All Food Posts

Best Fish Taco

Well, at least for me they were the best in a very long line of disappointing restaurant and food truck fish tacos.
Most of the time, if you want to have the really good stuff, you’ve got to prepare it yourself 🙂
The secret here is the fish batter. You don’t want to have to prep something complicated or difficult for such a simple meal. So here I give you my “secret” easy and quick batter recipe:
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A/P flour, crushed ice, cayenne pepper, kosher salt, granulated garlic, chilled sparkling water (I use syfo lemon-lime, the only bottled water for me).
Mix all ingredients lightly, don’t worry about a few lumps, they fry out in the hot oil and become crispy. See the prep pic to get an idea about the texture. Then dip the fish into the batter and fry at 375F until crispy and fish just done. Remove to absorbent paper. Build your tacos with your favorit ingredients / condiments.
Voila ! Best fish taco 🙂
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Viva Mexico ! Viva Los Tacos ! Viva La Vida !
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Best Fish Taco

: Best Fish Taco

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Strawberry, Vodka & Chocolate Smoothie

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Welcome back, summer !

It is 5.00pm and the temperature is still at 83F. Feels almost like summer. Of course, this is the perfect temperature. As soon as it get’s a bit hotter, just like all good Floridians, I will of course complain that it is too hot ! But, today, it’s just perfect 🙂
To celebrate, I made for myself a great smoothie which was just the right thing to have outside, waiting for the sun to go down, listening to classic rock on Big 105.9 and watching madam chasing geckos.

Cheers ! Live is Good !

Strawberry, Vodka & Chocolate Smoothie

: Strawberry, Vodka & Chocolate Smoothie

: Bella notices……

: Bella approaches…..

: Bella sniff’s…..

: Bella approves !

Ingredients :

Vodka, fresh Strawberries, Yoghurt, Milk, Instant Cocoa Powder, Ice,

Method :

Blend all ingredient’s, fill into iced glass, sprinkle with cocoa powder and decorate with strawberry. Cheers !

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Imperial Fried Rice

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Time to get excited about fried rice 🙂
No, not the cabbage and soy sauce laden one you get for two bucks at your corner chinese restaurant. No, I am talking about my treasure chest of a fried rice which has a whole bunch of goodies in it. Each one (shrimp,chicken, lap cheong, ham, eggs, vegetables), fried on it’s own with rice would make a good fried rice, but here the combination of all of this stuff together makes it a truly memorable dish.
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Imperial Fried Rice

: Imperial Fried Rice

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Ingredient’s :

Fan (飯),   day old chinese steamed rice (Recipe Here)
Chicken,   cubed
Shrimp,   peeled, tail on
Ham,   diced
Lap cheong, fresh, unsmoked
Scallion,   sliced
Bean sprouts,
Red/green bell peppers,   diced
Onions,   diced
Kernel corn,   blanched
Green peas,   blanched
Eggs,   whisked
Garlic,   paste
Ginger,   grated
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,
Sesame oil,
Peanut oil,   to stir fry

Method :

Season protein and vegetables with salt and cayenne pepper. Saute (stir fry) chicken in oil until medium, remove chicken. Saute shrimp, ham and sausage until shrimp are 3/4 cooked, remove. Saute vegetables, ginger and garlic until fragrant, add rice, fry until rice starts to puff a bit. Form a whole in the center, add more peanut oil, add the eggs. Styr fry until the eggs have set, return proteins to the rice and stir fry until rice starts to pop again. Add bean sprouts, season with sesame oil, salt and pepper. To serve, sprinkle with scallions and more bean sprouts.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Arrogance & Narcissism Of The Highest Order ?

.Michel Bras’ gargouillou, which René Redzepi has called one of the most copied

Michel Bras’ gargouillou, which René Redzepi has called one of the most copied dishes of all time [Photo: Entre Les Bras/Facebook]

Dear Friend’s
If you think the picture above shows a pretty presentation and is worth to pay a few bucks for in a nice restaurant, so that you have something to nibble on until the real food arrives, then we speak the same language.
If, on the other hand, you think this represents culinary art, innovation, and groundbreaking plating technique, we might not be from the same planet.

