Shannons holiday prime rib

Yeah yeah I made two of these suckers this weekend and I have zero pictures...hush. They were beautiful though, nuff said!

1 Seven Pound prime beef rib roast
Olive oil
Fresh thyme leaves chopped
Rosemary fresh chopped
Salt and Pepper
Roasting Pan
6 cloves garlic chopped

*Remove your meat from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before cooking it, so it reaches room temperature.
*Preheat oven to 475
*Put the roast, fat side up
*Rub olive oil all over the roast and cover it with chopped thyme, rosemary and garlic. Poke holes and add remaining smashed garlic cloves
Generously season the entire roast with salt and pepper.
*Roast uncovered, in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes (DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DURING THIS TIME!!)
*Reduce heat to 300 degrees and tent the roast. The roast is done when the thermometer reads 120 degrees.
* Remove the meat from the oven and allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes and no more than 20. Carve the meat and serve your perfect roast.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

*Please note this is not a traditional Chicken Cordon Bleu, I just so happen to think my way is better then the normal way!

6 Boneless skinless pieces chicken
1.5 Cup fresh mozzarella slices
3 large basil leaves or 6 small
6 thin slices ham
2 Tsp crushed red pepper
1 Cup diced can tomatoes
1 Tsp dried basil
1/2 Cup flour
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper
Garlic powder


Heat NON STICK skillet over medium heat with small amount of oil. Take chicken and place it on plastic cutting board and cover with plastic. Using a meat pounder or heavy can pound the chicken until it is no more then a 1/2 inch thick (I would do 1/4 for faster cooking). Mix flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne to taste on a plate. Lightly coat one side of each piece of chicken and place flour side down on your cutting board. Season the inside (non flour side) with salt and pepper. On three of the pieces of chicken put a layer of fresh mozzarella, followed by 2 pieces of ham and the basil leaf and crushed red pepper to taste. Add a second layer of cheese on top and place the second piece of chicken pepper side down on top of the cheese. Place the chicken sandwiches in the pan and cover with foil, place something heavy like a skillet or grill press on top to apply pressure. Cook for about 10 minutes and then carefully turn the chicken and repress. You will have a lot of cheese melt out and turn dark (those pieces taste the best I like to eat em off the bottom of the pan) and this is fine and normal. Cook second side for 10 minutes and check for doneness by looking inside and making sure your chicken isn't pink. When the chicken is done put it on a plate. Quickly wipe down the pan to get out the large brown pieces of cheese out. Add canned tomatoes, dried basil, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper to desired taste. Cook for about 1 minute and pour over your chicken (or plate on the side like I did as a dipping sauce). I served this with garlic mashies.

This recipe can be done with portobello mushrooms also. You can also increase the amount of ham or cheese to your liking! THIS HAS TO BE DONE IN A NON STICK PAN!

Citruis steak

*Please excuse the fact that the steak is drowning in the sauce, my husband got a little carried away with plating. I wanted to show it to you cut in half so you could see I totally rocked the perfect medium rare cooking just by poking the meat, but alas he doused the shit in sauce!

2 rib eye steaks
1 Clementine (or tangerine if Clementine's are out of season)
1 Lemon
1/8 cup dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp crushed red pepper
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp favorite bbq sauce (not a spicy one)
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
4 cloves garlic sliced
1/2 cup water


Halve fruit and squeeze juice into large bag along with fruit halves, add all other ingredients excluding steak. Seal bag and shake up. Open and taste for spiciness. If it taste fine add steaks and seal with no air. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 1/2 hour before cooking time pull steaks out and put on counter to bring to room temperature. Grill steaks to desired doneness. In small sauce pan pour marinade minus whole fruit halves and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium and simmer until marinade reduces. Pour SMALL amount of sauce over steaks and on plate to dip. (Do not get carried away like my husband, as the sauce will concentrate when reduced and be very strong). I served this with french fries, and the hubs dunked them in his sauce.

