Was It an Apple or a Fig? Let's cook Stuffed Chicken Breast

Hello there to all you wonderful foodies out there in web land.  I hope all is well with you and yours.  Today we are going to talk about that wonderful fruit called the fig.  It comes in about 50 different varieties or more.  It comes in colors like yellow, brown,and green.  Figs have been around for centuries.  Figs are a symbol of abundance, fertility, and sweetness.  Boy fertility, am glad I didn't eat alot of them when I was younger!!!  Figs contain something called Ficin, which is a natural meat tenderizer.  The most famous product of the fig is you guessed it, the Fig Newton and I eat alot of the little morsels.  Figs have alot of fibre and you can bake with them, make fig preserves and full them for B.B.Q.  Remember Eve wore a Fig leaf, so I have a question for you did she really eat an Apple or a Fig?  Some scholars believe the forbidden fruit picked by Eve was a fig rather then a apple.  Am leaving it there for you to wonder about.  Recipe Follows:

Fig Stuffed Chicken Breast With Mascarpone Cheese

4 Boneless Chicken Breast
8 Oz Mascarpone Cheese
2 large shallots
2 t. Butter
2 T. Olive Oil
2 T. Brown Sugar
1 Cup White Wine
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. all spice
pinch of salt
12 rip figs
2 hot peppers, your choice
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
2 T. butter melted
4 pieces Bacon cooked

Cut the chicken in the middle to butterfly so it lays opened like a book.  Brown the shallots and peppers in butter and olive oil, mix with the cheese, shallots, sugar, and spices.  Cut up figs and mix with cheese. Add about 3/4 of the Ritz crackers to the mixture.  Fill the chicken breast and place them in a heated pan with the olive oil.  Remove and place them in a 9"-13" pan and add the white wine.  You cook about 4 pieces of bacon and add to the rest of the Ritz crackers with 2 tablespoons melted butter and top the chicken breast with it.  Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for about 25 Min's.  Or until done.

Zuppa di Fagioli con la "Pasta Italian Bean Soup"

Hello to all you foodies out there in web land its me again and I hope all is well with you and yours.  Let's take a trip to a little bistro in Italy to eat some Zuppa, Yum.  My friend Caroline went to NY this summer and said that she had the most amazing soup.  She ate it at an Italian eatery in NY.  She asked me if I could try and make her some and I asked her if she could tell me what was in it.  All she could tell me was that it had white beans and noodles in it.  It was topped with fresh Parmesan cheese.  So I was off on my search to find the best soup in the world according to Caroline.  I searched up and down and all around and finally found what I was looking for, sort of speak.  I found a recipe in my book but the ingredients didn't trill me.  So off to the kitchen to add my own little touch to the recipe.  Something that would please Caroline's Palette and the soup that she could not live without!  So I went to work at the cafe kitchen and added alittle of this and that.  The end result had my customers licking the bottom of the bowls.  It was the BOMB as they call it.  You too can have your guest licking the bottoms of the bowls.  I sent some home with Caroline and Norm and they said I hit the nail on the head!  Recipe as follows:

Zuppa

1 package white beans
4 1/2 cups Chicken broth
4 cups Water
1 pound smoked ham chopped
1/2 pound salt pork
1 large onion
3 stalks celery
1 green bell pepper chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
salt pepper to taste
1 T. onion powder
1 T. garlic powder
1 1/2 Teas. oregano
2 teas. basil
2 bay leafs
8 ozs. Italian white cheese
1 1/2 cups cream added last to soup
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese as topper
2 Cups Cooked Pasta, small shells

This recipe serves 10-12 servings.  Cook beans with water and chicken broth, then add all chopped ingredients.  Add meats, seasonings and bring to boil.  Simmer till beans are tender.  Cook the pasta according to directions then rinse noodles when done and add to beans with the cream and cheese.  Simmons for about 10 mins. and when ready  serve topped with Parmesan cheese, a salad and bread.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do and our friends.  Please email me with any questions at madjon51@aol.com.  Send me some recipes to try on TV. You may also watch by going to http://www.aikenstandard.com/ Cooking With Madjon on ASTV95.   Happy trails to you until we meet again.  Hope you are enjoying the cold weather that we seem to be having and stay safe and warm.  Thanks, Eileen Hutson, madjon.

