Old Bay Sour Cream Dip, Roasted Chicken and Asparagus and a Relaxing Meal

Here's a meal that was easy to put together and the appetizer was courtesy of Old Bay Seasonings. Well, partially...they sent me great recipes and seasonings as I wrote about here.

Since they started our meal off...let us take a look at the appetizer below:


Old Bay Dip

This made a great starter as we were very hungry and the chicken would take a while to roast. This dip mixed up in less than 5 minutes.

Spoon out roughly ¾ cup of sour cream.
Add ¼ cup mayonnaise.
Mix in finely chopped green onions (Scallions) and a tablespoon of Old Bay. I used the garlic and herb Old Bay.

The recipe Old Bay sent recommends placing the dip in the fridge for an hour so the flavors could mingle but we were too hungry to wait.



Serve with sliced crudités such as carrots, celery, green pepper or whatever you fancy. Surround with some buttery crackers for dipping. This was a good appetizer before the roasted chicken. The wine would have gone straight to our heads if we waited until that large bird was done cooking.



Bacon Stuffed Roasted Chicken

Many recipes call for a 3 ½ pound bird. Well…I’ve yet to find a scrawny chicken this size in our local markets so I’ll use a 5 to 6 pound roaster OR get a 4 ½ pound fryer. Whichever one is on sale, that’s the one that’s coming home to dinner.

Preheat oven to 450. Wash the chicken, dry the chicken, then set in a roasting pan. Gently ease the skin above the breast open and stuff with 3 pieces of bacon. On each side.



That’s right….six pieces of bacon go in above the breast meat. For good measure I tossed another piece of bacon inside the chicken and a half of a golden delicious apple. The apple (or any fruit or onion) will keep the bird moist as it cooks. Always works for me. Tie the legs together with string.



It looks like it has breasts….well, you now what I mean. Oh…just wait until it cooks with that bacon shoved up there!



I brushed the chicken with olive oil and seasoned with garlic salt and a bit of freshly ground pepper. What would have been good is to roast with thick slices of potato and onion. But…my baking potatoes somehow went bad and I had to toss them out the backdoor for the deer. I don’t know why I hadn’t used those potatoes in time. Shame to waste.

Place the potato-free roasting pan in the oven and roast for a half hour. Turn heat down to 400 and roast another half hour. Depending on how large a chicken you have, check the internal temperature and see if it’s done.

I needed another half hour so I turned the oven to convection roast at 375. Just gauge it on the internal temperature of the bird.



Done? Good……turn oven to 400 degrees, regular bake and roast some asparagus. The bird needs to sit and the carved into portions so the asparagus can roast while this is going on.



Roasted Asparagus

Take as many asparagus as you want to eat that evening (doesn't reheat well) and shear off the stem, leaving a nice stalk and tip. We like the small skinny asparagus.

Line them up on a baking sheet in a single layer.

Drizzle olive oil and then season. Easy! I cooked the thin ones for 12 minutes. If you are using larger stalks increase cooking time – 15 or 20 minutes ought to do it for the larger stalks.



In your preheated 400 degree oven, pop the bread in there with the asparagus..... The end result are tender asparagus with crispy tips. Great!




This cabernet doesn’t need to make another appearance at the kitchen table. It wasn’t awful, mind you, just sweeter than we are used to and…we prefer the Alice White brand or…when we’ve got some cash…maybe a Chateneuf (not likely to be making an appearance until Doug’s birthday).



Here is a picturial roundup of a sumptuous meal.......

Appetizer........




Roasted aspargus



Bacon stuffed roasted chicken........



Pour a glass of wine........



Good food, great company...I couldn't have asked for a nicer evening.

Gail's Riverside Special

This last item in our Kahlua week is a recipe from my cousin Gail who writes me from my home state, Pennsylvania. Thank you for sharing cuz!




Take a brownie...homemade or however you like it........and top with coffee ice cream.


Add whipped cream......



*My cousin places toasted almonds over the whipped cream but we were out of almonds.

Now drizzle Kahlua on the cream........



Isn't it pretty?



Then I demolish the attractiveness of the components by smushing it all together so I can taste it all in one bite. Mmmmm mmmm.



Thanks Gail - it was a big hit!

Girlichef's Chocolate Banana loaf with Kahlua!

Girlichef made a dynamite Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread which just begged to be adapted for Kahlua week. You can find her recipe here.

The ingredients are the same except I substituted Kahlua for the vanilla extract (and I added an additional teaspoon ;-)

Here's what you'll need:

1 c. sugar

2 lg. eggs

1/3 c. vegetable oil

3/4-1 c. mashed bananas (from 2 super-ripe bananas)

2 tsp. Kahlua

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. chocolate chips (all one or 1/2 & 1/2 semi-sweet & milk)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or spray your loaf pan.

