chilies

Toasted Focaccia Sandwich With Veal & Pickled Onions

When I have leftovers (meat, seafood, pasta, rice, veggies) in the fridge, rather than just reheat it the next day and have the same dish again, I prefer to create a new, different dish with it.
Therefore, the braised veal breast from the other day became today’s spectacular, highly satisfying “Toasted Focaccia Sandwich With Veal & Pickled Onions”.
Although I used the same meat, it was a completely new dish which, taste-wise and in texture, did not at all remind me of the previous meal it provided me with.
This sandwich was so delicious, I almost padded my own proud and happy shoulder when I ate it. 🙂
While I was writing this, it just came to my mind that this sandwich satisfies a wide range of flavors – sour from the onions, spicy from the chilies, salty from radishes and umami from the veal – marvelous ! 🙂

Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !

Click here for more Veal on ChefsOpinion

Click here for more Sandwiches on ChefsOpinion

Click here for Pickled Onions (Cebolla En Escabeche) on ChefsOpinion

Toasted Focaccia Sandwich With Veal & Pickled Onions

cut sandwich into pieces, serve with salted radishes

add a generous amount of pickled onions, chopped cilantro and pickled peppers/chilies of your choice

Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
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: freshly baked focaccia and garlic confit paste

: cut the focaccia in half, brush generously on all four side with garlic paste

: grill/gratinate all 4 sides

: brush with plenty of good quality mustard

: sprinkle with finely grated asiago cheese

: remove all bones from the veal

: cut into “chunks”

: spread the veal on the bottom part of the focaccia

: add a generous amount of pickled onions, chopped cilantro and pickled peppers/chilies of your choice

: cut sandwich into pieces, serve with salted radishes

: Toasted Focaccia Sandwich With Veal & Pickled Onions

: Toasted Focaccia Sandwich With Veal & Pickled Onions

: Toasted Focaccia Sandwich With Veal & Pickled Onions

Arugula & Crab Salad In Yogurt Dressing

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Arugula & Crab Salad In Honey-Mustard Dressing

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Lately, I eat a lot of salad as a main course, any time of the day, even for breakfast if I have leftovers from the previous day.
The key to a great leftover salad to enjoy the following day is to look at the total quantity of all ingredients BEFORE you add the green leaves and dressing, then set them aside separately, cover airtight and store in the fridge overnight, so that the leaves will not wilt and the salad does not get soggy. Only mix and add the finishing touches to the salad you can actually eat for the one meal you’re about to have.
Seems logical enough, but sometimes when everything looks so tempting and delicious, the eyes are bigger than the stomach and we are stuck with a beautiful salad that will turn messy in just a short while 🙂
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
Use any type of crabmeat that suits your taste buds and wallet, or substitute crabmeat with lobster, crayfish, shrimp or scallops.
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Click here for more Crab on ChefsOpinion
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Click here for more Salad on ChefsOpinion
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Yogurt Dressing Recipe :

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon garlic paste
1/2 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
1/4 cup EVO
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon chopped oregano (or 1 pinch dried oregano)

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Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk ’til smooth.

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Arugula & Crab Salad In Honey-Mustard Dressing

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Arugula & Crab Salad In Honey-Mustard Dressing

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Arugula & Crab Salad In Honey-Mustard Dressing

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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: baby arugula, kani kama, sliced chilies (use chilies which are suited to the heatlevel you can tolerate)

: add finely sliced red cabbage and Greek yogurt dressing, mix, serve with toasted bread and sliced carambola

: Arugula & Crab Salad In Honey-Mustard Dressing

: Arugula & Crab Salad In Honey-Mustard Dressing

: Arugula & Crab Salad In Honey-Mustard Dressing

: Arugula & Crab Salad In Honey-Mustard Dressing

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Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken ( See Yao Gai ) ( 酱油鸡 )

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If roast chicken is your favorite chicken dish, it’s probably because you never had the opportunity to taste this marvel of Chinese cuisine. Even if you did taste it, you most likely thought that this is way too complicated and difficult to prepare at home.
Well, here comes ChefsOpinion to the rescue 🙂
I am happy to give you all the info you’ll need to prepare this wonderful, actually simple to prepare, flavor-bomb at home.
Once you see the easy step by step instructions and how few ingredients are required, you will surely ask yourself why you’ve never tried your hands at this before. Enjoy ! 🙂
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for more Chicken on ChefsOpinion
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Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken ( See Yao Gai ) ( 酱油鸡 )

note the juiciness of the chicken breast ……..

