Entrées

Roast Chicken Thighs With Grape Tomatoes In Yogurt Dressing

 

 

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While a whole roast chicken is a wonderful thing, my regular grocery store now charges about $ 10.00 for a medium-sized bird (tax included), which makes it just too expensive in my opinion (Not the $10.00 itself, but the fact that a supermarket now can charge $10.00 for a simple, low quality, frozen chicken and get away with it)
Mind you, these are not the never-frozen, super fresh and healthy birds I can get at my Asian grocer, but rather mass-produced, completely tasteless chicken with no texture or taste to write home about. 😦  I guess only us old folks remember how good chicken meat actually tastes 🙂
So, lately I have turned to buy nearly all my chicken (as well as most other meat and seafood) either at my neighborhood Asian/International grocer/butcher, or, for even more bargains, especially beef and chicken, at one of the individually owned latino groceries/butchers, which are in abundance around here, such as Sedanos, Bravo, Presidente, to name a few large chains, as well as the countless Mexican, Cuban, Nicaraguan, Columbian, etc groceries/butchers, which thrive here in South Florida.
A 10 lbs bag of chicken legs, thighs, wings or breasts are usually around $5.00 to $8.00, compared to around $40.00 to $60.00 at my regular store, (or much higher for boneless breasts), with the quality usually notably better at the Latino or Asian/International food stores. The same goes for just about ALL meat, seafood, vegetables and canned food. Which goes to show once again, it helps (big time) to shop around, especially for food, which, like it or not, we use every day of our lives. We all tend to fall into the trap of convenience and shopping at familiar places, while these establishments get ever bigger and more and more expensive, while their quality usually suffers along with their customer service. Some of the huge chains are represented at every corner of town with multi million dollar stores and store managers who make well over $100.000.00 a year. Guess who pays for all that.
While I do enjoy the convenience of a chain store which I have frequented for well over 20 years, nowadays’ I enjoy a bargain even more.
So, while I still purchase certain stuff at my fancy regular place, I also buy most of the expensive items at the “Little Guy’s”.
BTW, I also have started to buy bulk items (canned food/ oils/ paper goods, cleaning supplies, etc, online at Amazon(Prime) and Walmart, which saves me another bundle every month and is even more convenient than my grocer around the corner 🙂
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Bon Appétit !  Life is Good !  (When you can safe a bundle ) 🙂
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Grape Tomatoes In Yogurt Dressing Recipe
Prick 1 lb grape tomatoes with a toothpick all over. For the dressing, mix 1/2 cup greek yogurt with 2 tblsp honey, 3 tblsp fresh lemon juice, 1/3 tsp garlic paste, 2 ea sliced scallion stalks, a pinch of oregano and coriander, and cayenne pepper and kosher salt to taste.
Mix with the tomatoes, cover airtight, marinade overnight in fridge.
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Roast Chicken Thighs With Grape Tomatoes In Yogurt Dressing

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Roast Chicken Thighs With Grape Tomatoes In Yogurt Dressing

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Roast Chicken Thighs With Grape Tomatoes In Yogurt Dressing

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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P.S.
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This dish is part of my upcoming meal plan # 2 –
“HANS’ LIGHTER, HEALTHIER COMFORT FOOD”  –  MONTH TWO 
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Click here for
“HANS’ LIGHTER, HEALTHIER COMFORT FOOD”  –  MONTH ONE

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Seafood Fried Rice

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Seafood Fried Rice

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Seafood Fried Rice

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Seafood Fried Rice

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Seafood Fried Rice

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Excerpt from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Fried rice is a dish of cooked rice that has been stir-fried in a wok or a frying pan and is usually mixed with other ingredients such as eggsvegetables, seafood, or meat. It is often eaten by itself or as an accompaniment to another dish. Fried rice is a popular component of EastSoutheast and certain South Asian cuisines. As a homemade dish, fried rice is typically made with ingredients left over from other dishes, leading to countless variations. Being an economical hodgepodge, the same approach is often taken with fried noodles or pyttipanna as well. Fried rice first developed during the Sui Dynasty in China and as such all fried rice dishes can trace their origins to Chinese fried rice.

Many popular varieties of fried rice have their own specific list of ingredients. In Greater China, the most famous varieties include Yangzhou fried rice and Hokkien fried rice. Japanese chāhan is considered a Japanese Chinese dish, having derived from Chinese fried rice dishes. Korean bokkeum-bap in general is not, although there is a Korean Chinese variety of bokkeum-bap. In Southeast Asia, similarly constructed Indonesian, Malaysian, and Singaporean nasi goreng and Thai khao phat are popular dishes. In the West, most restaurants catering to vegetarians have invented their own varieties of fried rice, including egg fried rice. Fried rice is also seen on the menus of American restaurants offering cuisines with no native tradition of the dish. Additionally, there are variations of fried rice in Middle and South Americas. Some of these variations include Ecuadorian chaulafan, Peruvian arroz chaufa, Cuban arroz frito, and Puerto Rican arroz mamposteao.

