cooking

Salmon Rillette

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One of my favorite spreads are rillettes, especially pork rillette and salmon rillette. While I have not prepared pork rillette for some time, you can often find salmon rillette in my fridge.
It’s effortless to prepare, yet if properly stored, it will give you many days of enjoyment. (Pork will last for weeks or even months if properly stored). I usually spread it on a slice of rustic bread at breakfast, lunch, dinner or as a snack. Although perfectly delicious by itself on bread, rillette can be even more enjoyable when spruced-up with a wide range of additions, such as capers, raw or pickled onions, cornichons and even topped with eggs for breakfast. Rillette also pairs nicely with steamed or sautéed potatoes and for the adventurous, try incorporating it into a pasta dish. (I have done this with pork rillette and the result was delicious. 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Live is Good !
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All about Rilettes
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Salmon Rilette

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Preparation :
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: skin salmon filets, remove all bones

: cover salmon filets with melted butter, add kosher salt, cayenne pepper and garlic paste, simmer on very low heat until salmon is just done

: break salmon into chunks

: add fresh dill leaves

: fill rillette into serving dish, place in refrigerator overnight

: let rilette reach room-temperature before serving

: spread a generous amount of rillette on bread of your choice

: Salmon Rilettes

: Salmon Rilettes

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Poulet Beaucoup D’Ail

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Chicken breast has gotten a bad rap for a long time.
However, you can safely say that’s not the chicken breast’s fault, but the fault of the cooks who do not know how to properly prepare it.
(It is the same dilemma with fish, veal, pork and most other protein besides red meat – the taste and texture of properly cooked protein is so wonderful yet so elusive in most restaurants these days).
I remember when I was a teacher and I showed my students how incredibly juicy and tasty a breast of chicken can be when cooked in a professional manner. Before the demo, I always asked “why do we prefer chicken leg over chicken breast” and the answer was always: “because breast are dry and tasteless”. How very surprised they all were when I proved them wrong. 🙂
So, the way to do it is to cook it to 160F to 162 F depending on the type and thickness of the protein, then let the carry-over heat do its magic; after a short rest, the protein should reach between 164F and 165F the moment it reaches the guest, but it must never exceed that temperature or it will be dry !!! During my time and before that, cooks would never think of using a thermometer to check the doneness of food – everything was dictated by the experience we garnered over many years of real cooking. Now imagine, some of our successors are not even able to find the center of the protein to get the temperature right (no kidding). And of course, if cooked too fast, protein will also end up less than stellar.
Having said all that, you might understand that I would never order a chicken breast in a restaurant these days, because the absolute majority of cooks nowadays does not know how to do a chicken breast justice. (Again, the same holds true with pork, fish and other protein which are so wonderful tasty, tender and juicy when handled with expertise).
Unfortunately, because of lack of cooking skills, the new “experts” will make you believe that only protein which is under-cooked or raw will be juicy 😦
Ok, ok, so I vented a bit, I beg your pardon…..
As of today’s dish, I resorted sheepishly to the habit of naming the dish in french, since “Poulet Beaucoup D’Ail” sounds so much better than “Chicken With Lot’s Of Garlic“. ( Or maybe “Pollo Con Un Monton De Ajo” anyone ?) 🙂
And for those of you who do not believe in lots of garlic, just replace the garlic with botton-mushrooms. As for the gnocchi with black beans, lately I have prepared that combination often and in many different variations – gnocchi with butter beans, gnocchi with chick peas, gnocchi with edamame etc, all sautéed in herb butter, pesto, tomato sauce, chili oil, cheese sauce and so forth. The added texture of the beans make the gnocchi even more enjoyable than just plain with butter or sauce.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Poulet Beaucoup D’Ail

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Poulet Beaucoup D’Ail

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Preparation :
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: season chicken breast with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: dredge chicken in flour, shake of excess

: saute slowly together with garlic cloves in olive oil (replace garlic with botton mushrooms if you prefer)

: the garlic should be golden, crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside

: remove chicken and most garlic, reserve

: in the remaining olive oil, saute cooked beans until heated

: add fresh cooked gnocchi, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: chiffonade fresh basil

: add chiffonade to bean/gnocchi mix, check/adjust seasoning

: to serve, sprinkle with finely grated parmigiano reggiano

: top with sliced chicken breast

: top with the remaining olive oil and the garlic cloves, sprinkle with more basil

: Poulet Beaucoup D’Ail

: Poulet Beaucoup D’Ail

: Poulet Beaucoup D’Ail

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Beef And Vegetable Soup With Pistou

