Cayenne pepper

Smoked Salmon And Vodka Risotto

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I was lusting for this the whole morning, so I decided to have an early lunch today at 11.00 am.
What a great dish to celebrate a lazy Sunday with 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

smoked salmon and vodka risotto

saute onion and garlic in butter until fragrant

add diced smoked salmon, saute one minute

arborio rice

add rice, saute for two minutes

deglaze with vodka, season with sea salt and cayenne pepper

add vegetable stock in small quantities, just enough to barely cover the rice. Stir constantly. Add more stock as the rice absorbs the liquid. This will take about 30 minutes

add vegetable stock in small quantities, just enough to barely cover the rice, simmer. Stir constantly. Add more stock as the rice absorbs the liquid. This will take about 30 minutes

when the rice is tender but sill has a bit of a bite, add heavy cream and more diced smoked salmon. Simmer one more minute, check/adjust seasoning

sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper

smoked salmon and vodka risotto

finish with more smoked salmon and finely sliced scallions

smoked salmon and vodka risotto

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Donkatsu

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Yesterday’s dinner was one of these dishes which are so universal that most countries have their own version of it, distinguishable only by it’s different presentation and condiments.
Tontkatsu is one of these dishes. It is basically a breaded pork cutlet, which in its home, Japan, is served in many variations. The version I prepared last night is served over a bowl of rice with egg, so “Tonkatsu ” becomes “Donkatsu”. Tonkatsu dipping sauce is served separately.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Tonkatsu Dipping Sauce Recipe
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Gyū katsu Recipe
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Donkatsu

season cutlets with kosher salt and cayenne pepper, bread in flour, egg and panko bread crumbs. Fry. Remove to absorbent paper. Slice

add steamed rice to bowl

add sliced cutlet, eggs and orange wedge

Donkatsu

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Chinese Style Ginger & Garlic Crabs

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Last night’s dinner was truly special.
Special food, special digestive (very old cognac) and most of all, special friends.
This is the first Chinese recipe I ever learned, way back in 1974 while working on Royal Viking Sky. My assistant was a Chinese fellow named Chang. Whenever we were in Vancouver, instead of going ashore, he took his fishing line and a few pieces of chopped up fish and went up to the aft deck to fish for crabs. In these days there were very few cruise ships and fewer still went to Alaska during the three months summer season. So, crabs and other seafood were still plentyful and as I remember from watching him fishing once, all it took for him was to lower the fishing line with a bit of fish on the hook into the water, wait maybe a minute, then pull it out with the biggest crab attached to it. It took him less then an hour to fill three buckets of the freshest, largest crabs you have ever seen. He kept them alive in the cooler until the next evening, then he cooked them for a few of us for a late dinner. He supplied the food, I supplied the beer – everybody happy 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Saute very finely slivered garlic and very finely julienned ginger in peanut oil until garlic starts to turn yellow. Deglace with sherry wine, add seafood stock or clam juice, sea salt and cayenne pepper. Add crabs, cover tigtly and steam until crabs are just done. Remove crab into serving dish. Thicken stock with corn starch slurry. Using a wire whisk, stir sauce slowly in one direction, add egg whites. Remove from heat, add sesame oil and scallions. Check/adjust seasoning. Ladle sauce over crabs. Enjoy 🙂
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Chinese Ginger & Garlic Crabs

Fresh Crabs

Gale, Junior and Moses

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Lettuce Cups With Spicy Chicken And Dirty Rice Sticks

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Lettuce cups are widely used in Asia and are usually filled with plain, sesame oil coated rice-, egg- or cellophane- noodles amongst other goodies such as duck, shrimp, tofu, etc. I like my noodles to have a bit more taste and substance, so I usually use a stir fried mixture of noodles and other “stuff”. Here I used dirty rice sticks, along with spicy chicken and a wonderful tasty hoi sin dressing. The result was both eye-pleasing and tasty 🙂

Click here for Dirty Rice Sticks recipe
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Lettuce Cups With Spicy Chicken And Dirty Rice Sticks

Lettuce Cup With Spicy Chicken And Dirty Rice Sticks

: season diced chicken leg with five spice powder, salt, cayenne and soy sauce, saute until golden

: mix hoi sin, honey, ketchup, lime sauce, garlic paste, salt and pepper

: prep lettuce cups

: fill with dirty rice sticks

: top with chicken

: drizzle with hoi sin dressing, sprinkle with fresh coriander and sesame seeds

: Lettuce Cups With Spicy Chicken And Dirty Rice Sticks

: Lettuce Cup With Spicy Chicken And Dirty Rice Sticks

: Lettuce Cup With Spicy Chicken And Dirty Rice Sticks

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Dirty Rice Sticks

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Here is a variation of “Dirty Rice“, this one done with rice sticks. I am a big fan of dirty rice, but I prefer the dirty rice sticks by far, either as a side dish or main course with a couple of fried eggs on top. Serve with soy sauce and chili sauce on the side.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Dirty Rice Sticks

: saute chopped duck liver and duck gizzard with onion, scallion, garlic paste and grated ginger in peanut oil

: add soaked rice sticks, a bit of duck stock to moisten the noodles, sesame oil, salt and cayenne pepper, saute until rice sticks heated through

