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Smoked salmon, sour dough bread, garlic butter, sliced onion, capers, basil leaves, guacamole.
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TV Snack-Way Better Than Crappy Chips And Canned Salsa
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Smoked salmon, sour dough bread, garlic butter, sliced onion, capers, basil leaves, guacamole.
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Smoked salmon, sour dough bread, garlic butter, sliced onion, capers, basil leaves, guacamole.
Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Last night I dreamed of the time when as kid’s my brother and I were eating egg salad, which at that time (50+ years ago) was a great treat for us because of the shrimp or crayfish and trout or lump fish caviar my mom used to add to the salad. So after I woke up, during the whole morning I kept thinking about those happy times and although I can not re-create the happiness of a mostly carefree child hood, I can most certainly re-create the dish that reminds me of it. So here we go, “Tilly’s egg salad with shrimp and caviar” 🙂
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Egg Salad With Shrimp & Caviar
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Egg Salad With Shrimp & Caviar
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Eggs, hardboiled, peeled, quartered
Shrimp, cooked, peeled
Caviar, your preferred type
Tomatoes, seeds removed, diced
Mayonnaise, preferably home made
Sriracha,
Lemon juice,
Mustard,
Kosher salt,
Capers,
Scallions, finely sliced
Butter lettuce,
Mustard vinaigrette,
Bread, toasted and buttered bread of your choice
Method :
Mix the eggs, shrimp, mayo, capers, scallions, tomatoes, sriracha and salt. Line a serving bowl with vinaigrette dressed butter lettuce , top with egg/shrimp salad. Top salad with caviar.
Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Totally had a craving for Cajun shrimp on my way home, so I stopped at the whole food market to get two pounds of these beauties. Expensive but so worth the dough 🙂
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Cajun Shrimp & Cheese Grits
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Ingredients Shrimp :
Shrimp, peeled and deveined
Clam juice,
Tomato Paste,
Paprika,
Thyme,
Oregano,
Garlic, paste
Oregano,
Cayenne pepper,
Kosher salt,
Butter,
Method :
Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Saute in butter until halfway done. Remove shrimp, reserve. Saute more garlic in butter, add thyme, oregano, cayenne. Add tomato paste, saute another minute. Add clam juice and simmer until slightly thickened. A the reserved shrimp and heat through. Adjust the heat to your liking, adding as much hot sauce as you can muster.
Ingredients Cheese Grits :
Chicken stock,
Milk, (about 1/3 the amount of the stock)
Corn meal, coarse ground
Sharp cheddar, grated
Kosher salt,
Scotch bonnet sauce, (substitute with tabasco if you can’t stand the heat)
Butter, (splurge)
Method :
Bring the milk and stock to a boil and gradually whisk in the corn meal. lower the heat to a slow simmer and cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until mixture is creamy.
Remove from heat, add the hot sauce, cheese and butter, and whisk to combine.
To serve, top the grits with the shrimp and sprinkle with cilantro.
Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Early evening dinner before going to sleep and back to another happy work week. (Do I have to mention I was NOT the lucky winner of the $ 6 million Jackpot ?)
I wonder, if I would have won, would I go to work tomorrow…………
Anyway, back to reality and a great meal. I used a shameful amount of roasted garlic puree to season the shrimps and I hope nobody wants a kiss before tomorrow 🙂
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Garlicky Shrimp Brochettes & Potato Salad In Dijon Mayonnaise
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Simmer un-peeled potatoes until done. Remove from water, let cool. Peel, slice into thin rounds. Mix with kosher salt, cayenne pepper, a bit of vinegar, mayonnaise, chopped cilantro, sliced scallions and dijon mustard.
Season the shrimp with sea salt, chili flakes and roasted garlic puree. Saute in butter until almost done. Squeeze one lime over brochettes, turn once and remove from pan.
To serve, spoon some of the lime butter over the shrimps and accompany with potato salad.
Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Sunday dinner was simple today. I did not feel like spending too much time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning up, so it was a simple stew with biscuits. Nevertheless, it tasted and looked wonderful and the chicken was especially well received by Bella 🙂
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Chicken In Saffran Broth, Vegetables & Cream Biscuits
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Chicken drumsticks,
Corn on the cob, shucked, cut into pieces
Cauliflower, rosettes, blanched
Potatoes, peeled, diced
Shiitake mushrooms, stem removed, quartered
Leeks, sliced
Onions, diced
Chilis, select for your favorite heat level
Garlic, paste
Ginger, grated
Cilantro, chopped
Saffran threads,
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,
Chicken stock,
Method :
Simmer chicken, garlic, and ginger in lightly seasoned stock for 10 minutes. Add corn and simmer for another 15 minutes, Add all other vegetables and potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, add saffran and let steep for another 20 minutes. Return to heat until hot. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with cream biscuits on the side.
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Cream Biscuit Recipe Click Here
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Bon Appetit ! La vie est bien !
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When I encountered Jamaican dumplings for the first time in the early seventies, I would never have imagined that I will ever like them, having been raised with southern german-style dumplings, which are very light and airy (if done correctly).
So when I saw these tough little dumplings, (resembling in shape Schwaebische Bubespitzle), I was skeptical, to say the least. But, while living in Jamaica in the eighties, I have come to love these Jamaican dumplings, but again – in order to be appreciated, they must be properly prepared, simmering for a long time in a flavorful stock, stew or soup .
