Grab Bag

Perciatelli, Tomato & Poached Egg

“Waiter ! One order of Perciatelli, Tomato & Poached Egg please !
I wish I could order food like that in a restaurant around here !
Everybody seems to serve the same old stuff, (grilled fish with mango salsa anyone?), desperately trying to be “innovative”, “modern”, “on the edge”. But sadly, what I mostly find is mediocre food that has been invented and created a long time ago, then suffered a long and steady decline in quality and substance at the hand of badly trained cooks and so called chefs . We now find the most outrageously crappy food for even more outrageous prices in a vast majority of restaurants. I fully acknowledge that there are lots’s of great chefs out there but unfortunately, they are the minority in a sea of mediocracy or worse. How about some more top quality, simple, tasty, beautiful “REAL FOOD” . I would not mind paying top $ for a plate like this if it were fresh, good tasting, clean and nicely presented. Unfortunately, most “hip” folk’s think food like that has no place in a restaurant and it would be beneath their advanced eating habits to consume . (In public, anyway). While I appreciate as much as the next person food that is prepared and presented in an artful, unexpected, unconventional way, on a day to day basis I prefer great food which is practical and economically sound. After all, most of us have to cook the stuff before we can eat it. While there are plenty folk’s out there who apparently can run up a dinner bill of a few hundred or even a few thousand bucks a few night’s a week, most of us are not that privileged but nevertheless deserve to eat good (and, many times, much better) on a reasonable budget.

Perciatelli, Tomato & Poached Egg

Any thoughts on that friends ?
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Ingredients :

Perciatelli, cooked al dente, some cooking liquid reserved
Eggs, poached
Tomato, chopped
Garlic, paste
Olive oil,
Basil, stems removed
Kosher salt,
Black pepper, freshly ground
Parmigiano reggiano, grated

Method :

Saute garlic paste in olive oil until fragrant, add tomatoes and basil leaves and saute for three minutes. Remove basil, add salt and pepper and mix in blender until smooth. Poach eggs in lightly salted and vinegared water to your desired doneness. Toss perciatelli with olive oil, cheese and a bit of the cooking water until a thin film of sauce forms. To serve, drizzle tomato sauce over pasta, top with poached eggs. Sprinkle with cheese and garnish with fresh basil.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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So Loaded

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” Twice baked potato and the kitchen sink ”
This hit the spot perfectly at the right time,
11.30 pm, accompanied by a couple of glasses
of merlot and good company.

Bake the potatoes, remove the flesh, mash it coarsely. Saute finely diced chicken, salame, chilis and scallions in butter, add to the potatoes. Add egg yolk, greek yoghurt and grated asiago cheese. Season with roasted garlic paste, kosher salt and cayenne pepper, mix well without mashing the potatoes too smoothly. Fill into potato skins, drizzle with butter and grated asiago and bake until golden brown. To serve, add a dollop of greek yoghurt and sprinkle with scallions.
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Twice Baked Potatoes

: Twice Baked Potatoes

: Twice Baked Potato

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Life is Good ! (Especially fully loaded…….
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Obatzter

Here is a new take on ” Obatzter “, ” Illustrierter Camembert “, ” Verruehrter ” :
” Spicy Brie On Pear ”

Obatzter (Obatzda) is a traditional spread which is usually served as a snack, most famously at the Munich Octoberfest. It has it’s origin in the south of Germany, where it was a way to use leftover bit’s of cheese, which were given a new live after being mashed with butter, finely diced onions, beer and seasoning. The version below uses chicharones and pears instead of the more traditional bread as accompaniment.
( It’s still not exactly diet-fare 🙂
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Obatzter

: Obatzter

Ingredient’s :

Pears, thick slices, core removed
Brie, substitute with any soft cheese you might prefer
Pork rinds, (chicharones)
Butter, softened
Onions, finely diced
Beer,
Caraway, ground
Paprika,
Cayenne pepper,

Method :

With a dinner fork, mash the cheese coarsely. Add the soft butter , beer and seasoning and mash all together until smooth. Fold in the diced onions and scallions.
Serving suggestion : See pictures.

Bon Appetit! Life is Good !
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Breakfast Of Champions # 17 Farmers Eggs

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When a wimpy breakfast just isn’t good enough, try something like this:
Roasted potatoes, roasted garlic paste, straw mushrooms, eggs, chives, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, butter.
Bring it on, Day !
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Breakfast of Champions # 17

: Breakfast of Champions # 17

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Gizzard Adobo

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Although I tremendously enjoy Philippine style adobo served the traditional way with steamed rice, I enjoy my adobo even more with pasta and creamed spinach. Served seperate, then all mixed together on the plate, what a great, simple, tasty meal 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Kainan na!

Chicken Gizzard Adobo

: Chicken Gizzard Adobo

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Ingredients :

Chicken Gizzards,
Onions,   large dice
Garlic,   paste
Bay leaves,
Chicken stock,
Fish sauce,  substitute with oystersauce if preferred
Soy sauce,
Sugar,
Beer,
Kosher salt,
Black Pepper,   freshly ground
Peanut oil,   to saute

Method :

Saute gizzards until nicely browned, add onions and garlic and saute until onions start to brown. Add all other ingredients and simmer until gizzards are tender. At this point, the sauce should be reduced so it covers the back of a spoon (nappe). Traditionally, adobo is served with steamed rice. However, in this version I served it with creamed spinach and pasta.

