Not Too Hot, Not Too Cold... Just Right!

It's here! It's here! Fall is finally here! Do you know what that means?! It means I can breathe again! You don't understand. The humid and fluctuating temperatures were killing my sinuses. Seriously, I really do love the Fall. I guess because I am an Autumn Baby, November 27th. Please put this date in your calendars so you don't forget to send gifts and well wishes.
This time of year also means I can really cook without limitations, like turning on my oven without passing from heat exhaustion. I can roast, boil and bake... Oh my!!! Okay, okay... let me pace myself. I have plenty of time to experiment *rubbing hands together with anticipation, grinning like a Cheshire cat*. 
To start the season of right, I created a meal that I think symbolizes the ending of Summer and the beginning of Fall, Autumn Grilled Chicken with Blackberry Glaze served with Caribbean Peas & Brown Rice. Or as my favorite honorary Jamarican called it, "Rice an' pea, an' schtew chikun an' ting". The grill (indoor, of course in NYC) and the blackberries are a nice little nod to the departing season. The use of Autumn spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger) is like a sweet welcoming wave from a Southern belle (Me!).  

Autumn Spice Grilled Chicken with Blackberry Glaze

Serves 4

 

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 4 (3-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• Cooking spray
• 1 10-ounce jar seedless blackberry jam or preserves
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 2 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
• Fresh blackberries (optional)

Instructions:

1. Prepare grill.
2. Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle spice mixture evenly over chicken. Place chicken on grill rack coated with cooking spray; cook chicken 6 minutes on each side or until done.
3. While chicken grills, combine jam and next 5 ingredients in a nonstick skillet. Simmer over medium-low heat 8 minutes or until glaze is reduced to 1/2 cup. Drizzle glaze evenly over chicken; garnish with blackberries, if desired. Serve immediately.

Caribbean Peas & Brown Rice

Ingredients:

•  1 (13 1/2 ounce) can coconut milk
•  1 cup chicken broth
•  1 tablespoon Caribbean jerk seasoning
•  Kosher salt for boiling water
•  1 cup brown rice
•  1 cup frozen green pea

Instructions:

1. Combine coconut milk, chicken broth, jerk seasoning and salt in medium saucepan. Cover and bring to boil on high. 
2.  Stir rice mix into boiling mixture.
3.  Cover, return to boil, and cook 2 minutes stirring occasionally.
4.  Reduce to low; cook 20 minutes covered, without stirring, or until rice is tender.
5.  Stir in peas cover and cook 5-6 minutes until peas are heated.

Wine Pairing: Lini 910 'Labrusca' Lambrusco Rosso Reggiano NV

Using both a glaze and rub helps to build up the layers of flavor in this dish. It's sweet and spiced, so that makes it a little difficult to pair. So what do we need to find? We need something red for the blackberries, and perhaps a little sweet to balance the spiciness. Oops... and now here's comes the ginger throwing a wrench in the plans. Wait. Don't panic. All is not yet lost. Just pop the cork on this Lambrusco. A touch of sweet, spicy, fruity, red and it's a sparkling...  We have a winner, folks! Serve chilled on a mild Autumn evening with this dish should be spectacular! 


Today is my best friend Shawn's birthday. She was the one who inspired (more like pushed) me to start my own blog and encouraged (more like nagged) me to keep it up. She is my sister, the mother to my beautiful godchildren, and somehow she has became my mother as well. Shawn truly believes that I should have my own show, be the Next Food Network Star or MasterChef. In fact, she says it each time they start a new season. I love her. So, it was only fitting that I launched my blog on her birthday. Oooh... I just realized that also means it's Eat Up & Wine Down's 1st Anniversary!

To my best friend, sister and manager...

Happy Birthday, Shawn!!!

... and Happy Anniversary EUWD!

So come on everyone and celebrate! Let's Eat Up & Wine Down... and don't forget to follow me on Facebook.

They Grow Up So Fast...

Two weeks ago on September 19, by a lake with the setting sun as their background, my baby brother Emile got married his sweetheart Sterlin!!! :)










 The ceremony was simple yet beautiful. The look on my brother's face as his beautiful bride Sterlin walked towards him was priceless. I tried to keep it together but once he read out the vows he wrote for her... the floodgates opened. I believed I cried enough for everybody at the wedding even the bride. These were not sad tears, they were tears of joy and happiness for Emile and Sterlin. I barely made it through my toast to the both of them at the reception without crying... then again that may have been the tequila.

So to celebrate the beautiful union of my brother and the sweet Sterlin, I have decided to share my recipe for Heavenly Hash Cake, Emile's favorite. I wrote about it in a post last year. Every time I came home for the holidays, he would have me make him his own cake separate from the family's. Sometimes I even used it as a bribe to get my brother to do my bidding. So Sterlin, this recipe will probably prove to be very useful for you as well.

Heavenly Hash Cake (aka The Bribe)
Yields: 1  9x13 cake

Ingredients

Cake:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 sticks butter, soften
• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 4 tablespoons cocoa 
• 1 to 2 cups walnuts, chopped
• 2 teaspoons vanilla 
• 1 bag large marshmallows

Icing:

• 1 box confectioner's sugar
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Mix by hand the eggs, sugar and butter.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, cocoa, walnuts and vanilla. Add this to the egg mixture.
4. Bake in a well greased and floured pan for 20-25 minutes.
5. When done, cut large marshmallows in half and place on cake while hot. Return to oven for a few minutes more.
6. Combine all icing ingredients and stir until smooth.
7. Pour icing over hot cake and marshmallows. 

So come on everyone! Let's Eat Up & Wine Down... and don't forget to follow me on Facebook.

 

 Aww... just look at that chubby, happy baby! Isn't he the cutest thing ever?!

Sorry Emile. I just had to do it because you will always be my baby brother...

Let me stop before I start crying again.