Ever want to escape the weather?  Some choose to go to an all inclusive resort, other choose to have special weekend away in seclusion and than there is some that just pretend to relive the summer and make a kicked up barbeque chicken sauce in the middle of January.

I guess for this week I am the latter of the three described above.  For me, nothing beats the barbeque.  The thrill of the grill and the flavors make my mouth water, hairs stand up and belly growl.  For today, I thought I would share one of my favorite sauces to have on hand – homemade barbeque chicken sauce.  This BBQ sauce can we used on just about anything… from chicken, beef, pork, vegetables, rice, nachos, you name it.

I am pretty sure you could smear this BBQ sauce on your car bumper and love it.

Barbeque (BBQ) Chicken Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tsp. Dry Mustard
• 2 Tsp. Smoked paprika
• 1 Clove garlic ( crushed)
• 4 Tsp. Chili powder
• 1 Cup Ketchup
• 1 Cup cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp. Salt
• 1 Tbsp. Pepper

Method

1. Preheat large sauce pan over medium heat
2. Stir all dry ingredients together and than add remaining liquid.
3. Mix thoroughly and bring to a gentle boil ( stirring occasionally )
4. Reduce to a simmer for 25-30 minutes
5. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip:  The longer you simmer this barbeque chicken sauce, the better it will be.  If you notice it getting to thick, just add a little water.  Package this in resealable jars and give it to your friends, they will be happy.

OK, so you have to try this sauce… not because I love barbeque but just for the shear excitement of your taste buds.  Let me know if you do give it a try and let me know your thoughts and alterations if you made any.  Have a super day and I will talk to you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

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Is it raining where you are?  Holy jeepers, All I have seen for the past 5 days is RAIN.  Not that I am opposed to rain but after a while it gets pretty old.  OK, enough of me whining and complaining about the weather – let’s get on with a really tasty dish that was totally driven by a sale of “CRANBERRIES”.  Funny, I know!  I was walking in the produce aisle where I noticed they had cranberries on sale.  Normally I would just make cranberry sauce and call it a day but today I wanted to treat them a little differently.

How about a roasted pork tenderloin crusted with peppercorns and cooked with baby potatoes and carrots and topped with a cranberry wine sauce?  It sounded good to me and after the results – it tasted excellent!

Ingredients

• 2 Pork Tenderloins
• 1/2 Cup White whine
• 1 Cup Cranberries
• 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• Baby Potatoes
• Carrots ( cut length wise)
• 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Prepared mustard
• 2 Tbsp. Water
• Crushed Peppercorns
• Salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. In a oven safe dutch oven, preheat over high heat on the stove top.  Add olive oil, season the pork with salt and crushed pepper.  Sear on all sides until golden brown and a crust has formed.
3. Add wine and cranberries and start the de-glazing process.  Let cook down for 3 minutes
4. Add carrots and potatoes and cover for another 5 minutes.
5. In a bowl mix brown sugar, mustard and stir together.  Add water once mustard and brown sugar is blended.
6. Pour sauce over the pork, cover and place in the oven for 2 hours ( or until carrots and potatoes are fork tender )



7. Baste every 30 minutes with sauce.
8. Let Stand for about 10 minutes and then slice



9. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: To ensure the pork is super tender and flavorful, I continued to baste the pork in the sauce both prior to the oven as well as during.

Wow!  The pork was so tender I had a hard time to cut it.  Now I realize not everyone has 2 hours to roast supper during the week but it really is worth the wait.  I hope you have a super Monday.  I am not sure what is in store for me today but no doubt it will be exciting.  I am home all week and pretty sure there is a Holiday thrown in the mix.  WOOOOO HOOOO.

Take care

zesty

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Help The Students Event: Day 18

Happy Friday!  It is hard to believe that the end of the month is drawing so near.  Does anybody else feel that September flew by?  I cannot believe it.  Lots of action over here so I guess that usually makes time fly.  Alright, today I have a very special post!  This recipe has been donated by a zesty in law and truly is a family favorite.  In fact this recipe is by far one of the all time fav’s of a zesty niece ( The niece who really inspired me to start the help the students events ).

I have consumed this recipe many times and I must say it is super easy, very quick and the sauce always hits the spot.  The combination of lemon and basil flavor the chicken and infuse a tremendous balance in your mouth.  This recipe literally takes the amount of time it takes to boil some noodles in a pot.  The sauce is completely done in the microwave, the chicken is sauteed on the cook top and the entire dish makes friends with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Take a look at the recipe and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

• 2 Chicken Breasts ( chopped )
• 1 Tbsp. Basil ( dried )
• 2 Tbsp. Fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 Box Roitini Noodles
• Parmesan cheese ( grated )
• Salt ( for pasta water )

Method

1. Combine basil, olive oil, lemon juice and soy sauce in a large microwaveable dish
2. In a medium sauce pan, cook pasta according to directions
3. Heat saute pan over medium heat and begin to cook chicken until no longer pink.  Once chicken is no longer pink, transfer to the sauce dish
4. Heat on high in microwave for 2 minutes.
5. Drain pasta noodles and plate.  Serve chicken and sauce on the side or atop the noodles ( whichever you prefer )
6. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese



7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: If you have leftovers, keep the sauce separate from the noodles and reheat the sauce .  Once the sauce has been warmed through you can put it on top of the noodle and reheat together.  This will avoid the congealed texture from the sauce and keep the noodles from clumping together.

Hopefully you enjoyed this simple chicken dish.  This is a great recipe to make using tofu or even a vegetable such as squash or eggplant.  So whether you are a meatatarian, vegetarian or full vegan you can spin this recipe to your liking.  I would like to wish you all a great weekend and hopefully the weather holds on for a few more days.

