Cooking with Scott Halle

The other day I was in the mood to cook and cook I did. I found pieces of recipes and then added the rest. It was quite enjoyable and I even invited a few friends over to try my masterpieces… okay, so I only invited my brother Mark. Thank you Mark. But the other day, I was given the opportunity to really test my cooking abilities. The 18th of January was the birthday of a dear woman that I work with. As I was working, I overheard Penny, this great woman, talking to her husband about what they were going to cook for her birthday dinner. In our home we are responsible for cooking meals for the boys. For some reason, I kind of passed that responsibility over to my other colleges. It has become an unwritten law that Scott does not cook dinner for the boys. Now don’t get me wrong—I love to cook, and I’m not bad at it, but at work we have a budget to work under and so the dinners are not always that exciting—and leave little room for experimentation and creativity. So it was to their surprise when I leaned over and explained that I would like to cook Penny’s birthday dinner. They agreed and off I went to the store to buy ingredients. The whole process was exciting. I enlisted my boys help and we had a well-oiled machine as we grilled, spread, chopped and sliced. Here are the recipes for my meal. I hope that you try things out and experiment past what I have given you. I have made the bruschetta almost every day and have even tried it with avocados. Mmmm! So enjoy the recipe and write back telling me of your cooking adventures. Bon Appetit!

Crusted Parmesan Chicken and Seasoned Red Potatoes

Ingredients
• 1 2 pounds red potatoes
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 large green pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 medium yellow skinned onion, thinly sliced
• 4 large cloves garlic, cracked away from skin
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt and pepper
• 2 cups shredded Parmesan, available in tubs near deli -- make sure to get shredded cheese, not grated
• 4 (6 to 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 Roma tomatoes
• 15 to 20 leaves fresh basil

Directions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Cut potatoes into halves or quarters, depending on thickness of potatoes.
Cover a large cookie sheet with foil. Place potatoes on cookie sheet. Combine with peppers and onions, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Coat the potatoes, peppers and onions with extra-virgin olive oil just enough to coat vegetables in a thin layer, 2 to 3 tablespoons. Season liberally with salt and pepper. The more the merrier. Place potatoes in the oven and roast 20 to 22 minutes, until potatoes are just tender and peppers and onions are crisp at edges. Toss mixture with tongs, turning the potatoes after 15 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked, transfer them to a serving dish.

While potatoes cook, prepare chicken. Roll out a 2-foot piece of waxed paper or foil near the stove top. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat -- your pan must be very hot when the chicken is added. Pile the shredded cheese on the work surface created with the waxed paper. Season your chicken breasts with black pepper but no salt; the cheese will add enough salt to the taste of the dish. (To give the chicken more flavor and to make it more tender, I used a marinade for a couple hours before I cooked it. I used Mesquite, a McCall’s or McCormick brand. If you use a marinade, dab off bulk of the marinade with a paper towel – and then follow next steps) Press the breasts firmly into the cheese. Coat both sides of breasts with as much cheese as possible. Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil to the skillet, 1 turn of the pan. Set breasts into the skillet and cook 7-10 minutes on each side, until cheese forms an even, golden casing around the tender chicken breasts.
While chicken cooks, combine chopped tomatoes with basil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste.

Drain off any excess oil from chicken as you remove it from the skillet. Top chicken with big spoonfuls of raw sauce and serve with potatoes, peppers and onions.

Bruschetta

Ingredients
• 15-30 leaves of Basil
• 1 loaf of thick bread – Harmons has the best Rosemary Olive Oil bread ever. It works best. Or find a nice baguette.
• 4 Roma tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Olive oil

Directions

Slice bread at 45 degree angle. Toast on both sides on a warm skillet until golden brown. When toasted, slice garlic clove and spread on toasted bread. Then coat bread with extra-virgin olive oil. Once done, place mixture of tomatoes and basil on the bread and enjoy.

The whole cooking process takes no more than 30 minutes. It is simple and delicious.