Stuffed Shrimp Embrochette w/ Chopped Garlic and Ginger

Thought of this while at the gym. Just got to say OMG IT WAS DELICIOUS!!
Pretty self explanatory if you look at the pics. I used an Applewood Bacon.
Chopped Garlic
Chopped Ginger
Applewood Bacon
Prawns
You can use any kind of bacon of your choice. For me the Applewood, shrimp along w/ the stuffing gave it a good flavor.
You can grill it but I baked it because it's 106 degrees right now in Las Vegas.
Bake it till the bacon turns a nice crispy brown color.
Serve immediately.
And there you have it. Enjoy.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi w/ Bella Mushroom Risoto

Yesterday I was watching one of Gordon Ramsey's shows called Master Chef. On this episode Gordon and His cronies gave the half the chefs Live Dungeon Crab and half the chefs canned crab meat. Those that made a dish w/ the canned crab kicked butt. The moral of the story is you can take anything live, fresh, canned or frozen and knock it out of the ball park. Just add sauces, seasoning, fruits and veggies. Depends on your creative juices.
So what I did is I took frozen Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi from Costco and Mushroom Risotto from Trader Joe's and dazzled it up w/ some fresh canned apricot marmalade from My friend Martha Pedrosa Jackson that she gave me and I bought some Bella Mushrooms, sliced it sautéed it in 1 tbsp of unsalted butter and threw it into the Risotto.
I heated about 2 1/2 cups of the Apricot marmalade in a small saucepan into a reduction. Stirred in 1/4 cup of Grand Marnier. Put it in a blender and just pulsed it. Cook your Mahi Mahi and your Risotto as per instructed on the bag.

OMG!!! It was awesome! The Apricot and Macadamia nuts fused together very nicely. And of course the Bella Mushrooms rocked the Risotto perfectly. It took exactly 25 min to prep and cook.
So if you don't know how to cook or you're a master chef all it takes is a creative mind and some sauces and seasonings and SLAM DUNK you got a meal.

Enjoy

Hello My Friends. A lot has happened in the past few years but now I'm back in full force and w/ some new creative dishes. I will be posting w/ pics these new and delicious simple dishes. And also giving you new insights on restaurants I've had the pleasure of dining.

I can't wait to post pics w/ recipes and introducing you to some new friends who have the same passion I have in preparing delectable creations. which are also healthy.

Stay Tuned for some wonderful and exciting quick and simple meals

Thank You and have a Blessed Day!

Henry (Hank) Talamantes.

Bloody Mary Grilled Chicken

Here's something that was swirling in my head when we went to the Harvest Festival this past weekend. There was a booth selling bloody mary mix and salt rim seasoning. Tank's Premium Bloody Mary Mix. Now I'm not a bloody mary drinker but this non alcoholic mix had some recipes that I wanted to try and it has a really good spicy flavor to it. But as I was reading the recipe after I bought it was for a Crock Pot Chicken. So I started thinking, hmm, what about a marinade? So I went to the fridge and my spice cupboard and this is what I came out with.

4 pieces of chicken breast.                                                                                                                               1 cup of Tank's Bloody Mary Mix. (non alcoholic)
1/2 cup of Worcestershire Sauce.
3 tb Low Sodium Soy sauce
1/2 cup of Peach Cipotle Salsa. ( you can use any kind. I had this in the fridge).
Lime Zest
Weber Grind and Grill Kick'n Chicken seasoning.

In a glass bowl combine all ingredient and whisk. Lightly pound the chicken breasts. Add some of the marinade to the bottom of a pyrex dish. Add the chicken and pour the rest over the chicken making sure you coat all the chicken breasts. Marinate for 1 to 2 hours in the fridge.

Throw it on the grill till done and serve w/ whatever you like. I had some corn on the cob from the farmers market and brown rice from Trader Joe's. (Love that store)! Had a couple of Italian Sausage Links in the fridge so I threw that on the grill also. ENJOY!!

Spicy Sausage and Penne Pasta

Last night me and my wife Lynn went out for a few. We came home early (around 6 pm) and she passed out. I continued drinking and was hammered. Woke up w/ a hellacious hangover and laid around the house. Well Lynn's almost off so I had to scrounge up dinner. Popped open the fridge and cupboard  And here it is. forgive me if I don't write down exactly how much of this and that. I just add till it taste good. So however many people you are serving adjust accordingly.

