easy recipes

“Fondue” Au Fromage Sec

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Good Read’s. Good Eat’s. Good Drink’s. Good Company = Good Times.
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The title of this dish, “Fondue Au Fromage Sec”, is tongue in cheek, but the dish itself is a knock-out: A great snack, a simple dinner, or fun party food.
I have prepared this often over the years, but I never really gave it a proper name.
So when I made it this sunday afternoon, I wanted to finally give the dish a proper, clever ? name. Hopefully, I succeeded ?
I love a good cheese fondue , and this dish has most ingredients of a “fondue au fromage” , (but not the texture, because instead of being liquid, it is “dry”.
Let me know if you disagree and think you ‘ve got a better name for it 🙂
But then, nevertheless, follow the recipe and you will agree that the dish itself is an outstanding snack or party staple or even , if served with a side of greens, a meatless dinner good enough to shine on it’s own.

Fondue Au Fromage “Sec”

: Fondue Au Fromage “Sec”

: Fondue Au Fromage “Sec”

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Ingredient’s :

Sour dough bread, scored criss cross 3/4 down to the bottom crust
Brie cheese, cut into cubes
Asiago cheese, diced
Cheddar cheese, shredded
Roasted garlic paste,
White wine,
Scallions, thinly sliced
Walnuts, shelled
Dijon mustard,
Chili flakes,
Butter, melted

Method :

Open the slit’s of the scored bread with your fingers. Drizzle with melted buter, then white wine. Add a bit of the mustard to the bits of cheese. Stick one piece of brie and one piece of asiago cheese into each of the cavities. Add cheddar cheese into the cavities as well as on top of the bread. Bake at 375F until cheese melts. Remove from oven, sprinkle walnuts and chili flakes on top, return to oven until the bread starts to crisp up and is heated through all the way. Remove again from oven, sprinkle with finely sliced scallions and serve hot.

Enjoy ! Live is Good !

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Simple Cooking – Perfect Meal

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Sauteed cowboy steak medium rare. Spinach sauteed in duck fat with freshly grated horseradish, bacon, garlic and onion. Very thick cut slice of sourdough bread to soak up all the juices. Scotch bonnet & garlic compound butter to give it a bit of a kick.
Do I need to write more about this dish?
Hell no, just look at the pictures and start drooling 🙂

Recipe for Scotch Bonnet & Garlic Compound Butter

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

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Cowboy Steak, Spinach & Chili Butter

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: Cowboy Steak, Spinach & Chili Butter

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Sunday. At Home. Dim Sum. Good Stuff !

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Light lunch with lot’s of flavor and some liquid goodness (Tsingtao).

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Har Gow, Siew Mai & Dipping Sauce

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Dipping sauce:
Soy sauce,rice wine vinegar, chili paste, sugar, garlic paste, scallion, sesame seeds.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

“Har Gow” Recipe
“Siew Mai” Recipe
More Har Gow at ChefsOpinion

: Har Gow, Siew Mai & Dipping Sauce

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Breakfast Of Champions # 20 – Mascarpone And Banana Filled French Toast, Caramelized Pomello

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Usually, sweet stuff for breakfast is not my thing, but today felt so different in many way’s that I thought what the heck! Why not try something different this morning. So I made this great breakfast of french toast with vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, banana and mascarpone, a bowl of strawberry yogurt, chilled chocolate milk, and a giant pomelo with caramelized sugar glaze. What a decadent, wonderful way to start the day 🙂
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Life is Good ! Happy Sunday Everyone ! .

Breakfast of Champions # 20

Mascarpone And Banana Filled French Toast, Caramelized Pomello, Strawberry Yogurt

: Breakfast of Champions # 20

: Mascarpone And Banana Filled French Toast, Caramelized Pomello, Strawberry Yogurt

Note :
You might have noticed in the pictures that contrary to standard procedure, I have not whisked the milk and eggs together but dipped the bread in the sugared and vanilla spiced milk first, then in the egg. This makes for a very different texture of the bread which is in my opinion superior to the traditional method. Just be careful not to soak the bread for too long in the milk or it will disintegrate 😦 > .
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Gorgonzola Gratinated Skirt Steak, Tomato & Aparagus On Naan

