Chicken riggies is an Upstate NY thing. I have already written about how to make the red version, so I decided to show you how to make the more common white recipe. Mostly the difference here is the cream you add at the end and you also use less herbs and different oils.

Where I come from, a bit North of Utica NY, just about every family function includes a dish of riggies. It is a powerhouse of a meal so unless your feeding 10-15 people, prepare for leftovers.

1 1/2 - 2 pounds cut up bite size boneless chicken (white or dark or both).
About 2 tablespoons olive oil.
1 large yellow onion, diced.
5-6 cloves of garlic, chopped.
1 20 oz. jar of sweet peppers, drained, lightly chopped.
1/4 cup of pickled hot cherry peppers, lightly chopped.
3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese.
About 1/2 cup of fresh basil, lightly chopped.
2 cups or so of chicken broth.
1 28 oz can/jar crushed tomatoes.
About 24 oz of dry rigatoni, prepared as per directions on the box (reserve some of the liquid).
3/4 to 1 cup of heavy cream.
Salt and fresh ground pepper.

In a really large sauce pan, add the olive oil, enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Heat to medium/medium high. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and cook in batches until just done in the sauce pan and remove.

Add the onions and garlic and cook for about 2-3 minutes until onion just - (More…)

To date, there are probably at least 3 million different ways to prepare potatoes. Around our house, it usually ends up being either mashed, scalloped, baked, or twice stuffed. With the exception of the baked potato, most take quite a bit of time to put together. Have you ever wanted just an easy potato recipe that is full of flavor but only takes a couple minutes to prepare? Well, this is the one.

Herbs and potatoes have gone together probably since they first torn out of the ground. There is something about potatoes that they just accept flavor so easily. Just cooking a potato along side of a fragrance will infuse that flavor into it. This makes cooking them very easy and rewarding.

4-5 large potatoes (any kind besides sweet), cut roughly into 1 inch pieces.
Extra virgin olive oil.
4 cloves of garlic with the skin still on.
2 bunches of fresh thyme.
Salt and fresh ground pepper.

Preheat oven to 375.

Lightly oil a large glass baking/casserole dish, and place the cut potatoes into the dish. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil all over the potatoes. Mix up with a spoon. Add the cloves of garlic to the potatoes, spacing them evenly. Sprinkle with some more salt and pepper and drizzle with a little more olive oil making sure you hit each clove of garlic with the oil.

Place the bunched thyme - (More…)

It is starting to get that time of year, at least here in the Northeast, where you have to think about the frost. As the temperature drops, and the baseball gets more exciting, you have to make some decisions about your herbs.

As I wrote before, I had a few of my favorite herbs set up around the house in planters. Now I have to consider what I am going to do with them BEFORE we get into frost. I am one of those who does not have a west or south facing window, but the east window does catch most of the sun in the morning until around noon - 1 o’clock. This limits what I can bring inside for the winter and let grow. (More below…)

I have decided that the only herbs I will try to keep for the winter is the rosemary and the basil. The mint I will harvest and freeze, and the thyme, sage, and oregano I will dry for later use.

It is always so nice to use fresh herbs when cooking that I am really going to miss it. I have already transplanted the rosemary and basil into pots ideal for the indoors and they seem to be liking their new home. It is best to get them transplanted now and let them get used to the new pot before - (More…)

With the relative success of my garden this year, I was fortunate to have a large amount of tomatoes and peppers. After canning a couple cases of tomatoes, I decided to make up some spicy salsa. It was nothing too out of the ordinary, just some tomatoes, red/green/yellow bell peppers, garlic and a couple handfuls of chopped jalapenos. Before I canned it, I took a little taste and it was pretty hot.

My wife and kids are not much for hot tasting foods. In fact, they think Dijon mustard is spicy, so I figured this salsa would be around for a while except for giving away a pint here and there.

Well, after seeing a few salsa chicken recipes I decided to throw this one together. I have only made it twice, but both times it was a hit. The cooking process took much of the heat out so even the kids had no trouble with the remaining flavor.

This recipe can be made with any salsa, even store bought, but let me recommend that you go for one of the more spicier versions as it will lose some of the heat during cooking. I would also recommend you find a salsa that is low in sodium. Ideally, you would want to use your own home made salsa.

4-5 chicken thighs and 4-5 chicken drumsticks.
About a cup of flour.
Salt and pepper.
Vegetable oil.
8-10 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded.
Chicken - (More…)

Every since those infrared grills have been coming out, I keep reading stories on-line that lament the fact that you can’t get a good sear on a steak when grilling on your average gas/charcoal grill. My response to all of this is “Since when?”

It really sounds to me like there is a campaign on, pushing this new technology down the consumers throat. Like if I don’t use an infrared grill, I can’t make a good steak. Yeah, right!

I make London broil on the grill all the time and it comes out just as seared and beautiful as it would in any steakhouse I have been to. Now my photography skills are lacking, so view this next photo with that in mind. I cooked this steak up today on my regular gas grill and you be the judge:

As you can see, there are perfect grill marks, the outside is seared just as it should be and the entire steak is screaming flavor. I let this beast rest for about 10 minutes and then I sliced it up. It was dripping wet and a perfect medium rare.

Now don’t get me wrong, you will have an easier time in a steakhouse getting this result, but doing it on your own grill is simple. Just spice up your steak as you - (More…)

There are about as many recipes for garlic bread as there are for meatloaf. Lately I have been experimenting with a few creations of my own.

