scallion

Tomato Bisque , Morcilla Dumplings & Pasta

>
>
Morcilla lovers – this dish is a knock-out !
As far as morcilla dishes go, it does not get much better, I can assure you 🙂
I know that not everybody shares my love for morcilla, but for those who do, this soup is magic.

Morcilla –
(blood pudding, blutwurst, boudin noir, sanguinaccio, blodkorv, boldpølse, kaszanka).

If you do re-create this dish, make sure the dumplings are as light as possible but holding their shape. The should easily fall apart when lightly pressed with a spoon.
If you are not a fan of morcilla, you can use any other protein such as fish, seafood, veal, game, pork or even finely diced vegetables.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

Tomato Bisque, Morcilla Dumplings & Pasta

: tomato bisque – quartered tomatoes, celery, onions, sauteed garlic, red wine, small amount of diced potato, sea salt, cayenne pepper, sugar, water or tomato juice

: bring to boil, turn down to simmer, simmer for 2,5 hours

: put into blender and blend until smooth. The small amount of potato will make the texture silken and keep the liquid from separating from the solids. Check/adjust seasoning

: add heavy cream

: tomato bisque

: remove morcilla from casing, add egg yolk, dijon, cayenne, scallions, chilies, panko, mix well, shape into small rounds

: simmer dumplings in salted water until floating

: add pasta to plate

: add tomato bisque

: add dumplings

: sprinkle scallions

: Tomato Bisque, Morcilla Dumplings & Pasta

>
>
Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video on the bottom of this page.
(You don’t have to watch it, just click once) Thank you 🙂
>
>
>
>
>

Smoked Salmon And Vodka Risotto

>
>
I was lusting for this the whole morning, so I decided to have an early lunch today at 11.00 am.
What a great dish to celebrate a lazy Sunday with 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

smoked salmon and vodka risotto

saute onion and garlic in butter until fragrant

add diced smoked salmon, saute one minute

arborio rice

add rice, saute for two minutes

deglaze with vodka, season with sea salt and cayenne pepper

add vegetable stock in small quantities, just enough to barely cover the rice. Stir constantly. Add more stock as the rice absorbs the liquid. This will take about 30 minutes

add vegetable stock in small quantities, just enough to barely cover the rice, simmer. Stir constantly. Add more stock as the rice absorbs the liquid. This will take about 30 minutes

when the rice is tender but sill has a bit of a bite, add heavy cream and more diced smoked salmon. Simmer one more minute, check/adjust seasoning

sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper

smoked salmon and vodka risotto

finish with more smoked salmon and finely sliced scallions

smoked salmon and vodka risotto

>
>
Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video on the bottom of this page.
(You don’t have to watch it, just click once) Thank you 🙂
>
>
>
>

Hans’ Wonder Bread – Best Bread Ever? Nope, But……

>
>
Yesterday afternoon I prepared some pizza for myself and had some leftover dough. Today I came home late and did not feel like cooking up a storm, so I made this stuffed bread for dinner. I guess I could call it a calzone?, but I am more comfortable with “Stuffed Yeast Bread”.
I ate the whole thing piping hot and I must say: Simply delicious 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

Pizza Dough Recipe

>
>

Stuffed Yeast Bread

pizza dough, diced salame, spicy tomato salsa, gorgonzola, corn meal, red onion, olive oil, sage, rosemary, thyme, scallion

roll dough, top with salame

top with gorgonzola

top with spicy tomato salsa, thyme and sliced sage

top with another sheet of dough. Coat finely sliced onions and chopped rosemary with generous amount of olive oil. Sprinkle over bread. Sprinkle with corn meal. Place on corn meal dusted baking pan. Cook at 375 F. When done, sprinkle with scallions and chili flakes

Stuffed Yeast Bread

Calzone

Hans’ Wonder Bread

Stuffed Yeast Bread

>
Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video on the bottom of this page.
(You don’t have to watch it, just click once) Thank you 🙂
>
>
>
>
>

Chinese Style Ginger & Garlic Crabs

>
>
Last night’s dinner was truly special.
Special food, special digestive (very old cognac) and most of all, special friends.
This is the first Chinese recipe I ever learned, way back in 1974 while working on Royal Viking Sky. My assistant was a Chinese fellow named Chang. Whenever we were in Vancouver, instead of going ashore, he took his fishing line and a few pieces of chopped up fish and went up to the aft deck to fish for crabs. In these days there were very few cruise ships and fewer still went to Alaska during the three months summer season. So, crabs and other seafood were still plentyful and as I remember from watching him fishing once, all it took for him was to lower the fishing line with a bit of fish on the hook into the water, wait maybe a minute, then pull it out with the biggest crab attached to it. It took him less then an hour to fill three buckets of the freshest, largest crabs you have ever seen. He kept them alive in the cooler until the next evening, then he cooked them for a few of us for a late dinner. He supplied the food, I supplied the beer – everybody happy 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
>
>
Saute very finely slivered garlic and very finely julienned ginger in peanut oil until garlic starts to turn yellow. Deglace with sherry wine, add seafood stock or clam juice, sea salt and cayenne pepper. Add crabs, cover tigtly and steam until crabs are just done. Remove crab into serving dish. Thicken stock with corn starch slurry. Using a wire whisk, stir sauce slowly in one direction, add egg whites. Remove from heat, add sesame oil and scallions. Check/adjust seasoning. Ladle sauce over crabs. Enjoy 🙂
>

