great taste

Roasted Piglet

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Once in a while I like to roast a whole pig. When Maria was still alive and we had once or twice a month a party at the house for 30 or 40 friend’s, I usually cooked two 45 pounder. Last night I only had one friend over for dinner at 9.30 pm and another one at 1.00 am, so 25 lbs seemed just fine.
I seasoned the pig with sea salt, sriracha and soy sauce on the inside, then stuffed the cavity with lots of garlic, cilantro, orange wedges, lemon wedges and onion wedges. The outside got sea salt, sriracha, granulated garlic and soy sauce. Roast for half an hour at 425F, then 4 hours at 275F, then the last half hour at 425 again. Basting the little darling every 15 minutes with beer is the secret to the beautiful skin and great taste. After removing the piglet from oven, let it sit for 30 minutes before carving. The result: Perfectly crisp on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside, extremely flavorful. Accompanied by sour dough bread, cornichons, horseradish, mustard and sea salt mixed with freshly ground black pepper. A couple of Stella Artois during the meal and a couple of shot’s of Chivas afterwards. Aaahhhhhhh…. 🙂
Bella and I had the last little bits and pieces for lunch today.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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: suckling pig

: roasted piglet

: roasted piglet

: roasted piglet

: roasted piglet

: roasted piglet

: freshly baked sour dough bread

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Creamed Spinach

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Like so much other comfort food, creamed spinach is hardly found on menus (or homes, for that matter) anymore, with the exception of steakhouses where it usually is one of the standard side dishes. I just love spinach, no matter how it is prepared, but the price goes without a doubt to creamed spinach. Following is the simple instruction how to prepare this great dish.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Creamed Spinach

blanch spinach in generously salted water.

shock in ice water ( screaming BOOOOO does not work )

saute onions and garlic in butter

add flour (ratio butter flour = one to one)

add half milk and half heavy cream, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Simmer for five minutes. sauce must be VERY thick, chopped spinach contains lot’s of water

chop blanched spinach to the texture you prefer

add to sauce. simmer for 5 minutes. check/adjust seasoning

add to sauce. Simmer for five minutes. check/adjust seasoning

Creamed Spinach

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Spicy Lamb Tortilla Wraps

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These lamb wraps are even tastier than they look.
Twice ground lamb, lots of seasoning and good salsa, a few squirts of lime and fresh guacamole made this a great, quick, economic ( we don’t say cheap 🙂 ) lunch.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

Guacamole Recipe

Salsa Mexicana Recipe
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serve with guacamole and salsa mexicana

Spicy Lamb Tortilla Wraps

: saute onion and garlic. Add ground lamb, saute while getting rid of all lumbs

: Add finely diced celery, peppers, chilies, five spice powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, tomato sauce

: add a bit of red wine, simmer until most liquid has evaporated. Check/adjust seasoning

: hot tortilla

: spread a good amount of meat

: add white cabbage and red onions

: sprinkle diced peppers and chilies

: add freshly grated extra sharp cheddar, top with sour cream

: roll into tight wrap

: serve with guacamole and salsa mexicana

: Spicy Lamb Tortilla Wraps

: Spicy Lamb Tortilla Wraps

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Mondongo A La Soupi (Ox Tripe & Chicken Gizzard My Way)

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If this recipe does not make you like ox tripe and gizzard, nothing will do the trick. This is on my list for one of the ten dishes I don’t want to live without 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Mondongo A La Soupi

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: saute onions and garlic in olive oil

: add sliced chicken gizzards

: saute until onions and garlic starting to caramelize

: add triple – blanched tripe, diced tomato, caraway seed, bay leave, demi glace, salt, pepper and morcilla

: deglaze with red wine and vinegar

: simmer until tripe is tender

: add beans, potatoes and chilies

: add dark beer

: simmer until potatoes are cooked. Check/adjust seasoning

: Sprinkle with young basil. Serve with bread or rice

: Mondongo A La Soupi

: Oxtripe & Gizzards My Way

: Ox Tripe & Gizzard Stew

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Gratinated Rib Eye With Straw Mushrooms & Great Northern Beans

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After two days of turkey, tonight’s dinner required something more beefy. Only a large rib eye with lot’s of other goodies would do, so this is how I rolled:
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Gratinated Beef Rib Eye With Straw Mushrooms & Great Northern Beans

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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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: season rib eye with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Grill until done to your liking

: meanwhile, saute onion and garlic in butter

: add straw mushroom, saute until heated through

: add great northern beans, salt and sriracha, saute until heated through

: Remove rib eye from grill, place on a baking tray

: top steak with bean/mushroom mixture

: add spicy tomato salsa

: top with appenzeller cheese

: gratinate, sprinkle with scallions

: Gratinated Rib Eye With Straw Mushrooms & Great Northern Beans

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Grilled Pork Medallions, Chili/Herb Butter & Salad

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Fifteen minutes is all it takes to prepare this delightful meal. Just make sure you leave a wrapped stick of butter on the prep table in the kitchen when you leave the house in the morning so that you have pliable, soft butter when you start prepping in the afternoon.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Grilled Pork Medallions, Chili/Herb Butter & Salad

season tenderloin medallions with kosher salt, cayenne pepper and granulated garlic. Saute until medium well. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.

