Snacks / Appetizers

Pig’s Feet Souse ( Love It Or Hate It )

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Pig’s feet are not everybody’s cup of tea, but for those of us who love them, they are a special treat.
I prepare them quite often, in stews, steamed, braised, Asian style, Latin style, German style; any way is fine with me 🙂
The following dish is Caribbean Style Souse, as I enjoyed it many moon’s ago a couple of times in Trinidad, at the home of my friend Lyron’s mother.
Very spicy and lightly acidic, with lots of vegetables, it was the perfect food on a hot day by the beach, spend in wonderful company and washed down with a few bottles of Carib Beer – nothing else was needed in those moments to feel happy and content 🙂
These meals (and times) are now in the distant past; all that’s left are the happy memories, vividly recalled by preparing the meals we enjoyed together then – Lyron and his wife Dorsey, my wife Maria, myself and Lyron’s mother, whose name eludes me after all these years but whom I always remember when preparing this particular souse………….
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Pig’s Feet Souse

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Preparation :
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: cut 1 large cucumber, 1 bunch chives, 2 large carrots, type and quantity of chilies of your choice, 5 ea red radishes, 1 large onion; make a dressing of 1 cup water, 4 small bay leaves, 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, grated ginger, maggi seasoning and garlic paste to taste, mix all except the carrots and bay leaves, set aside

: rinse 4 lbs pigs feet , cut into large pieces, cover with cold water, season with 1 cup white balsamic vinegar (or vinegar of your choice), 2 tplsp garlic paste, kosher salt and hot sauce to taste, simmer until tender but not falling apart, about two hours, add the sliced carrots and bay leaves, let cool to room temperature; drain the broth, add the vegetables with the dressing and serve either cold, at room temperature or hot; serves 4

: Pig’s Feet Souse

: Pig’s Feet Souse

: Pig’s Feet Souse

: Pig’s Feet Souse

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Shrimp And Sardines Pie

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The other day I felt like having pizza. Or lahmacun. Or grilled seafood. Or a nice sardine salad. Or………….
Well, at first I couldn’t make up my mind, but once I opened the fridge and the cupboard, it all came together. The result was this stunner, which was the tastiest seafood pie I’ve ever had. The secret to it’s bedazzling aroma and flavor ? The combination of it’s roasted sardines, shrimp, lot’s of garlic and oregano, the superb pizza dough, the wonderfully fragrant harissa and EVO and a few drops of maggi seasoning.
Can it get any better than this?? Maybe, but not very likely 🙂
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Shrimp And Sardines Pie

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Preparation :
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: 1 packed cup finely sliced red and green peppers. 20 oz peeled, deveined, headless shrimp, 2 can sardines in olive oil (drained)

: season with 2 tblsp harissa, 1 tblsp garlic paste, 1 tsp oregano, 2 tblsp EVO, a dash of maggi seasoning, kosher salt to taste, mix carefully without breaking-up the sardines

: pull 1 lb fresh pizza dough into rectangle (the size will depend on the thickness you prefer)

: spread the seafood mixture evenly on the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border; bake at 480 F until dough is cooked, about 15 – 20 minutes

: meanwhile, prepare a small salad of greens and onions, dressed with olive oil, greek yogurt, lemmon juice, kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: after 15-20 minutes……..to serve, top individual slices generously with salad

: Shrimp And Sardines Pie

: Shrimp And Sardines Pie

: Shrimp And Sardines Pie

: Shrimp And Sardines Pie

: Shrimp And Sardines Pie

: Shrimp And Sardines Pie

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Quesadilla Con Frijoles Refrito

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Who say’s a Quickie can not satisfy………….
This one certainly will, and it takes but a few minutes to prepare and can be appreciated for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, or anytime between 🙂
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Quesadilla Con Frijoles Refrito

>Quesadilla Con Frijoles Refrito

Quesadilla Con Frijoles Refrito

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Preparation :
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: toast two large flour tortillas on one side only

: spread the toasted side of one tortilla with 6 oz re-fried beans

: add 4 oz pickled banana peppers, 6 oz shredded mexican cheese mix and 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

: top with the second toasted tortilla, toasted side down, griddle on a comal or cast iron pan on low heat on both sides until golden and cheese melted

: remove quesadilla to a cutting board, cut into 6 wedges

: Quesadilla Con Frijoles Refrito

: Quesadilla Con Frijoles Refrito

: Quesadilla Con Frijoles Refrito

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Powidl Mit Pfirsich (Plum Chutney With Peaches)

: Powidl Mit Pfirsich (Plum Chutney With Peaches)