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Mabuhay ! Life is Good !
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Gratinated Onion Soup

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Today the weather channel announced that it will get cold in florida,
so why not prepare for it with this goodie :
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Gratinated Onion Soup

: Gratinated Onion Soup

Saute onion julienne until translucent. Add beer, beef stock, Kosher salt , freshly ground black pepper and maggi seasoning. Simmer until onions are soft but not mushy, about one hour. In the meantime, brush sliced bread on both sides with garlic butter. Toast on both sides until golden. Top with your favorite cheese (here I used asiago, sometimes I use cheddar, swiss, pepper jack or gorgonzola) and bake until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and set aside. When the onions are soft, adjust seasoning if necessary. Transfer the soup to a heat proof dish. Top with cheese bread and sprinkle the top generously with more cheese. Bake until a golden brown crust has formed. To serve, sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Bon Appetit ! Life is good!
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Spiders From Mars

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Just a light dinner tonight with one of my favorite ingredients – Octopus.
In the seventies I spent a lot of time in the Mediterranean and some of my fondest memories take me back to Turkey, Spain and Greece and their great seafood.. Almost all memories I possess of that time are connected to food. Parties, dates, travel, good times and bad times, all somehow lead to (mostly) great meals. Most involved seafood of one way or another. While there were too many outstanding meals to count, the ones I remember the most were the many octopus dishes I had, and of those, the ones I had in Mykonos. To this day I can picture exactly in my head walking along the very small area in town, right on the water, where the fishermen had hung up their freshly caught little monsters on racks in the fresh air. We used to pick the ones which appealed to us the most, took a chair at one of the tiny restaurants right there on the other side of the walk way and just pointed the waiter to our catch, which he then took to the cook who added nothing more than salt, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice and grilled it to perfection. Memories……….
I am fond of octopus of any size and any preparation, so today on my way home from work when I saw some nice baby octopus at my neighborhood Asian store, there was only one option for dinner tonight : ” Baby Octopus Salad ” .
( Once I looked at the finished dish, ” Spiders From Mars ” just came to my mind and stuck there 🙂
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Click to hear “Spiders From Mars”
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Real Food, Real Opinions & ” REAL MUSIC ”
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When it comes to baby octopus, folk’s have different opinions and preferences. Some people eat the head, others remove it (me). Some grill or saute them straight, others simmer them first until tender (me), then continue to grill or saute. Some like them in complicated sauces, others just simply grilled or sauted (me). Baby octopus curry anyone? Good stuff 🙂 So if you love seafood but have not yet tried these little creatures, it is high time to get a bit adventurous and put them on the menu.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Pigs Trotter In Fermented Bean Sauce

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Pig’s Feet. Patitas. Manos de cerdo.
Pigs Trotters. Schweine fuesse.
Prepared in a stew, pickled, boiled, in a aspic, hot, cold.
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You name it, I love it. On the weekend I have increased my repertoire by yet another version, this one being my new favorite. The preparation is minimal and the final outcome is easily controlled by your final adjustment (or lack thereof) of seasoning. Blanch trotters in salted water. In a good sized pot, add the trotters, water, soy sauce, sriracha, oyster sauce, fermented black bean sauce and sesame oil, diced chilis, diced onions. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook until trotters are very soft but not falling apart. Remove trotters. The cooking liquid should have reduced and slightly thickened. If still too liquid, reduce further until desired texture is achieved. Strain. Add some more diced chilis for color and simmer for two minutes. Adjust seasoning to your liking. Return trotters to sauce and reheat. To serve, sprinkle with sliced scallions.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Pasta & Chicken

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One of my own personal junk food’s, pasta and chicken.
Any time of day, any which way, as long as it’s juicy and tasty 🙂
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Ingredients :

Lasagna pasta, broken into large pieces, cooked al dente
Chicken drumsticks,
Crimini mushrooms, cleaned
White cabbage, sliced
Red bell pepper, sliced
Onion, sliced
Garlic, paste
Scallion, sliced
Parmigiano reggiano, thinly sliced
Parmigiano reggiano, finely grated
Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,
Maggi seasoning,
Butter , to saute, substitute olive oil if you prefer

Method :

Saute seasoned chicken slowly in butter until golden, put on a rack and cook in oven until cooked through. Meanwhile, saute onion and mushroom in same butter until onions are translucent. Add cabbage, garlic and peppers and saute until garlic becomes fragrant. At this point your butter will be light brown. Add pasta and a bit of the pasta water, seasoning and the grated parmesan, mix until a fine film of cheese sauce coats pasta. Remove from heat, add chicken, scallions and parsley and mix. To serve, sprinkle with sliced parmesan and chopped parsley.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Breakfast Of Champions # 16 ” Strammer Max “

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Back in my youth, in Germany and Austria you were able to order this breakfast dish in any Hotel and in many “Gaststaetten” , mostly for breakfast but also as a snack during any time of the day or evening. Of course at that time there was freshly ground pepper instead of the sriracha sauce, but other than that, strammer max has not changed in a hundred years. Obviously, it is as simple and good today as it was then 🙂
Toast a good bread of your choice until golden, spread with roasted garlic paste, top with sauted ham and fried egg (add sliced cheese between ham and egg if you prefer), drizzle some sriracha and sprinkle with fresh herbs. Accompany with a small salad and ketchup and scotch bonnet sauce.
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