Here is what has started to tick me off lately:
A spectacle is being made by a bunch of chef’s about copy protecting recipes, cooking techniques, plating details, and styles. One recent headline on “Eater” read:

” Inspiration and Attribution in Cooking:
How and When Should Chefs Credit Their Sources? ”

What a tremendous load of bullcrap !
It is one thing to credit your sources for a “unique” recipe, technique, idea and/or influence out of respect and good manners.
It is a whole other story to, as some donkey’s now do, “demand” credit for something that has been around for years, decades or even centuries.
Lot’s of chef’s nowadays call themselves innovators, visionaries, inventors, when all they do is change, grow, and, hopefully, refine established ideas, techniques, method’s and ingredient’s.

– Fried Hollandaise ? Hollandaise has been around for a long time, folks. Frying , too !
– Foraging for food ? Come on guys, even my great great great great great… grandfather was foraging for food.
– Food trucks ? Been around for decades in Europe, (See also food carts in other parts of the world)
– Elaborate presentations? Medieval cuisines started that trend.
– Use of the whole animal? Come on, really?
– Sprinkle a few leaves, herbs and edible flours on a plate “painted” with a sauce or coulis? Ask your twelve-year-old to give you a hand.

While there are without a doubt a few (very few) chefs’s out there who are true innovators, artist’s and culinary visionaries, the majority of dishes, techniques, presentation, ingredients, and combinations, have been around forever. Some have come and gone, some have looked and tasted a bit different, some have not been as popular and many have come from other parts of the world and simple been introduced to an unknowing group of people who did not travel or frequent ethnic restaurants (or food trucks) and were therefore never introduced to stuff which was already well established elsewhere.

Now, just imagine to take this nonsense a step further and contemplate the following:

Every time you write a menu, you give credit to the creator of the tomato soup, baked potato, grilled steak, poached fish, lemon wedge, compound butter, turning spaghetti with a fork, sprinkling cheese on top of pasta, a ham & cheese sandwich, blanching and shocking in ice water, decorating your pudding with whipped cream (EXTRA credit if you add vanilla, extra-extra credit if you add sugar, extra extra extra credit if you call it Chantilly) Where would it start? I certainly could never end and be nothing but a pointless exercise. Professional chefs are well aware of the names of the creators of certain dishes, techniques, even garnishes (Melba, Célestine, Grand-Mère, Café de Paris), but in my humble opinion the names of these creators and innovators are still alive today because what the have created was worthwhile to cherish, admire, look at and most of all, eat, eat and eat again !

Ahhh, a little venting does one good 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Three Schmuck’s & A BBQ

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Saturday afternoon, a simple BBQ 🙂

Ingredients :

Leo,
Bella,
Hans,
Rock music,
Merlot spritzer,
Argentinian morcilla, ( Blood sausage)
Argentinian chorizo,
Columbian chorizo,
Horseradish cream,
Chimichurri,
Dijon mustard,
Kosher pickles,
Banana peppers,
Sour dough bread,

Life is Good !
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” Lion’s Head Soup ” ( Shr Za Tou )

>Today I made a soup for dinner which is traditionally eaten during the cooler months of the year. But I figured it is cold somewhere in the world, even if it isn’t so in Miami, so what the heck, bring it on. Besides, I turned the a/c down a bit so all was fine 🙂
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All about LION’s HEAD SOUP
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Ingredients :1 pound ground pork
1/2 pound mung bean noodles, soaked
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon cornstarch
5 chinese black mushroom
1 red radish, finely sliced
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon ginger root, paste
2 scallions, sliced
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 head napa cabbage, sliced coarsely
2 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoons sesame oil
salt. to taste
cayenne, to tasteMethod :
1. Mix the ground pork, egg, cornstarch, 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, salt, cayenne and half of the scallions together in a bowl.
  Use your hands to mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Set aside.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat.
  When the oil is hot, saute the napa cabbage and mushrooms until cabbage begins to wilt, about one minute.
  Pour in the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer.
3. Shape the pork mixture into tennis ball size balls.
  Add them into the boiling stock. When the last ball has been added, cover with a lid and simmer for 45 minutes, depending on size of dumplings .
  When dumplings are done, (at this point, they should be very light and delicate in texture) remove from heat and add noodles and seasoning to the soup.
  To serve, garnish with remaining scallions and cilantro, drizzle with sesame oil and chili oil..Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Steak + Salad = Bliss + Beauty “

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A Simple dinner tonight. Yet so good looking and so satisfying.
The chicharrones de puerco on the salad added much taste and texture.

