Chicken with Red Onion, Thyme, Lemon and Pasta

Since my wife and I are still a little sick and our throats still hurt, I threw this together one evening knowing that it would taste good, be good for us and it would be soft on our throats going down.

I took 3 large chicken breasts and poached them in the water I was going to cook the pasta in. Took the chicken out and let them cool a little while I cut a red onion into large dice.

I then sautéed the onions in a tablespoon of oil until they became soft, then added a tablespoon of diced garlic and 6 to 8 sprigs of thyme to the pan.  Cooked that together for a few minutes and then added ½ cup of lemon juice and a ½ cup of the pasta water to the pan. Let that simmer for a minute or two.

onions with thyme

Adjust the salt and pepper to your liking and serve it over the pasta. It is quick, easy, delicious, and good for you too.

chicken, red onion on pasta

Enjoy ~

Oxtail Stew

I know that there was a request for this item a while ago but I had to track down a Jamaican woman that used to work for me who made this dish and it was always really good. So here we go. My take on oxtail stew.

Start with 2.5 to 3 pounds of oxtails washed and dried and dredge them in a mixture of 50% flour 50% sugar and sear them in a hot pan on all sides. When done set aside for a few minutes.

oxtail seared

seared oxtail

To the hot pot add 2 chopped onions, 2 chopped carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 2 Tbsp of chopped garlic, some fresh thyme, 17 whole allspice, and I had a scallion kicking around the refrigerator, so I threw it in too. Cook together making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan.

celery and allspince

all veges and spices searing

Put the meat back into the pot and the juices. Now add ½ cup of red wine, 2 cups of water, a quart of beef stock, 3 tbsp of soy sauce, 3 tbsp of ketchup, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 3 tbsp brown sugar and one whole scotch bonnet pepper. Even though I had 2, I only used one, being this is the first time making ox tails. In retrospect, I should have used them both for more spice.

scotch bonnet pepper

Here is the easy part, put the lid on, turn the pot down to the lowest simmer your stove allows and let it cook for the next 4 hours. Stir once in a while and you will see the broth reduce and thicken by itself.  Now add 2 cans of drained and rinsed cannelloni beans, stir them in and let simmer uncovered for about an hour. About this time make some rice to serve with the stew. I made brown rice in this case.

oxtail cooking

This dish made the house smell so good. When eating just watch out of the little bones, the meat is tasty and just falls off the bone. So sit back, grab a bowl and Enjoy!

oxtail stew on rice

Labor Day Meal

Well Labor Day is this coming weekend and here is a meal that is made with Red, White and Blue.

  • For the Red – a nice London Broil cooked to medium rare, just seasoned with salt & pepper. A common cut of meat we cook around my house.
  • For the White – a few large sweet onions cut into rounds, brushed with olive oil, and salt & pepper.
    • After charring on the grill they were placed in a bowl with 3 Tbsp of butter and  1 Tbsp of dried thyme then covered with some plastic wrap for 10 minutes so they would steam a little and become soft.p

Grilled onions

  • For the Blue  – Par boil the Blue potatoes and them shock them in cold water. Next out to the garden to get some rosemary and garlic and a baby onion chop the garlic and onion place in a bowl drizzle with some good olive oil add some salt & pepper. I have an iron grille plate that I heated medium hot on the grill place the potatoes on it cut side down for about 7 minutes then flip over for a few more. You can see that I was cooking the potatoes at the same time as the onions.

Red, Purple and White Potatoes

Cut Potatoes

Cut Potatoes

rosemary and garlic

 

 

rosemary, garlic

mixed potatoes

7 13 13 pics 049

7 13 13 pics 047

  • Cut the steak, unwrap the onions, and put the potatoes on the plate and enjoy.

Done Plates1

Done Plates2