kosher salt

Steak Salad “Saigon”

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The foundation of this steak salad is a refreshing rice stick salad, which I usually make at least twice a month. I normally make about four to six portions and eat it as part of a meal, as breakfast or as a late night snack. The noodles keep their texture for a few days without getting mushy, so this is ideal to prep in advance and then serve it when a quick bite is needed, especially on a workday as breakfast or as a snack late at night when I get home and just want to rest and more cooking is as far from my mind as possible. If I have it as part of a meal, I usually combine it with seafood, such as teriyaki- glazed salmon or sautéed shrimp. For breakfast, I usually add a couple of hard-boiled eggs and for a midnight snack some canned seafood. When Maria was still with me, she liked to serve it at bbq -parties, when it was a welcome alternative to the usual suspects of coleslaw and potato salad.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for more Pasta Salad
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Click here for more Steak Salad
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Steak Salad “Saigon”

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Preparation :
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: season new york strip with kosher salt, cayenne pepper and granulated garlic, saute or grill to your desired temperature, set steak aside and let rest at least 10 minutes before slicing

: cook, shock in icewater and drain rice sticks

: make a dressing of peanut oil, sesame oil, kosher salt, garlic paste, grated ginger, chili paste, fish sauce and rice vinegar

: fresh basil

: sliced basil, red peppers, iceberg lettuce, red onions, shredded carrots (if you plan to keep this for more than a few hours, replace the iceberg with cabbage)

: slice the steak

: mix half of the steak, the noodles and the vegetables with the dressing

: tell your dog to be patient 🙂

: almost……….

: spread some lettuce leaves on a serving dish, drizzle with a bit of the dressing

: top lettuce with the noodle salad

: top with the other half of the steak, sprinkle with toasted garlic

: Steak Salad “Saigon”

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When Life Gives You Avocados……..

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Somebody : “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”
Hans : “When life gives you avocados, make avocado spread” 🙂
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So, I had this huge Florida avocado sitting there for a few days and today I felt like having a quick and tasty snack…………..
Coarsely mash avocado, add grape tomatoes, olive oil, lime juice, chili paste, kosher salt, garlic paste, a few drops of maggi seasoning and chopped cilantro, mix and serve on/with whatever tickles your fancy 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Live is Good !
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Avocado Spread

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Beef And Bean Burrito

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Nowadays, most folks are familiar with burritos. International cuisine with its many variations has come to the farthest corners of the world and that’s a great thing. Not so great is the fact that most of the ethnic food has been bastardized to the point of no return. I am not talking about changing and improving the originals, which is fine as long as you can still figure out the origin behind the dish. No, I am talking about replacing good, simple, honest ingredients with cheap crap, third-rate fillers which have the sole purpose to make a buck. When it comes to burritos, I have come across some incredible bad, tasteless excuses for the real thing lately in a variety of “Mexican” eateries here in South Florida. The filling usually has consisted of mainly rice and shredded lettuce wrapped in a tortilla, then re-heated in an oven and served with the usual condiments for laughable prices. Seems that instead of burritos on the plate, there are burros in the kitchen ? ! 😦
I prepare burritos often at home and the one thing they all have in common is the quality of ingredients I use for the filling and the fact that I cook them on a Comal or cast-iron pan to get that great crispy outside so essential to a great burrito (In my Opinion, anyway :-).
As long as you use a great filling, burritos are easy, quick and they ROCK 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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More Beef Burritos Here

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Beef And Bean Burrito

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
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: trim a strip stak of all fat and silver skin

: cut into 1/2 inch cubes, season with kosher salt, cayenne pepper and granulated garlic

: saute in a VERY hot pan, add sliced onions, cook until meat is browned on the outside and still very rare on the inside

: remove meat, spread out, let cool to room-temperature

: beans, grape tomatoes, chopped cilantro

: add mexican four-cheese mix, kosher salt, cayenne pepper and garlic paste

: add cooled-down meat, mix all ingredients

: fill flour tortillas

: roll into burritos

: griddle on lightly oiled cast iron pan or comal until flat part is crispy and golden and filling is heated through

: Beef And Bean Burrito

: Beef And Bean Burrito

: Beef And Bean Burrito

: for a bit of a change of the usual suspects, serve burritos with marinated chilies and a crisp lettuce salad sprinkled with bbq’d korn kernels

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Allgäuer Wurstsalat Mit Hörnchen

