D is for Duck, Doritos, Dinner, Dark Chocolate, Dates & Dessert

"G'day Blogistan! Milo, Laverne, and Shirley here. Hope you are enjoyed your weekend. We sure did!"

Milo: "Mama said we can kick off letter 'D' this week. "D" is for dried duck breast strips, kinda like duck jerky! We loves 'em. Mama gets 'em at Costco, where else?"

L & S: "After our morning walk, we eats yummy breakfast. Then we all line up and get a ducky treat. Mama has to let us know whose turn it is, otherwise we gets confused. We thinks all treats for us! BOL!!!"


Captain Morgan: "Harumph. See what I mean? Can you believe those hairy beasts eat one of my kind? How dare they? And people wonder why I'm always grumpy 'round here. As for me, "D" is for Doritos. Yup, you heard me. D-o-r-i-t-o-s. I love 'em more than humans do. That mommy lady is always feeding me "healthy" stuff, but every once in a while she can be nice. She knows how much I love processed cheese foods, so I get a Dorito. Or two. She can be stingy like that."

As for BelovEd and I, "D" is for Valentine's "D"inner, "d"ark chocolate, and "d"ates! :-) Since Ed had to work most of the weekend, we didn't have Valentine Dinner until 9:30 last night. It was delicious and worth the wait.

When were in Connecticut over Christmas, we had dinner at an outstanding Italian restaurant, Tarantino's in Westport. If you're up that way, you must try it. It is an expensive place, so definitely a destination for special occasions, unless you're a gajillionaire. One of their house dishes was a veal cutlet, pounded & tenderized thin, lightly flaked and given a quick saute. It was served over a HUGE bed of cool, crisp salad fixings tossed with a yummy oil and vinegar dressing. Our Auntie A ordered it and it was delicious.

I'm not a big fan of veal. Not because it isn't delicious. I just have a hard time swallowing a baby cow. I know it seems illogical since I eat meat anyway, but who said Tigers are logical? So, I decided to recreate the dish with thinly sliced chicken breasts. I par-freeze the giant breasts so that they're easier to slice. They marinated for 24 hours in buttermilk, garlic powder, salt & pepper.
I used Panko breadcrumbs instead of regular ones. Panko crumbs don't absorb a ton of oil and food comes out crispier. I don't buy breadcrumbs preseasoned since I prefer to do it myself. I f you can, always make it yourself. You then have control over the amount of salt you take in. This mix was simple: Panko, good grated parmesan, kosher salt, pepper, parsley flakes, and basil.

The dressing is SO simple. 1 or 2 cloves of garlic pasted with a little salt in a mortar & pestle. Add good olive oil and good balsamic vinegar (I really like white balsamic for salad dressings) and then pour it over your salad. You don't need as much dressing if you toss it in a bowl with your salad. It coats everything evenly. My salad had two kinds of romaine, red onion, grap tomatoes, good olives, and fresh mozzarella cubed. Toss it all together let the flavors marry in the fridge while you make your chicken.
Ready for the pan.


Use a large, heavy bottomed pan for the saute/light fry. I have a 14" All Clad frying (it is HUGE) that is another one of my work horses in the kitchen. Don't use a saute pan that has high sides because it creates steam over your food. The sides of this pan are flared and it allows your food to crisp better. Good olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan, not too much. A pat of butter gives you flavor and good browning properties, while the olive oil's high burn temperature allows you to cook all your chicken without having to continuously add butter.

Then it's time to get cookin'! Since I sliced the chicken thin, and it was marinated & tenderized in buttermilk, I didn't have to cook it for very long. About 2-4 minutes on each side and then turn. A little bit of prep work and you avoid having to use a lot of oil (translation=additional calories) to cook your chicken. They are in and out of the pan in no time.

Did you notice my heart shaped chicken cutlet? I was pretty proud of my chicken slicing technique. :-)

Of course, if you really want your dinner to turn out special, make sure you have trusty kitchen helpers. The furry, four-legged species are preferred.

Just make sure you don't trip over them.

They are especially handy during clean-up. Who needs a Hoover when you've got these girls?

The final dinner plate should have a GIANT mound of salad greens topped with your cutlets. Nothing else. You don't need bread or any other distraction. This was delicious. You have to know what it tastes like to have a bit of cool, crisp greens intermingled with a crispy, warm, savory bite of tender chicken. Oh my dog.

Ed's plate had the heart-shaped cutlet. :-) He doesn't like grape tomatoes or red pepper strips.

But I do!

Although Valentine's dinner was later than usual this year, it was still special and delicious. Ed loved the dinner and even had more chicken. It made me happy to see his appetite return a little bit. He slept like a sweet baby afterwards.

Speaking of sweet, I have one. I'm talking about my tooth. I have a sweet one.:-) So, "d"essert is a great part of the English vocabulary. This is our treat counter. From left to right, we've got ginger, dark chocolate pretzels, milk & white chocolate pretzels (Ed's), and then a jar of dates and figs.
Mine are the dark chocolate pretzels. I had 3 after dinner last night. I can't let myself have more than 3, or I'll eat the entire jar. Ed doesn't like dark chocolate. (Huh!?) I also had a date. Do you like dates? That is definitely a throwback to growing up in an Afghan household. One of my favorite dried fruits is the date. I love dates! And they are very good for you healthwise. I eat them with a handful of almonds or walnuts after a workout, which helps to balance out their sweetness. Try one sometime if you're new to them.

That's it for "D" now. Check out Jen's blog to see what other folks cooked up for this glorious letter. Thanks for visiting!