hans sussers comments

Gnocchi Gorgonzola Gratinati

Dear Friends,

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Best Regards,
Hans

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Lusting for something creamy, cheesy and light, yet packing a hefty flavor-punch ? Well, you have arrived 🙂
This great concoction satisfies on so many levels. The lightness of the gnocchi, creaminess of the sauce, freshness of the spinach, the sharp punch of the ripe gorgonzola and the slightly acidic burst of the tomatoes…….
What else can I say about this lovely dish ? Simply put – Yummy taste and great looking to boost 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for Gnocchi Recipe
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Gnocchi Gorgonzola Gratinati

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: saute salami, onions and garlic paste in olive oil

: butter should be lightly browned

: add fresh spinach and heavy cream

: season with nutmeg and fresh ground black pepper, simmer until lightly thickened

: remove from heat, add grape tomatoes and a bit of grated parmesan

: add gnocchi

: mix carefully without breaking-up gnocchi

: sprinkle lightly oiled baking dish with grated parmesan and bread crumbs

: add gnocchi mix

: top with crumbled gorgonzola and a bit of bread crumbs, bake at 425F until bubbly and browned on top and bottom

: Gnocchi Gorgonzola Gratinati

: Gnocchi Gorgonzola Gratinati

: Gnocchi Gorgonzola Gratinati

: Gnocchi Gorgonzola Gratinati

: Gnocchi Gorgonzola Gratinati

: Gnocchi Gorgonzola Gratinati

: Gnocchi Gorgonzola Gratinati

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Breakfast Of Champions # 53 – Burrito With Scrambled Eggs, Re-fried Beans And Avocado

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Today’s breakfast – another winner, easily whipped up in minutes. (Assuming you have some leftover re-fried beans at hand).
If you don’t, just replace the re-fried beans with sautéed red beans, black beans or even chick peas (garbanzos), seasoned with cumin, kosher salt cayenne, garlic paste and diced onion,
which will only just add a few extra minutes to the preparation.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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More Burritos on ChefsOpinion
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Breakfast Of Champions # 33 – Burrito With Scrambled Eggs, Re-fried Beans And Avocado

Breakfast Of Champions # 53 – Burrito With Scrambled Eggs, Re-fried Beans And Avocado

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: season eggs with garlic paste, kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: scramble eggs in med-hot pan with butter or olive oil, when starting to set, add diced peppers, avocado and sliced scallions

: ready to eat………..

: spread re-fried beans on flour tortilla (corn tortilla if you prefer), sprinkle with crumbled / grated cheese of your choice

: add scrambled eggs

: roll tortillas into cylinders

: saute burritos in lightly oiled pan until golden, to serve, top with sour cream and more scallions and pair with a small salad or fruits

: Breakfast Of Champions # 53 – Burrito With Scrambled Eggs, Re-fried Beans And Avocado

: Breakfast Of Champions # 53 – Burrito With Scrambled Eggs, Re-fried Beans And Avocado

: Breakfast Of Champions # 53 – Burrito With Scrambled Eggs, Re-fried Beans And Avocado

: Breakfast Of Champions # 53 – Burrito With Scrambled Eggs, Re-fried Beans And Avocado

: Breakfast Of Champions # 53 – Burrito With Scrambled Eggs, Re-fried Beans And Avocado

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I Once Was A Sinner………

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Sex, Drugs And Rock & Roll –
– Like most folks, I was not an angel growing up and growing old 😦 🙂
However, nowadays I am a lot older, a bit wiser and much less healthy, so the only sin I still engage in (ruefully) are the few sweet things which are left to me, such as cake, ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate.
Like everything else, I share them with Bella (tiny amounts of chocolate only, which she does not enjoy as much as ice cream and whipped cream anyway)
Here is an example of an afternoon sin-filled session which we both enjoyed 🙂
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Life is Good ! Enjoy It While You Can !
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: Mine……

: Mine…..

: Ours…..

: Bella’s……….

