spicy

Curried Lentil Soup With Pork & Pork

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” Curried lentil soup with pork, vegetables, potatoes, sun dried tomatoes, chilis and chicharones (the other pork) ”

Last night it was a bone chilling 68 F outside, (this is Florida, folks),
so this one-pot meal provided much needed heat and comfort 🙂
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Ingredients :

Pork butt, diced
Chicken stock,
Lentils, any color will do
Bell peppers, diced
Onions, diced
Potatoes, diced
Celery, diced
Carrots, diced
Sun dried tomatoes, chopped
Garlic, paste
Chicharones,
Butter, substitute with olive oil if you prefer
Kosher salt,
Cayenne,
Maggi seasoning,

Method :

Saute onions, carrots, celery, sun dried tomatoes and garlic in butter until onions are translucent. Add curry powder, saute slowly for 30 seconds. Add pork, chicken stock and seasoning. Simmer until pork is tender. Remove pork, set aside, cover so it does not discolor. Add lentils to stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Add potatoes and peppers. Simmer until tender but not falling apart. Blend one quarter of the soup until smooth and thick. Return to pot, add pork and heat through. Adjust seasoning if required. To serve, sprinkle with chicharones.

Bon Appetit ! Stay Warm !
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Arugula With Chorizo Stuffed Chilis

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A quick and tasty dinner this evening.
I had pasta for breakfast and lunch ,
so I tried to lighten it up a bit for dinner 🙂
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Prep a small salad with arugula, grape tomatoes, shaved asiago cheese, onions and raspberry vinaigrette.
Slit chilis on the side and remove ribs and seeds. Remove chorizo from casing. Stuff the chilis with the chorizo. Wrap top half of stuffed chili with bacon. Dust with cornstarch and saute until bacon is crisp and chilis are cooked. Serve with salad. Enjoy !

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Vietnamese Ginger / Caramel Chicken ( Ga Kho )

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I remember when, many years ago, I got my first whiff of fermented fish sauce. It was one of the most disgusting smells I had ever encountered in a kitchen and there was no way I would ever put something this vile into my food !
Forward a few years. Fish sauce (and it’s cousin, shrimp paste) has become a permanent staple in my cup board. I use it for many of my favorite asian dishes, although I still don’t use it as a dipping sauce. In this dish, it is one of the three seasoning pillars . Fish sauce, caramel sauce and ginger play the major part, while garlic, salt and pepper play second fiddle. If you are not used to using fish sauce or shrimp paste, just don’t smell it before you cook it. Once you add it to your food and cook it for a while, it transforms itself into pure magic, giving the final product great flavor and debt. ( Umami, if you must 🙂
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Ingredient’s :

Chicken, thigh’s slashed to the bone
Caramel sauce, see below *
Pearl onion, blanched
Chiles, mixed colors, whole
Onions, sliced
Cilandro, coarsely chopped
Black pepper, fresh ground
Chili flakes,
Fish sauce,
Rice vinegar,
Garlic, paste
Ginger, sliced
Kosher salt,
Peanut oil, to saute

Method :

Season chicken with salt and black pepper and saute until golden brown on both sides. Remove onto absorbent paper. Saute pearl onions and chilies. Remove to absorbent paper. Saute sliced onions, garlic and ginger until translucent. Add vinegar, caramel, and all seasoning. Add chicken and slowly simmer until chicken is cooked through and sauce has reduced enough to cover the chicken. If the sauce becomes too thick before he chicken is cooked all the way, add a bit of water. If the sauce is too thin when the chicken is done, remove chicken and reduce until desired texture is achieved. At this point, strain the sauce if you like it smooth, otherwise, serve it more rustic with all the bits and pieces still in the sauce. Now, return the chicken, whole chiles and pearl onions. Simmer for another minute while basting the chicken to make sure it is well covered in sauce. To serve, add chicken to plate, cover with remaining sauce, top with chilis, onions, cilantro and lime wedges.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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* Saute sugar until lightly browned. Add water. If you have not done this before – BE VERY CAREFUL ! This splashes easily and burns right throuhg your skin if you are not careful. I suggest to put the pot into the sink and open the waterspout just a bit while keeping your head as far away as possible 🙂 Stir until smooth and all sugar is desolved. You should now have a light brown liquid. If the sugar solidified, don’t worry. Just put it back on low heat, stir frequently and simmer until all solids are liquified.
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Scotch Bonnet & Garlic Compound Butter

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Here is one of my “go to” items that will improve just about any dish for me and gives it the extra kick I like in most food. I usually have some in the freezer available at all times. Add to cream soups and eggs, mount into sauces, mix into pasta and vegetables or use as spread for a tasty sandwich. If the scotch bonnet’s are too deadly for you, replace part of them or all with jalapeno’s.
Enjoy.
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Blend chilies of your choice with roasted garlic, sea salt and butter. Shape into little dollops. Freeze on plate or tray until solid. Remove into sealable plastic bag or container.