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Beef And Vegetable Soup With Pistou

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Pistou, or pistou sauce, is a Provençal cold sauce made from cloves of garlic, fresh basil, and olive oil. (It sometimes includes grated cheese and/or tomato.
In the Provençal dialect, pistou means “pounded”. The sauce is derived from the Genoese pesto, which is traditionally made of garlic, basil, pine nuts, grated Sardinian Pecorino, and olive oil, crushed and mixed together with a mortar and pestle. The key difference between pistou and pesto is the absence of pine nuts in pistou. (Source: wikipedia.org)
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Well, there you have it – pistou, a classic tool to transport an ordinary dish to the next level of culinary happiness 🙂

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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Pistou:
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: basil plant, about to loose a bunch of leaves……

: place basil leaves in a mortar

: add garlic cloves, olive oil, kosher salt and cayenne pepper, muddle everything with the pestle

: Et Voilà – “Pistou”

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Beef And Vegetable Soup :
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: add sliced beef neck bones to water seasoned with kosher salt, cayenne pepper, garlic paste and grated ginger, simmer until meat is tender, about 2 hours

: when meat is tender, remove, set aside

: meanwhile, remove meat from bones, discard bones

: cut meat into bitesize pieces

: add raw baby carrots to the soup, simmer until carrots are tender

: when carrots are soft, add large diced cabbage, cooked potato wedges and return beef to the soup, cover, simmer until cabbage has wilted but is not mushy, about 3 minutes, check/adjust seasoning

: serve soup with pistou and fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano

: Beef And Vegetable Soup With Pistou

: Beef And Vegetable Soup With Pistou

: Beef And Vegetable Soup With Pistou

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Broiled Beef Ribs With Chimichurri And Hasselback Potato

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Since I don’t have an outside grill anymore, I “grill” (broil) all my grill dishes in my oven under the broiler on high heat.
Cooking for myself only, this works great for me, it gives me the sought-after “Maillard Reaction”, requires no lengthy grill preparation and on top of all, saves a lot of cleaning effort 🙂
Today I had some delicious beef ribs and a hearty hasselback potato, accompanied by some leftover chimichurri from my last steak dinner. Life is Good !
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Bon Appetit ! ¡buen provecho!
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More about Chimichurri
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More about Maillard Reaction
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More Hasselback Potatoes
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More Grilled Beef Ribs on ChefsOpinion
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Broiled Beef Ribs With Chimichurri And Hasselback Potato

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Preparation :
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: cut slices across the potato the short way about 1/8 to 1/4 inch apart, making sure to cut down but not all the way through the potato, so the slices stay connected at the bottom and don’t fall apart

: brush the potato generously with butter or olive oil, then season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper, bake at 400F until done, about 45 minutes; while baking, brush often with more butter or olive oil

: beef ribs, cut thin across the bones

: season with soy sauce, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, granulated garlic, dried oregano and dried thyme

: spread ribs on oven rack, brush with olive oil

: broil (or grill) on high heat on both sides until lightly charred but still medium rare and juicy

: to serve, drizzle generously with chimichurri

: Broiled Beef Ribs With Chimichurri And Hasselback Potato

: Broiled Beef Ribs With Chimichurri And Hasselback Potato

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Japanese Pork, Korean Rice Cakes And French Beans (Teriyaki Feast)

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While the ingredients for this dish (and the cooking methods) are not exactly a traditional combination, for my personal palette they compliment each other perfectly. They are typical for the dishes I prepare for myself at home. On the other hand, would I still cater to guests at a restaurant or at home, I would not hesitate to serve this kind of food as a course in a multi-course menu. (As I have done many times).
Having been trained in and practiced for most of my career classic French cuisine, as well as garnering experience in local cuisines around the globe, this type of “fusion cuisine” has become my personal cooking style. Nowadays, cooking mostly for myself, a few close friends and the occasional high-end private gig, I don’t have to confirm to traditional cuisines anymore; – my food has become truly a fusion of dishes, methods and ingredients from around the world. Mind you, I don’t try to make my food appear haphazardly strange or exotic on purpose, but sometimes that’s the result when mixing without restraint 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
“Teriyaki” in this dish refers to the teriyaki sauce as part of the dish, not the traditional cooking method. Click for Teriyaki
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Japanese Pork, Korean Rice Cakes And French Beans

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Preparation :
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Standard cup board items in my kitchen:
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: Ginger Paste

