Food

Hans’ Pastrami & Sauerkraut On Chiabata

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Here you see the lunch I enjoyed today, which must be one of the most satisfying sandwiches I have ever prepared (Or maybe I was just very hungry).
In any case, I had these ingredients at home and just put together what I found in the fridge and in the larder.
However, in the future I will go out and buy these ingredients on purpose in order to recreate this lovely beast 🙂

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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Hans’ Pastrami & Sauerkraut On Chiabata

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Preparation :
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toast two halves of a ciabatta roll, cover the inside of one half with mustard

cover the other half with grated horseradish

top with fine quality, cooked sauerkraut

top with finely sliced pastrami

drizzle with french cocktail sauce (mayo, ketchup, cognac, horseradish)

top with the other half of the ciabatta, slice in half

Hans’ Pastrami & Sauerkraut On Chiabata

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Chicken & Scallion Dumplings “Foo Yong”

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Ravioli, Dumplings, Maultaschen, Pierogi or whatever you call your little pasta pockets filled with a savory filling – if there are leftovers, what will be the best way to make a meal out of them ? I say, saute them with eggs and voila ! – a whole new, different, beautiful dish which, when properly prepared, will be as good as the first incarnation of your little pockets of deliciousness 🙂
So, while I would usually make this dish with leftover dumplings, today I did not even wait to have leftovers. Instead, I sautéed them right after they came out of the boiling water with some eggs, chili oil, chili flakes and cilantro and bingo ! What a great dish – perfect texture, taste and presentation
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Chicken & Scallion Dumplings “Foo Yong”

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Preparation :
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saute onions in garlic oil until translucent

add garlic confit paste, saute until garlic is fragrant

add lightly whisked whole eggs, seasoned with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

add freshly boiled, drained dumplings (if using leftovers, saute after onions before adding the garlic paste)

saute one minute until eggs are set

add chopped cilantro. to serve, drizzle with chili oil and sprinkle with chili flakes and more cilantro

Chicken & Scallion Dumplings “Foo Yong”

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Hickory Smoked, Panko Crusted Bone-In Ham Steak

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Here we have another dish which exemplifies home cooking at it’s most simple, most tasty, most satisfying goodness.
It goes to show that you don’t have to be rich or a professional chef in order to serve excellent food. Creativity and good, simple ingredients will get you pretty far.
While I love my lobster, caviar and foie gras, food made with simple ingredients should, in my opinion, alternate with the high-end stuff which most of us could not afford on a daily basis anyway. But even back in the day’s when I ran five star operations and could have had “the good stuff” for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I always liked to mix it up with some home style cooked dishes. After all, the beauty of good food lies, among other things, in variation.
Well, there you have it : Another ChefsOpinion 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

Hickory Smoked Panko Crusted Bone-In Ham Steak

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Preparation :
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mix 1/3 corn starch, 1/3 ap flour, 1/3 panko bread crumbs, season with cayenne pepper, english mustard powder and granulated garlic

dip ham steak on both sides into flour mixture, saute in butter until golden, remove ham and set aside, fry sunny side up eggs in same butter, season eggs with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

almost……

saute onions in butter until lightly caramelized, add garlic confit paste

add cabbage and peppers, saute until cabbage starts to wilt

add demi glace and grape tomatoes, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper, simmer for one minute, check / adjust seasoning

plate cabbage on serving dish

top with ham steak

top with fried eggs, serve with horseradish mashed potatoes or a good rustic bread to soak up the sauce and juices

top with fried eggs, serve with horseradish mashed potatoes or a good rustic bread to soak up the sauce, egg yolks and juices

Hickory Smoked Panko Crusted Bone-In Ham Steak

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EASY DOES IT # 17 – Hans’ Homemade Buffalo Sauce

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While buffalo sauce is most famously used for chicken wings, I use my recipe for many other dishes, such as steak sauce, light coating for sautéed shrimp, sautéed vegetables, sautéed potatoes, etc, as well as fried foods such as chicken hearts, duck gizzards, chicken wings ( pictured below). I also use it as a spicy dipping sauce for french fries and whatever else needs a bit of a pick-up 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Recipe :
Melted butter 1/2 cup
Sriracha 1/2 cup
Green tabasco 1 tablespoon
Confit garlic paste 1 tablespoon
White vinegar 1 tablespoon
Honey 1 tablespoon
Maggi seasoning to taste
Kosher salt to taste
Mix all ingredients well, check / adjust taste