: Vanilla Ice cream With Powidl , Whipped Cream And Sweet Plum Sauce

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Here is another delicious plum recipe I want to share with y’all 🙂
Powidl has its origin in Poland (powidła or powidło) and the Czech republic (povidla), from where it went on to Austria and Germany and other European countries.
Powidl was traditionally made without additional sweeteners or gelling agents and was mostly eaten as a spread on bread and cakes. It is comparable in appearance and texture to Indian spicy plum chutney, although as the name implies, the Indian version is chock-full of spices and seasoning and more suitable as accompaniment to meat dishes.
After the war, there was very little money to go around in a typical German household, especially in the countryside and even when there was, the selection of commercially prepared foods was very limited. However, although my parents were no farmers, we owned a small amount of land with fruit trees on them, mainly apples and plums. As I described in previous posts, most of the fruits and vegetables from our land and garden were preserved to last well into the winter. With the help of our neighbors, my mom prepared our own pickles, sauerkraut, marmalade, apple sauce, etc, while most of the apples went to the communal “Mosterei” to make our own cider.
However, when Powidl was made, the best way to enjoy it was to eat it fresh, while still warm and fragrant. A slice of home-made bread (baked in the communal oven by my best friends mom, Frau Vetter), slathered with fresh butter and heavenly Powidl – provided my very first culinary happy moments at age 6 :-). In order to put this into perspective – buttered bread with sugar sprinkled on top was a special treat, so the sweet, beautifully vibrant Powidl added a whole new dimension to a simple slice of bread. Like I said before, for a few years after the war, Germany was not a place of culinary indulgence for most folks.
Well, back to the delicacy at hand; The plums I used were a bit on the tart side, so I added a small amount of sugar and honey to round out the taste. The peaches ended up in this Powidl because they had a few blemishes and therefore did not appeal to me in their raw state.
So, in the end, not a particular original Powidl – but nevertheless, a super delicious Powidl indeed 🙂
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for Indian Spiced Plum Chutney (A lloo Bukharay Ki Chutney)
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Powidl Mit Pfirsich (Plum Chutney With Peaches)

Vanilla Ice cream With Powidl , Whipped Cream And Sweet Plum Sauce

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Preparation :
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: remove pit’s from 3 lbs plums and 2 ea peaches, add 2 tblsp sugar and 1 tblsp honey (optional, depending on the tartness of the fruit)

: cover airtight, store in refrigerator overnight

: mix the fruit with the fruit juices which have collected overnight

: bake uncovered at 360F for 3,5 hours

: after 3,5 hours……

: Powidl Mit Pfirsich (Plum Chutney With Peaches)

: powidl, salted butter, fresh-baked croissants

: spread croissants with salted butter

: top generously with warm powidl

: Powidl Mit Pfirsich (Plum Chutney With Peaches)

: Powidl Mit Pfirsich (Plum Chutney With Peaches)

: Powidl Mit Pfirsich (Plum Chutney With Peaches)

: add a generous amount of powidl to a serving bowl

: top powidl with vanilla ice cream

: add some more powidl, top with whipped cream and sweet plum sauce (mix 3 tblsp powidl with 1 tplsp heavy cream in blender until smooth)

: Vanilla Ice cream With Powidl , Whipped Cream And Sweet Plum Sauce

: Vanilla Ice cream With Powidl , Whipped Cream And Sweet Plum Sauce

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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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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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Salad of Tomato, Cucumber, Alfalfa Sprouts And Parmigiano Reggiano

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While ” Just A Salad ” usually does not do it for me, this one certainly did 🙂
Consisting of just a few simple ingredients, the quality and richness they possessed made this a complete, delicious and utterly satisfying meal.
The tomatoes were super ripe and super sweet, the cucumbers crispy and fresh, the sprouts added a new texture and the parmigiano reggiano was as perfect as can be.
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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slice 2 large, very ripe tomatoes into fine slices, arrange on serving platter, sprinkle with sea salt to taste

slice 2 large, very ripe tomatoes and 1 medium size white onion into fine slices, arrange on serving platter, sprinkle with sea salt and fresh-cracked black pepper to taste, add 1/2 tray alfalfa sprouts, drizzle with 3 tblsp white balsamic vinegar and 3 tblsp olive oil

slice 2 medium size cucumbers and 1 medium size white onion into fine slices, arrange on serving platter, sprinkle with sea salt and fresh-cracked black pepper to taste, add 1/2 tray alfalfa sprouts, drizzle with 3 tblsp white balsamic vinegar and 3 tblsp olive oil

shave 6 oz of parmigiano reggiano on top of salad, drizzle with 2 tbslp olive oil and sprinkle with fresh-cracked black pepper to taste; serves 2