Spice up your life 🙂
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Life is Good when it’s Spicy ! 🙂
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Spicy Squid & Vegetables

This recipe work’s as well with other seafood, such as shrimp, mussels, lobster, cuttlefish, octopus, etc. Even chicken, beef, pork, or all vegetables for a vegetarian version, you name it. But here, squid it is. The secret to a successful squid dish is to not overcook the squid. Sauteing a few seconds in a very hot pan, then removing them and adding back to the dish at the very end of the dishes cooking process, making sure they don’t simmer or boil anymore, will do the trick.
Enjoy 🙂
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Ingredient’s :

Squid, cleaned, cut into squares
Potatoes, peeled, cut into thick slices, cooked
Corn on the cob, sliced, cooked
Cauliflower, rosettes, blanched
Tomatoes, diced
Onions, diced
Garlic, paste
Cilantro, coarsely chopped
Kosher salt,
Hoisin sauce,
Scotch bonnet hot sauce,
Soy sauce,
Ketchup,
Peanut oil, to saute,

Method :

Saute squid on high heat until opaque, 3-4 seconds, remove, reserve.
Saute garlic and onions until fragrant, add all other ingredients
and saute until heated through. Remove from heat, mix with squid.
To serve, sprinkle with fair amount of cilantro.

Bon Appetit ! Live is Good !
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Phyllo & Pork Cigars

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Many years ago, when I went to Istanbul for the first time, one day my friend’s and I went to a port side restaurant which had the day’s menu displayed as actual food on a table outside.
One of the things that caught our eyes where wonderful pastries, rolled up like cigarettes and obviously stuffed with ??? We could not find out from the waiter what it was stuffed with (nobody at the place spoke english ), but because they looked so appetizing we ordered a bunch. When they were served, much to my disappointment the first bite almost made me gag, because they were filled with feta cheese amongst other goodies. My friend’s loved the “cigarettes”, but sadly, I could not eat them. Although I am a fanatic cheese lover, one of the few cheeses I can not eat is feta cheese. But over the years, these pastries vividly stayed in my memories of my first visit to Turkey and I have since then created many different versions. ( None of them containing goat cheese ) but using fillings made of lamb, shrimps, lobster, vegetables, fish, as well as a number of sweet fillings, chocolate, strawberries, bananas, etc. They are great as party food, snack, appetizer or, as here, a main course .
Here is a version of Turkish Sigara Boregi I concocted earlier today. Because they served as dinner, I made them much thicker then the usual Sigara Boregi, so instead of cigarettes I call them Cigars 🙂
I just loved this dish, Bella and I pigged out and eat the whole tray for dinner, all eight of them.
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Ingredient’s :

Pork, ground
Vegetable stock,
Onions, diced
Peppers, diced
chilies, diced
( I like my filling VERY spicy. If you don’t,
you might want to hold off on the scotch bonnet’s )
Tomato, chopped
Garlic, paste
Kosher salt,
Smoked paprika,
Parmigiano reggiano, finely grated
Butter, for phyllo
Olive oil, to saute
Red wine, to deglaze

Method :

Saute the meat in the olive oil until it start’s to brown.
Add the vegetables, continue sauteing until the onions
are translucent. Deglaze with red wine, add stock and
seasoning. Let simmer until meat is done and liquid
has mostly evaporated.
Brush each phyllo sheet with butter before topping with
the next sheet. In this recipe I have used three layers of
phyllo. Put some of the pork on one end of the phyllo sheets,
sprinkle cheese on top, roll up into cigar shape, cut to desired length.
A variation would be to sprinkle the pork loosely over the
entire surface and the roll them into cigarette sized rolls.
As dipping sauces I had sweet Thai chili sauce and dill-yogurt.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Spicy Coconut Soup With Chicken, Rice & Vegetables

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Yesterday evening I was going to make an authentic Thai or Indian dish,
but then I realized that I did not have some of the ingredients I needed in
my cupboard, so I came up with this beauty. While it is not authentic Thai
nor Indian, Malay, Indonesian, etc, etc, I can proudly inform you that is
100% authentic ” Hans “.
I could not have eaten better last night, so it goes to show once more that
love for food and cooking, a bit of imagination and a little bit of skill’s can
many times replace the biggest, best, most expensive recipe book 🙂
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Ingredients :

Chicken, your choice of cut or boneless
Broccoli rabe, blanched
Grape tomato, whole
Green peas, blanched
Corn, blanched
Mini peppers, finely sliced
Scotch bonnet, seeds removed, finely sliced
Ginger, grated
Garlic, paste
Sweet chili sauce,
Coconut milk,
Limes, juiced
Cumin, ground
Fish sauce,
Curry powder,
Kosher salt,
Cilantro, coarsely chopped
Peanut oil, to saute

Method :

Saute garlic and ginger until fragrant, add curry and cumin, deglaze with sherry.
Add chicken, salt and and stock and simmer until chicken is tender but not
overcooked – (please, no “falling of the bone” here). When chicken is almost done,
stir in coconut milk. Slowly simmer for another five minutes., Add all vegetables,
seasoning and lime juice and let it all heat through.
To serve, sprinkle with cilantro and accompany with basmati rice.
To eat, mix rice into soup, small amounts at a time.