Fried rice is a popular street food in Asia. In some Asian countries, small restaurants, street vendors and traveling hawkers specialize in serving fried rice. In Indonesian cities it is common to find fried rice street hawkers moving through the streets with their food cart and stationing it in busy streets or residential areas. Many Southeast Asian street food stands offer fried rice with a selection of optional garnishes and side dishes”.

P.S.
If you ever wonder why fried rice in some chinese restaurants is so beautifully golden in color, here is the answer: Add a pinch of turmeric 🙂
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Bon Appétit !   Life is Good !
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Seafood Fried Rice

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Seafood Fried Rice

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Seafood Fried Rice

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Seafood Fried Rice

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Curried Beef And Mushroom Buddha Bowl

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Curried Beef And Mushroom Buddha Bowl

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Named for its big, round Buddha belly shape, a “Buddha bowl” can mean different things to different people, but here I am talking about the culinary meaning, which is a one-dish meal consisting of rice or pasta, whole grains, veggies, protein (by way of meat or seafood, beans, tofu, lentils) and a dressing or sauce, even hot or cold cereals, savory with meat and veggies, or cold with fruits or jello.
What they all have in common is that since the name contains the word “Bowl”, it usually features uncomplicated, tasty, satisfying comfort food that is eaten unceremoniously, with just a spoon or fork.
Like so many other foods, because of its simplicity, it usually contains quality ingredients and is highly seasoned, anywhere from very mild to fiery hot.

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Bon Appétit !   Life is Good !
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Click here for a list of  Rice Dishes from around the World
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Click here for a list of  Rice Varieties
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Click here for a list of  Pakistani Rice Dishes

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Curried Beef And Mushroom Buddha Bowl

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Curried Beef And Mushroom Buddha Bowl

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Curried Beef And Mushroom Buddha Bowl

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boneless chicken – 35 cents each

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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Tomato, Gorgonzola, Anchovies And Onion Salad In White Balsamic Vinaigrette (Ensalada alla Via Candia)

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Tomato, Gorgonzola, Anchovies And Onion Salad In White Balsamic Vinaigrette

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And suddenly,  Ensalada Caprese  has strong competition …….. !!!
(The clear winner in my book :  Ensalada alla Via Candia ) 🙂
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Bon Appétit !   Life is Good !
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Click here for  Gnocchi alla Via Candia  on  ChefsOpinion
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White Balsamic Vinaigrette Recipe And Serving Suggestion:
Mix 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup EVO, 1/2 tsp grey poupon, 1/4 tsp garlic paste, a dash of Maggi seasoning, kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste, whisk until emulsified, check/adjust taste.

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Tomato, Gorgonzola, Anchovies And Onion Salad In White Balsamic Vinaigrette

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Tomato, Gorgonzola, Anchovies And Onion Salad In White Balsamic Vinaigrette

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Preparation :
Please follow the visual instruction.
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures.

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P.S.
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This dish is part of my upcoming meal plan # 2 –
“HANS’ LIGHTER, HEALTHIER COMFORT FOOD”  –  MONTH TWO 
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Click here for
“HANS’ LIGHTER, HEALTHIER COMFORT FOOD”  –  MONTH ONE

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Cannellini And Potato Stew With Ham Hocks

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Cannellini And Potato Stew With Ham Hocks
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A Ham Hock / Stelze / Hough / Schweinshaxe /  Golonka / Sauhaxn / Stinco / Wädli / Fläsklägg or / Pork Knuckle is the joint between the tibia/fibula and the metatarsals of the foot of a pig, where the foot was attached to the hog‘s leg.
It is the portion of the leg that is neither part of the ham-proper nor the ankle or foot (trotter), but rather the extreme shank end of the leg bone.

(Or, as I like to think, it’s one of the very best parts of the pig).  🙂

Since they generally consists of much skin, tendons and ligaments, ham hocks requires long cooking through stewing or braising to be made palatable (or long, slow roasting). Hocks can be cooked with greens and other vegetables or in flavorful sauces. They are often added to soups, such as pea and ham soup, with the meat being added to the soup prior to serving. The meat of particularly meaty hocks may be removed and served as is. Ham hocks, like hog jowls (pigs’ cheeks), add a distinctive flavor to various dishes. This is particularly true for collard greens, mustard greens, cabbage, green beans and navy beans.

