easy recipes

” Nutella & Banana Ice Cream “

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Here is the world’s easiest and arguably best ice cream :
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Ingredients :

Nutella, 2 cups
Yoghurt, 1 cup
Milk, 2 cups
Sugar, 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract, 1/4 tspn
Lime juice, 1 tspn
Banana, 1 ea, finely diced

Method :

Whisk all ingredients except banana until smooth.
Transfer to ice cream maker, add banana.
Churn until starting to get firm.
Transfer to airtight container, cover, freeze overnight.

I know this might seem simplistic and unsophisticated to some foodies
and professional chef”s, but believe me, this stuff is so rich and tasty,
it put’s many a sophisticated ice cream to shame 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Grilled Pork Chops & Grilled Veggies “

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I just love my little stove top grill. No-fuss grilling for one person.
It does not give me the deep grillmarks a larger, hotter grill would give me,
but the texture and taste are all their own 🙂
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Marinade all items with the pictured spices according to your own preferences 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Tomato Bisque

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This is one of those soups where I have to make enough for two day’s,
because one meal of it’s goodness is just not enough to satisfy the quarterly
craving that is nagging me 🙂

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Ingredients :

Tomatoes, 15 lbs
Onions, 1 lb
Celery, 1 lb
Garlic, 8 oz coarsely chopped
Rice, 4 oz uncooked
Olive oil, 1/2 cup
Heavy cream, 2 cup
Chicken stock 1 gall
Oregano, 1 bdl
Basil, 1 bdl
Cayenne, to taste
Salt, to tase

Method :

Add all Ingredients except cream to a large stock pot and simmer for about 2,5 hours.
Blend until VERY smooth. Add cream and simmer for another 15 minutes.
Adjust seasoning and serve.

Note :
Bisques were originally thickened with rice.
This made the bisque smoother and silkier than using flour or other thickeners.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

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” Beer Braised Turkey Leg’s “

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Last night’s dinner brought out the very best one can get from turkey legs’s:
Tender, juicy, loaded with flavor, accompanied by a wonderful herbed rice.
In my opinion, turkey doesn’t get much better than that 🙂
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Turkey :

Ingredients :

Turkey legs, bone in
Morcilla, diced
Beer, a bottle or two of your favorite
Bell peppers, diced
Onions, diced
Garlic, paste
Scallions, sliced
Oregano “Litehouse” freeze dried
Basil “Litehouse” freeze dried
Chives “Litehouse” freeze dried
Maggi
Grape tomatoes
Tomato sauce canned
Oil, to sautee

Method :

Saute legs in oil until golden, remove and reserve.
Sautee peppers, remove, reserve.
Sautee onions and garlic until translucent, add Morcilla, tomato sauce
and beer, return leg’s and half the peppers to the sauce.
Add salt and pepper and simmer until legs are tender. Shortly before the
end of the cooking process, carefully remove legs into another pot.
Strain sauce onto legs, add remaining peppers, tomatoes and chives.
Bring back to simmer for one more minute and serve.

Rice :

Ingredients :

Jasmin Rice, soaked for two hours, washed repeatedly
Butter melted
Herbs fresh or freeze dried
Salt & cayenne pepper to taste

Method :

Cook rice in boiling plain water for approximately 4 minute, or until tender but not mushy (Polo Method)
Strain rice and with a fork mix in the butter, seasoning and herb’s.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Spaghetti With Beef, Veggies & Brie “

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Today’s lunch combined, amongst other goodies, two of my favorite food items :
Pasta and brie cheese 🙂
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Ingredients :

Spaghetti, cooked al dente, some cooking water reserved
Beef, finely julienned
Bell peppers, finely julienned
Onion, finely julienned
Tomatoes, thin wedges
Garlic, paste
Brie cheese, sliced
Butter, substitute with olive oil if prefered
Salt & cayenne pepper to taste

Method :

Saute beef in very hot fat for a few seconds, remove and reserve.
Saute veggies and garlic until garlic is opaque but still light in color.
Add pasta, half of the brie and a bit of the cooking water, salt and pepper.
Mix well until the cheese is melted.

