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” Irish soda bread with raisins & caraway seeds,
topped with corned beef, asparagus, tomato and brie”
Great breakfast in honor of St Patrick.
(The brie might not be Irish, but it lift’s this dish to another dimension 🙂
Recipe for Irish soda bread HERE
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Saint Patrick’s Day Breakfast Of Champions
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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This is such a versatile dish. Every ingredient can be replaced with a substitute without losing any of the complexity of texture and taste.
Spinach : Asparagus, cabbage, corn, broccoli, carrots, beets, etc.
Potato : Sweet potato, mashed potato, pasta, rice, etc.
Asiago : Gorgonzola, parmesan, cheddar, brie, pepper jack, stilton, etc.
Sausage : Bacon, chicken, seafood, beef, lamb, game, etc.
Saute onion, garlic and sausage in butter, add spinach, wilt. Add blanched potatoes, cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Bake at 375 F until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Let set for 30 minute before serving.
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Spinach, Potato, Sausage & Cheese Casserole
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Usually when I walk into a store to buy food, turkey does not stand in the forefront of my mind. Today I was looking for something like gizzards, trotters, necks, etc. But when I saw this beautiful piece of poultry, my mind was made up, decision made :
Braised Turkey 🙂
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Turkey drums stick, onion diced, garlic paste, tomato chopped, chilis chopped, basil, peppers chopped, celery chopped, red wine, beer, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, butter
Saute drum stick in butter until golden, remove. Saute vegetables, add wine and beer (no stock needed), return drum stick , season with salt and pepper, simmer until tender but not falling apart. Remove 1/3 rd of the vegetables and blend until smooth. Return to stock to lightly thicken. Serve with any starch, such as pasta, potatoes, rice. I used a nice italian white bread which I sautéed in butter with roasted garlic paste. The best way to soak up the sauce and scoop up the vegetables. Simple food at it’s best 🙂
Drunken Turkey Drum Stick
Drunken Turkey Drum Stick
Drunken Turkey Drum Stick
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Link To Beer Braised Turkey Leg’s
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Bon Appetit ! Live is Good !
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I don’t know what the fuss about “small plates” is all about?
As you can see, at my house they were alway’s ” in ” 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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( Killer left overs 🙂
Yesterdays leftover potatoes from the Spatchcocked Chicken “Nilda’s Way” made for a terrific breakfast this morning. The potatoes were super flavorful from all the chicken fat / juices and the liver gave it some extra debt. All in all a dish wich is great without the special potatoes, but outstanding if you have special ones on hand as I did from yesterday’s leftovers 🙂
Saute your leftover potatoes and thinly sliced Argentinian Sopresata until sausage start’s to lightly brown at the edges, add whisked eggs, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and cook until eggs are set to your liking. To serve, sprinkle with cilantro and finely grated parmigiano reggiano.
Bon Appetit ! Have a great Day !
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Enjoy Spatchkocking ! Life is Good !
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“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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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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What a great, tasty snack last night at 1.00 am.
Just about three minutes of preparation,
but a great, very enjoyable meal 🙂
If you use canned food, just make sure it is of
very good quality, a few extra $ will make a
big difference in taste, texture and appearance.
I used a simple Dijon mustard vinaigrette,
grape tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, romaine
lettuce, octopus, mussels, sesame grissini
and sprinkled some Chili flakes on top.
Voila ! Good eat’n !
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Hardly can you prepare a more simple, tasty and satisfying meal then this one.
On top of that, it is fast and easy to prepare and light on the wallet.
What’s not to love about that ? 🙂
The recipe I used today included only the seasonings in the photo on this page.
The version at the link below is a bit more complex. I love both versions equally.
Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
P.S.
Long noodles (longevity noodles)are a symbol of good luck.
Let’s hope they work for 2013 🙂
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Recipe for “GARLIC NOODLES ” Here
Recipe for “CHINESE CUCUMBER SALAD” Here
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” Beef rib’s with fresh horseradish and cabbage, apple and avocado slaw”
Boiled (simmered, actually) beef has a long tradition in many cultures.
