Grab Bag

Breakfast Of Champions # 26 – ” Shrimp & Bok Choy Congee “

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Here is how it’s supposed to be :

You have a big, substantial breakfast, go to your job and work hart, have a quick, light, healthy lunch, keep on working until it is time to go home, have a light, healthy dinner with a small glass of red wine, go to bed early, sleep at least 8 hours, get up and do it all over again 🙂

Here is what’s really happening :

You have a quick, sugary, unhealthy breakfast, go to your job and work hart, have a quick, unhealthy lunch, keep on working until it is time to go home, have a heavy, calorie and fat-laden dinner, with a bottle or two of red wine, go to bed late, don’t sleep enough, get up and do it all over again 😦
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So, today, after a long and deep sleep, I tried to start the right way, with a healthy, tasty, substantial breakfast.
I will keep you posted how it will develop from here for the rest of the day…………
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Ingredients :

Cooked Fan, (steamed chines rice)
Seafood stock, substitute with chicken stock or canned clam juice
Shrimp, peeled and deveined
Bok choy, blanched
Garlic, paste
Garlic, slivered, fried
Onions, finely julienned, fried
Ginger, grated,
Bean sprouts,
Scallions, coarsely sliced
Peanut oil,
Chili oil,
Sesame oil,
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,

Method :

Simmer rice with in stock, salt and pepper until a porridge like texture is achieved. In the meantime, fry onions and garlic separately until golden. Remove to absorbent paper. Reserve. Saute Shrimp, garlic paste and grated ginger until fragrant and shrimp about halfway cooked. When congee has reached the desired texture, add the shrimp, bock choy and scallions, simmer until heated through, about one minute. Adjust seasoning if necessary. To plate, drizzle with sesame oil and chili oil, sprinkle with fried onions, fried garlic, bean sprouts and scallions.

More Congee Recipes Here

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Penne Rigate In Merlot/Vodka/Yoghurt Sauce With Pepperoni & Fresh Basil

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Fresh Basil

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My neighborhood supermarket charges $ 3.50 for a small twig of maybe 7 basil leaves.
They sell this beautiful basil plant for $ 4.50. Kind of a no-brainer, isn’t it 🙂

Penne Rigate In Merlot/Vodka/Yoghurt Sauce With Pepperoni & Fresh Basil

: Fresh Basil

: Penne Rigate In Merlot/Vodka/Yoghurt Sauce With Pepperoni & Fresh Basil

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Ingredients :

Penne rigate, al dente, reserve some of the cooking liquid
Pepperoni sausage, julienned
Grape tomatoes, quartered
Greek yoghurt,
Olive oil,
Vodka,
Merlot,
Parmigiano reggiano, grated
Garlic, paste
Basil, fresh
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper

Method :

Saute pepperoni until starting to change color, add garlic, saute until fragrant. Add merlot and vodka, simmer until most liquid has evaporated. Add yoghurt, tomatoes, a bit of the grated cheese, salt, pepper and the pasta, mix well. Adjust seasoning if necessary. If too thick, add some of the pasta cooking liquid. If too thin, ad some grated cheese.
To serve, sprinkle with more cheese and basil leaves.

Note :
I am aware that most cooks will chiffonade the basil. However, personally I don’t like the texture this will give me. It reminds me of hair in the food which is not very appealing to me 😦
Therefore I like to add whole leaves which become soft and tender immediately as they touch the hot food and give you a much more pleasant texture / mouthfeel 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

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Asian Inspired Duck & Udon Soup

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This soup is my “to go to” soup when I have leftover duck or goose (yesterdays roast duck) . It is quick and easy and oh so delicious. The vegetables and noodles are interchangeable with any vegetables and pasta you might have at hand, such as cabbage, bok choy, shiitake or spinach, or egg noodles, rice noodles, mung bean noodles. Use whatever is at hand and tickles your fancy 🙂
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Chop up the carcasse and other leftover bones and bits of meat and simmer with garlic, ginger, salt, lime slices, a bit of sugar and sriracha sauce for 45 minutes. Skim of all foam which rises during this time. Strain stock and discard solids. Adjust seasoning to your liking. Place hot udon noodles and blanched vegetables in a serving bowl, top with sliced duck pieces and cover with broth. Drizzle with some hot chili oil. Serve with a side dish of hoi sin sauce and sriracha sauce to dip the duck.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Asian Inspired Duck & Udon Soup

: Mise En Place

: Simmer Stock

: Strain Stock

: blanch vegetables

: Asian Inspired Duck & Udon Soup

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“Enten Braten” (Roast Duck)

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Yesterday’s lunch reminded me of the sundays of my early youth. It was tradition in our home that my dad prepared sunday lunch at least once a month. Usually this was a “Braten” – a roast, such as a pork but, a fresh duck from the butcher shop or a freshly butchered chicken from the neighbor, who to the horror of all us kid’s to see, chopped off it’s head on a wooden block in front of his house that very morning. My father prepped all the food, then popped the roast into the oven , got himself a chair right next to it and read the sunday paper for the next two hours, all the while basting the roast with beer every 10 minutes or so. The result was a heavenly feast, enjoyed by the whole family on the table in our eat-in kitchen.

