cooking

Fried Seafood, Creamed Spinach & Tonkatsu Sauce

The secret for the success of this dish is in the seasoned flour/bread crumbs in which to dredge the seafood, as well as frying it in small batches in very hot peanut oil. Mix 1/3 of panko bread crumbs, 1/3 of regular bread crumbs and 1/3 of corn starch. Season with plenty of smoked paprika and cayenne pepper, kosher salt, granulated garlic and grated lemon peel. Fry for about one minute only or until the coating has turned golden brown. Remember, this is NOT breaded seafood, so you don’t have to worry if the seafood is not completely covered by the coating. The flour mixture serves to give color, taste and texture. I served this with creamed spinach and tonkatsu sauce, but a green salad and remoulade sauce will fit just as well. Just make sure that you squeeze the lemon on one piece of seafood at a time, so by the time each bite reaches your mouth, the crumbs will still be crispy 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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tonkatsu sauce recipe click here
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creamed spinach recipe click here
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Fried Seafood, Creamed Spinach & Tonkatsu Sauce

Fried Seafood, Creamed Spinach & Tonkatsu Sauce >>>>

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Breakfast Of Champions # 30 – ”Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Egg’s With Truffle Oil”

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Egg’s and smoked salmon – alway’s a winning combination in my book.
This morning I needed something that could re-vitalize me after a sleepless night, so this easy to prepare beauty was just the right thing. Three minutes of preparation, two minutes of cooking time and voilà – ready for breakfast and a movie, accompanied by a large pot of peppermint tea and a nice pork leg bone (for Bella ) 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Happy Saturday !
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Breakfast Of Champions # 30 – ”Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Egg’s With Truffle Oil”

Garlic bread – Breakfast Of Champions # 30 – ”Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Egg’s With Truffle Oil”

Breakfast Of Champions # 30 – ”Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Egg’s With Truffle Oil”

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Rabo Encendido ( Oxtail Stew )

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Rule # 1 :

All food and drink consumed in the company of dear friend’s tastes infinitely better 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for Ox Tail Recipe (Add Mushrooms as option)
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Chacha, Dieter, Bella & Rabo Encendido

: Rabo Encendido Mise En Place

: In Progress

: In Progress

: Rabo Encendido

: fusilli (corkscrew pasta)

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Chicken Fricasse & Potato Dumplings

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Although chicken and pasta any style is one of my favorite dishes, this afternoon I gave myself a choice between hausgemachte spätzle and kartoffelknödel.
Kartoffelknödel (potato dumplings) won today, so I will probably make some hausgemachte spätzle (small flour dumplings) in the coming few days.

Bon Appetit ! Live is Good !
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Potato Dumpling Recipe – Click Here

Hausgemachte Spätzle Recipe – Click Here
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Chicken Fricasse & Potato Dumplings With Scallion And Fried Onions

Step by step instructions below :
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Saute Onions & Mushrooms in Olive Oil

Remove From Pan, Reserve

Saute Salt & Pepper Seasoned Chicken

Add Merlot

Add Diced Tomatoes

Add Porcini Powder

Add Brown Chicken Stock, Simmer Until Tender. Check Seasoning

Add Brown Chicken Stock, Simmer Until Tender, Add Mushrooms And Onions, Check / Adjust Seasoning

Chicken Fricasse & Potato Dumplings

Chicken Stew

Potato Dumplings With Scallions & Fried Onions

Chicken Friccasse & Potato Dumplings

Fricasse Vom Huhn mit Kartoffelknoedeln

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Asian Inspired Duck & Udon Soup

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This soup is my “to go to” soup when I have leftover duck or goose (yesterdays roast duck) . It is quick and easy and oh so delicious. The vegetables and noodles are interchangeable with any vegetables and pasta you might have at hand, such as cabbage, bok choy, shiitake or spinach, or egg noodles, rice noodles, mung bean noodles. Use whatever is at hand and tickles your fancy 🙂
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Chop up the carcasse and other leftover bones and bits of meat and simmer with garlic, ginger, salt, lime slices, a bit of sugar and sriracha sauce for 45 minutes. Skim of all foam which rises during this time. Strain stock and discard solids. Adjust seasoning to your liking. Place hot udon noodles and blanched vegetables in a serving bowl, top with sliced duck pieces and cover with broth. Drizzle with some hot chili oil. Serve with a side dish of hoi sin sauce and sriracha sauce to dip the duck.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Asian Inspired Duck & Udon Soup