Bon Appetit! Life is Good !
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Vegetables In Fermented Black Bean Sauce

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By now my readers will have discovered that I am not exactly a vegetarian.
I love my meat and seafood and can’t imagine how one can miss this exciting
part of our culinary world.
However, once in a while, I have a sudden urge for rice and vegetables.
The first thing that usually comes to my mind during such a rare moment is
soup or fried rice of some sort. What usually makes me especially look forward
to a vegetable dish is the inclusion of fermented bean paste.
It gives the food such a special flavor that it is, in my opinion at least, the one
seasoning which can bring a vegetable dish to a whole other level of goodness 🙂

Here is what I have concocted for dinner today :
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Ingredients :

Asparagus, blanched
Snow peas, blanched
Mushroom, sliced thick
Grape tomatoes, whole
Onion, sliced
Scotch bonnet, thinly sliced –
( Careful !!! Extremely spicy ! Omit if you can’t stand the heat )
Mini Peppers, thinly sliced
Scallion, thinly sliced
Ginger, grated
Garlic, paste
Bean paste,
Oyster sauce,
Soy sauce,
Kosher Salt,
Vegetable stock,
Corn starch, slurry
Peanut oil,

Method :

Saute onion, garlic and ginger until fragrant,
deglaze with stock, add seasoning, add slurry.
Simmer for one minute, add all vegetables and heat through.
To serve, sprinkle with sesame seeds and scallion.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Tandoori Inspired Baked Chicken “

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Many years ago when Maria and I lived in Karachi, Pakistan, we developed a deep passion for Indian and Pakistani Food. The chicken I made for dinner tonight was not cooked in a tandoori, nor was it seasoned with the “proper” spice blend a cook wood actually use to make a traditional tandoori chicken.
Nevertheless, this dish came out of the oven smelling, tasting and looking like the best of them 🙂
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All about Tandoori Chicken

All about Tandoor

Ingredients :

Chicken, Breast and legs, cut in half
yoghurt,
Garlic, paste
Ginger, grated
Turmeric,
Hot sauce, preferably scotch bonnet
Kosher salt,
Butter, melted, in a spray bottle
Scallions, sliced fine, for garnish
Chili, roasted, for garnish

Method :

Cut deep slits into the chicken, about 1/2 inch apart.
Mix all seasonings with the yoghurt, rub onto chicken
and into the cut’s until well covered. Marinate overnight.
Bake in a 410 F oven until done. During baking, spray often
with the melted buter.
To serve, top with roasted chili and sprinkle with scallions

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” Rinderherz Spiesschen ” (Beef Heart Schaschlik)

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Cooking with Heart, part two.

” beef heart skewers with spicy bean salad and chimichurri.

I had expected a whole lot of negative comments on cooking with offal.
To my surprise, most comments were positive and encouraging.
Many readers welcomed the opportunity to see food which is hard to find
in other publications these days.
(Never mind the fact that one food critic called a group of seattle chefs :
” Innovative and daring for using the whole animal in their kitchen’s “) . Daaahhhh.
Real chef’s have never stopped doing that, just as real, experienced food lovers have
never stopped searching for it and enjoying it whenever available.

So here it is, Beef Heart Shashlik .
It may be an acquired taste, but once you do have acquired it, ……. 🙂
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: Image Source: Unknown ( can anybody help out ? )

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Ingredients :

Beef heart, diced, soaked in milk for at least 8 hours
Salt, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
lemon juice, to taste
Corn starch, to dredge
Onions, wedges
Olive oil, for sauteeing

Method :

Season meat and onions liberally with pepper and garic powder,
dredge skewers in corn starch, shake of excess corn starch and saute
(grill if you prefer) until crisp on the outside, still light pink in the center.
When almost done, add onions to the pan and saute until meat has
desired temperature and onions start to caramelize. Sprinkle heart with
kosher or sea salt, drizzle with lemon juice, remove to absorbent paper.
Season onions with salt, pepper and garlic powder, remove to absorbent paper.
Serve with any salad and condiment / sauce, such as chimichurri,
horse raddish, spicy salsa, mustard, etc.
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