Sausage & Fish One-Pot

Yes, this dish is as weird as it sounds. This is the second dish of the weekend. Actually, its the third, because I cooked up a nice lunch from the back of Look and Cook today with the extra 1/2 pound of sausage that I had.

Fish is not my thing. I don't eat it and don't like it. I can't stand the smell of it. However, true to my challenge, I cooked the next dish in the cookbook and tried it. I went to the store and bought 2 fillets of Wild Alaskan Cod fresh from the seafood department. I was not looking forward to this one throughout the day. When it came time to cook, I still went all out!

Chopping up onions is getting old. Really, every recipe has onion in it. I combined the vegetables and potatoes and let it sit on the stove for a while. Then, I added cherry tomatoes and the cod. It cooked for another 8 minutes. Garnished with some fresh parsley, it was ready to serve.

Jen told me it tasted like fish sticks, which was encouraging to hear. I always loved those when I was a kid. Of course, I covered those things in ketchup. So, the question is....did the ketchup and hot sauce stay in the refrigerator tonight? No. In fact, both came out and were used on the fish. However, I ate it. That weird combination of sausage, potatoes and fish in one pot will never be made again.

The One-Pot

Chicken Ragu

I'm going for two recipes this weekend. I had to cook a meal for a dinner with international students, so I figured I would continue on in Rachael Ray's Look and Cook. So, I get to cook Saturday and Sunday night this week. For the international student dinner, I cooked the next recipe, which was pretty simple compared to other things I have done so far.

I cut up 4 chicken thighs. They are rather difficult to chop up, so it took more work than I expected. The other meat in the dish was Pancetta, an Italian type bacon. After cooking them together, I added the tomatoes, carrots, onions and a few other vegetables to the pan. Mixed with the Rigatoni, it looks like this:

It was ok, but nothing special. I won't be making it again.

Glazed Chicken and Peaches with Cheese and Bacon Biscuits

Abby turned 1 last Sunday! We had a big, family party and lots of great food. Needless to say, there was little reason for me to cook last Sunday night. So, I went for Tuesday night this past week and cooked up a chicken with some great biscuits.

This was an intense recipe, with a lot of things going on. I am getting used to working with tons of different steps in a recipe, but it still gets stressful in the kitchen. I started out with the biscuits. They were amazing and came out really well. The cheese and bacon were a great combination. Then, I jumped into making the chicken. I am thankful for my assistant chef, Jen Cassel. She does a great job helping out when things get busy. I ended up burning the bottom of the peaches a little bit, but they were still good. I learned that you can scrape the burnt part of the peaches. The glaze that went over the chicken was incredible, mixed with peach preserves and hot sauce. It added so much to the dish! Here is a picture of the final product:

Jen ended up eating the leftover biscuits the next day with peach preserves. I think this one was a hit! We'll probably have it again.

Fettucine with Garden Vegetables and Greens; Bruschetta with Hot Cherry Tomatoes

I thought this was going to be an easy meal...until Jen pointed out that there was a Bruschetta that went along with it. Here we go again! God is teaching me self-control through this process, and not freaking out when there are 3o different things going on at once! So it started by peeling Zucchini and Eggplant and slicing into julienne (learned a new cooking term tonight...long square sticks). Check out the "how to" video. I'm still not a fan of either vegetable by the way. Tonight, I had round 2 of heating the EVOO too long and burning the garlic, resulting in having to start over. We'll get this one eventually.

The Bruschetta turned out great. I am using too much salt though. Gotta tone it down on that one and care for our blood pressure! The red pepper flakes made it really spicy and took Jen by surprise.

I am amazed at how my wife can cook and keep the kitchen decently clean. I finish and it looks like this...

You should see the other side where the stove is! I guess cleanliness comes with time as I learn to become more comfortable cooking these elaborate dishes. This sure is a great challenge! Here are some pictures of tonight's final product, plated and all.

Bruschetta with Hot Cherry Tomatoes

Fettucine with Garden Vegetables and Greens

The Meal!

When it came together, it was a perfect meal. The fettucine with vegetables didn't have a lot of taste, but the Bruschetta did! Nice and spicy! A great combination!

FINAL VERDICT: Not sure I would cook the fettucine again, but the Bruschetta is a do over for sure!