garlic

” Conchiglioni, Portabellas, Peppers & Jalapenos “

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Talk about a satisfying dish that leaves nothing to be desired.
While spicy and alive on the taste buds, the jalapenos,
garlic and chilis were just the right amount , not overbearing, but noticeable.
All in all a successful, easy, quick dish, vulgar because of the heat,
elegant and earthy because of the portabella’s.

(Sound’s like the description of someone on a dating service 🙂
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Ingredient‘s :

Giant pasta shells, cooked al dente, some of the cooking liquid reseved
Portabella mushrooms, sliced
Red peppers, sliced
Yellow peppers, sliced
Jalapenos, sliced (lot’s of them)
Red peppers, sliced
Garlic, paste
Italian parsley, chopped
Pecorino romano, grated
Salt, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Butter, to saute

Method :

Saute all vegetables, add pasta, half of the grated cheese, some whole butter and a bit of the cooking liquid. Mix well until a sauce forms from the starch of the pasta, butter, cheese and cooking liquid. Once the sauce lightly coats the pasta, plate and sprinkle with the other half of the cheese and the parsley.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Imperial Chow Mein “

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A Dish I created a few years ago for a chinese restaurant in Bogota, Columbia
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Image by : Hans Susser

Ingredients :

Shrimp, shelled and deveined, tail on, dusted in cornsatarch
Scallops, dusted in cornsatarch
Squid, sliced, dusted in cornsatarch
Egg noodles, cooked and drained
Cooked ham diced
Lap Cheong (chorizo) sliced
Bell pepper, red diced
Bell pepper, green diced
Bell pepper, yellow diced
Green peas, frozen
Onion diced
Scallions, finely sliced
Ginger, shaved
Garlic, paste
Salt, to taste
Lime juice, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
Soy sauce, to taste
Sesame oil, to taste
Sherry wine,
Peanut oil, to fry

Method :

Saute shrimp, scallops and squid in very hot pan until halfway cooked.
Remove and set aside.
Saute all vegetables except scallions, deglaze with sherry.
Add noodles, seafood, ham and seasoning,
saute until well combined, adjust seasoning if necessary .
To serve, sprinkle with scallions.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Easy Beef Curry & Coconut Rice “

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Easy beef curry !
This seems to be so wrong on different levels.
First, eating beef in india ? Yes, of course. There are many christians and believers in other faith’s living in that vast country who don’t consider cows to be holy and therefore consume beef.
Also, in Goa there is a long and wonderful tradition of portuguese cuisine, using beef and veal in many of it’s recipes, sometimes pure and traditional, most often intertwined with indian cuisine which mostly results in a very distinctive cuisine, much loved by me.
Second, easy curry ? Here I refer to my use of curry powder, which is definitely a much easier way than making your own mix from many different spices, roots and herbs (depending on the curry)

Traditionally, in Europe the general public did not know much about other countries ethnic cuisines ( with a few exceptions) until the late 50’s, early 60’s.When I was a young apprentice in the mid – 60’s, some of the more exotic dishes on our hotel’s menu were “Curries” usually shrimp or chicken, served with rice. These so called curries were a far cry from what we have learned and experienced by now what a curry is supposed to be. At that time, we did not make our own curry and masala mixes but rather used the ubiquitous “Curry Powder” , still to be found in most grocery stores around the world, available for those folks who want a quick fix of curry without the fuss. I have lived for some years in Pakistan and in South East Asia, as well as having visited India on many occasions. I consider myself an absolute devotee of curries in all of it’s myriads of incarnations. However, I am also a big sucker for the dishes of my home and my youth, so sometimes I have to make a decision which route to follow on that particular day for a particular dish or style of cooking. Yesterday the curries of my youth won out. The creaminess that is so characteristic of our old fashioned “curries” and the inclusion of fruit into the sauce ( apples, bananas, pineapples) has an appeal all of it’s own to me.
So, in the spirit of good food, no matter what, here is one of my versions of curry.
In the same spirit, there are many variations of coconut rice, this is one of my versions.

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All you want to know about CURRY

All you want to know about CURRY POWDER

All you want to know about CLASSIC FRENCH CURRY SAUCE
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Curry
Ingredients :

Striploin, sliced
Banana, diced
Onion, sliced
Cauliflower, blanched
Cherry tomatoes, whole
Heavy cream,
Ginger, grated
Garlic, paste
Curry powder, to taste
Salt, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
Scallion, finely sliced
Cilantro, chopped
Star anis,
Cinamon stick
Peanut oil to saute

Method :

Saute beef on high heat until medium rare and brown.
Remove on rack to catch juices.
Saute onion, ginger, garlic, 1/2 scallion, 1/2 half cilantro, cinnamon, anis and curry powder until fragrant.
Add cream and slowly simmer to reduce until sauce has become creamy.
Add juices from beef, simmer another minute , season with salt and pepper to taste.
Strain sauce, add beef, cauliflower and tomatoes and heat through without simmering.
To serve, sprinkle with remaining scallion and cilantro

