Marsala

Pan-Seared Chicken with Marsala, Pancetta and Crimini Mushrooms

I love this dish for the pan sauce: chicken drippins', pancetta, marsala wine, stock, and half a stick of butter. Whats not to like? I served this dish with roasted vegetables including white asparagus, topped with fontina cheese of course.

Chicago Style...Fritatta?

Fritatta with Spinach, Pancetta, and Tomatoes

This may look like a Chicago Style Pizza, but its actually a frittata. It orginally was a take on the Bismarck Pizza from Supino's Pizza in Eastern Market, voted #1 Pizza in Detroit. I should have cracked an egg in the middle...can't have too many eggs. My heart hurts. Just kidding.

Steakhouses Suck

New York Strip with Brandied Mushrooms and Cheese Peas...Please

I've never cooked with brandy before this but from now on I will always have a bottle on hand. This pan sauce is so simple and so delicious, just brandy, fond (pan stickin's), and cream. It clings to the meat and adds a savory smoothness to every bite.

I and I love Jerk Chicken

Jerk Chicken with Braised Escarole

I had to get some grilling in while the grilling was good, and nothing is more delicious grilled than chicken. This is not really a recipe. I just used a jerk mix that you can buy at any grocery store. Make sure you use dark meat because the spicy jerk seasonings really shine in the fattier cuts (literally and figuratively). This a pile of chicken thighs, which cost 99 cents a pound. If you find something more delicious for the money...I'll give you 100 JSo bucks.

Lox...no bagels

Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Fritatta

If there is one thing I will really miss from this diet, it's eating copious amounts of full-fat cheese. Cream cheese is the base of any really memorable food. If you think of a food that is memorable that doesn't contain cream cheese I challenge you to imagine it served with cream cheese. Delectable! For example, memorable cream cheese dishes: the dish above, Paula Deen's Gorilla Bread, fried cheesecake, Strawberry Squares, Jalapeno Poppers, Crab Rangoon, Philadelphia rolls, Pancetta Wrapped Asparagus with Cream Cheese, buffalo chicken dip, etc.

Dishes that do not have cream cheese but would be improved with cream cheese: Pizza, Chicken Curry, Cherry Pie, Jaeger Bombs, etc. They should just put a dish of cream cheese on every restaurant table instead of a candle.

Allergies? What Allergies?

Isla Mujeres-inspired Sopa de Pollo

Isla Mujeres is an island resort town about 30 minutes north of Cancun. It is a little oasis of the Caribbean-lifestyle stuck in a Spring Break Paradise. This is a recipe that Tyler Florence stole from an inn keeper there. With a squeeze of lime, this soup is really bright and fresh. I served it with grilled radiccio and toasted pine nuts.

For 15 years or so, I thought I was allergic to all nuts. I found out when I was 14 or so that I was in fact not allergic to peanuts. That means 7 years of peanut butter free living. Stupid. So Stupid. So I figured why not experiment. I had an inkling that I wasn't allergic to pine nuts so I did a scientific experiment...I ate pine nuts, two weeks before this. Nope, not allergic. Stupid. So Stupid. Next on the list? Hazelnuts in 2027. You know what they say, " Get Nutella, or die trying."

Where there's smoke...

Actually there was no fire or smoke for this barbeque dish, which I guess means that it's not really bbq (you need smoke).

Pulled Pork Shoulder with Spicy Slaw

This has been my favorite dish on this 12 week journey so far. It really makes me sad that eating massive quantities of pork fat is only temporary. This pork shoulder was roasted in the oven for 8 hours. It was falling apart from its own weight when I pulled it out of the stove. I made the sauce low-carb by omitting the ubiquitous brown sugar. The base is mustard and cider vinegar, made in the Carolina-style. The spicy slaw is spicy because there is a habanero pepper in it. It gets better as it sits, so eating this for the 5 days that I did, got better and better.