Chinese Ginger & Garlic Crabs

Fresh Crabs

Gale, Junior and Moses

>
>
>
>
>

Dirty Rice Sticks

>
>
Here is a variation of “Dirty Rice“, this one done with rice sticks. I am a big fan of dirty rice, but I prefer the dirty rice sticks by far, either as a side dish or main course with a couple of fried eggs on top. Serve with soy sauce and chili sauce on the side.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
>

Dirty Rice Sticks

: saute chopped duck liver and duck gizzard with onion, scallion, garlic paste and grated ginger in peanut oil

: add soaked rice sticks, a bit of duck stock to moisten the noodles, sesame oil, salt and cayenne pepper, saute until rice sticks heated through

: Dirty Rice Sticks

: Dirty Rice Sticks

: Dirty Rice Sticks

: Dirty Rice Sticks

>
>
Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video on the bottom of this page.
(You don’t have to watch it, just click once) Thank you 🙂
>
>
>
>
>

Stir Fried Crimini & Bok Choy In Special Sauce

>
>
The seasoning for this dish is composed of some of my basic, always present larder items : Sriracha, hoi sin sauce, ketchup, roasted garlic puree, maggi seasoning, sesame oil, white wine or sherry wine. The ratio of each individual item can vary from dish to dish, from main ingredient to main ingredient, but all together it makes for a great, versatile, delicious and simple sauce. If the dish is dry by nature, you might want to add a bit of stock to thin the sauce a bit.
(Don’t scoff at the ketchup ! It adds acidity, sweetness and color) 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
>

Stir Fried Crimini & Bok Choy In Special Sauce

: stir fry crimini until starting to brown

: add onion and garlic puree, saute until fragrant

: add white part of bok choy, saute two minutes

: add bok choy leaves, red pepper julienne, sauce ingredients

: saute one minute, check/adjust seasoning

: serve with Chinese steamed rice, sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds

: Stir Fried Crimini & Bok Choy In Special Sauce

: Stir Fried Crimini & Bok Choy In Special Sauce

>
>
Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video on the bottom of this page.
(You don’t have to watch it, just click once) Thank you 🙂
>
>
>
>
?

Short Rib Sandwich

>
>
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 !
>

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

>
>
Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video on the bottom of this page.
(You don’t have to watch it, just click once) Thank you 🙂
>
>
>
>

Crab-Stuffed Twice Baked Potato

>
>
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

>
>
Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video below. ( You don’t have to watch it, just click once ) Thank you 🙂
>
>
>
>
>

Kümmelbraten ( Caraway Pork Roast )

>
>
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 !
>

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)

>
>
Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video below. ( You don’t have to watch it, just click once ) Thank you 🙂
>
>
>
>
>

Chinese Salt & Pepper Scallops With Egg Fried Rice

>
>

This was one of Maria’s favorite dishes. Whenever we went to have chinese food at a restaurant or when she wanted to have something special at home, she would ask for salt & pepper scallops or salt & pepper shrimp.
So, enjoying this meal tonight was a bittersweet affair. I really loved the food, but it is so damn tough to be reminded of a lost loved one all day long, by everything one see’s, hear’s and does, even by the food one eat’s. At least I had Bella next to me , sharing the food and giving me good company 🙂
>
For the scallops, season with kosher salt, five spice powder, white pepper, ground szechuan peppercorn and granulated garlic. Mix egg white and rice flour into a thin batter, dredge scallops in it and saute in peanut oil until cooked almost through. Remove and rest on absorbent paper until serving.
>
For the rice, saute garlic paste, finely diced onion and grated ginger in peanut oil until fragrant. Add day-old rice and fry until rice starts to puff. Make a well, add more peanut oil and scramble some whisked eggs in it until set. Add sliced scallion, kosher salt, white pepper and sesame oil. Stir fry until all ingredients are well mixed. Check seasoning. Adjust if necessary.
>
To serve, top the rice with scallops and sprinkle with finely sliced scallions

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good ! (even when it’s sad sometimes)
>

Chinese Salt & Pepper Scallops With Egg Fried Rice

: Egg fried rice

: Chinese Salt & Pepper Scallops With Egg Fried Rice

: Chinese Salt & Pepper Scallops With Egg Fried Rice

: Chinese Salt & Pepper Scallops With Egg Fried Rice

>
>
Dear Friend’s, to help support this blog, please be so kind and click on the video below. ( You don’t have to watch it, just click once ) Thank you 🙂
>
>
>
>