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Friday night’s dinner is one of these typical dishes that are only concocted when the hunger for a BIG dinner is already gnawing in our gut’s and nothing small and simple will satisfy the hunger disturbed imagination of what the next meal must be like. So here we go, a dinner that will satisfy even the biggest craving for hearty food 🙂
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Gorgonzola Gratinated Skirt Steak, Tomato & Aparagus On Naan

: Gorgonzola Gratinated Skirt Steak, Tomato & Aparagus On Naan

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Ingredient’s :

Skirt steak, marinated overnight in soy sauce, sriracha, & garlic paste
Naan, (substitute with bread of your choice)
Asparagus spears, (white or green, depending on availability and your preference), buttered and seasoned with kosher salt and cayenne pepper
Tomatoes, sliced thick, seasoned with kosher salt and cayenne pepper
Scallions, buttered and seasoned with kosher salt and cayenne pepper
Asiago cheese, finely grated
Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
Kosher salt,
Peanut oil,

Method :

Season steak with kosher salt, dust with a mixture of ap flour, cornstarch, cayene and garlic powder , saute in oil until bloody rare (or your preference. (See note below). Place naan on a baking rack. Top with steak. Sprinkle with asiago. Top with tomato. Sprinkle with asiago . Top with asparagus. Top with gorgonzola. Top with scallions. Broil until gorgonzola is melted and get’s a few golden spots. Remove from broiler, sprinkle with chili flakes. Enjoy a great meal ! 🙂

Note :
Remember the carry-over heat and the step of gratinating. Both will further cook your steak. Since I like most of my beef and lamb steaks to be medium rare, I removed it at bloody rare. By the time it was gratinated and ready to eat, it was a perfect medium rare.

Bon Appetit Life is Good !
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End Of The Week Treat # 1

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Friday afternoon, enjoying ” Tiramisu and a good helping of Baileys Irish Cream “.
Ahhhh…..just putting up my feet after a long week of hard work, enjoying the moment, knowing that tomorrows work……
Wait a minute – no work tomorrow nor sunday, just sleep, walk the dog, cook, eat good food, , watching exciting movies, reading good books, hanging with friend’s.
Life is Good ! . . . . . . . 🙂

Have a great weekend y’all !
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Tiramisu & Baileys Irish Cream

: Tiramisu & Baileys Irish Cream

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Tiramisu Recipe By Giada De Laurentis At Food Network

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Stir Fried Vegetables, Egg and Walnuts

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Today I read this article about healthy living. One of the main paths to a healthy life is supposedly to refrain from eating animal protein. But, as you all know, healthy or not, I just love animal protein once in a while. Chicken, pork, lamb,beef, seafood, duck, goose, I love it all.
But, tonight I had a strong craving for rice and vegetables. Since Bella is usually my only dinner guest, I mostly get to decide on the menu all by myself. So today’s dinner came along that ” healthy path ” .
“Despite” being healthy, it was delicious and a joy to eat. But tomorrow – Steak 🙂

Fan ( Chinese steamed rice ) recipe HERE
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Stir Fried Vegetables, Egg & Walnut

: Stir Fried Vegetables, Egg & Fan

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Ingredient’s :

Broccoli, floretes, blanched
Bean sprouts,
Red radishes, quartered,
Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
Chili’s, seeded, quartered
Onion, julienned
Eggs, hardboiled, Quartered
Walnuts, candied
Ginger, grated
Garlic, paste
Scallions, sliced
Cilantro, chopped
Hoi sin sauce,
Soy sauce,
Sesame oil,
Peanut oil, to saute
Chicken stock,
Corn starch slurry,
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,
Chili oil,
Sesame seeds, toasted
Fan,

Method :

Saute walnuts in sugar until sugar starts to brown, set aside. Saute onions until translucent, add ginger and garlic, saute until fragrant, Add broccoli, shiitake, radish, scallion and chili’s and saute until heated through. Add chicken stock, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, salt and pepper, bring to a simmer. Add slurry, simmer for a few seconds. Remove from heat, add bean sprouts. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Add eggs. To serve, top with walnuts, sprinkle with cilantro, drizzle with chili oil. Sprinkle fan with toasted sesame seeds.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

Saint Patrick’s Day “Breakfast Of Champions” # 19

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” Irish soda bread with raisins & caraway seeds,
topped with corned beef, asparagus, tomato and brie”
Great breakfast in honor of St Patrick.
(The brie might not be Irish, but it lift’s this dish to another dimension 🙂

Erin Go Bragh !