Coconut Rice
Ingredients :

Basmati rice, thoroughly washed to remove excess starch
Coconot milk 2/3 liquid
chicken stock 1/3
Onion, diced
Ginger, grated
Garlic, paste
Salt, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
Butter, to saute

Method :

Saute onion, garlic and ginger until fragrant (no color), add rice and saute for another minute. Add stock, coconut milk and seasoning, bring to a simmer.
Cover tightly and simmer until all liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender and dry, about 25 to 30 minutes, depending on rice and applied heat.
DO NOT STIR DURING THIS PROCESS !
When rice is cooked, let rest off the heat for another five minutes before removing lid.
Fluff rice carefully with a fork. To serve, sprinkle with red pepper flakes.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
My previous post about another “Curry”
Enjoy ! 🙂
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All about CURRY WURST
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” Rinderherz Spiesschen ” (Beef Heart Schaschlik)

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Cooking with Heart, part two.

” beef heart skewers with spicy bean salad and chimichurri.

I had expected a whole lot of negative comments on cooking with offal.
To my surprise, most comments were positive and encouraging.
Many readers welcomed the opportunity to see food which is hard to find
in other publications these days.
(Never mind the fact that one food critic called a group of seattle chefs :
” Innovative and daring for using the whole animal in their kitchen’s “) . Daaahhhh.
Real chef’s have never stopped doing that, just as real, experienced food lovers have
never stopped searching for it and enjoying it whenever available.

So here it is, Beef Heart Shashlik .
It may be an acquired taste, but once you do have acquired it, ……. 🙂
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: Image Source: Unknown ( can anybody help out ? )

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Ingredients :

Beef heart, diced, soaked in milk for at least 8 hours
Salt, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
lemon juice, to taste
Corn starch, to dredge
Onions, wedges
Olive oil, for sauteeing

Method :

Season meat and onions liberally with pepper and garic powder,
dredge skewers in corn starch, shake of excess corn starch and saute
(grill if you prefer) until crisp on the outside, still light pink in the center.
When almost done, add onions to the pan and saute until meat has
desired temperature and onions start to caramelize. Sprinkle heart with
kosher or sea salt, drizzle with lemon juice, remove to absorbent paper.
Season onions with salt, pepper and garlic powder, remove to absorbent paper.
Serve with any salad and condiment / sauce, such as chimichurri,
horse raddish, spicy salsa, mustard, etc.
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Image Source: Unknown (can anybody help out ?)

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” Roasted Pork Knuckle ” ( Gebratene Schweins Haxe )

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A few years back when Maria and I finally had a chance and the time to visit Germany
after being away for 14 years, our friend’s, the Henning’s and the Otto’s took us to lunch
into Stuttgart, to a restaurant named “Ochsen Willi”. This place has been a famous
fixture of this city for many decades, mainly because of it’s Schweine Haxen.
Here is a Picture of Maria attacking her small portion of haxe during that wonderful lunch :
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Traditionally and ideally, this would be done on a spit roast, which I don’t have.
So I used the alternative method, slowly roasting the knuckle (or ham hog) in the oven.
I brined the meat in a brine of kosher salt, cayenne pepper, cider and red wine
for two day’s. Then I removed it from the brine, padded the meat dry and seasoned
it with more cayenne and a good amount’s of garlic powder and onion powder.
I roasted the knuckle at 420 degrees for 30 minute, then turned the heat to 260 degrees
for 3 hours, after which I turned the heat up to 420 again for 30 minute.
Usually you want a roast to rest for about 20 minutes before you cut into it,
but not this baby. I’d like to see anybody who can resist the temptation to just whack
into this hunk of porkness as soon as it comes out of the oven.
In Germany, we either have this as an elaborate mal with jus, red cabbage or
white cabbage (in the form of sauerkraut, kraut salat or bayrisch kraut) and
semmelknoedel (Braed Dumpling), or a potato side dish such as puree, dumplings,
roasted. Most times however, a simple rustic bread and a good mustard on the side
is all that’s needed to achieve culinary bliss 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Rotelli, Cepes, Peppers & Chorizo “

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Tonights quick and tasty dinner :
Rotelli, cepes, peppers and chorizo, giving non- offal lovers a break today .

( Offal will be back tomorrow, three dishes to go 🙂
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Ingredient’s

Rotelli, cooked al dente, strained, reserve some cooking water
Chorizo, sliced
Cepe mushroom, re-hydrated
Onions, julienned
Chili peppers, julienned
Garlic paste, to taste
Kosher salt, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Olive oil, to saute
Cilantro, coarsley chopped
Manchego, finely grated
Butter, whole, not melted
Olive oil, to saute

Method :

Saute onions, garlic and cepes in olive oil, until fragrant,
add chilies, pasta and seasoning, toss well. remove from heat.
Add manchego cheese, butter and a bit of the cooking water from the pasta.
Toss again until the pasta is covered with a thin film of cheese sauce.
(Starch from the pasta, the butter, water and cheese will combine into
this delicious sauce). To serve, sprinkle with cilantro and more manchego cheese.

