dinner

Soup & Sandwich – Small Budget / Big Taste

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Sometimes, easy does it 🙂
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Tomato bisque & jamón serrano sandwich with boursin cheese on pita bread
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Bon Appetit ! Live is Good !
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“Soup & Sandwich”

: Saute onion and LOTS of garlic in olive oil

: Add chopped tomatoes, rice, oregano, basil

: Add tomato juice, sea salt, cayenne pepper, soy sauce, maggi

: Simmer for 20 minutes, add merlot

: Blend until smooth

: Add heavy cream, check/adjust seasoning

: Pita bread

: Add garlic & herb boursin

: Add jamón serrano, top with radish and scallions

: Tomato bisque

: Add a dollop of sour cream to tomato bisque

: “Soup & Sandwich”

: Tomato bisque & jamón serrano sandwich with boursin cheese on pita bread

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Chicken Soup With Root Vegetables And Matzo Balls

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Last night’s dinner was perfect for the crappy weather and I hope it helped me to defend myself from what feels like an oncoming nasty influenza.
And besides, matzo ball soup – anytime for me 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for Matzo Ball recipe
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Chicken Soup With Root Vegetables And Matzo Balls

: Chicken Soup With Root Vegetables And Matzo Balls

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Chinese Salt & Pepper Scallops With Egg Fried Rice

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This was one of Maria’s favorite dishes. Whenever we went to have chinese food at a restaurant or when she wanted to have something special at home, she would ask for salt & pepper scallops or salt & pepper shrimp.
So, enjoying this meal tonight was a bittersweet affair. I really loved the food, but it is so damn tough to be reminded of a lost loved one all day long, by everything one see’s, hear’s and does, even by the food one eat’s. At least I had Bella next to me , sharing the food and giving me good company 🙂
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For the scallops, season with kosher salt, five spice powder, white pepper, ground szechuan peppercorn and granulated garlic. Mix egg white and rice flour into a thin batter, dredge scallops in it and saute in peanut oil until cooked almost through. Remove and rest on absorbent paper until serving.
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For the rice, saute garlic paste, finely diced onion and grated ginger in peanut oil until fragrant. Add day-old rice and fry until rice starts to puff. Make a well, add more peanut oil and scramble some whisked eggs in it until set. Add sliced scallion, kosher salt, white pepper and sesame oil. Stir fry until all ingredients are well mixed. Check seasoning. Adjust if necessary.
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To serve, top the rice with scallops and sprinkle with finely sliced scallions

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good ! (even when it’s sad sometimes)
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Chinese Salt & Pepper Scallops With Egg Fried Rice

: Egg fried rice

: Chinese Salt & Pepper Scallops With Egg Fried Rice

: Chinese Salt & Pepper Scallops With Egg Fried Rice

: Chinese Salt & Pepper Scallops With Egg Fried Rice

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Meat Ball Sandwich – Merguez Meatballs In Harissa/Tomato Sauce On Garlic Bread

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My neighbor and friend Sami is from Egypt. He sometimes gives me some Egyptian, Middle Eastern and/or Mediterranean food to taste, usually about once a month.
Normally it is fully cooked and nicely presented, but yesterday morning he gave me some Merguez stuffing he had just prepared and asked me to “make something different with it”.
Here is what I came up with. I enjoyed it a lot and so did he 🙂

For the sauce, I mixed 2/3 tomato sauce with 1/3 of harissa.
(This sauce was so good, I think I will use it for other dishes or as dipping sauce in the future)

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Meat Ball Sandwich – Merguez Meatballs In Harissa/Tomato Sauce On Garlic Bread

Garlic bread, hard boiled eggs, romaine, radish, pickled chilies, drizzled with lemon vinaigrette

Garlic bread, hard boiled eggs, romaine, radish, pickled chilies, sprinkled with sea salt and drizzled with lemon vinaigrette

Lamb meatball sandwich with buttered corn and “stuff”

Meat Ball Sandwich – Merguez Meatballs In Harissa/Tomato Sauce On Garlic Bread

Bella’s version, without the spicy sauce 🙂

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Shrimp Cocktail, Fried Tortilla & Classic French Cocktail Sauce

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I am sick as a dog today, hope that tomorrow I’ll be better. Had a doc appointment at 2.00pm. As I was parking in front of the doc’s office, they called me to tell me that the doc had an emergency and that I’ll be re-scheduled. What a bummer.
Obviously I was not in shape to cook today, so this little shrimp cocktail had to do for dinner. I added some extra cognac into the cocktail sauce as a pick me up. It kinda worked, at least I found the energy to post this 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good ! (Mostly, Anyway)
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Shrimp Cocktail, Fried Tortilla & Classic French Cocktail Sauce