These memories came to mind while this beauty was roasting in my oven. It made me happy for the memories and sad for the fact that I could not share both the memories and the duck with my beloved Maria……..
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Season duck inside and outside with with kosher salt and cayenne pepper. Fill a roasting pan with a half bottle of red wine and the same amount of chicken stock, add a generous amount of chopped garlic and some large diced onions. Top with a roasting rack on which you place the duck. Cook at 325F for 2.5 to 3 hours, depending on the size of the duck. The duck should be cooked through, tender but still very juicy. Remove duck to a carving board. Strain the jus from the roasting pan into a small pot, skim of all the fat, add the orange filets and the jus from the oranges and simmer for one minute. Remove from heat and thicken with fresh butter (mount the butter). To serve, carve the duck into your preferred cuts and nape with the orange sauce.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

Note: Save the duck fat to use for your next sautéed potatoes !
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“Enten Braten” –
Roast Duck In Orange Jus

: Duck Fat

: “Enten Braten” – Roast Duck In Orange Jus

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Breakfast Of Champions # 25 – ” Ham & Egg ”

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What would sunday morning be without a special breakfast………
Sour dough bread sauted in garlic butter, boursin cheese,
coppa ham, fried egg, chili flakes, sea salt. Ahhhhhhh…… 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Ham & Egg “

Ham & Egg

Coppa Ham

Boursin Cheese

Sour Dough Bread

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Caesar Salad “Royal”

No such thing as a Caesar Salad “Royal” you say?
Maybe up until around noon today you were right. But, after I made myself a traditional caesar salad for lunch and looked at it with hungry eyes (Bella too) , we felt the strong need to embellish the salad somewhat and this was the result :

Trim and wash romaine lettuce, cut into your preferred size or leave individual leafs whole. Prepare thinly sliced toast of your favorite bread. For the dressing, mash anchovy filets in a bowl, add egg yolks, roasted garlic pure, lemon juice, salt and cayenne pepper and in a slow, steady stream add good quality olive oil until you have a dressing the texture of mayonnaise. Add some finely grated parmigiano reggiano, mix well. Adjust taste and texture if necessary. Mix romaine with the dressing, arrange on serving dish. If you love anchovies (I do), top salad with additional filets. Sprinkle with finely grated or finely shaved parmigiano reggiano. Serve toast on the side. Voilà – Caesar Salad.

For Caesar Salad “Royal”, add the following items :
Prosciutto ham, salame, brie cheese, asiago cheese, manchego cheese, grape tomatoes, chives. Voilà – Caesar Salad “Royal”

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

P.S.
Caesar Salad “Imperial” coming up soon. ( Think crab legs, lobster, shrimp, caviar, etc) 🙂
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Ceasar Salad “Royal”

: Ceasar Salad “Royal”

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Bone-In Rib Eye, Naan With Gorgonzola, Tomato & Walnut

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This morning at work Gene and I were talking about steaks and how great a good steak would be for lunch. Well, don’t just talk about it, do it ! S0 I went to the market and bought two great bone-in rib eyes, 80 oz in total weight. After work, straight home and put these babies on the heat, seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Got fancy with the naan too. Instead of doing the more traditional thing and putting the gorgonzola on the steak, I put it together with walnuts, grape tomatoes, scallions and lot’s of black pepper , then baked them in the oven for about five minutes. This would have been a great meal just by itself, but together with the meat and all the juices the bread soaked up – unbeatable 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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: Bone-In Rib Eye

: Naan With Gorgonzola, Tomato & Walnut

: Bone-In Rib Eye, Naan With Gorgonzola, Tomato & Walnut

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Shell-Less Apple & Pear “Pie”

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I had some apples and pears lying around and frozen puff pastry in the freezer.
So, how about this quick and easy dessert or snack, served with crème chantilly or vanilla ice cream (or both) 🙂
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Hollow out the apples so that there is a shell of about 1/3rd ” thickness. Saute the peeled, diced pears in butter, add sugar and let lightly caramelize. Flambe with cognac and add a dash of vanilla. Brush outside of apples with egg wash (so that puff pastry adheres). Fill pears into hollow apples, cover with puff pastry lattice, brush with egg wash and bake at 375 F. Bake until apples are soft but not falling apart.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Shell-Less Apple & Pear “Pie”

: Shell-Less Apple & Pear “Pie”

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Gnocchi, Prosciutto, Asparagus & Parmigiano Reggiano

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“Pretty” is not usually the first thing that comes to my mind as far as food is concerned.
But looking at this dish, the thoughts were first : Pretty ! Then : Let’s eat right NOW !
Usually we saute the prosciutto lightly but in this case, it was so thinly sliced and delicate,
just adding it to the top of the dish seemed the right thing to do.
And yes, I just preferred the texture and taste this way. Good Stuff 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

Gnocchi Recipe Here
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Gnocchi, Prosciutto, Asparagus & Parmigiano Reggiano

: Gnocchi, Prosciutto, Asparagus & Parmigiano Reggiano

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Ingredient’s :

Gnocchi, cooked, reserve some of the cooking liquid
Asparagus, blanched
Prosciutto, VERY finely sliced
Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
Parmigiano Reggiano, finely sliced
Grape tomatoes,
Garlic paste,
Olive oil,
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,

Method :

Saute gnocchi, asparagus and tomatoes in olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Add grated cheese and a bit of the gnocchi cooking liquid and toss until everything is lightly coated. To serve, top with prosciutto and very finely sliced cheese (use potato peeler to slice cheese).

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