Baby its Cold Outside Lets make "Potato Soup""

Hello to all you foodies out there in web-land.  I hope your new year is working out for you all.  Am sitting here trying to drink my hot tea and entering this blog.  Its after 6 am.  I was so excited to tell you that I will be catering a rehearsal  dinner and a wedding in February and the mother-in-law to be's sister is a big fan of the cooking show and of me so it gave me a idea to do a tasting of some of the menu on the show with the sister fan.   Hopefully she will come on the air with me. I will let you know.  I can't wait and for your FYI I just drunk some of the tea I made and I don't know how any body can drink this brand, not me  sister, am going to get me some coffee in a little bit!  Today am going to talk to some people about sponsoring the TV show.  Wish me luck.  Baby its cold outside and it really is!!  So am going to make you a recipe for meatless "Potato Soup" which is one soup I love with a little cheese on top.  Can't wait for you to try it.  Recipe follows.

Potato Soup

1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
1 stick butter melted
1 teas. onion powder
1 teas. garlic powder
1 1/2 teas. Mrs''s Dashes
3 stalks celery cup up
2 bay leafs
2 carrots peeled and cut in rings
Salt & Pepper to taste
4 bouillon cubes chicken
optional 1 slice of Ham cut up plus 3 strips bacon cut up
1 can whole corn drained
1 Cup Whole milk
2 T. Corn Starch or flour
He He I almost forgot the potato's, 10 peeled  and cut up
Melt butter in pan and add onions, celery, garlic, cook till clear add ham, bacon if you wish.  Peel and cut up potato's, add the flour,mix  add all to the pot and then add water to the top of potato's.  Add all other ingredents to pot except milk and bring to a simmer and cook till potatos are tender and you can litely mash them.  Turn down the heat and add the milk.  If the soup seems to thin for you add a little more flour or corn starch.  Serve hot topped with cheese.  If you add the bacon to the mix just make sure that it is browned with the ham.

Well am off to get me some coffee before it is to busy because am still in my PJ's and that's how I'm.  I hope you like this recipe on a cold winters night.  My family likes it.  Please let me know how you like it.  Happy trails to you and yours until we meet again.   Eileen Hutson, madjon and don't forget to watch the TV show.

Cooking With Madjon Season Two Black Bean Cheese Burgers "Yum"

Hello to all you foodies out there in webland I hope all is well.  Am so excited to be filming for my second season as "Cooking With Madjon and Friends".  It airs Feb. 7th on ASTV 95, with Atlantic Broadband and you may view the shows on the web by going to www.aikenstandard.com  and type in the show name.  If you want to view some recipes from last season go to www.aikenstandard.com/cooking.  Any who we filmed today and I made French Onion Soup, Black Bean Cheeseburgers, Mandarin Almond Salad with a Fig Salad Dressing, and a Lemonade Meringue Pie.  For your FYI I think this is the year of the pie.  You know French Onion Soup was invented because it was a cheaper way to feed a lot of workers in France years and years ago.  I love soups of any kind, don't you?  They make you feel all warm inside.  I make them at my cafe year round.  It took us 4 to 5 hours to shoot today only because I had to get back in the swing of things.   I wasn't ready when they came to film.  It will take me a while to shape up!  When you do live TV it works a lot faster then when you film.  The only thing bad that happened today is I over toasted the bread for the soup because I forgot to set the timer.  Well any who my hubby is still out of town and while we were filming I had to call him and ask where the ladle was because if you have been keeping up with me you know he was home for six weeks for his leg and he went though my kitchen and rearranged all my gadgets in my drawers and I can't find a thing!  He was talking about retiring but I think he needs to stay at work and leave the kitchen to me!  Do you ladies agree?  Any who am going to close for now and leave you with one of the recipes from the show today and so I say to you Happy trails to you until we meet again.  Please try the recipes and let me know how you like the blog.  See Ya, Eileen Hutson, madjon.