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Hörnchen means “Little Horns” in German. They are such a wonderful pastry when properly prepared. Unfortunately, to find good Hörnchen (Croissants, Media Luna’s) is increasingly difficult and in some areas downright impossible.
A good hörnchen is as light as a feather, with dozens of air-seperated layers of buttery pastry. Most of the stuff you can buy these days are mass-produced, previously frozen concoctions which have only a faint visual resemblance to a real hörnchen and none of the flavor and texture qualities of the genuine article. Some are not even made with puff pastry 😦
However, there is a silver lining – in my opinion, that stuff is perfectly suitable for a good sandwich or as an accompaniment to a rustic salad.
For today’s lunch I had these babies from a commercial bakery close-by, to share the honors of being my lunch with a “lecker” allgäuer wurstsalat.
Eaten together with the salad, dunked in the rich dressing, they served their purpose as “side bread” well.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for more Hörnchen

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P.S.
If you don’t have access to Fleischwurst (German Bologna) and Allgäuer Bergkäse, you can replace them with Swiss Cheese and American style Bologna
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Allgauer Wurstsalat Mit Hörnchen

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Preparation :
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: julienned cheese, sausage, onions, sliced cornichons, sliced chives

: for the dressing, add ketchup, dijon, red wine vinegar, fresh ground black pepper, garlic paste, kosher salt, mix well, serve with warm hörnchen

: Allgauer Wurstsalat Mit Hörnchen

: Allgauer Wurstsalat Mit Hörnchen

: Allgauer Wurstsalat Mit Hörnchen

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Midnight Snack – Good Stuff ! Not Crappy Bags of “Nachos & Salsa”

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Life is Good – mostly because life is what you make of it 🙂
Take the snack I prepped for myself an hour ago for example. Rather than opening an over-prized bag of crappy nachos (Totopos), a can of over-prized, VERY crappy cheese dip and a tub of sometimes surprisingly decent salsa Mexicana, why not grill up a good quality naan and cover it with a few slices of great quality coppa ham, pecorino cheese and a few marinated chilies and pronto ! – great food for about the same price and effort. Life (and a midnight snack) is what you make of it 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Midnight Snack - Coppa & Pecorino Sandwich

Midnight Snack – Coppa & Pecorino Naan-Sandwich

Midnight Snack – Coppa & Pecorino-Sandwich

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Preparation :
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: grill home made or store-bought naan until heated through

: cover with coppa ham

: sprinkle with black pepper

: add thinly sliced tomatoes and a few drops of EVO, sprinkle with kosher salt

: add thinly sliced pecorino and pickled chilies

: Midnight Snack – Coppa & Pecorino Naan-Sandwich

: Midnight Snack – Coppa & Pecorino Naan-Sandwich

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Paniertes Rinderschnitzel (Breaded Beef Cutlet With Pickled Onions)

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Breaded anything – can’t go wrong with that.
Anything breaded topped with pickled onions – got a winner every time 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Paniertes Rinderschnitzel (Breaded Beef Cutlet With Pickled Onions)

Pickled Onions

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Preparation :
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: red onion julienne, chopped cilantro, grape tomatoes, mild chilies, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, garlic paste, cider vinegar, olive oil

: marinade onions overnight

: Pickled Onions

: clean a strip steak of all fat and silver skin

: butterfly steak

: butterfly again

: pound flat between plastic film

: season with dijon, cayenne and kosher salt, bread scallop with flour, egg and panko

: saute in clarified butter

: rest for a minute on absorbent paper

: to serve, top with pickled onions

: Paniertes Rinderschnitzel (Breaded Beef Cutlet With Pickled Onions)

: Paniertes Rinderschnitzel (Breaded Beef Cutlet With Pickled Onions)

: Paniertes Rinderschnitzel (Breaded Beef Cutlet With Pickled Onions)

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Delicious Quickie – Bucatini Con Sarde

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Definition of Quickie : “something done or had quickly”.
– Ok now, time to get your minds out of the gutter 🙂
We are talking about a wonderful dish, quickly and easily prepared, light on the wallet yet tasty and pretty to look at.
– Did I mention – time to get your mind out of the gutter 🙂
While I absolutely LOVE fresh sardines, for this recipe I prefer good quality! canned sardines in tomato sauce.
This dish is one of my go-to dishes when I want something tasty and quick either just for myself and Bella, or in good company when unpretentious food is welcome (Midnight snack anyone ?)
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Bon Appetit ! Live is Good !
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Bucatini Con Sarde

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Preparation :
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: saute onions, garlic paste and anchovy paste in olive oil until fragrant

: add canned sardines in tomato sauce (reserve 3 filets per portion), add chopped italian parsley and chopped oregano (or dry oregano), simmer until sardines are heated through and break into chunks

