Grab Bag

Banana & Vermouth Cocktail

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A great end to a long and hard work day.
A cool drink, light reading and Madam to watch over me.  (Actually, begging to share my drink 🙂

Cheers !   Life is Good !
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Bananas
,   6 ea, very ripe
Yoghurt,   1 cup
Cinzano extra dry white vermouth,    
2 cup
Ice,  
1 cup
Lime juice,  
from one lime
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Mix in blender until smooth. Drink .Enjoy.
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Banana & Vermouth Cocktail

Banana & Vermouth Cocktail


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Banana & Vermouth Cocktail

Banana & Vermouth Cocktail


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Banana & Vermouth Cocktail

Banana & Vermouth Cocktail


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Bella watching over me

Bella watching over me


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Bella begging to share my drink

Bella begging to share my drink


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Sauted Strip Steak , Cauliflower Tortilla & Sriracha/Garlic Butter

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Sunday’s  late lunch / early dinner (4.00pm)
After sleeping-in late (7.30am and enjoying a big breakfast of strawberry smoothies and goose liver pate stuffed croissants, I did not feel hungry at lunch time and held out until late afternoon.
But then I knew I would have to combine lunch and dinner, so it needed to be a substantial meal, otherwise the snack monster would haunt me early in the evening. This is the first time I made a Spanish Tortilla with cauliflower and tomatoes and it made me realize what a great dish I’ve been missing all my live. What a wonderful dish. It can stand on it’s own, as breakfast, snack, even a complete meal if accompanied by a small salad, served hot or at room temperature. You can of course use different vegetables, different cheeses, add protein such as sausage, bacon, shrimp, crab meat, add different herbs, etc. The possibilities are endless and only limited by your fantasy 🙂
If you ever want to reproduce this dish, just make sure the cauliflower / vegetables are blanched  al dente, so that the tortilla has a bit of a bite to it. While I was cooking the tortilla, I also added grated parmesan cheese to the whisked eggs, (not featured in the mise en place picture). You can omit the cheese, but it definitely adds another level of depth to the dish.
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Sauted Strip Steak , CauliflowerTortila & Sriracha/Garlic Butter

Sauted Strip Steak , Cauliflower Tortilla & Sriracha/Garlic Butter

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Ingredients :

Tortilla :

Cauliflower rosettes,   blanched al dente
Eggs,  whole, whisked, seasoned with kosher salt, cayenne and grated parmesan
Grape tomatoes,
Butter,

Method :

Saute cauliflower and tomatoes briefly in butter, add egg mixture and cook covered on low heat until eggs have set but are not dry. Slide onto a dinner plate, top with the saute pan, invert and cook other side of tortilla until golden.
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Steak :

Season teak with salt, granulated garlic and freshly ground black pepper and saute both sides until desired doneness. Remember the carry over heat will cook it  one more level after you remove the steak from the pan! Let the steak rest for ten minutes before slicing !

Butter :

Mix softened butter with sriracha, roasted  garlic paste, a bit of lime juice and kosher salt.

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Bon Appetit !   Life is Good !
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Jamaican Black Bean Soup & Flour Dumpling’s ( A “Light” Saturday Lunch )


When  I encountered  Jamaican  dumplings   for the first time in the early seventies,  I would never have imagined that I will ever like them, having been raised with southern german-style dumplings, which are very light and airy (if done correctly).
So when I saw these tough little dumplings, (resembling in shape Schwaebische Bubespitzle), I was skeptical, to say the least. But, while living in Jamaica in the eighties, I have come to love these  Jamaican dumplings, but again – in order to be appreciated, they must be properly prepared, simmering for a long time in a flavorful stock, stew or soup .
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Irie, Mon 🙂
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Jamaican Black Bean Soup & Dumplings

Jamaican Black Bean Soup & Dumplings



Ingredients :

Stock of your preference, veal, chicken, beef, pork, vegetable
Black beans,   soaked overnight
Onions,   diced
Celery,    diced
Bacon,   diced  (substitute with salt pork if preferred)
Garlic,   paste
Spicy sausage,   pork, veal or beef
Assorted chilis,   select according to your preferred heat level
Tomatoes,  diced
Cumin,
Kosher salt,
Black pepper,   freshly ground
Cilantro,   coarsely chopped
Goose fat,    rendered  (use your favorite fat, canola oil, olive oil, butter, duck fat, goose fat, etc)

Method :

Saute bacon in fat until rendered, add onions, garlic, celery, chilis and sausage and saute until fragrant, add tomatoes, stock and beans. Season lightly with cumin, salt and pepper and simmer until the beans are “waxy”. Adjust seasoning if necessary. To serve, place soup into serving bowl, top with dumplings and sprinkle generously with cilantro .

