Cornish Hens with Duck Fat Potatoes and Herb Roasted Brussel Sprouts

The other night, we had some friends over for dinner and wanted to make a meal that was both visually appealing and full of rich flavors. When I went to the market and saw Cornish Game Hens, I thought they would be perfect for the meal: playful, good for a crowd, and super tasty.

My Return to Ty's Kitchen! Shrimp, Scallop, and Leek Chowder

I'm back! After a far too long hiatus and a less than inspired year at Ty's Kitchen, I've returned to make the blog better than ever. New recipes, ideas and hopefully a lot more interaction with YOU, my readers! To kick off the year, I wanted to share a delicious and easy recipe for a seafood chowder that would be good any time of the year. I had frozen some scallops and shrimp from Cape May that I picked up a couple months back and was looking for a fun way to use them. I decided on making a scallop, shrimp and leek chowder that would remind me of summer in the cold months and also provide a rich and warming dish for a cold winter's night.

Veal Chops and Purple Potatoes

If you are ever looking for a rich, impressive meal that's a little off the normal menu, you should pick up some veal chops and purple potatoes. Veal is a very tender beef, that, while a controversial subject in the animal rights circles, is always delicious. The most common cuts of veal are thin cutlets used in scallopine or parmesan, but the cut I enjoy most is a thick veal chop. A veal chop lies somewhere between a pork chop and a steak on the flavor and tenderness scale. It's also a very lean meat, so it's healthier than having a heavy steak. When cooked well, the veal has a softer taste than a rich steak, and is much more tender and juicy than most pork chops. For this dish, I paired 2 thick cut veal chops with a red wine braised mushroom and celery sauce and some mashed purple potatoes. Purple potatoes are a beautiful heirloom variety of potato that is much healthier than normal white fleshed potatoes because of their high level of antioxidants. They are also visually striking and make for a very unexpected side to a dish.

Pork and Potatoes Meet at the Apple

For the main course of my recent dinner party (for the appetizer click here) I made a dish that would confuse a nice Jewish boy. I took two of my favorite dishes, pork loin and potato latkes and brought them together on one glorious plate. The irony of the dish is that both pork and potato pancakes are perfect for each other. The standard accompaniment for both pork and latkes is apple sauce, so what I did was bring the potatoes and pork together with a layer of homemade apple sauce. To top the pork, I made some caramelized onions and for some flavor and color, I made some sauteed green beans. The meal was spectacular. The pork was extremely moist, and the flavors in the apple sauce blended perfectly between the pork and potatoes. The green beans provided a bright visual and gustatory break in the meal against the rich, warm flavors of the pork and potatoes. This would be a perfect meal for a romantic, home cooked Valentine's day dinner.

Poutine!

The Canadians don't get a ton of credit in this world, but one thing that they've blessed the world with is worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize or a Pulitzer or the mysterious Noblitzer Prize for really unhealthy food. The dish worthy of this high praise is... drumroll... Poutine! French fries, cheese, and gravy, mixed together for a delicious, unholy, amalgamation of awesome. I've had poutine more times than I probably should have (which is only about 3 or 4... it's really not good for you), but I was curious to see if a homemade version would live up to the tasty hype of the famed French Canadian dish. It did. It really, really did. The salty potatoes were perfect with the rich gravy, and the gooey cheese was the perfect flavor and texture to bring it all together. Make this dish, you will be happy you did (until you weigh yourself).

A New Years Rib Roast

When cooking for a big crowd, sometimes you want to make something that's low maintenance so that you're not spending all night in the kitchen while everyone else is having fun. This past New Years, I wanted to create a meal that was hearty, festive, and delicious, without keeping me confined in the kitchen all night long. I decided on making a rib roast with potato and celery root puree and roasted bacon brussel sprouts. This meal is a classic large party menu with a lot of flavor, but is simple enough to keep even picky eaters happy.

Flexing Some Mussels

If you're looking for a simple meal that is flavorful but light, mussels cooked in a white wine sauce is an excellent selection. Last week, I had just returned from a trip to Colorado and didn't feel like cooking. My flight home was overnight, and I was tired and a bit cranky, so my wonderful girlfriend treated me to a homemade meal of mussels and fries. My girlfriend is a very good cook, and while she often defers the meal preparation to me, she can handle herself very well in the kitchen. This meal, which looks and tastes great, is a really easy and fast dish that looks impressive and is fun to eat.

