Mango Salad With Roquefort Cheese

1 mango, diced
1 small cucumber, diced
generous handful crumbled roquefort cheese
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 large cloves garlic
rice vinegar

Put the diced mango, cucumber, and cheese in a bowl. Gently warm the olive oil over very low heat. Smash and dice the garlic, add to the oil and saute gently for a few minutes. Don't let the garlic brown. Remove from heat, cool until it's no longer sizzling, drizzle over the salad. Add vinegar to taste.

Roasted Garlic Deviled Eggs

This one's simple, simple, simple.

Start with your favorite recipe for deviled eggs: here's the first one that comes up in a quick Google.

Preheat the oven to 300F. Take a whole bulb of garlic and slice off the tip. Drizzle on a few drops of extra-virgin olive oil, wrap it in tinfoil cut side up, and roast it in the oven for an hour. Once it has completely cooled, squeeze it in your hand. The garlic will squirt out like toothpaste. Mix that into your deviled egg recipe. Voilà.

Whiskey Pecan Toffee

1 c and 1/2 c pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 c sugar
1 c butter
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/4 c decent Irish whiskey or Kentucky Bourbon
1 c chocolate chips

If you need to toast the pecans yourself: Get a dry cast-iron skillet hot, toss the whole pecans until they become aromatic. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool before chopping. When cool, spread 1 cup into a 9-inch pie pan greased with nonstick cooking spray.

I much prefer Irish to Bourbon, but suit yourself. Tullamore Dew is a good choice. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sugar, corn syrup, and whiskey. CAUTION - Take the pan away from the heating element before pouring in the whiskey to avoid a flameout! Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, until the mixture reaches a temperature of 290F to 310F.

Pour the sugar mixture into the pie pan. Again, be careful - boiling sugar will stick to your skin. Sprinkle the hot toffee with the chocolate chips. Wait 30 seconds, then use your spoon or spatula to spread the melting chips into an even layer. Sprinkle with the remaining pecans.

Cover and chill for an hour; when completely cooled break it into bite-sized pieces. Store in the freezer in an airtight container.

Double Mint Sauces

These sauces are great served together with lamb chops. I prefer shoulder to rib chops; they're much less expensive and in my opinion more flavorful. (Actually, what I really wish is that I could find a good source for mutton!)

Peach Mint Sauce

1 Tbsp + 2 Tbsp butter
2 peaches, diced fine
1 slice of onion (not 1 sliced onion, just 1 slice of an onion), diced fine

1 Tbsp dark brown sugar

2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 splash lemon juice
pinch kosher salt
1 handful fresh mint leaves, chopped fine
1/4 cup mirin
3/4 cup water
2 Tbsp flour

Simmer the peaches and onion in 1 Tbsp of butter in a small saucepan over low heat, 10 mins or until the peaches start to dissolve. Add brown sugar, rice vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and mint leaves; simmer another 10 minutes.

In another saucepan make a light brown roux with the flour and 2 Tbsp butter. Add mirin and water, stir until thickened; combine with peaches mixture. Add more water if desired to adjust thickness. Simmer over very low heat until the mint flavor permeates.

Spicy Yogurt Mint Sauce

1 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp honey
1 handful fresh mint leaves, chopped fine
pinch kosher salt
1 tsp chili powder
your favorite hot sauce to taste

Combine yogurt, honey, mint, salt, and chili powder in a bowl; let sit half an hour at room temperature for the flavors to blend. Add hot sauce to taste. Refrigerate until use.

Marinated Oven-Fry Chicken with Cornflake Crust

1 whole chicken, cut up

EDIT: Aaack! I left the salt off the ingredients for the marinade. (And it's really a brine, anyway.)
2 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp spicy mustard
2 Tbsp chunky rooster sauce
dash Worcestershire
dash lemon juice
1 cup water

6 cups cornflakes
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 cup flour (optional)
approx. 1/4 cup olive oil

Mix the salt, mustard, chunky rooster sauce, Worcestershire, lemon juice, and water. Pour into a gallon-size zip-top bag. Add the chicken pieces. Seal the bag, squeezing out as much air as possible. Marinate in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours, turning and squishing the bag occasionally to ensure thorough coverage.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Put the cornflakes, garlic powder, salt, and flour in a food processor. (The flour can be omitted for the gluten-intolerant but it helps the crumb cling better to the chicken.) Process until the mixture is more or less the texture of (coarse) panko breadcrumbs, then slowly drizzle in the oil. You want the final mix to be moist enough to cling to the sides of the workbowl when you stop the blades and then slowly slump down.

Put the crumb into another zip-top bag. Rinse and drain the chicken. One at a time put the chicken pieces in the crumb bag and go all shake-and-bake on it, and place on the sheet pan. Bake at 400F for approximately 45 minutes or until the internal temperature of the thigh pieces passes 165F.

Roasted Garlic Lemon Tapenade

This makes a great under-the-skin preparation for roasted chicken.

1 bulb garlic
few drops EVOO
zest of 1 small lemon
4-6 large black olives, diced fine
pinch kosher salt
pinch white sugar

Preheat oven to 300F. Cut off the root (pointy) end of the garlic bulb, exposing the cloves. Drizzle on a few drops of olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil, and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Squeeze the bulb in your hand and the garlic will squirt out like toothpaste. Mix well with the other ingredients.

Haven't-Updated-In-Too-Long Art Blogging

...and I won't forget to put roses on your grave