Striploin
Chimichurri
Sauted mushroom with onion and garlic

Lettuce
Bologna
Gorgonzola
Radish
Onion
Scallion
Chicharrones
Raspberry Vinaigrette

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Fish Dumpling & Shrimp Ball Soup With Poached Egg “

What the heck !?
Soup with fish dumplings, shrimp ball’s, shrimp, vegetables, chili and poached egg ?
Well, it might sound’s a bit much but it is absolutely delicious, the flavors and textures
go very well together to form a wonderful, multi-facetted dish.
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Ingredients:

Shrimp, pre cooked, peeled, deveined, half of them tail removed
White fish, such as haddock, tilapia, cod
Peas, frozen
Corn, frozen
Won ton wrappers,
Red chili, sliced
Scallion, sliced
Cilantro, coarsely chopped
Whole egg for poaching
Egg white for fish dumplings and shrimp balls
Fish stock substitute with chicken stock if preferred
Ketchup
Maggi
Salt, cayenne pepper, lemon juice to taste

Method :

Dumplings :
Chop the fish coarsely, add a bit of egg white, salt, cayenne pepper, mix.
Add half a teaspoon to a wrapper, moisten the edges with water.
Top with another wrapper, flatten and cut with a crinkle wheel cutter or a raviolini stamp.

Shrimp balls :
Chop the tailless shrimp to a fine paste. Add sriracha, salt and a bit of ketchup,
Mix and form into small ball’s.

Cook fish dumplings and schrimp balls in salted water until floating,
transfer to salted ice water.

Egg :
Poach in lightly salted water for 3 1/2 minutes, transfer to salted ice water.

Soup :

Bring stock to simmer, add corn and simmer for two minutes.
season with salt, sriracha soy sauce and maggi seasoning.
Add fish dumplings and shrimp balls’, shrimp balls, chilis, green peas and poached egg.
When heated through, plate and sprinkle with scallion and cilantro

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

” Paillard of Beef & Peperonata “

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Paillard of Beef & Peperonata, MY WAY !!!

Please note that in my house instead of seasoning the beef with Mustard,
I like to add more by drizzling a good amount over the top while plating.
Also, traditionally, we try to have a perfectly round Paillard for a better presentation 🙂
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Paillard :

Beef, very thinly pounded
Cornstarch, to dust beef
Salt Pepper to taste
Oil, to sauté
Sautee beef in VERY hot oil on both sides for one minute, remove to absorbent paper.

Peperonata :

Saute onions and garlic until translucent, add peppers, sauté until heated through.
Remove from heat,, carefully mix in cherry tomatoes, seasoning and half of your herbs.
(Oregano, basil, cilantro, scallion or whatever tickles
your fancy and will provide the taste you crave that day).
When serving, sprinkle with rest of herbs and, if you desire, parmesan cheese .

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Below a Paillard I prepared for one of my books about 8 years ago.

Paillard of Veal, served with marsala sauce, sauteed enoki mushrooms
and fried spinach with curry cream. Image: H.D.Susser.

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” Sadza ne Nyama ye Huku ” Zimbabwean Porridge with Chicken Stew

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Last night’s Zimbabwean style dinner.

If you don’t read the name of the dish but only the recipe, you might think I was dining on portuguese food. That’s because portugal had a large influence on shaping the traditional Zimbabwean cuisine. I don’t want to go into the political/ historical aspect of that time, so let’s just stick to the food. Chicken stew with tomatoes has been cooked in many countries around the world for centuries,and so has corn, which was introduced to Zimbabwe ( formerlySouthern Rhodesia), by the Portuguese way back then. Fried cornmeal is still a very popular side dish in Portugal and so is chicken stew with tomatoes. Since I did not have white corn meal in my pantry, I used yellow corn meal. Different color, same texture, taste and pleasure 🙂
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Excerpts from ifood.tv :
Sadza