mix soft butter, roasted garlic paste, salt, cayenne pepper, lime juice and chopped cilantro. Scoop out, top with chili flakes

season radishes and cucumbers with plenty of sea salt, marinate for 10 minutes

after 10 minutes, drain water, add eggs, ketchup, sriracha, chopped parsley, roasted garlic paste and olive oil, mix carefully so you don’t mush up the eggs

spicy salad of egg, cucumber and radish

Grilled Pork Medallions, Chili/Herb Butter & Salad

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Short Rib Sandwich

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Often when we use leftovers, if we just add a bit of imagination and love, the resulting dish can be at least as enjoyable as the original and sometimes even better. This was surely the case here. The original Beef Short Rib’s Braised In Merlot were a wonderful dish, but the leftovers were just as tasty and satisfying, with some added spices and flavors, served on a toasted kaiser roll with salad in dijon vinaigrette, they took on a whole new personality. Good Stuff 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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top kaiser roll with short rib mixture

: mise en place

: toasted kaiser roll

: shredded short ribs, chilis, scallions, scotch bonnet sauce, short rib sauce, garlic, onions

: top kaiser roll with short rib mixture

: short rib sandwich with romaine and tomatoes in dijon vinaigrette

: short rib sandwich with romaine and tomatoes in dijon vinaigrette

: short rib sandwich with romaine and tomatoes in dijon vinaigrette

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Whole Roast Pork Filet, Green Peppercorn Cream, Twice Baked Beets / Potato & Gratinated Broccoli

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This made my day today.
Old fashioned, work and time intensive and probably a bit ridiculous to prepare for just one person, but oh so worth the trouble. Reminded me of my time as executive chef years ago, when chef’s and guest’s still valued real food and service and the world was a better place (Maybe? Maybe not) 🙂
The stuffed potato with sour cream, beets and diced apples was excellent, seemed to be a bit Scandinavian in it’s taste and appearance. Gratinated broccoli, what’s not to like! And anything in green peppercorn cream – Hello !
All in all a meal I can recommend to anybody who has a bit of time on he’s/her hand and values quality over the “in”-factor.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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roast pork tender loin

: Season pork tender with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, saute until medium well

: let rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing

: in same pan, saute diced onions and garlic cream, degaze with white wine and cocnac Careful- the alcohol will ignite! Add cream, simmer

: reduce by half, add salt and papper

: add demi glace, simmer one minute

: check seasoning, correct if necessary

: remove cooked baked potato from oven, cut in half, remove pulp, put through ricer

: add red beets, diced apples, egg yolk, salt & pepper

: mix well. If too loose, add a bit of mie de pain

: empty potato shell

: stuffed potato shell, ready to bake

: baked potato/beets, topped with sour cream and chives

: blanched broccoli florettes

: napped with sauce mornay

: baked until golden

: Whole Roast Pork Filet, Green Peppercorn Cream, Twice Baked Beets / Potato & Gratinated Broccoli

: roast pork tender loin

: roast pork tender loin

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Crab-Stuffed Twice Baked Potato

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This is my answer to a few request’s I received for unusual potato dishes.
If you use extra large potatoes as I have, I suggest that you bake them for two hours at 410 F. They will have browned slightly inside the skin and have a very different taste and texture than if you cook them only for the usual one hour.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

Crab – Stuffed Twice Baked Potato

: Bake large potatoes at 400F for two hours

: let cool, remove flesh

: Mash up into coarse bit’s.

: Add lunp crab meat, roasted garlic pastesour cream, salt, sriracha, egg yolk, scallions, grated parmesan

: Blend all ingredients, stuff back into potato skin’s

: Sprinkle with panko bread crumb’s

: Bake until heated through and crispy

: Sprinkle with cilantro

: Crab – Stuffed Twice Baked Potato

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Kümmelbraten ( Caraway Pork Roast )

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I wish I would have been able to get a pork neck for this dish, but I couldn’t, so I used the next best thing, a pork butt (shoulder). For pork steaks and roast, I prefer the neck, because in my opinion the flavor and texture is far superior to any other cut of the pig. However, the butt is also a great cut to roast or braise, so at the end I was happy with what I got.
This dish is very common in the south of Germany where I grew up, so whenever I prepare this dish it alway’s brings back happy memories of a more simple time in my life. But on Friday when I cooked this, I had Daryl and Leo over for dinner, so it was a happy meal after all. (Some wine and rum also made sure of that) 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Kümmelbraten (caraway pork roast)

Pork butt (shoulder)

Pork butt, knuckle removed

Knuckle

Seasoned with mustard, thyme, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, granulated garlic, granulated onion and caraway seed

Place on a rack above red wine and beer, add chilies, scallions and tomatoes, roast at 420 F for 30 minutes, turn down to 270F cook, for three hours

Add potatoes, cook for another hour or until potatoes are soft. Remove meat, cover lightly and let rest thirty minutes

Meanwhile, remove sauce, potatoes and vegetables to a small pot, add tomato paste and simmer for fifteen minutes.

Meanwhile, transfer sauce, potatoes and vegetables to a small pot, add tomato paste and simmer for fifteen minutes. Check/adjust seasoning and texture of sauce

Kümmelbraten (caraway pork roast)

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