Chicken w/ Blueberry Sauce & Blue Cheese

SAUTEED CHICKEN 

with BLUEBERRY SAUCE & BLUE CHEESE

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves
1 Tblsp olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Tblsp shallots, minced
1/4 cup dry Maderia or sherry
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 Tblsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tsp crumbled blue cheese

• Pound each piece of chicken between plastic wrap to a thickness of 1/2 inch using a meat mallet. After pounding, cut each chicken breast into 2 pieces. 
• Heat 2 tsp oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Saute chicken on both sides until cooked through, 6 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate; tent with foil.
• Saute shallots in pan with 1 tsp oil over high heat, 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with Madeira, cooking until liquid is nearly evaporated.
• Add blueberries; simmer until berries start to burst, about 2 minutes. Add broth, vinegar, brown sugar, pepper flakes, and remaining 1/4 tsp salt.
• Crush blueberries with a potato masher; simmer 2 minutes.
• Place 2 chicken pieces on each plate. Top servings with blueberry sauce; garnish with blue cheese.

recipe directly from Cuisine Lite Spring 2013 magazine

Easy Supper Club: Roasted Veggies & Salad

"Easy Supper Club"

from Southern Living's 

"Cooking for Christmas"
Bacon-Arugula-Apple Bites
Herbed Pork Roast
Roasted Fall Veggies
Puffed Mashed Potatoes
Basil-and-Blue Cheese Salad
Brandy Alexander Cheesecake

For the Introduction to this series of recipes, click HERE

ROASTED FALL VEGGIES

[I just roasted carrots to keep it a little more simple, but below is a list of other veggies that would taste wonderful as well]

10 small carrots with greenery

8 baby yellow beets

8 baby candy cane beets

3 Tblsp Olive Oil, divided

1 tsp kosher salt, divided

1/2 tsp pepper, divided

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut tops from yellow and candy cane beets, leaving 1/2 inch stems.Peel beets and cut in half. Cut tops from carrots, leaving 1/2 inch of greenery on each.
• Toss yellow beets and carrots with 2 Tblsp olive oil in a large bowl; place in a single layer on 1 side of an aluminum foil-lined jelly roll pan. Sprinkle veggies in pan with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
• Toss candy can beets with remaining 1 Tblsp olive oil; arrange beets in a single layer on remaining portion of jelly roll pan. Sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper.
• Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes; stir once, and bake 15 minutes more or until tender.

BASIL-AND-BLUE CHEESE SALAD

Our Elf joined us this day for dinner! So this was "Elf-Approved"!

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar

1 tsp country-style dijon mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp dried crushed red pepper

10 cups mixed salad greens

1/2 cup firmly packed fresh basil leaves, coursely chopped

2 ripe pears, thinly sliced

2 navel oranges, sectioned

2 avocados, sliced

1 (4oz) package blue cheese, crumbled

• Whisk together first 5 ingredients. Cover and chill until ready to use (up to 24 hours).
• Toss together greens and basil. Top with pears, oranges, avocados, and blue cheese; toss. Drizzle with vinaigrette. Serve immediately.

[Its best to wait to slice pears and avocados last minute so they won't turn brown]

O Olive Oil Products and Review

eRecipeCards has provided a wonderful opportunity to explore the flavors the O Olive Oil company provides through their wide variety of products. Thanks to Dave at eRecipeCards for selecting me and my blog for this experience!

O Olive Oil is a company that prides themselves in the industry with their citrus pressed olive oils and wine vinegars since 1995. O Olive Oil uses the finest ingredients like fresh California Mission olives and organic citruses to create their signature line. The wine vinegars are made with a different technique than most other brands. O Olive Oil is one of the few remaining companys that ages the vinegars in wood barrels instead of force-aging them mechanically. The results are clear, and the quality and company is set apart from the rest.

O Olive Oils and Vinegars now come in a variety of flavors and combinations. The citrus oils come in flavors like meyer lemon, blood orange, clementine, jalapeno lime, ruby grapefruit and tahitian lime as well as other oils like extra virgin and roasted garlic.  The wine vinegars have a wide variety which include: champagne, cabernet, pinot noir, zinfandel, sherry and many more. The rice vinegar comes in ginger, yuzu and sudachi. O Olive Oil also creates hand-crafted, and aged in oak wood, balsamic vinegars including: white, port and even the newest addition of fig balsalmic.