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Pho

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While Pho comes in many variations and can be served with a plethora of sides, such as finely sliced onions, chili peppers, culantro, lime, bean sprouts, Thai basil, etc, I kept today’s lunch relatively simple but nevertheless very rich and delicious. Preparation was lightning quick, since I had a strong beef stock leftover from yesterday’s “beef and vegetable stew”.
If you prefer your beef paper-thin, you might want to put it in the freezer for a few hours before slicing, but I prefer the texture of the beef the way I sliced it, slightly thicker than usual and thus with a bit more bite to it. Certainly not “original”, but, in my kitchen, cooking for myself and Bella – anything goes. (Well, almost anything 🙂 )
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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All about Pho
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More Pho on ChefsOpinion
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Pho

Pho

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: slice beef tenderloin into thin slices

: season beef stock with star anise, cinnamon bark, coriander seed, fennel seed, grated ginger, garlic paste, kosher salt and crushed black pepper, simmer until fragrant, strain, check / adjust seasoning

: cook rice vermicelli, drain, rinse

: add vermicelli to serving bowl, add a few drops of fish sauce

: top vermicelli with sliced beef

: ladle simmering stock over beef

: garnish with cilantro, chilies, basil leaves, scallions, fried garlic and scallions

: Pho

: Pho

: Pho

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Chicken In Salt Crust

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One of (culinary) life’s great mysteries for me is that so many people are buying roasted chicken at the supermarket.
Wrapping that chicken in a bag and eat it much later (sometimes hours) ruins both the texture and the flavor. I just don’t get it……… 😦
Yet, to buy a raw chicken, season it with salt, pepper,garlic and a bit of soy sauce, then roasting it in the oven is the most simple yet rewarding way to enjoy chicken.
Actual prep time is a few minutes, and nothing can beat the smell, flavor, crispy skin and moist flesh of a freshly roasted chicken 🙂
Sometimes I treat myself to an even more exquisite chicken, chicken baked in a salt crust. This preparation will not provide a crispy skin, but the divine flavor and moistness of the meat will more than make up for that. And if you have guests, the dramatic presentation and cracking open of the salt crust is most spectacular and well worth the extra effort to prep the crust.
So, either just as a special treat for yourself or when hosting guests, Chicken In Salt Crust will surely be appreciated.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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P.S.
I prepared and enjoyed this dish again last night at a friend’s house. Because of the amount of guests, I actually prepared four whole chicken and the meal was a great success.
My friend documented the whole process with her camera so I could use the pics for this post today, but as bad luck would have it, her camera ended up floating in the ice box – kaputt 😦
Therefore, the pictures and text below are from a previous post on ChefsOpinion from 2012 .
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“This is one of my favorite chicken recipes.
Season the inside with sriracha and salt, season the inside with sriracha and chopped cilantro, stuff chicken with orange quarters,lots of garlic and scallions. Then make the salt dough by combining egg whites,salt and flour, pack the chicken in it and bake it until the meat has reached a temperature of of 158. remove the chicken and let rest another 20 minutes before opening the crust. The carry-over heat will take it to a safe 165 temperature.
For most effect, crack and open the crust table side. For condiments and sides, you can go Chinese or western. Because the texture and taste reminds me so much of the time I used to live in Singapore and enjoyed “Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice”, I usually go Chinese, but just condiments, no rice or vegetables because together with
Bella we usually eat the whole thing in one sitting ! You can of course accompany it with steamed rice and maybe bok choy, or you can go western style and serve a western style vegetable and maybe mashed potatoes or noodles, in which case you probably serve it with a veloute to keep it all moist and tasty.”
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Chicken In Salt Crust

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: Chicken In Salt Crust

: Chicken In Salt Crust

: Chicken In Salt Crust

: Chicken In Salt Crust

: Chicken In Salt Crust

: Chicken In Salt Crust

: Chicken In Salt Crust

: Chicken In Salt Crust

: Chicken In Salt Crust

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Ultimate Beef Fried Rice

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Yes. I’ve said it – The Ultimate ! The Best ! # 1 !
Some of you might not agree with me, but I can tell you, chances are that this is the best beef fried rice you will ever come across. Period 🙂
It will certainly be different from the fried rice you’ll get at your neighborhood joint and most probably will come close to what you will get in the best of Chinese restaurants or maybe even be better than that. Arrogant I am not. 🙂 But honestly, this was by far the tastiest, best textured fried rice I ever prepared or tasted anywhere, including Asia.
To be real, I know there is better out there, but I myself was not able to find it (Yet).
Maybe the fact that I used leftover sushi rice from yesterday’s chirashi sushi dinner made the big difference. It made it possible to add more moisture to the rice as is normally done while keeping its great texture and not get mushy. Using beef tenderloin was also different, as well as using more than usual egg in the rice. Whatever it was, it worked and made for a simple yet spectacular enjoyable lunch.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for Fan Recipe
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Click here for Sushi Rice Recipe
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Ultimate Beef Fried Rice

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Ultimate Beef Fried Rice

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: sushi rice, substitute with fan if preferred

: cut beef tenderloin head and tips into dice

: season with soy sauce, granulated garlic, chili paste and cornstarch, let marinade for at least four hours