Hot balsamic oil (Bought it at the farmers market)
Penne Pasta
Chicken Sausage Links (Trader Joes). Love that place.
Broccoli
Green beans
Zucchini
Fresh Italian Parsley
Fresh Basil
Fresh Spinach
Cherry Tomatoes
Garlic
Red Onions
Salt
Pepper
Asiago Cheese
White Wine
Chicken Stock

As you know boil the pasta and set aside. Blanche the veggies. Saute the garlic and onions till soft in the hot balsamic oil. Add the sausage and toss. Add the veggies next and toss. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Next add some of  the herbs (sliced, diced, chopped. which ever you prefer) and the cherry tomatoes. Toss add the remaining herbs, with the white wine and chicken stock. Bring to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer till done. Plate and sprinkle some Asiago and Bam! easy dinner.

Eating Out

I'm gonna start critiquing places we go out to eat cause we go out to eat quite a bit and I always have something to say about our experience. My 1st blog of Eating Out is about the neighborhood eatery  "Amore Taste Of Chicago". 3945 S. Durango (amoretasteofchicago.com). Lynn (my wife) heard about this restaurant from a client of hers so we went. Nice little place w/ sports poster pics of everybody from the Cubs to the Blackhawks on the wall w/ some ole time pics of musicians like Dean Martin. Greeting was pleasant and we were seated promptly. Nothing fancy. There's a table right at the entrance and I passed the door up cause some big guy was sitting at that table and the door looked blocked. Don't seat big people at the table by the entrance. Fools ya. The smell of the kitchen was awesome. Close your eyes and you feel like you're in a neighborhood pizzeria in Chi town. We had a young waitress but there was an older one there that in my opinion ran circles around the young one. We placed our order ( Lynn ordered the Chicken Visuvio and I ordered a thin crust w/ sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, spinach and garlic).

well other people came in and were seated. They ordered, got there salad and their Deep Dish pizza and we were still eating our bread and buttah waiting for our salad and the minestrone soup. Lynn asked the waitress if we were gonna get our salad and soup and she ran back to the kitchen and brought her salad and apologized. She told us that they had to chop up more salad. I asked her if they were chopping up my minestrone soup as well. She ran back to the kitchen to grab my soup.

The salad was good. Just a plain ole salad w/ ranch dressing. The minestrone tasted like it came out of the can. The Pizza was great. Nice and crispy thin crust. Lynn's chicken visuvio was good but the breast was a little dry but the sauce and the potatoes were excellent.

All in all it was a good experience except for the service. So if you go there make sure you get the older waitress cause she knows what she's doing. Oh and by the way, they do have an awesome view of the strip.

Chicken Chile Verde

For all of my facebook friends that have been asking for my Chicken Chile Verde recipe hear it is. This is my wife Lynn favorite dish.

2 chk breast or thighs and legs whichever you prefer.
Tomatillios about 6 to 8 peel the leaves
Serrano peppers or I use Thai peppers (depending on how hot you want your sauce, I start out w/ 2 to 3 peppers).
2 to 3 cloves of garlic.
Cilantro

                                        Making the Tomatillio sauce (Chile Verde)
fill a pot of water just enough so the tomatillios are floating. Add a pinch of sea salt, garlic and the peppers and bring to a boil till soft.
Drain the water and add the tomatillios, peppers, cilantro, a pinch of sea salt for taste and garlic in either a blender or food processor. (If you wanna go real Mexican, get a stone Mortar and Pestle or Molcajete and grind it to a nice saucy constancy. Great for Guacamoles also).

                                     Prepping the Chicken
Flatten the chicken w/ a rolling pin or meat pounder tenderizing thingy (LOL). Pinch of sea salt and pepper both sides. Heat up either your gas grill or your charcoal grill. I prefer charcoal cause I use Mesquite wood or charcoal. Gives it a really smoky flavor. Grill each side for about 2 to 3 min. remove and set aside.

                                       Bringing it together
In a heated dutch oven pour some of the tomatillio sauce to cover the bottom and place the chicken in. Add the rest of the sauce and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover for about 20 to 25 min depending on how thin you beat those chicken breast.

To accompany the dish I make a Pico de Gallo w/ Cous Cous.

Voila there you have it.  You can substitute the chicken w/ pork and add baby potatoes w/ it. That's another dish I'll write about later.
Enjoy.

Hank