Pictures

My husband has informed my the picture of my Hawaiian chicken isn't a very pretty picture. That I should have plated it up or something. There is a reason I often take pictures of the food still in the cooking dish. I do it so you can see how the food should look finished, sauce and all, and so you can see how it REALLY looks not how I want it to look. I often cook food from a recipe and stare at the finished product in the pan and say, that can't be right can it? This way you can look at yours, then look at mine and say nope thats how it really looks. So sorry for the non pretty foo foo pictures.

Hawaiian chicken

1 Pack chicken thighs bone in skin on
3 cloves garlic
1.5 inches fresh garlic
3 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
3 Tbsp chicken broth
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Blend all ingredients except chicken in food processor. Place chicken in greased baking dish and season generously with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and turn to coat. Bake for 20 minutes covered skin side down, turn and bake for another 20 minutes. Continue turning every 5 minutes until done. Remove foil for final 5 minutes to crisp skin. Plate chicken and spoon sauce from pan over the top. I served this with fresh corn on the cob!

Feiry lemon cream sauce

Salt and pepper Three 3-inch piece peel of 1 lemon 1.5 cups heavy cream 4 pinches cayenne pepper 2 pinches poultry seasoning

In a small saucepan, cook the cream, lemon peel, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and cayenne over medium-low heat until slightly reduced, about 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning a few times. This goes great on chicken, vegetables and salmon!

Chicken with fiery lemon cream sauce, Parmesan risotto & asparagus with pancetta (vegetarian alternative at the end)

First of all I stole this recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray. As always I tweeked it some. Also it is a 30 minute meal and it was really really made in 30 minutes. I was thrilled.

3 cups chicken broth 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) 1 onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 cup arborio rice Salt and pepper 1 split champagne or sparkling wine(eliminated) 3/4 cup heavy cream One 3-inch piece peel and juice of 1 lemon 1 pinch cayenne pepper 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 1/8 pound sliced pancetta, chopped 1 small bunch asparagus, cut on an angle into 1-inch pieces 1 large shallot, thinly sliced 1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese 3 to 4 sprigs thyme, leaves stripped and chopped 3 Tsp poultry seasoning 1/4 Tsp ground corriander seed

Before I post the directions I did edit this a little. I changed the pinch of cayenne to about a 1/4 teaspoon or more. I also added about 3 Tsp of poultry seasoning & 1/4 Tsp ground corriander seed becuse of the nice lemony flavor. I'll tell you where in the recipe, I will bold my changes.




1. In a medium saucepan, heat the chicken broth over low heat. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic to the skillet and cook until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and toss to coat; season with salt and pepper. Stir in the champagne and boil to evaporate slightly, about 2 minutes. (I eliminated this..seemed to hoity toity for me)
2. Stir a couple of ladlefuls of warm chicken broth into the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid evaporates. Add more broth, a few ladlefuls at a time, reserving 1/2 cup. Add 2 Tsp poultry seasoning & corriander seed. Cook until creamy, stirring occasionally, about 18 minutes.
3. While the risotto cooks, in a small saucepan, cook the cream, lemon peel (I increased this to 3 pieces of lemon peel) and cayenne (increased by a lot, I tasted it each time for flavor), I added salt, pepper and poultry seasoning to the cream to cut the sweetness over medium-low heat until slightly reduced, about 15 minutes. REMEMBER TO TASTE THIS BEFORE SERVING IT TO CHECK FOR FLAVOR. JUST BECAUSE THIS IS A RACHAEL RAY RECIPE DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN'T TASTE IT AND CHANGE IT AND ADD THINGS.
4. Meanwhile, season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, & poultry seasoning. In a nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons EVOO , 2 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for about 6 minutes on each side. Transfer to a cutting board (reserving the skillet); add the reserved 1/2 cup chicken broth to the pan juices in the skillet and stir. Stir this liquid into the risotto as it cooks.
5. In the nonstick skillet (I did it in the same skillet as my chicken which was not non stick), heat the remaining 1 tablespoon EVOO , 1 turn of the pan, over mediumhigh heat. Add the pancetta and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the asparagus and shallot and cook, stirring, for 3 more minutes.
6. To serve, stir the cheese and thyme (I used dry thyme because I accidentally grabbed rosemary at the store) into the risotto and spoon generous portions onto plates. Slice the chicken breasts on an angle and fan out over the risotto. Discard the lemon peel from the reduced cream; spoon over the chicken. Pour the lemon juice over the asparagus and toss; spoon around the risotto.