: soy sauce, chili paste, grated ginger, garlic paste, sugar, sesame oil

: add green peas, kernel corn, sliced scallion and chopped cilantro to sauce

: whisk whole eggs, season with kosher salt

: cook to soft texture, set aside

: saute beef in very hot peanut oil until browned on the outside but still rare on the inside, set aside

: stir fry rice until starting to “pop”

: add beef and sauce to rice, stir fry until fragrant

: check / adjust seasoning

: add scrambled eggs, stir fry another minute

: Ultimate Beef Fried Rice

: Ultimate Beef Fried Rice

: Ultimate Beef Fried Rice

: Ultimate Beef Fried Rice

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My ChefsOpinion About New York Times Food Critic Pete Wells Recently Published Devastating Review Of Thomas Keller’s Manhattan Restaurant Per Se

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A dish served in an egg shell at Thomas Keller’s Per Se.
Credit Rob Kim Getty Images for Starwood Preferred Guest

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New York Times food critic Pete Wells recently published a devastating review of Thomas Keller’s Manhattan restaurant Per Se.
While I personally respect professionals like Thomas Keller for their skills, media savvy and good luck, NOBODY is infallible.
And please, never forget the other thousands of equally great chefs around the world who serve equally great food (at least) on a daily basis without being recognized on the monumental scale that some (very few) other chefs have had the good fortune to receive. Not for nothing, the saying goes – “The higher they fly, the deeper they fall”
Remember, there are only a handful of artists in any medium whose work will command millions, while an ocean of others will produce innumerable masterpieces which will wither unrecognized and are never seen by more than a handful of lucky patrons. The same goes for food, service and other masterpieces of our hospitality industry.
Those of us who don’t make it big will just have to suck it up and take the reward to which we are accustomed best – a decent salary (mostly) and the happy faces of our guest’s on their way out 🙂
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And yes, sometimes, even the best of us screw up and we need to be told about it in order to be able to make corrections !
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Read more: http://www.mensjournal.com/food-drink/chefs-restaurants/american-fine-dining-isnt-for-you-per-se-20160115#ixzz3xj4XDwH7

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I have just posted a review of this article on my FB site, which resulted in the following comment :
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Larry Campbell :
“Haters… I believe this is an art and some of us are better then others. Don’t hate respect.”
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To which I replied :
“To be a great chef means you are a top craftsman, not an artist.
Our professional label is “COOK”. Chef is a title.
While it is nice to be admired in ones profession, one should not lose sight of reality. Fine dining, at any level is just food, service and environment elevated to the next level. Not magic – just professionals doing their job. The point is that so few folks nowadays have any idea what good food, great service and sublime dining-environment is and are therefore fascinated with the new element of their dining experience and thereby mistake that for extraordinary quality 😦
Food like this has been served in restaurants around the world for ages. Most Americans have never been exposed to any high quality dining experience and are therefore smitten with old hats.
This is not to take away from Per Se and especially not from Thomas Keller, but great dining has been around forever and will continue in thousands of restaurants around the word.
Ballyhoo and/or crappy reviews will not change that.
Gourmets, Bon Vivants and Hospitality-Professionals will make sure that superb dining experiences will live-on, no matter if they are the “In” thing of the moment or not ……..”
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Comments Welcome 🙂
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Product Review – Accord Foods Inc.

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Guilin/China

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Dear Friends,

While I often get free product samples and requests for product reviews, in order to stick to my motto of “Real Food & Real Opinions”, I blog very seldom about the products I receive. The simple reason for this is that I want to keep my independence and that I don’t want to review products I don’t like and cannot endorse wholeheartedly.
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This time I received samples from “Accord Foods Inc.”, labeled
“Chor’s Food USA” and “Tso Hin Kee“,
which I am happy to write about and inform you of my tasting experience.
I tasted the sauces first by itself, then with plain pasta, then with plain rice. I believe this set-up allows me to judge each item as close as possible to its actual use.
I then tasted the soup first without added chili oil, then with chili oil.
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My rating system is as follows:
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* One Star : No way, Jose
** Two Star : yeah, maybe
*** Three Star : OK
**** Four Star : Very Good
***** Five Star : Superb, best I’ve had
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These are the items I sampled :
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Black Bean Chile Sauce *****

