Bistro Newsletter

On my two days off, Michael and I like to go out to eat for at least one meal and usually we stay in and cook the other evening. Our most recent outing was to Mad Nice downtown Detroit for Sunday brunch. Mad Nice has a swanky Miami vibe with prices to match. Nice cocktails, very pretty service wear, attractive tasty salads, and good pizza. The servers wear white coveralls (reminded me a bit of Willy Wonka’s Oompa Lumpa) and have a keen knowledge of the menu. I was impressed with the restaurant. I’m thinking of putting our girls in coveralls… I’ll see which servers are reading now! Ha-ha!

After being at the restaurant all week, hopping in and out of the kitchen, I like to keep the cooking rather simple at our house. We usually grill a steak, or piece of fish, with some grilled or sauteed veggies. I might make a quick wine sauce, a schmear of pesto or store-bought hummus. If we have a starch we might do risotto, a baked sweet potato or wait for it… I’m human… boxed rice with a seasoning packet. Oh, the shame!!! We like BLTs when tomatoes are in season or burgers when we are feeling lazy. Recently, when we had a few cool days, I made Chicken & Biscuits. I keep this simple as well. Roasted chicken from the market, fresh veggies and biscuits from a can. It’s okay to mix fresh things with store bought items for convenience. We can’t all be June Cleaver EVERY day. I would rather visit with my hubby, walk the dog and enjoy a bottle of wine than roll out dough any day of the week... especially on my days off.
 
Here's my easy Chicken & Biscuits recipe:

In a nice Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot, sauté 1 medium diced onion, 4 diced carrots (I do like organic; they are much sweeter), 3 stalks of diced celery and about 15 whole garlic cloves in olive oil. Season liberally with salt and pepper. In the meantime, pull the meat from your store-bought roasted chicken, leave in large pieces… it will break up as you stir. Melt in 2 Tbl. Butter, stir in an equal amount of flour. Let the raw flour flavor cook off for a minute, add about 1 Qt or less of stock. More seasoning. Add chopped fresh rosemary, sage and thyme if you have it handy in your garden or planter boxes. If not… plant some! You’ll appreciate your herbs year-round. Let simmer for about 15 minutes. Zest in 1 lemon and squirt half of the lemon in, save the other half for whatever is in your glass. Stir in fresh baby kale or spinach for your vitamins, pop a can of Pilsbury Buttermilk Grands biscuits in the oven while the stew simmers for another 12 -15 minutes.

Cheers,
Sharon