Ham hocks, fresh, brined, or smoked, are an essential ingredients for the distinct flavor in soul food and other forms of American Southern country cooking. In the Mid-Atlantic States, in rural regions settled by the Pennsylvania Dutch, hocks are a commonly used ingredient for making a kind of meat loaf called scrappleEisbein is the name of the joint in north German, and at the same time the name of a dish of roasted ham hock, called Schweinshaxe in BavariaStelze in Austria and Wädli in Switzerland. Golonka is a very popular Polish barbecued dish using this cut. Ham hocks are also popular when boiled with escarole, more commonly called endives, in Italian-American cuisineFläsklägg med rotmos is a Swedish dish consisting of cured ham hocks and a mash of rutabaga and potatoes, served with sweet mustard. In Canada, and particularly Montreal, ham hocks are referred to as “pigs’ knuckles” and are served in bistros and taverns with baked beans. In northern Italy ham hocks are referred to as stinco, and is often served roast whole with sauerkraut.
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Bon Appétit !   Life is Good !
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Cannellini Beans And Potato Stew

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Cannellini And Potato Stew With Ham Hocks

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Cannellini And Potato Stew With Ham Hocks

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Cannellini And Potato Stew With Ham Hocks

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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Shrimp & Spinach

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Shrimp & Spinach

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Not too long ago, one esteemed member of our happy ChefsOpinion family mentioned that I prepare shrimp too often. While I understand that not everyone loves shrimp as much as I do (many folks do, though), 99.9 % of my posts show what Bella and I actually prepare and eat at home and is not selected for popularity but for whatever we feel like eating that day. 🙂
If I would write this blog to get “likes”, make money or be universally popular, I would pick the food according to those criteria. ChefsOpinion evolved from my original, for-profit online business “Chefcook.Us” and is now a simple account of food I like and prepare at home for Bella and myself, with the occasional opinion about food in general thrown in.
Remember, ChefsOpinion is about “Real Food & Real Opinions”, not about trends or “in”- food, otherwise I would not feature such delicacies as ham hogs, tripe, liver, heart, gizzards,snails, kidneys and so many other dishes which are definitely not popular or even known to most folks, at least around here in the US. I pride myself to try to also cater to all (including myself) who love food that is not easily available at other places and has disappeared from the mainstream, even if those posts are sometimes only popular with a select few.
Obviously shrimp are not in this category, I just wanted to make this point again, lest my readers forget – “ChefsOpinion – Real Food & Real Opinions”
So then, please forgive me, but here, once again, is another post about Shrimp. 🙂

(To Robert, With Love) 🙂
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Bon Appétit !   Life is Good !
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Shrimp & Spinach

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Shrimp & Spinach

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Shrimp & Spinach

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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P.S.
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This dish is part of my upcoming meal plan # 2 –
“HANS’ LIGHTER, HEALTHIER COMFORT FOOD”  –  MONTH TWO 
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Click here for
“HANS’ LIGHTER, HEALTHIER COMFORT FOOD”  –  MONTH ONE

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Cork Screw Pasta With Chicken And Vegetables In Curried Coconut Cream

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Leftover pasta. What to do with it ?
Usually, most folks just pop it in the microwave with a bit of sauce (or ketchup?? ) 🙂
Or maybe cook it up in a pan with some eggs ?
How about doing this easy, sexy beauty next time !
I had some left over pasta and roast chicken in the fridge from the previous day, and of course there is always some type of veggie in the fridge and coconut cream in the larder, so this wonderful tasty and pretty dish basically crawled together by itself 🙂
It took a mere few minutes to prepare and was truly delicious and satisfying. Definitely better than “microwaved leftover pasta with ketchup” ! 🙂
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Bon Appétit !   Life is Good !
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Cork Screw Pasta With Chicken And Vegetables In Curried Coconut Cream

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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Pasta Pearls, Bok Choy, Mollejas And Chillies In Ginger/Tamarind Broth

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Pasta Pearls, Bok Choy, Mollejas And Chillies In Ginger/Tamarind Broth

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Before you make a long face at the Mollejas (Chicken Gizzards), pls know that you can easily replace them with any other part of the chicken, such as breast, wings, tighs, etc. If you are not in the mood for chicken, many other proteins will work just as well, such as beef, pork, shrimp, or any other seafood, or just add more veggies of your choice.
However, if you love mollejas as much as I do, this soup will surely find a special place in your heart 🙂
In my opinion, the mollejas fit perfectly with the other ingredients, but as usual, use what you prefer, what you can afford or whatever you have in your larder that seems to fit the dish.
If you look at the pictures and try to immagine the taste of it, you’ll know that the main attraction is the Ginger/Tamarind Broth, the pasta pearls and the bok choy, everything else is just icing on the cake 🙂

