easy recipes

Frisée Salad, Coppa Ham & Gorgonzola Cheese

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Lately, more and more often, I fancy to having just a nice salad for dinner. With a glass (or two) of your favorite merlot. Of course the salad must be substantial and can not be boring, otherwise I will raid the fridge two hours later. This salad however did not make me go back for more food and it definitely did note bore me. On the contrary, what a great combination of flavors and textures, completely satisfying as a full meal.
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Ingredient’s:

Frisse salad, dark green parts removed
Coppa ham, thinly sliced
Gorgonzola, wedges
Avocado, wedges
Tomatoes, wedges
Great northern beans, canned, rinsed
Onions, finely sliced
Radishes, finely sliced
Dijon vinaigrette –
( Raspberry vinegar, olive oil, kosher salt, freshly grated black pepper, dash of lime juice, dijon mustard, roasted garlic paste )

Method :

Mix all ingredients except ham and gorgonzola with the vinaigrette. Plate, drape with the coppa and gorgonzola, garnish with fresh basil. Serve with your favorite wine and bread 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Cheers ! Life is Good !
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Potato Stuffed Pasta In Red Wine Cream

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Sunday lunch should be special. I feel that this dish did the trick 🙂
“Potato & Cheese Stuffed Pasta, Carrots, Tomato, Salame And Red Wine Cream”
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Potato & Cheese Stuffed Pasta

: Potato & Cheese Stuffed Pasta

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Ingredient’s:

Pasta: Flour, Egg, Salt

Filling: Boiled mashed potatoes, cream, egg, grated cheese, salt, cayenne pepper, roasted garlic paste

Sauce: Butter, diced onions, garlic paste, finely chopped tomato, julienned salame, red wine, heavy cream, blanched baby carrots, salt, black pepper

Method:

Pasta: Mix all ingredients, then knead into a pasta dough.

Filling: Mix ingredients lightly without overworking the filling or it will become gooey.

Sauce: Saute onions in butter until translucent. Add Salame and garlic, saute until fragrant. Add chopped tomatoes, and cream. Simmer until reduced and starting to thicken. Add wine, a bit of grated cheese and carrots, simmer for another few minutes. Season with salt and black pepper. Add pasta, carefully mix. To serve, sprinkle with grated cheese and chopped parsley.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Mee Noodles, Straw Mushroom & Chicken In Curry/Coconut Soup

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At first I was going to do a “authentic” Malay, or Burmese ,or Thai, or Indonesian, or Indian, or whatever “authentic” coconut / curry / noodle / chicken dish. But then, for what ? There is a million and one recipes (more or less “authentic”) out there in the internet and book world available to anyone. But by now I believe (hopefully) that most of my readers subscribe to “ChefsOpinion” because of my interpretations of dishes and the ease of which they can be duplicated more ore less closely (adjust to whatever tickles your fancy). So here we go, Hans’ authentic 🙂 version of : Mee Noodles, Straw Mushroom & Chicken In Curry/Coconut Soup. Enjoy. Don’t break a leg running for authentic ingredients. Use what you’ve got available, what you like and what you can afford. The single most important authentic ingredient required for most dishes is love and passion. If you cook it and folk’s and you yourself love it – Voilà ! Success !
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Mee Noodles, Straw Mushroom & Chicken In Curry/Coconut Soup

: Mee Noodles, Straw Mushroom & Chicken In Curry/Coconut Soup

Ingredient’s :

Chicken legs, deboned, cubed
Mee noodles, cooked, tossed with sesame oil
Chicken stock,
Coconut milk,
Straw mushroom,
Tomato, seeded, julienned
Avocado, diced
Onion, julienned
Chilis, julienned
Scallions, sliced
Almonds, slivered or crashed
Limes, wedges
Curry powder,
Turmeric,
Garlic paste,
Ginger, grated
Fish sauce,
Maggi seasoning,
Scotch bonnet sauce,
Kosher salt,
Peanut oil, to saute

Method :

Saute chicken, add vegetables and garlic, saute for one minute. Add garlic, ginger, curry powder, turmeric and almonds and saute until fragrant. Add coconut milk, chicken stock and salt and simmer for two minutes. Remove from heat. Add fish sauce and scotch bonnet sauce to taste (careful with the fermented fish sauce, check HERE first). To serve, sprinkle with scallions and/or cilantro.

Bon Appetit ! Live is Good !

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Sexy Legs

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Who needs a side dish with this stuff ?
Not me, that’s for sure.
Prep time : 3 minutes
Cooking time : 50 – 70 minutes, depending on size of legs.

Season with kosher salt, sriracha sauce, granulated garlic and soy sauce.
Roast on rack at 390 ” until temperature on bone has reached 160 “.
Let rest for 10 minutes. Enjoy with a couple of cold beers while watching tv 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

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Roasted Chicken Legs

Sexy Legs

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Perciatelli, Tomato & Poached Egg

“Waiter ! One order of Perciatelli, Tomato & Poached Egg please !
I wish I could order food like that in a restaurant around here !
Everybody seems to serve the same old stuff, (grilled fish with mango salsa anyone?), desperately trying to be “innovative”, “modern”, “on the edge”. But sadly, what I mostly find is mediocre food that has been invented and created a long time ago, then suffered a long and steady decline in quality and substance at the hand of badly trained cooks and so called chefs . We now find the most outrageously crappy food for even more outrageous prices in a vast majority of restaurants. I fully acknowledge that there are lots’s of great chefs out there but unfortunately, they are the minority in a sea of mediocracy or worse. How about some more top quality, simple, tasty, beautiful “REAL FOOD” . I would not mind paying top $ for a plate like this if it were fresh, good tasting, clean and nicely presented. Unfortunately, most “hip” folk’s think food like that has no place in a restaurant and it would be beneath their advanced eating habits to consume . (In public, anyway). While I appreciate as much as the next person food that is prepared and presented in an artful, unexpected, unconventional way, on a day to day basis I prefer great food which is practical and economically sound. After all, most of us have to cook the stuff before we can eat it. While there are plenty folk’s out there who apparently can run up a dinner bill of a few hundred or even a few thousand bucks a few night’s a week, most of us are not that privileged but nevertheless deserve to eat good (and, many times, much better) on a reasonable budget.

