Wednesday, May 27, 2009

An Evenng with Mr. & Ms. Jazz - a food centric post

.
Apropos of nothing, the other evening for dinner we had pan fried steelhead trout with salad - and of course I totally forgot to take a pic - but believe me when I say it was delicious. OK, so maybe it's not apropos of nothing, it's apropos of saying, damn, I love eating.

After dinner, in keeping with the title of this post, we decided to make a recipe we saw on Food TV on Chef at Home with Michael Smith . It's a slow cooker recipe - but seeing as it's still quite chilly in Montreal, it's not much of a stretch to be eating "winter" food. Though really, how is slow cooker food winter food exclusively? Meh, I'm not even going to ponder that.

Of course this always works best in an ugly 1970s crockpot from
Canadian
General Electric no less.


Now, the dish. Chicken thighs slow cooked with sherry and onions. And yes, wonder of wonders you are getting a recipe from Jazz. Mark your calendars peeps, this most probably a one-time occurrence...

So.

Recipe.

Lots of onions, sliced (you need lots cause onions are pretty much your liquid - 90% water and all that). Dump half of them in the bottom of your slow cooker.

Add Codplay's cooking song:



Ok, actually it's Viva la Vida, but damned if cooking and dancing to this... well it totally rocks.

So, you put on the song. And dance while chopping onions. The dancing part is important cause it kills the tears. A caveat - be careful while chopping and dancing and drinking wine. Surprisingly I didn't cut a single part of me off, not even a little bit! Be very impressed with your dexterity if you manage this, if not, haul out the band-aids.
Naw, no dancing-while-chopping-onions-and-drinking-wine pics - I have my pride

Then. OK, where were we? Oh yeah, you dump (or delicately place, according to your style of cooking) lots of onions in the bottom of the crock pot. While you are chopping the onions (which actually should be done before you put them in the pot, yes?), your Mr. Jazz equivalent is grilling up the chicken with LOTS of garlic and olive oil and butter in a pan (and damned if the house doesn't smell freaking edible, rather than newly painted all of a sudden). Please note: if you don't have a cooking partner, you might have to slightly stagger these two steps. Or not. The whole multi-tasking thing while cooking, not so much for me - unless it's chopping onions while drinking wine and dancing. Obviously.

Once the meat is grilled, you dump it on top of the onions with Dijon mustard - however much you like and thyme (though we didn't have any so we put herbes de provence - just put whatever the hell you want already), salt (if you remember - we didn't) and pepper - fresh ground if at all possible please.

Add sherry ( probably Vermouth would do, or even wine or chicken broth, or orange juice - it'd be good with OJ... well, you get the idea), however much seems right, and cover with more onions.

Looks sort of boring doesn't it?

A few more swallows of good wine with more Coldplay. Some wiping down of counters and washing of dishes and you're done.

The next morning, put set the ugly 70s crockpot to low and pootle off to work.

Come evening, this is what you'll have.

Actually, it looks sort of awful doesn't it?
How come things always look scrumptious on cooking shows?

And this is what Michael Smith will have (with the real recipe here):



Serve with a side of pasta tossed in sundried tomato pesto, and voila...

And of course, the requisite glass of wine. See the stem of the glass right there?

And don't forget to watch the Pens eliminate Carolina if you're into that type of thing.
.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is one funky crockpot.

Viva La Vida is one of my all-time favorite songs.

VioletSky said...

I had to check, and there was no 'dumping' from Michael. He's never struck me as a dumping kind of guy. I bet Jamie doesn't dump either - he's a tosser.

Your style seems much more fun.

furiousBall said...

the crockpot... now I know where the Vancouver Canucks got the inspiration for their sweaters in the 70s!

Mr. Jazz said...

Good point Fuball: I'd never thought of that and always wondered where the "inspiration" had come from. Now we know...

lime said...

i am officially hungry now. and the dancing, chopping drinking thing...oh yeah, know it well...

endangered coffee said...

Love the 70s crockpot. Looks like you should have been listening to the Carpenters.

xup said...

I like your dishes and your spoon holder and your crockpot and that tantalizing glimpse of your wine glass. And while I do like onions and pasta and I believe you when you say this dish is delicious; it really isn't very photogenic

Jazz said...

Citizen - ain't it just

Violetsky - Naw I guess he isn't a dumper, I on the other hand am definitely a dumper.

Furball and Mr. Jazz - Good god, that's true!

Lime - Want some leftovers?

EC - The Carpenters? God, good thing they stayed in the 70s.

XUP - Yeah, I know, it looks rather nasty doesn't it? Which is why, I suppose, all they show as a picture with the recipe is all the glossy onions. Cause the rest of it looks like crap.

Suldog said...

First off, steelhead trout is delicious, one of my favorites.

Second, I like your plates. Funky!

Third, booze makes everything taste better!

Fourth, uh, third!

Joe Jubinville said...

Seriously yummy, mon vieux. Of all my recipes for 'voila', this one goes on top.

Ricë said...

i'm sure it was quite yummy, but i think you're right about how it looks--in fact, that photo should go in james lilik's Gallery of Regrettable Food (and if you haven't been there, you must go--but not while you're eating or drinking or trying to breathe). if i weren't already vegetarian. . . .

Jazz said...

Suldog - I have the plates in green, blue, yellow and orange. It makes for a colourful table.

Jeaux - Seriously yummy indeed. I had the leftovers over rice on Friday... heavenly.

Ricë - OH! I love the gallery of regrettable food! And if you're teetering on the brink of vegetarianism, lookswise this will push you right over. Which, I guess is why on the website for the cooking show, they only show the golden onions. Otherwise no one would make it.

david mcmahon said...

I'm on my way - but we must synchronise our watches since we live on opposite ends of the planet!

Susan Tuttle said...

ok -- my mouth is totally watering now -- culinary delight for sure!:)

yum, yum, yum!

Jocelyn said...

I have totally resisted chicken thighs in the last few years...but since we're about to have no stovetop or oven during our kitchen remodel, we'll be leaning on the crockpot and grill--and, therefore, this recipe.

But can I make sun-dried pesto in a crockpot?

Anonymous said...

Sherry & onions sounds (and will, I imagine, taste) divine! I don't drink but I guess I could pretend the sherry was something else...!!

Congrats on David's POTD.

CJ xx

Jazz said...

David - How 'bout I come to Oz and make it for you?

Susan - it was delicious. Plus, having a man who does the cooking really makes things taste better.

Joce - Funny, Mr. Jazz was never a fan of chicken thighs either - until he tried this recipe.

Crystal - After 7 hours of cooking in the crockpot, it really is something else. At any rate, any alcohol has evaporated and there's just the taste left.

♥ Boomer ♥ said...

♥ the music! Have had it on my playlist.
♥ the dancing while cooking!
♥ the recipes!

Here from David's with congrats!

Susan English Mason said...

Came by from David's. woot-woot. Congrats on Post of the Day reference.

Cheffie-Mom said...

I love to dance and cook, too! I came over from David's authorblog. Congrats on the Post of the Day Award! Great post!

Daryl said...

Over from David's to say congrats on the POTD mention!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting such a useful, impressive and a wicked article./Wow.. looking good!
Thank you...stay tuned for more!

Cooking Equipment