Dumplings :

Mix flour, water and salt into a smooth dough, roll small pieces into finger shaped noodles and simmer in stock until cooked through. ( Usually like o cook them straight in the soup, but for a nicer presentation I cooked them separate this time for better pictures 🙂

Bon Appetit !   Irie !




It’s a Chef’s Life ….

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I saw this post by Mark Dale on FB and wanted to share it with you all 🙂
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Chef Hans Susser

Chef Hans Susser

 

It’s a Chef’s Life ….
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What you can expect from making a living in a professional kitchen:
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1 You’ll almost always have open wounds on your hands and arms.

2 You’ll never meet new people because your social life deteriorates into non-existence.3 You’ll find it hard to start relationships because alone time will become a precious thing.

4 You’ll lose your social skills.

5 Your sense of humor will degrade into the politically incorrect and socially unacceptable

6 You’ll eventually start swearing like a sailor and you won’t even notice yourself doing it.

7 You’ll turn into an anorak/monomaniac and always turn all conversations back to food.

8 You’ll earn a pittance for years/decades.

9 You’ll either lose a vast amount of weight or gain a vast amount of weight.

10 You’ll never ever have a tan ever again.

11 You won’t become famous.

12 You’ll develop a habit, whether it be coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, gambling, cannabis, cocaine, or even red bull.

13 Your feet will get destroyed.

14 Your back will get destroyed.

15 Your hands will get destroyed.

16 You’ll live in a constant state of sleep deprivation, indefinitely.

17 You’ll have to ask your friends to plan everything around your schedule, which is incomplete opposition with their availability, because you never know your days off in advance and you probably won’t be able to change it.

18 You’ll become of a very highly strung nature

19 You’ll become more prone to temper flare ups

20 Your awareness of other people’s lack of efficiency and common sense will increase and your tolerance of it will decrease.

21 You’ll spend the largest part of your life cooped up in a small, undecorated room with poor ventilation, high temperatures, a lot of noise, humidity, no natural light and no windows, with a small group of people who will become your only social interactions.

22 You will work longer hours than you ever imagined possible or thought legal.

23 You will spend all your waking hours on your feet, never getting a chance to sit down even for 5 minutes.

24 Your shortest work days will be longer than most people’s longest, and your longer workdays, which make up about half of your working week, will be longer than the average person is awake in a day.

25 You will not cook gourmet dinners at home. You’ll be too tired, and too fed up of cooking.

26 You will probably start eating mostly fast food and cheap instant noodles.

27 You will be the subject of abuse, whether physical or emotional. Officially, it will be as a test of character. In reality, it will be as a form of entertainment.

28 You will end up spending so much time at work that your colleagues will know you better than your partner/family/friends do.

29 You will meet and form strong bonds with types of people whom you’d previously never even have imagined sharing conversations with.

30 You will be in a constant state of stress.

31 You will never be irreplaceable and will be expected to constantly give 110%.

32 You will always be exhausted.

33 You will not be allowed to call in sick for a hangover.

34 You will be expected to place your work before any other part of your life in your list of priorities.

35 You will never be congratulated on your work.

36 You will be expected to treat your superiors as absolute masters and never answer back, try to explain yourself, start a conversation, or show any other type of insubordination, even if you know that they are in the wrong or feel as if their behavior towards you is unacceptable.

37 It will become very difficult to watch friends cook.

38 Your mum will stop cooking for you because she feels embarrassed.

39 You will be expected to cook for family gatherings such as Christmas EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Luckily, at least one year out of two, you will be working on Christmas.

40 At least one year out of two, and maybe every year, you will work Christmas, New Year‘s Eve, Easter, Valentine’s day, Mother’s day, Father’s day, bank holidays, Halloween, your birthday, and pretty much every other day of celebration on the calendar.