Maybe it is just me, but I cannot have any Italian dish that has a tomato based sauce without some sort of bread. Garlic bread was made just for soaking up that left over sauce if you ask me.

A lot of people buy the pre-made frozen breads and if your in a rush, it is no major crime to use it, but if you want GREAT garlic bread then try this recipe that I through together a while back:

1 loaf of Italian bread.
1 head of garlic.
Extra virgin olive oil.
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened.
About 6-7 large fresh basil leaves, chopped.
About 5-6 grinds of pepper.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the top of the head of garlic off. In a lightly greased muffin pan, place the head of garlic head side up. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the garlic is soft. Let it cool for about 10-15 minutes.

Take the remaining ingredients except the bread and garlic and mix them together until all incorporated in the butter. Squeeze the garlic out of the casings, into the butter. Mix well.

Cut the loaf in half and spread onto the cut part of both halves. Bake at 400 degrees until the edges - (More…)

Cooking with liquor can be rewarding. One meat that really seems to soak it up well is chicken. I have had many chicken dishes prepared with Southern Comfort, Tequila, etc., that I have lost count. Seeing as how there was a big sale on chicken this week, I bought quite a bit of it, so I started searching for some new recipes.

After a while, I just got tired of looking and decided to create a new dish. I was beyond shocked when I finally tasted this one. I started by blowing the dust of the liquor bottles in my bar and smelling the flavors of some of the more sugary alcohols. I finally settled on Amaretto and Triple Sec. Going on just “step at a time” flavoring, this is what I came up with.

3-4 pounds chicken, cut up.
2 shots of Triple Sec.
1/4 cup white wine.
1 shot of Amaretto.
Two tablespoons fresh ground coriander, separated in half.
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, separated in half.
Salt and pepper.
1 teaspoon brown sugar.
1 small shallot minced.
2 jalepeno peppers minced.
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus some for drizzling.

For the coriander, I just use an old pepper grinder and put the seeds in it. You can also get it pre-ground if that is all you have.

Put your chicken in a large casserole dish and sprinkle each side with salt, pepper, and also cover with the one tablespoon of coriander - (More…)

I whipped up this side dish while I was making my Roasted Rack of Pork a couple of Sundays ago and the wife and kids just loved it. I have seen many incarnations of glazed carrots so after searching around I finally pieced something together that really worked. It was one of those first try successes.

When I was making this, my wife asked me an interesting question, she asked why I did not peel the carrots. When I grew up, there were two things we rarely peeled in our house and that was carrots and potatoes. The skins are not only packed with vitamins, they are delicious! Of course, it is up to you, but my recipe does not call for the carrots to be peeled.

1 pound of carrots (7-8 medium carrots) cut into 1/4 inch slices (jullienne)
2 tablespoons honey.
2 tablespoons butter.
Pinch of salt, 3-4 turns on the pepper mill (or just a pinch of pepper).
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg.
1/4 cup Bourbon (Jack Daniels)

Cook the carrot slices in boiling water until fork tender, about 5-7 minutes and then strain.

In a medium skillet add all of the remaining ingredients except the carrots, taking care NOT to add the bourbon from the bottle (add from the cup). Always be careful when cooking with spirits as they are flammable. Mix together and then add the carrots.

Cook over medium/medium low until most of the liquid is gone and - (More…)

Yet another Sunday dish we are fond of here is roasted rack of pork. The real secret to this dish is getting the right cut of meat. You want the part cut from the loin rib section with the bone. Here is picture of a raw cut:

This meat is delicious. You will never believe how tender it is. There are those who will brine this cut and there is nothing wrong with it, but in my opinion it isn’t needed.

1 4lb rack of pork.
2 cups Bourbon which in other words means Jack Daniels.
3 1/2 cups chicken stock.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter.
2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
2-3 tablespoons Canola or vegetable oil.

Preheat oven to 425.

Generously salt and pepper the rack on all sides. In a large skillet (I use my cast iron skillet as it is perfect for this recipe), heat the oil to medium high heat.

Sear the rack on all sides, about 2-3 minutes per side. The searing helps hold in the juices.

Place into the oven with a meat thermometer until the temperature reaches 145, about 30-40 minutes.

Remove skillet from oven and remove roast to rest. This is a key moment. You MUST let this roast rest. Even though the next step takes 15-20 minutes, do not worry. The roast will - (More…)

In the world of creativity, there is no room for the absolute. Being a creative process, cooking is no different. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that I must cook dish X this way, and only this way, otherwise you don’t know what you are doing. If everyone followed along like this, then there would be very few ways to cook say, chicken for example.

Having a drink with my Aunt over vacation, she wanted me to have a try at this single malt scotch she received from a friend. I said OK, let me get a glass and some ice. Now she told me up and down that I must have it straight, no water as that is the only way to drink good scotch. Well, I basically said that I do not believe in such truisms. Enjoy things as you enjoy them, not as others. Could you imagine if we could only each ground beef as steak tartar? There would go the hamburger right there. In the end, I talked my Aunt into having it with ice, and I therefore enjoyed every minute of it.

I think the worst offenders are barbecue and chili cooks. They swear up and down that you can’t add say, tomatoes to chili for it to be “real chili” or you can’t add ketchup to a barbecue sauce for it - (More…)