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
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: choose a pot into which a whole fresh never frozen chicken fit’s snuggly (breast side down)

: add fresh ginger slices, dried chilies, star anise and chopped garlic cloves

: fill the pot with a mixture of 2 tblsp brown sugar, 3/4 soy sauce and 1/4 water

: cover the pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat at once, simmer very slowly for 25 minutes

: uncover the pot……

: carefully turn the chicken breast side up

: cover, continue to simmer very slowly for another 25 minutes, remove from heat, let cool to room temperature

: remove the chicken carefully from the liquid

: baste the chicken repeatedly until the skin takes on a deep mahogany color

: reduce the remaining sauce to 1 1/2 cups, check/adjust seasoning, strain

: Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken ( See Yao Gai ) ( 酱油鸡 )

: cut the chicken into 16 pieces (see pictures)

: Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken ( See Yao Gai ) ( 酱油鸡 )

: Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken ( See Yao Gai ) ( 酱油鸡 )

: Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken ( See Yao Gai ) ( 酱油鸡 )

: Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken ( See Yao Gai ) ( 酱油鸡 )

: Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken ( See Yao Gai ) ( 酱油鸡 )

: Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken ( See Yao Gai ) ( 酱油鸡 )

: Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken ( See Yao Gai ) ( 酱油鸡 )

: please note the juiciness of the chicken breast ……..

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Here is what I did the next day with the leftover chicken and sauce :
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Leftover Soy Chicken

: shred the leftover chicken coarsely, simmer in 1 cup of the leftover sauce for one minute

: add (4 0z raw) cooked pasta of your choice, add 1 tblsp chopped cilantro, mix well

: Leftover Soy Chicken

: Leftover Soy Chicken

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Fajas De Res

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To prepare a great meal is no problem for most of us –
as long as there is plenty of time, money and somebody who cleans up the mess afterward.
But what if there isn’t ?? Well, how about this easy solution: Fajas De Res (Beef Fajitas)
– Cut and marinate the beef and onions: 3 minutes
– Saute the beef: 2 minutes
– Prepare the guacamole: 3 minutes
– Reheat pre-made tortillas: 2 minutes
– prepare salsa Mexicana: 4 minutes
– All in all, no more than 15 minutes for a smashing dinner. Life is Good 🙂
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Bon Appétit ! Viva Mexico !
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Click here for Salsa Mexicana Recipe and Guacamole Recipe on Chefsopinion
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For the fajas, cut beef flank into slices or batons, season with kosher salt, cayenne pepper and granulated garlic to taste, saute with sunflower oil in a VERY hot pan or comal until rare, add chopped onions, saute another minute. Serve with salsa Mexicana, guacamole, sour cream, and chilies.
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Nasi Goreng

Restaurant Version Nasi Goreng >

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Nasi Goreng can be had in one version or another in many Asian countries. Actually, it is the national dish of Indonesia, where it can be eaten at any time of the day from road side hawker carts to 5 star restaurants and in any home.
As with so many Asian dishes I learned about in Germany the 60’s, the”Nasi Goreng” of my youth was usually made with curry powder, which qualified the dish as “exotic” :-).
In later years, while working and travelling in Asia, I got to know the real stuff, usually seasoned with sambal ulek and kecup manis, garlic, sauteed and fried shallots and soy sauce.
However, even back then when I was a kid and enjoyed the curry powder versions, the standard accompaniments (Garniture) were the same as you’d find in a good restaurant then and now anywhere around the world, where appearance is almost as important as taste : Kroepek (shrimp crackers), sliced cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, fried eggs, fried shallots and satay’s with peanut sauce.
Today, after coming home from work, “Garniture” was not in the forefront of my mind but rather a hearty, spicy, quick to prepare dish which would hit all the buttons of my culinary lust 🙂
So here it is : Nasi goreng without the bells & whistles but at it’s tastiest !
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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
As you can see in the picture, I used fresh-cooked rice. Day old rice is of course preferable for any fried rice, including nasi goreng, but I needed to have my fix NOW.
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Click here for more Fried Rice on ChefsOpinion
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Nasi Goreng

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: stir fry 1 1/2 cup diced chicken and 1 1/2 cup peeled and deveined shrimp in 2 tblsp peanut oil, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste; add 2 sliced medium hot chilis, 1 small finely sliced onion 3 cups cooked rice, 1 tsp sambal olek, 1/2 tsp garlic paste, 2 tsp kecap manis, 1 tsp soy sauce

