Pie In The Sky

It seems like I have been focused on many other things other than cooking with Ike - and recently with all the activity I haven't really been doing much cooking with anyone..   But here is photos of the end product and the recipe  (all credit to Alton Brown and Food Network).  I want to reinforce the fact this pie with it's limited amount of sugar (1/2 cup for 4 cups of blueberries) and the 5 Tbsps of Tapioca were sufficient to keep this pie set up and not runny.. JUST make SURE you give it the proper time to rest before cutting into it.. 

Blueberry Pie

 

 

 
 

Last of the season

Well as of 3/31 our hunting season is over until the Fall, so we took the opportunity to do one last continental shoot out at Hickory Grove with our sportsman club.  While I enjoy the continental shoot - an "Americanized" version of the old driven hunts from Europe I really go for the clean up afterwards to let Ike work finding the birds that get away. 
We had really good weather - muddy, as the recent warmth had driven the frost from the ground and some of the slogging through the cornfields got pretty tough but we had a good time.  I had asked my neighbor to go and he brought his GSP from the same breeder we got Ike from and they really worked well together...  Check out this picture of 3 GSPs all honoring each other on point for a single bird (Ike's the top one and Shayna is the one on the bottom).  Ike really worked well - it seemed like I was always saying, "Ike's on point." 

Good time was had by all and as of now Ike is in semi-retirement at least until this fall!! 
Happy Easter everyone.

OK, So I shouldn't quit my day job...

But we got hit with a big snowstorm - heavy wet packable snow so after I made a life size snowman,

I thought I would take the inspiration from our neighbor who last year build a family of snow people (and included Ike in their family "portrait") and try one for myself..  Granted I won't quit my day job (or even my night job !!) to start snow sculpturing, but I thought it was pretty cool...

 

At least this bird dog will lock up and not move when I say. "Whoa"!  Just kiddin' Ikey.

 



Few Cooking items

Hi everyone..
Getting ready to be hit with a foot of snow  - if  the forecasters are a little more accurate than they were in New York last week :).  So I cooked up some pheasant parmesan tonight and found a few other pics on the camera too.. Some go back a few months but I'll share them anyway..
 First the Pheasant Parm...
As you know we went hunting last week and wanted to use a little differently than I had before and I had some left over frozen Bolognese Sauce and home made pasta from Christmas so I thought why not try that..

Just replaced the traditional veal or chicken with both boned out sides of a pheasant breast... breaded them in panko fried to a nice golden brown and melted some provolone over them.. Pretty tasty.

As you know from a previous post I bought a Himalayan Salt Stone and I did some scallops on it with a some "bowtie" pasta with cherry tomatoes and fresh basil with Olive Oil..  It really worked nicely and added a definite salty subtleness to the scallops..

I made an interesting side dish for Christmas too - roasted Sweet potatoes, Brussel Sprouts and Shallots with a little sea salt, pepper and Olive Oil.  Then made a dressing of  Pomegranate juice and Balsamic Vinegar and roasted for a few more minutes.. They were very good - if you haven't tried brussel sprouts roasted you really should give them another chance..

More Hunting with Ike

Hello everyone
We went out for a continental shoot at a preserve with our sportsman club and I have some video of the clean up afterwards.  Sorry about the quality - the size required me to keep at lower resolution...
Enjoy!

Cooked up a storm over the Holidays

Hello again - I already shared my go to apple pie recipe I made for my family's Christmas but over the holidays, it has become a tradition for us to host some of my wife's family (those of us without children or for those where the children have grown and have their own traditions).  We used to go to an early meal at a little family Italian restaurant-but about 3 years ago, the owners decided after about 3 decades to retire and closed the shop.  So I volunteered to take it on at our house..  Each year the menu changes a little bit but we stay in the Italian theme.
I included links to the recipes - and their sources - in the spirit of full disclosure.  Everyone of them were GREAT!
I hope to have some pics of that but here was the menu for Christmas Eve at Ike's house:

Home Made Bolognese sauce lasagna and bolognese
Home made Marina sauce,
Lasagna (with the Bolognese),
Home made Pasta, (all kinds of noodles) pasta recipe
Home Made Lobster Ravioli - using the pasta recipe above (with Cognac Cream sauce) Lobster ravioli
Home made Trifle - with raspberries, blueberries and home grown strawberries from my Aunt.
It was pretty good if I do say so myself.  My brother and sister in laws brought salad and wine and some bread...  Sounds like we were carbo loading (we were-and we weren't running a marathon the next day either). 
My wife purchase for me a commercial pasta cooker, one that holds about 5 gallons of water and has 4 separate "buckets" to cook individual pasta to order...  Just dropped in the fresh pasta, cook for a few minutes and finish in a skillet with the sauce to order... Man I love that thing :)

Pasta cooker

But here is what I have some pics of...  a New Years day Italian sausage and tomato quiche and a home made pizza I made with some of the left over sausage.....   While I didn't make the quiche crust from scratch I did make the pizza dough..... I wish I could afford one of those brick ovens to cook pizza in.. :)


Tomato quiche

Home made pizza with sausage, mushroom and goat cheese
 

Took Ike hunting again and he did pretty well... Better than I did - Man it was cold that day and so was my shooting (again)...  One little story is worth telling though..  We were calling it a day and were on our way back to the truck when he got birdy - so I let him work and sure enough a rooster flushed - from behind some trees and heading right into the sun 180 degrees away from me..  so I got off a shot and hit him hard, as I saw both legs drop but he was still flying.  He made it over the trees and out of sight but I had an idea of his direction but couldn't see how far or where for sure.  I just knew he wasn't going to make it and nothing bothers me more than to hit a bird and not find him.  So, I loaded Ike up, and we went to the general direction of where I saw the bird go.  When we got there I unloaded Ike, and told him to find that bird.  We checked the ditches, and some treelines and sure enough after about 10 -15 minutes he went over a hill and down a tree line and as I crested the hill there he was standing over the bird.  I swear he was waiting for me to come into sight so he could show me he found it.  He picked it up as I walked up and if dogs could talk I bet he was telling me, "See I told you we would find it!  Now if you could shoot better we wouldn't have this problem."  Once again, Ike pulls my bacon out of the fryer...  So again I close, "Ike, find that bird!"