Jeff, the A.D.D. Chef

Yes, Virginia, there is a non-A.D.D. version of Jeff the Chef. He’s a fireman in Winnipeg, Canada and at his site you’ll find a number of interesting recipes (now that we are going into the fall/winter season you may want to check out the Sheppard’s Pie recipe). In addition you’ll find information about his book Fire Hall Cooking with Jeff the Chef and about his various careers.

This recipe was submitted by blogger and A.D.D.er Renee from Kick My ADD. It is an adaptation of Anika’s Parmesan Chicken. It looks absolutely delicious!

INGREDIENTS

• 10-12 chicken legs
• 1 egg
• Splash of milk
• About 4 oz. (1/2 container) of grated Parmesan Cheese
• About 1/2 Cup italian-seasoned bread crumbs
• Coarse Kosher Salt (a little)
• Ground Black Pepper (to taste)
• Mrs. Dash® ‘Table Blend’ Seasoning (a lot)
• Mrs. Dash® Chicken Grilling Blend (a little)
• Italian Seasoning Blend (a little)
• Garlic Powder (a lot)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Whisk the egg and a splash of milk in a medium bowl.
3. Mix the Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and seasonings to taste in another medium bowl (Choose whatever chicken seasonings you have at home that you like - the recipe is flexible! Pre-mixed seasonings like Mrs. Dash Blends save time.)

4. Dip each chicken leg into the Egg mixture to coat, then into the Parmesan Cheese mixture to coat. Place the chicken legs in a olive-oil greased glass baking dish.

5. Bake at 400° F for about 55 minutes, flipping the chicken legs once after about 40 mins. Cook until the inside of the chicken is no longer pink and the outside is browned.

6. Time to eat!

When I look through this site’s web statistics I examine the list of search terms used to find this site. Reading the list as if the search terms were a set of questions, I’ve found that there are three different types of “questions” that people ask. There are simple ones like “recipe chicken marsala” and some not so simple ones like “recipe for beef bourguignon for 20 people” Then there are the offbeat ones. Some of them are reproduced below. Though it is unlikely that these googlers¹ found the answers they were looking for, if they should search one more time hopefully the search engines will bring them here for the answers.

• “How do chefs rinse their chicken?” Ans: They hold the chicken by its feet, place it under the faucet and then run the water over the chicken. They continue rinsing until the feathers are free of all shampoo and conditioner.
• “Can you freeze chicken francese?” Ans: Yes you can. However it tastes much better when it is warm.
• “Is chicken good for growing vegetables?” Ans: No. They usually forget to water them each day.
• “Pastina hot dogs?” Ans: I don’t want to know what you are cooking and please don’t invite me for dinner.
• “How long will undercooked chicken take t?” Ans: Unfortunately, I do not know what the final words were to this question. I can only guess. I will assume that the full search phrase was “How long will undercooked chicken take to kill my lazy husband?” While I do not have a definitive answer to this I do recommend ignoring all signs of salmonella and, instead, tell your husband that he may just have the flu.
• “Why do you pound chicken breasts?” Ans: It’s the only way to get them to listen.²
• “Prosciutto ‘gone bad’?” Ans: Yes, it’s true. Despite all the money that’s been spent, none of it addresses the issues faced by adolescent prosciutto.²

1. Someone who uses search engines, like Google [↩]
2. Added on Oct. 19, 2007 [↩]

Eggplant Rollatini

Two years after I came out of the A.D.D. closet and began to earnestly grapple with that problem, I decided to take over the chore of the family dinner. I started with simple things like chicken fingers and french fries (turn on oven, put in stuff, take out 20 minutes later…tough, no?) then graduated to Swedish meatballs, chicken francese, various forms of pork tenderloin and then…one day…eggplant rollatini. I’m still not sure why I wanted to make that dish. I don’t like eggplant and cooking it required every cooking skill I had acquired (all seven of them ) and lots of patience. The first time it took two two hours to do it and I was not thrilled with the results. But by the third time I made it, I had it down to an hour and decided that I did like eggplant…as long as I peeled off the skin and sliced it very thin.

INGREDIENTS

You will be able to get about 20-25 pieces using the quantities listed below.

• 3 cups of plain bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp of chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil
• At least 2 cups of flour
• 4 eggs
• 32 oz of riccota cheese (you can purchase it in this size…so no measuring needed)
• 2 cloves of chopped garlic
• 2 quarts of tomato sauce (if not homemade, then you’ll need about 1 1/2 jars of sauce. I used Barilla marinara sauce and use 1 1/2 jars (26 oz jars))
• 1/3 lb thinly sliced prosciutto
• 1/2 lb mozzarella
• Olive oil
• 2 large eggplants (I used three small eggplants that came from my garden)

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut off the top of the eggplant. If you like, you can peel the eggplant (that’s my preference).
2. Cut thin slices 1/4 inch in thickness or less (I like it real thin). You want to get approximately 20-25 slices.



3. In a large bowl mix the bread crumbs, 1/4 cup of grated cheese, about 2 tbsp of chopped basil and some salt and pepper.
4. In a separate bowl put in the flour.
5. In another bowl put in the eggs and beat well. You may want to do two eggs at a time. When it runs out, add more eggs.
6. Heat up a skillet and add olive oil to a depth of about 1/4 inch or so. Temperature should be medium to high.
7. The procedure is:
   • Dredge the eggplant in the flour.
   • Dip the eggplant in the egg.
   • Dip the eggplant in the breadcrumb mixture.
   • Fry it up till it is just golden brown.
   • Place the fried pieces on a plate that has a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.

   

8. After completing all of the frying, combine the following ingredients in a large bowl: the riccota cheese, the 1/2 cup of grated cheese, 1/4 cup of chopped basil, 1/2 cup of tomato sauce, chopped garlic and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Mix well.



9. Take a baking tray and cover the bottom with a coating of tomato sauce.
10. Here’s the “rolling” procedure:
    • Take a heaping tablespoon of the mixture and place it on a piece of the fried eggplant.
    • Using the back of the spoon, smear it across the eggplant as if you were smearing a thick layer of peanut butter.
    • Place a slice of prosciutto on top.
    • Roll it towards you. Don’t press too hard or the cheese will get pushed out.
    • Place it in the tray with the seam (the point where the two ends of the eggplant meet) facing down.
11. Hang in there…we’re in the home stretch.
12. Slice the mozzarella into thin strips if it is fresh mozzarella or grate it if it is not fresh.
13. Take your tablespoon and run a line of tomato sauce across the top of the rollatini.
14. Place your mozzarella cheese across the top of the rollatini.



15. Bake in a 350 F degree oven for about 15 minutes.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

1. Give it at least five minutes to cool down after baking. This allows the cheese to re-solidify a bit and not be too runny.
2. This needs some nice Italian bread.

Turns out that Jen Koretsky, author of Odd One Out: The Maverick’s Guide To Adult A.D.D., also loves to cook. You can read more about her “adventures in cooking” at So I Married an ADDer: ADD Chefery.