chicken – Page 2 – THE DUDE OF FOOD

Easy 1 pot Chicken with Mushroom Rice

Ingredients:

1 six pack of your favorite beer or 1 bottle of a favorite wine
1 cup rice
6 chicken thighs
8 oz tub of diced baby Portabella mushrooms 
1/4 onion
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon minced garlic or 2 chopped garlic cloves
  Olive oil
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream - optional
  chopped parsley - optional
1 cup peas - optional
  Salt and black pepper to preferred taste
  Herbs  (thyme, sage, tarragon, rosemary, paprika)

Preparation:

Pour your favorite beverage into a glass and collect your ingredients including pans and utensils. Remember to pick a pan large enough to hold everything at the end as we’re doing a 1 pot style.

Open the package of chicken and individually rinse each piece in cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.

Season your chicken with salt, black pepper, herb mix. Some folks put everything in a bag and shake the dried chicken in the bag. Dealers choice here but if your chicken isn’t dry it just makes a mess. I prefer the sprinkle on both sides method. Also don’t neglect your drink. Your beer might be getting warm.

Pour a little olive oil to barely cover surface of pan and heat on low-medium heat. When oil is warm, carefully place the chicken thighs bone down in the hot oil, cover and leave to fry for roughly 8 minutes. As the chicken heats more oils will be released. Flip and continue to fry on the skin side for about another 8 minutes. Both sides should be slightly crisped. I watch the heat process and if it looks too low or high I make adjustments. You want your be sure your chicken is cooked to at least 160′. I keep the heat on the low side and ride it as to not dry out the chicken. Keeping the pan covered traps the heat and cooks the chicken more thoroughly.

Remove seared chicken from oil, letting the grease drip back in pan, and set chicken aside for now. Do not refrigerate the chicken. Now is a good time to sip your drink or refill if needed. I always keep my beer close so I am easily reminded.

Keep the heat low and in the still hot and now empty oiled chicken pan add garlic, butter, parsley and onions and low simmer for 8 minutes or so. If adding peas add them now too. Still frozen is OK but I prefer if the peas have sat out on the counter for a bit and thawed. Once the peas have simmered for a couple minutes you can add the onions until they are nearly clear. Then toss in mushrooms.

When the veggie mix looks ready place already steamed rice in the pan and add chicken stock. Now would be when you would add the heavy cream if choosing to do so. The thing to do is de-glaze the pan as you stir in the added stock to the rice by giving it a gentle stir. Remember not to scrape metal spoons on non-stick pan bottoms when stirring. Use a flat wooden stirrer and don’t heavy hand the drag. I try not to use plastic utensils although I have a few good ones just in case. Let the whole thing simmer together for 5 minutes before adding the cooked chicken. Cover and simmer another 15 – 20 minutes or until it looks ready. Sprinkle some chopped parsley on top, cover and let sit for a couple more minutes while you top off your drinks.

Darned good.
Enjoy,
the Dude of Food

Discover Ometepe, Nicaragua

One of the things I noticed about people returning from the island of Ometepe was that they all projected a relaxed vibe. Being on vacation at the beach I was already relaxed but I was curious about this vibe other folks were experiencing. They all said they had just returned from visiting Ometepe and the surrounding areas.

Taking the ferry from Rivas to cross to the island is easy, inexpensive and takes an hour. The boats run pretty frequently and make it easy to get back to the mainland if needed during daylight hours. The town of Moyogalpa is there like a patient friend waiting to greet the newly arriving ferry travelers. The town is a neat little arrangement of approximately 6 square blocks that you can find nearly everything you might need within. There are many places available to stay between the 2 volcanoes on this big island and everything can be arranged once arriving in Moyogalpa if a pick up hasn’t been arranged already. There are a bunch of places to choose from within steps to regroup, have a beer, get some food and/or contact folks for arrangements. Read on.

My arrangements were made for me. I needed to be 3 blocks up and 1 to the left of the port to a place known as Hospedaje Siero. The family that run this place are great. Lucy holds down the rentals while her husband Abraham is handling the remodeling that was going on. The photo below shows the old school material delivery happening one morning.

In the foreground you have the construction delivery going on and in the background you will see the orange canopy Krisdalia. I’d visit Krisdalia for instant mocha coffees in the early mornings. The mom and daughter team were nice people. Both the hostel and Krisdalia next door were easy to find and provided an excellent area to call home.

