I was hankering for seafood going into this post. I wanted to do shark for the cool factor but shark meat isn’t that exciting to be honest. Swordfish on the other hand is a great sea protein that is not hard to come by in your local food markets. It usually comes in the form of steaks so, as a guy I’m all about that.

 I was also getting tired of following other people’s genius with the preparation of these meals. I followed the recipes due to my unfamiliarity with the items. This one though, I’m very comfortable with.

Time for me to make it up as I go along, with my very own house-made recipe. I gave a lot of thought into all the flavors I wanted to present. From sweet and spicy, to bitter and savory; I got them all in there. I hope you can try this one yourself sometime.

So, these are the full ingredients you will need:
Swordfish steak
1 Pinneapple
Bushel of asparagus
1 cup of cinnamon syrup
1 cup of edemame puree
Paprika
White pepper
Minced garlic
Cayenne pepper
Fresh cinnamon sticks

Two of the ingredients displayed have previous preparation to them; the cinnamon syrup, and the edemame mint puree. The cinnamon syrup I made the night before, and the puree I made just before getting started on the main event.

The cheese involved is grated Parmesan. Basically, after boiling the edemame you throw it, and the rest of the ingredients into a blender until it reaches the consistency you desire.

Throw the minced garlic in with about half a bag of edemame. Boil for about 10 minutes. Strain the edemame

Throw the edemmame in the blender with 2 Tablespoons of creme fraiche, a 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, and a Tablespoon of mint. Turn the blender off when it reaches a consistency you feel comfortable serving with.

A ripe pineapple can be identified by being able to pull the top leaves out easily. Slice out the entire fruit because your going to want a little taste in between…. to “verify quality.”

I took a small knife to take out the core of the pineapple slices. I tried to make sure all were uniform.

The asparagus can be cooked last.   I cut the veggies about halfway down

Now for the final act! All my ingredients are prepped and ready to be cooked. I used white pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika and a dash of fresh ground cinnamon powder to season before grilling.

Open flame grill for the win! I cooked the swordfish to a medium which took no more than 10 minutes. Make sure your watching it the whole way. Seafood cooks very fast. The pineapple I kept flipping until they got decent grill marks on them.

With about 5 minutes left to the grilling items, the asparagus goes onto a saute pan with oil, salt, and pepper. I recommend a high heat so it cooks the outside fast while preserving that natural crunch on the inside. This is the bitter portion of the dish so as long as that inner green is combined with a great char on the outside you cant go wrong.

I had this dish visualized before anything was even cooked. I got my first epiphany for what i wanted to do when i saw a cover of a cookbook with cinnamon sticks and pineapple on the cover. I figured those would make a great combination with seafood… and here we are. My best creation besides the bacon wrapped venison. I love this one more because I thought of every ingredient and process. If your tired of fried fish, or tuna casserole, and really crave a revolutionary dish… I invite you to give this recipe a shot. Its got glamour in presentation and it has a wow factor on the palet.

No Looney Tunes’ characters were harmed in the making of this dish! I wasn’t sure how to go about this project. I really wanted to spit-roast over a fire. The weather was not so nice.  I’ll save that one for a summer holiday.   Instead I went to my trusty medieval recipe book, A Feast of Ice and Fire; The Game of Thrones Official Cookbook. 
It had two similar recipes for a rabbit stew. One was a more 16th century style being simple in preparation and ingredients but lengthy in time to make ( about 3 hours!) so I went with their modern recipe which basically replaces the stock that would have been made entirely from the rabbit bones with a pre-made chicken stock.  It also replaced ale as an ingredient with a dry red wine.  I was a little more curious to make the modern one considering there were more steps, ingredients, and more of a chance to impress the pallet.   So let the cooking of cuteness commence!

Ingredients:
1 rabbit
6 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 cup of dry red wine
1 onion diced
1-2 carrots (I actually used baby carrots and they worked very well)
2 celery stalks
2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste
Rosemary sprig
Bay leaves
3-4 cups of chicken stock
10 nicoise olives
1-2 cups of red potatos

You can season before the pan sear with your choice of flavor. I went with Joe’s Stuff Original Blend. Its more or less an all-round Cajun mix. Salt and white pepper, and let it ride.

Quick pan sear to get the juices working. Brown the skin slightly. Take the protein out, and then I recommend taking as many of the bones out as possible. Some left over will help the stock but I found that whole rabbit halves to a be a pain in the pan and the plate.

Save everything leftover after the pan sear. Put it in a side cup. You will be adding the red wine to it. 

Take all of the veggies besides the potatoes and olives. Throw them all in a big pot. Let them do their thing for about 5-8 minutes. No need to worry about how well their cooked just yet because they have the rest of the time in the stew to marinate. 

I put in almost a full can of tomato paste. I then threw in the rosemary sprig and kept stirring for no more than 5 minutes. Until the tomato paste started to brown.

Then in goes a little more than 2 cups of chicken stock, red wine and rabbit jus, and my favorite part of any good stew… potatoes. I had to put them in. Recipe says bring to a boil, then add olives cook for 30 minutes. Then add remaining 1 cup of chicken stock and cook for 20.  

The actual broth was what made this dish to me. Rabbit was over-done and was a nuisance to eat with all the bones. The flavors of red wine, traditional stew vegetables, chicken stock and rabbit jus were fantastic. I don’t know why the recipe doesn’t call for potatoes to begin with. I feel like a quarter of the dish would have been missing without them. Not much to look at but I think rabbit has a great future with the same flavors but different method of cooking.

