after a day of tastings (wine AND food), we needed something light.  It was the perfect way to end a perfect day in the Virginia mountains...with my two best friends!!

The only bad part was having to leave.....

My Favorite Go To - Herb Crusted Salmon

One of my favorite places for lunch is the Nordstrom Cafe....I've never had anything there that wasn't delish!  But one of my fave's is the Salad Nicoise with Salmon!  Ever since the first time I had it, I've obsessed over it.  I went through ALL of my Nordstrom cookbooks (which are awesome, by the way) and I couldn't find the recipe!  Then one day I had a brainstorm.....I looked at their recipes for SALMON........and THERE is was!  Now go figure!

So today I ran into a friend at the grocery store and I mentioned I was making this salmon....it seems I'm not the ONLY one who loves this salmon!  I promised I'd send the recipe....only one problem....I don't follow recipes.....uhhh....I have NO recipe!

So, that meant I had to "blog" about it (<<>>)!  I love my blog(s) (yes, plural).....only  I'm a late life business bloomer and I'm busier now that I have ever been, hence no time to blog.  But this time I promised.

So, I had my favorite lady at the Farm Fresh counter cut me a beautiful piece of salmon....

When I got home, I rinsed it, blotted it dry with paper towels, then used my boning knife (or any danged knife that will cut!) to remove the skin.

The next thing you do is spread on some mustard.....BUT....not just any old mustard......MAILLE mustard...the best mustard in the world. 

 Well, my world anyway.  It's French, so you know it's amazing.  There is the traditional and there is the whole grain.  I typically used the traditional...but while at Shelby's we used the whole grain and it was awesome!

The next step is to chop up the herbs for the "crust".  I normally use basil, oregano and thyme, but you can use ANY combination of the three, in addition to rosemary.  I also add some parsley.

I make sure to dice extra.....this herb combo is the best and can always be stored......

because it is wonderful on chicken, beef or even in a nice vinaigrette..and it keeps for quite a while! 

Once you have the herbs chopped, you sprinkle them over the mustard that you have slathered onto the salmon.......

..The next thing I did was prep my veggie of the night....asparagus.....my fave....my vegetable weakness.  And I'm always happy that most people thing that the tiny thin ones are the best...because they leave the fat, buttery meaty ones for me.....

They are so delicious that I do very little to them before "grilling" them.  I just drizzle a little olive oil over them and sprinkle them with truffle salt, the most expensive stocking stuffer I've ever purchased....

Then I grill them.....well, kinda......actually we're out of propane!  BUT.....my girl taught her Momma something....grilling on the stove!  Whooda thunk!  I have never grilled on anything except a grill....and we are GRILLERS.  We have multiple grills.....gas, electric, ancient...you name it, we have it.  But we're into quick tonight, so I yanked out the grill pan that Shelby recommended (and I bought under her watchful eye!)....and I p-grilled my asparagus...

Meanwhile....my salmon is in the oven (my small Breville oven....because, after all, there's only the two of us!).....

cooking at 375 degrees for approximately 12 minutes (based on size of fish).....

As always, the salmon was delicious....the asparagus was especially delicious because it is, after all, the spring.....and asparagus is ALWAYS best in the spring!

The only thing that has ever bothered me about cooking any kind of fish at home is the smell.....sometimes fish smells like....well....fish!  Salmon typically isn't smelly...unless it's bad...and in that case, don't eat it!  But if you're wondering what the candlelight was in the background....it was my answer to "smells" from the kitche.  It's a wide glass cylinder, filled with coffee beans....then I added three votive candles, lit.  As they warm up, the coffee beans fill the house with that "first thing in the morning" smell.  And I swoon......

This recipe is for you, Diane......please tell me you'll try it....and please tell me you'll let me know how much you love it!