Plate and garnish with more brie and some herbs.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

” Fish Dumpling & Shrimp Ball Soup With Poached Egg “

What the heck !?
Soup with fish dumplings, shrimp ball’s, shrimp, vegetables, chili and poached egg ?
Well, it might sound’s a bit much but it is absolutely delicious, the flavors and textures
go very well together to form a wonderful, multi-facetted dish.
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Ingredients:

Shrimp, pre cooked, peeled, deveined, half of them tail removed
White fish, such as haddock, tilapia, cod
Peas, frozen
Corn, frozen
Won ton wrappers,
Red chili, sliced
Scallion, sliced
Cilantro, coarsely chopped
Whole egg for poaching
Egg white for fish dumplings and shrimp balls
Fish stock substitute with chicken stock if preferred
Ketchup
Maggi
Salt, cayenne pepper, lemon juice to taste

Method :

Dumplings :
Chop the fish coarsely, add a bit of egg white, salt, cayenne pepper, mix.
Add half a teaspoon to a wrapper, moisten the edges with water.
Top with another wrapper, flatten and cut with a crinkle wheel cutter or a raviolini stamp.

Shrimp balls :
Chop the tailless shrimp to a fine paste. Add sriracha, salt and a bit of ketchup,
Mix and form into small ball’s.

Cook fish dumplings and schrimp balls in salted water until floating,
transfer to salted ice water.

Egg :
Poach in lightly salted water for 3 1/2 minutes, transfer to salted ice water.

Soup :

Bring stock to simmer, add corn and simmer for two minutes.
season with salt, sriracha soy sauce and maggi seasoning.
Add fish dumplings and shrimp balls’, shrimp balls, chilis, green peas and poached egg.
When heated through, plate and sprinkle with scallion and cilantro

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

” Paillard of Beef & Peperonata “

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Paillard of Beef & Peperonata, MY WAY !!!

Please note that in my house instead of seasoning the beef with Mustard,
I like to add more by drizzling a good amount over the top while plating.
Also, traditionally, we try to have a perfectly round Paillard for a better presentation 🙂
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Paillard :

Beef, very thinly pounded
Cornstarch, to dust beef
Salt Pepper to taste
Oil, to sauté
Sautee beef in VERY hot oil on both sides for one minute, remove to absorbent paper.

Peperonata :

Saute onions and garlic until translucent, add peppers, sauté until heated through.
Remove from heat,, carefully mix in cherry tomatoes, seasoning and half of your herbs.
(Oregano, basil, cilantro, scallion or whatever tickles
your fancy and will provide the taste you crave that day).
When serving, sprinkle with rest of herbs and, if you desire, parmesan cheese .

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Below a Paillard I prepared for one of my books about 8 years ago.

Paillard of Veal, served with marsala sauce, sauteed enoki mushrooms
and fried spinach with curry cream. Image: H.D.Susser.

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” Butterflied Breaded Pork Chop “

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Sometimes a very simple dish does very satisfying things to you.

Last night that’s exactly what happened to me when I had this dish of simple comfort food :
Instant happyness and warmt in the belly that said : Life is Good !
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Butterflied Breaded Pork Chop with Lettuce and crispy bacon in Dijon vinaigrette.
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” Tacos Al Camaron “

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These tacos are in no way authentic Mexican 😦

But they are are in every way delicious 🙂
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” Tacos Al Camaron “

Shrimp salad:

Cooked schrimp’s, tail removed, diced, except one for each taco for decoration
Avocado, diced
Red onions, julienne
Tomatoes, de-seeded, diced
Chilis, julienne
Yellow peppers julienne
Cilantro chopped
Lime juice,
Olive oil,
Salt,
Scotch bonnet hot sauce,
Salt,

Blend all ingredients, season to taste.

Lettuce salad :

Lettuce, julienne
Red onion, julienne
Yellow peppers julienne
Chilis, julienne
Cilantro chopped
Mayo
Greek yoghurt
Salt,
Scotch bonnet hot sauce

Blend all ingredients, season to taste.

Assembly :

Fill tacos ¾ with lettuce salad. Top with shrimp salad.
Garnish each taco with one whole shrimp.
Drizzle with yoghurt / mayo / hot sauce mix, Sprinkle with Cilantro.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Merlot & Watermelon Spritzer “

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I have been drinking spritzer for many years.
I like it’s taste and ability to refresh in the summer heat,
without packing a big punch. Today I was going to make
a regular red wine spritzer when i saw the watermelon in the fridge.
Fruit and wine in a drink has never hurt, so I was going to try this one.
Man o man, what a success ! Very tasty, refreshing and beautiful to look at.
Mix the wine and water mellon in a blender until very smooth.
Mix each drink individually by pouring the mineral water over ice,
then the wine / watermelon blend. Stir and enjoy !