Pan-Fried Tilapia in a Lemon Butter White Wine Sauce w/ Roasted Garlic Cous Cous and Farm Fresh Sweet Corn

If this dish doesn't speak of summer, I don't know what does! I was shooting for something refreshing, not incredibly overpowering and that wouldn't make you want to take a nap right after eating it. I live in the northeast where we are known for having incredibly mild weather for most of the year. We are just ending a horrendous heat wave of 6 days straight in the high 90's and low 100's, so eating hasn't really been on the top of the list.
I went to our local grocer and they had some absolutely GORGEOUS tilapia filets. I immediately thought that I would panfry them inside (in the AC) and picked up some beautiful, fresh from the farm sweet corn to go along with it. Here's how it all went down:
I picked up a bag of corn boil (seasoning you add to the water you boil the corn in) and added that to my water and got it boiling. Added the corn and set a timer for 10 minutes. I seasoned some flour with salt, pepper, adobo and lemon pepper and mixed it up. I then rinsed off the filets, patted them dry and seasoned lightly with old bay. I added some extra virgin olive oil to a frying pan (enough to cover the bottom) and got the pan real nice and hot. I then shook the excess flour off of the fish and placed them in the pan. They cooked 3 minutes on each side on medium high heat. While the fish was cooking, I got my cous cous cooking which is pretty much instant. Here is what I ended up with. . . cheers :)

Country-Fried Pork Chops With Battered Potatos

This meal was simply one of my favorites growing up in Northern Virginia. I remember as a little boy, walking home from school and smelling fried porkchops just knowing that it was coming from my grandmothers' place. She would always fry potatos with them as well and serve them with some green beans or broccoli. So I decided to put a little twist on the potatos by putting the same batter that I use for the porkchops (minus the breadcrumbs) and cooking them at the same time as the chops. These turned out to be so delicious. They had a nice light crunch to them and were packed with flavor. Here's a pic of what I ended up with . . .

Father's Day Lasagna Bolognese

This Father's Day was celebrated with my beautiful family. My incredible girlfriend Sophia made me the most amazing dinner. I appreciated the great taste even more because she does not often cook. She fried up some prociutto until it got crispy and diced it. Then began to put the asagna together. The sauce was a bolognese sauce (meat flavor with sauteed vegetables, red wine vinegar, burgundy and parmesan cheese). Cheeses used were ricotta annd shredded mozzarella. We had some Ciabiatta rolls cut in half and topped with shredded cheese and garlic. . . here's what you missed out on :)

Homemade Savory Chicken Noodle Soup

This soup is so flavorful it should be outlawed! Did I mention you wont break your wallet by making it? Here's what I did. . . . I took the carcass from the chicken we had last night and I boiled it in water for a couple of hours to get a stock. I added a little bit of salt and pepper to it and refridgerated it til this morning. When I was ready to make the soup, I took the chicken stock and poured it into my crock pot (it filled it 3/4 of the way). Next I picked apart the left over chicken and put it in with the broth. I then added some sliced carrots (2 cups) and 4 diced russet potato's. I set the crock pot to high for 2 hours and then low for 5 hours. About half way through, I added some parsley and cilantro, and a little more salt and pepper. Once finished, just boil up some egg noodles and serve soup over top. . . here's what you should have. Enjoy!

Garlic-Lime Infused Roasted Chicken

I can't tell you how pleased I am with this creation. I bought a 3-4 lb whole chicken fryer from my grocer and after pondering over how I wanted to cook it up, here is what I came up with. I generously salted and peppered the inside of the cavity with ground sea salt and black pepper. Then rubbed it in to ensure that I covered the whole crevace. Next, I took 4 cloves of garlic, took the peels off and smashed them. I placed them inside the cavity. I then cut two limes in half and put them inside. I used some butchers twine and tied the legs together. Now comes the fun part, seasoning your bird :) So, what I like to do is just use some extra virgin olive oil and drizzle it over the entire thing. I used some coriander infused olive oil this time, starting with the backside of the chicken. Then I grabbed the ol' sea salt grinder and coated the backside generously with salt, pepper and some chicken rub and flipped it over. Repeat the same process and you're ready for action. I put it into a 425 degree oven for 1hr 20 minutes, basting it every 20 minutes and I gotta tell you. . . this thing came out so incredibly tender and juicy! Alot of times people struggle to get their chicken skins crispy when they roast them, but you will see that by coating it with sea salt, you get an excellent result. I am serving mine with some creamy mashed potato's and french cut green beans. And me not being a wasteful person, I have the carcass in a pot of water right now to make a chicken stock that will eventually turn into some amazing roasted chicken soup tomorrow! Hope you enjoy everyone. Thanks for reading :)

3-2-1- Baby Back Ribs

I gotta start by saying that the baby back rib is my absolute favorite cut of rib. If you take your time at the store while looking through them and pic out a rack that has a good meat-to-fat ratio, you will be more than pleased with your results after cooking them. Now this year is my first year of really getting down to business and going all out with smoking ribs. I went out and bought a nice rig (Chargriller Duo) and got a Side Fire Box for it so I could have Texas-Style BBQ. That means using indirect heat as the cooking method. I most always use charcoal as my main source of fuel and add various woods for smoke. They range from bourbon barrel wood, apple, hickory, mesquite, pecan, and maple. The 3-2-1- method of cooking is simply putting the ribs in the smoker for 3 hours, wrapping them in foil with some kind of liquid and putting them back in for 2 hours, and then taking them out of the foil and finishing them for the remaining 1 hour. During the last 30 minutes, you want to put your sauce on the ribs if you like sauce on them. Make sure to put warm sauce on them instead of cold out of the fridge sauce as it will delay the finishing of the cook. Ok so I have a video of my finished ribs here, and what I like to do is just put them on my gasser to sauce them. I'll just brush some sauce on and let 'em sit there for a few minutes and then flip and repeat the process. Enjoy the video!

On The Fly Strawberry Cheesecake

This is the perfect dessert to do when you decide to have company over and didn't plan ahead, or when it's a thousand degrees outside and you just want a cool treat for the family. Just pick up a box of strawberries from your local grocer and a box of jello no-bake cheesecake and you're all set! Make sure you have a 9" pie pan and just follow the directions on the back of the box. Slice up your strawberries however you want and place them all around the edges and there you have it. Couldn't get any easier than that. Not to mention you don't have to use the oven so the AC wont have to work harder to cool it down. Use some cool whip once you plate the pie for some added creaminess and you have yourself an irresistable dessert!