Usually, we boil brisket, neck. shanks, cheeks, tail, and any other part
which is rich with fat and / or connective tissue. There is only one rule :
Slowly does it ! As far as I am concerned, the best condiment to go with
boiled beef is horseradish. The German traditional dish :
“Gekochte Rinderbrust mit Meerettich Sauce”,
(Boiled Beef Breast with Horseradish Sauce ) , usually served with steamed
white cabbage and steamed or roasted potatoes, is to die for. In my opinion,
the very best part of the animal for “boiling” are the ribs. The texture when
cooked right (very slow, very tender but NOT! overcooked) is just unequaled
by any other cut for this preparation. An added bonus is the rich beef stock
you get, which I usually have for breakfast the next two or three day’s
(See also : Breakfast Of Champions # 11 ” Millefanti In Brodo Di Carne “ )
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Beef :
Ingredient’s :
Beef ribs, cleaned of excess (but not all) fat
Black pepper corn, crushed
Tomato, fresh, crushed
Star anis, crushed
Ginger, sliced
Garlic, sliced
Kosher salt,
Lime juice
Method :
Simmer all ingredients until beef is tender, but NOT overcooked.
Strain stock and reserve for other uses.
Slaw :
Ingredient’s :
Red cabbage, finely sliced
Avocado, sliced
Chilis, sliced
Apple, sliced,
Onion, sliced
Apple vinegar,
Cayenne pepper,
Kosher salt,
Lime juice
Walnut oil,
Method :
Salt the cabbage and let rest for twenty minutes.
Squeeze and discard all salty juice. Add all other
ingredients and mix carefully so as not to break
up the apples and avocados.
Horseradish :
Grate finely and mix with a bit of limejuice ans kosher salt.
To finish dish, sprinkle with scallions or chives and drizzle with chili oil.
Serve with pretzel or rustic sour dough bread.
Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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.Michel Bras’ gargouillou, which René Redzepi has called one of the most copied
![Michel Bras' gargouillou, which René Redzepi has called one of the most copied dishes of all time [Photo: Entre Les Bras/Facebook]](https://chefsopinion.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/michel-bras-gargouillou-eater.jpg?w=620)
Michel Bras’ gargouillou, which René Redzepi has called one of the most copied dishes of all time [Photo: Entre Les Bras/Facebook]
” Inspiration and Attribution in Cooking:
How and When Should Chefs Credit Their Sources? ”
What a tremendous load of bullcrap !
It is one thing to credit your sources for a “unique” recipe, technique, idea and/or influence out of respect and good manners.
It is a whole other story to, as some donkey’s now do, “demand” credit for something that has been around for years, decades or even centuries.
Lot’s of chef’s nowadays call themselves innovators, visionaries, inventors, when all they do is change, grow, and, hopefully, refine established ideas, techniques, method’s and ingredient’s.
– Fried Hollandaise ? Hollandaise has been around for a long time, folks. Frying , too !
– Foraging for food ? Come on guys, even my great great great great great… grandfather was foraging for food.
– Food trucks ? Been around for decades in Europe, (See also food carts in other parts of the world)
– Elaborate presentations? Medieval cuisines started that trend.
– Use of the whole animal? Come on, really?
– Sprinkle a few leaves, herbs and edible flours on a plate “painted” with a sauce or coulis? Ask your twelve-year-old to give you a hand.
While there are without a doubt a few (very few) chefs’s out there who are true innovators, artist’s and culinary visionaries, the majority of dishes, techniques, presentation, ingredients, and combinations, have been around forever. Some have come and gone, some have looked and tasted a bit different, some have not been as popular and many have come from other parts of the world and simple been introduced to an unknowing group of people who did not travel or frequent ethnic restaurants (or food trucks) and were therefore never introduced to stuff which was already well established elsewhere.
Now, just imagine to take this nonsense a step further and contemplate the following:
Every time you write a menu, you give credit to the creator of the tomato soup, baked potato, grilled steak, poached fish, lemon wedge, compound butter, turning spaghetti with a fork, sprinkling cheese on top of pasta, a ham & cheese sandwich, blanching and shocking in ice water, decorating your pudding with whipped cream (EXTRA credit if you add vanilla, extra-extra credit if you add sugar, extra extra extra credit if you call it Chantilly) Where would it start? I certainly could never end and be nothing but a pointless exercise. Professional chefs are well aware of the names of the creators of certain dishes, techniques, even garnishes (Melba, Célestine, Grand-Mère, Café de Paris), but in my humble opinion the names of these creators and innovators are still alive today because what the have created was worthwhile to cherish, admire, look at and most of all, eat, eat and eat again !
Ahhh, a little venting does one good 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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ChefsOpinion 