Black Bean Cheese Burgers

2 cans Black Beans
2 Green Onions
1/4 Cup Cilantro
1 T. Chopped Garlic
1 t. Cumin
1 t. onion powder
1t. garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
 1 T. Liquid Smoke
2 Egg Whites
3 T. Wheat Flour
2 T. Olive Oil

Drain the beans, mash the beans, chop the onions, cilantro, and mix all other ingredients.  Heat some olive oil in pan and spoon out bean mixture and turn when browned on one side.  Cook till it looks like a hamburger and then top with cheese.  Serve with toasted rolls.  This makes about 6 to 8 burgers.  If you have any problems just write me.  Thanks and enjoy.

New Year's Oyster Poor- Boy's

Hello there to all you foodies out there in webland.  I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and am wishing you a Happy New Year.  I've been busy closing one door in my life and opening another.  I will fill you in later as to the other door.  Any who as I look back on 2010 it went very fast and I had a very busy year.  My catering picked up along with my business and I see an exciting year for me in 2011.  In March I've been invited to cook with 28 other chefs in Atlanta for Les Marmitons and I choose the menu, also in March I will be cooking for some foreign dignatary's coming into Aiken.  My new cooking season starts Febuary 1st.  Can't wait!  My hubby is in Texas at the ranch with Tim & Debbie for New Year's and at the ranch on New Year's Eve they fry oysters so am going to send you all a recipe for some fried oyster poor -boys made the Texas way.

Oyster-Poor-Boys

12 raw oysters-cleaned
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup self-rising corn meal
salt and pepper to taste
1 teas. Old Bay
1 teas. onion powder
1 teas. garlic powder
1/2 teas red pepper spice
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg mixed
4 rolls
Mix all dry goods, mix egg and buttermilk in a bowl, dip oysters in dry mix, then wet mix and then dry again. 
Fry in hot oil until golden brown, drain  Scoop out the bread from some hard rolls or subs.  Spray with pan and toast till brown.  Add some tartar sauce onto rolls and fill with oysters. you will love these.

Try these and let me know how its going for you.  Happy trails to you and yours until we meet again.  Oh and for your FYI I will also be working on a couple of books next year.  Have a great new year!  Eileen Hutson, madjon.

       

Life's A Bitch Make Clam Chowder

Well hello again to all you foodies out there in web land.  I hope your week is going better then mine.  Yesterday we got notice that the mall that Madjon's cafe is in is closing so am losing my lease.  We have until Jan. 10th to leave.  Is that not a pisser, that's all I can say on here anyway, boy believe me I have been yelling it @#@#@#@#@!  After building my business up for the last 3 years, without a vacation or a fun time to be had they come in and throw a piece of paper at me telling me that the mall is closing.  My whole heart is in the cafe.  How do I say this, the people who love my food and love me.   They are my family and my heart hurts that I may not see them again.  I've cried with them and laughed with them.  I've won about 37 food awards at my cafe. The problem with another place is MONEY, you know that green stuff which I don't have a lot of to invest in a company because I put all my money back into the cafe to pay people, etc, etc.  If you have ever been in business you know how that goes.  Any who my heart is very sad this week and I have been crying like a baby.  I want to go to the parking lot and yell my lungs out!  Everyone keeps saying that when one door closes another one opens, I only hope I know when to walk though that door.   Any who I hope your holidays are great for you and yours.  Let's talk Madjon's Clam Chowder, you will love this.  I made up the recipe for a TV show we did at Simply Kitchen in Augusta, Ga.  Lucy is a very nice lady.  Hey Lucy!   One of Lucy's employees emailed me begging for the recipe because she took some of it home and her son, whom she can get to hardly eat fell in love with it and from what I understand she makes it all the time for him.  Recipe Follows:

Madjon's Clam Chowder

1 stick butter, melted
1 large onion, chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
1 ham steak cut up
1 bag carrots sticks
4 to 5 pounds white potato's cubed
1/2 pound smoked bacon cooked crisp, save drippings
1 tabs. garlic chopped
2 bay leafs
1 teas. Mrs's Dashes
1 tabs onion powder
1 teas. garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
dried parsley flecks
1 teas thyme
1 teas Old Bay
Hot Sauce a little
4 Chicken Cubes
32 oz Chicken Broth
1 jar clam juice
4 small or Large cans of chopped clams, not the paper (he he)
1 pint Half and Half

Peel and cut up potato's, melt butter, add onion, garlic, celery,bacon cooked with a little fat, and carrots, cook till onions are clear.  Add all spices and broth, cubes, bay leafs and whatever I have forgotten to mention to the pot even the potato's but not the half and half.  Cook till the potato's are tender and add the half and half.  Serve with some cheese on top like cheddar.

