Entrées

Steak Salad Recipe # 2371

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Aged beef tenderloin and a hearty salad – if done with love, a wonderful, sexy, perfect fit.
I am usually not a big fan of beef tenderloin because in my opinion, the texture is rather boring and more suitable for a toothless baby than for a grown man.
However, cut into lardon’s, seasoned properly and sautéed really hot until nicely browned on the outside and still rare on the inside, it is the perfect meat to add to a salad.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Steak Salad Recipe # 2371

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Preparation :
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: Basil Bush

: slice 10 ea medium sized red radishes into thick slices, add 2 tblsp kosher salt, mix and let rest to marinade for 20 minutes; squeeze-out excess water, discard water

: trim 16 oz beef tenderloin of all fat and skin, cut into lardons, season with 1 tblsp chili paste, 1 tblsp garlic paste and kosher salt to taste

: saute beef in VERY HOT pan until browned on the outside but still rare on the inside

: 4 ea hard boiled eggs, 1 ea yellow chilies, 1 ea avocado, peeled and cut into slices, salted radishes, 1 head endive,

: whisk 3 tblsp olive oil and chiffonade of 10 basil leaves with 1 tblsp white balsamic vinegar, kosher salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste, mix with the salad

: divide salad onto 2 serving plates, top ea salad with half the sauteed meat each, garnish with more basil ; serves 2

: Steak Salad Recipe # 2371

: Steak Salad Recipe # 2371

: Steak Salad Recipe # 2371

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Cordon Brie

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I had been thinking of and lusting for chicken cordon bleu the whole day long, so on my way home I stopped at the store to buy the ingredients.
They should have been : Two large, boneless/skinless chicken breasts, a pack of sliced ham and a pack of sliced swiss cheese.
However, when I got home I realized that I had forgotten the swiss cheese. At first I wanted to rush back to the shop to get the swiss cheese, but when I took the eggs for the breading out of the fridge I saw a lovely brie cheese and made an executive decision – “tonight’s chicken cordon bleu shall contain brie instead of swiss”.
During dinner, I decided that from now on, ALL cordon bleu in my house will be made with brie. Brie is so much more tasty and runny than swiss, so it makes the perfect filling.
Long live ” Cordon ~~Bleu~~ Brie ” !
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
If you are a light eater, you might want to cut each cordon brie into half before breading to yield 4 four portions instead of the two I prepared for Bella and I
– one to be served hot for tonight, the other one to be served cold (room temperature) tomorrow.
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Honey/Yogurt Dressing:
Mix 1/3 cup mayo, 1/3 cup greek yogurt, 1 tblsp honey, kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste; whisk until smooth, check/adjust seasoning
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Cordon Brie

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Preparation :
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: peel and cut 1 medium size avocado into bite-size pieces, cut 6 ea red radishes into wedges, add the heart of 1 small endive and 2 oz of yogurt dressing

: Endive, Radish And Avocado Salad In Yogurt Dressing

: cut the 8 oz breasts horizontally into 4 cutlets, score lightly to avoid shrinkage

: to each of two cutlets, add 1 slice ham and one 3 oz slice of brie

: top both pieces with 1 slice ham each

: top both with the remaining two cutlets

: whisk two whole eggs with 2 tblsp shredded parmesan cheese, 1 tsp sriracha, 1/2 tsp garlic paste and kosher salt to taste

: flour, egg mix, bread crumbs

: saute both cordon brie in 4 tblsp vegetable oil until almost done, discard oil, add 2 oz whole butter, finish cooking on both sides; serves 2 VERY large portions or 4 regular portions if cut in half before breading

: Cordon Brie

: Cordon Brie

: Cordon Brie

: Cordon Brie

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Nasi Goreng

Restaurant Version Nasi Goreng >

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Nasi Goreng can be had in one version or another in many Asian countries. Actually, it is the national dish of Indonesia, where it can be eaten at any time of the day from road side hawker carts to 5 star restaurants and in any home.
As with so many Asian dishes I learned about in Germany the 60’s, the”Nasi Goreng” of my youth was usually made with curry powder, which qualified the dish as “exotic” :-).
In later years, while working and travelling in Asia, I got to know the real stuff, usually seasoned with sambal ulek and kecup manis, garlic, sauteed and fried shallots and soy sauce.
However, even back then when I was a kid and enjoyed the curry powder versions, the standard accompaniments (Garniture) were the same as you’d find in a good restaurant then and now anywhere around the world, where appearance is almost as important as taste : Kroepek (shrimp crackers), sliced cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, fried eggs, fried shallots and satay’s with peanut sauce.
Today, after coming home from work, “Garniture” was not in the forefront of my mind but rather a hearty, spicy, quick to prepare dish which would hit all the buttons of my culinary lust 🙂
So here it is : Nasi goreng without the bells & whistles but at it’s tastiest !
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
As you can see in the picture, I used fresh-cooked rice. Day old rice is of course preferable for any fried rice, including nasi goreng, but I needed to have my fix NOW.
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Nasi Goreng