Dear cute animal lovers I’m sorry ahead of time for this post but my appetite leads me on to dear ol’ deer also known as venison. I have never tried venison so I’m really looking forward to having my first taste of red game meat. I was not sure how to find venison or any hunted game meats so I gave Chisfield Market, a local butcher shop, a call asking if they had any game meats. Luckily the gentleman told me they get deliveries of venison every Friday and I was able to schedule a pick up. My hunter-gather gene was alive and well as I took public transportation to pick up my score. I was a little relieved as well due to the fact that the meat will be perfectly taken care of by the time it’s wrapped up for me to take home.

On to preparation. I used an online recipe a friend put me on to. The exact one can be found here.

http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/231345/bacon-wrapped-venison-tenderloin-with-garlic-cream-sauce

I cut off the ends of the roast to make sure a had a nice even, beautiful looking final product.

When you cook the bacon only fry for as long as it takes to get the juices working. You still want them flexible so you can wrap them around the venison.

For sides, I wanted to stick with the forest earthy feel, so I chose sweet potatoes to go along with the cream mushrooms the recipe calls for. I squared them to make sure they were thoroughly cooked through. I also threw in some fresh cinnamon. Add plenty of oil, sprinkle some salt and pepper on them and toss them in the oven until fork tender.

Cut up scallions like so, to join the mushrooms on their journey.

Saute the scallions and mushrooms for about 5 mins or until the mushrooms start getting your preferred shade of done on the surface.

I recommend using a bit less of the half n’half cream for the mushrooms if you want a thicker reduction. When the foam starts getting aggressive the mushrooms are done.

Now, these bad looking bananas are actually perfectly good plantains ready to be cooked “plantain madero.” Basically you skin the fruit and pan sear it until golden. A very simple, fresh option for people tired of the usual sides like veggies and starches.

When the juices are oozing everywhere, and you can’t keep smelling awesome without tasting it…. it is done.

Sweet potatoes as the seasonal winter veggie gives great depth to go along with the hearty protein. Mushrooms keep with the forest floor setting and plantains add a fresh new outlook for a side. They bring a livelier bite to the dish and go well with the potatoes. Bacon on venison is a fantastic combination considering that venison has almost no fat and is very lean. The bacon brings it home by being its usual fatty, savory self. The cream sauce took a lot of weight away from the meat. Great dish and I was glad to try the venison with so many combinations of sides. So if you are a meat lover, you must consider venison near the top of your to do list. Happy hunting!

To begin my Mission 2, I went to my local DeCicco’s Food Market which has great selection of fresh food, spices, bakery, and home-made meals. For anyone who is looking for the next level supermarket but doesn’t want to get too bogged down by the healthy centric Whole Foods I definitely recommend them.
Now that I have chosen duck,  I used A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Cookbook to find what else I need to acquire. “Duck with Lemons,” is the specific recipe for a 4 pound whole duck, so I had to whittle down the ingredients to about a third of the recommended. Since my topic is game meats I decided a medieval point of view would be complementary in the preparation of the dish. So, my natural ingredients are:

Duck (Breast 1.3lb)
Olive Oil
Lemons (2)
Salt (mediterranean sea salt)
Ground Chili Powder
Ground White Pepper
Honey (I chose raw honey to stick close with the medieval theme)
Seasonal Veggies (carrots and leeks)

First order of business is preparation of ingredients. I juiced the lemons. I cleaned and cut the carrots and leeks. Leeks need special care for cleaning and cutting so I referred to this youtube video. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8glwRaS8OM)

Next I coated the duck breast in olive oil and generously sprinkled the sea salt. I also stuffed a couple of cut lemon skins into the center no need for too much as lemon comes out strong in cooking by themselves.

The preparation of the basting sauce is where it got fun. I put all the lemon juice and
1 Tablespoon of oil,
1/2 teaspoon of ground salt,
1.5 Tablespoons of honey,
1 teaspoon of the white pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder

into a very small saucepan simmer until it begins to reduce. I added a sprinkle more chili and a dram of honey more to make it less tart. Once again lemon juice is powerful so dont be afraid to improvise to your taste preference.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and don’t use all of the sauce for the first basting. You’ll want to save about a third of what you made to coat the duck about two more times before it is done cooking. I also loaded in the veggies before basting so they could soak up some extra flavor.

With a couple of breaks for more basting let it roast at 375 for about 40 to 45 minutes. The telltale sign of it being done was when I could smell the vegetables cooked.  No need to turn over the breast during the process, as you’ll want to get a good crispy skin.

This can feed two people or one hungry food blogger….

Duck breast is very interesting to me. It is almost like a red meat poultry. Its super tender and under the skin there is a soft layer of fat that is exquisite. The rest of the breast is very lean. The carrots take on a lot of the citrus flavor, and that adds a surprising complexity that normally is not found in seasonal veggies in my opinion. This simple recipe came out great. I really sat down and savored all the deep flavors.

Try this at home and let me know how it goes. If you have had duck before, comment away. Bugs Bunny jokes are encouraged of course. Thanks for reading.

Meat is murder… tasty, tasty murder!
I embrace my carnivorous side all the time. A lot of my food consists of meat, aaand whatever it happens to be wrapped in. I have had a few experiences with different types of cuts that most of us have tried, and some that I doubt most people knew are edible (*cough* cow brain). So with that background I run to the playground of protein for GAME MEATS. I will go around the county to different markets, grab me a slab of something dead, find, or create a great recipe and let you know if it fared well, or fouled out…(pun intended).

Let me know what types of game meats are your favorite, and what ones I should be looking at if you have an interesting recommendation. Thanks for reading.