” Sadza or sadza re chibage is an African version of porridge produced from cornmeal, mielie meal or maize meal and water. It forms the essential carbohydrate portion of African meals and is consumed in different forms in almost every African region. Due to the large variety of cultures and languages in the African subcontinent, the dish has a variety of names. For example, the local shona name for the porridge is Sadza in Zimbabwe while the local tribal Ndebele name for the same dish is isitshwala. In South Africa, the same dish is referred to as Mielie Pap while the Zambians refer to it as Nshima. The dish is given another name in Eastern Africa including the states of Kenya and Tanzania where it is named Ugali. In the tiny state of Malawai, it is referred to as Sima. Furthermore, a large variety of cooking techniques are used along with different recipes to make the same dish.

History

Originally, a porridge made from millet formed the essential carbohydrate component of every African meal. Millet was a staple crop in the continent and it was easy to grind to produce millet flour. However, Kenya started actively growing corn which was exported to every state in the African continent. The grain was then ground to produce cornmeal and used to make a thick porridge which slowly replaced millet porridges in meals.

Ingredients and Preparation

White corn meal or mielie meal is now commonly used to produce the sadza but a few versions do use yellow cornmeal too. Yellow cornmeal is commonly referred to as KENYA as it was originally imported from Kenya. If mealie meal cannot be found, cream of wheat, or Pillsbury Farina flour can be used. The actual method of preparation varies considerably but modern methods add the mielie meal to the water to mix it well. This paste is then poured into boiling water and cooked on a high heat continuously. As the sadza thickens, more mealie meal may be added. The sadza is done when the mixture pulls away from the pot and forms a ball. Traditionally, salt is not used to season the dish.

Serving

Sadza is prepared and served in a communal bowl from which each diner can serve himself. It can also be served in separate individual bowls from where diners pinch up small amounts, roll them into balls and then dip them into meat sauces, gravies, soya chunks, pumpkin leaves, sugar beans, spring beans or vegetable stews for consumption.

Popular Variations

Krummelpap is a South African version of Sadza prepared by ” ………. Read more HERE
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Sadza:

4 cups water

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 1/2 cups white cornmeal

1. Pour three cups water and the salt into a large pot and bring to a boil. Combine 1 1/2 cups of cornmeal with the water, stir well and set aside.

2. Reduce heat of boiling water to medium low and add the cornmeal and water mixture, stirring constantly. Cook for two to three minutes.

3. Slowly shake in the remaining cornmeal, mixing all the while. Stir constantly as the mixture begins to thicken and pull away from the pot, approximately one minute. Immediately transfer to a separate bowl and use a wooden spoon to shape it into a round shape. Allow the sadza to cool slightly, then carefully use your hands (wet them if necessary) to pull off bits of the sadza, shape if desired, and serve with the stew.

Chicken Stew:

2 yellow onions, diced, divided

2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger, divided

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 pounds vine tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, plus 1/4 teaspoon to season the chicken

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder, plus 1/4 teaspoon to season the chicken

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon to season the chicken

2 pounds chicken thighs, boneless and skinless, cut into 1″ pieces

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 bunch scallions, chopped

Vegetable oil

1. Coat a large, shallow pan with about two tablespoons of oil over medium high heat. Once hot, add two-thirds of the garlic to the pan and cook for about one minute. Toss in three-quarters of the onions and two-thirds of the ginger, cooking until the onions turn translucent, approximately 3-5 minutes.

2. Turn the heat up to a high flame and stir in the cayenne, black pepper, chili powder and salt. Cook another 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for 10-15 minutes, mashing them down every once in a while. Reduce the heat to low and simmer another 10-15 minutes, continuing the mash the tomatoes.

3. While the tomatoes cook down, pull out a separate, heavy pot. Coat the bottom with another two tablespoons of oil. Once hot, toss in the remaining onions, ginger and garlic and cook until the onions have turned translucent, approximately 2-3 minutes. As the onions and seasonings cook, season the chicken with the extra black pepper, chili powder and salt. Add the chicken to the pan and brown for approximately 3-4 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.

4. After the tomatoes have stewed, carefully scrape them into the cooked chicken. Add one cup of water, turn the heat to low and cover. Simmer for 20-25 minutes. Stir in the parsley and scallions and cook another 5 minutes.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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