I have the pleasure to enjoy the combination of my choice to share with all my readers and fans. I choose the Clementine Olive Oil and the White Balsalmic Vinegar. I have used a few ideas and flavor combinations that O Olive Oil suggests on their web page, as well as adding my own creativeness to create a personal take on the amazing flavors.

O Clementine Olive Oil
The O Clementine Olive Oil has been combine with the flavors of mandarins crushed together with Mission olives to create a sweet,smooth and richly unique flavor. As suggested by O Olive Oil, it is perfectly paired the the white balsalmic vinegar.

O California White Balsalmic Vinegar

The white balsalmic vinegar has a flavor that combines almonds, pears and green apples. The flavor is light and crisp and absolutely delightful for your taste buds, especially over Spring-time dishes. 

O Olive Oil suggest splashing over fresh fruit, or combining it with the clementine olive to make a dressing for a Spring mix salad.

 

Asian Pear and Baby Greens Salad with Blue Cheese and O Clementine Oil and I California White Balsalmic

A recipe suggested by O Olive Oil that lets the flavors of the Oils shine in the perfectly blended combination.

Click here for their recipe.

Watermelon and Feta Salad

Another recipe suggested by O Olive Oil is this perfect-for-summer dish that will touch every taste bud in your mouth! The unusual combination of watermelon, basil, feta, salt and the signature oils will definitely surprise anyone your serving.

Click here for the recipe. 

This has got to be one of my favorite dishes in this whole experiment!

Watermelon and Feta Bruschetta
Since I loved the recipe above, I took it a little further. I toasted the bread using extra virgin olive oil and then topping it with the watermelon salad (chopped).  This added a wonderful crunch to the scrumptious salad and it would be a perfect appetizer to any meal or BBQ.






You can find out more information about O Olive Oil on their website or on Facebook.
Find eRecipeCards on FaceBook or their webpage.

Please see disclaimer for more details on a sponsored post.

Flash-Back Friday [FBF] #5

I LOVED this "old" one! If you like treating yourself to Fillet Mignon, try this recipe--mashed potatoes and ALL!

BLUE CHEESE CRUSTED FILLET MIGNON
W/ PORT WINE SAUCE

The garlic mashed potatoes were iiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnncredible!!

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FLASH BACK LINKY is up again! With my co-host Micha from Cookin' Mimi

 

Follow Cookin' for my Captain and Cookin Mimi  on GFC [Google Friend Connect], grab our FBF button and then Link away!

• Use your permalink which is the link in your browser’s address bar.
• Link back to Cookin’ for My Captain, Cookin’ Mimi or both if you’d like.
• Please only 1 or 2 entries.
• Visit and comment on the other entries. Spread some comment love.
• By entering your link on one blog it will show up on both.

2 Days left to enter!
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Don't forget to enter your name DAILY!

Flank Steak Pinwheels

**as for the issues I had yesterday...I got confused between "following" and "subscribing". Even if you've noticed i'm not "following" you anymore, I'm still seeing your stuff through the subscription. With Google reader, it makes it possible. So you won't have that problem--click on "subscribe by RRS" [where I have the 'follow me this way' on the left column] with the orange funny icon.**

**Thank you everyone who has "followed" my craft blog. Its not "officially" up yet, so don't expect much yet =) But I do appreciate it! I don't do crafts as often as I cook, just a disclaimer. LOL Its still under much construction!**
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Ok, if the kabobs haven't gotten you in the mood for grilling--this WILL. And don't just do the pinwheels. Do the pinwheels, cheese sauce AND fettuccine noodles. Trust me on this one, please?

FLANK STEAK PINWHEELS

8 bacon strips
1 beef flank steak (around 1-1/2 lbs)
4 cups fresh baby spinach
1 jar (7 oz) roasted sweet red peppers, drained

Place bacon strips wrapped in paper towels, and cook for 2 minutes or until partially cooked.

Cut steak horizontally from long side to within 1/2 inch of opposite side. Open meat so it lies flat.