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Easy Does It # 17 – Hans’ Buffalo Sauce

Easy Does It # 17 Hans’ Buffalo Sauce

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Cherry Tomato And Cheese “Crumble”

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The problem with cherry tomatoes is usually that their flavors do not match up with their pretty appearance. So, in order to have a satisfying cherry tomato dish, one must add a lot of flavor and texture. Here now is a recipe which does that and might just become your next tomato go-to recipe. It is easy, economic, looks great and packs a ton of flavor 🙂 It is equally suited as a side dish with a main course, (served here with a small rib eye steak with my home made buffalo sauce), or as a snack or appetizer, served cold or warm on bread (I used Wasa Light Rye Crisp Bread, which is a permanent ingredient in my cupboard)
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Cherry Tomato “Crumble”

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Preparation :
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saute onions, scallions, garlic paste (lot’s of it) and ham in olive oil (replace the ham with mushrooms for a vegetarian version)

add tomatoes, season liberally with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

add half diced swiss cheese and half diced brie cheese

add 50% diced swiss cheese and 50% diced brie cheese

add diced rustic, dry bread (I used 50% sour dough bread and 50% jalapeno/cheese bread)

mix all ingredients

sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and grated asiago cheese, bake at 390 F for 45 minutes or until top is golden and crispy

sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper, grated asiago cheese and scallions, bake at 390 F for 45 minutes or until top is golden and crispy

Cherry Tomato “Crumble”

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Lamb Meat Balls In Harissa/Tomato Sauce, With Garlicky Pearl Pasta And Feta Cheese

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Last month my friend Curtis introduced me to a store which I have been missing all my cooking life. It’s the “Foodtown Supermarket” in Davie, corner sterling/dairy rd extension. Here I can find EVERYTHING my culinary cravings will ever desire as far as Asian and Latino food ingredients are concerned. EVERYTHING !!! 🙂 – Live frogs, live crabs, live shrimps, fresh fish heads, intestines, you get the idea.
(You can check it out online by clicking this link, especially read the comments) 🙂
Although Merguez sausage is neither Asian nor Latino, Foodtown has a great quality one on offer, as well as a small selection of other African/Mediterranean items.
So yesterday after work I stopped by there for a few goodies and amongst other stuff I got merguez sausage, harissa and pearl pasta (Piombi)
So here is what I had for lunch today :

Click here for more on MERGUEZ SAUSAGE

Click here for more on LAMB MEAT BALLS

Click here for more on HARISSA
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

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Lamb Meat Balls In Harissa / Tomato Sauce With Garlicky Pearl Pasta And Feta Cheese

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Preparation :
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cook pearl pasta in salted water, strain, reserve some of the cooking liquid in case you need to thinnen the sauce

cut mild chilies, onion and blanched carrots into triangels

cut mild chilies, onion and blanched carrots into triangles

saute carrots and onions in a generous amount of herb / garlic butter and olive oil until starting to caramelize

add chilies and sliced scallions

add pearl pasta, mix well, check / adjust seasoning

add pearl pasta, kosher salt and cayenne pepper, mix well, check / adjust seasoning

remove merguez sausage from casing, form into small balls, saute in olive oil until medium, add 1/3 of harissa and 2/3 of tomato sauce. If too thick, add some of the pasta liquid, simmer for one minute, check / adjust seasoning

plate pasta, leaving a well in the center

add lamb meatballs and harissa / tomato sauce

sprinkle with finely crumbled feta cheese and sliced scallions

Lamb Meat Balls In Harissa / Tomato Sauce With Garlicky Pearl Pasta And Feta Cheese

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Pasta With Smoked Salmon In Horseradish/Mustard Cream

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Rigatoni rigate, smoked salmon and a creamy velouté – nearly impossible not to like this combination ! 🙂
After we have learned how to make a velouté in my last post, (click here for recipe), and hopefully have a few small containers in the freezer to use at short notice (just defrost in the microwave), wonderful dishes like this one take only a few minutes from start to finish.
The reward for this relatively small effort is a dish which oozes flavor, presentation, elegance and class 🙂 All in a mere few minutes of preparation and cooking time.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