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Preparation :
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: stir fry 1 1/2 cup diced chicken and 1 1/2 cup peeled and deveined shrimp in 2 tblsp peanut oil, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste; add 2 sliced medium hot chilis, 1 small finely sliced onion 3 cups cooked rice, 1 tsp sambal olek, 1/2 tsp garlic paste, 2 tsp kecap manis, 1 tsp soy sauce

: add kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste, stir fry until well mixed and the rice starts to “pop”, check/adjust seasoning; put the nasi goreng on a serving dish, sprinkle with fried shallots

: top nasi goreng with 3 fried eggs, sprinkle with chili flakes and sliced scallions; serves 3

: Nasi Goreng

: Nasi Goreng

: Nasi Goreng

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Curried Garbanzo And Potato Wrap With Raita

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Curried garbanzos (chickpeas) are one of my favorite snacks. They are quick and easy to prepare and their heat (add as much chile flakes or cayenne pepper as you can handle) makes for a great snack when boring pretzels just won’t do.
Today I prepared one of the hybrids of curried garbanzos I make on hot days – curried garbanzo salad, this time wrapped in sun dried tomato wraps.
As a general rule, when preparing curried garbanzos to be served hot, I add more ghee, about 4 tblsp for 16 oz of garbanzos. If serving as a cold (room temperature) salad, I reduce the amount of ghee by 3 tblsp and replace with that 2 tblsp mayo and 1 tblsp ketchup.
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Curried Garbanzo And Potato Wrap With Raita

Curried Garbanzo And Potato Wraps With Raita

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Preparation :
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: peel and dice 2 lg baking potatoes, simmer in lightly salted water until soft but NOT falling apart

: meanwhile, seed and dice 2 medium sized tomatoes

: seed and dice 1 large cucumber, add 1 cup greek yogurt, season with ground cumin, ground coriander, kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste

: raita

: saute julienne of 1 lg white onion in 1 tblsp ghee

: when onions are lightly caramelized, add 8 oz cooked and drained garbanzos

: add 1 tblsp curry powder, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 pinch ground cardamon, 1 pinch ground cumin, 1 pinch ground coriander, kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste

: add 1 tblsp garlic paste, saute until fragrant

: add cooked potatoes, diced tomatoes and 2 tblsp chopped cilantro, mix well, let cool to room temperature

: add 2 tblsp mayo and 1 tblsp ketchup, mix, check/adjust seasoning (mix carefully in order not to break up the potatoes)

: heat sundried tomato wraps to make them pliable

: slice 1 small head of romaine lettuce into julienne

: place 1/4 of the romaine onto 1 wrap

: add 1/4 of the salad to the wrap

: fold/roll wrap, secure with 2 picks; recipe serves 4

: Curried Garbanzo And Potato Wraps With Raita

: Curried Garbanzo And Potato Wrap With Raita

: Curried Garbanzo And Potato Wrap With Raita

: Curried Garbanzo And Potato Wrap With Raita

: Curried Garbanzo And Potato Wrap With Raita

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Not your Ordinary Balls

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Veal Meatballs in Pesto Cream With Garlicky Spaghetti And Concasse

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These meatballs resemble “Konigsberger Klopse” more than “Italian Meatballs”.
Made of veal, simmered, then served in veloute, they look and taste very distinct from the meatballs most folks are familiar with.
I hope that with this post I can convince you that there is more to meatballs than the usual suspects in tomato sauce.
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Veal Meatball Recipe:

Ingredients:
20 oz ground veal
2 whole eggs
1/2 cup panko
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ketchup
1/2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp dijon mustard
kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste

Method:
Mix all ingredients well, shape 6 golf ball sized spheres, simmer in lightly salted water until done, about 15 minutes
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Veal Meatballs in Pesto Cream With Garlicky Spaghetti And Concasse

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Preparation :
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: simmer meatballs in 1qt lightly salted water until cooked through, about 15 minutes, remove meatballs, cover, keep warm; strain stock, reduce to 1/2 qt

: saute 1 tblsp flour in 1 tblsp butter, add the stock, simmer slowly for 8 minutes, add 1/2 cup heavy cream

