Grab Bag

” Sunday Lunch Made Easy ” Chicken & Veggie Soup

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Even if you dont like to spend much time in your kitchen on a sunday,
this soup is well worth the 5 minutes prep time and 30 minutes wait until it’s all simmered to perfection.
Happy Sunday   🙂
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Ingredient’s :

Chicken drum sticks,
Cauliflower,                      florettes,
Carrots,                              sliced
Celery,                                sliced
Leek,                                   sliced
Green peppers,                 diced
Scallion,                            sliced
Cherry tomatoes,             whole
Cilantro,                            chopped
Lime,                                  juiced for soup, sliced for deco
Salt,                                     to taste
Cayenne,                            to taste
Maggi seasoning,            to taste

Method :

Simmer chicken in lightly salted water until cooked through but still firm.
(No falling of the bone here, that’s overcooked)
Add carrots, leek and celery and simmer until just done.
Remove from heat, add salt, cayenne, lime juice, cauliflower, peppers and tomatoes and let steep for another five minutes.
To serve, sprinkle with cilantro and garnish with lime slices.

All about  MAGGI SEASONING

Bon Appetit !   Life is Good !
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” Bologna & Asiago Salad “

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One  of my standby’s for a quick, hearty, delicious, no-cook dinner  🙂
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Ingredient‘s :

Bologna,                cubed
Asiago cheese,     cubed
Eggs,                       hard boiled, diced
Onion,                    diced
Roasted garlic,     paste
Scallion,                sliced
Salt,                        to taste
Black pepper,       freshly ground, to taste
Dijon mustard,    to taste
Olive oil
Vinegar

All about  WURSTSALAT

Bon Appetit !   Life is Good !
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” Easy Beef Curry & Coconut Rice “

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Easy  beef curry !
This seems to be so wrong on different levels.
First, eating beef in india ?  Yes, of course. There are many christians and believers in other faith’s 
living in that vast country who don’t consider cows to be holy and therefore consume beef.
Also, in Goa there is a long and wonderful tradition of portuguese cuisine, using beef and veal in many of it’s recipes, sometimes pure and traditional, most often intertwined with indian cuisine which mostly results in a very distinctive cuisine, much loved by me.
Second, easy curry ?  Here I refer to my use of curry powder, which is definitely a much easier way than making your own mix from many different spices, roots and herbs (depending on the curry)

Traditionally, in Europe the general public did not know much about other countries ethnic cuisines ( with a few exceptions) until the late 50’s, early 60’s.When I was a young apprentice in the mid – 60’s, some of the more exotic dishes on our hotel’s menu were “Curries” usually shrimp or chicken, served with rice. These so called curries were a far cry from what we have learned and experienced by now what a curry is supposed to be. At that time, we did not make our own curry and masala mixes but rather used the ubiquitous “Curry Powder” , still to be found in most grocery stores around the world, available for those folks who want a quick fix of curry without the fuss. I have lived for some years in Pakistan and in South East Asia, as well as having visited India on many occasions. I consider myself an absolute devotee of curries in all of it’s myriads of incarnations. However, I am also a big sucker for the dishes of my home and my youth, so sometimes I have to make a decision which route to follow on that particular day for a particular dish or style of cooking. Yesterday the curries of my youth won out. The creaminess that is so characteristic of our old fashioned “curries” and the inclusion of fruit into the sauce ( apples, bananas, pineapples) has an appeal all of it’s own to me.
So, in the spirit of good food, no matter what, here is one of my versions of curry.
In the same spirit, there are many variations of coconut rice, this is one of my versions.

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All you want to know about  
CURRY

All you want to know about 
CURRY POWDER

All you want to know about CLASSIC FRENCH CURRY SAUCE
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Curry
Ingredients :

Striploin,                    sliced
Banana,                     diced
Onion,                        sliced
Cauliflower,              blanched
Cherry tomatoes,     whole
Heavy cream,
Ginger,                       grated
Garlic,                         paste
Curry powder,           to taste
Salt,                             to taste
Cayenne,                    to taste
Scallion,                     finely sliced
Cilantro,                     chopped
Star anis,
Cinamon stick
Peanut oil                   to saute

Method :