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Pasta With Smoked Salmon In Horseradish/Mustard Cream

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Preparation :
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Heat velouté (preferably fish velouté, but seafood velouté, chicken velouté or veal velouté will be just fine), add cooking liquid from pasta if too thick

add diced smoked salmon and grated horseraddish

add diced smoked salmon and grated horseradish

add dijon mustard

simmer for one minute

add freshly cooked, al dente pasta and sliced scallions

mix well, careful not to mash-up the salmon, check seasoning

to serve, sprinkle with more diced salmon and sliced scallions

Pasta With Smoked Salmon In Horseradish/Mustard Cream

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EASY DOES IT # 16 –Velouté (White Cream Sauce)

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How to pronounce Velouté – click here
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Here is a “Daughter” (added cream) version of one of the two white mother sauces (the other being Sauce Béchamel)
If you love to cook or just starting to learn, being able to prepare the mother sauces is a must.
The five french mother sauces are:
Sauce Béchamel, Sauce Espagnole, Sauce Hollandaise, Tomato Sauce, and Sauce Velouté.
Adding cream and lemon juice (and originally egg yolk) to a sauce made of stock, flour and butter will produce a “Sauce Allemande”
We have learned how to make tomato sauce in a previous “easy does it” blog, so let’s go straight to “Sauce Allemande”

Please note : This is beef (or veal) velouté (before adding the cream)
To make fish velouté, chicken velouté, seafood velouté, or fish velouté, replace beef (veal) with the appropriate protein.

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Sauce Velouté

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Preparation :
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beef and/or beef bones, root vegetables, water, bring to a simmer, cook until meat is tender (if you use bones, simmer for one hour), remove meat (bones), set meat aside (discard bones)

strain stock through a fine sieve, discard solids

skim fat from surface

make a white roux of half butter and half a/p flour, add stock, whisk to avoid lumps, simmer for 15 minutes, strain through a fine mesh strainer

add heavy cream, kosher salt and white pepper, check / adjust seasoning

add heavy cream, lemon juice, kosher salt and white pepper, check / adjust seasoning

voilà – sauce velouté (with added cream)

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Peanut Glazed Pork Medaillons With Bok Choy In Oyster Sauce

Here is a recipe sure to tempt you if you like to have a tasty and exotic meal but do not have the time nor desire to prepare an elaborate, complicated meal, which is what happened to me today. I just finished my first week of work after two months of vacation, so my spirit and energy has been slightly drained this weekend. After cleaning the apartment, taking care of Bella, doing the shopping and a bunch of other chores, cooking an elaborate meal was not exactly at the forefront of my mind. Eating a good meal on the other hand ……..
So here is what I came up with. This was very delicious, yet simple and easy to prepare. You will be able to easily knock this out in about 15 minutes 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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For Peanut Sauce Recipe Click Here
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Peanut Glazed Pork Medaillons And Bok Choy In Oyster Sauce

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Preparation :
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saute onions and garlic paste in peanut oil

saute onions, grated ginger and garlic paste in peanut oil

add blanched baby bok choy and mild chilis

add blanched baby bok choy and mild chilies

add oyster sauce, soy sauce, sriracha and sesame oil, simmer until bok choy is heated through, check / adjust seasoning

meanwhile, saute pork medaillons on both sides, when almost done, add peanut sauce and a few drops of water, remove from heat, mix well untill medaillons are completely covered with sauce

meanwhile, saute salt and pepper seasoned pork medaillons on both sides, when almost done, add peanut sauce and a few drops of water, remove from heat, mix well until medaillons are completely covered with sauce

ready to plate…

plate bok choy and a small side dish with peanut sauce for dipping

arrange glazed pork medaillons on bok choy

Peanut Glazed Pork Medaillons And Bok Choy In Oyster Sauce

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Stew Of Cornish Hen In Merlot With Beans And Vegetables

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Cornish Hen has very tender meat and does not need to be stewed – it can be grilled, roasted , poached or sautéed.
However, once in a while I like to braise (stew) one because of the delicious sauce this cooking method will produce. So then, this is what I had for lunch today, accompanied by a tall glass of iced tea. (No more booze for me, at least for the moment 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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