Chicken Wrapped Prosciutto with Cajun Honey Mustard

So as I fell asleep last night visions of recipes danced in my head--what if I stuffed chicken with prosciutto? And. Honey Musta..no....CAJUN Honey Mustard....and cheese. Yeah, cheese.

Yeah yeah, forget about sugarplums and whatnot. These are the things I think about as I go to sleep. Leave me alone.

You see, as I mentioned yesterday, if the Next Food Network Star folks DID decide to call me back ::obligatory eye roll goes here:: I'd have to have 30 original recipes ready to go at a moment's notice. I determined last night that I'm at 18 Food Network-ready recipes:

Cedar Plank Salmon
Jack Daniels Salmon
Fried Bell Pepper with Mozzarella and Pico De Gallo
Spicy Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin
Peach Cobbler
Steak Au Poivre with Portobello Mushroom and Vidalia Onion Sauce
Steak Au Poivre the first way
My Nachos
Summer Salad
Cinnamon Poached Apples with fruit coulis
Sweet and Spicy Buffalo Wings
Lime Chicken Vinaigrette
Chicken and Rice Soup
Nouveau Shrimp Cocktail (is this four recipes or one?)
Macaroni And cheese
Hot and Sour Seafood Soup
Baked Brie

So I came up with two recipes as I fell asleep last night, and tonight was the first attempt--pretty good, but with a couple of things I need to tweak.

Butterflied and flattened some chicken breasts, topped with prosciutto, italian seasoning, cayenne, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper, havarti cheese (next time I'll use something a bit more pungent), wrapped them and speared them with some wooden skewers to hold in place.

Then made a cajun honey mustard that, from my best guess, was about 1/2 cup honey and dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne, 1/2 tablespoon of black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of seasoned salt.

This time, I coated the chicken in cream before dipping in panko bread crumbs. Next time, it will be coated in the honey mustard and then dipped in the bread crumbs. Fried at 375 degrees, served on a bed of baby greens, and drizzled with the cajun honey mustard.

Definitely a keeper.

Next up, ceviche summer rolls. Yeah, a brotha can do fusion too. HAH!

Yeah, Yeah, I Know....

It has been a full month since my last post. Totally unacceptable. Especially since, in that month, I've made some super interesting and tasty foods, including but not limited to:

• an experiment with fried mashed potatoes that has serious serious potential
• shrimp tempura maki
• Steak au poivre with a portobello mushroom and onion sauce (three times)
  
• my cedar plank salmon, complete with actual recipe
• fried bell pepper with mozarella and pico de gallo
• a wonderful batch of garlic mashed potatoes
• Spicy Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin
  
• and of course, our southern food night on July 4: Fried Green Tomatoes Oscar, Southern Fried Catfish, Collard Greens, Baked Garlic Cheese Grits, Tangy Green Bean Salad, Cornbread, and Peach Cobbler

So why the random hiatus? A couple of things, actually--the first being the death of my digital camera (Get him one for his birthday!) What? Who said that?? Anyway...

Yes, my digital camera went caput sometime post July 4 and before I tried to blog about July 4. And I realized that a good portion of why I love blogging about my food is getting to look back and take pictures.

Also, my facebook feed broke--the one that pulled all my posts from Blogger directly into facebook. My detailed studies (read random guesses) indicate that most of you read these posts when they pop up on facebook. And since they won't anymore, blech.

But I'm over all that silliness and back on the blog...er...block. Didn't you miss my nerd puns?

I also finished my audition video and application for Next Food Network Star. It's up on myspace. Or right here: Check out this video: NFNS 3 submission videos



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I'm about 90% happy with it. I wish I had danced more. But of course, can't I say that about my life in general?

So theoretically, if these Food Network folks WERE interested, they said they would need 30 original recipes immediately. I think this is an interesting project for me in general. So I'm gonna get to work on compiling 30 original recipes.

Hm. Does Nouveau Shrimp Cocktail count as 1 or 4?

Quintessentially Me

Sometime in the next month I'll record an audition video for The Next Food Network Star. In it, I'll need to prepare a dish that is quintessentially me.

Any ideas? I've toyed around with one of the nouveau shrimp cocktail combinations. The lime chicken vinaigrette is obviously one of my favorite original recipes. I'm trying to think of something that will balance gourmet T with practical, simple T.

Just thinking out loud. :-)