Saute beef on high heat until medium rare and brown.
Remove on rack to catch juices.
Saute onion, ginger, garlic, 1/2 scallion, 1/2 half cilantro, cinnamon, anis and curry powder until fragrant.
Add cream and slowly simmer to reduce until sauce has become creamy.
Add juices from beef, simmer another minute , season with salt and pepper to taste.
Strain sauce, add beef, cauliflower and tomatoes and heat through without simmering.
To serve, sprinkle with remaining scallion and cilantro

Coconut Rice
Ingredients :

Basmati rice,             thoroughly washed to remove excess starch
Coconot milk             2/3 liquid
chicken stock             1/3
Onion,                         diced
Ginger,                        grated
Garlic,                          paste
Salt,                              to taste
Cayenne,                     to taste
Butter,                          to saute

Method :

Saute onion, garlic and ginger until fragrant (no color), add rice and saute for another minute. Add stock,  coconut milk and seasoning, bring to a simmer.
Cover tightly and simmer until all liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender and dry, about 25 to 30 minutes, depending on rice and applied heat.
DO NOT STIR DURING THIS PROCESS !
When rice is cooked, let rest off the heat for another five minutes before removing lid.
Fluff rice carefully with a fork. To serve, sprinkle with red pepper flakes.

Bon Appetit !   Life is Good !
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P.S.
My previous post about another “Curry”
Enjoy !    🙂
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All about  CURRY WURST
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Currywurst, Berlin style

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” Christopher Walken’s Cooking Show Is Very Christopher Walken-y “

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He is just so funny with everything he does  🙂
– Funniest thing though – the pretty genius trying to open a wine bottle – hilarious.
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Image Source: Wikipedia

Watch Video HERE
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” Borscht “

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On a cold and / or rainy night, a hearty borscht will make you instantly
feel better and give you great visual as well as culinary satisfaction.
I have had borscht with all kinds of protein, fish, beef, pork, poultry,
and sometimes vegetables only. My favorite two are goose and veal.
No goose to be found at my butcher today, but veal ribs in abundance.
( I wonder how old that veal really was, seemed more like ribs from a
full grown cow to me  🙂

Here is my version of borscht. You will notice i did not use sour cream
nor dill this time, although I had both at home. The reason was that the
ribs gave such a strong and rich flavor to the soup that I did not want to
distract from it by adding to many other flavors.
Meat and vegetables, pure  and unadulterated   🙂
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All you want to know about Borscht
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Ingredients :

Veal Ribs,
Red beets,           peeled, diced, cooked, strained, cooking liquid reserved
Potatoes,             diced
Cabbage,             diced
Carrots,               diced
Onions,               diced
Green peppers,  diced
Garlic,                 paste
Cilantro,             chopped
salt,                      to taste
cayenne,             to taste

Method :

Simmer ribs in salted water until tender. Add potatoes, onions, carrots and garlic and simmer until vegetables are tender but firm.
Add beets, peppers, cabbage and seasoning and simmer for five minutes. Remove all ribs and vegetables into serving dish.
Add reserved red beet cooking liquid to broth, adjust seasoning if necessary and ladle broth over ribs and vegetables.
Sprinkle with cilantro or herbs of your choice.
( Note: Traditionally the beets are cooked with the other vegetables together in the broth. However, it is my opinion that the presentation improves by cooking them separate )
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” Tilapia Meuniere & Sauteed Asparagus

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If prepared with love and passion,
what a wonderful  fish  Tilapia can be   🙂
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  1. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat for a minute, then add a couple of tablespoons of clarified butter.
  2. Season the fish fillet to taste with kosher salt  and  cayenne pepper.
  3. Dredge the fish in flour and shake off any excess.
  4. Sauté fish for 2 to 3 minutes or until there’s a nice golden-brown color, then carefully flip it over.
    Cook for another couple of minutes or until this side is golden-brown, too.
  5. Remove fish from pan and place it on a warm plate.
  6. Add a chunk of whole butter  to the pan and cook until it turns slightly brown.
  7. Now top the fish with few tablespoons of  lemon juice  and some chopped parsley , pour the hot butter onto the fish and serve right away.