: Black Bean Chile Sauce

: Black Bean Chile Sauce

: Black Bean Chile Sauce

Oyster Sauce *****

: Oyster Sauce

: Oyster Sauce

: Oyster Sauce

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Prune Sweet Sauce * * * * *

: Prune Sweet Sauce

: Prune Sweet Sauce

: Prune Sweet Sauce

Guilin Style Chile Sauce * * * * *

: Guilin Style Chile Sauce

: Guilin Style Chile Sauce

: Guilin Style Chile Sauce

: Szechuan Style Chile Oil * * * * *

: Vegetarian Seasoning / Soup Base * * * * *

: vegetarian soup

: vegetarian soup without szechuan style chile oil

: vegetarian soup with szechuan style chile oil

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Conclusion :
These items are by far the best of its kind I have encountered, both in appearance and, most important, in flavor. The soup base is the very best I have encountered of any soup base, beef, chicken or vegetable – not salty, with no artificial taste and with perfect color.
As I mentioned earlier, I have no gain from my product reviews and aim to be as objective as possible, but this stuff is just the best of its kind I have encountered. Bravo “Accord Foods Inc.”
“Accord Foods Inc.” will definitely be a staple of my pantry if I am able to purchase them in my area (Hint/hint, “Accord Foods Inc.” :-).
I am also looking forward to review the rest of their product line in the near future.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Click to check-out the beauty of Guilin
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Mafaldine Alla Riccione

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I dedicate this dish to the city of Riccione, where I had my first moment of culinary ecstasy.
When I was 16 years old and an cook-apprentice in the Black Forest of Germany, I thought life, and particular working life, was too hard for me to handle, so I decided to run away from it.
I hitchhiked through southern Germany to Austria and from there over the Brenner Pass in the Dolomiti Alps down to Riccione in Northern Italy in the hopes of finding happiness and love in a life of leisure on the beach (well, I was 16 years of age in an area before the internet – ignorance and naïveté prevailed in 16 year old’s at that time :-).
When I left Baden Baden for my adventure I had 26.00 German Marks to my name, most of which I spend the first night on steins of beer in the “Englisher Garten” in Munich. I remember I crossed the border from Austria into Italy with 6.00 DM in my pocket. After breakfast that day, it was four weeks of sleeping under the stars and asking (begging actually) shop owners and restaurant owners for donations to support, in the form of food and drink, my escape from a working life to the bohemian life of my dreams. These were different times altogether. I was a skinny kid without a home, and most people I met had pity and gave me a good meal, most often a sandwich and/or some fruit and soft drinks. Also, everyone offered a free smoke of the good stuff, which made a penny less life on the road so much brighter 🙂
However, I remember when I got to Riccione, on the first day I spend there, the chef in a seaside restaurant handed me a simple plate of pasta with shrimp. This was the first time I saw shrimp of that size and had a dish that was so exotic and wonderful, both in its taste and its looks. To this day I remember the awesomeness I felt by smelling this food, feasting on its looks with my eyes and then devouring it all in a happy flash.
After one month of some happy, some frightening but never boring moments, even skinnier than before I left, but maybe just a bit wiser, I crawled back to my apprenticeship at the Hotel Wiedenfelsen, finished it and became a professional cook, never again to regret my earlier decision to follow this lifelong, tough, underpaid, but in so many other way’s rewarding career path of a cook and chef.
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Bon Appetit ! See you in Riccione 🙂
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>riccione,

Mafaldine Alla Riccione

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: saute bread crumbs in olive oil or butter (according to your preference), season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: cook mafaldine in salted water, drain, toss in (according to your preference) garlic oil or melted butter with garlic paste, add a spritz of maggi

: almost………

: season shrimp with kosher salt and cayenne pepper, add to pangrattato, saute until shrimp are done and breadcrumbs are golden in color, add sliced scallions and chili flakes

: plate mafaldine

: top with shrimp / pangrattato-mix

: Mafaldine Alla Riccione

: Mafaldine Alla Riccione

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NorthStar Pickles

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Dear Friends,

While I often get free product samples and requests for product reviews often, in order to stick to my motto of “Real Food & Real Opinions”, I blog very seldom about the products I receive. The simple reason for this is that I want to keep my independence and that I don’t want to review products I don’t like and can endorse wholeheartedly.
Not to worry about these principles when it comes to NorthStar Pickles.
I have never before taste pickles which have a home made taste and the crunch of a fresh product like the range of pickles I tasted from NorthStar Pickle.
I received 6 Products and was smitten by 5 of them. Only one, “Half Sours”. although good, did not wow me like the rest of them. I have not seen these pickles on any supermarket shelf around here, but when I do, they will be my new “go to” pickles of choice 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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One Star : No way Jose,
Two Star : Can do without
Three Star : OK
Four Star : Very Good
Five Star : Superb, best I’ve had

New Spears : * * * * *
Deli Spears : * * * * *
Baby Dills : * * * * *
Burger Chips : * * * * *
Green Tomatoes : * * * * *
Half Sours : * * *