The island consists of 2 volcano cones that protrude through an enormous lake that feels like a wave less ocean. The island’s perimeter claims roughly a 60 mile figure eight. Renting a motorcycle from the crew at Green Expedition was easy. They are reputable, trustworthy and came with a good recommendation which I share here. https://www.instagram.com/greenexpedition/?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D

Along the same main street from the ferry and steps from Green Expedition is El Picante Restaurant. They offer a knowing staff, pleasant atmosphere, good blended drinks and delicious food too. The owner Jan knows many things, is very helpful and a great host. Many hours were spent here. Visit here for sure. Even Kurt from Canada recommends El Picante as you can read below.

A Traveller’s Guide to Ometepe, Nicaragua

The next place up and on the same side of the street hosts a sign that says La Cocina de Mami and offers rooms to rent also. This is an awesome place to go for breakfast. The other thing I loved besides the sweet staff was the chicken pasta.

The last place you should seek out is up the main ferry exit road and when you get to the island circle road which is about 5 blocks up go right. About 2 blocks down on the volcano side is a small sign letting you know there is delicious food waiting to be created for you at Comedor Alma. We were always welcomed warmly there and treated like family. I love this place. Everything we had on the menu was good. It is as local as you can get when it comes to eating in Ometepe and added to a great experience while visiting the island. https://www.facebook.com/memitoelnica/videos/estamos-transmitiendo-desde-el-comedor-almamoyogalpa-isla-de-ometepe/376300624389041/

Thank you to all the wonderful locals for sharing your beautiful place and vibes with me. Muchas gracias. Sincerely, the Dude of Food

Pasta, Angels, Family & Grandma Gina.

Cooking With Grandma Gina.

The Dude of Food grew up as an only child with a working mom who disliked cooking. Her 3 motto’s in life were:

‘where there’s smoke, there’s dinner’
‘you can never be too rich or too thin’
‘go play on the freeway’

The refrigerator to me was something to go look in at someone else’s house. That is how I learned about food, by looking in other peoples fridges and lunch boxes to see what they ate like. It took me years to get over just casually opening and looking inside of someones fridge. Sometimes I still do.

On special Saturday mornings as a kid I used to make a can of Spaghettios or Franco American Macaroni with cheese sauce as a treat.

One of the places I would wander over to visit was the house of the Italian family down the street. They had 3 older girls and a boy my age and they always had food on the stove. Their kitchen was the best. Homemade pastas, sauces, pizzas, rapini and as we got older their mother made everything with red onions so our lungs would stay healthier. This Italian mother even made liver taste good. She used thin slices of liver and loads of onions.

When we would go back east to visit their Italian relatives I would be blown away that every Italian kitchen was the same, warm and full of food. We couldn’t go anywhere without eating a plate of food and sipping some homemade wine. By the third or fourth visit you’d be pretty full but the hosts would get offended if you didn’t eat their food and thought you liked the other family better so you had to eat, drink and be merry. It was great and nothing but love.

When I went to visit the youthful home of my Italian buddies father in Italy I was blown away at the genuine love, hospitality and meals shared with me.

I am forever grateful and extremely thankful. This love of family and sharing food has never left me. Recently I began preparing homemade pasta noodles after lessons from my friends uncle’s wife, Aunt Mary, whom I’ve known since I was in 5th grade. I’m now 56 years old. In researching how to make a better noodle I was directed to YouTube and discovered the next best thing since beer was created. The name of this Youtube Angel is Grandma Gina Petitti.

Grandma Gina is precious and I instantly fell in love with her. She speaks just like everyone in my buddies family and reminds me of the best of my childhood. If you are still reading this then you must go to visit Gina https://www.youtube.com/c/BuonAPetitti/videos and see for yourself.

Watch and learn to make noodles, ravioli or any other quality Italian dish you might be interested in preparing. You will learn to cook properly and have your heart warmed at the same time. She’s awesome.

You can also purchase Gina’s cookbook online as well. It’s titled, ‘Cooking With Grandma Gina’.

Grazie Nonna Gina. May the Lord God continue to bless you.

According to Buzzfeed Pasta Facts, https://www.buzzfeed.com/jesseszewczyk/pasta-facts , the average Italian eats 60 pounds of pasta a year while Americans average eating just 26 pounds per year.

Jan 4 – National Spaghetti Day
Feb 9 – World Pizza Day
Oct 25 – World Pasta Day

“Now I’ma gunna maykeh a pasta carbonarra.” the Dude of Food.

What’s inside that sausage?

Ever wonder what’s in that delicious looking sausage. Well the Dude of Food has been wondering and finally took the time to tear one down and see what’s in there. Above is your typical average sized sausage found in any US market. This is not a small breakfast sausage but a regular sausage. This one weighed in at 46 grams as shown.

