Oysters on Spinach

 Ingredients

Oysters

2 pounds Spinach 

1/2 small onion, chopped fine

1/2 cup thin white sauce, with more white sauce to season for service.

1/8 teaspoons Mace

garlic salt

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon Brandy

10 Oysters, shelled but keep half the shells for service

Rock salt

Process

1. Place rock salt in bottom of pan and heat in oven.

2. Wash and cook the spinach. As soon as leaves are wilted, remove from heat and chop very fine.  

3. Add the onion and white sauce. Stir to combine. 

4. Add the Mace, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Stir and heat. 

5. Add the Brandy. 

6. Put in the top of a double boiler and heat. 

7. Take Oysters out of shells. 

8. Lay a good firm layer of the spinach mixture in each shell and place the oyster back on top.

9. Cover each oyster with seasoned white sauce and sprinkle with Mace. 

10. Place in heated pan in the oven. 

11. Bake 10 minutes and serve immediately.

Onion Soup

 Back to my great grandmother's recipes in the old metal box. 

Ingredients

Bone

seasonings

salt

pepper

water

butter

6 onions, sliced

2 slices bread, lightly browned and buttered.

Cheese

Process

1. Place any kind of bone, put in seasonings, and boil a long time with salt and pepper, adding additional spices as desired. 

2. Put in 1/2 bouillon and half cup water. ( make sure it is at least a quart of liquid). 

3. In a frying pan, add 2 Tablespoons butter. Add sliced onions to butter and brown well. 

4. Add the bread to the frying pan and mix thoroughly.

5. Add contents of frying pan to the bouillon.  

6. Top with cheese. 

7. Put in oven. and cook until heated through. Serve in crocks.

Cream of Artichoke Soup

This soup is the brain child of SP's after combining a few recipes, tweaking it to taste, and was a welcome addition for this year's Mystery Soup at Christmas dinner.

Ingredients

 1 pound frozen artichoke hearts, thawed (we use Trader Joe's)

4 cups chicken broth

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (add oil if you need more)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon white pepper, or to your taste

1/4 teaspoon salt

Process

1. In a medium sauce pan, saute the garlic and artichoke in the butter, adding a little oil if necessary, for roughly 3 minutes or until slightly softened. 
2. Add the broth and simmer until all warmed through. 
3. In batches, carefully transfer to blender and blend until very smooth, for at least 2 minutes. 
4. Pass blended mixture through a fine sieve and add back to the original pan.  
5. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. 
6. Once simmering, add the cream slowly. Stir and simmer until heated through. 
7. Add the lemon juice, pepper, and salt. Taste and adjust as you like. 
8. Serve and enjoy!
   

Air Fryer Dill Pickle Chicken

 This is one of my new and all time favorite recipes! It started with another recipe that I have adapted to better fit my tastes and sustainability. The first couple of times I made it, I bought a jar of dill pickles, dumped them out, and brined the chicken in the sauce. That leaves a lot of pickles to be worked with with out the brine to keep them in. I mean you could make Molly Yeh's Fried Cheesy Pickles (recipe is in her first cookbook) with them, but I discovered that I could buy pickle juice on Amazon. Problem Solved! The best tweak to this recipe has been my recent Christmas Gift: A Ninja Air Fryer. It's a brilliant bad ass of a genius kitchen device I highly recommend. Anyway, enough talk and story telling, here is the recipe. 

Ingredients

1 lb Chicken Breast, cut into tenders (you may want to make more like literally for lunch the next day or snacks. It's addictive!)

1/2 to 1 cup Flour seasoned with salt and pepper (more as needed)

Pickle Juice (from a jar or bottle, enough to cover the chicken)

1 large egg (or more as needed)

1 cup unseasoned Panko (again more as needed)

2 Tablespoons Trader Joe's Seasoning in a Pickle (Trader Joe's has currently discontinued it but you can find more options here)

Dill Dip for serving (there's lots of recipes out there but we bought Marzetti's)

 

 

 

 

Process

1. Prepare chicken tenders and soak in pickle juice for several hours if not overnight. 
2. When ready to make dinner, combine the Panko with the seasoning in a glass pie plate. 
3.  Place flour in a pie plate. 
4. Place the egg in a bowl and beat with a whisk. 
5. Working one piece of chicken at a time, drench the chicken in the flour, then the egg, and then the Panko. 
6. Place chicken pieces on rack chosen from your air fryer.  
7. Lightly spray with Canola or vegetable oil. 
8. Bake in Air Fryer, set at 400 degrees, for 5 to 6 minutes. 
9. Flip chicken and air fry for another 5 to 6 minutes. 
   
   
   
   
10. Serve with dill dip and a side salad. Enjoy!