Please let me know how you like this chowder, I know my family loves it.  I hope your week is better then mine is and also I hope the door does open and I know when to walk though it.  Happy trails to you and yours until we meet again, Eileen Hutson, madjon.

Merry Christmas

Hello all you foodies out there in webland I just want to say Merry Christmas to you and yours.  I've been busy with family, friends and the cafe.  I finished my filming of Cooking With Madjon and Friends Christmas show last week.  To which am going to share 2 of the recipes with you all to try for the holidays.  First have you finished shopping for Christmas? Well I haven't as yet.  My hubbys birthday was on the 19th of Nov. and I bought him some pants that needed exchanged for a smaller size (I wish I had that problem) but anywho I went to the store to exchange the pants and there were 4 salespeople at the counter and only 1 customer and the young man asked me what I needed help with and when I told him I wanted to make an exchange his whole being changed.  He pointed me in the direction of where he thought the pants were now and when I asked him for some help all he says is I think they are over that way and pointed but a very nice lady saw what I was thinking and took me in the direction where she thought the pants were and helped me find my exchange.  Well when we got back to the counter the young man was gone and another person helped me.  She asked me if he had done this or that and I said no and told her that it was OK that he wasn't there anyway because he acted like a turd when he found out all I needed was an exchange.  So all the sales people started laughing at the counter and when I was leaving I overheard them explaning to him that all I wanted was help finding the pants and that was the reason he was a turd.  Any who this time of year is hard on all retail people and to them I tip my hat and say thanks so much for your duty at this time of year and I even say it to the young turd man.  That's my story and am sticking to it!  Ok now I have a funny story for you while we were on our way home from DC we stopped to eat.  As we were leaving I went to the restroom and as I walked in the stall I thought these are really clean seats.  While am in the stall I hear someone come in and when I came out of the stall there in front of me was my husband and I said either am in the wrong bathroom or you are and he says, Eileen didn't you see the lateens?  I said no, I paid no attention to them.  Now have you ever done that!  Am only human!  Come on I know you have.  Well here's to you finding help in the stores and your way to the right bathrooms for your gender.   OK now let's get back to food.  I made a Ham with pineapple and cherries, Christmas Yum Balls, and a Apple Walnut Salad with a Cranberry Dressing that I made up a recipe for and they are very tasty.  So here we go now!

Christmas Yum Ball's

5 to 6 cooked yams, cut up
1 stick butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup marshmallow creme
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1 teas. cinnamon
1/2 teas. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teas. ginger
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cup crushed frosted corn flakes

Peel and cook the yams, drain, mix the next 6 ingredents, then mix the pecans and corn flakes together.  Roll the yams into balls and roll in dry mix and place on a cookie sheet to cool for about 1 hour.  Then deep fry until golden brown.  These a very yummmm.

Apple Walnut Salad With Cranberry Dressing

4 to 5 cups mixed salad greens
1 cup roasted walnuts chopped
2 apples chopped
Blu cheese crumbled

Dressing
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 teas. vanilla
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teas. seasoned salt
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup cranberry sauce

Mix the greens and top with the other ingredents.  Mix all ingredents for the dressing and serve with the green salad.  This was yummm as well.

I do want you to know that tonight I took a hayride though the woods at 30 degrees with my family to look at Christmas lights and we ate hot dogs, and drunk hot chocolate at Breezy Hill Church and it was wonderful.  If you live in this area they are holding it though Friday.  I hope you try these recipes and let me know how they turn out for you.  To you and yours I say Happy Trails until we meet again.  I will be adding a couple more recipes for you before Christmas and the Christmas show will air on the 15th of this month on ASTV95 http://www.aikenstandard.com/ .  See Ya, Eileen Hutson, madjon.