: the good stuff 🙂

: add fresh-cooked bucatini with some of the cooking liquid to the sauce, add a few dollops of whole butter, season with fresh ground black pepper and kosher salt, simmer for one minute, check / adjust seasoning

: plate bucatini, sprinkle with chopped italian parsley

: garnish with reserved sardines and basil leaves

: Bucatini Con Sarde

Filet Mignon With Sautéed Potatoes, Shiitake And “Hoi Sin Delight”

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For 50 years I have prepared and eaten Filet Mignon with either Sauce Bernaise or a Demi Glace derived sauce, such as Sauce Chasseur, Sauce Bordelaise, Sauce Chateaubriand, Sauce Perigueux, Sauce Robert, etc, just as any hot-blooded, french-trained chef would do 🙂
Yet yesterday, although I had demi glace at hand ( I usually make a batch of demi glace and freeze it in individual portions ), for this dish I wanted to try something new, especially something to go well with the shiitake mushrooms.
So I mixed together the following ingredients which are a staple on my cupboard :
” Hoi Sin Delight ” –
Hoi sin sauce, soy sauce, garlic paste, chili sauce, lemon juice and – hold on to your hat -ketchup ! From this I got one of the best sauces I ever had with grilled or sauteed meat. I liked it so much that from here on I will use this concoction often, whenever I need a quick and delicious sauce or dip for any protein – seafood, chicken, beef, pork or what-not. Even as a drizzle for fried rice or grilled vegetables, this stuff rocks !
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Filet Mignon With Sautéed Potatoes, Shiitake And “Hoi Sin Delight”

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
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: mix 2 tblsp hoi sin, 1 tblsp ketchup, 2 tblsp soy, 2 tblsp water, 1 tsp chili sauce, 1 tsp garlic paste, 1/2 tsp lemon juice, simmer for one minute

: Season 5 oz beef filets with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: Sear in a VERY hot cast iron pan on both sides, finish cooking in a 350F oven until cooked to the temperatore of your preference, remove from pan, let rest for 10 minutes before serving

: meanwhile, saute potatoes in garlic oil until golden

: add reconstituted shiitake, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: when mushrooms are heated through, add a generous dollop of butter and chopped cilantro

: Filet Mignon With Sautéed Potatoes, Shiitake And “Hoi Sin Delight”

: Filet Mignon With Sautéed Potatoes, Shiitake And “Hoi Sin Delight”

: Filet Mignon With Sautéed Potatoes, Shiitake And “Hoi Sin Delight”

: Filet Mignon With Sautéed Potatoes, Shiitake And “Hoi Sin Delight”

: Filet Mignon With Sautéed Potatoes, Shiitake And “Hoi Sin Delight”

: Filet Mignon With Sautéed Potatoes, Shiitake And “Hoi Sin Delight”

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Romaine, Octopus And Bean Salad

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Trying to end 2015 on a healthy note :-).
Well, BS, I just don’t feel like cooking today 😦
Anyway, I could eat this salad for no reason any day, anytime, anywhere…….
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Bon Appetit ! Happy 2016 !
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Romaine, Octopus And Bean Salad

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Preparation :
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: grape tomatoes, scallions, julienned peppers, julienned red onions, cooked beans

: saute garlic paste in olive oil until fragrant

: add cooked diced octopus

: add vegetables, saute 2 minutes, season with salt, fresh oregano and freshly ground black pepper

: remove to bowl, add lemon juice, check/adjust seasoning, let cool to room-temperature

: just a picture of a pretty salad bowl 🙂

: cover serving dish with romaine

: add octopus salad, drizzle dressing from octopus salad all over romaine leaves, sprinkle with honey roasted corn kernels for crunch and additional flavor

: Romaine, Octopus And Bean Salad

: Romaine, Octopus And Bean Salad

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Mac & Cheese – Boss Level

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(Beef Tenderloin, Three Cheeses And Whole Grain Pasta Casserole With Pesto)
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When you want something a bit more exciting than this :

OK, but………..

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Adding a few more ingredients and a lot more love will give you a much more satisfying culinary experience 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Click here for Pesto Recipe
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Mac & Cheese – Boss Level

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
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: swiss and pepper jack (plus parmesan – not in the pic)

: diced beef tenderloin – head and tips

: season with kosher salt, granulated garlic and cayenne pepper, sear in VERY hot pan until outside is browned but meat still rare

: mix whole-grain penne, beef, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, carrot julienne, sliced scallions, ketchup, sliced chilies, GARLIC PASTE, heavy cream, shredded pepper jack, grated parmesan and diced swiss