cooking

Roasted Piglet

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Once in a while I like to roast a whole pig. When Maria was still alive and we had once or twice a month a party at the house for 30 or 40 friend’s, I usually cooked two 45 pounder. Last night I only had one friend over for dinner at 9.30 pm and another one at 1.00 am, so 25 lbs seemed just fine.
I seasoned the pig with sea salt, sriracha and soy sauce on the inside, then stuffed the cavity with lots of garlic, cilantro, orange wedges, lemon wedges and onion wedges. The outside got sea salt, sriracha, granulated garlic and soy sauce. Roast for half an hour at 425F, then 4 hours at 275F, then the last half hour at 425 again. Basting the little darling every 15 minutes with beer is the secret to the beautiful skin and great taste. After removing the piglet from oven, let it sit for 30 minutes before carving. The result: Perfectly crisp on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside, extremely flavorful. Accompanied by sour dough bread, cornichons, horseradish, mustard and sea salt mixed with freshly ground black pepper. A couple of Stella Artois during the meal and a couple of shot’s of Chivas afterwards. Aaahhhhhhh…. 🙂
Bella and I had the last little bits and pieces for lunch today.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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: suckling pig

: roasted piglet

: roasted piglet

: roasted piglet

: roasted piglet

: roasted piglet

: freshly baked sour dough bread

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Creamed Spinach

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Like so much other comfort food, creamed spinach is hardly found on menus (or homes, for that matter) anymore, with the exception of steakhouses where it usually is one of the standard side dishes. I just love spinach, no matter how it is prepared, but the price goes without a doubt to creamed spinach. Following is the simple instruction how to prepare this great dish.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Creamed Spinach

blanch spinach in generously salted water.

shock in ice water ( screaming BOOOOO does not work )

saute onions and garlic in butter

add flour (ratio butter flour = one to one)

add half milk and half heavy cream, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Simmer for five minutes. sauce must be VERY thick, chopped spinach contains lot’s of water

chop blanched spinach to the texture you prefer

add to sauce. simmer for 5 minutes. check/adjust seasoning

add to sauce. Simmer for five minutes. check/adjust seasoning

Creamed Spinach

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Roast Turkey (After-Thanksgiving Dinner)

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My friends had to work on thanksgiving until late at night, so they asked me to cook them a turkey today.
This is what I took over to their house this evening:

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Roasted Turkey

turkey roasting

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Mondongo A La Soupi (Ox Tripe & Chicken Gizzard My Way)

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If this recipe does not make you like ox tripe and gizzard, nothing will do the trick. This is on my list for one of the ten dishes I don’t want to live without 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Mondongo A La Soupi

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: saute onions and garlic in olive oil

: add sliced chicken gizzards

: saute until onions and garlic starting to caramelize

: add triple – blanched tripe, diced tomato, caraway seed, bay leave, demi glace, salt, pepper and morcilla

: deglaze with red wine and vinegar

: simmer until tripe is tender

: add beans, potatoes and chilies

: add dark beer

: simmer until potatoes are cooked. Check/adjust seasoning

: Sprinkle with young basil. Serve with bread or rice

: Mondongo A La Soupi

: Oxtripe & Gizzards My Way

: Ox Tripe & Gizzard Stew

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Gratinated Rib Eye With Straw Mushrooms & Great Northern Beans

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After two days of turkey, tonight’s dinner required something more beefy. Only a large rib eye with lot’s of other goodies would do, so this is how I rolled:
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Gratinated Beef Rib Eye With Straw Mushrooms & Great Northern Beans

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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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: season rib eye with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Grill until done to your liking

: meanwhile, saute onion and garlic in butter

: add straw mushroom, saute until heated through

: add great northern beans, salt and sriracha, saute until heated through

: Remove rib eye from grill, place on a baking tray

: top steak with bean/mushroom mixture

: add spicy tomato salsa

: top with appenzeller cheese

: gratinate, sprinkle with scallions

: Gratinated Rib Eye With Straw Mushrooms & Great Northern Beans

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NOT A Turkey Sandwich

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Now that normality has been restored in most home kitchens, it is time to attack the leftovers, hopefully without destroying our memories of a wonderful turkey feast by just slapping a few slices of meat in between two simple slices of bread and calling that a good way of using leftovers. Instead, I made this great turkey stew in a spicy cream sauce with grape tomatoes and parmigiano reggiano over pasta. Delicious, quick and easy 🙂
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Turkey Stew In Spicy Chili Cream Over Conchiglioni

: saute onions and garlic in olive oil

: add diced turkey and diced chilis, saute two minutes

: add cream, hoi sin sauce, sriracha, maggi and turkey sauce

: simmer and reduce to nape texture, add grape tomatoes, remove from heat. Check/adjust seasoning

: plate freshly cooked pasta

: top with turkey stew, sprinkle with cheese and sacallions

: Turkey Stew In Spicy Chili Cream

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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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Stir Fried Crimini & Bok Choy In Special Sauce

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The seasoning for this dish is composed of some of my basic, always present larder items : Sriracha, hoi sin sauce, ketchup, roasted garlic puree, maggi seasoning, sesame oil, white wine or sherry wine. The ratio of each individual item can vary from dish to dish, from main ingredient to main ingredient, but all together it makes for a great, versatile, delicious and simple sauce. If the dish is dry by nature, you might want to add a bit of stock to thin the sauce a bit.
(Don’t scoff at the ketchup ! It adds acidity, sweetness and color) 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Stir Fried Crimini & Bok Choy In Special Sauce

: stir fry crimini until starting to brown

: add onion and garlic puree, saute until fragrant

: add white part of bok choy, saute two minutes

: add bok choy leaves, red pepper julienne, sauce ingredients

: saute one minute, check/adjust seasoning

: serve with Chinese steamed rice, sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds

: Stir Fried Crimini & Bok Choy In Special Sauce

: Stir Fried Crimini & Bok Choy In Special Sauce

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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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“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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