: Mise En Place

: Simmer Stock

: Strain Stock

: blanch vegetables

: Asian Inspired Duck & Udon Soup

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“Schweine Braten” (Roast Pork Butt)

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Yesterday morning at 7.00am I put this beautiful hunk of meat in the oven at 325 F for 6 hours. (Seasoned with kosher salt, sriracha, granulated garlic, cumin seeds an caraway seeds).
I had the first portion for lunch with the red wine jus and bread dumplings. Wonderful.
Then in the evening I made the rest into a sandwich on sourdough bread with a bit of jus to moisten the bread and freshly grated horseradish with lemon juice to give it a bit of a kick 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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“Schweine Braten” (Roast Pork Butt)

: “Schweine Braten” (Roast Pork Butt)

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Cajun Shrimp & Cheese Grits

Totally had a craving for Cajun shrimp on my way home, so I stopped at the whole food market to get two pounds of these beauties. Expensive but so worth the dough 🙂

Cajun Shrimp & Cheese Grits

: Cajun Shrimp & Cheese Grits

Ingredients Shrimp :

Shrimp, peeled and deveined
Clam juice,
Tomato Paste,
Paprika,
Thyme,
Oregano,
Garlic, paste
Oregano,
Cayenne pepper,
Kosher salt,
Butter,

Method :

Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Saute in butter until halfway done. Remove shrimp, reserve. Saute more garlic in butter, add thyme, oregano, cayenne. Add tomato paste, saute another minute. Add clam juice and simmer until slightly thickened. A the reserved shrimp and heat through. Adjust the heat to your liking, adding as much hot sauce as you can muster.

Ingredients Cheese Grits :

Chicken stock,
Milk, (about 1/3 the amount of the stock)
Corn meal, coarse ground
Sharp cheddar, grated
Kosher salt,
Scotch bonnet sauce, (substitute with tabasco if you can’t stand the heat)
Butter, (splurge)

Method :

Bring the milk and stock to a boil and gradually whisk in the corn meal. lower the heat to a slow simmer and cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until mixture is creamy.
Remove from heat, add the hot sauce, cheese and butter, and whisk to combine.

To serve, top the grits with the shrimp and sprinkle with cilantro.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Chicken In Saffran Broth, Vegetables & Cream Biscuits

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Sunday dinner was simple today. I did not feel like spending too much time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning up, so it was a simple stew with biscuits. Nevertheless, it tasted and looked wonderful and the chicken was especially well received by Bella 🙂
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Chicken In Saffran Broth, Vegetables & Cream Biscuits

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: Chicken In Saffran Broth, Vegetagles & Cream Biscuits

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Ingredient’s :

Chicken drumsticks,
Corn on the cob, shucked, cut into pieces
Cauliflower, rosettes, blanched
Potatoes, peeled, diced
Shiitake mushrooms, stem removed, quartered
Leeks, sliced
Onions, diced
Chilis, select for your favorite heat level
Garlic, paste
Ginger, grated
Cilantro, chopped
Saffran threads,
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,
Chicken stock,

Method :

Simmer chicken, garlic, and ginger in lightly seasoned stock for 10 minutes. Add corn and simmer for another 15 minutes, Add all other vegetables and potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, add saffran and let steep for another 20 minutes. Return to heat until hot. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with cream biscuits on the side.
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Cream Biscuit Recipe Click Here
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Bon Appetit ! La vie est bien !