41 You will have to work many years in menial positions before attaining any level of authority in the workplace.

42 The better the restaurant is, the longer the work hours become, the more pressure you end up under, the more unhealthy your lifestyle will become, the more likely you will be to develop a habit, the more competitive the people around you will become, the less sleep you’ll get, the less you’ll eat etc.

43 You will constantly make mistakes, and every time you do make a mistake, someone will notice it and make you understand that you are clearly a subhuman because only a subhuman could make such a mistake.

44 If you are a woman, you will constantly be the subject of misogynist remarks and jokes, sexual harassment, belittlement and remarks about your menstrual cycle.

45 None of your friends or family will understand what is involved in your work and you will never be able to make them understand.

46 You will spend vast amounts of money on equipment, books, eating in good restaurants etc, which will leave you with not much money for other things.

47 You will develop a creepy obsession with knives.

48 If you are a pastry chef, you will develop a creepy obsession with spoons.

49 You will get a rash in your arse crack from the mixture of heat, sweat and friction that will not heal well, sometimes get infected, will mostly always be slimy and itchy and will be there most of the time.

50 If you are the right type of person, you will thank your lucky star every single day for the rest of your life for making you take the best decision you ever did and become a chef. And you will fall in love with your job and never look back.

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So, would I choose this profession again ?  YEP !
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Would You ???

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Braised Oxtail & Potato Dumplings “Geschmorter Ochsenschwanz & Kartoffelknödel”

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Geschmorter  Ochsenschwanz & Kartoffelknödel  /  Braised Ox Tail & Potato Dumplings
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I remember with nostalgia when you could get oxtail from your butcher for a buck and a half a pound. Those were the day’s. Obviously long gone, but not forgotten. Nowadays it’s gonna cost an average of $ 5.00 a pound. Considering a nice portion to be about 2.5 pounds, you might only want to prepare this for a dinner party with the best of friends 🙂
Anyway, since I only cook for Bella and myself nowadays, cost was not a concern. Time however is of the essence. You want to cook your oxtails REAL slow, so they get very tender without falling apart. This batch took about 3.5 hours to cook. Was it worth the trouble ? You bet your foot it was. Especially when you also prepare these great potato dumplings to soak up every last bit of the knock-out sauce you get by simmering the meat and vegetables for all that time.
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Guten Appetit !   Das Leben ist Schön !
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Geschmorter Ochsenschwanz & Kartoffelknoedel

Geschmorter Ochsenschwanz & Kartoffelknoedel

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Ingredients :

Oxtail,   cut into single links
Bell peppers,   medium diced
Onions,   medium diced
Tomatoes,   canned, diced
Garlic,    paste
Peanut oil,
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,
Hungarian paprika,
Veal stock,   or substitute
Red wine,
Dark beer,

Method :

Saute oxtails in hot oil until nicely browned on all sides. Remove from pot, set aside. Saute onions and peppers until caramelized. Now it is time to saute the paprika for a minute. Then add salt and pepper.Make sure you dont over season at this point. Remember, the stock will reduce a great deal when simmering for  long period of time. Add wine and beer to deglaze the pan. Return ox tail to pot, cover with veal juice  (substitute with chicken stock, vegetable stock or even water if nothing else is available. Simmer until oxtail is tender. Remove oxtail with a slotted spoon into a clean pot. Adjust seasoning of sauce if necessary. Strain sauce through a fine mesh sieve over oxtail. Make sure you press all the vegetables through the sieve. This will thicken your sauce and give it more body and flavor.
Serve with your favorite pasta or dumplings.

