Monthly Archives: December 2016

What am I doing on New Year’s Eve?

Shrimp! I am eating a pound of North Carolina white shrimp boiled in Chesapeake Bay Style seafood seasoning and watching reruns of Big Bang Theory!


The recipe on the McCormick can is easy!

Boiled Shrimp

Wash 1 pound shrimp and place in sauce pan.


Combine 1/4 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup water, 1 tbsp Seafood seasoning and 2 tsp salt. Pour over shrimp and bring to a boil. 


Cover. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until shrimp turn pink, stirring once. 


Drain, cool, remove shells and eat.


Yum!

atb

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Chicken with a mushroom Marsala sauce 

So a large pine in the back yard was stuck by lightning a few months ago and has finally died. The electrical in the house has been slightly mess-up since! I took Wednesday off from work so an electrician could evaluate the issue and hopefully correct it. Of course, he could not narrow it down and instructed me to contact the power company. So I raked the yard, again, while he was performing his testing. What to do with the remainder of the day? Cook! After consulting and evaluating many recipes I created this two-pot recipe for mushroom and chicken Marsala. It was so yummy! It’s a keeper.

 


Ingredients

3 Tbs. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt, to taste

1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper, to taste

About 2 pounds of chicken. I used thighs

3 Tbs. unsalted butter

3 Tbs. olive oil

1 onion, minced

2 1/4 cups Marsala

2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 lb. mushrooms, cut into slices 1/4 inch thick

3 Tbs. finely chopped fresh chives

Directions:

In a bowl, mix flour, the 1 tsp. salt and the 1/2 tsp. pepper. One at a time, turn the chicken  in the flour mixture, gently shaking off the excess.

In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt 1 1/2 Tbs. of the butter with 1 1/2 Tbs. of the olive. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until golden on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.


Add the onion and sauté over medium-high heat until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 2 cups of the Marsala, increase the heat to high and cook, stirring, until the wine is reduced and thickened, 7 to 10 minutes.

Add the chicken to the Dutch oven and cover the pot, set over medium heat and cook until the chicken is opaque throughout and very tender, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large fry pan over high heat, melt the 1 1/2 Tbs. butter with the 1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil.


Add the mushrooms and sauté until the edges begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock or Marsala to cover, bring to a boil, and season generously with salt and pepper.


Once the liquid has been absorbed by the mushroom mixture add it and the remaining 1/4 cup Marsala to the Dutch oven. Cover and continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened, about 30 minutes more.


To thicken the sauce- remove the cooked chicken to a plate. Increase the heat to medium high and add up to two tablespoons of flour while whisking vigorously until a thick gravy is created.


Plate the chicken and spoon the mushroom Marsala sauce over chicken. Serve with an Italian bread or French loaf to use to eat all that yummy sauce.

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Bald Head Island Lighthouse Lit for the First Time

The lighthouse, planning for which began in 1783, was the first one authorized in North Carolina

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