I am golfing on Sunday with the “BOYS” so I am looking forward to that.  Other items on the agenda include some yard work, some writing and of course some cooking.  I will be back on Monday morning with a few more days of the “Help the Students Event” to round out the week.

Take care

zesty

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Happy Friday!  As I type this post early on this snowy Friday we are getting geared up for our first snow storm of the year.  Exciting?  No not really but I guess some people like it.  So far. all schools have been canceled but I am still planning on going into work.  We are supposed to get 20 cm today which is not too bad but the wind is supposed to pick up to 80km/hr.  Since we live in a wide open area it will likely feel that there is a hurricane around us.  I am really trying to look for full grown trees to shelter around the house.

Do you think I am crazy for looking at this option?  I am not very patient when it comes to watching trees grow for 20 years before they will block the wind.

On To the Food

The title catches your eye especially if you love chicken and garlic.  This recipe is a spin on a classic roasted chicken but there a couple of techniques that really enhance the flavor compared to your normal run of the mill chicken.

The marinade in this recipe really kicks up the internal flavor of the meat and the double cooking method also forces the flavor to be enhanced.  It really is a great trick if you have never tried this method in the past.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch parsley
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 Head of garlic
• 3 shallots
• 1 Tbsp herbes de provence
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• Small pinch all spice
• 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 6 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Method

1. Blend all ingredients except the olive oil in food processor then  add 6 tsp olive oil
2. Rub inside and outside chickens and marinate in fridge 2-4 hours.
3. Take the head of garlic and loosen but do not peel, remove papery skins. Coat with oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Roast chicken at 350 degrees in shallow pan for 90 min or till done and for at least 1 hour
5. Add the garlic head, covered with tin foil in own pan to the oven and roast for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
6. Set chicken aside for at least 30 minutes.
7. Degrease roasting pan, then de-glaze with juices from resting chicken and 1 ½ cups of chicken broth.
8. Separate chicken to pieces, preserving the skin as best able, and place on boiler with skin side up.
9. Place thin slices of ½ lemon over top.
10. Pour juices into broiler pan, but not over the chicken and broil to hot (8min depending on oven).
11. Use ½ lemon remaining and add juice and reduce sauce, by ½ or till thickened, season with salt and pepper and a small amount, 1 tsp or so butter to enrich and smooth sauce.
12. Serve chicken with sauce.



13. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Don’t forget about that roasted garlic.  Serve the roasted garlic with the chicken for the garlic lovers in the house.

Big plans for the weekend?  I am pretty sure I don’t have anything major on the go.  Looks like I may be doing some shoveling for sure.  I better go get a shower and head into the office.  Have a great weekend and let me know if you have any questions about the recipe.

Take care

zesty

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Thursday is here which means that there’s only one more day until Halloween!  Welcome everybody to another silly episode of me trying to write something witty before we get to today’s recipe.  This recipe was inspired by my little guy who is 3 1/2 years old as he was asking if we could have space worms for dinner last night or AKA Spaghetti.  So of course I said yes, anything to get him from eating peanut butter sandwiches or chicken nuggets.

So with that being said, I tend to do my spaghetti sauce in two stages. First stage is to brown the meat and then use the pan drippings to move on to the vegetable and tomatoes.  If you have the time, which is not much longer than opening a can of your favorite spaghetti sauce, give this sauce a try.

My tomato sauce has been tweaked and modified over the years to try and come up with a unique and rich flavour to tantalize everyone’s taste buds. The basis of the sauce stems back to the no nonsense tomato sauce recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 Tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lb. Lean Ground Beef
• 1/2 lb Lean Ground Pork
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp. minced ginger
• 3-5 cloves garlic, crushed and sliced thinly
• 1/2 to 1 cup diced, fresh basil. (It’s your call. I usually use close to a cup)
• 1/2 cup red wine. (Good enough quality to drink)
• 1 Tsp sugar (or Splenda)
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• 1/2 Tsp. Cracked Black Pepper
• 1 28 oz. can crushed or diced tomatoes.
• 1 t lemon juice (optional)
• 1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Method

1. Cook pasta according to the directions.



2. Add meat and ginger to pan and cook until brown.  Drain excess fat and remove meat from pan.
3. Leave the pan dirty with flavour from the meat and sauté onions in olive oil over low heat, covered, for 10-12 minutes.
4. Add garlic and basil, re-cover, for another 5 minutes or so.
5. Add meat back in the pan.
6. Uncover and add wine. Reduce by about half.
7. Add tomatoes, S & P, and simmer for 15 minutes. You can reduce the sauce further and intensify the flavour.
8. Add the lemon juice about 3-4 minutes before finishing.
9. Fresh Italian Parsley can be added at the end if you like it.
10. Serve over cooked spaghetti.
11. Top with Parmesan Cheese.



12. Enjoy!

Zesty Tip:  When cooking any type of pasta, make sure you salt the water very well.  If not the pasta will be flat and taste very bland.  Also when making sauces, it is an excellent idea when draining your pasta to add a little bit of the pasta water to your sauce.  This will give your sauce an extra layer of flavour.

As for the usual, I would like to know something! What is your favorite drink to serve with a big platter of spaghetti? Also I am trying to reach an individual goal for this post.  I have never had over 60 comments on any post yet in zesty land… so I am asking very politely (of course) for every reader of this post to write a quick little comment and let me know what you think of either the pasta, the site in general or what you drink when you eat spaghetti.  For me I am a big milk fan with my spaghetti!

Thanks everyone and have an awesome Thursday!

Zesty

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