Potato Dumpling Recipe

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Pizza With Anchovies, Mascarpone, Tomato & Egg

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I did  not feel like having an elaborate meal tonight, so this quick and easy to prepare pizza was all I wanted for dinner. I actually had some pickled artichoke hearts in the fridge but I forgot to use them. Even without the artichokes, it was a very enjoyable, filling and satisfying dinner.
Looking forward though, to tomorrows braised oxtail with potato dumplings.
(Geschmorter ochsen schwanz mit kartoffel knoedeln) 🙂

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Pizza With Anchovies, Mascarpone, Tomato & Egg

Pizza With Anchovies, Mascarpone, Tomato & Egg


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Pizza Dough Recipe

Ingredients :

Pizza dough
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Anchovy filets,   canned
Eggs,   whole
Tomato,   sliced
Chili flakes,
Mascarpone cheese,
Parmesan cheese,   finely grated
Scallions,   sliced
Olive oil,

Method :

Pull pizza dough into a thin oval. Top with anchovies, tomatoes and mascarpone, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan. Bake at 500F until bubbling, add eggs and sprinkle with chili flakes, Return to oven and bake until dough is cooked, golden and crispy.
To serve, top with arugula in honey / mustard dressing.

Bon Appetit !   Life is Good !
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Rum Laced Iced Berry Soup

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What  a gorgeous sunday afternoon by the lake. Perfect temperature outside, a good book to read (WHISKEY BEACH, by Nora Roberts), great rock in the background (Big 105.9) and this wonderful concoction of berries, yoghurt and rum, topped with a bit of whipped cream.
Ahhhhhhh 🙂

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Life is Good !   Cheers !

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Rum Laced Iced Berry Soup

Rum Laced Iced Berry Soup

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Frantzén/Lindeberg – Real Food, Presented With Class, Style & A Sense Of Beauty

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Image Source: Wikipedia

Frantzén/Lindeberg, Stockholm, Sweden
Image Source: Wikipedia

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Usually  I am not a fan of highly styled food because, unfortunately, a large percentage of cooks nowadays loose sight of the food aspect in favor of extreme presentation, the  “WOW”  effect.
On the other hand, when I watch this short video of “Real Food”  presented as beautiful as can be at Frantzen/Lindeberg in Stockholm’s “Gamla Stan“, I am vividly reminded that, despite all the wannabe’s,  there are still geniuses out there who honor our profession with this kind of artistry and respect for what good food is all about.
My respect and admiration for chef’s of this caliber who make me proud to be a member of our profession 🙂 >
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The featured dishes are :

“Chicken Salad”
“Tartar of Langoustines”
“Small Bark Pancakes”

Watch the video  HERE
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” Ojinguh Bokkeum ” Korean Style Stir Fried Squid

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Traditionally
  in Korea , one uses much larger squid and scores the surface in a criss cross pattern. I personally prefer the smaller squid I used here today, the texture is so much different and, dare I say, better.  It is  a simple stir fry preparation.  Please make sure your pan is very hot and please don’t boil your squid.  A few short seconds  simmering in the sauce will suffice. I also suggest that you mix all the Ingredients for the sauce and check the taste before you add it to the pan so your squid get in and out of the pan as quickly as possible. >
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" Ojinguh Bokkeum "  Korean Style Stir Fried Squid

” Ojinguh Bokkeum ” Korean Style Stir Fried Squid>

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Ingredient’s :

Squid,   cleaned, cut to size, including tentacles
Chilis,   medium hot, sliced
Scallions,   cut into one inch length
Onion,   cut into paysanne
Garlic,   paste
Ginger,   grated
Oyster sauce,
Soy sauce,
Sesame oil,
Chili flakes,
Peanut oil,
Sesame seeds,
Sriracha,
Ketchup, (for color and a touch of sweetness)
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,


Method :

Season all vegetables and squid with salt and pepper. Saute onion , garlic and ginger until fragrant, add vegetables, saute for a few second, add squid, saute for a few seconds. Add sauce, bring to a simmer, remove from heat at once. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve with rice, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Bon Appetit !   Life is Good ! . . . .
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Indoor Sunshine

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Yesterday  it was raining and raining and raining ……
So I brought the sunshine inside the house with this delicious concoction  🙂
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” Indoor Sunshine ”  Vodka & Mango Smoothie
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Life is Good !   Cheers !
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Indoor Sunshine: Vodka & Mango Smoothie

Indoor Sunshine:
Vodka & Mango Smoothie

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Indoor Sunshine: Vodka & Mango Smoothie

Indoor Sunshine:
Vodka & Mango Smoothie

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Indoor Sunshine: Vodka & Mango Smoothie 3

Indoor Sunshine:
Vodka & Mango Smoothie 3

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