: Garlic Confit Paste

: Chile Oil

: Soy Sauce

: Teriyaki Sauce

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: mix soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, ginger paste, garlic paste, and chile oil into sweet and spicy marinade, about 1 cup

: marinade pork butt in the marinade for two days, turning often

: to a non-stick pan, add the 1 cup marinade, 6 cups of water and the pork but

: cover the pan, bring to a boil, turn heat to very low, simmer until pork is very tender, about 2 hours, depending on the size of the butt

: remove pork but, set aside, keep warm

: remove 1/3 of the stock, reduce until thickened, put the pork on a baking rack, brush with the thickened glaze, bake for twenty minutes at 375F, brush with glaze every 5 minutes

: meanwhile, rinse rice cakes for 5 minutes

: cook rice cakes in lightly salted water for 2 to 3 minutes, drain, rinse

: add rice cakes and blanched beans to the remaining teriyaki stock, simmer for 2 minutes, check / adjust seasoning

: plate the rice cakes and beans

: top with sliced pork and pork skin

: nape generously with the teriyaki stock, sprinkle with scallions

: Japanese Pork, Korean Rice Cakes And French Beans

: Japanese Pork, Korean Rice Cakes And French Beans

: Japanese Pork, Korean Rice Cakes And French Beans

: Japanese Pork, Korean Rice Cakes And French Beans

: First Bite 🙂

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Red Lentil Soup With Smoked Turkey Leg

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It’s getting cooler at night lately, so hot soup is again welcome, especially when eaten al fresco. This soup took about two and a half hours to cook from beginning to end, but the actual prep-time was only a few minutes, which makes it a perfect dish when you don’t feel like getting too involved with heavy prep-work, but still want to have a satisfying meal 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
If you want your lentils with more texture, cook the turkey leg first in lightly salted water, then cook the lentils with the resulting stock until just done.
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Red Lentil Soup With Smoked Turkey Leg

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Preparation :
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: saute garlic paste in butter until fragrant

: add julienned onions, saute until lightly caramelized

: add red lentils, maggi seasoning, bay leave, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, ground cumin and dried oregano

: add chicken or vegetable stock

: add the smoked turkey leg

: simmer until turkey leg is tender, about two hours

: almost……

: remove turkey, dice, check / adjust seasoning of lentils

: Red Lentil Soup With Smoked Turkey Leg

: Red Lentil Soup With Smoked Turkey Leg

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Hearts On Fire

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If you have followed ChefsOpinion for some time, you know that I am very fond of Offal.
I understand of course that not everybody shares this fondness, but for the most part, in most of the offal dishes that I blog about, the offal can be replaced with more run of the mill proteins, such as shrimp, chicken breast, sliced beef and even vegetables.
For the rest of us – offal rock! 🙂
In the past, when my wife and I used to go with friends to Brazilian Churrasqueiras, everybody thought I was mad when I stuffed myself with grilled chicken hearts, while Maria and our friends enjoyed their Picanha, Entrana, and other more popular cuts. But for me, the meat-course always started with a bunch of chicken hearts. I was only ever able to find them in Brazilian Churrasqueiras, so I always took advantage of the opportunity to indulge. Nowadays, I go out very seldom, so when the craving for chicken hearts hits me, I have to prepare them myself.
I prepare them in different ways, grilled, braised, fried or simmered in soup.
Last night I felt the need for something spicy, so I prepared the hearts as follows – I seasoned them with soy sauce and lots of garlic, coated them in corn starch and then fried them in pure chili oil. The result was truly “Hearts on Fire ” – they were hellishly spicy from the chili oil but the more subtle-seasoned bok choy toned it down a bit and when eaten together, the result was pure culinary bliss – very tasty,very spicy, very addictive 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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How to make Home Made Chile Oil
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Hearts on Fire

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Preparation :
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: blanch baby bok choy in salted water, shock in ice water, drain

: simmer one cup of chicken stock, season with 1 tblsp soy sauce, 1 tsp garlic paste, 1 tsp grated ginger and a dash of salt, thicken with a bit of corn starch slurry

: add bok choy to sauce, simmer one minute until heated through

: arrange bok choy on serving platter, nape with sauce, cover, keep warm

: season hearts (or other protein) with kosher salt, soy sauce and granulated garlic

: dust with corn starch, mix well

: fry hearts at high heat until crisp on the outside but still juicy on the inside