THE MEAL TURNED OUT FANTASTIC. I DON'T EAT MEAT BUT I TASTED EACH ELEMENT ALONE AND TOGETHER. IT WAS ACTUALLY THE FIRST TIME IN ABOUT 5 YEARS THAT I HAVE WANTED TO EAT CHICKEN THE MEAL WAS THAT GOOD. THE LEMON CREAM SAUCE WITH CAYENNE BLEW MY DAMN MIND AWAY AND I DUNKED THE CHICKEN IN THAT AND THOUGH WHOAH THIS SHIT IS GOOD. THE COOLEST PART IS THE SAUCE WAS ALSO AMAZING ON THE ASPARAGUS AND IF YOU WANTED TO TURN THIS MEAL VEGETARIAN YOU COULD USE VEGGIE STOCK IN THE RISOTTO AND PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS INSTEAD OF CHICKEN AND DAMN THAT CREAM SAUCE WOULD KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF ON SOME PORTOBELLO! OH YEAH YOU WOULD NEED TO ELIMINATE THE PANCETTA FROM YOUR PORTION OF ASPARAGUS!

I WOULD HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND USING THIS CREAM SAUCE ON SOME SALMON ALSO!

HOME MADE POTATO CHIPS & BAKED BBQ CHICKEN

First of all I reused the Baja Chipotle marinade from last nights dinner as the base of this meal since I still had half a bottle left and I had planned ahead to buy chicken at the store so I had two meals plus two lunches for my husband all for about $15.00. Four meals for $15.00 is awesome huh?

Home made potato chips

3 White potatoes sliced thin
Vegetable oil
2 Tbsp Seasoning salt
dash cayenne pepper
dash garlic powder


Preheat oil over medium high in frying pan. Mix all spices together in bowl. Place potatoes one at a time in the hot oil. They should sink then float up. Allow to darken on both sides. Pull out of oil and dust with spices. Place on paper towels to drain. I serve with sour cream mixed with a little ranch seasoning.

Baked BBQ chicken

4 chicken thighs bone in skin on
1/2 bottle Lawry's Baja Chipotle marinade
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
salt
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
4 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp poultry seasoning
1 Tbsp McCormicks Grill Mates Spicy Montreal Seasoning

Combine all ingredients in large plastic bag and marinate for at least 5 hours. Preheat oven to 375. Spray Pyrex baking dish with nonstick spray and add chicken skin side up. Pour remaining marinade over chicken, cover with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes. Turn and bake for 20 minutes. Turn and remove tin foil and bake for 15 more minutes skin side up. Serve and enjoy.

Shannon's potato salad (not to be compared with gingers at all because hers is amazing but secret)

First of all, I mentioned this can't be compared to Gingers. While I do know the recipe I will never share it. You see some recipes are meant to be kept secret, like my turkey or Gingers potato salad. You know some things, well they just can't be shared!

Anyway here is mine which still kicks major ass!

This is for meant to make about 3 servings, enough for two people and then lunch for one the next day (or enough for my husband for dinner and then his lunch the next day)

4-5 large white potatoes peeled
1.5 cups mayo
2-3 tbsp mustard
3 tbsp finely chopped yellow onion
3 finely chopped sweet pickles
2 hard boiled eggs chopped (if your in a hurry leave these out)
1 tsp ranch dressing/dip powder
1 tbsp pepper
salt to taste
5 pieces crispy bacon crumbled
dash cayenne pepper

Peel and chop potatoes into large bites. Boil until fork soft. Remove from heat immediately and drain. Place in fridge to cool. While potatoes are cooling mix all other ingredients in a bowl and adjust for your taste. Add in potatoes and lightly fold together so as not to mash potatoes. Cover and place in fridge till ready to serve.