An Old Fashioned Steak Trade

I'm a good cook, and I generally feel very comfortable in the kitchen. When it comes to using a camera, my cousin Adam is the expert. He does freelance video and photography in his spare time, and he is very good at maximizing a camera and then improving the shots in Photoshop. We decided on a steak dinner trade. I would give him and his girlfriend a cooking lesson, and he would give me and my girlfriend a camera lesson. A reasonably fair tradeoff, and a good excuse to spend some quality time together.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I hate to sound over confident, but I feel that I’ve mastered the art of mashed potatoes (or at least the way I like them, everyone has their preference). I hate to divulge my secret, but I don’t want anyone to miss experiencing the deliciousness of a solid mash. The key is in the butter. I used to just add pats of butter to mashed up potatoes, but then I said, “Tyler, we can do more with these potatoes than just add butter and mix it up” (yes, from time to time, I speak to myself in the third person plural). I started simmering chopped garlic in the butter before incorporating it into the potatoes and from that day, my mashed potatoes recipe was one of lore.

Pork Chops, Brussel Sprouts, and Potatoes: Redux

Part of the difficulty in maintaining a food blog is coming up with original ideas for dishes. Some of my favorite ingredients have already been covered on the blog this summer: pork chops, brussel sprouts, and potatoes. The beauty of cooking is that you can take the same ingredients, cook them a different way, and have a totally different meal.

Martha's Vineyard, Part I: Simply Grilling

I have been lucky enough to go to Martha's Vineyard every summer of my life. The island is a second home to me, and I cherish all of the time I get to spend there. This summer, I went there with my girlfriend and two friends for the weekend. Whenever I'm on the island, I like to take advantage of all of the extremely fresh and delicious seafood and produce.

4th of July Grilling Extravaganza

4th of July always brings beach, fireworks, and grilling. In celebration of this fun summer holiday, I wanted to put together a grilling extravaganza. I made skewers of all sorts for a crowd of 13 people. To start the meal, my girlfriend made delicious deviled eggs. I would give the recipe, but it's a family secret and I've been forbidden from divulging it.

Pork Chops and Strawberries

 Summertime and berries. They go together like... berries and summertime? I was in the mood to make a dish that featured some fresh fruit. I decided to get a nice bone-in pork chop, as pork lends itself very well to the flavors of fresh fruit. I also wanted some spice, so I picked up some spicy red peppers. To go along side this spicy, fruity, porky dish, I wanted some potatoes and brussel sprouts.

For the strawberries, I cut them up with the pepper and put them in a small saucepan with some honey and white wine. I let this cook down until the berries and peppers were falling apart and the mix could be crushed with a wooden spoon.

 I cut up the potatoes and put them in a fry pan with about half an inch of salted water. I love cooking potatoes this way because they have a really great starchy and salty flavor. I cooked the potatoes until the water evaporates and then add olive oil to the pan and saute the potatoes until they start to brown. The pan ends up getting brown because of the burning starch, so it's important to toss the potatoes frequently so they don't burn or stick to the pan. Once the potatoes were nice and brown, I removed them and added on white wine to deglaze the pan. I scraped up all of the burned starch, cooked the wine to burn off the alcohol, and pour the "potato gravy" over the cooked spuds.

 

For the brussel sprouts, I cut them in half and quickly blanched them until they started to become bright green. I then cooked them with capers in canola oil in a hot cast iron until the browned and the capers were crispy.

Once the brussel sprouts were done, I cooked the pork. I had coated the chop in salt, pepper, and panko crumbs to give it a breaded exterior. I set the heat on the cast iron to medium high and started cooking the pork. I flipped it after about 6 or 7 minutes when the bread crumbs were nice and golden. I cooked the other side 7 minutes, and pressed on the meat to see if it was done. When the meat was firm enough, I took it off, let it sit for 5 minutes to finish cooking and let the juices settle, and then spooned some of the strawberry mixture on top.

The dish turned out really well. The potatoes were very tasty and the capers gave the brussel sprouts a nice pungent but not overpowering kick. The strawberry sauce and pork worked nicely together. The sauce had a nice balance of spicy and sweet (though it could have used a bit more sweet to give it further balance) and the mild sweetness of the pork complemented the powerful flavor of the sauce. All in all, a great dish that looks tough but really isn't that work intensive or time consuming.

A Classic Comfort Dinner

My girlfriend and personal food photographer, Devon, requested a simple, comforting meal for dinner. One of my favorite dishes to cook is roast chicken and potatoes with salad. This meal is extremely simple to make and always makes me feel like it's a nice, home cooked meal.

I preheated the oven to 450 degrees, and started by washing and drying the chicken. I then rubbed it with salt and pepper, put some sprigs of rosemary in the cavity, and tied the legs.