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Sauted Strip Steak , Cauliflower Tortilla & Sriracha/Garlic Butter

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Sunday’s late lunch / early dinner (4.00pm)
After sleeping-in late (7.30am and enjoying a big breakfast of strawberry smoothies and goose liver pate stuffed croissants, I did not feel hungry at lunch time and held out until late afternoon.
But then I knew I would have to combine lunch and dinner, so it needed to be a substantial meal, otherwise the snack monster would haunt me early in the evening. This is the first time I made a Spanish Tortilla with cauliflower and tomatoes and it made me realize what a great dish I’ve been missing all my live. What a wonderful dish. It can stand on it’s own, as breakfast, snack, even a complete meal if accompanied by a small salad, served hot or at room temperature. You can of course use different vegetables, different cheeses, add protein such as sausage, bacon, shrimp, crab meat, add different herbs, etc. The possibilities are endless and only limited by your fantasy 🙂
If you ever want to reproduce this dish, just make sure the cauliflower / vegetables are blanched al dente, so that the tortilla has a bit of a bite to it. While I was cooking the tortilla, I also added grated parmesan cheese to the whisked eggs, (not featured in the mise en place picture). You can omit the cheese, but it definitely adds another level of depth to the dish.
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Sauted Strip Steak , CauliflowerTortila & Sriracha/Garlic Butter

Sauted Strip Steak , Cauliflower Tortilla & Sriracha/Garlic Butter

: Sauted Strip Seak , CauliflowerTortila & Sriracha/Garlic Butter

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Ingredients :

Tortilla :

Cauliflower rosettes, blanched al dente
Eggs, whole, whisked, seasoned with kosher salt, cayenne and grated parmesan
Grape tomatoes,
Butter,

Method :

Saute cauliflower and tomatoes briefly in butter, add egg mixture and cook covered on low heat until eggs have set but are not dry. Slide onto a dinner plate, top with the saute pan, invert and cook other side of tortilla until golden.
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Steak :

Season teak with salt, granulated garlic and freshly ground black pepper and saute both sides until desired doneness. Remember the carry over heat will cook it one more level after you remove the steak from the pan! Let the steak rest for ten minutes before slicing !

Butter :

Mix softened butter with sriracha, roasted garlic paste, a bit of lime juice and kosher salt.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Jamaican Black Bean Soup & Flour Dumpling’s ( A “Light” Saturday Lunch )

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When I encountered Jamaican dumplings for the first time in the early seventies, I would never have imagined that I will ever like them, having been raised with southern german-style dumplings, which are very light and airy (if done correctly).
So when I saw these tough little dumplings, (resembling in shape Schwaebische Bubespitzle), I was skeptical, to say the least. But, while living in Jamaica in the eighties, I have come to love these Jamaican dumplings, but again – in order to be appreciated, they must be properly prepared, simmering for a long time in a flavorful stock, stew or soup .
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Irie, Mon 🙂
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Jamaican Black Bean Soup & Dumplings

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: Jamaican Black Bean Soup & Dumplings

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Ingredients :

Stock of your preference, veal, chicken, beef, pork, vegetable
Black beans, soaked overnight
Onions, diced
Celery, diced
Bacon, diced (substitute with salt pork if preferred)
Garlic, paste
Spicy sausage, pork, veal or beef
Assorted chilis, select according to your preferred heat level
Tomatoes, diced
Cumin,
Kosher salt,
Black pepper, freshly ground
Cilantro, coarsely chopped
Goose fat, rendered (use your favorite fat, canola oil, olive oil, butter, duck fat, goose fat, etc)

Method :

Saute bacon in fat until rendered, add onions, garlic, celery, chilis and sausage and saute until fragrant, add tomatoes, stock and beans. Season lightly with cumin, salt and pepper and simmer until the beans are “waxy”. Adjust seasoning if necessary. To serve, place soup into serving bowl, top with dumplings and sprinkle generously with cilantro .

Dumplings :

Mix flour, water and salt into a smooth dough, roll small pieces into finger shaped noodles and simmer in stock until cooked through. ( Usually like o cook them straight in the soup, but for a nicer presentation I cooked them separate this time for better pictures 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Irie !

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