Chef/owner James “Mac” Moran, former Executive Chef de Cuisine of Todd English’s “Olives” restaurant, goes switches out the chicken for jerked quail, the gravy for miso-sweet potato purée and the waffles for homemade waffle ice cream cones filled with the sweet potato purée and a topping of smoked maple “fluff.”

Personally, we’ll keep going up to the Rusty Mackerel rather than attempting to make it at home. But if you’ve got the chops, Chef Mac has shared his recipe for the accompaniments. Prepare your own favorite recipe for chicken, jerked quail or any bird that suits your fancy.

Spice Mix Ingredients

 
Spice Mix Preparation

1. COMBINE all ingredients and store them in an airtight container.

2. RUB onto your meat of choice, roughly about 1-1/2 teaspoons per serving. For best results, marinate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to penetrate the meat.

 
Miso Sweet Potato Purée Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. SIMMER potatoes in chicken stock until tender and cooked through. Place into a food processor (the restaurant uses a Vitamix, filling no more than half way (process in to batches if necessary).

2. ADD the miso paste as the appliance pulverizes the potato, mixing until thoroughly integrated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. STUFF into waffle cones and top with “marshmallow fluff” (both recipes are below). Also use as “gravy drops” (see photo below).

 
Smoked Maple Marshmallow “Fluff” Ingredients

 
*A thickener and stabilizer similar to egg whites or gelatin but much more powerful.

Smoked Maple Marshmallow “Fluff” Preparation Ingredients

1. PLACE maple syrup in a half hotel pan (a deep roasting pan—here’s more about hotel pans) and place into a full hotel pan.

2. ADD the tinder into a 1/9 size pan and place inside the full hotel pan parallel to the maple. Ignite to create good smoke. Cover with aluminum foil and allow to smoke. For best results, let it steep overnight.

3. PLACE into blender and add the versa whip, allowing the blender to shear it thoroughly. Add mixture to a Kitchen Aid mixer (or equivalent) with a whip attachment and blend on high until stiff peaks appear. Put into a piping bag and pipe to fit top of waffle cones. You can also pipe smaller sizes as plate decorations.
 
Waffle Cone Ingredients

The restaurant makes their own, but you can buy cones:

 
Waffle Cone Preparation

1. WHIP the cream until mousse-like. Sift the remaining ingredients together stir them into the cream mixture. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes.

2. HEAT the waffle iron and brush with little oil. Pour in some batter folllowing the manufacturer’s specifications. Once browned, move quickly and roll the waffle over itself to form a cone. Let cool on the waffle mold.

Serve with the chicken/poultry preparation of your choice.

Whew! We’re exhausted just from reading this recipe. It‘s time to head to The Rusty Mackerel and let the professionals do the work.
  

We recently received several bottles of pickles that were simply bland: both dills and half sours.

The solution: Add a half tablespoon of sriracha or other hot sauce to the jar, shake, and come back in a day. If you don’t like heat, try the juice of one lime.

> The different types of pickles: a photo glossary.

> The history of pickles.
 
 
REUSE THE BRINE

When the last pickle has been enjoyed, the brine (a.k.a. pickle juice) can create an entire second jar of delights, or be added to another kind of dish.

These work with brine from any pickled vegetables or fruits:

Barbecue Sauce. Most any barbecue sauce is improved with some brine—it adds tanginess and—depending on the complexity of the brine—dimensions of flavor.

Cook. Mix brine in with the mayo for potato salad and cole slaw—it adds flavor and lowers the calories. Add to gazpacho: in food processor, purée tomatoes, onions, green pepper and cucumbers or zucchini. Thin with a little tomato juice and add the spicy brine.

Substitute it for part of the vinegar in a vinaigrette, for salad dressing or coleslaw.

Here’s a recipe for Macaroni And Cheese from ILovePickles.org:

Drink. Add to tomato juice or Bloody Marys. Instead of squeezing a wedge of lime into a beer, stir 1/8 cup dill pickle liquid into 12 ounces of your favorite beer and garnish with a pickle spear or dilly bean.

And don’t forget the Dirty Martini!

Freeze. Turn the brine into tangy ice pops, or into ice cubes for a Bloody Mary, tomato or vegetable juice.

Marinate. You can use most brines to marinate fish, poultry, vegetables or tofu. Add a little olive oil and chopped fresh herbs if you like.

Refill The Pickle Bottle. When you finish with the original contents, add more vegetables: beets, bell pepper strips, carrot sticks, cauliflower, cucumber, green beans, sliced onions, etc. Refrigerate for four days and you’ll have more delicious pickled vegetables.

More suggestions? Tell us yours.
 
 

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[2] Boneless chicken breasts are seasoned with adobo (photo © Alleksana | Pexels).

[3] Spice things up with jalapeños (photo © photo © Good Eggs).

Yesterday, we recommended pork pozole recipe to celebrate Día de los muertos. If that didn’t grab you, try these chicken enchiladas suizas with reduced fat, also from Chef Ingrid Hoffman.