Recipe for Irish soda bread HERE
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Saint Patrick’s Day Breakfast Of Champions

: Saint Patrick’s Day Breakfast Of Champions

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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Death by Chocolate

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” Chocolate & Mascarpone Terrine “

This is my gift to anybody who is not a well versed pastry chef, but a diehard chocolate lover (or a lover of a diehard chocolate lover), who sometimes has to prepare his or her own chocolate fix on short notice without much fuss. I doubt that there are many chocolate desserts out there which are as easy to prepare, yet as rich in texture and pure chocolate goodness as this little gem. Even if you have two left hands, had a few too many drinks, are legally blind and have a case of the jitters, you should still be able to prepare this dish at a moments notice without any difficulty 🙂
You have a choice of the texture being ultra smooth, or, as I did here, studded with shards of chocolate for a more crunchy version. (I’ll explain below)
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Chocolate & Mascarpone Terrine

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Ingredient’s :

Mascarpone cheese,
Chocolate fudge brownies, (or substitute with your favorite brownies or cookies)
Dark rum, (or substitute with your favorite booze)
Dark bitter chocolate, (or substitute with your favorite chocolate
Mango, (or substitute with your favorite fruit)

Method :

1) Soak brownies in plenty of rum.
2) Crumble and whisk until smooth.
3) Whisk mascarpone until smooth.
4) Temper chopped chocolate until melted and smooth.
5) Mix cookies and mascarpone until well blended and smooth.
6) Slowly add chocolate to mascarpone while whisking vigorously.
7) Or, alternatively, in order to have a more crunchy texture, add a thin film of chocolate to top of mascarpone without stirring. Let set for a few seconds, then break up the set chocolate and mix into mascarpone. Continue to add remaining chocolate to mascarpone while whisking vigorously.
8) If desired, add sugar, vanilla and lemon juice to your liking. ( I usually don’t add anything, for me, the taste of the cheese, rum, chocolate and brownies is just perfect, nothing else needed.
9) Fill into mold of your choice, let set overnight.
10) To serve, slice terrine or scoop into spheres or quenelles. Decorate with fruit of your choice.
11) Eat, be very happy 🙂

Chocolate & Mascarpone Terrine

Life is Good !
Say hi to your sweet tooth from me 🙂
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Whole Roasted Duck

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Don’t get me wrong!
I do love a rare duck breast with crisp skin . But, that is definitely not the end of all great duck dishes. Of course it is so much easier to cut off the breast’s and saute them separate, leaving the center rare and declaring that a master piece and the fine art of cooking. Then cut off the legs and braise them until tender. Wow, how difficult is that ! I have enjoyed both these dishes often ( If ! properly done. More often than not, some “chef’s” are able to even screw that up) . But, in my humble opinion, nothing can beat a whole roast duck, legs and breast perfectly tender and juicy, full of flavor. Maybe it takes a bit more knowledge, experience and feeling to accomplish, but a successful result is certainly worth the extra effort.
This duck was beautifully tasty, juicy and tender, with a great skin, served with its own, red wine fortified jus. Any other preparation will surely come in second place, way behind this beauty 🙂
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Ingredient’s :

Duck, whole, marinated for two days with merlot, soy sauce, sriracha, granulated garlic
Merlot, substitue with wine of your preference
Kosher salt,
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Method :

Turn duck in it’s marinade often, so as to evenly marinade on all sides, inside and out. After two day’s remove from marinade and pat dry. Season with kosher salt, inside and out. Set on a rack in a roasting pan above the remaning marinade and red wine. Cook for 30 min at 420F.Turn heat to 275 F and cook, loosely covered with aluminium foil, for 4,5 hours. Remove foil, turn heat back up to 400F and roast for another 30 min or until skin is crisp and golden. Strain the jus, serve apart. Accompany with starch and vegetables, or do as I did – eat the whole thing at once and just have some bread with it to dunk in the jus.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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