: add scallions and whole pickled chilies

: serve hearts over bok choy

: Hearts on Fire

: Hearts on Fire

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Wing Recipe # 1001

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Seems like everybody and their mother has THE BEST recipe for chicken wings, and, I have to admit, I myself have a few of them.
Now this one is definitely among the very best and I hope you will give it a shot.
Maybe you will even agree with me that these wings are among the very best, if not THE BEST OF THE BEST ? 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Wings Fly !
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More Wings on ChefsOpinion
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Wing Recipe # 1001

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Preparation :
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: mix julienned red onions with soy sauce, garlic paste, lime juice and sriracha

: mix olive oil, lime juice, chopped capers, chopped cilantro, kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: season wings with kosher salt, granulated garlic and sriracha, fry until crisp on the outside but not completely cooked through, remove from fat, blot dry, season with soy sauce, sriracha and garlic paste

: place on wire rack, bake at 375 until browned

: when top of wings are browned and crisp, remove from oven

: turn wings upside down

: spread onions on top of wings, bake at 375F until onions are caramelized

: remove wings from oven, dredge in the herb-lime seasoning

: plate wings on serving dish, douse with more of the herb-lime seasoning

: Wing Recipe # 1001

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Stir Fried Boneless Beef Ribs And Asparagus In Hoi Sin Sauce

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I bought these beauties to put them on the grill, but I had steak often lately so I changed my mind and prepared this tasty dish instead. I am glad I did, because it just hit the spot and left me happy with the choice I made.
Just goes to show – the first idea is not always the best 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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More Ribs on ChefsOpinion
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How to cook Fan (Chinese Steamed Rice)
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Stir Fried Boneless Beef Ribs And Asparagus In Hoi Sin Sauce

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Preparation :
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: blanche asparagus in salted water, shock in ice water, drain

: mix together 1/3 hoi sin sauce, 1/3 soy sauce, 1/3 water with 1 tblsp corn starch and 1 tsp chili paste

: boneless beef ribs

: cut the ribs into smaller pieces

: marinade with soy sauce, chili paste, garlic paste and corn starch

: stir fry in VERY hot peanut oil until the ouside is nicely browned but the inside is still med/rare

: remove meat from oil, set aside

: add blanched asparagus and raw peppers to the remaining oil, saute until heated through

: add the mixed sauce, bring to a simmer, after one minute, remove from heat

: add the beef, check / adjust seasoning

: sprinkle beef with lightly toasted sesame seeds, serve with steamed rice (Fan)

: Stir Fried Boneless Beef Ribs And Asparagus In Hoi Sin Sauce

: Stir Fried Boneless Beef Ribs And Asparagus In Hoi Sin Sauce

: Stir Fried Boneless Beef Ribs And Asparagus In Hoi Sin Sauce

: Stir Fried Boneless Beef Ribs And Asparagus In Hoi Sin Sauce

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Crispy Pata

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This super tasty and crispy dish is one of my all-time favorite Pinoy dishes. Usually it is made with a whole pork leg, but I also like it just the way I was introduced to it many years ago while living in the Philippines, with the cheapest cut of the leg, the feet.
The first time I had this dish was in Manila, when the maid I employed offered to share some of the food she cooked for herself and her husband that day. She was a bit shy to offer, since she thought the food might not be good enough for me, what with all the bones and stuff. She also used only the Feet, since she could not afford to buy the whole pork leg. I remember how happy and proud she was when I loved her cooking. After that, I had her cook for me this and other local specialties often, which we usually shared on the rooftop terrace which was a big deal for her and her husband. (This was in the early 80’s – a maid used to make $20-$30 a month, even less in the countryside. My maid’s husband was the caretaker at our apartment-building of 6 apartments, he made about the same salary. But, to their luck, they were allowed to sleep under the staircase on the ground floor, which they closed off with cardboard and a curtain and therefore considered them self fairly safe, comfortable and overall lucky with their living accommodations.)
Thankfully, times have changed, but there is still way too much poverty around the world and too many people must endure this kind of poverty or, sadly, worse 😦
But thinking about food should be a happy occasion, so back to the present and our Crispy Pata. While it is easy to prepare, you might want to do the frying outside if you can (think deep-fried turkey) In any case,be extremely careful when frying the feet or the whole leg in deep fat, because the moist meat tend’s to splatter a lot. A covered fryer will give some protection but still – use the utmost care !!!
Serve with atchara or avocado.
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Bon Appetit ! Kainan na !
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Click here for Atchara
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More Crispy Pata on ChefsOpinion
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More Pigs Feet on ChefsOpinion
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P.S.
Don’t even think about discarding the pork stock! It will make a very flavorful soup, as you can see below.
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