The first thing I don’t like eating is the intestinal lining that sausage is held together with. There just doesn’t seem like any nutritional value to this stuff. The next thing I noticed was the amount of white fat speckles mixed in the meat so I cut the skin wrap from around the sausage and began to pick the specs out with the tip of a corn holder.

You can see in the photo below that there was a good amount of those white fat particles in there. The other things that were hidden in there are what look like small gristle beads. They are rounded and look like little white nuggets. I am pretty sure these things are about as healthy for you as plastic but who knows. Anyhow, I weighed the pile of garbage that had accumulated on the tin foil and it weighed in at 10.6 grams including the intestinal wrapping but not the weight of the foil. That works out to be roughly 22% useless unhealthy waste in every sausage.

So for nearly every 5 sausages you eat 1 of them is all fat and nasty gristle waste. Granted this was the first one I broke down and the brand was recorded but not given here as I want to test a few more brands and see what the averages are before any brands are named.

I also bought a small, stainless steel kitchen grinder and have been experimenting with grinding various blends of meats and spices for my own sausage patties and meatballs in search of a healthier mix.

Save the Food/Ocean/Planet.

The Dude of Food thinks the Save the Food idea might be a better concept than capitalism. If all humans practiced wiser living, we could see positive changes in society. Create less waste. Re-use items. Plant edible foliage. Share. Protect the Ocean. Pollute less. Recycle. Educate. Find out more at Save The Food.

https://savethefood.com/community

Think of all the things that could be. Less food wasted and more people fed. More composting for better future growing conditions. Less waste dumped into the ocean so we’re not polluting our food & water sources. Do you pee on your garden?

Think better built, longer lasting, reusable products. Life quality in litter free cities like Amsterdam is nice. Public gardens that grow herbs for local restaurants like in Santa Monica. Munich has great public gardens that house streams, trees, ducks, deer and serve beer. I mog di Minga!

Take a look at your decisions and food waste footprint and ask yourself the choices you can choose to make life better for you and those around you.

The Dude of Food likes Loveless Cafe Plain Ol’ Hot Sauce.

Off of Highway 100 in Nashville is a place called the Loveless Cafe. You may not be close enough to walk in but you can go to their web page and check out the stuff they make.

http://store.lovelesscafe.com/product/hot-sauce/sauce-seasoning

The Plain Ol’ Hot Sauce is one of the secret ingredients the Dude of Food adds to his homemade michelada recipe. It adds the perfect amount of spice. Truth be told, the Dude of Food also likes Red Rooster, Frank’s, Texas Pete’s and Crystal from Louisiana. They all go great in a michelada, on grits, greens, smothered chicken, gravy, stuffing, waffles, wings, eggs and much more.

The Dude of Food is curious to experience your food product.

After years of independent merchandising for surf companies and the Hawaiian Tropic brand, the Dude of Food is switching gears and working on a list of quality food and beverage products to offer in his upcoming market.

If your company is looking to get in other markets, whether domestic or international, then please by all means let’s talk.

The Dude of Food can be emailed at- weallgottaeat (at) g mail (dot) com

Eat well and be happy.

The Dude of Food

Follow The Dude of Food on Yelp

Curious about the more than 500 restaurants the Dude of Food has reviewed?

Ride your mouse over to Yelp logo and click to find out more. Dude Food G on Yelp.

Bon appetit!

The Dude of Food recommends Micheladas and food at La Cabana

www.lacabanavenice.com

It just so happens that they make a good one here. Pricey but good.

The 50 year anniversary party was awesome.

Buddhist Delight Stir Fry

Easy, quick and delicious.

Take bok choy, grape tomatoes, broccoli, green or white onion and other desired veggies from the fridge, wash and dice to desired size. Crushed peanuts or shaved carrots would go well in this dish.

Warm some olive oil in a pan on medium heat. You can add soy or teriyaki sauce later.

If adding chicken, add to the oil first and let cook up a bit. If adding shrimp they can wait.

Add veggies with a couple tablespoons of water and cover, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and promote even heating. Add soy or whatever sauce you like with any dry spices about 6 minutes in after the veggies have had a chance to soften up a bit in the simmer. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes depending on heat level.

When it looks ready to eat, scoop a heap on a plate over some warm rice and serve. For a lovely extra flavor, stir in drained pineapple chunks to the pan about 5 minutes before removing from heat.

Be thankful. Eat. Enjoy and be happy. Be thankful some more.