Bon Provecho ! Life is Good !
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” I was In Need Of A Heart And A Kidney “

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Luckily,
my Argentinian butcher was able to help me out 🙂
Every so often when I talk to some of my friend’s, special dishes pop up during
the conversation. Usually, we talk about stuff that is not alway’s available or
has fallen out of fashion with the ” in crowd “.
Such was the topic of our saturday conversation, Liver and Kidney.
As a child, “Saure Nierchen” (Sour Kidney’s) and “Geschmortes Rinderherz”
(Braised Beef Heart), were right up there with a few other “sunday’s at the
restaurant favorites” and since the supply from the butcher was plentiful,
this week I plan to cook these four dishes:

Nieren Spieschen (Shish Kebab)
Saure Nierchen (Sour Kidney’s)
Rinderherz Spieschen (Beef Heart Schaschlik)
Geschmortes Rinderherz (Braised Beef Heart)

Sunday I trimmed and cut the heart and kidneys. Today I will soak the meat
for theShashlik / Kebab in milk for 8 hours, then rinse and dry them and further
marinate them with soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and peanut
oil until ready to cook, up to three day’s.
(Add the salt just before cooking or the offal becomes hard)
I have also marinated the meat for the Sour Kidneys and the Braised Heart in
cider vinegar for 8 hours, strained and dried the meat and then marinated it with
soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and peanut oil until ready to cook,
up to three day’s.
My first dish today will be “Kidney Shish Kebab with Tomato / Cucumber Salad .
(Check it out on tomorrow’s post 🙂
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Beef Kidney

Beef Heart

Heart & Kidney, trimmed and soaking in milk and vinegar

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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Sauteed Chicken, Potatoes & Vegetables “

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Today’s lunch 🙂
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Ingredient’s :

Chicken, boneless, diced
Asparagus, blanched, halved
Potatoes, turned, blanched
Red peppers, cut into triangles
Onions, diced
Garlic, paste
Scallions, sliced
Peanut oil, to saute
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, freshly ground

Method :

Saute chicken until golden brown but still juicy.
Remove to absorbent paper, reserve. Saute potatoes
until lightly browned, add garlic, onions, peppers and
scallions and saute until garlic becomes fragrant.
Remove from heat, add chicken and seasoning, mix well.
To serve, sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Stirfried Chicken, Asparagus & Cashew Nuts “

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After a couple of heavy hitter meals during the past few day’s,
I decided to go a bit lighter today with this old asian standby,
chicken with cashew nuts. Light, tasty and delicious. I did not
add any starch, but it pairs equally well with noodles or rice.
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Ingredients :

Chicken leg, deboned & diced
Asparagus, blanched
Cashews,
Onions, coarsely sliced
Garlic, paste
Ginger, grated
Soy sauce, to taste
Oyster sauce, to taste
Chili sauce, to taste
Chili oil, to taste
Sesame oil, to taste
Peanut oil, to stir fry

Method :

Stir fry chicken until golden, remove to absorbent paper, reserve.
Sautee onion, garlic and ginger until fragrant, add asparagus,and seasoning.
Simmer for one minute, add chicken and any accumulated juices, mix well.
To serve, pour over noodles or serve with Chinese steamed rice (fan)

吃个饱 ! Life is Good !
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” Teriayki Salmon & Garlic Noodles With Straw Mushrooms In Oyster Sauce “

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Garlic noodles with anything ! What’s not to like ?
For yesterday’s dinner, I added teriyaki glazed salmon, which
made for a great, healthy (the salmon :-), good looking dinner .
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Ingredient‘s

Salmon :
Salmon filet, trimmed, skinless
Teriyaki sauce, to taste
Salt, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
Peanut oil, for sauteeing

Noodles :
Rice noodles, cooked, drained
Straw mushrooms, canned, drained
Ginger, grated
Garlic, paste
Onions, julienned
Chilies, sliced
Scallions, sliced
Sesame oil,   to taste
Soy sauce,   to taste
Chili oil, to taste
Oyster sauce,   to taste
Sriracha,   to taste
Peanut oil, for sauteeing

Method :
Salmon :

Season salmon with salt and pepper and sautee on skin side until golden.
Brush bottom side with teriyaki sauce, turn and brush skin side.
Put into 375 degree oven and cook for two minutes.
Brush again with teriaki sauce and return to oven.
Repeat until salmon has reached your preferred temperature and a shiny
glaze has formed.

Noodles :

Sautee onions, garlic and mushrooms until garlic starts to turn color .
Add all other ingredient’s and continue to sautee (stir fry) until all
ingredient’s are well incorporated.
To serve, top noodles with salmon and juices which might have formed
while the salmon was resting. Garnish with lemon or lime and cilantro.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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