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Just a little nonsense to entertain your kid’s on a rainy day :
Fried eggs sunny side up & fries – yogurt, peaches and cantaloupe melon. Have fun 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good ! (Sunny side up – even when it rains……..
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Fried eggs sunny side up & fries – yogurt, peaches and cantaloupe melon. Have fun 🙂
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EASY DOES IT # 18 – Fried Eggs Sunny Side Up & Fries (NOT)
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EASY DOES IT # 18 – Fried Eggs Sunny Side Up & Fries (NOT)
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Usually, part of the enjoyment of eating steak is cutting into a nice chunk of glistening meat and seeing it slowly but surely disappearing from the plate.
But for yesterday’s dinner, I just wanted to have some nice “finger food” to pick of a plate and sharing with madame while reclining on my chaise lounge, watching a great movie (The Grand Budapest Hotel).
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Steak Salad
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Steak Salad
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Bella say’s:
“Time to eat ! “
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Bella say’s:
“Maybe not enough for the two of us ?! “
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Preparation :
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cut cucumbers and radishes into bite-sized pieces, season with plenty kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, let marinade for 20 minutes, discard liquid, add garlic oil and cider vinegar to taste
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meanwhile, season striploin steaks or other steaks of your choice with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, saute in garlic oil until done to your liking, set aside
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let steaks rest at least 10 minutes before cutting
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plate salad on vinaigrette dressed romaine
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top with steaks, drizzle with chimichurri
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Steak Salad
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Usually we use this cut of the animal to make Osso Buco (originally done with veal shanks), but I love me a hearty soup more than anything else, so I decided to prepare this dish with some pork shanks my friend Curtis dropped off last time he came to visit. Great, simple dinner, bursting with flavor and texture 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Pork Shank’s & Lai Fen In Garlic Ginger Broth
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Pork Shank’s & Lai Fen In Garlic Ginger Broth
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Preparation :
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simmer pork shank’s in stock seasoned with star anis, cinnamon, garlic paste, black pepper, salt and grated ginger until tender but NOT falling apart
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meanwhile, blanch green beans and cook lai fen pasta (rice flour bucatini)
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add beans to soup
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add diced peppers, onions and lap cheong (chinese sausage), simmer two more minutes, check/adjust seasoning
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add lai fen to serving bowl
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to serve, top noodles with meat, vegetables and broth, sprinkle with chopped cilantro
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Pork Shank’s & Lai Fen In Garlic Ginger Broth
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Pork Shank’s & Lai Fen In Garlic Ginger Broth
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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 !
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Hickory Smoked Panko Crusted Bone-In Ham Steak
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Hickory Smoked Panko Crusted Bone-In Ham Steak
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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
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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
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almost……
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saute onions in butter until lightly caramelized, add garlic confit paste
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add cabbage and peppers, saute until cabbage starts to wilt
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add demi glace and grape tomatoes, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper, simmer for one minute, check / adjust seasoning
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plate cabbage on serving dish
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top with ham steak
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top with fried eggs, serve with horseradish mashed potatoes or a good rustic bread to soak up the sauce, egg yolks and juices
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Hickory Smoked Panko Crusted Bone-In Ham Steak
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Hickory Smoked Panko Crusted Bone-In Ham Steak
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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
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Easy Does It # 17 Hans’ Buffalo Sauce
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Easy Does It # 17 Hans’ Buffalo Sauce
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Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog,
please be so kind and click on the video below. Thank you 🙂
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One of the reasons I miss Europe so much is the fact that dishes like this are practically impossible to find on a restaurant menu here (or in any home, for that matter). Simple, delicious, real food one can eat with gusto. Mind you, I would not want this every day, but once in a while…….
So, as usual, if you want the best, you might as well learn to prepare it yourself 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Gekochtes Rindfleish In Meerettich Sauce – Boiled Chuck Roast In Horseradish Sauce
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Gekochtes Rindfleish In Meerettich Sauce – Boiled Chuck Roast In Horseradish Sauce
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Preparation :
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beef chuck roast (or other braising cut), root vegetables, water, small amount of salt, bring to a simmer, cook until meat is tender, remove meat, set aside
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strain stock through a fine sieve
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skim fat from surface
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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
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add heavy cream, kosher salt and white pepper, check / adjust seasoning
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add grated horseradish
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start cabbage by sauteing onions in garlic oil
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add diced cabbage
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add red and green peppers. kosher salt, cayenne pepper, maggi seasoning, saute until cabbage softens a bit, check / adjust seasoning
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saute small blanched potatoes in garlic oil until golden, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper
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slice beef , arrange on serving dish
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nape with horseradish sauce
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serve with sauteed cabbage and potatoes
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Gekochtes Rindfleisch In Meerettich Sauce – Boiled Chuck Roast In Horseradish Sauce
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I woke up this morning with a huge craving for fruits and sweets.
Found the perfect ingredients in the fridge and cupboard. Lucky me.
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(Of course, this would also serve, lunch, dinner, snack or dessert) 🙂
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Happy Sunday ! Life is Good !
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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 40 – Fruit & Dairy
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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 40 – Fruit & Dairy
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Ingredients :
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plum
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plum & banana
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plum, banana & cantaloupe
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plum, banana, cantaloupe & raspberry
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plum, banana, cantaloupe, raspberry & strawberry
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plum, banana, cantaloupe, raspberry, strawberry, strawberry yogurt, whipped cream, cinnamon & milk
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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 40 – Fruit & Dairy
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BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS # 40 – Fruit & Dairy
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Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog,
please be so kind and click on the video below. Thank you 🙂
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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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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
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cut mild chilies, onion and blanched carrots into triangles
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saute carrots and onions in a generous amount of herb / garlic butter and olive oil until starting to caramelize
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add chilies and sliced scallions
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add pearl pasta, kosher salt and cayenne pepper, mix well, check / adjust seasoning
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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
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plate pasta, leaving a well in the center
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add lamb meatballs and harissa / tomato sauce
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sprinkle with finely crumbled feta cheese and sliced scallions
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Lamb Meat Balls In Harissa / Tomato Sauce With Garlicky Pearl Pasta And Feta Cheese
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Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog,
please be so kind and click on the video below. Thank you 🙂
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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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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
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add diced smoked salmon and grated horseradish
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add dijon mustard
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simmer for one minute
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add freshly cooked, al dente pasta and sliced scallions
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mix well, careful not to mash-up the salmon, check seasoning
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to serve, sprinkle with more diced salmon and sliced scallions
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Pasta With Smoked Salmon In Horseradish/Mustard Cream
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Pasta With Smoked Salmon In Horseradish/Mustard Cream
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Pasta With Smoked Salmon In Horseradish/Mustard Cream
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Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog,
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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)
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strain stock through a fine sieve, discard solids
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skim fat from surface
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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
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add heavy cream, lemon juice, kosher salt and white pepper, check / adjust seasoning
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voilà – sauce velouté (with added cream)
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Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog,
please be so kind and click on the video below. Thank you 🙂
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ChefsOpinion 