“Suizas” means Swiss in Spanish. The thought is that when Swiss people emigrated to Mexico, they brought their dairy-based cuisine with them. Over time, many Mexican dishes became accented with cheese.

These enchiladas are a little lighter than what you might get at a restaurant, but they still pack a strong flavor punch.
 
 
RECIPE: ENCHILADAS SUIZAS

Ingredients For 4 To 6 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the chicken, water, 2 of the garlic cloves, and the adobo in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer until the chicken is opaque when pierced in the thickest part with the tip of a knife, about 15 minutes.

2. TRANSFER the chicken to a cutting board. Strain the cooking liquid into a heatproof bowl and reserve. Let the chicken cool. Using two forks, shred the chicken into bite-size pieces.

3. PURÉE the tomatillos, onion, cilantro, jalapeños, and remaining garlic clove with ¼ cup of the reserved cooking liquid. Transfer to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.

4. STIR in the sour cream and Parmesan. Pour into a wide, shallow dish or bowl.

5. WRAP the tortillas in moistened paper towels. Microwave on high (100%) until the tortillas are pliable, about 15 seconds.

6. POSITION the broiler rack 6 inches from the source of heat and preheat the broiler. Spray a 9 × 13-inch flameproof baking dish with cooking spray. Dip each tortilla in the sauce. Transfer to a plate.

7. PLACE about 2 tablespoons of the chicken on the tortilla and roll it up. Place, seam side down, in the baking dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.

8. BROIL until the cheese is melted, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with the cilantro and serve immediately.

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There’s a new way to sneak more fruit into your day: Yoplait Fruitful, which blends 1/3 cup of real fruit into each carton. Each flavor contains fruit pieces and/or purée.

It’s available in six palate-pleasing flavors: Blueberry, Cherries & Red Berries, Mango Pineapple & Orange, Peach, Pineapple and Strawberry.

In general, both Yoplait Fruitful and Yoplait Original have around 170 calories per six-ounce container. Fruitful has a higher fat content, as it made with whole milk yogurt. Yoplait Original is made with low-fat yogurt, but has a higher sodium and sugar content.

The company also recommends Yoplait Fruitful as an ingredient in different recipes that call for yogurt—from baking to pancakes. A recipe for pancakes using the Peach flavor follows.

New Fruitfull, in three of the six flavors. Photo courtesy Yoplait.

Find more information at Yoplait.com.

Discover all the different types of yogurt in our Yogurt Glossary.

Check out the different grades of maple syrup.

Peachy pancakes: peach yogurt is mixed in.
Photo courtesy Yoplait.

Even when peaches are out of season, you can still enjoy peachy pancakes. Here, Peach Fruitful stands in. Prep time is 20 minutes.

Ingredients For 6 Servings

Preparation

1. HEAT griddle or skillet over medium heat or to 350°F. Grease griddle if necessary.

2. BEAT beat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl, with a whisk. Stir in milk, yogurt and egg. To test griddle, sprinkle with a few drops of water. If bubbles “dance,” heat is just right.

3. POUR slightly less than 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto hot griddle. Cook until pancakes are puffed and dry around the edges. Turn and cook the other side until golden brown.

4. GARNISH with syrup, pecans and optional cream/yogurt and serve immediately.

 
BAKING POWDER VS. BAKING SODA

You may have used both for years, without knowing why they’re different. Each makes a particular contribution to the cooking/baking process.

Here’s the difference between baking powder and baking soda.

In these modern times it often seems like everything is moving at hyper-speed, and one of the first things to suffer is the quality of your diet (or your kids’ diets). Amplify that by gluten sensitivities, and the struggle to eat sanely on-the-go gets even harder.

Enter ZEGO, a new line of virtuous gluten-free and allergy-friendly energy bars made mostly from organic sunflower seeds, but also including such nutritious ingredients as brown rice flour, pea and rice proteins and quinoa. The sweeteners are agave, brown rice syrup and tapioca syrup.

The ZEGO bar aims high in trying to be safe for every palate and proclivity. In addition to being vegan and gluten-free, there are no nuts, no soy and no dairy (though the bars are careful to note that the facility they use also processes nuts and some of the banned ingredients above).

So ZEGO could even be safe for those following the au courant anti-inflammatory diet. To feel even better about your purchase, ZEGO donates 20% of its profits to the Campaign for Better Nutrition—far above the 5% or 10% we are used to seeing from other brands.

“But how does it taste?” you may ask, intimidated by ZEGO’s credentials. The answer is: delicious!

ZEGO has launched with two flavors, Sunflower, with a hint of caramel, and Chocolate with a crunchier texture.

 
ZEGO is available for $2.50 per at retailers, and $29.99 for a box of 12 bar, at Amazon: Chocolate and Sunflower.

The packaging is recyclable—of course.

—Georgi Page