Beat sugar, eggs and oil until fluffy. Beat in bananas and Kahlua.



Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in separate bowl.



Beat into wet ingredients until just combined.


Stir in chocolate chips.


Spoon into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes.



Transfer to wire rack to cool.



It was difficult to wait on it to cool. The chocolate chips were melty...great bread.



Next up...my cousin Gail's Riverside Special..........

Kahlua Week

No, not my relatives........but if you are a fan of The Big Lebowski, you'll recognize The Dude and Walter Sobchak.



Watching this movie had us in the mood for Kahlua and cream...and from there.....we thought of some tasty combinations for using Kahlua.

A note about the movie first...if you've never seen it and want to check it out, let me say that it's very quirky Coen Brothers humor and is definitely not kid friendly. Definitely not.


"He's not striving to achieve, he's not worried about gaining material possessions and that kind of stuff. He's happy with his '73 Ford Torino with rust colorations. As long as he gets to go bowling with his buddies and take his bubble baths and avoid the occasional marmot, he's all right with that."

Yet, this man with no job or visible ambition (beyond bowling) has a kind of Zen-like happiness. Quoted from Shawn Telford is a Seattle-based freelance writer.

So, as The Dude was wandering the grocery store, sniffing half and half to see if it was good, writing a check for 69 cents for a quart of half and half, Doug and I looked at each other and said, let's make Caucasians!



You need vodka and Kahlua for a Black Russian and half and half for a White Russian. Simple.




Coming up this week will be a recipe adapted from fellow foodie Girlichef, my cousin Gail's Riverside Special and I am hoping my SIL Barb's chocolate chip cookies. Let's see how well we can keep up.

Rachael Ray's Mini Burger Sliders

The Wandering Coyote at ReTorte has a series called Magazine Mondays. The idea I am told is to grab one of the recipes you've copied or torn from a magazine, prepare it and evaluate to see if it's a keeper.

I am choosing to make Rachael Ray's mini sliders. We like our hamburgers and who could resist luscious and rich Gorgonzola cheese.

The ingredients you'll need are:

12 mini dinner rolls, split
1 garlic clove, halved
Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), for liberal drizzling
1-1/2 pounds ground sirloin
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (eyeball it)
10 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (about a palmful)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
¾ pound Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled


Directions:

1. Preheat the broiler to high. Place the rolls on a broiler pan and toast until golden. Rub with the garlic and drizzle with EVOO.



We used King's Hawaiian brand rolls.........



Brushing the browned rolls with olive oil and garlic........



2. In a medium bowl, combine the beef with the Worcestershire sauce, sage, shallot and parsley; season with salt and pepper. Divide into 4 equal pieces and form 3 sliders from each piece, 12 mini sliders total.



3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with a drizzle of EVOO. Cook the sliders for 3 minutes on the first side and 1 to 2 minutes on the other side for medium.




4. Top slider with a few cheese crumbles. Place under the broiler to melt the cheese a bit, about 30 seconds, then set the bun tops in place.



We used both Gorgonzola and Fontina slices....





Look at the little buggers all lined up next to fresh green beans........




So, is it a keeper? There have been some magazine recipes that most definately go in the file for future....but I am quite on the fence about this one.

It was easy, it wasn't too expensive, but it would not be on the dinner menu again...maybe a lunch. Doug pointed out that it would be great for when you really want a burger but it's raining, so no charcoal grilling.

If pressed I'd have to say I wouldn't keep it.

Thanks for letting me participate Wandering Coyote!

Old Bay Seasonings and Jambalaya!

First of all, thank you very much to Old Bay for contacting me and sending me such a wonderful gift bag. I was overwhelmed! There is a great tote bag which I will use both for shopping and for the beach. A HUGE box of Old Bay seasoning, a beach towel, recipes,a temporary tattoo, a key chain and a seasoning and shrimp steamer bag. Wow!




I have a few plans for the recipes but first off I used the Old Bay to make Jambalaya.

While the water was simmering for the rice and seasonings, I chopped some sausage and had shrimp ready for peeling.



I used medium sized pink gulf shrimp. They are sweeter in taste.




When the rice is ready for the pot, stir it in with 2 teaspoons of Old Bay (or to your taste) then add the sausage and shrimp.


It's simmering away..........



We served it with Barefoot Wine, tried a Pinot Grigio, and it was a very good combo. Refreshing to sip after shaking too much hot sauce over the jambalaya!



A side of Sister Shubert rolls...my son's favorite are the ones with sausages inside. They are tiny cocktail type sausages. Funny story about the first time we ever had these. Now isn't the time for it.......







Next week, after Kahlua week, I plan to try some Old Bay recipes for dip, a grilled tuna dish and use that steamer bag. Stay tuned!