I then cut up the potatoes, added some garlic cloves, and coated them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika. I then spread the potatoes around the chicken along with a few more sprigs of rosemary, and put the pan in the oven for an hour.

I then seared some green onions in a hot cast iron, and made a salad with the seared green onions, cuke, red pepper, tomato, and mixed lettuce. For the dressing, I mixed dijon, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

I checked the chicken after an hour of my apartment smelling of delicious garlic and rosemary, and the result was a golden brown skin and a perfectly moist chicken. The potatoes were nice and crisp, and the salad added a colorful touch and bright flavor to the meal. Devon was very satisfied and happy I could fulfill her request.

Beef Stew for Dave

My good friend Dave was turning 26 and a celebration was in order. Instead of dropping a lot of money at a restaurant, we decided that a home-cooked meal would be best. Dave is one of my favorite people to cook with and a very good chef himself, so I wanted to be sure to deliver a meal to remember. He has requested beef stew with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts, and I obliged. The plan was to meet around 5 in Williamsburg for some drinks and oysters and then head to my place for dinner.

I picked up the ingredients from Whole Foods and rushed to get the stew on so that it would have enough time to cook before we met up for drinks. I wanted to do a classic beef stew, so I got about 4 lbs of stew beef, carrots, cipolini onion, mushrooms, red wine and beef broth. For the potatoes, I wanted to do a horseradish and chive mash, to give a nice tangy flavor as a counter to the warm and hearty stew. I picked up 4 lbs of yukon golds, some chives, greek yogurt, and horseradish. For the vegetable, I grabbed 4 lbs of brussel sprouts.

With my very heavy bag of groceries in tow, I headed home to get cooking. I cut up the carrots into thin discs, sliced the mushrooms, peeled the cipolinis and cut up some garlic. Once my vegetable prep was done, I salt and peppered the meat and browned it in batches so that I didn't overcrowd the pot. Once the meat was browned, I poured off the fat and sauteed the vegetables until they were starting to brown. I added the meat back in, tied up a bunch of thyme and bay leaf, and covered everything with about half a bottle of malbec and 4 cups of beef broth. I brought the pot to a low boil, covered it and put it in the oven at 375 for about 2 hours (taking off the cover for the last 45 minutes to let it thicken.)

For the potatoes, I peeled the yukons and put them in a large pot of boiling water. I boiled them for about 15 minutes until tender, drained them (saving a little of the water) and mashed them up. I added in about a cup of greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons of horseradish, 1 tablespoon of butter, salt and pepper. I then used a hand blender to make the mash very smooth, and once it was smooth and rich, I added in about half a cup of chopped chives.

For the brussel sprouts, I cut the rough base stem and then sliced them in half. I tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper and cooked them for 35 minutes at 375 until they were brown on top.

The meal turned out great. We shared a nice bottle of Belgian style beer and laughed the night away while we enjoyed the meal. One thing I did realize is that beef stew is very difficult to photograph in an appetizing way. Despite the aesthetics, the dish was beautifully balanced and exactly what Dave wanted for his birthday dinner!

A Fittingly Colored Valentine's Day Meal

I’m not a big fan of going out to dinner on Valentine’s Day because most restaurants jack up the price of their prix fixe menu and I just don’t have that much money to toss around. This year I decided to come up with the most festive menu I could think of and the first thing that popped into my head: BEETS. I love beets on their own, but my girlfriend isn’t a huge fan of them, so I thought of a way to incorporate their beautiful color without featuring beets alone on the menu: pink mashed potatoes! To go along with the Valentine spuds, I made sautéed red chard (sensing a theme?), and featured some sizable veal chops with balsamic apples. The meal turned out really well and was good to look at and even better to eat.

Ingredients:

2 ½ lb Veal Chops on the bone
2 Fuji or Pink Lady apples
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp grated jalapeno flesh
1 lemon
1 tsp agave or honey
2 tbsp balsamic
.5 lb red potatoes
1 large beet
2 tbsp butter
¼ cup milk
1 large bunch red chard
3 garlic cloves (chopped)
2 tbsp olive oil

To cook!