: add a few sprigs of curly parsley and 3 tblsp pesto

: blend until smooth, check/adjust seasoning

: add meatballs to sauce

: saute 1 tblsp garlic paste in 2 tblsp olive oil until fragrant

: add 1 cup peeled/diced tomatoes, saute another minute

: add 8 oz cooked spaghetti, add kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste, mix well

: divide pasta into 2 deep plates

: divide the meatballs with the sauce between the 2 plates

: sprinkle with grated parmigiano romano; serves 2

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Chilled Spicy Cucumber And Avocado Bisque

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Some say the king of cold soups is gazpacho and I, (for once) don’t argue 🙂
Sadly, these days the traditional custom of having a soup before a main course as part of a menu has mostly disappeared, especially here in North America. Even for special, celebratory dinners, soup is usually an afterthought, and chilled soup is nearly non-existent.
However, there is a myriad of wonderful cold/chilled soups out there, mostly ignored and even forgotten in these times of ever-increasing food-sensationalism 😦
Back in the day when I was a soup cook on Royal Viking Sky (1974), we served 8 different soups daily.
Consommé or beef tea between 10.00 am and 11.00 am.
For lunch it was a chilled soup, a consommé, and a vegetable cream soup.
For dinner, a chilled soup, a consommé, a vegetable cream soup and a silky seafood soup or a hearty meat-based soup.
Besides the beef tea, none of the soups were allowed to repeat itself for the duration of a voyage that lasted less than a month, so we had quite a repertoire of soups.
While cruising in the hot parts of the world, chilled soups for lunch were extremely popular, especially the berry and stone fruit varieties.
In colder parts of the world and during dinner, classics like red or white gazpacho, vichyssoise and creamed vegetable soups led the parade of favorite chilled soups.
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Today’s soup is especially refreshing and therefore perfectly suitable for the scorching heat that has “blessed” us in Florida lately. As you can see from the size of the serving in the photos below, I actually had the soup as a small lunch. (Two helpings, to be truthful 🙂
A word of advise:
Check/adjust the seasoning of the soup AFTER chilling it and just before serving, since a chilled soup looses much of its flavor when chilled. Nothing worse than a bland chilled soup 😦
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Chilled Spicy Cucumber And Avocado Bisque

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Preparation :
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: grate 2 large cucumbers

: add the flesh of two very ripe avocados, 2 cup greek yogurt, a few sprigs of curly parsley, juice of 2 lemon, 1 tsp sriracha, 2 tblsp kosher salt, 1 tsp garlic paste and few drops of Maggi seasoning

: blend all ingredients until smooth; if the texture is too thick for your preference, add milk until texture is to your liking, chill in refrigerator at least 3 hours, check/adjust seasoning; to serve, sprinkle with chili flakes; serves 4

: Chilled Spicy Cucumber And Avocado Bisque

: Chilled Spicy Cucumber And Avocado Bisque

: Chilled Spicy Cucumber And Avocado Bisque

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Goan Chicken Curry

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This is the very best chicken curry – at least for me and my own, personal taste.
While it is neither typical Indian, nor Indonesian or Malay, it is a bit in the style of Goa. Goan food is much influenced by the Portuguese, so the ingredients and seasoning often differ a bit from the usual Indian suspects. In the 70’s I spend a few months in Goa, living in cheap housing right on the beach. If one was able to forgo typical western luxuries such as A/C, running water and fork and knife, living on $ 3.00 a day was possible most of the time.
Those were the days of free love, cheap booze and even cheaper “tobacco”, so life was a constant,carefree blast. And to top it all off, the food, even as it was dirt-cheap, was always great, tasty, in abundance and available around the clock. (Important because of the “tobacco”) 🙂
Although I don’t have any recipes from that time and place of food I actually ate then and there, I am always reminded of my time in Goa when I prep and eat the curry featured here.
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Goan Chicken Curry

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Preparation :
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: Saute julienne of 1 large onion in 2 tblsp ghee

: add 3 bay ea leaves, 1 tblsp tomato paste, 3 tblsp curry pwd, 1 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp and 1/2 tsp crushed mustard seeds, saute until fragrant

: add 1 tsp garlic paste, saute another minute

: add 8 pc boneless chicken thighs, 1 tblsp flour (optional)

: mix all ingredients well, saute another minute

: add 1 qt chicken stock, season with kosher salt to taste

: slowly simmer, covered, until chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes

: almost……

: add 8 ea small cooked potatoes and 8 oz cooked garbanzos

: add 8 oz coconut milk

: simmer for another 10 minutes, add 4 oz grape tomatoes, check/adjust seasoning; serve with steamed rice or naan; serves 4

: to serve, sprinkle with toasted almonds (optional), chopped cilantro and top with a dollop of yogurt