Bon Appétit !   Life is Good !
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Pasta Pearls, Bok Choy, Mollejas And Chillies In Ginger/Tamarind Broth

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Pasta Pearls, Bok Choy, Mollejas And Chillies In Ginger/Tamarind Broth

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Pasta Pearls, Bok Choy, Mollejas And Chillies In Ginger/Tamarind Broth

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Pasta Pearls, Bok Choy, Mollejas And Chillies In Ginger/Tamarind Broth

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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P.S.
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This dish is part of my upcoming meal plan # 2 –
“HANS’ LIGHTER, HEALTHIER COMFORT FOOD”  –  MONTH TWO 
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Click here for
“HANS’ LIGHTER, HEALTHIER COMFORT FOOD”  –  MONTH ONE

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Roast Pork Butt Sandwich (Gebratene Spanferkelkeule Mit Brot)

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This  sandwich is as German/Austrian as can be.
Roasted, juicy, tasty pork, rustic bread, good mustard and the pan jus from the roast.
End of story 🙂
Now, if this would be a typical, old-fashioned “American Style Sandwich”, it would probably be as follows:
Tasteless, soft, soggy wonder bread or a tasteless, soggy burger bun, topped with shredded, completely over-cooked pork (better known as “Pulled Pork” around here), limp lettuce (hot meat and lettuce, what else to expect?), pickles, onions, ketchup, mustard, oceans of crappy BBQ sauce (most of the commercial ones are crap, as well as many “Home Made” BBQ sauces, what with the artificial “Smoke” most of them contain),  crappy yellow cheese substitute (pre-sliced American “cheddar cheese” anyone?) and probably another 5 fillers to make the sandwich 5 inches tall, all served with limp fries (sadly, more often than not) and even limper (probably not a word 🙂 ) cole slaw.
If this all sounds negative, it is not meant to be. I just want to point out the fundamental different opinion Americans and Germans/Austrians have to what constitutes a great sandwich. Mind you, I am a bit of an old school fart, the kids in Germany and Austria, as well as kids in the rest of the world, nowadays’ all eat mostly the same soul-less stuff . 😦
I myself enjoy both approaches to a good sandwich, having lived in America for so long and gotten used to it and able to enjoy it on countless occasions.
You’ll find many instances of the “American Style Sandwich” approach to sandwiches on the pages of ChefsOpinion. However, when it comes down to it, the sandwich of choice for me would always be the simple variety with few but impeccable ingredients instead of the “American Style Sandwich” :
“It was the best sandwich I ever ate ! – it was so big I couldn’t even finish it” .
Of course, most of the bad stuff will be found at the fast food temples, who sell Billions of sandwiches every single day.
But thankfully, there are also many restaurants and shacks out there who will serve you a truly wonderful sandwich, made of quality ingredients, properly prepared and reasonably priced 🙂
And there you have it !
Different approaches to one final result – a well-loved sandwich 🙂
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Bon Appétit !   Life is Good !
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Roast Pork Leg Sandwich (Gebratene Spanferkelkeule Mit Brot)

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Roast Pork Leg Sandwich (Gebratene Spanferkelkeule Mit Brot)

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Roast Pork Leg Sandwich (Gebratene Spanferkelkeule Mit Brot)

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Roast Pork Leg Sandwich (Gebratene Spanferkelkeule Mit Brot)

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lightly toasted sourdough bread, whole grain Maillard mustard

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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Breakfast Of Champions # 63 – Veal Blade Steak With Poached Eggs, Tzatsiki & Pita

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Breakfast Of Champions # 63 – Veal Blade Steak With Poached Eggs, Tzatsiki & Pita

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The  beautiful 2 lbs veal blade steak on this page cost all of $ 5.00. As soon as I got home, I felt like kicking myself not to have bought a few more to keep in the freezer to serve in the coming few weeks. While not the most tender of steaks, veal blade bursts with flavor and has a wonderful texture (think of strip loin cap).
Anyway, I did not go back to the store since I know that it features this cut as a special often, so there will be no problem to repeat the wonder of this superb breakfast 🙂
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Bon Appétit !   Life is Good !
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sauteed blade steak

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Breakfast Of Champions # 63 – Veal Blade Steak With Poached Eggs, Tzatsiki & Pita

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Breakfast Of Champions # 63 – Veal Blade Steak With Poached Eggs, Tzatsiki & Pita

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Breakfast Of Champions # 63 – Veal Blade Steak With Poached Eggs, Tzatsiki & Pita

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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