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Grilled Portuguese Sardines

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During the time Maria and I were living in Madeira, Portugal, we usually had grilled sardines at least twice a week. There was this beautiful restaurant, built into a cave in the rock’s below our apartment building, just a three minute walk, which served these wonderful, fresh, juicy, tasty sardines off a wood fired grill. Adorned with just lemon wedges, a small green salad with onions and rustic sour dough bread, this was the perfect meal every time and I remember them very fondly, both for the great food, as well as the romance the surroundings provided to Maria and I.
I usually had all my dinner’s in Madeira with a bottle (or two) of Gatão Vinho Verde, while Maria usually stuck to her diet coke.
While shopping for food on saturday, I came across these great looking (frozen) Portuguese sardines and I just had to get them. I prepared them the way they are usually prepared in simple restaurant’s and homes by the sea – some sea salt inside and out, brushed with olive oil and quickly grilled or sauteed. Then a squirt of lemon or lime and voilà – sardine heaven.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

– and yes, Bella and I had all twelve of them at once…….. 🙂
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Grilled Portuguese Sardines

: Portuguese Sardines

: Season With Sea Salt

: Grill

: Served With Sauteed Potatoes And Greens

: Grilled Portuguese Sardines

: Grilled Portuguese Sardines

: Remnants Of A Great Dinner

: Gatão Vinho Verde

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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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Malay-Inspired Shrimp & Salad

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Last night’s light dinner had most of the ingredient’s of a typical satay dinner – shrimp, cucumbers, onions, garlic, peanut sauce and chili. I did not attempt to go “authentic”, but rather enjoy great food with as little fuss as possible. The whole thing did not take more than fifteen minutes to prepare, but it tasted like a million bucks and reminded me of the sometimes simple, but alway’s wonderful meals my friend’s and I had so many times, so many years ago in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and other places in South East Asia and the Pacific / South Pacific. Sometimes, when I have a meal like this and I am in the mood and have the time to reflect, it connect’s me vividly to people, times and places in my distant past 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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The Good Stuff 🙂

Mise En Place

Season Shrimp With Granulated Garlic, Kosher Salt And Ground Chili, Saute Or Grill

Dice Onion, Tomato, Cucumber, Slice Scallions. Dress With White Balsamic Vinegar, Oil, Salt , Chili and Roasted Garlic Puree.

Sprinkle Salad With Salted Cashew Nuts

Serve Shrimp Over Salad, Accompany With Lime, Peanut Sauce And Sweet Chili Sauce

Malay-Inspired Shrimp & Salad

The Good Stuff 🙂

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Entrecôte Au Poivre (Classic French Pepper Steak)

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When was the last time you have seen a classic steak au poivre on a restaurant menu outside of Europe?
The best you can usually find elsewhere is it’s poor cousin, a steak covered in green peppercorn sauce (Entrecote Au Poivre Vert).
While this can be excellent, it’s flavor and texture is far removed from a steak covered in freshly crushed black pepper and sauteed, then served in a sauce build from it’s very own pan drippings and some other goodies.
Last night I served this with my “special” fries. What makes them “special” is the fact that I fry them only once instead of the usual required two times. I start them in cold peanut oil ( or better yet, duck or goose fat if available) and let the temperature slowly rise to 385 F. By the time the oil is hot and the fries are golden brown, they will be creamy on the inside and very crisp on the outside. I season them with both fine salt and sea salt. The fine salt adheres better to the fries while the sea salt gives me the taste and crunchiness associated with sea salt.

Bon Appetit ! Life Is Good !
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Entrecôte Au Poivre

Hans’ “Special” Fries

: Rib Eye, Red Wine Jus, Cream, Whole Black Pepper CornSea Salt, Cognac

: 40 Oz Beauty

: Saute To Your Preferred Doneness

: Remove Steak, Set Aside. Deglaze With Cognac (Be Careful Of The Flare-Up !!!), Add cream And Reduce. Add Jus, Reduce To “Nape” Texture

: Pepper Steak

: Entrecôte Au Poivre

: Pepper Steak

: Hans’ “Special” Fries

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Stew Of Split Pork Hock’s, Green Peas & Potatoes

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Last night’s late dinner was one of these “hate it or love it” dishes.
Obviously, I love my specialty cut’s and offal, realising that not everybody shares this love. On the other hand, For the folks who do love this stuff, there is never enough of it to find, neither in the supermarket, nor in the majority of restaurants. ( Sadly, most cooks these days lack the knowledge, experience and passion to prepare these dishes). So, for the benefit of my fellow offal and specialty cut’s lover’s, here is one of my more simple but, nevertheless, very satisfying concoctions.

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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

Stew Of Split Pork Hock, Split Green Peas & Potatoes

Simmer Split Hock’s In Salted Water

Add Onion, Garlic & Bay Leaf

After 90 Minutes, Add Slit Peas. Simmer until Hock's & Peas Are Tender

After 90 Minutes, Add Split Peas. Simmer Until Hock’s & Peas Are Tender

Remove Ans Discard Hock's & Bay Leaf, Add some Grated Asiago, Blend Soup Until Smooth

Remove And Discard Bay Leaf’s, Remove & Reserve Hock’s. Add Some Heavy Cream & Grated Asiago Cheese, Blend Soup With A stick Blender Until Smooth

Add Small Cooked Potatoes & Return Hock’s To Pot. Adjust Seasoning If Necessary

To Serve, Sprinkle With Finely Diced Chilis And Sliced Scallion

Stew Of Split Pork Hock’s, Split Green Peas & Potatoes

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