Pink Potatoes:
1) Boil the beet in a large enough pot to hold the beet and the potatoes

2) After 20 minutes, add the potatoes and boil for another 15 until the beet and potatoes are fork tender

3) Melt the butter in a small pan and slowly cook half of the chopped garlic until browned

4) Drain the pot (reserving a little bit of the water) and take out the beet to remove skin

5) Mash the potatoes with the reserved water, the milk, and the garlic butter

6) Cut the beet into small pieces, add to the potatoes, and mash (I had small chunks of beet in the mash, but feel free to use a hand blender to make the mash smoother)

7) Add salt and pepper to taste

Red Chard

1) Coarsely chop the chard into 1 inch strips

2) Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan and sautée the remaining chopped garlic

3) Once garlic starts to brown add the chard and toss in the oil and garlic

4) Add ½ lemon juice and cook until chard is fully wilted

Balsamic Apples:

1) Chop the apples into small rectangles and sautée in a saucepan in olive oil

2) Mix the grated ginger and jalapeno with juice of ½ a lemon and the honey/agave

3) Pour the dressing and half of the balsamic over the apples and simmer until the apples are very soft

Veal Chops:

1) Preheat the oven to 375

2) Sear the veal on both sides in an oven proof pan or cast iron

3) Finish in the oven for 15 minutes

4) Serve apples on the veal and finish with the remaining balsamic

Braised Moroccan Pork Ribs

I was in the mood for something braised and warm on a cold winter’s night. I was thinking Osso Bucco, but it was too expensive, so I decided on braised Moroccan pork ribs. I decided this in Whole Foods, so I had to wing the ingredients based on my knowledge of Moroccan flavors. I wanted the sweetness of apricots and saltiness of olives to come through and compliment the rich fatty flavor of the ribs. Rather than typical bbq or roasted ribs, I wanted to have the warm stew-like feeling of braised meat. I got home and got to cooking. I threw a bunch of spices that reminded me of Mediterranean flavors and got the ribs braised. The pork worked perfectly with the spices and the braising liquid was a great accompaniment on top of the potatoes. The kale offered a nice change of texture from the pork and mash, and the whole meal almost made me forget there was a couple feet of snow outside. If you don’t want to make the potato parsnip mash, the dish would work really well over polenta, couscous or another fine grain.

Braised Moroccan Pork Ribs over Parsnip and Potato Mash with Crispy Kale

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs St. Louis Pork Ribs
1 tbsp each of cumin, pepper, coriander, mustard seed, cinnamon, turmeric, sugar and salt (if you have extra, save it for another use)
1 carrot
1 yellow onion
3 garlic cloves
2-3 cups of chicken broth (enough to cover ribs)
Cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1 lemon sliced
1 cup olives
1 cup Turkish dried apricots
2 tbsp honey
1 lb potatoes
½ lb parsnip
Milk
Butter
Salt Pepper
Kale
Olive Oil

To Cook!

Spice Mix:
Mix cumin, pepper, coriander, mustard seed, cinnamon, turmeric, sugar and salt and grind in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder until fine.

Pork ribs:
Coat the ribs in the spice mix and sear both sides. Add the carrots, onion and garlic around the ribs, stirring so that they don’t burn while the ribs sear. Add the broth to cover it along with a little more spice mix, the cinnamon stick, bay leaves, lemon slices, olives, apricots and honey. Braise for 1.5 hours until ribs are just falling off the bone.

Potato and parsnip mash:
Bring water to a boil, add salt and boil the potatoes and parsnips and boil for 10 minutes until they are fork tender. Strain, reserving a little of the boiling liquid and mash them. Add salt, pepper, milk, and butter and mash until very smooth.

Crispy Kale:
Preheat oven to 350. Wash kale and dry thoroughly with paper towel. Massage the leaves with olive oil, and put in the oven for about 8 minutes until lightly browned and crispy. Toss with salt and serve on top or on the side of the ribs.

Sunday Steak

Sunday evening and I was craving some beef. I picked up a nice big ribeye from the WF meat counter, some asparagus, and some fingerling potatoes. I didn’t want a big involved meal to cook, but was definitely feeling a hearty and comforting dish. When I got home, I salt and peppered the steak and let it sit until I was ready to cook it. I sliced the potatoes in half, tossed them with 5 garlic cloves, olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika and put them in the oven (all sliced side down) at 375. I tossed the asparagus with olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon and added them to the oven about 15 minutes after the potatoes. I usually cook my potatoes for about 45 minutes, so I wanted the asparagus to be nicely roasted for 30. I heated up the grill pan tossed a little olive oil on it. Once the oil was almost smoking, I added the ribeye. I cooked it about 7 minutes a side to a nice medium rare. The steak sit for about 10 minutes, and once the potatoes and asparagus were done, I put it all on a plate and enjoyed this classic meal. It was the perfect dish for a Sunday night, and a great way to end the weekend.