Perciatelli, Tomato & Poached Egg

Any thoughts on that friends ?
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Ingredients :

Perciatelli, cooked al dente, some cooking liquid reserved
Eggs, poached
Tomato, chopped
Garlic, paste
Olive oil,
Basil, stems removed
Kosher salt,
Black pepper, freshly ground
Parmigiano reggiano, grated

Method :

Saute garlic paste in olive oil until fragrant, add tomatoes and basil leaves and saute for three minutes. Remove basil, add salt and pepper and mix in blender until smooth. Poach eggs in lightly salted and vinegared water to your desired doneness. Toss perciatelli with olive oil, cheese and a bit of the cooking water until a thin film of sauce forms. To serve, drizzle tomato sauce over pasta, top with poached eggs. Sprinkle with cheese and garnish with fresh basil.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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So Loaded

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” Twice baked potato and the kitchen sink ”
This hit the spot perfectly at the right time,
11.30 pm, accompanied by a couple of glasses
of merlot and good company.

Bake the potatoes, remove the flesh, mash it coarsely. Saute finely diced chicken, salame, chilis and scallions in butter, add to the potatoes. Add egg yolk, greek yoghurt and grated asiago cheese. Season with roasted garlic paste, kosher salt and cayenne pepper, mix well without mashing the potatoes too smoothly. Fill into potato skins, drizzle with butter and grated asiago and bake until golden brown. To serve, add a dollop of greek yoghurt and sprinkle with scallions.
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Twice Baked Potatoes

: Twice Baked Potatoes

: Twice Baked Potato

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Life is Good ! (Especially fully loaded…….
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Obatzter

Here is a new take on ” Obatzter “, ” Illustrierter Camembert “, ” Verruehrter ” :
” Spicy Brie On Pear ”

Obatzter (Obatzda) is a traditional spread which is usually served as a snack, most famously at the Munich Octoberfest. It has it’s origin in the south of Germany, where it was a way to use leftover bit’s of cheese, which were given a new live after being mashed with butter, finely diced onions, beer and seasoning. The version below uses chicharones and pears instead of the more traditional bread as accompaniment.
( It’s still not exactly diet-fare 🙂
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Obatzter

: Obatzter

Ingredient’s :

Pears, thick slices, core removed
Brie, substitute with any soft cheese you might prefer
Pork rinds, (chicharones)
Butter, softened
Onions, finely diced
Beer,
Caraway, ground
Paprika,
Cayenne pepper,

Method :

With a dinner fork, mash the cheese coarsely. Add the soft butter , beer and seasoning and mash all together until smooth. Fold in the diced onions and scallions.
Serving suggestion : See pictures.

Bon Appetit! Life is Good !
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Breakfast Of Champions # 17 Farmers Eggs

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When a wimpy breakfast just isn’t good enough, try something like this:
Roasted potatoes, roasted garlic paste, straw mushrooms, eggs, chives, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, butter.
Bring it on, Day !
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Breakfast of Champions # 17

: Breakfast of Champions # 17

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Gizzard Adobo

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Although I tremendously enjoy Philippine style adobo served the traditional way with steamed rice, I enjoy my adobo even more with pasta and creamed spinach. Served seperate, then all mixed together on the plate, what a great, simple, tasty meal 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Kainan na!

Chicken Gizzard Adobo

: Chicken Gizzard Adobo

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Ingredients :

Chicken Gizzards,
Onions,   large dice
Garlic,   paste
Bay leaves,
Chicken stock,
Fish sauce,  substitute with oystersauce if preferred
Soy sauce,
Sugar,
Beer,
Kosher salt,
Black Pepper,   freshly ground
Peanut oil,   to saute

Method :

Saute gizzards until nicely browned, add onions and garlic and saute until onions start to brown. Add all other ingredients and simmer until gizzards are tender. At this point, the sauce should be reduced so it covers the back of a spoon (nappe). Traditionally, adobo is served with steamed rice. However, in this version I served it with creamed spinach and pasta.

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Mabuhay ! Life is Good !
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Gratinated Onion Soup

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Today the weather channel announced that it will get cold in florida,
so why not prepare for it with this goodie :
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Gratinated Onion Soup

: Gratinated Onion Soup

Saute onion julienne until translucent. Add beer, beef stock, Kosher salt , freshly ground black pepper and maggi seasoning. Simmer until onions are soft but not mushy, about one hour. In the meantime, brush sliced bread on both sides with garlic butter. Toast on both sides until golden. Top with your favorite cheese (here I used asiago, sometimes I use cheddar, swiss, pepper jack or gorgonzola) and bake until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and set aside. When the onions are soft, adjust seasoning if necessary. Transfer the soup to a heat proof dish. Top with cheese bread and sprinkle the top generously with more cheese. Bake until a golden brown crust has formed. To serve, sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Bon Appetit ! Life is good!
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