Place spinach over steak within 1/2 inch of border; top with red peppers.

With the grain of meat going from left to right, roll up jelly-roll style. Wrap bacon strips around the beef and secure with toothpicks. Slice beef across the grain into eight (about) slices.

Grill, covered, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until meat reaches desired doneness.

Discard toothpicks before serving.

CREAM CHEESE SAUCE
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup 2% milk
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

In a small saucepan, combine the cream cheese, milk, butter and pepper. Cook and stir consistently over low heat just until smooth (do not boil!). Off heat, stir in blue cheese.
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~Put a good size spoon full of the cheese sauce on the plate, and place pinwheel on top.

~Serve with fettuccine noodles tossed in a little butter. The noodles soak up the extra blue cheese, and its D-E-V-I-N-E!

~This is a great party grill-out dish. Just prep ahead of time and pop them on the grill when guests arrive.

GINGER-PINEAPPLE TURKEY SLIDERS

GINGER-PINEAPPLE TURKEY SLIDERS

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 egg white
1 tablespoon white onion, diced really small
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice
a dash ground pepper
1 can pineapple chunks
Gouda cheese slices
Toasted buns
Fresh spinach

Mix first 7 ingredients together and form into small patties.

Grill over med-high for about 4 minutes on each side.

Place cheese over top and grill for another 2 minutes (gouda cheese doesn't melt that quickly).

Place on toasted bun, put a few leaves of spinach and a few chunks and top with other half of bun.

Eat all 8 sliders. Why not? I almost did--but my family wanted to eat too. =)

~~Fresh bread crumbs~~ This is actually really easy. Take some bread, put it in your food processor and pulse for 30 seconds--and whooola! Magic happens. 

~~Toasted buns~~The ones I used were homemade. Just regular white rolls, with crushed rosemary and sea salt cooked on the tops (like Pioneer Woman's rolls). Then I sliced them down the middle, buttered each side, and put them on a med-high skillet, butter side down, until golden brown and crispy around the edges.

~~Pineapple~~ This would be awesome with fresh pineapple, cut into rings and grilled with the patties. I had non available, otherwise I would have--but next time for sure!

This would be easy to make into "regular" size burgers. This recipe would make 4--so make sure you double or triple it!

Blue Cheese Crusted Filet Mignon with Port Wine Sauce

This was the perfect Valentine dinner for my sweetheart! The combination of the potatoes, filet Mignon and asparagus was meant to be! If you try one of these, please go ahead and try all three. It would be a sin not to!

BLUE CHEESE CRUSTED FILET MIGNON WITH PORT WINE SAUCE

Melt in a skillet over medium heat:
1 tablespoon butter
Add:
1/2 white onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
Cook, stirring constantly, until onion is tender. Stir in:
3/4 cup low-sodium beef broth
Scrap any onion bits off bottom of pan, then stir in:
1/2 cup port wine [I used a "red cooking wine" and still got wonderful results]
Bring to a boil, and cook until mixture has reduced to about 1/2 cup. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat in a cast-iron skillet over high-heat:
1 tablespoon vegtable oil
Sear quickly on both sides until brown:
4 filet mignon steaks (1 1/2 inch thick)
Place whole skillet into the oven.

Roast steaks in the oven for about 15 minutes for medium rare. [I like mine a little more done, and kept it in 20 minutes, and it was medium] Remove from oven, and place on baking sheet.

Stir together:
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese [I don't really like blue cheese, but this was so amazing, I couldn't tell it was!]
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs.
Top each steak with a layer of this mixture.

Preheat oven's broiler. Place steaks under preheated broiler 3 to 4 minutes, until cheese topping is browned and bubbly [mine never got to the bubbly part, but it was brown and I didn't want it burning] Remove from oven, and let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Serve on top of "Red garlic mashed potatoes" and spoon port wine sauce over top.

RED GARLIC MASHED POTATOES

8 medium red potatoes, cubed
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/4 cup half-and-half cream
2 tablespoons white sugar [do NOT leave out]
Dash of garlic powder
Dash of salt and pepper

Boil potatoes in large pot until tender. Drain. Add butter [I used my stand mixer for this], then half-and-half and remaining ingredients. Serve warm.