Farmer's Market Surprise Meal

I call this a surprise meal because I was taking my son to a birthday party in Hampton, and low and behold there was a farmer's market going on right next to the museum. I found some little neck clams, shallots, and a wonderful baguette. All I needed to do was stop off at Total Wine and a meal was born. To make these great steamed clams, I diced two shallots, and cooked them for about 2 minutes with a small amount of butter, I then added a bottle of Kitchen Sink White Wine, the clams, some red pepper flakes, and cranked up the heat. The clams were open and ready to go in a little under 8 minutes, I garnished with some fresh parsley from the garden, and dinner was done. The only plus to this meal would have been if we could have gotten our 5 year old to try it, but that is probably an ambitious undertaking on our part.

Tatanka Burgers

I have to say that living in this area I am blessed with the bounty that comes to the farmers markets. I have Williamsburg and Yorktown to visit on Saturdays, and now on Wednesdays there is the midweek Farmers Market in Port Warwick. All of these market offer not only local fresh veggies, but meat and seafood too. At one of the stands there is bison meat, which I had never tried before, so I decided to get some. A stand a little bit down had some great looking onion rolls that looked like they would be great as burger buns, tomatoes from Julia and Bill who have the best tomatoes that I have ever bought, and a meal was in the works. I had some onion and mushrooms on hand so I thought I would find a place for them in the meal and this is what I came up with.

Tatanka Mushroom Onion Burgers

1 pound of ground bison

1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms

1/2 cup of chopped onions

salt and pepper

In a large bowl mix onion and mushrooms with bison meat, season with salt and pepper. Shape patties into desired size (I was able to get six good size burgers out of a pound), and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In you are going to pan fry them I suggest you add some olive oil or butter to the pan as the meat is so lean that I think they need the fat to cook without burning. If using a grill heat to medium. Cook burgers for 3 to 5 minutes on each side* , add cheese if desired and top with tomatoes, lettuce, and other condiments of your choice. Serve with oven baked potato wedges and get a meal that the whole family will love.

*Note: Bison meat is best rare...

Tequila and Lime Chicken

Grilled Tequila Lime Chicken



3/4 cup of Tequila (make one that you would be willing to drink too, little "airplane" bottles are great for this dish)

5 limes

1/4 cup of diced onion

2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

a splash of orange juice

a splash of Tapatio

1 package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs



In a large non-reactive bowl mix tequila, onion, cilantro, orange juice, and Tapatio. Zest two of the limes and add zest to tequila marinade. Juice all five of the limes and add the juice to tequila marinade. Place chicken in the marinade, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Heat the grill on high and when the temperature hits 350 degrees F, place chicken on grill, reserving the marinade, and cover. Cook for five minutes on one side, flip and continue cooking till done. While chicken is cook pour reserved marinade into a small pot and reduce till liquid slightly thickens. Remove chicken from grill and pour reduced marinade over the chicken, keeping the solids in the pot. Garnish with diced onion and cilantro, serve with lime wedge.



Katrina's Tequila Lime Chicken

Fried Goodness

Really it does not get much better than this, deep fried jalapeno slices. Can we say best bar food ever, if only someone at a nearby bar would catch on to this. I would be there just for these. I could be served Pabst with these and be a happy camper. I was first introduced to these tasty morsels at Adam's Ribs (for information and location check out http://www.adamsribs.com/). I was in Maryland visiting family and we headed over to Adam's for a relaxing meal. We ordered their onion loaf as an appetiser and littered among the the onions were some fried jalapenos. I told everyone I knew about these and received the news that Chili's now has these with their new onion ring like appetiser. So i figured that these could not be that hard to make, and guess what this was the easiest few minutes I ever spent cooking.

Fried Jalapeno Sliced

1 cup of flour

a paper bag

salt and pepper

canola oil or other non olive oil of your choice

pickled jalapeno slices

Add two inches of oil to a heavy bottomed skillet and heat on medium/medium high. If you have a candy thermometer you are looking for a target temp of 350 F. While oil is heating remove desired amount of jalapenos from your jar (or use serranos if you tried out my recipe for pickled serrano slices) and place on a paper towel. Gently pat dry attempting to remove as much moisture as possible. Place flour in a paper bag and season with salt and pepper. Place jalapeno slices in bag and shake so each slice is lightly coated. Remove slices from bag and if oil is ready, add to pan and fry for three minutes. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and serve. Make sure to have some nice cold beverages on hand for your guests.