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Irie, Mon 🙂
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Jamaican Black Bean Soup & Dumplings
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Stock of your preference, veal, chicken, beef, pork, vegetable
Black beans, soaked overnight
Onions, diced
Celery, diced
Bacon, diced (substitute with salt pork if preferred)
Garlic, paste
Spicy sausage, pork, veal or beef
Assorted chilis, select according to your preferred heat level
Tomatoes, diced
Cumin,
Kosher salt,
Black pepper, freshly ground
Cilantro, coarsely chopped
Goose fat, rendered (use your favorite fat, canola oil, olive oil, butter, duck fat, goose fat, etc)
Method :
Saute bacon in fat until rendered, add onions, garlic, celery, chilis and sausage and saute until fragrant, add tomatoes, stock and beans. Season lightly with cumin, salt and pepper and simmer until the beans are “waxy”. Adjust seasoning if necessary. To serve, place soup into serving bowl, top with dumplings and sprinkle generously with cilantro .
Dumplings :
Mix flour, water and salt into a smooth dough, roll small pieces into finger shaped noodles and simmer in stock until cooked through. ( Usually like o cook them straight in the soup, but for a nicer presentation I cooked them separate this time for better pictures 🙂
Bon Appetit ! Irie !
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Geschmorter Ochsenschwanz & Kartoffelknödel / Braised Ox Tail & Potato Dumplings
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I remember with nostalgia when you could get oxtail from your butcher for a buck and a half a pound. Those were the day’s. Obviously long gone, but not forgotten. Nowadays it’s gonna cost an average of $ 5.00 a pound. Considering a nice portion to be about 2.5 pounds, you might only want to prepare this for a dinner party with the best of friends 🙂
Anyway, since I only cook for Bella and myself nowadays, cost was not a concern. Time however is of the essence. You want to cook your oxtails REAL slow, so they get very tender without falling apart. This batch took about 3.5 hours to cook. Was it worth the trouble ? You bet your foot it was. Especially when you also prepare these great potato dumplings to soak up every last bit of the knock-out sauce you get by simmering the meat and vegetables for all that time.
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Guten Appetit ! Das Leben ist Schön !
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Geschmorter Ochsenschwanz & Kartoffelknoedel
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Oxtail, cut into single links
Bell peppers, medium diced
Onions, medium diced
Tomatoes, canned, diced
Garlic, paste
Peanut oil,
Kosher salt,
Cayenne pepper,
Hungarian paprika,
Veal stock, or substitute
Red wine,
Dark beer,
Method :
Saute oxtails in hot oil until nicely browned on all sides. Remove from pot, set aside. Saute onions and peppers until caramelized. Now it is time to saute the paprika for a minute. Then add salt and pepper.Make sure you dont over season at this point. Remember, the stock will reduce a great deal when simmering for long period of time. Add wine and beer to deglaze the pan. Return ox tail to pot, cover with veal juice (substitute with chicken stock, vegetable stock or even water if nothing else is available. Simmer until oxtail is tender. Remove oxtail with a slotted spoon into a clean pot. Adjust seasoning of sauce if necessary. Strain sauce through a fine mesh sieve over oxtail. Make sure you press all the vegetables through the sieve. This will thicken your sauce and give it more body and flavor.
Serve with your favorite pasta or dumplings.
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What a gorgeous sunday afternoon by the lake. Perfect temperature outside, a good book to read (WHISKEY BEACH, by Nora Roberts), great rock in the background (Big 105.9) and this wonderful concoction of berries, yoghurt and rum, topped with a bit of whipped cream.
Ahhhhhhh 🙂
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Life is Good ! Cheers !
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Rum Laced Iced Berry Soup
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Well, at least for me they were the best in a very long line of disappointing restaurant and food truck fish tacos.
Most of the time, if you want to have the really good stuff, you’ve got to prepare it yourself 🙂
The secret here is the fish batter. You don’t want to have to prep something complicated or difficult for such a simple meal. So here I give you my “secret” easy and quick batter recipe:
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A/P flour, crushed ice, cayenne pepper, kosher salt, granulated garlic, chilled sparkling water (I use syfo lemon-lime, the only bottled water for me).
Mix all ingredients lightly, don’t worry about a few lumps, they fry out in the hot oil and become crispy. See the prep pic to get an idea about the texture. Then dip the fish into the batter and fry at 375F until crispy and fish just done. Remove to absorbent paper. Build your tacos with your favorit ingredients / condiments.
Voila ! Best fish taco 🙂
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Viva Mexico ! Viva Los Tacos ! Viva La Vida !
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Best Fish Taco
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Paprikash is the national dish of Hungary. Which means that it has been prepared and eaten for many decades, by millions of people, in many restaurants and homes, in many different regions, with an infinite number of variations. So folks, relax, don’t call my house and say that this is not a real paprikash, because………….
Anyway, here is a version I prepared last week and, I might add, a pretty good and pretty pretty 🙂 version. >
Chicken Paprikash & Spaetzle
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Ingredients :
Chicken, your favorite parts, I prefer legs
Sweet hungarian paprika,
Chilis, finely chopped, some left whole for garnish (optional)
Tomatoes, finely chopped
Garlic, paste
Onions, finely diced
Kosher salt,
AP flour,
Chicken stock,
Sour cream,
Saute chicken in fat until golden brown. Remove. Saute onions and garlic until fragrant. Add paprika, chopped chilis and flour and saute for a short time. (Careful, paprika burns easily !) Add tomatoes, stock, whole chili’s and salt. Return chicken to pot, cover and braise slowly until chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 162F. (Carry over heat will take it to a safe 165F). Remove chicken. At this point you have the option of straining the sauce or not. You also have the option of whisking in the sour cream or not. If you don’t whisk in the sour cream at this point, add a generous dollop when serving (See picture). Adjust seasoning if necessary. To serve, add chicken to serving dish, cover with sauce and whole chili’s. Serve with Spaetzle.
Bon Appetit ! Life is Good ! >>
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ChefsOpinion 