: Dirty Rice Sticks

: Dirty Rice Sticks

: Dirty Rice Sticks

: Dirty Rice Sticks

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Grilled Pork Medallions, Chili/Herb Butter & Salad

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Fifteen minutes is all it takes to prepare this delightful meal. Just make sure you leave a wrapped stick of butter on the prep table in the kitchen when you leave the house in the morning so that you have pliable, soft butter when you start prepping in the afternoon.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Grilled Pork Medallions, Chili/Herb Butter & Salad

season tenderloin medallions with kosher salt, cayenne pepper and granulated garlic. Saute until medium well. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.

mix soft butter, roasted garlic paste, salt, cayenne pepper, lime juice and chopped cilantro. Scoop out, top with chili flakes

season radishes and cucumbers with plenty of sea salt, marinate for 10 minutes

after 10 minutes, drain water, add eggs, ketchup, sriracha, chopped parsley, roasted garlic paste and olive oil, mix carefully so you don’t mush up the eggs

spicy salad of egg, cucumber and radish

Grilled Pork Medallions, Chili/Herb Butter & Salad

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Chicken Noodle Soup & Egg

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This is a remnant from a time when a chicken noodle soup was a remedy for just about anything – a bit of a cold, a bit of a sad day, a bit of exhaustion, not much Mom couldn’t fix with a bowl of chicken noodle soup with egg 🙂
To this day, it is still a dish which, in most of it’s infinite incarnations, will make me feel better, richer, healthier and just all around more alive. Here is one of my many different variations, this one with bone-in chicken, buccatini rice noodles, peppers, shiitake mushrooms, soft boiled eggs and lots of chopped cilantro, all swimming in a freshly made, extra strong chicken soup.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Chicken Noodle Soup & Egg

rice buccatini underneath all the other goodies

Chicken Noodle Soup & Egg

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Chili Beef, Pennoni Lisci & Peppers

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Great lunch today with a minimum of time and work. I used whole chili‘s because I find the taste better and more intense than chili flakes. Saute them until they change color and have infused the oil with their pungent heat. Remove the chili’s at this point or leave them in the dish for presentation ( I also like to chew on them a bit)

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Chili Beef, Pennoni Lisci & Peppers

: cut beef tenderloin into strip’s, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper, dust with corn starch and saute in peanut oil until brown and still rare. Set aside

: saute onion and chili’s until fragrant

: add peppers and roasted garlic purre, saute another minute

: deglaze with red wine

: add, freshly cooked pasta, beef, chopped parsley, salt and pepper

: Chili Beef, Pennoni Lisci & Peppers

: Chili Beef, Pennoni Lisci & Peppers

: sprinkle freshly grated peccorino

: Chili Beef, Pennoni Lisci & Peppers

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Whole Roast Pork Filet, Green Peppercorn Cream, Twice Baked Beets / Potato & Gratinated Broccoli

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This made my day today.
Old fashioned, work and time intensive and probably a bit ridiculous to prepare for just one person, but oh so worth the trouble. Reminded me of my time as executive chef years ago, when chef’s and guest’s still valued real food and service and the world was a better place (Maybe? Maybe not) 🙂
The stuffed potato with sour cream, beets and diced apples was excellent, seemed to be a bit Scandinavian in it’s taste and appearance. Gratinated broccoli, what’s not to like! And anything in green peppercorn cream – Hello !
All in all a meal I can recommend to anybody who has a bit of time on he’s/her hand and values quality over the “in”-factor.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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roast pork tender loin

: Season pork tender with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, saute until medium well

: let rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing

: in same pan, saute diced onions and garlic cream, degaze with white wine and cocnac Careful- the alcohol will ignite! Add cream, simmer

: reduce by half, add salt and papper

: add demi glace, simmer one minute

: check seasoning, correct if necessary

: remove cooked baked potato from oven, cut in half, remove pulp, put through ricer

: add red beets, diced apples, egg yolk, salt & pepper

: mix well. If too loose, add a bit of mie de pain

: empty potato shell

: stuffed potato shell, ready to bake

: baked potato/beets, topped with sour cream and chives

: blanched broccoli florettes

: napped with sauce mornay

: baked until golden

: Whole Roast Pork Filet, Green Peppercorn Cream, Twice Baked Beets / Potato & Gratinated Broccoli

: roast pork tender loin

: roast pork tender loin

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“Canned” Dinner

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I am a big fan of the notion that all food should be as fresh as possible and whenever it is practical, I try to go into that direction. But, alas, sometimes it is just NOT practical. I got home late today, Bella needed her walk right away and by the time I walked her and fed her, it was already 7.00pm. I get up at around 4.00am on weekday’s, so I was pretty beat by 7.00pm. Dinner had to be fast and furious.
Here is what I found in the cup board :
Canned tuna, canned artichokes, canned sun dried tomatoes, mascarpone, dried lasagna pasta, butter, heavy cream, roasted garlick paste and chives. Add some salt and cayenne pepper and pronto, perfect dinner in ten minutes. 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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canned dinner

mise en place

saute garlic and tomatoes in butter, add cooked pasta, cream, artichokes, tuna and seasoning.

simmer one minute, add mascarpone and chives, check/adjust seasoning

to serve, sprinkle with more chives and grated pecorino romano

canned dinner

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