: Goan Chicken Curry

: Goan Chicken Curry

: Goan Chicken Curry

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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 57 – Chicken, Spinach And Potato Frittata

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A bowl of granola for breakfast is a wonderful thing for a lot of folks – but for me, it is NOT.
If I want my day to start on a happy note, I need food that say’s HAPPY to me.
A bowl of granola or such just says BAHH to me and is, in my humble opinion, but a sorry excuse for a satisfying breakfast 😦 .
On the other hand, a delicious frittata – now we are talking ! 🙂
Throw in a couple of gherkins, a few green leaves and grape tomatoes in yogurt/honey dressing and Voilà ! – bring it on, tough day !
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Yogurt/Honey Dressing :
Whisk together 2 tblsp greek yogurt, 1 tsp organic honey, 1 tsp rice vinegar, kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste
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Chicken, Spinach And Potato Frittata

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Preparation :
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: Cook 2 lbs peeled potatoes in lightly salted water until tender but NOT falling apart, drain, let cool enough to handle, cut into fine slices

: slice 2 med-size chicken breasts into slices, season with 1 tsp garlic paste, fresh-cracked black pepper and kosher salt to taste

: saute the chicken in 1/2 tblsp olive oil until cooked through

: remove chicken from pan, reserve

: saute the potato slices in 1 tblsp olive oil until browned

: return the chicken to the pan

: add 2 oz cleaned fresh spinach, saute for one minute

: add 6 whole whisked eggs

: cook on low heat until eggs have set, flip eggs to other side, cook until lightly browned; serve with gherkins and small salad of greens and tomatoes in honey/yogurt dressing; serves 4

: Chicken, Spinach And Potato Frittata

: Chicken, Spinach And Potato Frittata

: Chicken, Spinach And Potato Frittata

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No Name Soup

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This delicious soup follows the popular “whatever I find in the larder” principle. 🙂
Today, I found beef bones, mushrooms, canton noodles, eggs, cabbage, chinese sausage and fried shallots, which, together with a bit of time for the broth, is all you need to prepare this tasty delight.
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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No Name Soup

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Preparation :
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: simmer 5 lbs beef bones SLOWLY in 3 qt water, season with 1 tblsp garlic paste, 1 tblsp chili paste, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tsp grated ginger and kosher salt to taste for two hours or until reduced to 1 quart

: strain broth through cheese cloth or coffee filter (optional); check/adjust seasoning

: meanwhile, cook 8 0z egg noodles, drain, rinse

: toss egg noodles with 1 tblsp toasted sesame oil

: stir fry 6 oz sliced chinese sausages and 4 oz fresh shiitake mushroom in 1 tblsp peanut oil until sausage starts to brown at the edges

: add 8 oz cubed white cabbage and 1/2 bunch chopped cilantro

: add 1 qt beef broth, simmer 1 minute

: divide the noodles between 4 soup plates or bowls

: top the noodles with 1/4 of the soup, garnish with fried shallots, chopped cilantro and 2/2 boiled eggs ; recipe serves 4

: No Name Soup

: No Name Soup

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Braised Teriyaki Chicken With Spicy Rice Sticks

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Braised teriyaki chicken tastes more intense of teriyaki sauce than grilled or sautéed teriyaki chicken, because the braising process allows the sauce to penetrate the meat much better than marinating and then grilling or sauteing would.
However, if you only like your chicken skin crisp, this preparation might not be for you. But if on the other hand you do like the texture of a braised chicken skin (think coq au vin as a reference) and if you love the braising liquid/sauce from a well-seasoned braised dish (again, think of the great sauce a coq au vin will provide), this “Braised Teriyaki Chicken With Spicy Rice Sticks” will make you happy. The additional sauce from the chicken provides a wonderful coating to the already flavorful rice sticks.
Superb food, achieved with small effort and in little time. Life is Good !
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Braised Teriyaki Chicken With Spicy Rice Sticks

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Preparation :
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: pour enough boiling water over a 8 oz pack of rice sticks, let steep until al dente, about 8 minutes

: drain rice sticks, toss with 1 tblsp chili oil and 1 tblsp sesame oil

: season 3 ea boneless chicken legs with kosher salt, garlic paste and sriracha sauce to taste

: saute the chicken legs on both sides in 1 tblsp peanut oil

: add 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce and 1/3 cup chicken stock, simmer covered until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes; check/adjust seasoning

: meanwhile, stir fry 1 cup finely sliced bell peppers with 1/3 cup finely sliced yellow onion in 2 tblsp peanut oil, season with1 tsp garlic paste and kosher salt to taste, stir fry another minute