Salad of Tomato, Cucumber, Alfalfa Sprouts And Parmigiano Reggiano

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Pearl Burgers

Pearl Balls

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Pearl ~~Balls~~ Burgers :
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DON’T PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD !
When we were kids, most of us had to be told not to play with our food in order to install respect and gratitude towards our daily nourishment, which in my case, immediately after WWII in Germany, was not nearly as guaranteed and abundant as is now for most of us.
But, decades later, like any professional chef, I love to “play” with food, either to improve a dish’s taste, appearance, profitability, or just for the heck of it. 🙂
“Just for the heck of it” happened today.
I was well on my way to prepare traditional “Chinese Pearl Balls”, which I love dearly and I prepare quite often for myself at home. They are easy and quick to prepare, look wonderful and they serve perfect as snack, appetizer or main course in a multi-course meal.
However, today I had the urge to “play with my food” a bit and the following was the result. Both versions of the burgers were outstanding in taste and especially in texture, and I will definitely prepare them again 🙂
Because of their size and the additional liquid added to the ground meat, the pearl burgers were much more juicy than regular pearl balls, which tend to dry-out quickly when removed from the steam. The burgers without the rice coating were very juicy as well, with the additional bonus of the taste/texture-enhancement resulting from the maillard reaction.
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
As mentioned above and as you can see in the prep-pictures below, I added much more water to the ground meat as one would to regular pearl balls, since holding their shape was not an issue for the patties as it would have been shaping the pork into spherical shapes. The added moisture made a huge difference in the final product.
P.P.S.
Serve with Kecap Manis or other dipping sauce of your choice.
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Click here to read about Maillard Reaction
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Click here for Kecap Manis Recipe on ChefsOpinion
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Pearl Burger

Asian Flavored Pork Burger

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Preparation :
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: mix 2 lbs ground pork, 4 ea stalks sliced scallions, 1 tblsp sesame oil, 1 tblsp soy sauce, 1 tsp garlic paste, 1/2 tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp chili paste, kosher salt to taste and 1 cup water or unsalted chicken broth

: soak 1 cup long grain rice overnight in water; next day, drain rice and pat dry

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: divide pork into 4 patties, dip 2 ea on both sides in the soaked rice

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: saute the 2 plain patties on both sides in peanut oil until golden and cooked medium-well – (the carry-over heat will finish the cooking process) ; serves 2

: place one ea of the pearl patties on a lightly oiled plate or parchment paper, steam in 2 steamer baskets (one above each other) until medium well – (the carry-over heat will finish the cooking process) ; serves 2

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: Asian Flavored Pork Burger

: Steamed Pearl Burger

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: Asian Flavored Pork Burger

: Pearl Balls Burger

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Cucumber And Carrot Slaw In Greek Yogurt Dressing

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It’s BBQ time ! The perfect opportunity to shine with your favorite home made salads, sauces and condiments.
This salad is one of my BBQ standby’s, a perfect side dish to accompany hot meat just off the grill.
“Cucumber and carrot slaw in Greek yogurt dressing” is full of flavor and crunchy texture, looks great and can be made hours in advance, which makes it well-suited to take to potlucks, or before friends and family show up for a BBQ at your house.
Actually, I sometimes enjoy a large bowl of it just by itself as a light and tasty lunch on a hot summer day (As I did yesterday) 🙂
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Cucumber Carrot Slaw In Greek Yogurt Dressing

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Preparation :
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slice 1 lb of cucumbers into thin slices

season generously with 2 tblsp kosher salt, mix well, set aside for 15 minutes

after 15 minutes, squeeze all excess water/juices from the cucumbers, discard the liquid (or add vodka and ice for a great cocktail 🙂

add 1 lb freshly shredded raw carrots

add 1 tsp sriracha, 1 tblsp garlic paste, 2 cup Greek yogurt, mix all together

add 1 tsp sriracha, 1 tblsp garlic paste, 2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup ranch dressing,, mix all together

check/adjust seasoning

Cucumber Carrot Slaw In Greek Yogurt Dressing

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Tostadas Al Pescado (Fish Tostadas)

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When you decide to make tostadas, the biggest decision will be if you want to prepare your own tortillas and fry them to a flat crisp or buy packaged tostada shells, which you can buy in any supermarket nowadays’, most of excellent quality. After that, the most sensible thing is to put the tostadas on a platter in the center of the table, arrange all the toppings in bowls around them and let everybody assemble their own favorite. Traditionally, refried beans, cotija cheese, a simple salsa and sometimes seafood are the main ingredients/toppings.
But, as you can imagine, tostadas, like most other dishes with a long culinary history, have evolved and advanced to be more adventurous and varied. Anything you fancy is allowed to grace your tostada, as long as it is delicious and makes you smile 🙂
Refried beans, shredded lettuce, sour cream, any cheese, any seafood, sausage, meat, grilled vegetables, any salsa, guacamole, etc, etc.
I happened to have some fresh Swai fillets at hand as well as white cabbage for a tasty cabbage slaw. Added some guacamole, salsa Mexicana and a bit of sour cream and BINGO ! – exiting lunch served in a snap 🙂
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Salsa Mexicana Recipe:
2 medium tomatoes- diced; 1 med white onion- diced, 3 jalapeños- chopped, 1/3 cup cilantro- chopped; lime juice and kosher salt- to taste; combine, check/adjust seasoning.
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Tostadas Al Pescado (Fish Tostadas)

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Preparation :
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: combine 3 cups finely sliced white cabbage, 1/2 cup sliced red onion, 1/4 cup sliced scallion, sliced red chillies to taste with1/2 cup sour cream, 1 tblsp lemon juice, 1 tsp garlic paste, kosher salt to taste