    Bon Appetit !   Life is Good !
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” The Greatest Speech Ever Made “


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Food for thought……
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” The Classic American Diner – Does It Still Have A Place In Our Heart ? ”

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Dear friend’s of ChefsOpinion :

I would like to share this with all of you in order to :

a)  Help my friend Daryl to get more opinions about his new project.
b)  Find out how popular traditional diners are?
c) Find out what attracts today’s customers to a traditional diner?

Please, instead of commenting on the individual group pages, go to  “ChefsOpinion”
and post all your comments directly in the comment box and / or participate in the poll.

Thank you all  🙂

Image Source: Alta CollectiblesVintage Reproduction

Hello Hans,

I like to hear what your followers think about American Diners.

My next location is an all stainless-steel diner built in 1950 in Elizabeth, NJ by the O’Mahoney company. It’ll be attached to new-construction that will house the kitchen and a second dining room. The menu will be built on New England and American cookery with a high comfort-factor, but, leaning on contemporary taste and sensibilities for quality and flavor.

My question is in two parts:
1. Location – This is a question asked as work on this project progressed: how does the location of a vintage diner impact or limit the curb-appeal of the restaurant. In our opinion, traditional pre-fab diners are deeply perceived by the public as stand-alone operations. With this in mind, a vintage diner can be positioned in a strip-mall/plaza development in such a way connects it to be connected to the new construction and allows the vintage diner to stand proud of the new construction, giving it the appearance of a stand-alone.
2. Menu – Diners, in their time, offered food that was highly contemporary. Their ingredients and methods were of the essence of their age and, in the process, a style was born. The strength of diner’s cookery style heritage is so strong that to open a diner without including some of that style is commercially risky. So, if you had a vintage diner on your hands, what would you do to bring the classic dinner menu into the 21st centaury to meet the expectations of today’s guests?

I’d also like the leave open the topic of “Diners” in general. I’ve been working on this project for about 8-eight months and I have yet to talk to anyone, another professional or a novice, who does have a reaction to the idea of a Diner. So, let me know your thoughts!

Thanks!
Daryl
D.T. Mc Gann
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” Breakfast Of Champions ” # 9 – Quesadillas & Scrambled Eggs

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Saturday –
Sleeping in, letting Bella out the back door instead of walking around the block at 4.00am, watching the news and a movie at 7.00am, how wonderful.
The crowning moment of the morning, as usual,  is having a “breakfast of champions”,  while watching a good movie and knowing that for two day’s the world consists of joy and tranquility.
This morning I fancied Quesadillas, scrambled eggs with bologna, guacamole, pickled cucumbers and scotch bonnet sauce. (The movie – Blue Velvet)

Happy Weekend !   Life is Good !
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” Rinderherz Spiesschen ” (Beef Heart Schaschlik)

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Cooking with Heart,  part two.

” beef heart skewers with spicy bean salad and chimichurri.

I had expected a whole lot of negative comments on cooking with offal.
To my surprise, most comments were positive and encouraging.
Many readers welcomed the opportunity to see food which is hard to find
in other publications these days.
(Never mind the fact that one food critic called a group of seattle chefs :
” Innovative and daring for using the whole animal in their kitchen’s “) . Daaahhhh.
Real chef’s have never stopped doing that, just as real, experienced food lovers have
never stopped searching for it and enjoying it whenever available.

So here it is, Beef Heart Shashlik .
It may be an acquired taste, but once you do have acquired it, …….  🙂
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Ingredients :

Beef heart,          diced, soaked in milk for at least 8 hours
Salt,                      to taste
Cayenne,             to taste
Garlic powder,   to taste
lemon juice,        to taste
Corn starch,       to dredge
Onions,               wedges
Olive oil,             for sauteeing

Method :

Season meat and onions liberally with pepper and garic powder,
dredge skewers in corn starch, shake of excess corn starch and saute
(grill if you prefer) until crisp on the outside, still light pink in the center.
When almost done, add onions to the pan and saute until meat has
desired temperature and onions start to caramelize. Sprinkle heart with
kosher or sea salt, drizzle with lemon juice, remove to absorbent paper.
Season onions with salt, pepper and garlic powder, remove to absorbent paper.
Serve with any salad and condiment / sauce,  such as chimichurri,
horse raddish, spicy salsa, mustard, etc.
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Image Source: Unknown (can anybody help out ?)

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