: add kosher salt and cayenne pepper to taste, stir fry until well mixed and the rice starts to “pop”, check/adjust seasoning; put the nasi goreng on a serving dish, sprinkle with fried shallots

: top nasi goreng with 3 fried eggs, sprinkle with chili flakes and sliced scallions; serves 3

: Nasi Goreng

: Nasi Goreng

: Nasi Goreng

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Pho

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While Pho comes in many variations and can be served with a plethora of sides, such as finely sliced onions, chili peppers, culantro, lime, bean sprouts, Thai basil, etc, I kept today’s lunch relatively simple but nevertheless very rich and delicious. Preparation was lightning quick, since I had a strong beef stock leftover from yesterday’s “beef and vegetable stew”.
If you prefer your beef paper-thin, you might want to put it in the freezer for a few hours before slicing, but I prefer the texture of the beef the way I sliced it, slightly thicker than usual and thus with a bit more bite to it. Certainly not “original”, but, in my kitchen, cooking for myself and Bella – anything goes. (Well, almost anything 🙂 )
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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All about Pho
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More Pho on ChefsOpinion
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Pho

Pho

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: slice beef tenderloin into thin slices

: season beef stock with star anise, cinnamon bark, coriander seed, fennel seed, grated ginger, garlic paste, kosher salt and crushed black pepper, simmer until fragrant, strain, check / adjust seasoning

: cook rice vermicelli, drain, rinse

: add vermicelli to serving bowl, add a few drops of fish sauce

: top vermicelli with sliced beef

: ladle simmering stock over beef

: garnish with cilantro, chilies, basil leaves, scallions, fried garlic and scallions

: Pho

: Pho

: Pho

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Pulled Pork “Havana Loco”

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For most of my life I detested the very idea of pulled pork. My professional training as a cook had taught me that if something falls apart, it is overcooked and therefore non grata. In addition, the pulled pork I was introduced to during my early years in the USA was almost always smoked for many hours, then completely inundated in (most of the time crappy) “bbq sauce”.
The whole thing seemed to me to have the texture and taste of some lousy half-smoked cigars mashed-up and mixed with ketchup and vinegar, more often than not served on a limp, tasteless burger bun. As a result, for many years I stayed away from pulled pork.
This changed when I got to travel in Latin America and in Latin American-circles, where pulled pork took on a very different dimension, one which I was finally able to wholeheartedly embrace. Usually braised in the oven for hours, with lots of cilantro, lime, garlic, various citrus juices and sometimes the addition of onions and/or chilies, the pork tastes lively and fresh, not at all heavy or greasy or overly sweet. Usually, it is served with white rice and yucca or a simple salad and most of the time with some kind of spicy, vinegar based condiment.
Below find my own take on pulled pork, as I imagine I would serve it at my imaginary, popular nightspot in a Havana of long-gone times, with hot girls dancing to the Rumba, Mojitos flowing freely and eating, drinking, dancing, making love and enjoying life being the only thing on everybody’s mind……………..
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Pulled Pork “Havana Loco”

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: whole porkbutt, shank removed

: cut pork butt in half, reserve one half for another recipe, score skin of porkbutt in a criss-cross pattern

: orange, lime, kosher salt, chili flakes, garlic paste

: mix the juices from the fruit, 2 tblsp salt, 1 tsp chili flakes, 2 tblsp garlic paste with 2 pints of water, pour into pan with porkbutt, lightly cover with alu-foil, cook at 350F for 4 hours or until pork falls apart when lightly squeezed

: meanwhile, make sauce by blending with a beurre-mixer or in food processor : lime juice, garlic paste, cayenne pepper, cilantro, kosher salt and olive oil

: almost……..

: cilantro, garlic and lime sauce

: season fresh spinach leaves and thinly sliced radish with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: sour dough bread (use your own choice of bread)

: cut in half, remove some of the soft part (don’t throw away, this is great to dunk into the pork juices)

: after 4 hours at 350F….

: put pork into a bowl, remove chicharones (crispy skin), reserve chicharones

: chicharones

: remove bone from meat, give bone to Bella 🙂

: shredd the pork with 2 forks or tongs

: add the pork juices from the pan to the meat (make it VERY moist without drowning it)

: put some spinach on the bottom half of the bread

: top with meat, thinly sliced red onions, radish and more spinach leaves

: pile it on………

: douse with cilantro, garlic and lime sauce

: cover with top-half of bread, slice in half or quarters

: Pulled Pork “Havana Loco”

: Pulled Pork “Havana Loco”

: Pulled Pork “Havana Loco”

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Executioners Stew

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Of course you will wonder what possessed me to name this stew Executioners Stew – well, my thinking goes that if I would have one last meal before the executioner would step in, this would be the last supper I would request. While there are many things I would like to have for that macabre occasion, this one combines five of my favorite foods in one single dish :
Soup, chili-peppers, chicken-gizzards, pigs-feet and ox-tripe.
Certainly not worth dying for, but as a last supper – yes sir, please !
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Anyway, here is to many more years of living the Good Life 🙂
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Link to Green Sofrito Recipe
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All about Sofrito
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Link to Pa Amb TomÃ Quet (Tomato Bread)
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Executioners Stew With “Pa Amb TomÃ Quet”

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: add the pigs feet to cold water, bring to a boil

: strain the pigs feet, rinse

: add the o-tripe to cold, vinegared water, bring to a boil, strain, rinse, repeat two more times, third time cook until tender

: a thing of beauty

: add pigs-feet to cold, salted water, bring to a simmer, cook until tender but not falling apart

: during simmering, remove all impurities that rise to the surface with a small mesh-strainer

: when pigs-feet are almost tender, add chicken gizzards, simmer until gizzards are tender but still possess a bit of a bite

: add green sofrito, cayenne pepper, garlic paste

: add chillies, carrot julienne, white cabbage and chorizo, simmer for three more minutes

: add diced tomatoes, sliced cooke potatoes, cooked white beans and plenty of chopped cilantro

: check / adjust seasoning

: Executioners Stew With “Pa Amb TomÃ Quet”

: Executioners Stew With “Pa Amb TomÃ Quet”

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Fritto Misto

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It is time for me to confess: I am a food-shopping maniac. My kitchen usually contains enough fresh, dried, frozen and pickled food to feed a family of four for a few weeks. So, every couple of months I give myself the daunting task to empty my cup board, fridge and freezer completely in order to be able to start replenishing all over again. So today, after two weeks of feeding myself and Bella with all the goodies already in the house, I finally achieved my goal: (my iron-will was victorious) – all food is gone and tomorrow morning I will start a new crusade to the butcher, grocery store and farmers-markets to make sure I have again enough food in the house, just in case………. ???? – well, something, you never know.

(My friends who live in the neighborhood will remember that after the last major hurricane left our area for nearly three weeks without electricity, Maria and I hosted daily free lunches in our garden for 20 to 30 people, sometimes a lot more. Tasty food from the grill and fire pit and plenty of beer and even more wine, all nicely cooled in the lake. What a blessing our full freezer and pantry proved to be then ) 🙂

But, let’s get back to the topic at hand.
The remaining few things I had left in the freezer were some squid, a few small shrimp, a piece of cod filet and in the fridge a bit of greens, lemon, scallions, an onion and some grape tomatoes . Perfect !
Some oil, vinegar, salt and pepper for the salad, the seafood marinated with cayenne pepper, kosher salt, granulated garlic and dusted in rice flour, two chilies and the scallions thrown into the mix, then quickly deep-fried and Voilà – Fritto Misto ! Life is Good !
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Buen Apetito ! Viva Italia !
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Fritto Misto

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: fry in VERY hot oil to ensure crisp and juicy seafood

: remove to absorbent paper, serve at once

: Fritto Misto

: Fritto Misto

: Fritto Misto

: Fritto Misto

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Salad Florentine

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Link to Hans’ Lighter, Healthier Comfort Food
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Chicken livers – these once universally beloved little morsels have fallen out of favor with most diners in recent years. I assume that lack of availability , rising cost and most importantly (and sadly), the inability of most un-trained or little-trained cooks in many kitchens to turn these unassuming little buggers into a tasty, yummy looking dish has greatly contributed to their demise in the restaurant scene. Not so in my kitchen 🙂
I love a chicken liver mousse, chicken liver dumplings, fried chicken livers on toast or as a tasty addition to an otherwise plain and simple salad, as presented below.
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Bon Appetit ! Live is Good !
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P.S.
For those of you who can not warm up to chicken livers, use duck livers – just kidding ! – as usual, replace the chicken livers with a protein of your choice, such as shrimp, sausages, calamari, salmon, chicken breast or tights, etc.
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